"If I can't be a part of this world, no one can!"

I stared up at Doctor Fear, trying to shake off the paralysis of his magical spell. "Doctor, think about what you're doing!" I shouted, struggling to make my voice be heard above the howling of the open portal behind him. "You'll kill us all!"

"I don't care!" the masked supervillain hollered back, his purple gauntlets glowing with eldritch power as he struggled to maintain the growing vortex. "They all made me suffer! Why should I let them live?"

Finally managing to clamber to my feet, I braced myself in a fighting stance, my eyes scanning around the room from behind my mask. Most of the furniture in the laboratory had been blown away, thrown against the back of the room by the opening of the nether gateway. The corpse of the shambling horror that Doctor Fear had conjured lay across the entrance. I could still smell the burned flesh from my searing Flame Bolts.

I leapt forward, ignoring the stinging pain of the slashes that had made it through my toughened spandex. "Don't make me have to stop you, Doctor!" I called out. "Just stop the portal! We can all still walk away from here!"

"It's too late, Mister Amazing!" Doctor Fear fired back. "I don't deserve to live here - you all have made that abundantly clear. And if I can't be a part of this world, no one will!" He spread his arms wider, and fresh surges of black magic flowed into the growing portal.

Around the edges of the shimmering gateway, I could see dark shapes, gibbering horrors that wanted nothing more than to spill out into our reality. On the far side of the opening, a long tentacle snaked forward, reaching down into our reality. I hurled a Flame Bolt at it, frying it into crispy calamari.

Feeling every injury, I staggered forward. Beneath his mask, Doctor Fear's eyes rolled towards me, but he was directing every fibre of his being into opening the portal. "Please, Mister Amazing!" he called out, and now, closer, I could hear the undertone of fear and hurt in his voice. "The anger, the hatred towards me - it hurts! It cuts every second, like a million knives!"

Only a couple steps away, I stopped, torn. I knew what the other superheroes in the League of Justice would do. There was a deranged supervillain, and there was a portal to a nightmare dimension. Combine the two, and all the problems would go away. But while that approach would appeal to some of the grittier heroes in the League, like The Punishment, it just didn't sit well with my conscience.

I glanced over my shoulder at the portal. It was nearly open, and more tentacles were spilling out, nightmares taking shape in our waking world. "Lord, I hope this works," I muttered to myself, and then lunged forward, extending my fist.

My knuckles slammed against Doctor Fear's head, and I saw the supervillain's eyes roll back in his skull. He dropped, boneless, to the floor, and the glow of evil around his fists winked out. I spun around to stare at his summoned portal. With no more power feeding in, would it collapse? Or would it stabilize, converting our world over to a tortured hellscape?

Tentacles now extended out in all directions, thrashing on the floor and knocking the scattered instruments in the lab about. But as I watched, the circumference of the gateway began to slowly contract. No matter how the tentacles struggled, the closing edge cut into them, sending gouts of purple gore spewing across the floor and ceiling.

I slowly advanced on the closing portal, summoning the energy from my tired bones to throw Flame Bolts at the last few bits of flesh. I wanted every trace to be seared away, so that nothing could spread. A minute later, the portal shrank to nothing, winking out of existence.

I turned back to Doctor Fear's prone body as, just outside the building, I heard the tell-tale roaring of the Justice Jet's engines. The man was already beginning to come to, and his eyes blinked hazily at me as I squatted beside him.

"You should have let me die, Mister Amazing," he rasped, the words barely audible. "It's what I wanted."

I reached down and laid my hand gently on his shoulder. "We all have struggles that we must overcome, Doctor," I whispered, tenderness shining through my voice. "You have many demons, but I believe that we can overcome them. Together."

I heard the booted footsteps of my fellow heroes approaching from down the hall. I reached down and slid a hand under Doctor Fear's arm, hoisting him up to his feet and supporting him with my own body. I knew that the man would spend time in the Supertropolis Asylum, but the psychologists and therapists there were the best of their profession. And I believed that anyone, even a villain like Doctor Fear, could be rehabilitated.

