Aurora Wasteland Quarantine

by Vaughn Ashby

  What the fuck was I looking at?

  Opps… Sorry that was a sample of

  TETHERED

  In 1982 Moe killed a man while defending his son.

  The next day the man came back.

  In 1982 Moe went missing.

  The man continued to come back.

  In 2014 events are repeating themselves.

  Available Now

  TETHERED

  VaughnAshby.com/Tethered

  BRIGHTNESS FALLS

  ANDREW WALKED ACROSS THE CRUNCHY HOTEL CARPET to the bath. He flicked the light on and tried to look up his nose. Still nothing there, at least from what he could tell. A dozen or so nose blows showed him nothing but boogers, and blood. Still kind of a lot of blood. Maybe he should go to the hospital to get checked out.

  He turned on the shower, and the pipes rattled with excitement. Steam started filling the room and covering the mirror. He whipped away a spot to look at his eye. That big guy really had clobbered him; it had been years since he’d been knocked out.

  After a battle with the shower faucet to get an acceptable level of not burning, and not freezing he started to take his clothes off. He struggled with his shirt, and threw it in the sink to soak. No way he was going to wear any of Milo’s clothes, he’d wash his stuff and put it back on.

  He unbuttoned his pants when he heard Milo screaming from the other room. And not a scream of pleasure but the kind of scream only reserved for small girls, and very uncool men. With his pants open, and his dong dangerously close to being free, Andrew ran back to the duel twin bed bedroom.

  What he saw made him want to rip his eyes out. Milo laid on the bed, his dong was out, and in his hand. Porn on the TV. Two ladies actually, very tasteful. Moving across Milo’s chest was a ladybug. Only it had six very long legs, a least a foot long each, with a couple joints thrown in there for good measure. Its body 10 to 20 times larger than a normal ladybug, it was about the size of a golf ball.

  It moved up Milo’s body, slowly, almost like it didn’t know it had been detected.

  “Help,” Milo squeaked.

  Andrew took his shoe off, and threw it at the ladybug. He missed and hit Milo in the head. The bug froze for a second then quickly moved to Milo’s head. One of its long legs dug into Milo’s nose. Milo tried to turn, and rubbed the ladybug off. But its legs held tight to his face.

  Andrew ran towards Milo and the bug, but his pants, while unbuttoned came down, he tripped and hit his head against the TV stand. Blood covered his vision. He grabbed the bed, and pulled himself up. The ladybug’s body was trying to squeeze into Milo’s nose. Two of its legs were already in Milo’s nasal passage. Milo screamed and the neighbor in the room next to them banged on the wall and told them to keep it down.

  Opps… Sorry that was a sample of

  BRIGHTNESS FALLS

  By request of no one, Andrew returns home to help his sister separate from her husband, only to become sidetracked by a beautiful woman. A few drinks and few compliments later the woman is dead, killed in a tragic oral sex accident. In which Andrew would have lost his own life if it weren’t for the dapperly dressed, antler-headed, human skeleton named Doug. Who loves Andrew’s work, but escaped The Other Side to warn Andrew of a self-proclaimed god with desires to return to Brightness Falls.

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  BRIGHTNESS FALLS

  VaughnAshby.com/BrightnessFalls

  THE AXE

  THE GO BAG WAS HANGING AT THE top of the vent. Micah grabbed the blue hiking bag and brought it down with him. Again within seconds, he was out of the vent. Bag on his bag and axe in hand. He stepped into his living room and pulled a new phone from his bag. He opened the camera app and took a panorama picture of the room. He looked at the picture, it looked fine. He'd check it out later in detail when he had time.

  The elevator down the hall binged, Micah could hear the doors slide open and a lot of footsteps come rushing out. He zipped the phone away in his go bag and pulled the bag tight to his back. He gripped The Axe. If it was the police he had to go. Now.

  “Mr. Micah sir,” a meek voice said from the hallway. “Sir?” The voice repeated.

