Beware... A Seasonal Treat

A piece of flash fiction I wrote and turned into a Halloween comic. This was just a bit of a laugh as an in-joke at work. The comic can be seen here - http://www.behance.net/gallery/Beware/11710947

It was on a miserable night of a bitter October when I found myself unwillingly bound to the LCD screen. Its glow as cold and unfeeling as that of the fat moon, barely visible through the angry clouds beyond the window before me. 

It was well beyond the typical hour of departure - my colleagues had ventured home for the evening but my own work was far from over. My eyes ached and screamed as a banshee locked inside my own mind and I spoke aloud to myself, as though a man gone mad with delusion.

As I came to the end of my work; the moving, deforming and twisting of polygons, fashioning arcane shapes that, in my own mind, looked fit to resurrect Foul Death himself, I saved my progress to the Z-Drive where upon all the studio’s data took store. I lifted my cup toward my lips and to my horror, the pale, bitter liquid inside was cold as the grave. I spat the offending slurr back from whence it came, and in that unfortunate moment, direct outside the window before me, lightning struck with all of the ferocity and deafening clap of Thor himself!

In my startled state I had momentarily lost control of my coffee cup’s grip. The cold liquid now glistening on the keys of my keyboard, congealing like the last remaining blood on a spine stripped naked. I took haste, and with a nearby towel I dabbed the buttons dry, careful to soak up every last drop of that foul elixir.

Had I been paying closer attention, I would have caught the warnings, but as it happened, busying myself about the state of my equipment, I unwittingly agreed to the deletion of Z-Drive. To my shock and in my horror, as I looked once again upon the screen before me, I saw a blackened view with a single, peculiar central image. That of a pale, placid face, his pixelated eyes bearing though my own, and there placing a terrible weight upon the soul. Beneath this unwelcome visitor was written the words ‘I will find you. I will take you. And you will be mine.’

Escape! Escape! But the button had no effect, those soulless eyes continued to meet mine, taunting me for the loss of my companies work. I take great shame in admitting the truth at this point, but here it is. I had lost control of my bowels. 

The darkness of the night was deep indeed, rain hit the window and thunder struck the distance like an eerie symphony playing death’s chord just for me. I would surely be fired for my sins and my career would be over! Oh the woe I felt in that moment!  Fully alone and in a weary state of mind, I restarted the machine hoping to somehow salvage that which I had inadvertently lost.

As I waited without patience for the computer to boot, panic stricken and sickly stomached, the words of the screen came back to me. ‘I will find you, I will take you. And you will be mine.’ What in the seven circles of hell did that mean? 

As the screen burst once again into life I checked the status of the Z-Drive. For all my sins it had been deleted, yet a backup had been made and stored safe. So relieved was I that not all had been lost, I held neither thought nor concern - so unaware was I -  for the figure that had appeared behind me. Only too late, and but for an instance, did I see that pale, pixelated face reflected in the glass before me, that dead yet heavy stare oppressive and damning. And within the moment he was upon me.

As he bit into my shoulder I let cry of terror mixed with pain, combined and entwined like lovers in an embrace of fear and death. The scream changed as I; distorting, reverberating and at last with a final scramble of body and scream and soul, the two of us, my attacker and I, popped out of existence and into the Grim One’s cold embrace.

And so I urge you now, if clumsy in your ways, beware the Zombies of Z-Drive. And if at all you even consider the place where all works dwell, I beg you, DO NOT click delete. For if you do…

I will find you. I will take you, and you will be mine.

Author's Note

Please check out the piece in it's full on comic glory at http://www.behance.net/gallery/Beware/11710947

Reviews

[Baban.A.A]

well it was very gripping and sensible in many ways. I trust tje words were very well chosen, the descriptions were very good, used quite good range of imageries, but in certain parts I was beat, you know could not fully grasp it, the phrases were kind of messy to be honest. but all in all it was a good work and I liked it, well done.

[OzDurose]

Cheers, As I said this is supposed to be quite pulp-esque, and more as a script for a comic, and so maybe i was relying on the visuals to help communicate some things.

Glad you enjoyed it, it was a bit of fun, so cheers for reading.

[Baban.A.A]

most welcome......!