21 Comments
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Nuno Pinto's avatar

Still one of the best writers here.

Nuno Pinto's avatar

Not really

Nick Winney's avatar

that was relentless.

love how there's almost no exposition just hints mingled in the dialogue that paint the picture out as the story goes along.

read it twice...still not quite grasping everything you're telling us about the scenario and back story but the flavour of it all, the grisly gist of it...clear enough!

good to read some of your work Thaddeus. Been a while!

Thaddeus Thomas's avatar

Thank you so much!

Maximilian Siddell's avatar

Still got it.

Chet Sandberg's avatar

This is amazing!

Thaddeus Thomas's avatar

Grins! That means a great deal coming from you.

Chet Sandberg's avatar

Are you kidding? Thats a near perfect opening. You didn’t treat me as a reader like I had to be spoon-fed a damned thing. I intensely wanted to know what the situation is and that makes the words fly by. The dialogue is absolutely spot on, too.

Pablo Báez's avatar

Substack town (jk)

Excellent.

Trevor Cohen's avatar

That was a trip! I liked the ambiguity in your story between who’s eating who, who’s rotting and who’s not, whether this town is hell or a happy place, and the looming specter of unnamed creatures fracturing the world. Lots to ponder.

Thaddeus Thomas's avatar

I appreciate that!

Saint-Lazare's avatar

The heavy atmosphere is on point. Haunting.

Larry Hogue's avatar

That was dark! So well done. I liked the ambiguity.

Thaddeus Thomas's avatar

Dark line the deep of winter. Hello my friend

Corey Evans's avatar

I appreciate the fade out from the boys dialogue to the man's internal thoughts before snapping back to reality. Really effective writing!

Thaddeus Thomas's avatar

I'm glad that worked!

Jenean McBrearty's avatar

Very nice construction of mood. Burning the disease. It's what they tried to do during the Black Plague; get rid of the cause and, knowing they would infect others chose to stay with their families. There's such an aura of inevitability --they'll die, but they'll haunt us. As for those who decide eat carrion, they turn intro monsters. But the saddest of all is the hopelessness that steals childhood.

Zani D's avatar

welcome back ❤️‍🩹