Luigi Silvestri Wins Flash Fiction Challenge

Luigi Silvestri is the Readers’ Choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. The winning entry is decided by the popular vote and rewarded with a special feature here today. (In the case of a tie, the writer who submitted an entry first is the winner per our rules.) Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:

 

flash fiction writing prompt copyright KS Brooks death valley 3 2001
Photo copyright K. S. Brooks. Do not use without attribution.

Death Valley
by Luigi Silvestri

Here they come, those hideously deformed septapeds swarming down the hillside, multiplying into thousands of hungry hunters. They must have smelled me hiding in the bushes. There’s no escape. It’s all my fault. No one to blame but myself.

When we landed on Kirkspocksulu at the edge of the last black hole we discovered, I never should have stepped out onto the glowing surface kicking my boots to activate the undulating green mist. Little did I know that one of those almost invisible tiny monsters attached itself to the back of my helmet. After my brief exploration, once I got back into the ship it detached itself and immediately birthed into hundreds of scrambling demons, instantly billowing into frightening forms. They attacked and devoured the entire crew. I guess they avoided me because I gave them a place to feed.

With one swift turn of the knob, I engaged the exhaust system and prayed as they were all sucked into space. Quickly, I activated the automatic flight controls and crunched into my Captain’s chair.

Alas, unknowingly, one or two had survived and were carried back home with me.

Now, here I am, fittingly, in the Valley of Death. No way to outrun. Nowhere to hide. In seconds, they’ll be all over me, then everything else on Earth. I glanced up at the three blinding suns and screamed, “Sorry, World. So sorr……….!”

“Oooohhhh!!! Aaarrrggghhhh!!!”

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2 thoughts on “Luigi Silvestri Wins Flash Fiction Challenge”

  1. Tell me: have you noticed a particular “genre”/tone or voice that appears to garner reader support?

    Curious.

    1. Hi-
      Sorry, no. I write light-hearted flash to hopefully amuse and/or entertain the reader. It’s the only way I know how to write. I’m not a ***WRITER***. I’m a writer.
      Does that make any sense to you?

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