“I’ve got a good feeling about you, Planet 77.”
My heart thundered with the anticipation of facing the water-hungry nightmare that had buried our planet. Our ship slowed as we breached the skies of Earth.
“Don’t forget the cloaking device.” Jones reached over my shoulder and flipped a toggle. “I’d rather not be deified this time.”
The end of the world was an inconvenient time to have eighty-foot-long hair.
Rapunzel bolted through the forest, trying to ignore the echoing moans that chased her. Her head snapped back when an unruly strand of hair tangled around a branch. She yanked it free, then pumped her legs as hard as
Rydinger flipped the hood over his head as a chill wind whipped around a corner. He clutched the waxed fabric parcel closer.
“You sure about this, Red?” His insides twisted at his cowardice. Nessa deserved better.
The shadow in front of him didn’t slow.
“I guess that’s my answer,” he muttered, quickening
Once more, the sun set on Reuben’s farm. Beneath the fuchsia sky, no kittens mewed, no cattle lowed. Eerie quiet filled the chicken coop, the barn, and even the doghouse. Not even birdsong broke the farm’s unnatural silence. To the east, however, the world began to stir as sunlight left its skies. Living creatures
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“Don’t worry, I’m generally pretty good at this stuff,” Detective Thomason said, using a gloved finger to prod the corpse.
“Generally? What do you mean by that?” Sabrina couldn’t control the horrified look on her face as the detective started sniffing the body.
“Hmmmmm.” Thomason frowned. “I think it best to say this man
Hanu wiped sweat from his brow and gazed up at the looming mountains. His mentor, a local wizard, powered up the slope. Soft light escaped the man’s worn robes: the glow of an energy stone. Hanu clenched his teeth. Of course, he’s allowed to use magic.
Unconsciously, Hanu’s hand drifted towards the inner pocket…
The wolf pack was hunting again. I could sense it in how their ears perked, the subtle way they started to fan out and slink off, taking up their positions perfectly without any audible communication.
Scanning the city streets far below me through my scope, I searched for their prey.
“What happened to this world?” Jake whispered, peering through the gateway.
Lila pulled a gizmo from her pack and stepped through. “That’s what we’re here to find out.”
Jake followed hesitantly, clutching his tranq gun. “It looks so… normal.”
Lila shot him a quizzical look. “Every world looks normal, more or less
The clock struck nine and the dog winked out of existence.
George watched, openmouthed, from the breakfast table, the scent of bacon tickling his nostrils. Behind him, Mary hummed to herself over the crackle of the frying pan. He looked around slowly, measuring his movements.
“Mary?”
She turned. Her hazel eyes sparkled with life,
It’s been weeks—months, maybe—since the world ended. Since my city burned. But the smoke lingers, turning the sky gray-gold.
I catch my breath in the shade of a dune, listening for something beyond the hollow rasp of wind over sand.
Trolls never give up once they have the scent
Olivia held a test tube up to the gray sky. Diffused light filtered through the greenish water. Please, let today be the day. She propped the glass against a rock and dug out a pack of litmus strips. “Maybe once the silt settles—”
“Probably not.” Mari’s hazmat suit crinkled as she walked past.
Two years ago, people would have said the old farmer was paranoid, putting electrified razor wire around the whole perimeter of his property.
Today is a different story.
The line of hunched-over shoulders shuffles toward the fence line. One by one, the men ahead of me approach the gate and speak to the warden,
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