Long Live the New Flesh - Year One

216 Pages·2016·0.86 MB·English

Long Live the New Flesh

YEAR ONE

Stories Edited by:

William Pauley III

and

Suzie Bradshaw

Anthology Formatted by:

Brian Barnett

i
“Blink”, by William Pauley III originally published by Flashes in
the Dark 12/01/2009
“Fears of a Clown”, by Graeme Reynolds originally published by
Flashes in the Dark 08/04/2009
“Foul-Mouthed Teenage Zombies”, by Suzie Bradshaw originally
published by MicroHorror 08/05/2009
“Jared’s Gift”, by Mark Anthony Crittenden originally published in
Champagne Shivers, 2009 Issue.
“The Lump”, by William Pauley III originally published by
MicroHorror 04/20/2009
“Two’s Company”, by Graeme Reynolds originally published by Flashes
in the Dark 06/11/2010

All other stories are copyrighted by their respective authors and
reprinted here with their permission © 2010

The stories herein are works of fiction. All the characters and
events portrayed in these stories are either fictitious or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is
purely coincidental.
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Contents

The Lump by William Pauley III

1

The Woman Without the Red Dress by Michael A. Kechula

4

The Girl Who Followed Bees by Christie Isler

8

The Wooden Door by Michael A. Kechula

13

Grub by Angel Zapata

17

Heartless by Donna Jean Lyons

19

Kids in a Candy Store by Spencer Wendleton

24

Fun and Games by Brian Barnett

29

Penelope’s Good Day by Suzie Bradshaw

32

Aloisius Cottonbottom’s Surefire Image Reconstructive
Services by Steve Lowe

37
iii
Submissions by Sean Monaghan

42

Illusion by Michael A. Kechula

49

Figure Ate by Stephanie Barnett

54

The Man Who Held Hands by Brian Barnett

56

Rigged by Jodi MacArthur

57

Midnight Stroll by Joshua Day

61

Evolution by Angel Zapata

66

Demons and Acid Don’t Mix by Laura Eno

69

Distractions by Suzie Bradshaw

72

The Penguins Revolt! By Brian Barnett

78

The Car Park by Dan Powell

83
iv
Foul-Mouthed Teenage Zombies by Suzie Bradshaw

87

Superstition by Robert C. Eccles

89

Oh My God by Chad Case

91

Two’s Company by Graeme Reynolds

94

Melissa in a Jug by A.J. Brown

98

Forbidden Desire in a Cave by Annemarie Bogart

103

Hunting J.K. by Kevin Shamel

108

What Comes Next by Andrew Kaspereen

112

Cheeto Monkey by Chris Bowsman

116

The Pull Out Method by Dustin Reade

119

Bloodline by Sheldon Lee Compton

124
v
Mangeni’s Lullaby by Eugene Gramelis

127

The Neuron Thieves by Sean Monaghan

129

Adventures of My Little Carnivorous Pony
by Jodi MacArthur

134

Accused by Chris Reed

136

Anything More Than Two by Lee Hughes

141

Guide Number 3 by Sean Monaghan

145

Fears of a Clown by Graeme Reynolds

151

Searching for Storms by Tania Luna

156

Teeth by Chris Bowsman

159

Feeding Time by Richard Godwin

161

Jared’s Gift by Mark Anthony Crittenden

167
vi
The Grump by John Harrower

172

Septic Infusion by Bryan Lindenberger

174

In Case of Armageddon by Magen Toole

177

Mr. Fantastic by Garrett Ashley

181

Cleveland Cassidy’s Dick by Nathaniel Tower

184

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Jimmy Callaway

189

Blink by William Pauley III

193

Author Bios

197
vii
The Lump

by

William Pauley III

Published on The New Flesh 08/11/2009

I had a migraine that day. A terrible,
terrible migraine. My brain was a ticking
time bomb that would never explode. It just
kept ticking and ticking and ticking.
Tick, tick, tick.
The origin of the pain seemed to be the
five sections of vertebrae that lay between
my neck and shoulders. I took a hot shower
thinking somehow it could stop the pain. I
lay in the tub and let the water pour down
on me from above, soaking into and pruning
my skin. I was an old man then, so I don’t
know what that makes me now.
Then the pain kicked and ripped apart
my brain. I felt the prying fingers of a
fucking ape! The bastard was spreading apart
the deep folds of my brain looking for
mites, lice or any other vermin that may be
living down inside. Pain radiated from the
bones in my neck like a thousand volts of
electricity! I reacted quickly and took a
1
hold of my head with both hands. I twisted
my skull with a violent rage! I was going to
kill that fucking ape! But then I heard it.
POP!
I heard the terrible sound of vertebrae
slipping, shifting, snapping. Then the world
went dark.
Blindness wasn’t the only thing that
furious pop brought me that day, it also
paralyzed my entire body. Every nerve inside
of me shut off, like I had blown a goddamn
fuse. From that day on I’ve been nothing but
a lump.
A Spanish woman named Penelope takes
care of me. She was sent by the goddamn
government to spy on me! I didn’t file my
taxes for the year 1978 and they’ve been
following me ever since. She steals from me!
I can hear her quietly going through my
things and the jingle-jangle of her over-
sized purse as she scrambles for the door.
That whore! She feeds me too much! I am a
fat bloated pig now because of her! Every
bit of 500 pounds! She’s trying to kill me!
In the twenty years that I’ve been this
fucking lump of flesh and bone, I have
nearly forgotten the beauty of the world.
Colors have faded from memory; I can only
truly remember the colors purple and red.
Penelope may as well be tooth or nail, I
would never know the difference.
Sometimes she leaves me here alone when
she thinks I am asleep. When the house is
empty, I can hear for miles. I can hear
children playing at a playground a block
away. I can hear neighbors walking their
dogs. But today there is none of that.

2
It’s storming. I’m not talking about a
little rain, I’m talking about the types of
storms that hurricanes are made of!
Thunder booms and shakes the foundation
of my home. For a split second the vib-
rations allow me to move again! The thunder
sends a shock so powerful through my body
that my muscles actually contract! I wait
for the next crack of the whip. The next
booming thunder is twice as effective as the
one before! My neck slings forward like a
catapult, landing face first on my pillowy
chest.
With all of the excitement of moving, I
hardly notice my breathing is limited, suck-
ing in tufts of skin more than air. A third
cracking thunder hurls my body forward and
sends me tumbling to the floor below, my
neck folding under.
In these last few seconds of life I am
happy, finally remembering all the colors of
the world.

3