Creative Writing Collection

No Rest for the Dead

       Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp.

       Pause.

       Stomp, stomp.

       Hiss.

       Stomp… stomp…

       It was heard to breathe. Fear grasped at our throats, choking us. The Rellik was close, too close; we could see its talons and boney legs. We cringed as the skull was dropped — it had been Danny’s. Its Main Hand came low, palm open as the nerves, arteries, and veins inside the hole stretched out, searching for something to latch itself onto.

       Again, we held our breaths, the red nerves coming close to Lisa. We could practically hear her heart pounding away, or, it was just my own that I heard. Carefully, she moved away a probing vein, and, finding nothing of interest to hold onto, the hand moved away from us. The Rellik picked Danny’s skull back up again — along with the mandible — shook it in its grasp, and was in control of it once more. It was as if its own skull had shed its skin and flesh, leaving nothing but living bones. Except it was using the skulls of those it killed.

       Chirp. Chirp. Roar.

       Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp!

       Scream. That was Casey.

       Andy’s cheeks were streaked with tears, the young boy new to this. Slowly, I raised my wrist up to my lips, then pressed a button on the communicator. “Red alert. Visual on Rellik 07. Repeat. Red. Alert.”

       That just about gave us away.

       The two pronged, snake like tail of the creature sliced through Ellen’s skull. We had been hiding under an old RV for some time now in the blistering heat, sweat and dust worsening our situation against the monster outside. And now it found us thanks to Andy’s scream. Its body slammed against the vehicle, allowing space for us to run for a small moment but we dared not. “Fire!” I cried out, Lisa shooting at the tail. After a considerable about of bullets, she had shot through enough flesh for it to fall off — now we could escape.

       The Rellik gave a painful screech out of human jaws. We ran. We ran for our lives, sprinting away as quickly as we could, huffing in the desert’s midday heat.

       Once regaining its priority on us rather than the pain, the creature bounded behind us, the thudding of its powerful feet against the sand easily heard, and growing louder as it neared. I turned about and shot at its head — well, the Main Hand that held onto the head, that is. Its clawed hands let go of Danny’s skull, its fingers curling in to herd back the lingering nerves while Andy demolished the bones with a few shots. Without eyes, a mouth, nose, or ears, the Rellik now relied only on touch; it’s most heightened and sharpened sense.

       Stumbling forth, its Main Hand groped the air and jerked about, using its motion sense nerves to find something. “Everyone back away very slowly, get away from it,” I commanded, my last two comrades doing as told and coming to my sides.

       We watched the beast for a while as it struggled before collapsing, the creature now beginning to bleed out of existence. Lisa picked up a piece of what used to be Danny’s skull as the Rellik struggled to now breath, its movements becoming dangerously slow. She traced the nerve burns on the smooth bone that it had left. “There is no rest for the dead. Not with those things around…”

{ PS: 'Rellik' spelled backwards is 'killer' }