15 Greatest Stephen King Short Stories Of All Time
7. Survivor Type
Found in the collection Skeleton Crew, Survivor Type is about as grim as anything King has ever written.
The story is told in a series of fleeting journal entries by the survivor of a shipwreck. The diarist is called Richard Pine. He's a surgeon who was attempting to smuggle heroin aboard a cruise ship, and is now stranded on an island, alone and with no way of escaping. At first trying to gain the attention of someone - a plane, or another ship - his hope quickly vanishes, as an injury causes him to amputate his own limb and eat it in order to survive.
From there, the story grows more disturbing and unforgiving, as Richard falls into a deep insanity brought on by drug use, blood loss and starvation. Like all of King's best short fiction, Survivor Type also has a killer twist - only this one makes for the single most unsettling closing sequence out of any story on this list.
It's not for the fainthearted, but it's also quintessential reading for any fan of King's work.