THE HORDE
The Horde is a writhing mass of free horror fiction, a place to sample the work of our authors before their stories fully take hold. Like any good infestation, these tales creep in slowly—burrowing under your skin, whispering in the dark, leaving you itching for more. Take a look, let the swarm settle, and see which voices refuse to let you go.
Before ‘The Devil’s Pocketbook’ marred the coastal town of Polperro, there was a plague which tore
the atrophying heart out of the place and the locals alike.
Over time a great sickness emerged from the very soil or quite possibly the sea and laid waste to the
sleepy, picturesque coastal town of Polperro. An affliction which caused people (townsfolk mainly,
but visitors too were often found wanting) to throw themselves from the cliffs into the crashing
waves and unforgivable rocks which populated their base as if they were the jaws of some mythical
sea-dwelling creature lying in wait.
‘Lemmings’ was the moniker these two young boys – Michael and Harold – gave them.
Michael and Harold spent their days charting the Lemming’s fateful journeys; following each plague-
riddled soul down the dark and somewhat lonely passage from the land of the living, to the land of
the dead.
It was fun at first, a morbid curiosity and fascination at cataloguing their finds as well as pilfering
what they could from the broken bodies that plummeted to the foot of the cliffs. But things have
escalated quickly, and the ‘lemmings’ are marching: what once was a trickle has become a never-
ending tide of zombie-like fodder.
No one is safe. No one.
It takes a special type of person to help people pass on. And when those types of people want to retire, well, their replacements must be found, but it is a delicate task choosing the right kind of person to hold the balance between life and death, a delicate task indeed...
This is a Short Scares story from horror author Dan Soule. Each tale is ideal for a coffee break, the commute, or whenever you need to fill a gap with a quick dose of horror. They may be short, but their effects are long lasting.
Get ready to be haunted for the rest of the day...
Kev Harrison
Dan Howarth
Want to be a part of the Horde?
