Blackdamp Baptism

When the creek runs orange in October, twenty-three souls gather for baptism at an abandoned Appalachian mine. But their new preacher holds them under too long-and what emerges from the black water isn't human anymore. Martha Sizemore watches her neighbors transform: eyes turned oil-slick black, bodies learning impossible new shapes, voices harmonizing in ways that shouldn't exist. The baptized no longer need air.
They need something else. Something waiting in the flooded tunnels below. As the congregation descends into the mine's depths, Martha discovers centuries of transformed believers fused into living walls, still singing through mouths that open everywhere. She tries to warn her daughter to run-but Martha's own body is already changing, and the water inside her sings louder than memory. A visceral tale of religious ecstasy turned body horror, "Blackdamp Baptism" explores what happens when faith meets something ancient and patient in the darkness.
In this flooded mine, salvation means surrendering everything that makes you human. For readers who appreciate the cosmic dread of Lovecraft, the transformative horror of Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation, and the unflinching body horror of Clive Barker. This story contains graphic body horror and religious themes.