The Mocking of the Little Animals

I glanced over at the other hunter as we trampsed through the woods. It was early February, a rare warm day after a cold winter. The snow hung heavy on the trees, and the silence of the forest was broken only by the occasional wet plop as a chunk of melted slush fell from a branch to the floor below.

The other hunter's face was set in an angry grimace, and he clutched his rifle tightly to his chest as he stomped through the brush. He had shared the cabin with me the night before, but had been anything but friendly.

If anything, I had to admit to myself, he had seemed... vengeful.

Suddenly, the man held up one gloved hand, signaling a halt. In a flash, even as I came to a stop in the wet snow, his rifle was at his shoulder.

"Do you see anything?" I whispered, trying to peer through the leafless twigs. I didn't see any movement, but the man nodded, peering through the scope of his rifle. The weapon barked in his hands, and I saw a patch of brown suddenly resolve itself into a deer, jerking away.

The animal was clearly wounded, but it still bounded away, and the other hunter cursed loudly. His hand racked back the slide of his rifle, chambering another round. "Shut up!" he roared.

"I, I didn't say anything," I began, confused.

"Not you! Him!" The man spun around, his rifle still up at his shoulder. The barrel swung past my face, and I threw myself down to the ground, flopping into the snow in a mad attempt to avoid being shot.

My newfound hunting partner was clearly insane. He fired off another shot, over my prone body. "Stop running and face me like a man!" he shouted out into the forest.

"Are you insane?" I hollered up at him. "The damn deer's gone!"

"No, he's circling! Taunting me!"

Terrified, I lifted my head up from the snow. To my surprise, I did see a flash of movement in the trees around us. As it moved from tree to tree, I saw that the deer was still hanging close. It paused between a couple of large oaks, and I could swear that it seemed to be moving its lips at us.

The man let out another yell and pulled the trigger of his gun again. This shot finally connected, and the deer collapsed down onto the ground.

Moving with caution, I lifted myself up to my feet, brushing the loose snow off of the orange vest I wore over my coat. "Good shot?" I offered, glancing warily towards my unhinged partner.

He was still wearing a scowl on his face. "Fucker," he cursed, spitting in the direction of the deer. "Well, I shut you up! Who's impotent now?"

This man was clearly insane. "Listen, I think I'm going to try branching off in this other direction," I ventured, cocking a thumb over my shoulder in the opposite direction.

The man finally took his eyes from his dead prey and looked at me. His face seemed to relax, losing some of the anger, but I kept on edge. "Suit yourself," he said in a much milder tone. "But all the deer are off in this direction. Trust me on that." His face tightened with anger again. "I can hear 'em mocking me."

As I slowly backed away, the man jerked his rifle up to point into the branches of a nearby tree.  "Shut your damn holes!" he shouted, pulling the trigger again.  I saw a squirrel go scampering away, chattering in the branches, as the man fired another shot after it.  "I'll get ya!  I'll get you all!"

I turned tail, not running, but definitely not walking slowly.  Time to get out of here, I decided.  This was probably the wise choice.

Gunbarrel Hwy

As I landed on the ground, the world took a sickening lurch, and I landed on my hands and knees. Shaking my head, trying to dispel the brief wooziness that accompanied a jump, I stared up at the sign. Aside from the scrub trees and brush, it was the only structure in sight - likely the only structure for miles.

The blowing dust, tasting of dryness and desperation, was already striking against my lips. I blinked my eyes, trying to keep my vision clear, and gazed up at the sign. The letters seemed to meld together, the characters twisting back and forth like serpents. Were those numbers in miles or kilometers? Either way, there was no chance that I could walk that far.

Taking advantage of the small square of shade offered by the sign, scant shelter against the blazing heat of the sun, I squatted down. I shrugged off the satchel slung over a shoulder, dropping it into the dust and scree. The zipper was already jammed, but I managed to get it open with a sharp tug.

I dug through the satchel's contents. A dirty sweatshirt was tossed away into the dirt, as was an old and ratty pair of socks. I reached further into the bag, rooting around. I knew that it had to be in here. I had ended up here - it must have come with me.

Finally, my questing fingers closed on a small cylinder at the bottom of the bag. I pulled it out, not caring as its edges were caught by the other articles of clothing. My hand emerged from the satchel holding a small tube, the approximate length of a soda can but only half as thick. Three wires stuck out from the bottom of the cylinder, and several gold bands wrapped around its circumference. A small red button was set flush in the top. I was always surprised by its weight in my hand.

