Kzine Issue 21 Read online

  He pulls up outside the house and immediately knows something’s up. There’s something bad in the atmosphere, a palpable wrongness at the place his nasal cavity meets his throat, like how some dogs can smell cancer on a person. He hasn’t even gotten out of the car yet and he’s choking on it. The hell is that?

  Callum sees the guy facedown on the front lawn the second he closes the driver’s side door and locks the car with his remote. Who is that? Callum gets a little closer—he’s vaguely familiar, but he can’t place him for sure. He’s in battered jeans and a Ramones t-shirt, both soaked through by the wet grass, but he seems to be okay. Sleeping peacefully, even. Not sure why he’s got a shirt tied around his leg, but whatever. Callum’ll come back in a few minutes to check on him, see if he needs a ride home or something. Probably will. To hear Lisa tell it, these nights get pretty crazy, even when people don’t get weird and yack all over his house. He crosses the lawn to the front door, vowing to come back soon. He just needs to set his stuff down and check in. He can be Mr Responsible in a little while. He just needs to snuggle up on his wife for a minute or two, just to realign. He’s had a real bastard of a week.

  Except inside, that weird funk is worse. Like, way worse. Closer now to a smell than before. That’s so strange. Dark in here, too. Callum fumbles one hand along the wall for the switch, then snaps it on and immediately wishes he hadn’t.

  He doesn’t know what that thing is, doesn’t know how it got built, he doesn’t know anything but it’s obviously the work of the devil or something worse so he starts to pray with what little gasping air he has left.

  Our father, who art in heaven—

  He’s never seen so much blood in all his life—

  hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come—

  Where’s Lisa? Where’s his wife? Is she okay?

  thy will be done—

  Hot breath on the back of his neck. Huge, panting heaves of it. Callum didn’t even hear the guy coming up behind him. There’s a wet thwock at the base of Callum’s skull and he spins funny and falls, catching a glimpse of the guy’s eyes—all black, pupils totally blown out—before a horde of things that used to be people descend on the both of them like a murder of starving crows and tear them to bloody scraps.

  In the moment before he dies, Callum sees the city.

  Contributor Notes

  Lars H. Hoffmann is originally from Denmark but has been living in Madrid, Spain since the turn of the millennium. He specializes in hard science fiction grounded in well established science though he also explores other genres. His stories have appeared in anthologies and magazines both online and in print.

  Graeme Hurry edited a magazine called Kimota in the 90s and a horror anthology called Northern Chills in 1994. Now he has branched out by editing this kindle magazine, Kzine. He has a story in Terror Tales of The Scottish Highlands anthology and an honourable mention in Year’s Best Horror 2001 for a story he collaborated on with Willie Meikle called The Blue Hag.

  Anne E. Johnson lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she writes speculative fiction for both adults and children. When she’s not writing, she plays Irish music on her tin whistle. Her website is AnneEJohnson.com.

  Matthew Lyons is probably taller than you, not that it’s a competition or anything. His work has appeared in in Black Dandy, Tough Crime, Abstract Jam and more, as well as in the upcoming 2018 edition of Best American Short Stories. Born in Colorado, he lives in New York City with his wife. Complaints can be lodged on twitter at @cannibalghosts.

  Jamie McNabb lives and works on the Oregon coast. He writes in several genres, but concentrates on mystery and science fiction. He has three novels out through Lucy Bat Books. His short fiction appears in a variety of print and online publications, and through Soapbox Rising Press. His website is www.jamiemcnabb.com. His Amazon Author Page is http://amzn.to/2zHK2p4. He frequently conducts promotions and from time to time has new publications released, so please be sure to FOLLOW him to stay informed.

  George Sandison is a writer, publisher and editor who runs Unsung Stories, a UK-based publisher specialising in literary and ambitious genre fiction. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in The Lonely Crowd, Unofficial Britain, Bourbon Penn, In Shades, Pornokitsch, Jupiter SF, Perihelion and more.

  Dave Windett is a professional comics artist and illustrator. He has worked for numerous publishers in Britain, Europe and America—among them Cappelen Damm, DC Thomson, Fleetway, Future, Marvel UK, Panini and PSS (a division of Penguin USA. Korky the Cat, Count Duckula, Lazarus Lemming, Inspector Gadget, Ace Ventura, Tails the Fox, The Loony and Tiny Toons are just a handful of the very many original and licensed characters he has drawn. With Writer John Gatehouse he self publishes some work under the Little Lemming Books imprint the latest of which is The Kaci Bell Mysteries. He recently completed work on Monster Hunters Unlimited a four book series for PSS. Samples of His work can be seen at - www.davewindett.com.

  J. H. Zech enjoys writing stories with an intimate focus on an individual but set in a much larger fantasy or sci-fi world. It allows him to explore personal agency within a society, and also the system’s impact on the individual. He has other works of published short fiction in the same universe. Ilysveil: You Can Only Observe and Ilysveil: Twin Dawn Rising are available on Mythaxis.