The Spire was a vertical city—sixty floors of steel, neon, and blood. Each level was ruled by a different mob, cartel, or syndicate. The higher you lived, the deeper your pockets and the colder your soul. At the top sat the Vanta Syndicate, untouchable,…

The bearded man placed heavy tin mugs in the corners of an old map. “Look here, boyar,” he said. “From Ustyug, we go along the Sukhona to the Dvina, and then the road to the north is smooth. If we leave here after Easter, then in about three weeks we will…

Samson scraped the remains of Commander Velez from the cryo bay bulkhead. Her torso had been split open like a fruit, ribs peeled back, lungs deflated and dangling. The blood had dried into a black crust, but the smell lingered—iron, bile, and something…

He was sitting alone at the far end of a graveyard in the last hour of the night, quietly weeping by a distant grave. He was holding a wooden staff in his right hand, just like the staff of Prophet Moses. He was weeping intensely, like Prophet Jacob mourning…

They found the truck three days after the storm, engine still warm, doors flung open with obvious brutal force. No sign of blood. No sign of struggle. Just a half-eaten sandwich on the dash and a smear of something black and iridescent on the steering wheel.…

I paid for my seat. I want to sit in it without missing anything. So, when the band kicks the show off with their second-biggest hit, and the woman in front of me with black hair in a silver sequined dress leaps to her feet, I groan. Jodi, my cousin, shares a…

The city had no name anymore. It used to. Jack remembered it vaguely—billboards, neon, the hum of trains overhead. Now it was just a carcass of steel and ash, its bones jutting skyward like the ribs of some long-dead beast. Fires burned in the distance,…

It was a cold winter, and the wind felt like sharp needles touching the skin. Trees were rustling, standing bare. The fog covered the streets. Schools were shut for winter break, and most kids spent their days sitting by the windows wrapped in quilts near the…

The evening lunar shuttle departed on time. When the engines roared and the rocket left the steel trusses, I took a deep breath. Public transportation to the Moon had stopped being a novelty, but I still admired the pilots’ skill. “You may unfasten your seat…

they say it`s all the boomers and X`s fault- into the wound they rub the salt. we planted a seed and watched it bloom- never expected any handouts upon a golden spoon. we had to save real hard- just to buy our very first car. every day was lived hand to…

I told Irene: "I had to shut the door to the passage. They have taken over the back part. She let her knitting fall and looked at me with her tired, serious eyes. "You're sure?" I nodded. "In that case,” she said, picking up her knitting again, "we'll have…

A chance Snapchat add leads to a slow-burn love story between two strangers who become lifelong partners It started with a misclick, a blurry photo of a coffee cup that was meant for her sister that was sent to a stranger named “Jax_93.” Luna stared at the…