Rolling the device in my hands, I inspected it carefully for damage. It appeared intact; there were a couple slight scratches on its casing, but the button and the probes at the bottom seemed undamaged. With utmost gentleness, I laid it down in the dust and resumed rummaging through my pack.

The device's catalyst must be in here; otherwise, it wouldn't have activated, wouldn't have brought me here. My hand once again sank to the bottom of the bag, questing. I felt another cylinder, and my hand registered wetness. That wasn't good.

I hauled the cylinder out, but as I held up the water bottle to the light, the last few drops of precious water spilled out, dripping to leave dark circles on the gravel. "No," I cried, trying in vain to tip the bottle so that the water wouldn't spill away.

By the time I found the hole, the source of the leak, there were no more than a few drops left. I stared at the last of my water. Would it be enough? With shaking hands, I unscrewed the top of the bottle, holding its lip just above the three prongs on my device.

The last couple of droplets flowed down the side of the plastic with agonizing slowness. They fell onto the prongs as I watched, unblinking, my heart in my throat.

A drop of water hit the first prong, and a soft glow suffused the first gold ring encircling the device. A heartbeat later, another drop touched the other side prong, and another ring lit up. Only one more!

I tried to hold steady, but my trembling fingers slipped slightly. The bottle's neck slid, and the last droplet of water fell to the ground. "No!" I cried once again, and I threw the empty piece of plastic aside. I jammed the prongs of my device into the ground, but the drop of life-giving liquid was already sinking beneath the soil.

I scrabbled at the rough dirt beneath the sign, feeling my desperation rising. I shoved aside piles of dust, chasing after that precious water that would mean the difference between salvation and failure. I could see the tiny, dark patch of soil, receding away from me.

One more scoop, and for a few brief seconds, it was visible. I jammed in the prongs of the device, praying fervently. And slowly, as if unsure, that third ring began to glow blue, joining its fellows.

I grabbed at the satchel and stood up. As my head and shoulders cleared the top of the sign, I felt the heat immediately soaking into my skin. I grinned triumphantly at the empty desert and slammed my finger down on the button.

I felt the device vibrate slightly in my hand. The desert around me shimmered, blurred, and I felt an invisible hook in my gut jerk upwards.

My triumphant grin spread across my face as the world dissolved around me. Briefly, I wished that I hadn't stolen the device before they had installed a way to aim, to pick a location. But the device could take me anywhere. They'd never be able to catch me. I could always keep moving, always stay away, and they'd never find me.

A few seconds later, as the world once again began to resolve around me, I felt the familiar nausea rise. I wasn't sure, but I thought that it was getting worse. We had tested the device and had never seen any ill effects. But no one had used it as much as I. I bent over and put my head between my knees for a moment, covering my eyes with my hands. After a deep breath, the queasiness was gone. I sat up and looked around.

Once again, I was in a desert. My heart sank. But I could see a man-made structure a couple dozen yards away. I squinted through the haze rising from the dust, trying to read the words on the sheet of metal.

"GUNBARREL HWY"

Writing Prompt: A hipster girl is a serial killer!

I was sitting at one of the tables in the cafe, sipping on my coffee, when she walked in the door. Now, I'm not one of those creepy folks that goes to a cafe just to eyeball the local talent. I was there with my laptop in front of me, procrastinating on tackling one of my research papers. I figured that I could get another half hour or so of time spent not doing work before Hector's nagging would dig deep enough into my conscience to make me get back to work.

Hector, of course, was doing his part to make me feel as guilty as possible. He was sitting at the other chair at my table, his eyes resting on me as he sipped from his own coffee. I felt as though I was being watched by a basset hound.

But then that girl walked in, and I nearly choked on my sip of coffee. She was gorgeous! She wore the black, thick-rimmed glasses that were the accessory of choice for hipsters everywhere, but hers helped offset waves of shining black hair, cascading down over her shoulders. She was dressed in a bright red leather jacket, hanging open to reveal a cyan sweater, and a pair of navy tights with little yellow stars showed off every curve of her long legs. On anyone else, all of those bright colors would have clashed, but she somehow pulled it off with the grace of a movie star.

