Up In Smoke: Five Supernatural Stories
By S. E. Lee
()
About this ebook
Ghost Girl - When a ghost haunts the mountain getaway of a doctor recovering from a gunshot wound, he thinks he's going crazy until he starts to dig deeper and finds the truth. Will he be able to find her body and the killer and bring the murderer to justice, or will the killer succeed in making the doctor the next victim?
A short supernatural thriller and mystery story.
One Last Look - Why did Johnny have to have a paranoid freak for a dad? While other kids play video games, Johnny is helping his dad build a bunker that no one's ever going to need.
Until the day they do.
A short science fiction story of young adult dystopia with a survivalist setting.
Spider-Cursed - When a distant relative leaves a massive fortune for the heirs who will follow the will's instructions, all the co-heirs have to do is survive the terms of the will. But will Harold make it when his cousin grows ever more obnoxious and when the stuff of his nightmares comes true?
A short supernatural thriller story. Not for the arachnophobic!
Black Magic Money - It looks like easy money to grad student Matt Diaz: go to an old house and retrieve a red leather book from inside it.
How hard could that be?
Payment: a thousand cash, wired into your account, with a few hundred dollars in good faith money to start.
Once he enters the house, he discovers that getting in is going to be a lot easier than getting out, and he's going to have to find a way around a curse, a hitman, and a greedy killer to do it.
A 5726 word supernatural suspense short story.
Outrunning Zombies - WHEN flesh-eating zombies take over the streets, Dex Reynolds must find a way to survive the onslaught and the aftermath...and find out if the love of his life, his soon-to-be ex-wife, is safe.
Will he be able to find her, fight off the zombies, guard her against predatory human slime, and convince her to let him take her to a secured farm he's prepared against all eventualities, or will she break things off him for once and for all?
An action-adventure survival short story and the start of a serial story. Contains action, guns, zombies, and romance. Adult language warning.
S. E. Lee
S. E. Lee lives and writes in the USA.
Read more from S. E. Lee
Spider-Cursed: a supernatural horror short story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHorror and Horizons: Five Stories of Horror, Science Fiction, and the Supernatural Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOutrunning Zombies: a postapocalyptic thriller short story with romance (Dex Reynolds #1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTen Collected Stories of Supernatural Adventure, Science Fiction, and Literary Fantasy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ghost Girl: a supernatural suspense short story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe City in the Desert: a military adventure-science fiction short story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Magic Money: a supernatural horror short story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Up In Smoke
Related ebooks
The Ghost Girl: a supernatural suspense short story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadows Beneath The Street Lamp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYou Can Believe It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTime To Heal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fatal Resemblance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCONSTELIS VOSS vol. 2 — PATTERN RECOGNITION: CONSTELIS VOSS, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFalling Away Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Never Dead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnwilling to Break Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmoke & Mirrors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Cry in the Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Convergence of Gods: The Dadirri Saga, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfter Darkness Falls: A Paranormal Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnbreak Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForever in Blue Jeans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadows Strike Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarked by Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadow over Lone Oak: This Fallen World, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Time Went Mad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackout Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5CATHARSIS: a collection of short-short fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 2015 Jersey Devil Press Anthology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Completionist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breathing Betrayal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHe and She Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPiece By Piece: Picking Up the Shards of a Soul Worth Saving Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCopper Lake Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Arousal of Danger: A Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPurrfect Storm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMystical Tales of Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Horror Fiction For You
Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe Complete Collection - 120+ Tales, Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dracula Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden Pictures: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5H. P. Lovecraft Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Needful Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pet Sematary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Weiser Book of Horror and the Occult: Hidden Magic, Occult Truths, and the Stories That Started It All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whisper Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Heart Is a Chainsaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hollow Places: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead of Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Best Friend's Exorcism: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Up In Smoke
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Up In Smoke - S. E. Lee
UP IN SMOKE: FIVE STORIES OF SUPERNATURAL SUSPENSE
Five short stories of supernatural suspense and survival
by
S. E. Lee
INCLUDING OUTRUNNING ZOMBIES
PART 1!
Up in Smoke: Five Supernatural Short Stories Copyright © 2011 by S. E. Lee
* * *
The Ghost Girl
Copyright © 2011 by S. E. Lee
One Last Look
Copyright © 2011 by S. E. Lee
Spider-Cursed
Copyright © 2011 by S. E. Lee
Black Magic Money
Copyright © 2011 by S. E. Lee
Outrunning Zombies
Copyright © 2011 by S. E. Lee
Published by Crescere Publishing on Smashwords
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
* * * * *
Table of Contents/Links:
The Ghost Girl
One Last Look
Spider-Cursed
Black Magic Money
Outrunning Zombies
Dear Reader,
The five short stories in this collection were previously published separately, and some were available in another collection, Horror & Horizons.
I thought I was done with writing about the supernatural for a while, but my mind had other plans. That's what you get when you have a mind that asks what if
and a perfectly innocent story that started out straight veers off, more often than not, into brushes with the strange, the scary, and the supernatural.
