Kata - A Reluctant Shaman Story

He’s naked. Every curve of muscle, every scar and tattoo a stark contrast to the sharp lines of his body. He stands at rapt attention; his form perfect and his sword arm unwavering.  His eyes are closed as he centers and grounds himself. I love watching him like this. Drives him nuts, but he’s too disciplined to break and tell me to go away. Resting on the dew-wet grass, I sit quietly for that moment that always comes.

Every morning he comes out here and does his exercises. Some mornings it’s simple calisthenics, others he takes off for a run around the woods nearby. But today is special, and that’s why I’m out here slowly letting dew soak through my pants as the sun breaks the horizon.

Milk Run - A Dauntless Story

The ship moved silently through the dark.  The Dauntless was far beyond the charted systems and well outside of the normal shipping lanes. The stars were distant pin-pricks in a sea of black.
“Navigation shows nominal drift. Secondary stability thrusters offline for diagnostic checks and port main thruster is showing a variable reading on heat sensor two. Decker is enroute to bay 4 to for EVA and I’m awaiting his signal to cut all power to the port main thruster so we don’t accidentally cook our engineer. Sneed reports that armory inventory is complete, and on your desk, and Rocker units are showing green across the board. Comms reports no abnormal chatter on the commercial and civie channels and no pings within range. Oh, and dipshit is waiting in your briefing room.” XO McGrath gave her report. Captain Page lifted his eyebrow at his second.

Piglet and the Oak Tree - A Flash Fiction Short

The storm raged overhead, wind whipping through the forest as rain lashed through canopy. Branches swayed and clashed and the ground grew sodden. Forks of lightning illuminate the sky as rumbles of thunder roar between the boughs.
The small piglet scrambles through the dark and the wet, terrified and alone. Separated from its herd, the small pig crashes through bushes and underbrush, too scared to think. It wants it’s family, the comforting touches of brothers and sisters pressing in from the sides, the protective all-encompassing presence of mother, the gruff affection from father. The storm had scattered them, and the piglet ran deeper into the old wood.

Home - A Flash Fiction Short

She pushed through the door to her little place roughly. She was exhausted and sore, and just wanted to be done with the day. Her little house was tucked back in the woods a bit, which allowed her the luxury of being left the hell alone when she felt like this. She flopped bonelessly into her favorite chair and took a deep breath. The sound of a chair scuffing across the floor comes from her kitchen.

New Lands

The chanting was growing more insistent. Gregory gripped his dagger's sweat-slicked hilt and concentrated on his breathing, remembering everything the order had taught him. The cultists in the next room were oblivious to his presence and hadn't noticed the missing guards, whose bodies were cooling in a supply closet.

Darkness Waking

The field stands barren, a craggy and uneven square forgotten beyond the edge of anyone's property lines. A bent and burnt tree stands in the middle of the field, casting contorted shadows across the stony earth. Nothing else grows here; nothing has grown here in a long time. Looking, the field feels...wrong. It's borders, the swell and shape of the uneven surface, the skeletal reach of the tree limbs are just...wrong in a way you can't quite touch. The lines don’t seem to be right. The perspective shifts wrong. The light bends weird. Its wrong and looking too long hurts the mind and strains the eyes.

They Ran - A Flash Fiction Short

They didn’t talk to each other. They moved quickly and quietly, winding through the suburban neighborhood just as the dark grey of dawn lightened into morning. One had a bloodied bandage wrapped around his forehead, where a richochet had cut deep when that guy in the suit had started shooting at everyone on I-5. They were lucky, a lot of people hadn’t gotten off the interstate yesterday but they had. All of the obvious ways out of the city were now jammed packed with cars and bodies, all trying to escape what was happening. And, today, those ways out were now death traps.

Dude Tells No Lies - A Flash Fiction Short

She cast her line in the water and set her legs just so to comfortably wait. This was her home, with the water rushing by and the buzz of insects skimming the water around her. And, if luck smiled on her, home would provide a beautiful catch for dinner tonight.

Zombies - Snippet #3

“It's just an overnight stay hon, nothing serious. The doc just wants to make sure that I'm fine and nothing goes funny.” Allison smiles at me over Sarah's head, her arms wrapped around the snoozing munchkin.
“Go on and head home for a shower, I'll just harass the nurses till you get back.” I want to argue with her, convince her that I'm fine and don't need a shower and a nap, but she knows me too well. I've been awake for over twenty-four hours now, running basically on caffeine at this point and battling a rough adrenaline come down. I'd just been too worried about Allison to get any sleep, even after the doc had given me the all clear and the danger had passed.