"Hello!" I whispered to myself, sitting up straight as I forced down that errant mouthful of coffee. My eyes couldn't be pulled away from her, watching as she stepped up to the counter and daintily, demurely ordered her drink. As she reached into her her tiny, beaded purse to find payment, I swung my arm toward Hector. "Hey! Grab that chair from the other table!"

My companion turned his gaze to me, but didn't move. I glared at him, and then reached out and grabbed the empty seat myself, pulling it up to my little round table. And when the girl turned away from the counter, her eyes surveying across the small coffee shop, I gave her my friendliest wave and pointed to the vacant chair.

Finally, Hector caught on to what I was doing, and he also turned to look at the girl. "Whoa, no, no!" he exclaimed, his eyes going wide. "Sam, this is not the girl for you. Trust me on this one!"

His voice was a buzzing in my ears - the girl had returned my smile, and was making her way through the maze of tables and caffeine addicts towards me! She stopped at my table, only briefly raising her eyes to me. I caught a flash of brilliant blue before they were cast down to the open chair.

"Do I know you?" Her voice was deeper than I would have expected, with just the hint of a smoker's rasp. It was undeniably sexy.

I shook my head. "No, but I'm always open to meeting new people!" I replied with as bright of a tone as I could muster. And it clearly did the job - the girl set her cup of coffee down on the table and slid into the seat across from me.

There was movement off to my side as Hector scooted around to get behind this girl, trying to stay in my field of view. My eyes flicked briefly up to him, and I saw that he was mouthing the word "No," waving his hands back and forth. I ignored him.

"I'm Sam," I said, holding out my hand to the girl.

"Zooey," she returned, taking my proffered hand. Her fingers felt soft and delicate in my clumsy hand. I briefly wondered if the rest of her was equally soft, but then forced such inappropriate thoughts from my head.

"Hello Zooey!" I replied, fixing the name in my head. "Out getting your daily dose of caffeine, huh?" Behind the girl, Hector visibly face-palmed himself in response to this lame comment.

Zooey, bless her heart, didn't seem to notice the awkwardness. "Yeah - I'm actually trying to get over a recent breakup," she said. She took a sip of coffee as I mentally cheered at this information. She was single! "It was very messy," she added.

In the background, Hector was still going crazy, his arms flying back and forth as he attempted to wave me off. "She's crazy!" he shouted. "She's a psycho!"

"That's always rough," I said to Zooey in my most sympathetic tone. "But it's good that you aren't dwelling on it! Sometimes it's good to get out, meet new people."

She nodded, and I watched her hair bounce in thick, lustrous curls from the movement. "Exactly," she agreed. "I'm thinking that I just need to get out and find some fresh meat!" Her tinkling laugh reminded me of silver sleigh bells.

At this comment, however, Hector visibly choked, and coughed several times as he tried to catch his breath. "Crazy!" he managed to squeeze out. "Dude, let me talk to you!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Excuse me for a minute," I said to Zooey. "Would you mind keeping an eye on my things? I'll be right back."

She nodded, smiling up at me, and I stood and made my way to the bathroom. Hector bounded up and hurried behind me.

Once in the relative privacy of the coffee shop's small bathroom, I turned to Hector. "Okay, what gives?" I demanded. "This girl looks amazing! She's cute, and single! What could possibly be wrong with her?"

Hector waved his hands back and forth. "I don't know, exactly," he confessed. "But she's got some seriously nasty karma going on! I don't know what sins she's been committing, but they're the sort of thing that gets you locked up for years and years. Her aura's pretty much blood red. You ought to be running away right now!"

This comment made me groan. "You know, having you around ruins all my fun. You are aware of that, right?"

My companion merely rolled his eyes. "You know that you love me. I've been your savior more than you can count."

I pushed past him, roughly hitting the door open. My previously sunny mood had vanished. I clomped over to the table and sat back down in my seat. Zooey was still there, and she gave me a welcoming smile. "Listen, I have to run," I said, unable to keep the note of regret out of my voice. "I'm sorry, but maybe I'll see you around sometime."