I'm not convinced that's a bad thing.
Since you're reading this, you probably feel the same.
Enjoy.
S. E. Lee
The Ghost Girl
by
S. E. Lee
* * * * *
When a ghost haunts the mountain getaway of a doctor recovering from a gunshot wound, he thinks he's going crazy until he starts to dig deeper and finds the truth. Will he be able to find her body and the killer and bring the murderer to justice, or will the killer succeed in making the doctor the next victim?
**********************
HELP ME
, someone had painted on the wall facing the door. The letters were in blood-red paint, and two blood-red handprints started with a clear crisp imprint and then streaked to the floor.
**********************
Dan Collins knew that the rental agent had been a flaming incompetent, and as he white-knuckled the steering wheel on the rain-drenched road, he grimly hoped that today was not the day that his soft heart was going to get him killed.
The agent had needed a commission on a rental. He'd needed a place to recuperate from a gunshot wound and burnout from years of work and the same grinding routine, a place to just let go, and perhaps, give up the career and vocation that had defined and shaped him from childhood on. Somewhere away from guns, cities, and the stress of his daily routine. Somewhere other than his claustrophobic little social circle.
It had made sense at the time.
Now he'd be lucky if he made it to the shack in one piece, but there was no way--and literally, no bloody space--to turn around on this narrow mountain pass, clinging as it did to the sheer drops of the mountainside.
If he made it up in one piece, he promised himself he'd charter a helicopter to take him back down. If he survived that, well, he was going to stick to beach vacations from now until forever, amen. He made a sign of the cross and kissed his hand; old habits died hard.
He peered through the windshield and pressed the gas pedal gingerly, inching forward. First, he needed to get to the cabin. His GPS unit was useless in the downpour, and if he hadn't printed out extra-large turn-by-turn directions he could read at arm's length, he'd be screwed. Then again, in his profession, it paid to be meticulous and prepared and redundantly prepared. Otherwise all he'd have were vague directions from the rental agent that the cabin was the first right on the mountain road, can't miss it
.
Once he got to the cabin, which would be dry, warm, and most importantly, not moving, he could stop worrying about driving off the mountain and not being found for fifteen years.
To his relief, his turn by turn directions led him to the right address and a white gravel drive that, if possible, even steeper than the rest of the mountain road. He clenched his teeth and gripped the wheel tighter, and tried not to get sick as the four-wheeled-drive sloshed down the curved incline to the rain and fog-fuzzy building at the end of the drive. With the rate the water was pouring out of the skies, no umbrella was going to save him from a soaking, so he parked as close as he could get to the cabin.
He grabbed his overnight bag and cooler, fished out the right key, turned up the collar on his Burberry, and dashed to the door.
He wished it had a bigger porch as he fumbled with the lock as rain flooded his head and neck and any exposed skin, and then finally he was inside.
At first he was just glad to be indoors and out of the rain, shaking off the water as best as he could. He wrinkled his nose at the musty smell, mentally cursing the agent, who had promised a fresh, clean cabin.
Then he looked up and froze.
HELP ME!
someone had painted, high on the wall facing the door. The letters were in blood-red paint, and two blood-red handprints started with a clear crisp imprint and then streaked to the floor.
His skin broke out in goosebumps and his heart hammered in his chest. Was this some prank? Graffiti? His gaze shot left and right, but the dust on the floor and every surface was at least an inch thick, and the air inside stale and musty. Even the walls were fuzzy with dust.
Except where the paint was.
If it even was paint.
He took another step back and his hand landed on the doorknob. He had never run so fast in his life as in the short sprint to the SUV.
His hand shook as he took the key and jammed it into the ignition, cursing under his breath like a chant.
Red letters across his windshield said, PLEASE HELP
.
Every single hair on his body went straight, and he shivered, suddenly bone-cold. What the fuck is going on?
he shouted.
It echoed in the hushed silence, and he suddenly felt stupid.
Dan smoothed a shaking hand through his hair. I need to get out of here,
he muttered to himself. Get some sleep. I must be so tired I'm seeing things that aren't there.
The letters disappeared, and rearranged to form, NO...HARM.
He laughed, a little too fast and high-pitched, before he caught himself. He was having a conversation with himself and his hallucinations now? He was either going crazy or he was dreaming. Something. There had to be a logical explanation for this.
His hand reached inside his pockets for the cigarettes he'd forgotten he'd quit last year and touched the metal pill case instead.
His shoulders relaxed. He'd forgotten he was on the painkillers. The drug interactions and exhaustion would explain his hallucination. He pulled it out now, and stared at the wall. It's the drugs,
he said to himself, as calmly as he could. That would explain the hallucinations.
NO...
He opened the pill box and downed the three super-strong pills he was supposed to take, his hand shaking as he put them to his mouth. He was soaking wet but he didn't know if the water was on, and he didn't dare waste time trying to find water. He obviously needed the pills right away.
TIME...
He glared at the windshield and the house beyond it.