#creaturehorror

🕯️ The screams didn’t fade. They were cut short. 🩸

Several men gathered near the road leading into the town, clutching hand tools like cherished weapons. Nearby, a solitary and frail man lifted his taper to the dangling lamps, lighting the oil-soaked wicks. As he lit the final lamp, screams tore through the town, driving the men away from the forest.

When the cries died down, the trembling, impromptu defenders tightened the grasp around the worn handles of the weathered tools. After several silent seconds, a younger man stepped forward, his fingers whitening around his hand axe. “What do you suppose that was?”

His neighbor shook his head and slammed the butt of his scythe against the ground. “Silas, those monsters are preparing another assault. We didn’t do enough to dissuade them from returning.”

“Lucas, we’re here tonight and old man Jacob is lighting the lamps.” Silas turned around, his hands tightening around the worn wood. “It’ll be different.”

“Pay attention—”

From the woods, another wave of noises broke loose. The group recoiled from the unnatural sounds as the guttural cries tore through the muted evening. As the dying beats echoed off the town’s structures, several doors creaked open around the muddy square. An elderly woman stepped out onto her stoop, licking her lips as she clutched her shawl around her shoulders. Across the square, another elderly man emerged from the stable, holding a lantern above his head.

The lantern’s flickering flame trembled as he turned toward the eastern road where the forest path ran into the town. The woman’s gaze bounced between the solitary man and the gathered throng near the road. “Thomas, did you hear them?”

Thomas nodded as he marched away from the dim stable. As he passed the well, another sound drifted in from the forest. It wasn’t another round of screams. Rather, it was a twisted series of rasps and coughs. After several seconds, the disjointed sounds drifting from the bare tree limbs revealed themselves to be demented laughter. Thomas turned toward the incoming road, clutching his chest as he swallowed. “What could make that sound?”

The broken cries crept along the eastern road that led from the forest to the square. The sounds stopped mid-cry. They didn’t fade away. It was as if something deemed it sufficient. Several of the gathered men stepped forward, their knuckles turning white around their farm tools. Yet no one dared to move to discover what threatened to strike from beneath the forest’s canopy.

When the last rays of sunlight vanished, the trees along the road shifted. Then three shapes stepped from the forest into the weak lantern light. While the trio moved like people, their proportions were wrong. Their arms hung so low that their fingertips brushed the ground. Their hunched backs drove the unnatural gouging of earthen furrows in their wake. After several stilted steps, the townsfolk’s gazes fixed on gray skin stretched too far over thin muscles that undulated like cords beneath the surface.

One creature tilted its head toward the square, its mouth open far wider than any human jaw should allow...

If you enjoyed this excerpt, the full story is available on Patreon as well as the back catalogue.

Be careful going in the water.

It lurks beneath the surface, thirsty for blood and hungry for flesh. It roams where it may and sometimes finds a feast to satisfy its need to kill.

Book I: What is supposed to be a fun weekend with friends quickly turns into a bloodbath when a massive alligator invades their fun.

Book II: In the once-quiet town of Cedarhaven, two giant alligators wreak havoc. Will anyone survive? It’s double trouble as two giant gators stalk the town and surrounding area.

Book III: It’s a triple threat when three gigantic alligators go on a rampage and brutally kill and destroy anything in their path. Are they unstoppable?

Come join the mayhem in three blood-filled novellas from cult writer A.P. Fuchs.

GIGANTI-GATOR DEATH MACHINE: TRIPLE FEATURE is available as a paperback and eBook at:

Amazon (US)

Amazon (CAN)

Don't forget to subscribe to stay up to date on all the latest videos.

Thank you for watching Axiom-man TV.

Keep up to date with all the latest news from A.P. Fuchs at http://www.canisterx.com

Check out his webcomic, FREDRIKUS, about an anthropomorphic dog in a dystopian sci-fi world at http://www.fredrikus.com

His weekly newsletter, The Canister X Transmission, goes out Saturdays. Subscribe free at https://canisterx.com/the-canister-x-transmission-weekly-newsletter

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/apfuchs