  Micah stepped towards the bedroom but stopped as the voice spoke again.

  “Sir I believe you are in there. My name is Ulle of the Axe Corporation. We just want to talk. Can we come in?”

  Axe Corporation? Like that research and science thing, he was going to look into later? The one that had the picture of The Axe on its website? What could they want with him? How did they know he would be here?

  “We are coming in slowly and in armed, please do not kill us,” Ulle said as the apartment door opened slowly. Two hands stuck through the door, showing there was nothing in them. Then Ulle stuck his bald head in. “Hello.”

  Micah didn't reply. He gripped The Axe tight. He should run. Why wasn't he already out of here?

  “This is my first time running this thing. I've never met an axe carrier before. I'm kind of nervous,” Ulle said as he swung the door open. A team of people rushed in behind him. Ulle put a hand up to slow them. All of them were dressed in suits. All black with white shirts, and black ties. A strong, bold, and forgettable look, Micah knew it well. “We are here to take you to our office. We have so much to show you. Please follow me.” Ulle motioned to the door.

  “How did you know I was here?” Micah said stepping away from them.

  “The Axe chopped agent over there, he worked for us. And called when you attacked him.”

  Axe chopped? Micah hadn't had time to examine the bodies. Well, the picture. That was an after getting out of here job. Had he killed the Walrus with The Axe?

  A few of the men that came in with Ulle opened some body bags and started putting Agent Walrus and Allie into them.

  “Don't touch her!” Micah yelled at them. The men stared at him and then over to Ulle.

  “Sir we are just cleaning up after you. They mean no disrespect.”

  “Clean up after me? You think I killed her? She is… was my wife. I love her.”

  “I'm sure you did. But… people change and… well, she is dead now. It's best you don't…”

  Something happened, Micah’s head hurt. The axe swung in his arm. Damn it his head hurt. What the fuck had just happened… Everyone in the room was dead, except Ulle. Had he jumped again?

  “Please don't,” Ulle said getting to his knees, he was splattered in other people's blood. “Please may The Axe have mercy on me. We only want to help. Everyone. Sir, I…”

  Micah tripped on a fallen tree, he looked down at it confused. His legs ached, it felt like they hadn't been used in days. Wind tussled the leaves around him. Micah rolled to his back. Everything was so green looking. Except for the black creature looking down at him.

  It seemed almost human. Its grey skin pulled right over dense muscle. Silently its jaw dislocated, its mouth expanded, and move down towards him.

  Micah screamed, only, it wasn't his voice again. Again it was a woman's. He didn't have time to check for breasts. He rolled out from beneath the creature. It stomped, trying to stop him. But he was quick, agile, nothing like his normal body.

  He jumped to his feet, crouched and watched as the creature, more of a b grade movie monster really, roared in his direction. Where was he? This was different than before.

  The creature lunged at him. Jaw still extended. Micah stumbled back and slipped. He'd stepped on something, a tomahawk.

  Without hesitation, he picked it up and tried to swing it like he'd seen in movies. But he was much more awkward. Like the last woman’s body he'd been in, this one felt awkward. He missed his own, he was used to it.

  The creature casually swatted The Tomahawk away. Micah froze. The beast was huge. It threw him back to the ground, pressing its large foot against his chest. Its toes were as sharp as it claws looked. Micah screamed again as they dug into him. He could feel his shoulder slice open. Warm blood ran over him.

  Again the creature bent down, jaw dislocated
and waiting. He'd come to the unpleasant conclusion that it wanted to eat him. And while this wasn't his body, being eaten in any context sounded unpleasant. Micah tried to kick and punch his way free. Nothing worked. The monster was too big.

  It reached down with its clawed hand and grabbed Micah’s face. Long black hair inter-tangled with the claws. Was that Micah’s? Then there was pain. It lifted him from the ground, face first. The claw dug in deep. It was hard to think. The pain was overwhelming. It was…

  Micah was across the room, Ulle was dead. The axe head embedded in his skull, the handle in Micah’s hand.

