Rebecca
Besser originally wrote Hall of Twelve
as a flash fiction story (1000 words or less) for a contest on the
Collaboration of the Dead forum. Although she didn’t win, she and a few others
were in love with the concept of the story – beings for an alternate realm that
had flesh craving monster pets. These Beings captured those who didn’t serve as
immediate meals for the pets and took them to the Hall of Twelve, where each captive was given the chance to win
their freedom by a roll of dice.
This
version – the short story version – is much expanded past the original one that
didn’t even reach 1K, and she plans to expand Hall of Twelve into a full length novel sometime in the future.
The
short story in ebook form usually sells on Kindle for $.99, but she has decided
to give Hall of Twelve away for free
March 15-17th (2013) so you can “taste” her brand of horror. I hope
you enjoy the story and look up more of her writing. You can find out more
about Rebecca Besser by visiting her website: http://www.rebeccabesser.com or by
searching her name on Amazon to find more of her work. (She recently released a
novel entitled, “Nurse Blood,” for Kindle.)
To
“wet” your appetite for Hall of Twelve,
enjoy this brief excerpt!
Excerpt
from Hall of Twelve by Rebecca
Besser:
“Lying on the bottom step was his
daughter’s tennis shoe with a bloody bone protruding out of it, pointing into
the corner. Blood dripped from the leg to the step and onto the tile of the
foyer; strips of muscle and skin hung loosely from the bone, slouching limply
against the red, saturated carpet.
Jack
bent over as he lost the contents of his stomach, adding color and acidity to
the already wet floor. He fell to his knees, and that’s when he saw Regan’s
head; it was sitting in the potted fern by the door.
Her
eyes were gone, leaving dark hollows where the windows to her soul had once
been, and all the flesh was missing from her face. Her cheekbones were still
pinkish red from the blood that was trickling down over her small, exposed
white teeth to drip into the dark soil beneath her jawbone, which hung at a
drunken angle.
Slowly,
he crawled over to her, envisioning her beautiful face and her bright smile.
Held in his vision of the girl he loved so much, he lifted his hand to caress
her hair, but when his hand came in contact with slick, rough skull, he knew
the carnage was indeed reality. He cupped the head of his daughter in his hand
and drew it close into the crook of his arm – his mind and body were numb with
shock and grief.
Jack’s
hand absently caressed the top of the bloody skull and his fingers became
entangled in the few scraps of scalp and clinging hair that still remained on
the bone. With disgust he shook them off, and as they landed in the blood and
vomit mixture with a plop, he
noticed for the first time that there was a hole in the back and the brains
were missing. Around the hole were deep groves that looked like they’d been
made with something long and sharp. The only thing his brain could come up with
was tooth marks, but he couldn’t think of anything that large with teeth that
big. Now curious, he looked over at the leg bone laying a few feet from him; he
could clearly see similar grooves on it.
Suddenly,
his brain cleared a bit and he remembered his wife. He’d been so shocked at
finding the severed pieces of his daughter, he’d forgotten all about her.
“Maggie,”
he whispered, and looked around frantically, but he didn’t see any of her
laying in the entrance way of their home.”
Amazon
UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hall-of-Twelve-ebook/dp/B00B14OLD6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363273042&sr=8-1
(Also
available on other Amazon sites. Look up your local one to get it there.)
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