Shifters
Jim had taken Elaine for a walk in the deep forest. It was one of their favorite cheap dates, plus as their relationship deepened, he felt compelled to tell her something before they went any further. It was something that Jim felt she...
A Journal of the Plague Year
It was during the time after the Coronavirus had mutated to the Carnival Virus that the discovery had been made that public protection was possible against the new threat only while wearing full clown regalia, so Ted trudged around the aisles of his...
The Cup
Around 2,000 years ago, the founder of a major religion staggered down the Via Dolorosa, sorely oppressed by the ponderous weight of the wooden cross that he had been made to bear. Being scourged by a leaded whip and then led away to crucifixion...
World Without End
Roger had regarded his cat, Frankie, to be his best friend, so much so in fact that when the cat died he cremated the body and retained the ashes, stipulating that they be put into his coffin upon his own demise. In accordance with his will this...
Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow
On December 21st, 2012 the ancient aliens returned to the earth, their enormous motherships encircling the world and hovering over every major city. The aliens had the heads of animals and furry humanoid bodies, much as the gods had been depicted...
Trinity
Trinity by ff\_b Located just off the tip of Long Island and six miles from the Connecticut coastline, the Plum Island level-4 bioresearch facility was during the Cold War era a secret government installation reputed to be involved in the...
The Artist
The Artist by ff\_b It was one of those unseasonably warm days in early January when the butterfly flitted onto my shoulder. Those sixty degree days must have caused it to emerge prematurely, I thought. Still it was strange, and I...
Colosseum
**Colosseum** by ff\_b "See Rome and die," Roger's mother had always said. That was hopefully not to say that the visit would be lethal, but rather that Italy boasted so much for a visitor that one could be fully content just seeing the...
Apocalypse
**Leonard peered out of his apartment window at the gruesome scene on the street below, and pondered that the humans still living didn't deserve his help. They had, after all, mocked and scorned him all of his life, making him feel like a loathsome...
When the Rapture Comes...
Roger was sitting in his living room sucking down a Slushy on May 21st, the day that yet another extreme fundamentalist whack job had predicted the end of the world. _What a joke!,_ thought Roger, _the same whack job had predicted the end of the world...
The Way the World Ends...
**Walking along a deserted street near dusk one evening, I became aware of the sound of footsteps some distance behind me. Although I knew it was foolish, I slightly increased my pace. To my discomfort, the unknown walker behind me did the same. I...
Easter in Hell...
**A knock coming to my front door early one bright Easter morning was my first clue that things weren't going to be all sweetness and light that day; a steaming, viscous puddle of a black, tar-like substance was all over my doorstep. As I stared...