  “Fuck me,” Micah said as he tried not to puke.

  Opps… Sorry that was a sample of

  THE AXE

  Time doesn’t work the way you think it does.

  The years 1810, 2018, and 3015 are all happening at the same time.

  Three lives are more interconnected than they know.

  One thing wants them all dead.

  The Infection

  One thing binds them all together.

  The Axe

  Available Now

  THE AXE

  VaughnAshby.com/TheAxe

  ENTANGLEMENT

  THE ALARM PULSED AS NOAH FUMBLED HIS way back through the cubicles to Van, who was still sitting at David’s computer. Noah tossed her the USB stick. She caught it and in one smooth motion, plugged it into the computer, on the first try.

  “That was awesome, I love you,” Noah said as he rushed past her to look out the window.

  Van smacked his ass as he ran by, “thanks, I never get USBs right on the first try, at least wherever we’re from I do. What’s with the alarm, by the way?”

  The cheep blinds in the window crinkled as Noah peered through them. “I think you’re right. This place is being hacked. Someone took what they wanted and left.”

  “This place has shitty security,” Van said as she pulled up the database as she copied it. “My grandma could hack this place, and she can’t change the input on her tv.”

  “Hey neither can I.”

  “And you’re the CTO?” Van laughed.

  Noah let go of the blinds and briefly covered his ears as he rushed back over to the computer and Van. Something about the alarm just made him want to do everything quicker. He paused just before he was about to touch Van’s shoulder. “Your hair?”

  “What about it?” Van said, trying to look at it.

  “What color was it? Red?”

  “Yes why? This isn’t the time to fuck with me,” she spun around to look at him. “Fuck me! Your face.”

  “What about it?”

  “You have a beard.”

  “And your hair is blond. How’s that possible? I just saw you. Your hair was red.”

  “You definitely didn’t have a beard.”

  Noah ran his fingers through his long thick beard. He’d never had it this long before.

  Van stood up and kissed him. He loved the feeling of his whiskers on her face. “Our appearance must change to match what we’re supposed to look like here.”

  “But it doesn’t happen right away. There is a little delay.”

  The building’s lights started to flash red.

  “Is the copy done?” Noah asked through her kisses.

  “I don’t like leaving your lips,” she said as she turned to check the computer. The USB copy was finished. She pulled the stick out without safely ejecting it and tucked it between her breasts.

  “That’s not going to keep anyone from trying to get it,” Noah laughed.

  A group of ten people rushed past them, not batting an eye at either Van or Noah. They all had terrified looks on their faces. Practically running, the group made their way to the building’s entrance, burst through the doors, and dropped to their knees outside the front door. Their hands above their heads. Seconds later, a fleet of police cruisers of all shapes and sizes flooded the front parking lot. Others practically flew around to the back.

  Noah grabbed the phone, and it’s charger, the phone was up to 37%. Then grabbed Van’s hand and led her from the cubicle. Van looked around as he led her out and back towards the stairs. It all looked so familiar to her. She’d worked there for years. Now in a snap, it was all gone. This wasn’t her office. She wasn’t the old her. It felt oddly liberating like she was finally who she was supposed to be.

  “I have to tell you something,” Van yelled over the music and the alarm, which the latter seemed to be louder, then it had been back at David’s desk. They paused at the top of the stairs. Noah turned to her and kissed her again. She’d never get enough of those.

  “What’s up?” he asked, holding her hand tight. “We’re kind of in a situation here, can it wait?”

  “I don’t know, maybe, probably, but…”

  Noah kissed her again, “it’s ok, just say it.”

  “I think I may have gone through the door frame before I met you, fell actually. I was outside near the construction site, and…what if I’m not your Vanessa?”

