Funk-N-Fiction

Happy First Day Of Halloween Flash Fiction!!
I’m thrilled to be starting the event off with a fantastic story from author friend Eric R Asher.
Check out this piece from his upcoming release… Theme Park At The End Of The World. Then, check below to find out how you can win cool bookish prizes!!

Excerpt from The Theme Park at the End of the World
Coming December 3^rd, 2024 by Eric R Asher

Ellie was torn between the Carnival Carnage haunted house or Undead Empire, but in the end, she opted for the latter at the Theme Park at the End of the World. They’d make it to all the houses eventually at this year’s Dark Park, and Undead Empire was a little less gross right after dinner.

The entrance loomed over her, Cole, and the vloggers, Tottie and Poe, as they reached Lost Empire. The queue stretched back between Puffing Demons and Airships. Ellie watched as some of the antique cars puttered by, sending gouts of steam into the air as they earned their name.

Ellie led them through two switchbacks before the façade for the haunted house came into view. Still in the theme of the land, a broken stone wall with dried and stained skeletons on either side greeted the guests as torn white sheets fluttered in the breeze. Ellie still hadn’t walked through Undead Empire since it was finished, and she was excited to see what Kevin and Gus had come up with. It was an odd pairing for the design, but they were the biggest zombie fans in the park.

She’d heard from Capy that the finished house was gorier than what Ellie had seen during construction, but still not as bad as Carnival Carnage.

There were no subtle notes of esoteric music here. A heavy metal riff and double kick drums assaulted them as soon as they reached the entrance. Someone grabbed her arm, and she found Tottie sidled up against her.

“You’re going first, right? I hate zombies, Ellie. Hate them!”

Part of Ellie felt bad for dragging Tottie to a zombie house. Another part of her thought Poe was about to be extremely happy with their footage.

“I’ll go first with Cole. You hang back a bit, okay?”

Tottie nodded rapidly and walked behind them, Poe trailing her with the camera.

A dimly lit, rusted sign greeted them. Go Back. City Lost. Shadows moved all along the wall, some meant to be the flickering of torches, while others had a more human shape, but at least one was something else entirely.

Ellie stared at the shadowed hallway when the groans started, hesitating when a pair of golden glowing eyes reflected the light. The audio track for the house kicked in, a fast conversation between two people.

“Look for the eyes! They’ll reflect the light.”

“What if I don’t have any light?”

“Stay with me. We’ll get through this.”

Every light in the room blacked out. Ellie jumped at a crash of cymbals. Tottie shrieked when the lights flickered back on, and the sunken face of a cadaverous zombie shambled just beside them. He must have leapt forward while the lights were dimmed, but he moved slowly now.

“Look for the eyes,” echoed around them as they entered the far hallway.

On cue, as the vocal track faded, eyes appeared along the wall, some clearly projections, some most assuredly not. And something else reached them, the distant stench of rot as though a neighbor had left fishbones in the trash too long.

“Oh, nasty,” Cole shouted over the pounding soundtrack.

The second room opened around them, the illusion of cobblestones and an ancient gas streetlamp to their left. A boarded-up building waited to the right, and the path curved to its entrance, where the barricade had been ripped away.

Deep gouges shone in the brick, dripping something viscous in regular beats. The only warning the guests had was the clunk of a foot trigger when a break in the music dropped around them. A looming form roared as it stepped forward, the pale gray face of something not-quite human rushing them. Long arms reached ahead before it dove.

Ellie cringed away, but the scare actor vanished into the floor, disappearing in a curl of fog as if they’d never been there.

“That was amazing!” Poe shouted, sweeping his camera through the fog as the throbbing beats of metal pulsed through the room again.

A few more steps took them inside the building, destruction all around. The subtle decline of the floor gave the illusion they were on a long ramp into the underground, dodging fallen stone and timber as they went. Water joined the sounds nearby, the roar of a river deep within the earth.

Shadows raced across the ceiling, their true forms invisible except for the eyes. The vocal track whispered through the air.

“They aren’t human anymore. They’re something else now.”

The click of a flashlight turned a solid beam onto the ceiling, and Ellie screamed as something swooped down. Too many eyes, too many arms, and it moved far too fast to be a zombie. It grabbed a guest out of line and disappeared into the darkness.

“What? What!” Tottie screamed. “Get me out of here!”

Ellie continued forward, trying to understand what had just happened. Nothing made sense. Roman wouldn’t let the guests be touched in line. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She plunged ahead into the next hall, almost missing the scares completely as the boo holes opened and insect-like limbs lunged into her path.

The last room was a horde, a shambling mass of scare actors, some on stilts, and simple animatronics that filled the entire place with a gory diorama of death. It would have been impressive, even amazing, if Ellie hadn’t been panicked and racing through it.

She shot through the exit with Cole and the Taters close behind, and came face to face with Kevin, her words tumbling out. “They took a guest!”

He roared with laughter.

Ellie stared at him in confusion. “Have you lost it? We could get shut down!”

Kevin wiped at his eyes, almost hyperventilating, as the others followed Ellie out of the house. “No, Ellie. That was Gus. He’s one of the plants for the walkthroughs. You didn’t even notice him slip in after the first blackout, did you?”

Ellie blinked. Then let out a long, relieved sigh. “Kevin. I’m going to kill you as soon as I kill Gus.”

“Yes! That’s exactly the reaction we’re hoping for. I’ll tell him you approve.” Kevin nodded to the others. “What did you all think? Favorite house this year on Taters’ Rides and Guides?”

“It’s up there,” Poe said.

Tottie shook her head. “I don’t need to smell that house again.” She paused. “Great job, though. I mean, they got me a few times.”

Cole patted Kevin’s shoulder. “Tell Gus to keep it up. I knew it was coming, and it still freaked me out.”

“You knew?” Ellie glared at Cole.

“I didn’t want to ruin your first trip through!”

The Taters burst into laughter.

Not only do we have this sneak peek for you — but Eric is offering up a prize for 2 winners!!!

For a chance to win a signed paperback of The Theme Park at the End of the World, follow Eric R Asher on Facebook or Instagram, then leave a comment on this post.

Contest starts today, and goes through midnight (Pacific US time) on November 3rd. Our winners will be chosen from all eligible entries on November 4th and notified, and then announced in our wrap-up post.

Good luck & Happy Reading!!