Death at White Oaks Retirement Center: A Scary Mystery

By HC Hammond

"A gray figure slid through the entryway. The chill it brought started his tired heart thumping in his chest. Robert glanced around. The other residents continued their idiotic talk. Merv walked blindly through the creature, distorting its filmy body. The man didn't even shiver. It drifted forward, blank eye sockets staring into Robert.

It's come to take me, Robert thought. He tried moving, running, something, anything. He couldn't budge, save for squeezing his eyes shut, so he wouldn't have to watch the creature rip out his soul.

The cold rushed over him. He heard the cries, the voices of the souls it had already devoured flooding his head with the noise. Robert screamed. He screamed as hard and loud as he ever had. The voices went silent."

• Language: English
• Publisher: HC Hammond
• Release date: Jun 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310959332

HC Hammond

H.C. Hammond is a freelance writer and author living in Ohio. She has a degree in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University. With an interest in science fiction and romance, Hammond has written several short stories and a full length novel, Flesheaters and Bloodsuckers, in the genre.

Book preview

Table of Contents:

License Notes

Part One: Robert Eats Dinner

Part Two: Mrs. Briat Chokes

Part Three: Robert Forms a Plan

Part Four: Death Comes for Him

Sample: Flesheaters and Bloodsuckers Anonymous

Death at White Oaks Retirement Center

By HC Hammond

First Appearance in Bewildering Stories, Issue 154 June 27th, 2005

Smashwords Edition 2015, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Robert kept his head down, remaining intent on his meal. Salisbury steak tonight and it needed salt. One of the worst things about growing old was cutting out things he loved, like sodium. The other people in the dining hall ate eagerly, happy just to be able to move around.

One of the residents, Carla, gossiped loudly about her roommate's nighttime habits. Her hearing aid must be on the fritz again. Merv, nurse's aide and idiot dipstick, wheeled a food cart to people. Everything seemed normal, despite the recent deaths at White Oaks. The others didn't believe Robert, weren't taking his warning to heart.

Robert shoveled a piece of steak. The residents' lack of fear wasn't his problem. By tomorrow morning he'd be halfway to his daughter's. There was no way he'd let himself be killed off by some creature, some sort of hellish creature.

Edna Radner's voice grated good evening on Robert's ears. He frowned at the slight woman as she sat opposite him. Her nightgown billowed out on a draft