A story I've written about the California power outage. Of course Sandcastle was affected! The Blackout~~~ 1 ~~~There was nothing but darkness surrounding Cassie Bale's home as she pulled into her driveway. It was a long, horrendous day at work as she had to answer calls at the power company explaining to residents why their power would be shut off for the next five long days. If people would simply understand that the combination of dry heat, dry grass, and wind creates the worst condition for any kind of catalyst including overheating hedge trimmers, tossed cigarettes, or even the dreaded dry lightning strike then her day would be a lot less stressful.As she unlocked her door she thought about walking straight over to her liquor cabinet and start her night with a nice shot of tequila. Instead, she tried the light switch and sighed as she stared into the dark hallway. She already knew there would be no power in town, but on the way home from work 32 miles away she had hoped they changed their minds. Not a chance.The bright light from her cell phone lit up the hallway as she stepped into her kitchen. While lighting a candle and switching off her phone, she swore something was off. After lighting a few more candles, she looked around the room and noticed the knife drawer was open. Grabbing the large kitchen knife, she turned on her cell phone again and began looking around the house. Figuring she had left it open before leaving for work, she took the knife into the living room along with a candle and her phone.At first, she didn't notice him sitting in the corner of the room. As Cassie placed the candle on the table next to the armchair, she saw his hand. It was shaking just ever so softly and was so white she could almost see it in the dark while her eyes adjusted to the dim moonlight. Stepping back in fear, she pointed the knife toward the intruder and shook it at him."What do you want?""Cassie, it's Don,' his voice shook as much as his hand."Don? What's wrong with you?" she held the candle up to his face and studied the dark eyes and pale skin. He looked like he had died and come back from the grave."I don't feel good, Cassie. My lights went out at home and as I was trying to find a flashlight in the garage some freak jumped out of nowhere and bit my neck." he pulled down the turtle neck and showed her the oozing wound. It was bleeding all down his shirt and soaking the cloth. A mix of pus and blood festered around the outside of the bite.Cassie held back the bile as she backed away slowly and looked at her phone. She began dialing 911 when Don pulled the phone from her hand. "What are you...""Don't." Don's voice was suddenly raspy and thick. He coughed and wheezed a few times then began to shake violently until his eyes rolled back into his head. The wound looked like it was getting bigger as the skin around it was turning black. Don's face was suddenly a very pale shade of gray and the veins around the wound and his face were black, still pumping something although it didn't look like blood.Cassie stepped back and looked for her phone. He was still gripping it with his left hand and as she tried to pull it out of his grasp, he grabbed her arm with his other hand. She watched his face contort and twitch until his mouth was wide open with black liquid oozing from his lips."Oh Don, what happened to you?" she cried as she pried his fingers off of her wrist. He squeezed tighter and leaned forward toward her. At first, she thought he was going to fall over until she felt his teeth rip into her skin. Cassie screamed at the pain and yanked her arm back, leaving freshly torn skin between his teeth.Cradling her arm and screaming, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. In the dark, she felt around for a towel and turned on the water. Stifling back her tears, she shoved her arm under the running water and then wrapped it up in the towel. The pain was unbearable. She crawled into the bathtub and squeezed her eyes shut while listening for her neighbor or whatever that thing was in her house. Her eyelids jerked open at the sound of scratching at the bathroom door. She could faintly see fingers probing under the door in the moonlight. Cassie was afraid to even breathe in fear he might hear her so she continued to hold her breath.A few moments later the scratching stopped and dragging footsteps started down the hall. Letting out a quick breath, Cassie stood and slowly stepped out of the tub. She was feeling a little dizzy and looked down at her arm. It didn't look too bad--at least not as bad as his festering neck. What the hell was going on? What in the world was wrong with her neighbor?Knowing that she had to get antibiotics for the bite, Cassie opened the bathroom door a crack and noticed he was gone. She felt her way through the hall and into the living room, grabbing her phone off the floor along the way. The candles were still lit in the kitchen which made a shimmering glow off the knife she had placed on the table earlier. Grabbing the knife by the handle, she noticed something moving in the reflection of the blade. Carefully, she tiptoed across the floor and into the kitchen, plunging the knife into the gut of the person."Cass, what that hell?" her boyfriend grabbed at his stomach and slowly dropped to the floor."Oh God, no, Troy!" she cried out. Despite the sudden pain in her soul, she looked desperate at the bleeding wound on his belly and began to grow hungry at the sight.Her mind screamed as she knelt down to the floor and lapped up the blood coming from his belly. With a hand on each side of the gash, she pulled his