HB Challenge #11 - Bad Hair Day

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Horror Bites Challenge #11

From the Office Mango website:

So this is an extremely late Horror Bites Challenge. What with the Referendum and the release of In Creeps the Night I’ve been kinda busy. Maybe I should get the hang of scheduling posts in advance lol

Anyway I was going to use a picture I took the other weekend when at family but the lovely Josie Beaudion has some totally amazing pics of Yellowstone Park and I couldn’t resist them. Look out for them in the coming weeks, you’ll spot a theme so maybe we’ll encourage some of you to write a continuing story…..

1:  Tales can be posted on your blogs & then just add to the wee linky tool, or add as a comment if you don’t have a blog.

2:  A word count of 200-350.

3:  Try to scare me, or at the very least create a little bit of darkness.

4:  This will be a fortnightly (two weeks) challenge from when the post goes live, so you’ve got plenty thinking time.

So come on what are you waiting for, go find your inner demons and get your scare on!

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BTW, as of October 16th, In Creeps the Night was:
   #6 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Anthologies & Literature Collections > Horror (US) 
  and
   #7 in Kindle Store > Books > Teen & Young Adult > Horror > Short Stories (UK)

Doing very nicely!

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Bad Hair Day

    "Okay, Henderson, you've called me out here all the way from Washington. What's so important about a three-point-five magnitude earthquake?"
    "It's not the magnitude that is of interest, sir, but what the quake left behind. When it hit, the soil liquefied. A lot of gas rose from the site."
    "That's not particularly unusual. Anytime that happens trapped gases can escape."
    "Most often, however, those gases are methane, carbon dioxide, or sulfur dioxide—you know—the stuff that gives a foul odor around volcanoes."
    "Sure, but you're not going to tell me this is a volcano erupting. The geology is all wrong."
    "Just the opposite, sir. The gas coming from this site is almost pure oxygen."
    "That can't be. Have you checked your instruments?"
    "More often than I'd like to admit. The oxygen level is particularly high around the structure in the center of the site. It wasn't there before the quake."
    "Do you mean that old tree trunk?"
    "It's not a tree. We took a sample, and it's nearly all protein. Under a microscope it has a structure similar to a rhinoceros horn."
    "I don't follow you, Henderson."
    "It's hair, sir. Compacted hair.
    "Hair?"
    "Yes. And it seems to be growing out of something."
    "Something? Can you be more specific?"
    "No, sir. But whether we destroy it, extract it, or bury it, I'm going to need a little help."

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What will Henderson do? Check back and maybe the story will continue!

(229 words without the title, and I do apologize for the title...) 

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Previous Horror Bites challenges: 

Cross Words (#10)
The Door (#9)
Wrapped in a Mystery (#8)
If The Shoe Fits (#7)
You Won't Feel A Thing (#6)
The Wings of Death (#5)

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