Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting a horror drabble challenge this January: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout January that clock in at around 100 words.
The Prompt:
Potential
The Submission:
The bloodliquid bubbled, frothing like acid, and Maureen watched, a small smile tugging at the corner of your lips, as the grotesque thing stirred in its capsule.
“Vitals are stable, Ma’am,” a technician spoke from her desk.
Maureen barely heard her. She glanced at the readouts on her screen; they were all nicely within normal parameters. She tapped a key and the screen switched to show the creature’s face. Warmth flowed through her stomach as she took in its leathery, toad-like skin; boils pulsated on its flesh amidst thick, spine-like whiskers and its eyes, large and nebulous, glared through the blood liquid…
…seemingly through the screen.
“Beautiful,” Maureen whispered.
Her fingertips caressed the screen and hovered, ever so briefly, over her keyboard before tapping a single key.
Immediately, panic swept the laboratory. Alarms blared; a siren wailed; and horrified screams rose in a crescendo.
Maureen stood, still as a statue, and watched as the ghastly, lizard-like creature tore them limb from limb. The survivors pounded on the thick glass that separated her from the creature’s wrath; their blood smeared across it, ran down in thick droplets.
The creature stood. Hunched, heaving, its glistening skin dropping with gore and entrails as its piercing glare settled on her cold, hard eyes. Soon, the fail safes would kick in; gas would flood the laboratory, men would move in with cattle prods, and the creature would move on to the next stage but, for now, they simply stared…
…one with a bestial hunger, the other one in pure admiration.
“This one has potential…” Maureen muttered with a smile.
If you’re interested in reading more about Maureen and here fiendish experiments, check out The Teamos Connection, available digitally and physically on Amazon.
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
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