Genesis
Project X was taking shape. Some of the seams were sloppy, some ragged but they were serviceable. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and continued linking the…
Happy place
It is evening, although not yet dark; the cooler air delights and refreshes the skin after the shimmering heat of the day. I move across the desert landscape…
Beggar Boy
He didn’t know what was going to happen to him, nor did he really want to think about it. All he’d wanted was a loaf of bread! Jin huffed, and twisted his…
Bandits of the Scale Crags
The Scale Crags were known for bandit activity. Geld was the guide to get you through them. His cost was high, but he got you to the coast two weeks earlier…
Gonnadie is So a Word
Running without looking, having already leapt without thinking, Tom surges through a mass of clinging, scraping hands. A hail of Spanish swear words and…
The Everman
The sun ran over everything in sight. An oppressive heat poured over anyone brave enough to venture out during the daylight hours. Even the lizards, so common…
Terminal
Was he convinced that this was the right course of action? He didn’t feel the change yet. A hand on his shoulder brought him from his rumination. “Are you…
J4
They parked under a large sign that read J4. He commited the alphanumeric pair to memory while she opened the driver’s side door, giving a blast of hot air…
The Pale Ones
“I have heard of you, Seer-of-the-Ways,” I say. The warriors of the tribe stand behind me, and I feel their tension. It is as hard and bright as the wasteland…
المراقب
.المراقب The Observer. So had they called him. His beard was a dusty gray, sprouting out of the craggy, wrinkled face behind. His eyes, though covered in a…
Desert Sequence
As I walked in the arid, dry desert I could feel the penetrating sand sting my tender skin. I had only recently dropped everything and moved here to get this…
Life, Death, Sensation, and Predation
An aggressive sun over Tucson warms scales as they slide by, shadow to shadow, crevice to crevice. Practiced muscles pull pendulous coils along. This way and…
EotB: Wayfarer
I had a lazy morning. I ate my first bag of Doritos (29 left) and watched Friends. I really can’t stand that Ross guy. Eventually I figured I didn’t have any…
EotB: Last Man Sitting
At this point I considered breakfast. You’d be surprised how quickly SPAM loses its novelty. After 3 months of the stuff, I was more inclined to build a fort…
The End of the Beginning
Well, that was that. It was over. You prepare yourself for these things –like the first astronauts shot to Mars, ready to spend 3 months in each one confined…
Sisyphus, Part Six
Pavlov knows his time has come. The critter is no longer sniffling the air. It takes full snorts of the air, trying to find that elusive scent of sweat…
Sisyphus, Part Five
The critter sniffs the air. Pavlov’s seen this type before. Vaguely reptilian, but nearly mammalian with the hair and snout. Pavlov is frozen. The tail swipes…
Sisyphus, Part Four
Larssen’s been gone for two hours. The sun’s getting lower, and Pavlov is almost out of cigarettes. Dusk is the worst time. The light reflects off of the…
Sisyphus, Part Three
“Dead?” “Dead. When I got there, it was a mess. The buildings had been burnt, the pipeline was slashed, and I’m not even going to say what happened to the…
Sisyphus, Part Two
Pavlov squints and looks out over the flats. A dim shadow is walking towards him, dressed in white fatigues stained brown with dust. A high-power ballistic…