Nearby pines shiver, wind whipping through frost-encrusted needles. Wrapped in furs, I ignore the breeze. I’ve got more important things to worry about. Breath misting, I hold my bow ready.
In the distance, the arching mouth of a cave juts from the edge of a rocky, frostbitten foothill. A thick splatter of ice rims the rough-hewn edges.
Tari watched incense drift to the ceiling. After the ceremonies ended, when the artificial gravity automatically shut down, the fragrance would fill the pyramid—weaponized by the addition of a toxic compound. The haze would obscure the gold and precious jewels that glimmered from every surface, deterring any graverobbers who made it past the complex
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Two minutes until the session begins, and the folding chairs circling the gym are already filled. It’s going to be a long night.
Horatio’s seated to my left, which is good. Of all my patients, he tends to be the most level headed. Last session, Frank had that chair, and he packs
“Baku-san, come eat my dreams.” Woozy with exhaustion, I laid my head back on the clean white pillow to wait. But not to sleep. I could never sleep until the mission was over.
Outside the window of the tiny hotel room, a neon sign flickered in the endless city lights of Tokyo.
When facing a monster, espionage missions don’t have to be lethal.
Hopefully this is one of those times, Secret Agent Rebecca Edelweiss thought as she knocked on the cabin’s entrance. She squared her shoulders and put on her I mean business face while waiting for the creature to answer.
A bushy-haired, seven-foot man
“I understand your frustration, and can offer you a ten percent off coupon for any inconvenience this situation has caused.” I hold the glossy paper out in front of me like a shield. Judging by her pursed lips and battle stance—the kind honed in combat during multiple tours of 4 a.m. Black Friday
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I found the body at dawn.
The sailor was slumped against the wrecked stern in a bloody pulp. He clung to the humble fishing boat’s planking as the chilled waters of Lake Erie lapped the crumpled hull.
Poor soul.
Bart, my beagle, set his paws on the top rail of our small fishing vessel.
It was a balmy spring morning and Mr. Robert Washington was trundling down a dirt road in a beaten-up Ford F-Series. Around him, the corn grew tall and lush and the surrounding windbreaks teamed with life. Passerines sang, corvids squawked, crickets chirped, bees hummed, cicadas droned. And then, without warning or reason, they all
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The mecha’s armor plating groaned as another giant twelve-legged spider slammed against it. I shoved back. My megabot’s left arm swung out, smashing the monster into the hard-packed snow. Two more spiders replaced it, stepping over the twitching remains of the first.
I took a step back. The mecha’s foot slipped into open air.
Desire. Need. Hunger. It gnaws at the creature like sand in a gale, consuming every thought of its bestial mind.
Even the gaping wound in its side is forgotten by the needs of its stomach. Hunger.
A thin sliver of motion catches the creature’s eye, and it lashes out with crystalline fangs
Liam entered the Mountain of Death at dusk.
He adjusted his headphones, checked the volume unit—or VU—dial on the mixer strapped to his belt, and reasserted his grip on a boom pole carrying a shotgun microphone. With his headlamp’s yellow beam piercing the darkness, he pointed the mic’s windscreen into…
“Kaiju activity in quadrant E74-Delta. Standby for launch, I guess. Ugh, what a pain.” Bossa had no eyes to roll, but the wonky AI’s tone conveyed annoyance well enough.
I settled into the cockpit of my forty-ton mecha, determined to ignore the cold spear of doubt slicing through my mind as the walls of…
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