Karoshi
Tezcat the jaguar was out in the jungle on his own one day, minding their own business, when he was suddenly surrounded by zombies who threw a net over him and shot him with a tranquilizer dart, then fell into unconsciousness. When he woke up in a...
Common Ground
'I don't need God. All I need is an amoeba!' (Greater Than One) Mandrake had had a complex relationship with his father when he'd been growing up. His father had been both a prominent psychologist and a deeply pious Jewish man. It had therefore...
Pokerface
I still remember the first time I lied. I never lied as a child. I'm autistic – it's anathema. It's not that we can't or won't lie, if push comes to shove. It's that, for most of us, we'll always avoid it whenever we can and, when times force our...
Off Limits
_"Time for bed, sweetie."_ _ Fran looked crestfallen. "Can't I just stay up until the next commercial?"_ _ Her mother grinned, endeared yet still reproachful. "You always say that." The days always seemed so short. Whenever they were at an end, all...
Die A Thousand Deaths
'Everyone has secret words that can save them. Everyone has secret words that can kill them.' (Unknown) "So they weren't slaves?" "Not technically," Fran's best friend had answered. "I'll be gosh-darned," the jackal had shaken her head....
The Spirit of the Law
"We are spirits in a material world." (The Police, Ghost In The Machine) "She was hooked up to one of those machines, you know?" Fran had nodded. "Hardest thing I ever had to do," her best friend had shaken her head. "Well, they're battle...
Bat Outta Hell
Rakim and his mother moved to the West when he was but a child. He only remembered bits and pieces from those days, the way one tends to half-remember things from early childhood, before one is even of age for kindergarten. Buildings, landscapes,...
Rods and Cones
From then on, he'd decided, he'd do the opposite of everything that he'd always done. Since he hadn't liked the way that his life had been going because of the kind of person that he'd been until then, to do the opposite would have to be the right...
Concerning Flight
Like the other teenagers at his high school, Rakim took an interest in video games. While the lower middle class meant his range of access could be somewhat limited, it became something he'd spent spare money on as soon as he had it, at least, for a...
Set In Stone
* * * * * * "What does she do, exactly?" Fran's best friend's story had been about a serial killer. "She never even touches them," the jackal's best friend had started. "She just talks to them. She learns everything about their lives, their...
Uncarved Block
'Thou shalt not carve any graven image.' (Ten Commandments) Clients would come to Mandrake for help - he wouldn't seek them out. People would hear about the fact that he'd been someone who'd listened to people, so when they'd had problems that...
Do No Harm
"So, you're here for a month, then?" Klein had sometimes wondered just how much you could and couldn't tell about people based on what their living quarters had looked like. Sometimes, it could be easy to jump to conclusions based on assuming too...