CARNAGE HOUSE

Hereditary

by Jay C. Alexander

Smoking kills.

FIRST, YOU LOSE YOUR GUT. That fat you had been trying to burn for months disappears, and you feel lighter than ever, even though there’s now a small lump right under your diaphragm. It looks cute. A few years later—maybe sooner if you’re lucky enough—you’re breathless after climbing up a flight of stairs. Beautif

Catch a Hot One

by Phoenix Mendoza

Welcome to the kingdom of the flies.

THE FLIES MET in the cornfields, in a hollow they’d crunched down between rows. They called it their clubhouse, but it wasn’t a house or even a shack—just an open-air clearing with a cooler that doubled as a card table and some ratty, sun-bleached lawn chairs they sat in like thrones while us new recruits knelt in the

The Blight

by Mike Rusetsky

Some skin care issues go deeper than others.

IT STARTED AS a foul odor. Unfortunate, but there it was. You know it’s bad when you can smell your own funk, and boy, did my body bring it. The stench concentrated in my left armpit. I sniffed and immediately regretted it as my eyes watered.

“What the hell? I showered today,” I muttered to myself. I thought I

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

by Kasey Hill

Who needs brass knuckles when diamonds are a girl’s best friend?

THE SIRENS COULD BE HEARD coming down the street as I sat on the steps of my front porch awaiting their arrival. Sticky, drying blood caked in my hair, on my face, hands, and clothes. I sat there twisting my wedding rings around my finger, leaving tacky fingerprints from my thumb and pointer finger on the sides of the bands

Explosión Trágica y Espectacular

by Phoebe A. Xavier

Herbert wants to get out of the messy business of being a shrink.

2456 Terran Standard

Exo Oort Colony - Tyche City

During his short tenure in the field of psychotherapy, Herbert the Walrus found one particular patient to be a bit of a challenge.

Part of it was that Javier was completely forthcoming, perhaps to a fault. He was also prone to graphic expleti

The Sky Fucking Exploded

by Chris McAuley

Ground Zero, the most horrific place to be—except for the observers.

AT 11:02 A.M., MITSUKO was arguing over a bruised pear she didn’t even want. The vendor insisted it was fine. She insisted fine was a lie. Her son Akio clung to her arm, sweaty fingers digging in, his other hand gripping a paper pinwheel folded from a ration notice. He kept asking when his father would be home. She kept s

Savage Mountain

by Nikki Durbin

Pride comes before the fall.

MARCH 8

I’m not stupid. Far from it. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find someone smarter than me. That’s why I’m writing this diary. When I get out of this fucking crevasse, I’m gonna take it and publish it. A tale of survival, told in real time! And I AM goi

The Feculence

by J. Rocky Colavito

In a world gone to shit...

WE’RE UP HIGH ENOUGH to stay away from its touch, but no matter how high we go we won’t ever escape the smell.

It’s a living thing, using the winds to waft itself to the heavens and beyond. Think of a graveyard washed through the overtaxed sewer system of a large city. If you’ve ever wondered if the living d

Absolutely Knot

by Winona Morris

Behind the white picket fence, something was unraveling.

MARRIAGE WAS EVERY WOMAN’S end game. From the time she slid wet and screaming from the warm, tearing doorway of her mother into her father’s waiting arms, every woman was preparing to be a wife.

Claire never learned any different. She spent her time between birth and marriage practicing. She learned how to cook,