Midnight Paths: A Collection of Dark Horror by Joe Hart

Author:Joe Hart
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Horror, Short Stories
Publisher: Joe Hart
Published: 2011-10-15T23:00:00+00:00

Silent Fox pulled his old aching frame up the last few feet of hill and peered over the rise. His long gray hair had been blown free of its leather tie by the wind from the storm, and it tickled his face, but he didn’t notice. His gaze was transfixed on the spectacle several hundred feet before him.

Joshua lay in a twisting heap on the ground before the crumbled ruins of the ancient cairn, Silent Fox’s prayer book splayed open with the pages down in the dirt next to him. The old man nearly broke into a run, but stopped himself as light began to surround his grandson’s body. Joshua screamed out in pain, a horrible agonizing scream that brought tears to the chief’s eyes. Seeing his grandson like this hit him like a punch to the stomach and nearly took his feet out from under him.

He noticed that Joshua’s right leg was propped up, his knee jutting toward the low, rumbling sky, but something was wrong. His leg was much too long. The leg stood nearly three feet above the ground, and Joshua’s pants leg was slowly being pulled up his calf. No, not pulled up. The leg was still growing, elongating grotesquely.

Silent Fox watched in horror and wonder, his mouth hanging agape as he noticed Joshua’s left arm flailing above the young man’s head. It was growing beyond any resemblance of a natural arm.

Joshua got his right arm under him and began pushing himself into a sitting position, his right leg struggling to break free of the denim that surrounded it. His left arm was now at least five feet long, and the hand attached to the end was the size of a pumpkin. The long, thin fingers flexed and scrabbled in the dirt while Joshua continued to scream and tried to regain his feet. It was like watching someone with only one stilt trying to stand. Joshua rolled onto his left side and supported himself with his freakishly long limb, while his leg bent beneath him and gained an unsteady footing.

Silent Fox dropped the long wooden box he was holding, his fingers forgetting their purchase as his mind forgot they were gripping it. The noise startled him out of his reverie, and he crouched to open the case. His fingers worked frantically, flinging open the case and pulling the already-strung bow out into the deepening night. He glanced up and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Joshua was now standing; his left leg hadn’t caught up yet but wasn’t far behind. As it was, the young man stood at an awkward angle, as though he had sprained an ankle. His back had also lengthened, causing the T-shirt he had been wearing to pull tight across a hairless midsection with too many ribs jutting from beneath the pale skin. His neck was longer and barely supported a head that had grown to the size of the big television at their home. Joshua’s features were distorted: his nose had drooped low like a melting candlestick, and his eyes had begun to slide to either side of his enormous head.

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