Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 164
164 There was something wrong, she knew that right away. Why did she feel so cold? Was the window open? She tried to paw it shut from the comfort of her bed like she had done on countless nippy mornings before, but something was holding her back. The...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 163
163 She was waiting for him in the snow. The red, red snow... pulsating, throbbing like a heartbeat, dark and light... "Banno, I'm cold..." she said, holding out her arms. The sun was shining through the trees and playing across her face in shifting...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 161
161 Banno felt... wrong. He did not understand why he felt this way. The 'why' of it was too much for him to grasp. Even the wrongness of it, the reason for all these feelings, was something he was barely aware of. It was a deep thing. A low thing....
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 160
160 In a grim twist of fate, Banno had become the very thing he had accused James of being. A walking corpse. A pile of meat without enough sense to know it was already dead. James shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying to time his attack...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 159
159 Banno stopped, his jaw still open wide, his single eye fixed on the serrated blade. It was only a fraction of a moment, but in it, James saw something that would stay with him for the rest of his life. The flat of the blade caught the fireplace...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 158
158 Banno didn't merely step through the door. He _unfolded_ himself through the door until his head was nearly brushing the ceiling. The fireplace cast his shadow along the wall; a misshapen abomination. "You should be dead..." James whispered, but...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 157
157 James jerked awake to the sound of someone hammering on the door. For a moment he had no idea where he was, and no way to look around, either, because there was something warm and fluffy pressed right up against his face. _Valery?_ She had one...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 156
156 It was dark. Too dark. He could barely see where he was going, but he couldn't stop. He had to keep going. His kids needed him to keep going, no matter what. They were all so tired, but there wasn't any time to rest. It was gaining. _Come on!_...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 155
155 Banno could see them up ahead; golden squares of light in the storm, beckoning him closer. Every snowflake falling past that light was transformed into a dying flame, as if her very presence was enough to make them real. "Don't worry, girl, we're...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 154
154 A stillness spread through the crowd. It lasted for only a moment, but in that moment, there were no more screams in the distance. No shouts. No roars. No sounds of teeth sawing through flesh or arrows piercing skin. There was only the crackle of...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 153
153 Sarah felt as if some horrible, sadistic demon had cut her open from throat to groin and scooped out all her insides, bones and all, leaving her completely hollow, numb to all sensations except pain. She knew she was crying, but she couldn't feel...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 152
152 "Who's still in there!?" someone shouted. Bethany did not know who. "For the love of the Cora, who's still in there!?" Voices. That's all they were. "Thoka, you and Ivio keep to the south side! Don't let those freaks get through! Denko, you stay...