He rested his head against the door post. Cold sweat formed on his forehead and dripped down his face. Through the closed door he could hear them breaking through the flimsy barricade he had thrown up in front of the living room door. He trembled. He always knew this day would come but he never expected it would come so fast. No news on the TV or radio. No time to prepare. (more…)

“We have to tell the crew…” Highfield observed, grimacing.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Farris replied, “I mean, how many of them will have families…y’know…in the area.”

“That’s why they need to be told. Come on Cal, they’re professionals. They’re trained, we owe it to them to…” (more…)

Mike walked into the sun to make sure Beugin saw his shirt.  The shirt he wore boasted a Springsteen CD cover, the one with Bruce’s denim-clad butt in front of an American flag.  Since the Provisional Authority condemned Springsteen as a cultural terrorist, Mike figured sporting it would give Beugin all the probable cause he’d need to search for the contraband he’d been led to suspect was on the premises.  Mike picked the shirt, though, because he bought it at the first concert he took Tina to—a his and hers matched set of classic rock art. (more…)

“Some days you just want to walk out there and let the zombies munch on ya… Not!”

Nobody laughed. The skinny man with the smile that didn’t reach his eyes poured his last drop of hot sugar-water into the coals. They were out of coffee, tea, out of everything. Time to get on the road, do some scavenging. He turned to the joker.

“You are hilarious, Kermit, just freaking hysterically funny…”

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Ski!” (more…)

This day, the Twenty third Day of July in the Thirteen Hundred and Forty Ninth year of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I, Father Maurice Apuzzi, do commit to documentation all of the events that I have witnessed heretofore with all the honesty and truth that Our Lord God would command of one of his servants.

I have under great pain of conscience been forced to risk excommunication from the Holy Church for daring to spread the absolute truth about the events outside Your Lordship’s mighty walls so that you may know and reflect, as all benevolent rulers who are trust by God with provenance over his fellow man may from time to time. So that you might prepare for the true enormity of what is slowly creeping towards you from the Italian March. (more…)

Announcing the embarrassingly late contest winners for the first prize period of 2011:

1st Place: NEEDS by Jeffrey DeRego

Runner up: LOST AND FOUND by Barrett Shumaker

A thousand thanks to our contributors and readers.

Lead them to victory.

1.

Higgins hears the deer approaching. A buck – five-pointer at least. He spent enough time canvassing the Allegheny’s to know the difference between the dainty sound of a doe and the lumbering sound a buck. But he can’t do anything about it, except hope the deer continues on into the shallow woods.

Higgins clears his throat to whisper into the headset, but Whitney’s voice crackles through his ear-piece before he has the chance.

We see him, Whitney says. (more…)

CHAPTER ONE

“Wait for me…”

The thought touched briefly in Jason’s mind and he looked up at the blazing sun. Who had said that? And when? Just as quickly, the thought was gone and he looked down at the road again, his feet scraping against the concrete. It hurt to move. The sun was too hot against his sunburned skin and his eyes felt too dry. Two days ago someone had shot him-not too bad, just a scratch against his leg, but a small cloud of flies were starting to gather around the wound, irritating the skin. He wanted to brush them away, but most of the time he couldn’t communicate the simple thought to his brain. Part of him wanted to sit down and do nothing, but hunger kept his legs moving shakily forwards.  (more…)

Josiah smelled the stinker as he was building a house of cards to stave off boredom.  He froze, considering his options. Papaw always told him, ‘Measure twice, cut once. You can’t put four more inches back on the board if it’s too short.’  The black-out curtains on the windows of their hidey-hole were down (he had checked them earlier, something he did obsessively). With the curtains down at this time of night, the second floor section of the old factory they called home would be literally pitch black. He didn’t know how much stinkers depended on sight, but he’d take any scrap of an advantage he could get. (more…)

“Alright,” you think. “That should be enough.”

You have been banging on the air conditioning unit on top of the rooftop of the store for some twenty minutes now. Although you look at your now-dented aluminum bat with some regret, you remind yourself that if this works it will be well worth it. (more…)

Sequel to CONSEQUENCES

John slowly awoke. It took him several seconds to remember where he was. He was used to waking up in a strange house or in the back seat of a car but this was the first time he’d woken up in a helicopter.

Rubbing his tired eyes, and stretching as much as he was able in the cramped confines, he looked out the window at the countryside passing by. Every now and then he caught sight of a zombie stumbling across an empty field. For some reason they never seemed to look up and notice the helicopter. (more…)