Zooey opened her mouth, looking a little put out, but I scooped up my laptop from the table, my bag from under my seat, and I hurried away. Hector kept up behind me until we were out of the coffee shop.

Once we were in the bright sunlight, I made sure to hit him with my heaviest glare. "Well, that sucked," I said aloud, not caring if any pedestrians noticed me talking to the empty air. "I really hope that you didn't just ruin my chances with a totally dynamite girl."

Hector put one hand up to his chest, pressing into his white robe, a look of affront plastered across his face. "You know I'm here for your best interests," he insisted. "Come on, I'm sure that there are plenty of other nice girls for you to meet."

I headed down the street, back towards where I had parked my bike. Sometimes, I really disliked having a guardian angel. He claimed to be keeping me out of trouble, but I had no way of knowing if he was telling the truth! Sure, there was that one time where he had pulled me out of the way of a rogue, incoming car, but it still grew frustrating from time to time, having to take his word on faith.

Flying beside me as I biked, Hector was clearly feeling guilty. "Look, let's go out to the club tonight," he offered. "I'll point out the girls who are feeling especially lonely. It'll be fun."

Despite my ire, I couldn't stay mad at him for long, and my guardian angel knew it. "Fine," I gave in. "But I'm not paying for your drinks!"

Writing Prompt: Demonic Possession!

Thunder boomed as I hurried up the steps towards the house.  Rain was falling down in sheets, somehow managing to slip through the cracks in my oiled coat and trace cold trails down my skin.  I clutched my satchel tighter to my chest, praying that the water wouldn't seep inside and blur the hand-written pages of my precious book.

Reaching the front door, I held up my hand to knock, but the action was unnecessary - the door swung open, and a tall and imposing young man stared out at me.  I could hear loud noises coming from inside the house past his bulky frame, but he blocked my vision.  I estimated that he had to stand well over six feet tall, every inch of his body covered in gleaming, sweaty muscle.

"Pizza?" he asked.

"Um, no," I replied.  "Intervention?  Demonic possession?"

The man stared down at me for a minute, and then his furrowed brow cleared.  "Oh, yeah, that crazy chick!  Come on in, dude."  He stepped aside, and I entered the house.

As I cleared the entrance, I was hit by a blast of humid heat.  The gatekeeper behind me shrugged.  "Sorry about the temp, bro," he said.  "Heater's been on the fritz, and better to have it going full blast than not at all, right?"  He elbowed me and winked.  "Gets the chicks stripping down, I'll tell ya that much!"

I ignored this comment, shedding my coat.  The house was busy, and several other brawny young men were standing around, holding red plastic cups and chatting with young women in various states of undress.  I clutched my holy book closer.  I truly was in the den of sin, I thought, but I must be strong; I am here to stamp out the evil that has arisen, and I will not shirk from my duty.

The man who had let me in tapped me on the shoulder.  "She's upstairs, dude," he said.  He twisted the brimmed hat he wore on his head around to point backwards and headed up the stairs, shouldering his way past several clusters of giggling young women.  I followed him.

On the second floor, the man led me down a hallway, and I couldn't resist glancing into several of the open rooms on either side.  A wide variety of activities seemed to be occurring; in one room, I saw two pairs of men and women standing at opposite ends of a long table.  They appeared to be throwing small balls back and forth.  One of them tossed the ball into a red cup on the opposite end of the table, and everybody let out a raucous cheer.

Turning my attention forward again, I nearly collided with my guide; he had stopped outside a closed door, his face looking concerned.  "Dude, I hope you can help," he said.  "She was totally normal, doing shots of Jaeg with Brody, and then she just started shouting out some sort of crazy babble and telling us that we were all going to join her in Hell.

"We thought maybe she was just one of those crazy vegan chicks at first, ya know?"  He smirked and elbowed me in the ribs again.  "In need of some hot meat delivery, ya know what I'm sayin'?  But she kept on screaming 'bout evil and wouldn't take her top off, so we tossed her in Hayden's room and called you."

"How did you come to find my number, if I may ask?" I asked.

The man cocked a thumb at the door.  "She was shouting it," he replied.  "At first we thought she was giving us her digits, but then when we texted, you called back."

