Kristal Shanahan resides in Kansas with her husband of nearly 20 years and their two daughters. She has loved reading and writing since early childhood. As a tween, she read Firestarter by Stephen King, which ignited her love of the horror genre. She is a certified high school English Language Arts teacher and she is certified in Special Education. Kristal recently started a Bookstagram account on Instagram and the focus is primarily horror but she reviews multiple genres. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and is currently writing a novella and a collection of thematic horror-inspired short stories which will hopefully be published in the next year or two. In the meantime, her first published story, "A Christmas Horror in the Woods," will be included in a KDP anthology with Raventhorne Books soon. Connect with Kristal here:
SOULLESS DIPTERA
by
Kristal Shanahan
Naomi awoke startled, a silky blindfold loosely covered her eyes. She pulled the blindfold down with shaky hands. Nervously, she scanned her surroundings and nothing looked familiar. She felt a weird bump on the back of her neck and gently rubbed it. Assuming it was a bug bite, she immediately dismissed it. Sitting up on the damp ground, she wondered how she was going to get home.
Naomi looked at her arms and she felt utter disgust. Red splotchy patches with a poorly stitched incision on each arm, showed the beginning signs of an infection. Waves of nausea rushed in and she vomited. She wiped her mouth with the bottom of her sweatshirt. She thought to herself, I’m used to seeing this crap from others in the ER, not experiencing it myself!
Getting up from her uncomfortable position, Naomi put the scarf in her back pocket. She looked around at the secluded wooded area and began walking, hoping to reach civilization before sunset. Her entire body started to throb as strange blisters formed all over her. The pain was excruciating, but she had to get home. The trees were dense and the sun barely filtered through the branches, not leaving much light to get home.
***
Like rapid fire, the blisters grew large and ruptured, eliciting a loud guttural moan from Naomi. Almost in succession, puss and blood oozed from her arms.
What the hell is this shit? Naomi thought. She gently wiped her arms off on her sweatshirt, which was beginning to smell putrid near the edges. What idiot stitched me up that doesn't know a thing about how too…her thoughts trailed as she felt someone near her. Naomi heard footsteps behind her. She looked around and narrowed her eyes as she focused on finding who was there.
“Naomi, is that you?” Dallas spoke softly as she approached. She cautiously walked towards her, and she observed the wild eyes of confusion that covered Naomi’s face.
“Dallas, what are you doing out here?”
Naomi held out her arms to show her friend. “Look, have you seen this before?
It itches really bad, and I feel sick. I’ve already puked and the blisters are painful as hell!”
Dallas just stared at her in awe.
Black setae started to emerge through Naomi’s skin, mingling with her own arm hair. She could feel her skin and body changing and protruding on her back, chest, and stomach. Her sleeves were pushed up and the stitches started to pop open on her arms. Slowly, squirming to the surface of her arms, was an endless grumble of maggots.
“Oh shit, Dallas! What the hell is happening to me?” Naomi continued to cry and scream for several minutes before she looked like she had lost her grip on reality.
Dallas looked at her friend with a calculated stare. “Naomi, first off, I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand. Please tell me you are stuck out here and have no idea what’s going on!” Naomi pleaded with her eyes.
“Um, sure. Look, Naomi, we have to talk.” Dallas looked at her friend with an air of superiority.
Naomi’s voice reflected her exhaustion as she said, “Seriously, what is going on Dallas?”
“We are playing a game, Naomi.”
“Shut the fuck up, Dallas. I don’t have time for your bullshit fantasies right now.” Naomi said. She walked cautiously as darkness was setting in. She used the flashlight on her I-Phone which surprisingly still had battery life. Dallas walked beside her.
Stopping Naomi from walking any further, “Naomi, I can't let you leave. Remember it’s a game. There’s no way out, unless one of us dies. We are in a monitored, privately owned parcel of land, not close to home. There’s also an electric fence around the perimeter, to keep the outside world safe.”
“Oh, Naomi you should know, some of the larvae have likely burrowed deeper in your skin causing you damage you can’t see. Clearly, we can see some of my handiwork. I’m getting paid to play, and win. I was offered thousands to help with this experiment. Oh, how about that piss-poor stitch job on your forearms?” Dallas chuckled. She knew it would get to Naomi since they were both nurses.
She felt the bump again and noticed it felt harder than it should for a bug bite. Her nails had grown in sharpness and length enabling her to poke the top of the bump with her nails and slit it to pull out what was inside. She pulled it out slowly, and could hear her body making slurping sounds as she gently pulled out a tracking device.
“I’m being tracked, why? If I can’t go anywhere…”
“It’s all part of the game Naomi.”
***
The pain and itchiness was so unbearable. Naomi stripped off her clothes to reveal her changed body. Dallas didn’t expect that. She thought to herself, Naomi should’ve just…layed down to die. Her fear was reflected in her eyes.
Naomi turned, and she just stared at Dallas as she moved towards her, eyeing the scalpel Dallas pulled out; ready to strike. She lunged for Dallas and knocked her down. The scalpel fell to the ground. Naomi kicked it away. She made several quick slices on Dallas’s face and arms that were deep with her elongated and sharp nails. Naomi clenched Dallas by the wrist and slashed her deeply in her radial veins. Fascinated, she watched her blood spill. She was taking deep, labored breaths and then Naomi began to pick off the maggots that remained on her body; she shoved them deep into her friends’ gaping mouth while she struggled to breathe. She shoved her scarf in her mouth to finally silence her.
Naomi’s eyes lost the light they once carried and instead, welcomed the darkness that now enveloped her soul within a new otherworldly life.
“Who’s winning now bitch?” Naomi said to Dallas’ lifeless body.