Apocalypticon by Clayton Smith

Author:Clayton Smith
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780989806848
Publisher: Dapper Press
Published: 2014-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

The man was beating and clawing at the door. They could hear him scraping the wood with his fingernails. The sound raised goosebumps on the back of Ben’s neck. “See? This is why you need a secret knock. To keep out the rabid hill people.”

They took stock of the cabin and found it to be an abandoned ranger station. A poster tacked to a cork board on the opposite wall welcomed them to Holly Springs National Forest. Beneath it, a large map showed the cabin’s position on the western edge with a gold star, along with the locations of several other stations. Three display tables formed a long U along the edges of the cabin, their protective glass tops smashed in. Most of whatever had been inside had been taken, leaving only historic photos and newspaper clippings, old hiking guides, and a handful of rock samples. A wooden, bear-shaped placard behind the middle counter informed them that only they could prevent forest fires. A podium stood against the opposite wall, facing three small benches. The door to the ranger’s office hung broken off at one hinge. Inside, the floor and desk were strewn with papers and file folders. The cabin’s windows had been boarded up, and the only real light filtered down through a trio of skylights in the ceiling.

They heaved one of the heavy display tables over to the door as a barricade. The locks were holding strong against the man’s fervent hammering, but there was no use taking chances. Ben pulled off his shoe and held it up to the light. “Holy hell. Look at this thing!” The man outside had ripped right through the sole with his teeth. It hung down freely in the front. Ben shook the shoe so it flopped around like a tongue. “He tried to eat my foot!”

“Not the body part I’d go for,” Patrick admitted. “Give me a good cut of cheek any day.”

The pounding at the front door ceased. They heard the man’s footsteps moving around the perimeter. They moved their eyes along the walls, following the sound from the inside, until the creature stopped beneath one of the boarded windows. The slats there had been nailed haphazardly into place, and a two-inch slit ran between them. The man stuck his eye into the space and screamed. He pounded at the boards in a rage, snarling and huffing with frustration. He clawed at the wood until his fingernails peeled off. His blood flecked against the wood and through the hole. “Oh, gross,” Ben said, squinting at the droplets hitting the floor. “Is he bleeding yellow?”

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