Short Stories Volume 3 - Beneath The Shadows: Collections

By Josh Hilden

Beneath The Shadows – Short Stories Vol. 3

(Collection)

 

Once more, this collection spans the garnet in the horror genre in all of its iterations. From the terrifying story of one woman trapped in an elevator by the ravenous dead. To the horrific emotional tale of one man's grief as he says goodbye to the woman who should have been his mother on her final day. Beneath the Shadows has something for every fan of horror.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GWSP
• Release date: May 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224835256

Josh Hilden

Josh is a native of the Metro Detroit region of Michigan and currently calls Dayton, Ohio home. He cut his writing teeth in the role-playing game (RPG) industry working for companies such as Palladium Books and Third Eye Games. Josh married his wife Karen in 1996. They have six children and two grandchildren. Josh writes in a variety of genres, but the majority of his books are in the realms of science fiction and horror.

Book preview

Between Floors

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I just wanted the buzzing of the alarm to stop.

The night had started out with so much promise. I had no idea how it’d turned into such a nightmare.

Jeremy picked me up for a night in the city. He said it’d be an evening of good food, drinks, and dancing. The man knew the way to my heart. It was only three months until our wedding, and he still treated me as if we were only in the first weeks of our relationship.

I couldn’t believe he was gone now.

We’d been walking down the street when we heard the first screams. At first, I thought it was just some teenagers acting like assholes. You always hear stories of punk kids in the city doing stupid shit.

Then I saw the girl.

She was maybe sixteen and dressed like some scene kid in a bad movie. She would have been pretty, maybe even gorgeous, if not for the blood. It seeped from every opening on her head. Ears, eyes, nose, and mouth dribbled copious amounts of red-brown fluid. She moved in a jerky almost spasmatic rhythm, and she growled as her teeth slammed open and shut over and over.

She was hunting and it didn’t take long for her to find prey.

The elderly couple never even noticed her until she was on them. Biting, clawing, and screaming like an animal the man and woman were both on the ground before I could even register what was happening. She tore into them until they stopped fighting and then turned her eyes on the other people on the street.

All hell broke loose as people ran away in every direction screaming for their lives.

Run! Jeremy yelled grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the open doors of the Marriot hotel we’d been passing. The door was unmanned and the light from the interior was inviting. As we entered, I saw the elderly man and woman spring to their feet and join the girl in her hunt.

Then we were inside and safe.

Or so we thought.

I saw the man in the ripped and stained expensive suit as he followed us through the open doors. Before I knew it he roared and was on Jeremy like a wild animal. My man was strong and was able to knock the businessman down despite his rage-fueled strength. For a second, one glorious second, I really thought this would be the last danger and that Jeremy could defeat this monster.

Then the horde arrived. Hundreds of them filled the street in front of the hotel. If I’d had time to think I would have realized they’d been the sources of the first screams I’d heard before the girl arrived and attacked the old couple. More than a dozen of the running monster people peeled off from the main group and made for the entrance to the hotel.

Alyssa, run to the elevator! Jeremy yelled indicating the open elevator door.

I’m ashamed to admit I never looked back. I just ran with everything I had and cleared the threshold of the elevator before I even knew I’d started running. I turned and was rewarded with a nightmare sight—my man fighting and losing against a dozen crazed individuals.

Hit the button! he screamed right before a young man in a hockey jersey bit a chunk out of his shoulder.

I pushed the button for the top floor and the doors shut.

The elevator started rising, and that was when I realized the doors would open and I would have to get out. I would have to leave the safety of the box. So I did the only thing I could. I pulled the emergency stop button and that was when the buzzing started.

That’d been hours ago. At least, I thought it had been that long because I’d lost my phone somewhere in the chaos. I would give anything for the buzzing to stop. I was about to push the button in and take my chances with the monsters outside when I noticed the toggle switch beneath the button, the one reading Silence Alarm.

I flipped it.

The buzzing was finally gone only to be replaced by the screeching and pounding of the insane people outside of the elevator car. With several inches of steel and at least two floors between myself and them, the sounds were blessedly muffled and distant compared to the emergency stop alarm. I had time to consider my options. I had time to breathe and rest. I had time to realize I was all alone and nobody was coming for me because nobody knew I was trapped in this box.

Jeremy was out there.

Those people... the horrible bleeding people were out there.

Jeremy was probably one of them now if he was unlucky. If he was lucky he’d have stayed dead.

I missed Jeremy.

I didn’t want to be trapped in this fucking elevator.

Minutes, hours, maybe even days passed. The only way I had to judge time without my phone was by how thirsty I was. I would have given my left hand to drink the foulest nastiest water around, and yes I mean if I could have peed I’d have drunk it.

I couldn’t stay in the elevator any longer.

Getting shakily to my feet I did my best to straighten my dress and make myself look as presentable as I could for my man. Maybe everything would be alright. Maybe when the door opened Jeremy would be waiting for me on the other side. Maybe this has all been a bad dream and when I wake up the world would be normal and the sun would be shining.

I put on my best smile and pushed the button.

Breakdown Lane

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My son asked me a question tonight.

Daddy, have you ever seen a monster? he asked. At seven, he was asking all the questions he could think of. Most of the time, it was adorable, but not tonight.

No, buddy, sorry I never have, I said, lying to my only child's face.

He wasn’t ready to hear it, and I wasn’t ready to tell him.