Zombies - Snippet #2

Charles DuPont looks forward to his yearly business trip to Seattle with a fervor that always surprises his co-workers. While most of them loathe the week long series of lectures and seminars aimed to 'increase synergy' and help them find those 'win-win-win' situations, Charles welcomed them with an enthusiastic smile. What no one else knew was that it wasn't the endless talks or the schmoozing that he was coming for, it was a week in the arms of Chelsea. Beautiful Chelsea from accounting.

The Resort

Erik rounded the corner and ran down the darkened hallway. The howls of pursuit reverberated around him, distorted and ragged. His legs burned and his breath came as jagged gulps, but he didn't dare let up. Erik's shirt clung to him, though he couldn't tell if it was sweat or blood causing it to stick to his skin. He quietly prayed it was sweat, though a part of his mind was certain it was Lisa's blood. They had been hiding out in a maintenance closet since things had gone crazy, only venturing out to scavenge for food and water or to dump the bucket they'd been using for waste out. Lisa had convinced him that things probably had quieted down enough that they could risk a run to the marina, maybe find a boat and get the hell off the island. She was the first out the door when they decided to go.

Salt and Bone - An End of an Age Story #2

Macfie woke late in the afternoon to a litany of curses coming from the garden. Stretching, he ambled out of the house to the back porch. Titch turned and, with disgust, pitched a holey cabbage towards the compost pile. “It’s those gods blasted pixies! Blast and damn them! I keep setting the copper lines around the cabbages, and the damned pixies steal it. Then the double-damned slugs get into the cabbages!” Titch threw his hat into the dirt and stomped for effect, punctuating his words with a hop and stomp. The man held in a laugh, knowing full-well that letting his mirth show was a sure way to send Titch into full-on meltdown. No one liked an enraged hobgoblin. Titch may be peaceable most of the time, but a hob was a hob, and hobs knew some creative ways to channel their anger if the mood catches them.

Salt and Bone - A End of An Age Story #1

FALL
He carried the buckets slowly back up the rocky trail. The seawater sloshed gently in each pail, syncopated to the huffs of breaths as the man pushed along. This was the third such trip he’d made, and the exertion was starting to show. The little cove he’d found wasn’t easily accessible, but it was the finest source of clean sea water he’d found on the little island. An almost pristine clam bed and other shelled friends cleaned the water scrupulously and the narrow inlet reduced the exchange with the broader sound, giving the cove a chance to create a clean little corner of the ocean. And, better still, it seemed to be an unknown little gem, evidenced by the overgrown rocky trail and lack of any signs of humans and their inevitable mess. Clean water was important for the man’s task.

The Lady At Home - A Reluctant Shaman Story

“Just breathe and listen to the metronome. Follow it’s rhythm and… “ 
 
Will’s voice hangs in the smoky air. The candles burning around us and the small brazier between us fills the air with fragrant wisps and makes everything feel closer. I sit crossed-legged in the circle he guided me to draw. I was going to travel. My first time. Will was scared, but was trying really hard to hide it. 
 
I breathe and focus my thoughts. He’s given me the images to hold to, the symbols and statements of intent I’ll need. I listen to his voice as he continues, offering guidance and providing a pattern to hold to. I breathe and let myself fall inward. 
 

The Rest Stop - An Adventurer Story

The man moved slowly, nursing a limp and the bandage around his left arm was showing the first blossom of red through it. The stretch of highway he found himself on was long abandoned, a relic from a heyday that was already gathering dust by the time his parents had been born. Grass grew along the shoulder, wetting the bottom of his pants with dew as he trudged along. The highway itself offered no easy path, as its surface was long cracked and tilted, with green pressing up through in a neverending effort to reclaim lands once tamed by man. The man shivered lightly, his torn shirt and jeans barely enough to keep him warm as the sun sunk below the treeline and nothing in his backpack that would offer much more protection. 

The Commission in the Woods - An Adventurer Story

Left right, left right, the music makes him sway as he moves through the forest. His earbuds snug in his ears pulsing his friend’s dance mix, the beat and harmonies giving him a soundtrack as he stalked silently through the woods. It created an aural cocoon around him, making the forest around him feel more foreboding. Sweat trickled down his back, adrenalin and fear warring against his focus and determination to focus on the music. Left right, left right, his shoulders swayed, his steps almost a dance as he moved to the music only he could hear.

Zombie - Snippet #1

The jungle was quiet. The rustle of the canopy was hushed. Then, with a thundering crash, the silence was broken. The man fell out of the jungle wall, torn and bleeding. Landing on his face, he slowly pushed himself up and kept moving. His eyes stared ahead not seeing anything.