P. k. Guncheon 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 story:
Netherworld
by P. k. Guncheon
A blinding headache greeted me when I woke up. I assumed Blake felt the same. In addition, I discovered that we were both bound hand and foot. Koy’tana, a local shaman and our guide in this wasteland along with his grandson Bai’yasha who worked as translator for his grandfather, had made our evening meal from the remains of a wild goat Blake had shot the day before and some herbs from the aged shaman’s pack. I think Koy’tana had drugged us.
That he went to such trouble was surprising as he seemed furious with us after Blake had deeply scratched our names beneath some ancient petroglyphs that he had showed us. I had thought that after a time Koy’tana had cooled down.
Apparently, I was mistaken.
I called to Bai’yasha and asked what the hell was going on. He said he was truly sorry but his grandfather was extremely angry and told him to tie us up. Apparently, Blake had added our names to the list of human sacrifices left every hundred years or so for a local giant monster known as the “Demon Lizard”.
“I’m really really sorry”, he said as he hurried to join his grandfather, who had practically run from the clearing, “but you’re on the list now.”
“Blake looked at me and laughed. “Can you believe that crap? Jeez… human sacrifices for a monster? Really?”
That’s when we heard the low-pitched growl and the sound of claws on rock.
