Creatures
Part 2 -- The Conclusion
by Anon Allsop

Chapter 21

It was dark by the time they had loaded both of the corpses into the Suburban, Chet and the dogs left a little while after they had found Stew. Each corpse couldn't have weighed more than thirty pounds. The skin on each was stretched tight like blackened paper, and only their clothes told the men who they once had been.

Quietly, almost reverentially, they drove back to town where the doctor was already waiting for them at his office. Holding the door, he watched as both Stew and Eve were carried in and placed upon separate gurneys.

We find out more about Isabellas past and how she came here and the Empress herself makes an appearance here.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Kelly moves slowly as she follows behind Victoria.

They just came back from the doctor’s office that Kelly had an appointment with. Since she was playing a lot of female parts and passing herself off as a woman. She decided to have some sort of surgery to make it easier for her to tuck and pass as a woman.

Love is a many splendored -- thing?

Twins
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Part 1:

“How did you get me in to this?” Jasper asked his sister.

“It just came out,” replied Jade. “When he said he was a twin I just blurted out that I was a twin too. Then he suggested the double date, and … well, he just so cute I could not say no.”

Rivals
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Samuel Dunleavy and Nicholas Gubbins were friends and rivals. They had been since they were small boys. I had been a long time.

The truth is that it was this rivalry that had made them successful. What they lacked in basic intelligence they made up for with tenacity, and that was driven by they desire to outdo one another.

“Is there an animal you think is particularly like you?”

I blinked. What an odd question. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? “An animal? Uh—a chipmunk?”

She turned to grin at me. “I believe it,” she said.

"Hey, it's only a little blood. I've seen more when I cut myself shaving."

Nothing I said seemed to have any effect. She kept calling for help in between hugging me and telling me I'd be alright. She kept muttering to herself, "not again, not again," before calling out again.

Wyatt, Gloria, Grace, and Anthony meet in one of the conference rooms on the floor Raven was on. Wyatt looks at everyone gathered at the conference table “we need to stop this assassin. They are going to attack again and the next time they might succeed.”

“So, what do you have in mind?” Anthony looks at Wyatt. He was wondering what they could do to stop the assassin.

“A simple switch and bait trap.” Wyatt figures they need to pull a page from their mother’s playbook.

“Switch and bait? What’s involved in that?”

Things had gotten a lot clearer since yesterday. It helped that I didn't have to worry about Christina. The nurses did tell me about her catfight with Rick's wife. I'm sorry I missed it. Maybe there was security footage. I'd ask.

Okay, I'm a guy, the idea of Christina and another women fighting kind of turned me on. As long as she didn't find out.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Somebody needed to turn off the damn alarm. I tried to reach for it but all I felt was pain. I decided to go back to sleep.

I opened my eyes again and there she was right above me smiling. Just like in my dream. She kissed me. Then there were more faces. I wanted to tell them to get out of my dream but I couldn't make my mouth work.

Life Imitates Art
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

My parents did not approve, but as I tried to explain to them, art is not what you want to do, it is what you have to do. They were right. It is not a job, it is a calling.

She chased me out of the kitchen. I ran in the bedroom with her right behind me. She stopped and told me to take off my shirt so she could check on where I had been hit by the taser. I knew she was going to bug me until I did so I carefully took off my shirt. Sitting in the car and on the sofa had aggravated the dull ache. I heard her intake of breath as she saw the bandage.

111 Brookberry Cir Unit 111, Chapel Hill, N.C.:
Angela stretches as she wakes-up. She has never slept as soundly and as comfortable as she did last night. Sure, some of her muscles were screaming at her from her swimming exercise, but overall. She felt relax and well-rested.