Dornicus

     Grover Cleveland McKennan had been fighting the state of Wyoming his entire life.      He rolled a pinch of tobacco between thumb and forefinger and stuffed it behind his lower lip, cradling the rifle in his arms while he watched four coyotes devour one of his cows. They were just about done.      Wisps of steam from the cow's exposed innards brooked around the heads of the coyotes like water around river stones. They took no notice.      Spitting carelessly to the side, Grover press-checked the rifle and lifted it to his shoulder. The

Jean woke up at dawn, and scanned the horizon from the top of the tree he’d made his home for the night. All clear. With a tired sigh that added a few years of weight to his shoulders, Jean swung down from the tree, rifle slung across his back, and landed in a crouch. He spent a few minutes carefully stretching each limb, then checked the magazine of each weapon before putting on his jacket and zipping it up. He reached down and picked up his helmet, and pondered it for a moment. Did he really want to document his life like this? He could always erase it later. He pulled the helmet on, and… I pull the helmet down tight, the l

The dawn. The sun broke fiercely over the Himalayas, pouring over mountainsides like water. Anil Tsenpo had not moved for hours. He was as still as the mountain, breathing in and out once per minute, controlling every muscle in his body with absolute focus. The mountainside and he were no longer separate; for all intents and purposes, they were one. His control over every part of his body was absolute. Every aspect of his posture was perfect, and the sight through the scope on his rifle was as steady as if it were in a vice. Silent death spat from the muzzle of his rifle, bringing the final silence to ghoul after ghoul. Anil’s conscio

His first time inside the walls of fort Cairo -- so-named because its population were primarily refugees from the famed Egyptian city, although the fortification itself was actually on the border of what had been the Sudan -- had been something of a culture shock for Rafael Djembe, not so much because it was different from the culture he was used to, but because he had never even seen culture before. Human interaction was rare in the badlands, and the currency of most exchanges was gunfire. The inscriptions on the aging Khyber Pass-built Enfield CO (Caseless Operation) rifle he carried, handed down to him by his grandfather, had become famil

 You know you can't go back. "I accepted that when I did what I did. I make no apologies." They were your family. Who are you to turn your back on them? "They turned their back on me. I did nothing but return the favor," Tigos said, staring blankly into the elongated starfield stretching out in front of the viewport. Despite the facade he immediately presented to his conscience's attempts at making him remorseful, he was still in disbelief that he had in fact done what he had. The despair at the ugly necessity of his act wrapped him in its arms almost as soon as he had realized that he'd done it. Clad in the simple garments of a Jedi

 This must be the highest bacteria index this room has ever seen thought Carlos Lopez as he stood at attention and stared at the pure white sterile walls of the Marine Corps training office. Despite being unable to see them, Carlos knew that high-powered infrared lights were turning on automatically to purify the office of any foreign bacteria because of the distinctive click one made every time it activated. From the back room emanated the conversation that was going on between the recruiting officer and another hopeful, who, judging by the tone and snatches Carlos caught, wasn't too likely to make it into the Marines. Only minutes later,