Drabble Wednesday: Encounters

Drabble Wednesday is back with three new horror stories.

Payment

Jimmy stood in a field, waiting. A faint scent of brimstone blew across the dry grass on a cold wind, while a distant rumble of thunder broke the silence of the shifting grey clouds. Light and air shimmered into time, and he appeared, the old man in the long dark coat. He held a yellowed skull in his hands.

“Who the hell are you?”

The old man chuckled. “Hell is right, Jimmy boy. It has come calling, and the price is due.”

With a snap of his fingers, Jimmy vanished, echoes of his screaming wail emanating from inside the skull.

---

Samaritan

“Are you all right, child?” A kind elderly man stopped by a frightened child huddled in an alley. He held a handkerchief against his nose to block the smells.

She raised her head. “I’m lost. Can you help me?”

The man smiled. “Of course.” He crouched down and held out a hand. “I’ll get you home.”

She reached out, her claws digging deep into his wrist, and in moments he was dead, his flesh her feast.

Soon, she heard more footsteps.

“Miss? Miss, do you need help?”

She looked up at another kind soul. “I’m lost. Can you help me?”

---

Obsolete

“And this is Model 531123, retired from service in 4678.”

Jay looked at the robot, a female design, long antiquated, but still… it had a gothic look.

They don’t make them with that aesthetic anymore. I wonder why.

“I’ve never seen one like that before. I’m surprised they didn’t at least continue the exterior concept. Why was it retired? Too expensive?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. Let’s see.” His new supervisor checked his holo-tablet. “Odd. Nothing except the retirement date.”

“They said I was too dangerous.”

Neither man had time to register their peril before Model 531123 snapped both their necks.