Arc 3: Learn Quickly

I tilted my chair back precariously, playing with the balance just to keep myself from drifting off. The work felt unending. I put in twelve hours yesterday just to come in and find more paperwork on my desk, more fires to put out, more regulations on our actions being placed down from above that made […]

“Find her!” I pressed against the stable door, trying hard not to breathe too loudly. The mob’s trampling footsteps grew louder, rushing past my hiding spot, then became softer. With my sharpened senses I could still hear them a ways off. They would be back. I’d lost them half a dozen times throughout the night,

I sat on the sodden grass, staring at the huge pile of pink flesh, praying to God it wouldn’t start moving again on its own. My head was pounding, it felt like the roar of the river was coming from inside my own brain. The hunger had been satiated and now I was left with

The smooth, featureless head of the monster swayed slightly. It had shiny pink skin, like a massive worm. “You just going to watch, or are you going to help me?” Chase whispered in my head. The rain, the darkness, the towering inhuman thing, all of it made me remember that night. My pulse quickened and

Sullivan adjusted his posture and raised his eyebrows. “You want to work for me?” Dismay crept into Nell’s emotion. She didn’t think this was the right choice. What other choice did we have? Meanwhile there was another problem. My hands were shaking and it wasn’t all from fear. The fire was back. Not as strong

Sullivan stood casually, leaning slightly to one side with his hands in his pockets. A heavy brow hung over serious grey eyes that matched his suit. His clothes looked expensive, but he wore no jewelry, not even a watch. My eyes slid off of him as I got another intense whiff of cooking meat. Where?

“Don’t try to act clueless in front of your friends,” I spat. My head swam from the blow and it was difficult to focus on just one person: Alek looking bemused, a man who had pulled aside his jacket to reveal a gun tucked into his waistband, another with a wide frame and a square

“Slow him down!” I shouted over the wind that whipped between the buildings, howling at me as if even nature was on Alek’s side. “I’m trying!” Nell replied. “He’s slippery, just like the bugs.” Alek briefly looked over his shoulder at us and then banked sharply to dart inside an apartment complex. Chittering and the

My whole body reacted, straining to reach Nell’s side but the armored creature in the doorway held me fast in a grip that felt like an iron vise. “Nell!” I shouted. She stumbled back, face stricken with fear as the monster opened its large pincer with an audible snap. She raised her hands instinctively to

I took out two flashlights from my bag and handed one of them to Nell. The twin beams flicked on and cut through the dark, illuminating chairs and desks stacked against the walls. Alek walked ahead, leaving footprints in the thick layer of dust. Nell shone her light on a pile of stacked boxes that