Stories — Page 4

An isolated offshore structure on pale, still water, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Osprey

Date: June 3rd, 262 P.B. – 10:13 PM

Stars and a rose-coloured sky reflected in a forest lake, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Attending the Mote

Awesome meets Vicar’s link, travels deep into the Shog’s past, and gleans the stones. Awesome’s activity is represented in Vicar’s mind as a rotating red orb.

Amber streetlights above wet cobbles and empty tram tracks, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Before the Bomb

Emma Schmidtke

As I study her sitting half-undressed on my cot, I realize I recognize her from before the bomb. Or I think I do.

Water beneath the columns of a concrete residential building, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

A long time ago, someone scrawl’d the story of the dust men on the fire escape wall. It say dust men come an’ take our wives an’ children. They come sayin’: ‘You skyscraper kind livin’ in drowned old world places.

A solitary wooden bench in thick grey mist, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

The Balmoral Revenants

Nigel Jarrett

I saw them come for the bench, the one presented to Ruth on her retirement from teaching. I’d got used to staying up late and taking a peek at the grounds from behind the curtains.

An empty curved street between low buildings, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Where It All Began

Pamela Scott

I stifled a yawn as I pulled up in front of my last customer of the day and turned off the engine.

A yellow canoe pulled onto the shore of a misty lake, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Lakewall

John L. Davis IV

Carrie Michaels reclined in the dry dirt of the lakeside, watching water spiders skitter across the green-tinted water. Just below the surface, silvery minnows shot back and forth, crisscrossing in the water like slivers of living light.

A ruined stone arch surrounded by trees and undergrowth, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Jacob and Katy and the Building People

AE Stueve

“We really shouldn’t go near that place,” Katy said as Jacob led her toward the dark building in the middle of the abandoned village. “You know who lives there.”

Dry earth split into large, irregular plates, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Tramp the Dirt Down

John Tinney

Every serial killer should have a good, reliable, durable shovel. Even accidental serial killers. My shovel, Betty, was under my nose the entire time festering at the back of the cupboard behind all those other household essentials and fetish gear.

A curling blue wave throwing white spray into the air, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

The Perfect Storm

Lorin Robinson

“We opened the Gates of Heaven with pouring water.

Evergreen treetops emerging through low clouds, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

The Sleepers

Brian Phillips

After we burned the beds in the backyard, I watched Bruce tie a rope around his wife to keep her from wandering off and falling asleep. After three days awake, he wasn’t the only one with frayed nerves.

A vast, empty plain beneath bare mountains and scattered clouds, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Mooners

Tyler Bumpus

NOT EVEN AN HOUR INTO MARE IMBRIUM’S two-week-long night, Commander Gordon Gooch III was snoring through the end of the world.

Repeating balconies on a concrete building, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

CopyKat

Bill Davidson

I’m proud to be a CopyKat. No, scrub that crap. To be proud, I’d have to care about what you tiny wittle mousies think. I don’t. You can scurry round your make believe cages, runnin, runnin, runnin.

White surf washing over a dark sandy beach, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

There Is No Happy Ending for Us

Javier Martos

Micah looked up and saw the contrast of blues on the horizon.

Golden trees among dark evergreens seen from above, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

Link State

G. A. Brucks

The helicopter was a patchwork of mottled camouflage contrasting with the flat black sections where it had been repaired. A light wisp of black smoke trailed from the engine, dissipating with the speed of the aircraft.

Cracked earth at the edge of a shrinking pool, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

The Warming Sickness

Dan Bloom

The year is 2096. The setting could be anywhere. You won’t be alive then. Read on.

A wet mountain road curving between tall forest trees, interrupted by broad digital fragments and small coloured blocks.

For the Taking