Short Story

Marcus had a bemused look on his face that melted into one of pure incredulity. First she refused to come down, and then , she wandered off without leave? As a naval commander and ship's master, the penalty for any slave who left the person of any officer without leave was to be lashed to the deck for a half day and get 10 strokes of the Cat. And yet, this brazen cocotte with the copper tresses felt free to so disrespect her own Master in his own household?

it is life, Mama!” Mama: “Oh—so now its life. Money is life. Once upon a

An explosion rocked the town, widows shattered and cars alarms wailed, A line of twenty Abram tanks rolled side by side on parallel roads, through the town of Mesa Grande, but, all heading the same direction, to the west. Boom, boom , boom-boom, as the Abrams fired their 120mm M256 smoothbore guns in a hellish symphony toward their targets, the Heat rounds strike time and again on target, plumes of fire, smoke, and sand leapt in the sky, forming craters across the desert to the west of town.

He turned around, and that was when he saw it. There was no doubt about it. The man, if one could even call it that, was large and bulky, and smelled of ash and blood. Jasper bit the inside of his cheek so hard he could taste something metallic inside his mouth. Without wasting another precious moment, Jasper turned on his heel and took off. He was sure he could hear the stranger’s feet pounding on the damp soil. He knew the man was weighed down by all the fur pelts of the animals he had probably maimed and killed, but Jasper could tell he was close behind from the pure stink of his ripe body odor. His eardrums were filled with the sound of his pumping blood and his own panting breath. He thought he was going to make it, he truly did. His hopes died, however, when he felt something grab at the back of his torn and bloodied clothes. Jasper cried out as he felt blunt fingernails scrape at the back of his neck before grabbing hold of his shirt and yanking him back. He could feel his skin tear as a particularly sharp branch sliced his abdomen clean across. He knew it was a shallow laceration, but his vision still fogged up, his body threatening unconsciousness due to the sheer amount of pain it was in. Jasper fought it, though. His breaths were coming in and out too fast and too short, and he was fully aware that he couldn’t keep this up much longer. His vision was darkening and he felt as though his body was collapsing in

Then, with his call the ground beneath our feet began to shake as if a second train were about to cross over the bridge. The vibrations pace quickened to a tremor. Stones and other pieces of loose gravel scattered over the ground started to slide dancing to the sudden earthquake. Old deadfall branches and piles of half-rotten leaves began to make their way down the hillsides as they tumbled into the creek. The sounds of subsiding earth, then became replaced by sounds of deep, hoarse moaning than seemed to resonate throughout the air as it flooded in from all around us.

The wild look of panic in Henry’s eyes stared into Jim’s as he realised he too was now moments away from danger and possible death. “Henry, run please, you must save yourself!” Jim cried over the blasts ringing in the cold air. “You still have a chance, go! Run for cover!” But it was too late. Jim watched helplessly as bullets pieced through Henry’s torso, the life from his eyes quickly vanishing. “Henry!” he yelled, but his voice was now no comfort to a now lifeless corpse that was once Henry. His body lay across Jim’s, creating a protective barrier, Jim lay helplessly under his friend’s motionless body. “Henry” he gasped with a shallow breath, he wanted to cry, to scream but all noise had escaped his lungs.

“Hold the line, soldier!” Rex ordered. Hevy got back up and pulled out his SMG and started fighting again.

My body jerked as I hit the hard ground with a thud. A sharp pain erupted through my right arm. I laid there before making a soft whimper, as the pain became stronger. Jacob kneeled beside me rambling questioning me over and over. I didn't listen, I tuned him out starring in front of me, feeling my throbbing arm. When I turned my attention to Jacob, his desperate voice rung through my head.

He tried to call out to Io, tried to beg him for help, but he couldn’t. Strings of words wove themselves together above his head, but refused to make any sense. Someone stripped him; someone else stuck something to his forehead and chest, arms and legs. A dot of pain in his hand felt like an IV.

and saw her mom and sister, in their own bikinis. Smiling, she placed a handful of sun screen on her legs and rubbed it in, she continued up to her chest, neck, and face. Offering her sister, the bottle. Taking off her bikini top, she laid face forward, so her sister could place some lotion on her back, and places where she could not reach.

I turned once more and flinched as the feeling of being torn in two felt even more real. Ronen stood there, blood still running down his chest, but his eyes filled with fire. His hand holds me at my back while a fist his thrust towards my stomach. Something foreign was lodged in my midsection and filled me with fire and ice at the same time. I look down and see the hilt of a blade buried in my stomach, dripping blood.

1. The house was set in the middle of a field or at least what used to be a field. As I walked into the house, I could smell rot all around me. I could feel the chill of the house creeping into my bones-I could almost taste it. To my left was a broken table, with a dusty old vase next to it. In front of me were some stairs. I walked up those stairs, and with each step I could hear the stairs creak beneath me, just waiting for a chance to snap. I looked up when I got to the top, and in front of me was a room that seemed to be an old kitchen, to my left a bedroom, and to my right a small closet. I entered the kitchen. In the shelves were a few old food cans. There were a sink and a table. Nothing much to see in there. I walked into the

Louis laid completely still on his stomach pretending to be asleep. He kept his right leg bent and moved his left leg so it laid straight on the lumpy mattress. There was a hand lightly rubbing circles on his back. He knew it was Sterling but he didn’t have the energy to push the alpha away. He only closed his eyes pretending it was one of the alpha's back at the cabin.

The room was silent as Todd sent the message, the man just staring at the screen and re-reading his words, deciding if he'd attempt to trace Yardy or leave that to Hannah, all sorts of thoughts running through his head, and even after twenty seconds impatient for a reply. As if the cat could sense he needed encouragement, when Todd finally cleared his immediate thoughts of Hannah, Biggles stretched and padded across the floor, to nuzzle against his arm.

Zach was sleep in his favorite sweater, Jack and Corbyn got him for his birthday, but only they know about it.