I reached up and patted the man on the shoulder.  "You did the right thing, my son," I told him.  And then, bracing my shoulders, I opened the door and stepped inside.

At first, looking around, I thought that I was at ground zero of a tornado's wreckage.  The floor of the room was covered in assorted clothing and garbage, and more items were tossed over the backs of chairs and onto the blades of the ceiling fan.  It took me a minute before I spotted the possessed girl, squatting in the middle of a large and suspiciously stained bedspread.

The girl's abnormally pale white face, colored only by her blood-red eyes and lips, looked relieved when she saw me.  "Oh, thank Lucifer!" she said, her voice deep and croaking.  "Priest, you gotta get me out of here!"

I kept a safe distance, my book at the ready.  But something wasn't quite right about this situation.  "State your presence for being here, foul daemon!" I intoned, but there was a hint of confusion to my words.  This wasn't how possessions normally went.

The girl rolled her eyes and tossed a lock of her blonde hair over her shoulder.  "Ba'elzamon, corruption and claiming damned souls, all of that," she griped.  "At least, if the damn summoning had worked.  But this stupid bitch must have opened her vessel at the same time.  Total fuck-up.  Now, can you, like, exorcise me already?"

My sense of unease deepened.  "You are claiming souls here?" I asked, glancing around.  Judging from what I had seen, these people were certainly damned - but nobody seemed worth a personal visit from a demon from Hell's very bowels.

"Like, as if!" the demon replied.  "Look, I'm supposed to be inside the Italian ambassador right now, other side of the country.  But this stupid bitch, like, totally managed to puke out the words of the completion ceremony at the wrong time, so now I'm here!"  She pulled a few strands of blonde hair up in front of her face.  "Look at this shit.  You can totally tell it's fake from the roots!"  She turned her attention back to me.  "Now, make with the holy book, the water sprinkling, all that, so that I can get out of this stupid meat shell and back to Hell.  This whole operation's, like, a total flop."

This was certainly irregular.  I opened up the book, but paused again.  "Maybe I shouldn't banish you," I said slowly.  "Perhaps being stuck here is divine choice, a punishment for the evil you have committed."

The girl blinked at me a couple times.  "Oh.  My.  Gawd." she said slowly.  "Listen, priesty, just 'cause I'm trapped in a body that's mostly tits and ass doesn't mean I still can't pull out some hellfire and corruption.  Although honestly, this place is such a pigsty that I think my burning it to the ground would actually be an improvement."  She pointed her finger at a half-empty glass bottle of liquor on the room's desk, and it melted slowly into a pool of bubbling molten glass.

I shook my head.  "No," I said with growing conviction.  "I'm not banishing you back to Hell, where you could cause further damage!"

The girl opened her mouth again angrily, but paused, tilting her head.  A cunning look flashed across her face.  "You're, like, sworn to a vow of chastity, aren't you, priesty?" she asked, her tongue darting out like a snake over her lips.  "Maybe it's time to give up that oath..."  And before I could respond, she reached up and tugged her skimpy tee shirt up over her head!

This girl had, apparently, chosen not to wear a bra to this house party.  I felt my eyes magnetically pulled to the girl's tits, standing out from her chest like a pair of ripe oranges.  I opened my mouth, but only wordless stammers came from my throat.

The topless girl crawled forward across the bed towards me, her tits hanging down between her arms, her ass up in the air behind her.  "Come on, priesty, let me see what you're packing under that robe," she purred.  "I'm such a bad girl!  I need to be punished!"

Before I could react, she was on me, her hands like claws as they pulled and tore at my garments.  "Give me that dick!" she hissed.  "I'm, like, totally hot for you!"

Her razor-sharp nails sliced through my clothing like, well, razors.  Panicking, I hurriedly flipped my holy book open, reading off an incantation.  My voice jumped an octave as I felt those fingers grazing my hips, running up my exposed thighs, but I didn't lose my place.  I spoke the rest of the incantation in record time.

Now, all that was necessary was the holy water.  I fumbled for the canteen, at the bottom of the bag.  The girl was now pressing her naked chest against me, hissing something about being "Daddy's bad little girl."  My fumbling fingers finally got the cap off, and I hastily upended the canteen over the demon's head.

