Bright streetlamps of orange and yellow light the way home, along the backroads of the city. My boyfriend always cautioned me each day before heading to work to take the main roads on my way home. But after eight hours in an office I want to get home quick. He says that the darkness brings out the devil in people; but I think he's simply paranoid. It's sweet, but unnecessary.

I slip past a ruined...

Ryan dragged his feet down the high street. He remembered when it had been a bustling hub of interconnectedness, with people from all walks of life running for the bus, sliding in and out of shops, and strolling with friends. They were no more. No more busses, no shops, and no friends.

It was still unsettling to know that he was alone. That he alone had outlived the rest. He was the last human - ...

Something cold and raw ripped into me. Without thinking my left hand clutches at the base of my throat, while my right is anchored by the overwhelming weight of my gun. My eyes stutter across the desert surroundings. Strong winds have picked up and swirl the sand into a fog barrier, barring my view of whatever caused the rupture in my body.

Pulling my hand away I see the causation of my shock - b...

Between my palms the oars screeched as they cut through my skin. The wooden handles were rough and unforgiving, if I pulled my hands away I would see my blood splattered across them, painting a picture of my pain. Splinters had sprung and began digging into my skin. My strength had sapped from my soul after only a few strokes on the river, will was the only thing powering my movements - and luckil...

His fingers clutched at my forearm and slid down to my wrist, where he pressed against my silver bracelet. I feigned resistance and lightly rugged away, but I was well aware that we would not leave the fair before I faced the psychic. My friend had an affinity for psychics, horoscopes and all the pseudo-magic, ancient symbols telling him to buy milk at the shop, predictions so common that the like...

Sobbing. That’s the first sound that ushered me to her. Through the thin wall the head of my bed rested against I could hear gentle mewling and tears, which were trying to be silenced. It was faint, almost unrecognizable. But it was there, just above my head and through the wall. I let my mouth hang open to quieten my breath, attempting to catch a sound of her mood improving. It did not.

I hadn’t...

She tightened her fist and hardened herself. The journey to the Tilting Tower had been almost a week long trek and all of her energy had been sapped. Stale blood crusted along the breaks in her skin and if she focused she could still smell the singe of her hair from that unfortunate encounter with an overzealous dwarf. Dirt decorated her skin and a swelling still burned and bubbled over her poigna...

‘When we were first briefed on the task I thought it was some kind of joke, as did most of my co-workers. But the boss didn’t let it up if it had been. We ran through a quick refresher of our job - if it was true then this was the biggest job of our lives and I don’t think mistakes would have been appreciated. The day before we were scheduled to start I kissed my wife and baby girl goodbye and was...

Sheriff Buster Hardgrove rarely came down from his office up north to the lowly town he’d been forced to give authority to Town Marshall Horace Fletcher, but today he was there. He had his deputies round up the people of the town and gather in the centre of town where he was to make an announcement about the recent disappearance of the Town Marshall. It didn’t take a learned man to notice the tens...

Detective Harrison Taylor stood on the end of his beach house. It had been over ten years since his appointment to the Devon and Cornwall Police and finally he’d been able to afford a house on the coast, bordered by the white cliffs. He found it relaxing that he was able to wake up each morning to the radiating cliffs, and walk with the sea breeze whenever he wanted to.

It’s the perfect set up fo...