Havok Publishing

Tag - xenofiction

Cats of the Hermitage

The air smells like history, old paint, and other cats.
Your stomach flips as you look around the basement, the human who carried you down already retreating back upstairs. Cats of varying breeds mill about, lounge atop antique pipes, and nap in the crumbling nooks and crannies of the hall, a patchwork of…

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A Trial of Pride

The windship settled in the clearing beyond the edge of the village. Grruha cut the engines, then sat in absolute stillness with his paws still on the controls. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the savannah from the viewports.
The village stood eerily quiet.
“Let’s see what emergency summons us!” Larru was already…

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Human

I smell the humans before I see them.
Their oily scent mixes with the sharp freshness of wet snow. I catch a whiff of woodsmoke and the faint crackle of a campfire.
My hackles rise. I growl deep in my throat. My wolf pups are asleep in their den a safe distance

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CROP Brigade

Salt water dripped from sodden hammocks—intermittent patters percussing throughout the dropship against the steady hiss of misters coating the Caribbean Reef Octopus Paratroopers with cool saline. CROP-15 closed his eyes in contentment, swaying as his berth dangled in the metal fuselage. As central brain, he appreciated the effort these land-dwellers had put

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Sphinx and Maci

As Sphinx rolled over, the pain ripped at his side. He whimpered and stretched out one big, clawed Dutch Shepard foot to touch the kennel gate. What good was being in a spacious den if he couldn’t move around? Besides, there were bad guys out there to catch.
“Easy now.” The gentle nurse

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Amber Eyes

Golden eyes arrested my attention as I boarded the train. Her every movement was grace-ful—gray paws swinging her suitcase, ears peeking through the top of her hat, eyes sparkling in the waning sunlight.
Then she tripped. And laughed to herself.
“Miss,” I called out as the whistle tweeted and the train whisked me

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The Good Boy

When Rosco opened his eyes for the first time and saw the old man smiling back at him, all operational parameters pointed to one thing: it was going to be a happy life.
His performance diodes peaked under the kindly gaze and the feedback-response loop set his chain-link tail thumping uncontrollably against

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Impurrfect Crime

Ramona had lived in the Fairdale Lodge for most of her fourteen years. She prided herself on meeting all the guests as they checked in.
So, when she stepped into the lobby, she was delighted to see Bobby, the hotel manager, with his mothy pork pie hat askew, handing room keys to two men

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Guardian

Kabr slithered across the bloodstained cobblestones, eyeing the shadows bordering the backstreet of Veerion. The sharp twang of fresh death flared through his nostrils, stoking the fire in his chest. Beneath the foul stench, Merna’s perfume of old pages and secrets still lingered, even hours after her body

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Mistaken Identity

The wind howling across Haiz’s brown, leather wings could not drown out his roar as he sliced through the air back toward his cave. His voice bounced from valley, to village, and on toward the mountains, declaring his sovereignty over all things within his territory.
His scaled eyes scanned the ground below, searching.

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Ice and Lilacs

“Dad! Dad? You have to come see this. It’s like the Northern Lights but better.” Deedee ran into the bunker, snow spilling behind her as she whipped off her hat.

Cyclopes raised his head and wiggled his nose as he took in her lilac scent. The only flowers this side of the galaxy. 

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The Nipped Cat

“Felix!” My human slave sings my name, interrupting my afternoon slumber. I poke my head out from under layers of woolen blankets, reluctant to part from the cocoon I’ve rolled myself into, though my stomach is rumbling from starvation. My nose bobs up and down, searching for salvation, like a life raft filled

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