Science Fiction Dec. 2, 2012

Today's Featured Title Hellena's Fury: hell hath no fury like Hellena's Fury! by Gregory Coleman ISBN / ASIN: 1477266100 Deadly wake Helly’s mind overflowed with a sense of doom as somnolent feelings of sleep paid its nightly visit. It was an unwelcome visit to say the least, for in the last six months she’d experienced the most awefully dreadful nightmares. She didn’t understand why the hellish visions envaded the deep rom of her subconsciousness but could sense the presence of a pure evil in them. The fact was, the nightmares had been building up to something beyond even her darkest imagination. They’d become increasingly realistic over time, forcing her to feel she was losing what small fragment of sanity that may have remained. She’d begun to fight the onslaught of sleep with every fiber of strength she could muster. “It’s here again!” Screamed Helly-but the words never left her lips. The storming darkness and evil concealed within it approached much too quickly to flee it. Her heart pounded heavily in its cavity, each beat hitting with the thunderous pneumatic thud of a jack hammer inside her chest. The drumming rhythmic pulse reminded her that she was still alive, afraid and very much alone. Tightly clenched fist drove the jagged pale finger tips into her palms. The Crimson leaked and settled in the folds of old scar tissue in her hands. The anticipation of being overtaken was as real as the street lights that diminished one by one. The pitch black abyss slowed to a lull just above her. Helly watched in silent terror as light became dark and day funneled into night. A stream of ice cold blood throttled through her veins like nitrous oxide. She was shivering with fear. It all felt too real to be a dream and much too horrific to think otherwise. It was as if she’d somehow gotten trapped on the far side of hell but stranger, was the feeling of familiarity, like she’d been there before. Helly gagged as hot stomach acid violently rushed up into her throat. It was the thought of surviving another episode that sent the wave of knee buckling nausea through her. With promises of impending terror, the dark design absorbed and laid her afloat in a strange, weightless hollow. Suddenly from the deep subterranean regions of her mind, a stream of visions began to play out. Just like every time before, she held firm until the muscles of her eyes ached for relief. But this time was different, a sinking feeling of desperation and doom settled at the pit of her stomach. It was the feeling that something horribly bad was about to happen. Her eyes might as well’ve been welded shut, so much so, that the bulge of them seemed to press in against her brain. As she tried to block out the horrid expedition, it became evident there’d be no escape. Helly could barely remember a time in her life, when dreams were associated with the sweet and beautiful discoveries of the imagination. Those were the thoughts of a young girl of six but now 11 years past and her dreams had become a perpetual death sentence for her. As the shocking flurry of images came to life she found herself drowning in fear again The murky dreamscape gave way to a new realm that brought her senses to life. She begun to taste, smell and feel the horror as it settled at her feet. A fruitless grimace covered her face as she struggled in the abyss of damnation. The sensation of floating was soon interrupted with a depressing heaviness that filled her legs. Suddenly her feet were anchored down beneath a dark ghoulish fog drifting across the unseen plain. The thought of running was diverted with a heightened sense of awareness—the kind a deer might display just before a hunter moves in for the kill. She was being stalked like prey by a dark energy of infinite evil. A new wave of paralyzing fear crept up inside her again, leaving her helplessly stranded to face her monster. Helly had prayed for death many times before, but this . . . was not death—this was something much worse—worse even than Dr. Kovska’s horrific experiments. An orange ghastly hue outlined the lonely silhouette standing against the backdrop of hungry flames. Streams of perspiration slowly began to escape from every pore of her pale naked body. She threw her head up to the darkness above seeking relief from the inferno’s intensity—but escape was futile, she’d become a prisoner in her own mind. Helly’s thoughts drew to the invisible shackles that imprisoned her again. She tried peering through the dense mysterious mist below but to no avail. Death was nearer to her than she could’ve ever imagined, near enough to savor its distinct putrid bouquet. A hot gust of air flowed across her face like an old silk curtain. Its rancid contents took her by surprise and before she knew it, or could stop it, she began to empty herself. Time and again she was seized by the relentless waves of the disgusting stench. A deep ethereal emptiness moved through her lower bowels as dry heaves squeezed any remaining fluids from her body. The evil watched from beneath the shadows. Its presence seemed to grow with intensity as her declining resistance dissolved into nothing. Helly now realized that she was not having a nightmare, she was living it. Continues...