Andy's Blog

"Don't go out there!" she cried.   He looked back over his shoulder reassuringly: "Hey. This is me," he said, shouldering his shotgun and securing the door firmly behind him.   She heard him moving softly away. Minutes passed in silence. There were sounds in the distance. A scuffle. A gunshot.   More silence.   Footsteps returning. She moved behind the bed, wary.   The door pushed slowly open and - to her relief - his familiar face appeared, spattered with blood. He smiled, reassuringly.   "Hey," he said. His eyes blank.   "This is me."

In my youth, I saw them often. They came, through the trees at the foot of the garden, and gazed upon the house. Once, I saw my mother go and speak with them; an exchange of bundled items, I fancied, and then a parting. When I spoke to my mother of it, she scolded me for making wicked lies. My baby sister cried less after that. After a time they stopped coming and I came to believe it was a fiction, a dream. But lately I have seen them again, watching, always watching. My daughter cries so.

  "Good morning, sir, I'm calling from RTA Legal Solutions as a follow-up call, regarding a transport incident you may have been involved in."   "Oh really, do go on."   "Yes sir, a claim was filed for damages following the incident."   "When was this?"   "Within the last three years, sir."   "You're going to have to be more specific than that."   "Well, this is the question, sir."   "Ah, so you don't have a specific incident in mind? You're just fishing."   "Not at all, sir, we don't fish, I actually take exception at the use of that word -"   "No, you have cold called me and are now trying to trick me into giving up information. Your use of the phrase 'follow-up' suggested a pre-existing relationship, when in fact -"   "It is a follow-up, there are people in need of legal advice and - I don't have to listen to this from you -"   ...

We stood on the precipice, looking out over the valley below.  "All the way over there, huh," Tony grimaced.   "Yeah, you can just make out the crash perimeter," I confirmed, pointing into the distance.  "We came down near vertical, so no matter how far we are above ground level it shouldn't be too far away from there," I started to say, but before I could finish "vertical" I was interrupted by a terrible roar from below.   With a tremendous crashing sound the forest canopy beneath us shook and rippled like the surface of a lake before tearing asunder to reveal the source of the noise - a gargantuan creature rising to its feet.  The behemoth was so large that as fast as it moved, its sheer size dictated it took a clear seven seconds to reach its full height.  I glanced at Tony as the displaced air rushed past us; he was looking up at the beast in awe, unafraid, already sizing up its potential weak spots and tactical assets.   "What t...