torso open then slowly pressed her face inside. With each bite from her mouth, her sobs slowly quieted and only a growing hunger remained. Dropping down to his knees next to her, Don joined in on the feast, only grunting a reply.As they lapped up the rest of Troy's entrails and began tearing at his arms and legs, blue and red lights flashed inside the house. Cassie, now oblivious to any human interaction, looked up the lights for a moment then back at her prey. Taking one last look at Troy, she stabbed him in the eye with her finger then pulled it out of the socket.A voice echoed through the open door. "Is everyone all right in there? Screaming was reported."Cassie looked over at the cop coming through the door as Don knocked the eyeball from her hand then picked it up, squishing it between his fingers."What the..." the cop began to squeeze the portable microphone attached to his shoulder when Cassie lunged at him. Two shots rang out from his pistol as she knocked him down then began to tear at the flesh on his face."Help! Officer down. I'm down!" he managed to yell as he squeezed the mic and then screamed as the flesh was torn from his neck.~~~ 2 ~~~As Cassie devoured the rest of Troy's limp body and started on the cop, Lt. Reggie Drummond and Police Chief Casey Weinsfield came rushing through the door. Both noticed the bloody scene immediately. "Stop! Stop what you're doing. This is the police! Stand up and put your hands behind your head or I will shoot you."Cass turned for a brief moment then continued to scoop the liver from Troy's torso. Both Casey and Reggie fire bullets into the woman, knocking her down next to the body. In the corner of his eye, Casey noticed a third catatonic person grab Reggie's shoulder. The mouth dripping with black ooze was inches away from Reggie's neck when Casey fired twice into the skull of the attacker then once again into its chest as it dropped to the floor."What the hell is going on here?" Reggie said as he wiped the sweat from his brow.Casey noticed the beat cop with his half-eaten face begin to twitch and move as well as the woman he just put at least four bullets into stood up. With one shot to her head, she dropped dead to the floor. Before the cop on the ground could move anymore, Reggie pushed him over and threw a pair of handcuffs on the cop's wrists. He gnashed at Reggie's ankles with his teeth while Casey shook his head in disbelief."Put my belt around his mouth so he can't bite anything." Casey tossed his belt at Reggie then dispatched the EMTs. "Bring body bags and, hell, I'm going to quarantine the area. Bring what you need to. I don't know what it is, just suit up."~~~ 3 ~~~It was almost midnight before the EMTs arrived. With the power out all over town, the house lights were off as were the street lights. Sandcastle was dark. The three bodies of the residents were brought back in one ambulance and put inside an airtight chamber at the hospital. The cop with his face half eaten off, Office Randal Billings, was also brought into the chamber, but not in a body bag. By orders of the police chief, Billings was strapped down to the table. His heartbeat was very faint but fast and his breathing was shallow, but at least he was still alive.Doctor Flint hated the idea of wearing quarantine gear and working under generator lights, but he really had no other choice. The city's power was shut down for the night on direct orders from the governor and there was nothing the hospital could do to stop the plan. With 3 mothers giving birth and two emergency surgeries, they had to limit the resources and make do with what they had. All of the doctors were on call that night just for emergencies. Flint was one of them. He was happily snug in his down covers when the call came in."I hope you're happy that you woke me up from my slumber," he grumbled as he pushed the last dead body into the cold chamber.Billings rustled on the table behind the doctor and for a moment, Flint felt a little panicked. "Nonsense!" he said with a long breath. As he turned around, he noticed the flesh of the cop was now a stone grey color and there was a trickle of black ooze coming from the hole in his cheek. As Flint moved closer to the man on the table, he grabbed a pair of thick rubber gloves and put them on. The beat cop wrestled with the straps but still couldn't br
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spooky-boo-s-scary-story-time--3577322/support.
Follow Spooky Boo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spookybooscarystorytime
Twitter: https://x.com/707spookyb
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spookybooscarystorytime
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spookybooscarystorytime
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@spookybooscarystorytime
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scarystorytime.bsky.social
Support the show on the commercial free podcast
https://www.patreon.com/spookybooscarystorytime
The original Spooky Boo's Scary Story Time telling spooky, scary stories since 2016. Here you'll find true scary stories, fiction stories, urban legends, creepypasta, and other tall tales from the darkest corners of the internet.
Call in your own true scary story at the number 707-SPOOKYB (707-776-6592) and leave a message of up to 3 minutes, and it might be played on the air.
Send your true scary stories. Visit my website at
https://www.scarystorytime.com/blog/scary-story-submissions
Ambient Backgrounds from My Podcasts
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ambient-sounds-of-sandcastle-nature-dark-mysterious--4976400