01/07/2026 Author Notes Series: SAFETY FIRST

Safety First appears in Dead Girls and Dead Things 2, edited by RJ Roles.

Safety First is a twisted short story that my younger daughter planted the seed for while we were out running errands one day. The rest of it seemed to just fall into place from there, almost a what if scenario meshed with worst ways to die.

My daughter's comment that sparked the idea happened while we were driving past a runaway truck ramp, going down a steep hill that leads into the city. This particular ramp heads up a steep incline, full of small rough gravel and sand, that ends with a barrier lined with several rows of water-filled barrels, and finally a steel bar. Essentially, she said, "hey, what if those barrels were not filled with water, but with bodies that a serial killer hid there?"

I chuckled, because yes, we have those kinds of conversations a lot, since I began writing and quite honestly, even before. My family and I always did have a twisted sense of dark humor and a morbid fascination with true crime, horror, etc. Anyway, I just looked at her, laughed again and said, 'but you're my Disney princess." Her response was "yes, but you're the horror writer."

But the idea stuck, and I knew I had a couple of short stories that were going to be due soon. I let it marinate in the background for a while but for the next few weeks, every time I drove past that ramp and some other highway safety areas, the ideas began to form. Seeing the random construction crew trucks with a variety of logos on the side that no one had ever heard of, and they certainly were not PA State trucks of any kind. All the big rigs that go through here, and so many other isolated highways in the dead of night, and the barrels.

I did a bit of research, found out what kind of barrels were used, what they actually contained, or at least were meant to contain, how those ramps were built, how they differed state by state, road crews, both state workers and contracted crews. Trucking routes, truck stops, the sheer commonality of seeing those trucks pulled over for their sleeping breaks, often just on the roadside if they had hit their limit, and the likelihood of anyone ever stopping to check on them to see what they were doing, if they should be there, etc. Of course no one would, would you?

What common driver is going to pull over to watch a random road crew appearing to fix a truck ramp? Or a trucker out to stretch his legs, sitting at the top of one of such ramp? No one. A cop might, but not a random person. A killer would have so many opportunities to take advantage of such a scenario.

But back to the barrels, perfect place to hide a body, but how about as the method of death, as well as hiding it? But how to kill the victims? That was going to be the most horrible part, how the victims died within the confines of the barrel, back to my research I went. Steel barrels, peak temperature inside the barrels at height of summer, possible hours of oxygen based on volume, etc. I got a little creative but all of it was still kept in the realm of plausibility.

I don't want to give too much away but I had fun with this story, especially the research, the modes of death, and the idea that help is often just inches away, if they'd only look closer.

GET IT HERE:

https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Things-Books-Horror-presents-ebook/dp/B0DHV6YLC2