Release date: January 7, 2019
Subgenre: Post-Apocalyptic Horror
About Game Changers of the Apocalypse:
It’s always the end of the world when you break up with someone.
This time it really is...
Everyone on the planet has mysteriously disappeared, leaving exes
Greg and Polly. They’ve survived the apocalypse, yet shouldn’t
have. Battling each other and a malevolent entity that teases them
with their fate, how long can they remain ahead? Even more
terrifying than everyone else on the planet disappearing is what’s
about to take their place…
Excerpt:
They descended
stone steps to the Thames Path. Black water shimmered in the light from
globular lamps, which recast the world in black and white. Water lapped the
wall below. A pair of shadow-giants stalked the buildings above.
Their
footsteps echoed in the lonely night.
Furry
moths clustered thickly around the lamps.
A
dog barked on the other side of the river. Running feral or spooked by
something?
Greg
shivered.
The
breeze caught him side on, making him wish he’d taken Polly’s advice and put
something on over his GANT short-sleeved shirt.
He
reached for her hand.
She
grasped his.
‘Where
do you think they went?’ he said.
In
her Joules dress, on her Ravel wedges, she looked round. ‘What?’
‘Everybody.’
He glanced at some charcoaly flowerbeds. ‘I mean, where are they?’
‘The
Mardi Gras?’
Laughter
erupted from him.
She
smiled.
Then
the smile fled her face. ‘Think it was another Chernobyl?’
He
held his other hand out, turned it over. ‘How come we’re all right?’
‘What’s
that bomb that gets rid of people but leaves buildings intact?’
‘Oh,
the neutron bomb, yes, yeah, that’s a good one. Surely we’d have heard it,
though. And there’d have had to have been lots.’
‘I
guess.’
‘What
about a gamma-ray burst from a hypernova?’
‘Come
again?’
‘The celestial equivalent. Thing is, there’s none near
enough.’
‘Oh.’ A gentle snuff.
He swallowed. ‘Maybe the chosen rose
and we… didn’t.’
Her head jerked back. ‘What are you
saying? We overslept on Judgement Day?’
He coughed. ‘Well, the thing we need
to try and work out is…’ A moth blundered against his lips. Swiping it out of
his face, he dry-spat.
Bloody
things.
Her
hand slipped through his and out. ‘Oh, my God.’
He
stopped, whirled around. ‘What, baby?’ Her hand cupped her mouth. ‘Baby, what?’
He
followed her line of sight. High up on the brickwork above, something small,
pale and round protruded from the mortar.
She
pointed, transfixed.
He
placed his hand on her shoulder. ‘It’s just fungus, love.’
‘No
it’s not, it’s…’
‘What?’
‘It’s
a…’
He
could feel her trembling.
‘What,
love?’
‘Ear.’
He
couldn’t have heard right. ‘What?’
‘An
ear.’
He
positioned himself in line with it, a few feet away from the wall, stared up
and had to concede that it did have the convolutions, flutes, knobbles and
fleshy colouring of an ear. Yet it couldn’t be. Could it?
It
waggled.
‘Fuck.’
He jumped back.
Polly
let out a moan. ‘You know what it’s doing, don’t you?’
‘What?’
He shifted his weight from foot to foot.
‘Listening.’
‘You’re...’
She
turned. ‘Oh, no…’
‘What?’
He spun round. ‘Oh, shit.’
The
lights along the river went out one by one. Blocks of darkness caught up with
them.
A
click from her throat as cavernous night swallowed them. ‘Oh, God… It’s all
starting again.’
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About Mark Kirkbride:
Mark Kirkbride lives in Shepperton, England. He is the author
of two novels, Game Changers of the Apocalypse and Satan’s Fan Club, both published by Omnium Gatherum. His short stories can be found
in Under the Bed, Sci Phi Journal, Disclaimer Magazine and Flash Fiction Magazine. His poetry has appeared in the Big Issue, the Morning Star, the Mirror and Horror Writers Association chapbooks.
Thank you very much, Cora and Jessica.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Mark. We're always happy to feature you.
DeleteThank you very much, Cora. Happy to be here!
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