Stories
Fiction & Micro-FictionShoot the Messenger
Smoke drifted lazily from the barrel of the Ladysmith. “You didn’t have to do that.” Kathryn’s gaze fixed on mine. I glanced at the body sprawled out beside her and chuckled. “I know. It’s just kind of fun.” The waitress sidled up to me. “More coffee, sir?” “Sure,...
Murder In Her Eyes
There was murder in her eyes. He saw it clear as day. Problem. He rubbed the tender spot where she’d hit him with the blunt — and his heart skipped a beat when she pointed the barbaric weapon at him. “You’re not actually going to use that thing, are you?” he...
Worldbreaker
We broke the world, cracked it open from pole to pole. Lit the planet up and burned it with fire from within. We had to. It was the only way to get rid of them. It was a doomsday weapon, of course. A last recourse. God knows we’d tried everything else. Nothing had...
Firewall
André stepped outside to a world in bedlam. Billboards flashed alternately among binary output, machine code, and actual ads. Vehicles were strewn about the highway like so many child’s toys, their operating systems completely trashed. Most of the city’s droids were...
Networked
André jammed the button on his phone. Nothing. Everything was all touchscreens now, except for the solitary button necessary to reboot a device if the OS froze up. “Dammit,” André swore. Stupid thing had been giving him fits all day. Disk reformat in 5 sec… “What? I...
Driveway to Nowhere
It was a long, paved driveway to nowhere. Fifty yards of winding tree-lined blacktop ending in an open field. There was no building at the end, nothing to indicate the driveway’s purpose, no sign that a building had ever stood here. Zack stood at the end of the drive...
Enemy Within
We slipped our bonds and escaped across the dunes. The distant sound of crashing waves drew us westward. We ran for everything we were worth, fear and desperation driving us on. We never saw our captors. We never knew where — or what — they were. What we knew during...
Porcelain Birds
“Did you see that?” Amanda said. She pulled her bike off to the shoulder and waited for Sarah to join her. “See what?” Sarah asked. She distractedly brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. “Those birds.” Amanda gestured at the flock now residing in a nearby tree. A...
Rumination and Horror
He vomits, on all fours and stomach heaving. Long, ropey strings of fluid slide from his mouth to the ground, wet and glistening. It is the color of infected phlegm, the smell powerful, overwhelming. His belly clenches again, and he vomits more of the greasy strands...