The moon that night seemed a well pressed papadam, fried with only the purest coconut oil. Against the night skies glistened thousands of dotted lights. Hema, stood shadowing the light of a flickering candle. For it was one of those… Continue Reading
I’m the one who killed thirty million people. I spent eight days in the bunker to avoid the radioiodine fallout, and an additional four because I didn’t want to see what had happened to the world above me. When I… Continue Reading
I’ve chosen sugar cookies for Jackson’s scent reminder. Most people chose something from nature. Pine trees. Roses. The petrichor aroma after rain. But Jackson told me the smell of baking sugar cookies meant home. Lying there in his stasis pod,… Continue Reading
Step 1 of 2: Please enter your 6-digit code. She nodded. Six loud clacks—3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9. Accepted. Now loading… Easy, Nancy thought. The only numbers Chad learned by heart were those found in intricate formulas and equations.… Continue Reading
All around Foster are ash trees slipped through by a cold and unexpected wind that has hit Washington and turned the State Department grounds prematurely orange with a litter of ash leaves. The old building looms above the tree line… Continue Reading
A gun blasted and the living room window shattered, glass showering Hassan. He ran to the couch. Auntie Fatima grabbed him and held him close with the other two children. Someone screamed in the parking lot outside. Tires screeched and… Continue Reading
No matter where she pressed her face against the floor-to-ceiling window, Paderau Argall could still see the corpse reflected from the carpet behind her. Beyond the window, downtown lay in ruins. Occasionally a building shivered with aftershock, but the worst… Continue Reading
Christmas — 1989 Ravenna, Ohio 2:13 P.M. My sister’s boy, seven-year-old Bobby, started screaming when the wind ratcheted up. The ten of us gathered in the cellar as the funnel cloud headed straight for our house. The last thing I… Continue Reading