The Horror Library - The Best in Horror Fiction

The Acid Girls
By Jason R. Beirens

The Acid Girls had been terrorizing the metro area for weeks. The cops had traced all shipments of large and small quantities of acids to and from labs, schools, plants. No acid was missing from anywhere. So along with where they would strike, how they could strike was also a mystery.

I had been investigating the attacks of the girls. They were neat, but messy. Sometimes they would attack in the middle of the day. Other times it would be a secluded spot with only one person around in the middle of the night. None of their victims survived. The August Gazette wanted the story broke. The Editor, Sal, wanted answers, maybe even more then the police. His daughter had been a victim. She was eaten by the acid, near nothing was left to bury. I detected a slight pattern over the last few days. The girls liked to hit two open targets, and then three secret targets. Day and night. It was time for a night attack. I found an abandoned city block, not even bums were around.

I sat around for nearly three hours before I heard the tires. They were squealing, taking corners fast. The acid girls knew how to drive. They had out run the cops five times, so that was a given. I had a gut feeling it was them. I wandered closer to the dilapidated wall. My neck scratching on the bricks and broken mortar. The head lights came around the corner faster then I thought. I fumbled with some sheets of plastic hoping they would protect me at least enough to get their license plate or something. I didn't act fast enough. I felt the liquid hit my body. It tingled, I held in a scream. I could hear the girls howl with laughter. They sped away around another corner.

The funny thing was. Nothing really happened. My skin tingled a little. The plastic I was going to use was gone. My clothes dropped from my body in shreds. I was shocked, but my gut acted up on me again. I knew they were coming back. I could hear the tires coming back. The sick freaks, they liked to see their handiwork. I ran across the street. The night was cold, my skin was a bit red, but I could feel it getting better by the second. I hid behind a dumpster as their car came to a stop. I watched them, they looked surprised. They cut the engine, and got out. Two blondes one brunette. They couldn't have been more then twenty, maybe still high schoolers.

They chattered amongst each other. One started to scream. She was holding an open container. They continued to scream at each other. I couldn't make out any real words. Screaming teenager is not a language I was ever fluent in, not even when I was one. The girls started to fight. The open container was dumped on the brunette. She screamed in horror, pain. One of the acid girls was eaten by the acid. Her skin bubbled and then shriveled quickly. The two blondes turned on each other, not seeming to care much for their fallen friend. The container was picked up and swung about. Large splashes landed on the taller blondes face. She began to shriek, louder and louder. The pitch became higher and higher. Somewhere far away, I heard a dog howling. The other blonde began to kick the now disfigured girl. She then went to the trunk of the car, opened it, and struggled to carry another container of acid. I couldn't make out any telltale marks of a company. Just a hand drawn heart with and arrow through it. She popped the lid off, and began pouring the contents all over the girl. She didn't scream, she seemed to be all screamed out. She shook, and I could hear a low whimper. Then she was still.

The girl looked over at my tattered decaying clothes and then at her two dead friends who were disappearing more and more by the second. She laughed and tossed the container aside. I meanwhile snuck over and got into the backseat of their car. When she got in the driver seat I grabbed her by the throat. She began to scream, but I blocked it from coming out. The acid still on my skin smearing on her face. She whimpered.