"Stop stalling. A bet's a bet." Xyler's opened his mouth as wide as he could, stuck his tongue all the way out, and held the pepper in front of his mouth. He sat that way, still as a statue, making an unsure moaning noise, before again pulling the pepper away. "C'mon, Eb, you know I… Continue reading Wanna Make a Couple Bucks?
Tag: Murder
Standardized Testing
Calia climbed into the hollowed out stump of a fallen roof tree and made an effort to quiet her labored breathing. Her lungs felt sunburned from the sprint and her mouth was cottony, flecked with bitter congealing saliva. She wiped at the beads of sweat on her brow, not noticing the dark streaks she left… Continue reading Standardized Testing
Copies of Copies
They were still called printers, but the machines were unlike anything imaginable to Gutenberg, or Galvani, or Gates. They looked like empty rooms. Drop in your raw material—didn't really matter what it was, as long as you had enough mass—and let the nanomites turn it into something else. Turn ashes into drinking water; spent power… Continue reading Copies of Copies
Done Playing Nice
"If you had nothing to hide, why did you fire off all the escape pods and try to scuttle the ship?" The lanky captain looked like a wax manikin who'd spent a little time in an oven, his features drawn and sullen. His bottom lip quivered uncontrollably and his pink, swollen eyes sat atop gaunt,… Continue reading Done Playing Nice
Shells on Shaula
Polonium was coming down like snow. Big flakes were torn apart by the little dust devils that ran around causing chaos in the daylight hours. The constant reactions between the radioactive flakes and the atmosphere gave everything a flickering blue glow. It would have been beautiful if it weren't lethal. Kellyn stalked the streets virtually… Continue reading Shells on Shaula
Overcast With a Chance of Murder
Claire walked to the courtyard through the late afternoon mist. The grayness was oppressive and the light rain seemed to hang in the still air. She drew into her red pea coat like a brightly colored shell. The uneven cobblestones led to a Greek-looking statue of a man with a flowing beard leaning against an… Continue reading Overcast With a Chance of Murder
Too Little Willpower
I stood gawking like a tourist at the inverted skyscrapers that hung down from the sky of stone and ice and iron. But I wasn't a tourist. This was my home now. The hollowed out asteroid was thick with the stench of people who all showered in the same few gallons of precious recycled water.… Continue reading Too Little Willpower
The Advocate
"I'm Harley. I'll be your advocate." She waited while the creature on the other side of the translucent partition interpreted her message and responded. Integrated translators turned its color-shifting into text that scrolled across the partition. Many of the pixels were dead, especially for such a short response. "My what?" She sighed and crossed one… Continue reading The Advocate
Let Me Tell You What I Did
Let me tell you what I did. But first, let me tell you who I did it to: Braxton Teller. That's Sheriff Teller, or Bloody Braxton, or the Savage Strangler. They're all one and the same. And I buried him. I didn't kill him; that would make me a killer, and killin' was his sin,… Continue reading Let Me Tell You What I Did
It Grew to Be More
My name is Simon, but everybody calls me Jack. I am, truthfully, not certain why. They just always have. And I let them. It lets me pretend. Slowly, over many years, Jack evolved, and on a different path than I did, I should say. At first it was minor details: the types of jokes he'd… Continue reading It Grew to Be More
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