  Noah looked at her. He hadn’t considered what would happen if one of them stepped through the door without the other. Maybe it didn’t work unless they both stepped through together? Maybe it did? Maybe it wasn’t limited to the two of them? Either way… “it doesn’t matter, you are my Vanessa, and I love you…”

  Van kissed him before he could finish. His finger ran through her blond hair, she could feel his beard on her face, and to both of them, it didn’t matter. They were each other’s connection. Everything else was background fuzz, static to their music.

  The song ended again, through the pause of the music they could hear voices outside. The two of them ran down the stairs hand in hand, as the music restarted.

  Upstairs an explosion could be heard, then footsteps. Loud footsteps.

  “We need to go,” Van yelled half out of breath. “We’re not going to be able to explain why we are here, and they aren’t going to let us keep the copy of the database and the door.”

  “Door frame, and you’re right, they aren’t going to let us keep playing the music either,” Noah said as they both looked down at the phone.

  As they entered the parking garage a strange sound echoed across it. Near the garage door, sparks filled the darkness.

  “They are cutting into the parking garage door. We aren’t going to be able to drive out of here.”

  “So, what then?” Van asked, already knowing the answer. They both turned to look at the door frame. She grabbed Noah’s key card and scanned it. The storage fence gate opened.

  Noah leaned over and kissed Van. “I love you.”

  “I know,” Van laughed, as she wrapped a pinky around Noah’s pinky.

  Together, they stepped through the door frame, and the world around them changed.

  Opps… Sorry that was a sample of

  ENTANGLEMENT

  Available Now

  VaughnAshby.com/Entanglement

  SANTA OF THE DEAD

  I’M ONLY GOING TO TELL YOU THIS once. Hopefully, this is the last time.

  My name is Santa Claus, Pere Noel, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and a whole dressing reindeer shit pile of other names. You can just call me Santa if you’d like. Though my wife, well second wife actually, calls me Christophe. The OG, or first wife called me Christopher. I prefer Chris. But again, Santa is fine.

  Most people think I’m not real, but I am, and fuck you.

  Who do you think puts all those presents under the tree? We both know it wasn’t you. But that’s my bad, you see I have this power, well I have a lot of powers actually, and one of them makes you think I’m not really real. But again, I am, totally real.

  Anyway, to understand who I am and how I got here, we have to go way back. Long before I ran into that zombie kid at the house, heck even before I was technically ‘Santa Claus.’

  You see, I’ve lived a long time, and I’m not human. Hmmm… maybe I should have started with that. I don’t know what I am, but I do know I’m not human. Sorry, I keep gettin
g off track, the old ticker isn’t what it used to be. And I think I may actually be getting old. Wait is ticker brain or heart? Either way both are old.

  So, who am I really? Well, way way way back in the 4th century people used to call me Saint Nicholas, and I lived in a town called Myra. It was beautiful and warm and nothing like where I live now. Anyway, I was a Greek Christian Bishop, and I loved giving stuff away. Gifts to the poor, dowries so that women could get married and not end up like prostitutes. Heck, I remember one time I almost gave this guy a blow job because his cow died, true story you can look it up. Back then, the church was a lot more liberal with its blow job giving rules.

  Back then, I was super into the church, mostly because so was everyone else, there wasn’t a lot to do, and I wasn’t human, and I wanted to fit in. But it allowed me so many opportunities to help people, I just kind of fell in love with the job. So, needless to say, my connection with the church quickly drifted apart as I learned of some of the stupid things they were doing in its name. I mean really, for people who are supposed to be all about love and shit, they sure like death and shit.

  I wish I could tell you what I was, other then not human that is. I’m not being a dick here. I legit don’t know. I just remember not being and then being, and that I had an overwhelming urge to help people. But here’s the thing, not everyone likes it when you help people. Sometimes, people are complete reindeer holes about it. They’d rather kill and hoard resources, then help those in need. That is not my style at all. Something inside of me urged me to be here, to help. To make this place better. So I did, and I died a lot for it.