Time Comes and Time Goes
Henry froze, his face going stoically solid. Time ground nearly to a halt. Martin just huffed and returned his gaze to the darkness before them. “It doesn’t…
One Voice After All
“I gotchu, battle!” That was Richards’ voice. Was it? Perhaps it was only a dream, a stinging hot dream. “I.” That was hardly a sentence. “Got.” Barker tried…
Salty Sea-doggerel
The grass is pale brown by the edge of the sea; it rustles and scrapes in the wind, brushing against the gray stones. The best stones are those nearest the…
Semi-There Sunrise
Things went blank. Or flat. Or perhaps just semi-there, but loud. The night became a flash of images and information punctuated by gunfire and mortar…
We Should Go
Her girlfriend stands in the waves, only to her knees. The water pushes at her shins then drags at her heels. She smiles at the discordant effort. Janet…
The Captain in the Powder Room
“Welcom aboard, er...lieutenant,” came the greeting from near a lantern’s dim light. An appropriate piping accompanied the heavy boots’ tread onto the deck…
Laying Down
I lay down. It’s a bad idea, as the odds of getting up again seem to reduce each time. That’s not in any way some dramatic allusion to death, just a statement…
Infection: Revelations and Business
“The ennnnnnnd,” croned a wizzened roadside preacher in a braying nasal tone, “cometh to us all! We can no more escape the wrath of the Lord than we can hide…
Gone Baby, Gone
The mother, holding back tears, frantically pulls at blankets and sheets. The effort is in vain but required by maternal instinct, as is the glance around the…
On the Scene, Ready for It
A battered pick-up ferried Doctor Wonder to the disaster in progress, driven by a pair of well intentioned citizens eager for their hero to arrive in a timely…
Memory is Like Water Carried in Cupped Hands
An uncomfortable tingling ran across my shoulders and up the back of my neck; the sensation of insects crawling across my grave. “Where did he go? People don’t…
In Between Minds: Lullaby
Emotion was stronger here, more pure. I barely avoided being swallowed up by my sense of failure and kicked it off and away like it was a boot, heavy with mud…
Outer Indent
With rapid steps the ornate chamber gave way to a rather mundane hallway, then to a tunnel through rubble, and finally to a dusty outside world. Harlow winced…
Ad Quod Damnum
Her mouth draws tight, a line of suppressed rage. It would have to do for a glare. The warrior sighs and considers his blade, pitted and stained. “Thou judgest…
Noir: The End
So near to fruition, my plan! Tugger will march with the master race. In time he will accept his glorious role as stud to the legions of eager _Mütter des…
Noir: Secret Passage
I take his hand, stroking its little hairs; such a man. “We must hurry, and follow the secret path before Himmel has set the trap.” I tow him outside. We run…
Noir: I Understand You Understand That Nobody Understands
I’m not sure what a protees or a fanz are. Maybe they’re in the guy. In any case, she seems to think one or both of them are ruptured. I guess I hit her harder…
Aspirations Among the Low Places
The toad found a hole, a combination of sunken earth and the gaping maw of a half buried log. All in all, the place was lowly indeed but a step up from…
Noir: Peacemaker Redux
I spent the night in a spare room, well, spare in the sense that one of the ladies was ill that evening thus it was going unused. The walls were thin, and I…
Noir: My Life as a Goose
Frankly, I was lucky the waiter’s jacket fit, and over my holster even. Against all odds, fate favored me to intercept a delivery. Thus, I had politely…