Kardia stirred from a dreamy fog as her shoulders jostled against the bed ropes. She rubbed away sleep’s haze. Her father’s face blurred into view as he leaned over her. A fairy charm jangled from the cord gathering his lengthy beard. She parted her lips, but he clamped an icy palm…
Summer’s decaying remains crunched under Fran’s back as she settled onto the forest floor beside her granddaughter. A wraith-like arm emerged from the quilted bundle snuggled against her shoulder. “Look, Gram.” Harley raised her twiggy finger as if it outweighed her and air-traced the looming trunks upward. “Like we’ve seen so…
As they settled into the chairs, a prick stung Jackson’s thigh. He bounced up. “Ow!” Garvey examined his hindquarters. “Poison?” Jackson plucked needles from the seats. “What’s your game?” “There’s always a game.” Dale slapped a card deck onto the table. “This one’s for your life. Without the antidote, you die…
Marshal Jackson shifted his musty Stetson over his eyes for a quick nap. As the train’s rhythm culled him toward sleep, a bony poke jolted his shoulder. "You wanted to see me, Marshal?” Garvey’s eye whites gleamed in his sooty face. Jackson adjusted his hat. “Some coincidence you’re a fire man…
Kyria shredded the propaganda, hurling sweat-drenched fodder at a barrel of flaming tongues. For Momma. Grandpa. Everyone. Scrap phantoms billowed in a taunting dance. She kicked the rusty dragon, splaying its fiery guts across the refugee camp. Cool hands seized her trembling arms. Her ruddy fists dropped. Tears blurred her view…