You hired who!?

Enrique Ockendo cursed. “Shana!” “Yes, Boss.” “You the one responsible for recruitment after Earl died?” Shana shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Uh-huh. Is there a problem?” “How did you decide who to hire?” Shana bit her lower lip. “The usual. Asked around Dexter’s. Found out who was best. Took them on.” “Did you […]

The heart of the matter

“I’m telling you. His heart – boom! Popped right out of his chest.” “You’re kidding me right?” “I never joke about death. Or sex,” said Shana Gomez. “Anyway, this ain’t no joke. I swear it was his heart – red, fleshy, pulsating – on his sodding lap.” “On his lap…” Jesse Daly’s words tailed off. […]

Death of a mortar lorry

“You joining us, Shana?” Shana slowed her pace as the Viathan Warrior drew level with her. Red sand billowed up from the trucks enormous wheels and clung to her sweat-slicked skin. “We’re going after The Turpins”. Angela Dike gestured to Norm to slow down so she could speak. “Gonna show them you can’t chase down […]

Show her the Ropes

Angela Dike took a deep breath and pushed open the door to Dexter’s.   After the glare of the noonday sun, the bar was gloomy and dark. Shards of glass crunched under her feet. “Beg your pardon,” she said as she barked her shin on something hard. She heard a throaty chuckle. “Stand still for […]

Requiescat in pace

`Little` Bettye Cornell of The Vanguards died at Forever Yellow Skies. In a perfectly executed ambush, she climbed out of her Windsor to check on the unconscious pedestrian. Who fired a crossbow bolt at point blank range straight between the eyes. You will be missed. James ‘Jimmy’ Ward, died on the Road to Elmsfield when […]

Stand and Deliver

Shana Gomez grumbled. Great gouts of black smoke shot skyward from the engine compartment. Soot and grease, oil and sand, all mixed on the windshield. “Goddamnit,” she swore, as she leaned out of the Blaster’s ruined side door. Her face was soon black with oil and gritty with dust, but at least she could see […]

From our Firelight Correspondent

This story originally appeared in the Darkwind Gazette Firelight is a forbidding place. For many, the very name is synonymous with Hell on earth, the Inferno as envisaged by Dante or Hieronymous Bosch, a Ragnarok where the dead stalk the land and the fires of Judgement Day spew forth from a blasted landscape. To the […]

Limpet beacons?

Jake was an habitual early riser. By midday, the heat of the inflamed sun was unbearable, so he always aimed to make use of the early hours, when the heat was only memory, a fear, before the sun’s strength sapped energy and enthusiasm and your only thought was to find shade and curl up and […]

Hey Boss, look what I found.

“Hey Boss, look what I found.” Enrique Oquendo hurried into Dexter’s. His youthful face shone with enthusiasm and pride. In his hands he held a small rectangular object, wrapped in a bloodied shirt. “Sorry for the mess, boss. Didn’t have anything else to protect it from the dust, and I figured Xena’s cohort didn’t need […]

Why I deathrace – part III

“One lap down, five entrants out, Time to make my play.” Amy passed the lap marker and considered her position. Her armour was gone on the left, but otherwise strong. The pack was reduced, more than half the competitors had resigned. At least two of them were dead. She was at the back of the […]