The Uninvited
_ **The Uninvited** _ At the busy airport in the capital city of Carjackistan, I saw the American traveler ahead of me inadvertently bump into an older native gentleman. "Oops, sorry!," offered my countryman apologetically. The foreign man...
Liberation
In Bavaria in the early 18th century, a woodsman named Hans went forth into the forest one morning to hunt wild boar, leaving his wife Greta behind in their humble cabin as usual. The long-suffering woman watched her husband trudge ahead until the...
Dead Things
It was in those days following the cosmic seeding of Earth with the virus which would bring the dead back to life that I sat in the _Restless Dead_ bar, drinking...what else?...a Zombie, that mixture of fruit juice, liquer, and various rums, a potent...
The Last Diablero
They say that the last diablero, a type of evil male witch, was killed in 1942 after having killed dozens of villagers with his sorcery. This could not be tolerated, and so the villagers acting as a group took the sorcerer by surprise one evening,...
Black-Eyed Girl
The knock came to my door late, far later than a girl of her age should have been out by herself. Her face was veiled by the hooded sweatshirt that she wore, which combined with her downcast glance made it impossible to see her features clearly. "Let...
The Cabin
**The Cabin** by ff\_b Larry and Darryl had been best buds since junior high school, so it was only natural that they wound up together in the hunting cabin on the evening of October 31st. After a few hours of cards and Coors, Darryl...
Furry Guns
**Furry Guns** by ff\_b The fox sat quietly in the bar nursing a root beer, since there wasn't a heck of a lot else to do in the 1870's. 'Bummer," he thought, "the internet won't even be invented yet for well over 100 years!' ...
Anomaly
**Anomaly** by ff\_b Dr. Chan the paleontologist furrowed his brow and mopped beads of sweat from hisforehead. The newly-excavated Tyranosaurus Rex skeleton was highly unusual,with several remarkable features that couldn't readily be...
Amazing Journey
**Amazing Journey by ff\_b ("Sickness will surely take the mind...where minds don't usually go." -- The Who) Many cultures have regarded the visions which one may have under the influence of drugs or illness to provide a portal to...
The Artist
The Artist by ff\_b It was one of those unseasonably warm days in early January when the butterfly flitted onto my shoulder. Those sixty degree days must have caused it to emerge prematurely, I thought. Still it was strange, and I...
Colosseum
**Colosseum** by ff\_b "See Rome and die," Roger's mother had always said. That was hopefully not to say that the visit would be lethal, but rather that Italy boasted so much for a visitor that one could be fully content just seeing the...
Endgame
_ **Endgame** _ by ff\_b In early December of 2012, CIA Director David Petraeus arrived for a secret meeting at the White House with President Obama. "Mr. President," began Director Petraeus, "I have extraordinary news!" "What might that be,...