Missing by Edward A. Grainger

Cash Laramie’s often called The Outlaw Marshal. Not so much because he goes outside the law in the course of doing his duty as a Deputy U.S. Marshal as because he delivers justice so often in his own peculiar way. Him and me both work out of the Cheyenne office, and we both work for […]

Hotdogs are Murder by Bruce Harris

…Baseball fans, welcome to the first of a four-game series between the LA Curds and your NY Carnivores. Boy, do we have a pitching matchup for your entertainment this evening… “Turn the radio up, I wanna hear the game.” …Now, let’s take a look at your starting lineup for the visiting LA Curds, who come […]

The Waiting Game by R. J. Spears

“Willard, when are you coming to bed?” Grace’s voice echoed in his head waking him from a deep sleep. He sat in his recliner, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, his Remington .310 laying placidly across the chair’s arms just like it did every night.  The TV filled the family room with a pale gray […]

Play Date by Mike McCrary

Charlie smirks, “It’s a game.” Trish gulps, wincing in pain as if she swallowed a wasp, “I don’t want to play.” “You liked playing with me a few months ago. Different game, but you wanted to play then.” Panic bubbles in Trish. She pushes the floor with squirming toes. Her chair scoots along the plastic […]

Board Games by Louie Wilkerson

When I first heard that Grandpa Hank died, I didn’t want to go to no funeral.  But Mama said that kin is kin and I reckon she would have just turned my backside sore if I hadn’t gone. “Besides,” she said, “they’re divvyin up the fortune.  You want yours don’t you?” Well now the way […]

Nesting by Nick Slosser

Shattering glass jolted him awake.  Raising his head, he strained to listen.  His wife stirred beside him. “Did you hear that?” he whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder.  Her body tensed. “Hear what?” “Shhh!  Listen.  Someone’s downstairs.” Peering through dusty bands of light that slipped through the blinds to streak across the ceiling, closet, […]

Burnt Technicalities by John L. Thompson

“You working pretty late tonight.”  Sheriff Dubois stood on the back porch John-Wayne-style. Did he know what was going on?  “Just dealing with a backlog.” His eyes slid over my shoulder.  “Just seems strange…being this late at night.” “Business is busy.  How can I help you?” He stepped back, pushed his hat up then exhaled […]

Writing on the Wall by L A Sykes

When the sky cried tears and washed away the blood he thanked it knowing it had heard him. He’d kissed them goodbye with bullets of love. Up close and personal. They never even saw it coming. It was done before they could have even envisaged it in a nightmare. Their faces were a picture, their […]

Like They Do It in the Movies by T. Maxim Simmler

I blame Guy Ritchie. Him and all the other wankers who tried to cash in, churning out about one new badass gangster flick a week. And, y’know, the kids watch that shit and they start thinking about just how cool life would be once they’d start, say, peddling dope, working their way up the food […]

Solar Graffiti by Isaac Kirkman

“This shit’s getting old. As soon as I get this money I’m bouncing.” John said, blotting the sweat from his cornrows as the southern sun scrawled across the sky like solar graffiti. “It’s done been old, boo.” Juanita replied, wiping down her side of the car at the carwash where they worked in Greenville, South […]

Stolen Homes by Matthew C. Funk

“You better arrest him right now for stealing my house, Detective Jurgis.” Cap Warner’s arthritic fingers knotted around the pistol pointed at Boost McClaine, “Or I’ll shoot him dead here myself.” This wasn’t like Cap. People had been acting unlike themselves a lot in the year since the Storm. I took in the situation I’d […]

Pickup on County Route 15 by Hector S. Koburn

Garry Packard sat mutely, inwardly sighing between mouthfuls, while his partner, Don Haggerty, complained to a waitress about his burger. Having worked together for the last nine years, Packard had grown used to the man’s tetchiness, but that didn’t mean he had grown to like it. Fortunately, for Packard, his partner would be retiring at […]