It happened in the fall of my senior year of high school. I was seventeen. At the time, I worked the closing shift at the local McDonalds. It was mid-October, and the weather was cold and clear. I drove a 1984 ford escort wagon colored baby shit tan. I was a Senior in High School, and my girlfriend had just broken up with me again. Add to all of that. I smelled like French fries and burger grease.

Life kind of sucked.

Radio blaring, I decided to take a long way home. If I timed it right, my father would have already left for work, and I could have a shower and get to bed without the usual fight. It usually started with him wanting to know when I would start applying for college and me telling him I had no idea what I wanted to do, and there was no reason to waste money, especially since he was not giving me a damn dime for school.

Kracker’s Low came on the radio, and I tapped the steering wheel in time with the music.

I was almost so lost in the song, tiredness, and my irritation with my father that I almost missed the car pulled off to the side of the room and woman waving her arms for help.

I considered leaving her there. I admit it. I was two in the morning, and I was going to leave a woman alone on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

I cursed myself for taking the long way and pulled to the shoulder in front of the other car.

The woman was already running to my door when I got out.

Get back in! she yelled.

Then grabbing the handle of the driver's side back door and pulling hard, she added, It got John, it got John, and if we don’t go now, it’s going to get us! before jumping in and slamming the door shut.

I heard the door lock.

Get in and drive! she yelled, pounding the inside glass of the window.

Instead of doing what she said, I started toward the abandoned car.

NO! she screamed but didn’t get out of the car.

The car was a dark blue BMW. The passenger side headlight and bumper were smashed in, and what looked like blood coated the metal. Both the passenger and driver side doors stood wide open.

This is fucked up. I thought, taking half a dozen steps back from the ominous steel beast.

Then I heard the howl.

I knew at that moment, somewhere in the darkness, a monster lurked.

Turning on my heels, I ran for the car.

The howl, now a roar, filled the air. The source now much closer and gaining ground.

HURRY! the woman yelled.

I don’t know what she was looking at. I had no idea what was chasing me. But it didn’t matter because she looked terrified, and that was more than enough to motivate me.

Reaching the door, I could feel the heat of its breath on my back.

The car shook when I slammed the door shut.

Go, drive! the woman yelled, punching the back of my seat.

I wanted to yell at her, but the sound died when I caught sight of a large yellow eye in the side view mirrors.

Throwing the car in gear and putting the peddle to the metal, my little escort peeled out and roared onto the road. I drove as fast as I could, and I could hear the woman crying in the back seat.

I took her to the police station so she could report her husband being attacked by a wild animal. I backed her up, leaving out that single yellow eye.

At first light, the police went to look for him. It took three days to find his body, and when they did, it was more bones than flesh.

Since that night, I have stuck to the main roads and avoided all shortcuts.

I never want to see that yellow eye again.

Guardian

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They brought me to my new home when I still had a hard time walking. My paws were too big for my legs, and my tail was always getting in the way. The first thing the man and woman did was bring me into my girl’s bedroom and place me on the bed. She hugged me and made happy noises and I knew I’d found my forever home.

What do you want to name her? the man asked my girl as I licked her face and was rewarded with giggles and laughter.

Luna, my girl sputtered between laughs.

My girl grew up with me and for years we were as one. Except for when she left on the big yellow beast, we were never apart. Even when she went on the yellow beast, I waited every day for her to come home. Then one day instead of coming home on the yellow beast she came home in a small black beast with a boy.

Luna, my girl said bringing the new boy to me, this is Damion.

I didn’t like the boy. He smelled bad. The smell of the boy reminded me of the bad raccoons who stole the trash and made the man very mad every spring and fall. But for my girl, I was nice and didn’t growl. I even let the bad boy into our home.

I remember the man talking to my girl the morning it happened.

Cassie, I don’t want that boy here while your mother and I are out, he said. He sounded mad. The kind of mad that he’d been when I’d been a pup and went potty in the house instead of outside.

The girl promised but I could smell the deceit. It was the same smell she had when she took an extra dessert for me from the table without asking. My girl was up to something, something the man and woman wouldn’t like.

The man and woman left and a short while later the boy arrived. My girl made me stay in the kitchen while they went into the man and woman’s bedroom. They left the door cracked, and I could hear and smell everything. I wasn’t concerned until I heard my girl scream and the smell changed from one of excitement to one of terror.

I ran into the bedroom barking and ready to fight. The bad boy was on top of my girl, neither of them wearing much clothing and he had a knife.

You’ll do it if I tell you too! he yelled not noticing me despite my barking.

Luna help! my girl screamed and I jumped onto the large bed.

The bad boy kicked his foot out toward my head, but I was too fast. He missed me as he retreated off the bed and to the other side of the room.

I was now between my girl and the bad boy.

I growled and loosed a series of rapid barks. I had to announce my intent to attack before I struck because it confuses and scares the enemy. The bad boy may have been bigger than me, but I could smell the fear and rage blasting from his body. My girl had cared for me when I was a pup. She was mine and nobody would ever hurt her as long as I drew breath.

Luna no! my girl screamed, her hand trying to pull her clothes on over her nakedness.

I’ve never understood why humans cover their bodies up. How do they mark their territory if they’re covered in fabric?

You want a piece of me you fucking mutt?! the bad boy exclaimed holding the blade out in front of him.

The bad boy was a threat and I was no longer a young dog. He’d have to kill me to get past me. My hackles were up and a growl I’d never used before rumbled in my chest. My hind legs rose as my forepaws lowered