Terrica

By Matthew Tait

When Perry and Timmy are summoned to the backroads of California with the promise of pleasure, there are few fears. After all, the lure of an all-week rave in a town called Terrica sounded like the ultimate escape – a holiday where little could go wrong.

But soon these friends realize a stark and horrifying truth: the wilds of California have never offered pleasure – and its roads remain a preying ground for monsters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dark Crib Publications
• Release date: Jun 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227465924

Matthew Tait

A vociferous horror columnist since 2005, Matthew Tait published his first collection of dark fiction in 2011. Since then, he has won the the prestigious Shadows Award for the novel Deception Pass. Described as writing 'the sort of horror Clive Barker must read on his days off' Matthew's fiction often treads the line between the familiar and the fantastic.  

Book preview

TERRICA

Matthew Tait

TERRICA

Copyright © 2021 Matthew Tait

Third Edition

This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or photographs contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author or artist.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author!’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art: Greg Chapman

Editor/Layout: Shannon Gambino

First Printing: July 2011

Contents

TERRICA

Rapidly decelerating, the blue Ford station wagon came over the rise of Hwy 6. Both passengers were attempting to acclimatize to a stretch of road invisible only moments before ... endless nothing.

Some – predominantly country lovers – might consider ancient rolls of hay, emaciated cows, and withered grasslands something to behold.

Perry Fabian did not.

After four hours of driving, the vista of more boundless nullity where there should have been a town filled him with a strange sense of foreboding.

Twenty yards from the Ford sat a rusted water tank. Propped against it, Perry could discern a small weathered sign emboldened with one word and the population subheading in blood-red type:

TERRICA

Pop: The Eights

From the passenger seat, Timmy Burnside asked, ‘What the hell does that mean?’

Tires crunching on gravel, Perry brought his car to a rolling stop, close to the tank. In unison, both men exited the station wagon, stretched, and met at the hood to discuss their dire dilemma.

‘Damn social media, Perry said. ‘The dude should have been