The Attic

Here in the attic, you will find monthly installments of the House Of Horror serial 'Incubites.' But watch out for unusual shadows, you don't know what they might be habouring...

Within minutes, Chucks insides were beginning to spill out of the ragged hole in his stomach where he had lifted up his shirt. He could no longer speak, only gargled bloody noises could he make as he held out his hands to Trent. Trent backed away as Chuck fell to his knees. Tent watched in revulsion as Chuck held his hand on his stomach only for his intestines to slip through his fingers into a bloody mess on his bedroom floor.

“Help me...” Chuck gargled, spraying blood from his mouth.

Suddenly, a dark shadow whipped across the room. It looked as though it had come from Chuck as his body slumped to the floor in relief. His body now limp, lay across the bedroom floor, quickly bleeding out.

A buzzing could be heard in the room as Trent stood frozen to the spot following the shadow with only his eyes. The shadow resembled a swarm of insects, swooping and diving through the air. It circled above Chucks head and suddenly within seconds, it had evaporated.

Trent had been holding his breath for so long he thought he would pass out, but quickly he rushed to his friend on the floor and placed a trembling hand on his neck. Chuck had been laid face down, not looking like he was breathing. Trent needed to check for a pulse.

Nothing.

“Chuck,” he said shaking his friend. “Chuck, please wake up.”

Chucks body jolted violently, scaring the crap out of Trent as he jumped backwards and fell against the bedroom door slamming it shut. “Chuck...?”

Trent watched as Chucks head slowly began to rise and twist around as his body stayed still on the ground. It resembled the poignant scene from The Exorcist. Trent closed his eyes tight and clenched his teeth tight as Chucks head did a full one eighty turn and stared up at the bedroom ceiling, the bones in his neck clicking one by one.

A loud banging on the door forced his eyes open. It was his mum Sylvie.

“Trent is Chuck OK?” she called from the other side of the door. “What is going on in there?”

“Mum don't come in here,” he called back.

Suddenly Chuck opened up his mouth wide and let out an ear piercing scream filling the ceiling and walls in a wash of scarlet. Then from Chucks mouth, the shadow swarm emerged. Chucks body fell limp again.

Trent was sure that his friend was now dead.

The swarm was coming straight for him.

Trent ran around the room, over his bed and bedside table, sending the small lamp light hurtling to the floor, the bulb smashing as it fell. He swatted at the air in a bid to keep it away, but it was no use. The buzzing surrounded him.

“Trent, open this door now!” demanded Sylvie.

The door was locked.

When did I lock it, was a thought that suddenly popped into his head as his hands flapped around his head.

The buzzing stopped and he stood still again. A small gust flew up his top and a stabbing pain shot through his stomach. He lifted up his shirt to see more than a hundred black dots all over his body. The shadow had broken up and was eating its way through his stomach.

Trent screamed out in pain, the feeling of a thousand razor blades slicing through his body. They bore deep and began working their way around under his skin. He could feel them in his neck, wriggling beneath the epidermis, up into his face. Trent threw his body around the room creating more mess and noise. He clawed at his face as black dots appeared in front of his eyes, pins pricking at his eyeballs.

“Trent, I'm coming in!” Sylvie shouted as she began bashing at the door.

“Noooooo!” Trent screamed until around him filled with darkness and he no longer existed.

Epilogue:

They hide in the shadows, swooping in and out of dark houses in the dead of night. They slither up stairs and along hallways, looking for sleeping humans. But not any human will do. They cannot be too old or too young and their blood must be pure; free from sickness and disease. Until they find the perfect victim they lie in wait, feeding off of dead skin cells shed by anyone or anything; keeping themselves strong until the chosen one is found. They move in packs of a hundred, invisible to the naked eye. There can be as many as a million lurking in one household. Individually they are only an inch in size. A flat, black, round body like a two pence coin with a pin prick of a tail that spins round when they move. Barely discernible, but the strength to burrow a hole in the thickest of stone. Two beady eyes; scarlet red around the pupils on the underbelly, and a mouth that opens as wide as their bodies. Only a brief shadow can be seen when they move, but that is only if you see them by chance. Usually through the day they hibernate inside cracks in walls or under floorboards. If you did see them, you wouldn’t know. To you, all it was, was a shadow or your mind playing tricks on you.

But while you sleep, they hunt. They hunt for their host. A perfect host to lay they eggs in. When the host is found, they call the rest of the pack by running their long sticky poisonous tongues against the back of their yellow, jagged teeth causing a high pitched drumming sound; much like the sound of a cricket and also mistaken for one if ever you were to hear it and when they move together, a buzzing sound is created. Low and annoying. They clump together and slither up bed posts and under the covers and while the leader breaks free and slithers up the leg of the chose host, the rest of the pack scurry around for dead skin and dust until the body is prepared for plantation.

The leader spins its tail faster and faster; turning it into a fierce drill to burrow into the stomach of the host. To prevent the host waking from his or her slumber, it bites down in exactly the right place just below the navel and the poison from its tongue numbs the area. Once it is ready, the females vomit their eggs, consumed in protective green slime, into the hollowed out pocket of warm flesh. The slime protecting the eggs acts as a healing agent and by morning, the host human would not be aware of anything that had happened.

They will be back in one month’s time to collect their offspring.

They hunt. They feed. They impregnate. They are, The Incubites.  

NEXT MONTH A NEW STORY FOR ALL YOU HOUSE OF HORROR FANS....