Humanity

            Bernie opened his eyes slowly, and it took him a moment to remember where he was. The smell of human waste flooded his nostrils and he jerked upright, his eyes quickly scanning the sewer tunnel around him for any signs of danger.

Stage 5. Acceptance

            Steven woke up face down on a pile of what looked like flattened cardboard boxes, and when he lifted his head he noticed that he was staring out of the doors of an open trash compactor.

The Ware house

            Timeaus’ hands were shaking so badly that he couldn’t keep the desk from rattling beneath them. He pulled them back and pressed them together in his lap, trying to focus on the folder of information that Achan had just set on his desk.

            “How bad is it?”

...into the fire

            Timeaus’ hands were shaking so badly that he couldn’t keep the desk from rattling beneath them. He pulled them back and pressed them together in his lap, trying to focus on the folder of information that Achan had just set on his desk.

            “How bad is it?”

into the mess

            The order to move out came at two the next morning, and when Christie was shaken roughly awake from where she had dozed off on the backseat of a Humvee, she found herself staring into the familiar, yet unwelcome face of Chevalier. He looked much improved from when she had seen him the night before, but that was a bit like saying that a car wreck looked better with the mangled corpses removed.