Startling Terror Tales #10

In "The Horrible Entity," a tentacled being from another dimension begins a silent, deadly campaign to erase humanity’s understanding of atomic energy—by killing every person on Earth who knows its secrets. Written by an unknown hand and illustrated by an unknown artist, this chilling 1954 tale unfolds with a creeping dread as the unseen force hunts down the last minds capable of wielding the power that could stop it.

Frankie Barrows, a hardened drifter with a criminal record, stumbles upon Martin Korbet—a fugitive embezzler on the run with prison cuffs still locked to his wrists—sleeping in a barn, and sees her ticket to sixty thousand dollars. She forces Korbet into an uneasy partnership, driving him across the country as her prisoner while he leads her to the hidden loot, all while the cuffs eat deeper into his raw wrists and his desperation grows with each passing day.

A woman is found brutally murdered in her Rhode Island home, and detective work quickly points toward a man known as "Uncle Jimmy"—but a crucial piece of evidence hinges on whether a clock was actually keeping accurate time. As investigators piece together conflicting alibis and damning physical evidence, they race to untangle the truth before a killer escapes justice.

In Depression-era Detroit, small-time crook Walter Tylczak—soon to earn the nickname "Zack"—escapes a police raid on a gambling den and allies himself with Spink Hudson, another fugitive from the same bust. The two broke men hatch a scheme to muscle their way into the protection racket, using a detective service as cover to extort money from local operators. What follows is their rise through the underworld's cutthroat hierarchy, where one misstep could prove fatal.