Water coursed down, soaking the girl's hair and, I was ashamed to notice, flowing down her back to soak through her equally skimpy fabric shorts.  As the fabric was soaked through with holy water, I could make out a "T" outline of underwear.  I pulled my eyes up and tried to take deep breaths.

The girl sputtered, flopping back on the bed and twisting.  Steam rose from her naked form as the holy water saturated her soul, driving out the demonic presence.  Finally, her eyes cleared, color returning back to her face.  She glanced around, down at her nearly naked form, and then up at me.

"Well, not my worst fuck," she said, her eyes roaming over me.  "So have you got protection?  Or do you wanna, like, risk it?"

...

"Problem solved!" I shouted to the giant bro who had been guarding the door as I bolted out of the room.  "Possession totally cleared up!"

Despite my hurry, the man still had time to notice my state of partial undress.  "Looks like she gave you a good thank you, huh?" he leered.

I didn't bother to respond, taking the steps down to the front door two at a time.  From behind me I heard the girl let out an enraged shriek.  "You could, like, at least give me your number!" she howled.  "Tease!"

I paused at the front door.  "Listen up!" I shouted, making the men and women in the room turn towards me.  "Next time you have a demonic possession - call someone else!"

*Author's note: I have no idea if this is funny or not - but it was certainly very strange to write...*

The Danger Zone - Part VIII

Previous part.  Start from the beginning.

The vehicle raced forward, and I couldn’t hold back a scream as we slammed into that shimmering pocket of air.  With a flash, we were through - and on the other side, another massive shipping facility, bright lights illuminating the metal grated floor over which we flew.  I spun around, and watched the other vehicles re-entering the real world behind us.  One of the last convoy trucks still had thin tentacles clinging to it, trying to drag the machine back through the portal, but they were no match for the massive engine once the tires had the traction of the grated floor.  Further and further into our world the tentacles stretched, until one last spray of gunfire, this barrage coming from a new group of men standing next to the open portal, severed them and left them flopping around the floor.

Once all of the vehicles were through, the portal closed with a loud buzzing.  We came to a rolling stop, and Kurt hopped out of the vehicle even before it had ceased moving.  I waited for the tires to stop before following him, my heart still pounding in my chest.

Kurt stalked over to another man, this one standing well back from the action.  He was dressed in a suit and tie instead of military fatigues, and he seemed to be slouching, lacking the military posture of the other men around him.  “Report,” he said in a tired tone to Kurt.

“We lost one of the escort vehicles and four of the convoy trucks,” Kurt replied.  “I’d estimate fourteen casualties.”

The man rubbed his face with one hand.  “Still better than our average, I suppose,” he sighed.  “All right.  Get me the info for the families of those men.  I’ll make sure their death benefits get paid out.”

As Kurt stalked off, the man turned to me.  “Ah, and you must be the academic,” he said, trying and failing to put on a smile of interest.  “How was your first trip through subspace?  Looking forward to the return voyage?”

I couldn’t suppress a shudder at the idea, and the man let out a mirthless laugh.  “What were those things?” I asked.  “Where do they come from?  Why are they attacking?”

He shrugged one shoulder.  “No one knows,” he said.  “And frankly, no one really cares.  We certainly can’t study them - look.”  He pointed over behind me, and I turned and gazed back at the portal.  The severed tentacles, stretched across the metal grates, were letting off clouds of thick gray smoke.  As I watched, they broke apart, leaving nothing but faint greasy marks behind on the ground.  The smoke drifted apart and dissipated before it had gone more than five feet.

“The things can’t survive on our world,” the man explained.  “At least, as far as we know - we’re not going to tempt fate by leaving one of these portals open.  After all, they didn’t attack us at first either.”

I opened my mouth, but I had no response, no words to adequately sum up what I had just experienced.  The man took advantage of my silence to lean forward, his words taking on a steely tone.  “You will not write about what you’ve seen,” he hissed.  “You will not share any information about these creatures, about what they do to us.  You will instead write about how subspace is inhospitable, slow to cross, filled with natural dangers - but no sign of life.  You will write this up, and explain how Actinide is doing the best job it can with the challenge.  Is this clear?”

