The biggest driftwood log I could manage to roll into the whitewater river now bobbed in and out of the rapids—with me clutching to the top of it. I gripped the makeshift handles I chiseled out with sharp stones. My bare feet and hands had long since gone numb and locked up, though I was ...

“DIB less than ten miles southeast. Twelve of them, though more following behind no doubt,” Ella reported at the mouth of the latest pine they made their hideout as they moved. Her face wrinkled with worry as she wrung her hands, which still passed through each other. “They have heat sensors. They found remnants of ...

I have loved horror movies since I can remember, and that is a long time since I was born in 1957. A new one would come out, and I’d turn off all the lights because you can’t watch a horror movie with the lights on; that distracts from the atmosphere. I gather a blanket and ...

“Play it again,” Dr. Ross said through gritted teeth as he hovered over the security panel screens of the dark room. Violet crouched in the hall as he and the guards approached from around the corner. First, she was there, and just as they turned the corner, she vanished from sight. “No electromagnetic glitch in ...

“How…How did they get to me so fast? Doctor Ross and his crew that looked like EMS?” Don’s lips tightened under his bearded face and his brow wrinkled in worry. “I don’t know Violet. I’m sorry. But with enough resources, I’m sure Ross and DIB can pull off more than we know.”

Nightfall in the thick forest found me as I frantically attempted to light the pile of dry sticks I’d gathered. Sweat beaded on my forehead and dripped onto the base stick. I was trying the plow technique I saw in Castaway. Tom Hanks didn’t make it look easy, and I hadn’t yet gouged the palm ...

As I stepped out of the mouth of the cave fortress, the sun blinded me. Helicopter blades cut through the air, and hummer engines thrummed to life. The dozens of workers escorted by guards filed into the various vehicles. Within minutes, they either took into the sky or shot down forested trails in routine efficiency. ...

Chapter Four **Warning: story contains thoughts of / attempted suicide** The moment after I swallowed the fat red pill, I felt different. I checked to feel if the blue one was there, still stuck to the thick lemon tart hidden behind my front teeth and was relieved. So relieved, I felt drunk almost. Or high? ...

*Warning*The story contains thoughts of/attempted suicide Five nurses, if they could be called that, came for me again later that night. Though they wore scrubs, they held their bodies with an ex-military air. They were far too efficient at holding me down when they needed to. Now was one of those times as I struggled ...

"How do you feel?” the woman sitting on the edge of my hospital bed whispered, tilting her head to one side as she did.