Finished, not polished. But I think it’s enough to get a good story out of it. Of course, I will add it to the 30-minute Shivers collection, a collection of my horror stories that I will eventually publish as a book.

I decided to just keep adding to the story as I go, and posting the entire thing, rather than just the separate parts. For new readers or those that haven’t read it yet, I wanted to make it easy to consume the entire thing at once…

If you enjoy this please give it a like and feel free to comment!

Phantom black

                The scientists fiddled with the device with excited banter, enthusiastic about their apparent success. The device looked like an over-engineered paint spray gun. One of the scientists adjusted a setting on the machine, causing a pleasant harmonic tone to emanate from it. The other scientist poured a black viscous liquid into a small vat attached to the instrument with tubes, hoses, and electrical connections. The first scientist starts speaking into a recorder, taking verbal notes with a shaky, excited voice. “Four-thirty two hertz to four forty hertz seems to be the correct resonant frequencies to properly align the filaments. We have achieved approximately….” He looks up at the other scientist and nods slightly, prompting the missing information.

                “Ninety-nine point nine, nine percent.” The other scientist reads off of a computer monitor in a matter-of-fact tone.

                “Yes, right. Ninety-nine point nine, nine percent of photon absorption.” He continued, “We have found with the increased amplitude and voltage, the harmonic frequencies will correctly align the carbon nanotubes vertically, giving us an additional twenty percent efficiency.” He said, his voice still quivering with obvious exhilaration.

            The scientist that poured the fluid into the contraption turned to a wall with a stark white square painted across its surface, then began to spray. A five-foot blob of black paint appeared on the wall. The scientist had to stop at that point as vertigo overcame him, and he swayed on unstable feet. To look into the blackness was to see a complete void that lied to his brain and made him dizzy as if falling into a never-ending hole.

            He set the sprayer down and stumbled to the other scientist that was busy monitoring the equipment. He laughed as he walked drunkenly back to the monitors. “I can’t believe it! I felt like I was going to fall into it for a minute!” he said, finally reaching the desk where he could grab hold and steady his feat.

The beam of light pierced the veil. Like an ugly knife wound tearing a rough, misshapen hole in the darkness. The light touched the creature’s tentacle, a warm tingle drawing its attention. Confused and curious, it extended its tentacles, reaching, feeling the jagged edges of the opening. It wrapped its tentacles around it with more confusion about the nature of this new thing in its world, then examined the edges, feeling its solidity. Reaching in and gaining purchase on the inside surface, it began to pull itself through, marveling at the warm tingly, yet slightly stinging sensation on its skin.

                Tentacles wavered through the opening, touching the air and feeling the strange tingle of the light. As it pushed deeper into the new expanse, it could feel a vibration of sound emanating from inside this new space. It waved a tentacle sniffing the air, searching for the source of the vibrations. With so many new sensations, the creature grew eager and more curious. It pulled itself through the hole, sniffing and feeling.

                With their backs turned away from the black-painted surface, the scientists quickly prepared their device for the new round of testing; the creature probed a tentacle towards them. The probing tentacle extended toward the sound vibrations and detected a unique sensation that triggered a biological response; Hunger.

            The tentacle wrapped around one of the scientists and pulled closer to the creature. Strange and delightful sensations came from it. It was warm and squishy and made sound vibrations that pleasantly tickled its senses. A warm gush of liquid poured out when it was pulled apart, metallic and salty. The creature pulled the pieces into its beak-like maw, enjoying the warm salty, and chewy sensations. It was intoxicating. Its first taste of this new food unleashed an unapologetic yearning for more as it felt the nutrients provided a near-explosive growth.

            The sounds the other scientist made while the creature devoured his comrade intensified. The creature hesitated despite its sudden craving for the new sensations of the food source, but the sounds of it were so compelling it wasn’t sure it wanted it to stop. The creature decided to split the difference by plucking the other scientist up but only pulling off and eating one appendage at a time. This seemed to work as the appendage tore away; the sound reached a pitch that sent shivers of ecstasy through the creature’s body. To the creature’s disappointment, the sounds abruptly stopped after the warm salty liquid stopped draining from the stump end of the appendage.

It finished consuming the still delicious treat when the door burst open. Several people rushed into the room to investigate the screams that echoed through the facility’s hallways. They skidded to a halt just inside the laboratory as the carnage stunned them into indecision. The creature didn’t hesitate and snatched up the first one that entered the room and sucked it into its maw. They screamed.

The creature stretched out into the hallway with fluid, almost vapor-like movements exploring the hallway. It could feel the vibrations of the footfalls of these new treats all around it, behind doors or around corners. It was glad for the new space to explore as its size increased with explosive growth. Every morsel it consumed is added to its now immense bulk and hunger.

It found a few more treats in a room at the end of the hall. The pleasant sound they made drew its attention to them. It enjoyed the first, particularly plump and juicy; its lower baritone screams added to the enjoyment like a savory spice. It allowed the increasing volume and intensity of the screams of the other two to carry on for a moment as it indulged in the cacophony of their anguish and fear until it could no longer resist the craving of the flesh.

The walls and hallway of the building became confining as it continued to consume more and more. It reached farther with a tentacle until it breached the front entrance. Finding more freedom of movement, it nearly gushed through the doorway to the outside. There were many new things outside the facility, strobing lights and new sound vibrations. These new sounds were not pleasant, like the noise the prey made. The frequency of the sirens was annoying and almost painful, dampening the joy of gluttony it was feeling.

It extended a tentacle outward to the nearest the offending vehicle and wiped it out of existence in one swipe of the now enormous appendage. This seemed to excite the human creatures. They reacted by flinging metal fragments from small pipes that they carried. These projectiles didn’t penetrate the creature and only served to further its annoyance. It swiped its tentacle back the other way, scooping up a vast swath of the prey creatures, then it sucked them into its beaked maw with a wooshing sound.

The influx of biomass added to its bulk, encouraging new and faster growth. The changes surprised the creature as it felt a metamorphosis deep within it. New appendages began to sprout, and its body became more adapted, evolving from an amorphous glob of tentacles to a more distinct form. The new budding appendages started taking shape, expanding outward, fan-like.    

The creature flexed these new appendages once, causing an enormous blast of wind dispersing many human creatures and their devices. Incoming flying machines spouting metal projectiles and explosive missiles avoided the gust initially, but the stinging sensations of these new attacks angered the beast.  

It stretched its wings and flapped again, stirring more hurricane-force winds, and began to lift, sending many flying machines spiraling toward the ground. It flew high into the sky despite the enormous mass it now had; it rose like a titanic blimp into the atmosphere. This high vantage gave it a perspective f this world, and it was drawn to the shining light of a large city, where it knew it could feast on these creatures.

The flying machines continued pestering the creature, but it barely noticed anymore. They were dispatched with a flap of its enormous wings as its avarice for the human flesh drew it closer to the city. It swooped down and could hear the delightful screams and almost taste the fear, only to encourage its gluttony. It opened its maw, sending its tentacles to snatch up hundreds of the humans, then slurped them into its awaiting gullet. Unsated, it continued, its gluttonous path rejoicing in the anguished screams of its prey as it went, then it saw it. It saw a sizeable oval-shaped building, a stadium. The roar of the crowd beckoned it like a dinner bell….