I nodded, unable to meet his unblinking gaze.  The man held his intense pose for a moment longer, and then relaxed, slumping back and rubbing one hand through his thinning hair.  “Christ, I hate this job,” he muttered, talking to himself more than to me.  “Anyway, you’re dismissed.  Get out of here.  And know that if you print anything about what you really saw, we’ll deny everything.”

I hurried away, heading for the distant exit.  I passed several fortified positions, bristling with heavy machine guns and cannons, all pointed towards the deactivated portal.  My thoughts were jumbled, and I felt as though I hadn’t slept in a month.  But one thing was clear.  Subspace was not going to be the answer to our society’s problems.  The incredible advance was a hollow lie.

Thanks for sticking with this massive story until the end!  I promise, the next few updates will be more manageable.

The Danger Zone - Part VII

Previous part.  Start from the beginning.

As we turned to head back to our vehicle, however, my ears caught another one of those thin wails, barely on the edge of hearing.  Kurt drew his sidearm, while Bradley brought his rifle up to his shoulder.  A moment later, I remembered that I had been given a pistol, and I fumbled to pull it out of the holster on my belt.

Just as I got the weapon free, the wail intensified, and I saw movement breaking through the clouds off to one side.  The mercenaries raised their weapons, and the many-limbed monster died in a hail of bullets before it was fully through the clouds.  But we could already see more of those thin tentacles reaching down as its fellows followed.

“Lights!” Kurt roared over his shoulder at the convoy.  The spotlights mounted on the vehicles clicked on, and bright beams of light struggled to cut through the hazy twilight.  But as they increased our vision, we could see thousands more tentacles dropping down, all around us.

The other drivers were also beginning to emerge from their vehicles, guns at the ready, but Kurt waved one hand at them, signing that they should stay in their vehicles.  “Be ready for the portal!” he shouted.  “We can’t hold them off forever - we need to be ready to move through the portal when it opens!”

I wasn’t sure that we would make it that long.  The men were being more selective with their shots, aiming for the large clusters of unequal-sized eyes that would drop down at the heart of the writhing tentacles, but the stream of monsters seemed to be unending.  They were coming at us from all directions.  I couldn’t even tell from which direction we’d come - the shifting sand had already obscured the tire tracks of the convoy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement above one of the delivery trucks.  I let out a wordless shout, pointing up at the nightmare of a spider that was falling out of the clouds, but no one else was paying attention to me.  I grabbed at the gun strapped to my hip, managed to free it.  I raised it up, both hands shaking as I tried to keep the surprisingly heavy pistol steady.

I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened.  Idiot!  The safety!  I flicked at the switch until it clicked, and then once again raised the weapon.  I did my best to sight down the trembling barrel at the monster as it began to wrap its tentacles around the truck.

Bang!  Bang!  The gun leapt in my hands with each loud report, but the monster jerked and shuddered.  I pulled the trigger twice more, and the creature’s largest eye, in the center of the coils of tentacles, exploded into a mass of ruined ichor.  The creature fell, bouncing off the top of the truck and landing only feet away from me.  I stared in horror as it thrashed in its death coils.

A loud scream broke my concentration.  One of the soldiers from the back vehicle had climbed out, and was now caught in the grip of several tentacles.  I forced my eyes away as, with a disturbingly wet ripping sound, the tentacles pulled him apart.  I raised my pistol again, sighting down the barrel at another one of the beasts that was drawing close.

In between my shots, however, I heard a new sound - one that I had never thought would be so welcome.  As the crackling, buzzing noise increased, I saw a large mirror shimmer into existence, twenty or thirty feet from the lead Humvee.

“Back to the vehicles!” Kurt roared.  “Double the suppressing fire!  Give them everything!”  The thumping of gunfire increased as we all sprinted back towards the oversized transports.

I reached our Humvee, but struggled to get up the high first step into the back cabin.  Kurt’s arms tightened around my collar, and I felt myself literally lifted and thrown into the backseat.  Kurt was less than a second behind me, slamming the door shut behind him as he leapt in.  “Go!” he shouted, slamming a hand down on our driver’s shoulder...

To be concluded...