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Legion
By M. L. Erwin & T. J. Scott Ray sat in his one bedroom shack waiting to gather enough guts to pull the trigger. There was a storm out and the raindrops on the roof were calming. Wait until the storm passes, he thought, enjoy nature’s rhythm. He held a 44 magnum in his [...]
3Apr2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Math Teacher
By T. J. Scott & M. L. Erwin Just standing around at the class reunion, Emma Thornhill decided it would be the last one she would ever attend. Just looking at everybody made her want to puke. She was sure she was the subject of much of the conversations. All through high school she [...]
3Apr2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedCrow Land
By Lucas Cumiford The big black whirlpool in the sky swirled like the accretion disk of a black hole; seeming to trap all substance within its influence, including all light, as if the impending darkness predicted by the present twilight was somehow due to this irresistible vortex. Shortly after dusk the father and his teenage [...]
30Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedCell Forty-Nine
By Ashley Shae Hall Two men stood alone in the unlighted hallway. The portly one advised the young rookie, “After walking down this corridor you will have completed your rounds. Now remember: never speak to the patients in this hallway, they are not the most stable and are best left alone. Here are your keys, [...]
28Mar2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedGluttony
By Daniel Mendoza Ted woke up in a darken alley face down in a puddle of water and he had no clue how he got there. The last thing he could remember was walking up the steps of his apartment building and finding his girlfriend Sara waiting at the front door, after that everything went [...]
28Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedOffering
By Charles Suddeth Sacrifice is hard on both the sacrifcer and the sacrificed. Non-Aztecas need to understand that it is not something to be taken lightly. The world exists because of the harmony our sacrifices have obtained. Without it, the Sun God, Huitzilopochtli, will not remain in the sky, and the world will [...]
26Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Tower of Eletal
by Phillip J. Boucher The cleric Calif looked at the wizard Lafair in astonishment and asked again. “Are you sure?” “As sure as the tricorns bellow at the sun, it’s there. I have apprentices guarding it right now and a small crowd of townsfolk are starting to gather round.” “How was it found?” “It was [...]
26Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedUnder My Skin
By Jon Nichols LAS VEGAS, NEVADA EARLY 1960’s Eating breakfast off the tits of a hooker takes skill. A bit of style doesn’t hurt either. Frank had bags of both. The chefs at The Sands prepared the eggs just the way Frank liked them: the New Jersey way …scrambled in virgin olive oil. [...]
21Mar2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedShepherd and the Thief
By HJ Taylor My God this waiting is dull, he thought to himself, rubbing his forehead until a dull pink color emerged while staring blankly into the changing gray shades as if he had done it a million times before, for a million years, and through a million lives. But maybe waiting beat the [...]
19Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedFiddlebacks
By Jeremy Billingsley The duplex was a rundown building with a wide cracked cement drive and siding that exhibited wood rot. It was good for the impoverished that could afford nothing else, the trash and the youth that spent what money they had on going to college. Two such youths stood in the drive [...]
18Mar2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedWritten Off
by D.A. Cairns He stands stooped before the brick wall which stretches over two hundred metres either side of him, and stares at the graffiti. An exuberant splash of colour and meaningless symbols, it is messy and pointless, he thinks, like his life. Sniffing to prevent a flood of mucas from his nostril, he removes [...]
16Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedMovie Night
By Jason Howell Gabe shuffled through the stack of movies, each plastic box displaying Pic-A-Rent’s logo below a smiling cartoon frog, and selected the first DVD of the evening. If anything can relax you after a rough day, it’s a good, long movie night. And talk about a rough day. Kelsey was still creeping around [...]
15Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedSeed
By Andrew Martin Seed looked down and his lip jumped under his thin mustache and right then Carr knew. Carr put the girl’s picture back in his pocket. He put his other hand on his piece and said, “Mr. Seed, put your hands up. High.” Behind him Carr heard his partner’s feet scrape the bottom [...]
13Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Last at Bat
by Brian Haynes The crowd was louder today for some reason. Sliding into home plate I could hear them scream. Some were cheering, but most were distraught as if I had just ruined their day. When I slid across the plate my right knee struck the corner——I’m cut——and sliced open the skin just below [...]
12Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedMy Teenager is a Zombie
By Wendy Lambert “I’m still alive,” I quipped back to my husband, gripping the phone tightly. The joke had lost most of its humor considering the circumstances. I listened to him drone on about work, throwing in an occasional “uh-huh” as he detailed his morning rife with boring conference calls and meetings. “See ya [...]
9Mar2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedKill Road
By Troy Massie Johnny had just clocked out and he was heading to his car. He looked at his watch and saw that it was three a.m. He was dead tired and felt like a zombie. He had worked some overtime at the factory, which he had volunteered to do since he was behind on [...]
7Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Outbreak
By Joel J. Wittnebel Roger stared into the fire willing himself not to yell, they had already been doing enough of that today. Vanessa sat on the blanket beside him with her face illuminated by the orange light of the fire, he could tell she was doing the same thing. They had been married for [...]
7Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedChained
By John L. Campbell It was one of countless failing farms in the West Virginia hill country, fields lying fallow and gone wild because there was no money for planting, a rusting tractor sinking into the earth because there was no money to fix it. The barn had collapsed in the center, looking like an [...]
6Mar2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedSalty
By John L. Campbell Cornelius LaBauve was eighty-seven and missing somewhere in the Louisiana bayou. The passenger in the big pickup was worried that the old man had run into a local myth, but the driver had his money on liquor-induced drowning or gators. Cole Doucet arrived at the LaBauve place around eleven in the [...]
4Mar2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Creation of a God
By Mike Zakrajsek My name is Arthur Vaughn, and I am a god. I’m not the “God” everyone prays to. I’m not delusional. Make no mistake, though, I am a god. I have the power. I control life and death. You might be wondering what I mean. I’ll tell you. To explain my transformation into [...]
1Mar2012 | admin | 5 comments | ContinuedScratch That
By Rath Dalton He was a hero but that’s all gone now. It was my sister’s fault. She returned from L.A. to meet him a week before our wedding and whispered in my ear, “He’s perfect,” her wine breath touching my face. I already knew he was wonderful but I never said it the way [...]
1Mar2012 | admin | 2 comments | ContinuedSand and Sky
By Mike Zakrajsek There was absolutely nothing I could do but squeeze my eyes shut when the sand blew. I had already accepted the fact that I was going to die a gruesome, sloppy death, and soon. I had accepted that a couple hours before, judging by the progression of the blazing sun across [...]
26Feb2012 | admin | 7 comments | ContinuedThe Woods
By Douglas W. Bowers He could make out the trees along the side of the dirt road, but just barely. Some light must have filtered through the clouds. He could also hear the wind scrape along their empty limbs, covering up the some of the sound of his footsteps on the soft dirt. But the [...]
24Feb2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedMy Life: The Untrue Story
by RRRoze Hanging Around the House We can’t keep a butler. I won’t allow it. I am going to see how long it will take- using filth and dust and garbage and moisture- to rot out the walls and load bearing structures of this home. I want to do a controlled demolition [...]
21Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Memory Tick
By Steve Land The door opened like all doors do, allowing entry or exit. The hinges moaned as if relieved to have discovered the key to a puzzling memory and the wind chime suctioned to the glass dusted the air with a bit of music…a reward, perhaps, for the hinge’s epiphany. Heat bled into the [...]
21Feb2012 | admin | 5 comments | ContinuedCackling and the Crypt
By Paul Reagan Smith It was one a.m. and I lay nude above layers of sweat soaked sheets. It was unusually hot for spring as the heat pulled the salty liquid from my clammy skin that beaded and rolled off my body. It was so quiet and still that my ears rang in defiance. I [...]
21Feb2012 | admin | 1 comment | ContinuedWatched
By Scot Walker Charlie was more than morose that final Monday morning. As a mid-level manager, he was the man in charge of hiring security guards for the Cooksey Management Company and it seemed to him that his nightmares would never end. As he lingered on the Washington beltway in a six-mile backup, his stomach [...]
18Feb2012 | admin | 2 comments | ContinuedTinnitus
By Don Liddick David Dawson was one of those types who liked to be alone. He never intended harm, but the folks who crossed his path were not wrong when they assessed him as “anti-social.” As a child friends had not come easy, and for a brief time David envied those kids who seemed to [...]
17Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Blush of Dawn
By Don Liddick “The carrion-fowl gather.” “Aye, ever has it been—the blood of men, even ere it be shed, acts as portent for beasts and discerning wizards.” Two stood on the escarpment, sidereal illume a mere glint on the broad cuirass of the one, the greater—the other a slender but eager shadow, bairn of the [...]
17Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedA Better Change
By W Jack Savage “Off the record,” he said, “now remember it’s off the record, and after saying he knew nothing about it for twenty minutes; off the record, he said that he was terribly sorry about the girl and, though they only knew each other slightly, it was a terrible shame and that he [...]
17Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedClown
By Stephan Ladanaj Part I I’m sure you’ll excuse the phenomenological approach to this narrative. I’ve been f-d up for a long time, and that’s the only way I can tell this story. Recent events haven’t helped any. It probably doesn’t matter. Nya. Georg Lukacs argued that literature has to confront reality, but I say [...]
15Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedWar Victims
By Douglas W. Bowers Tom Bernhardt was puzzled when he first received the invitation from Dr. Conners, but subsequent phone calls eased his mind. Tom had been at the University for only a few months, but his reputation working with the Department of Defense earned him and his family an evening with the chair of [...]
15Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Vestige
By Adrian Cory Mr. Chang tensed as the microphones pinned him to the top of the hospital steps. “Can you tell us why the operation has been cancelled, Doctor Chang?” the same question rang out from a number of different reporters in the melee. The aging surgeon craned his neck to try and see if [...]
12Feb2012 | admin | 0 comments | Continued