All short stories published on The Quick and the Dead are linked below. Happy reading!
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They spent the day doing mundane things together. They went grocery shopping. They took a walk around the neighborhood. Mark bought them sandwiches for lunch, from a food truck that had set up near the park. They worked on a puzzle in the afternoon. They sat on the porch in the early evening and drank… Continue reading
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The night was going extremely badly. Anna stirred her drink with the fancy cocktail straw, watching the slice of lemon swirl in the glass. “I gotta get out here,” she said to Meredith, barely audible over the noise in the bar. “Already?” Meredith asked, eyeing the half-full glass. Anna shrugged. “I’m just not feeling like… Continue reading
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Here’s what happened. I stuffed those extra clothes into my backpack that morning, knowing they weren’t for running with Andrew. They were for running away. I needed some time. I needed to get out of here. Beth caught me though, and I had to lie to her. I hate lying. I’ve lied enough to… Continue reading
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I waited around after school for a bit, just in case Lizzie didn’t actually go on that run with Andrew. Sitting in the car, just scrolling through Instagram, the windows down. It was a nice afternoon. That was before we knew she was missing though. I saw Derrick and Ethan crossing the parking lot. Ethan… Continue reading
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I knew something was wrong that morning. Her bedroom door was cracked open. I saw her stuffing an extra set of clothes into her backpack. “We have practice today?” I asked. We run cross country. I just assumed it was her running clothes. Lizzie jumped, zipping the backpack quickly, keeping her eyes down. “No… Continue reading
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Out the window the sun was rising fast. Edward had not sat at the piano all night. He had not been home all night. How long until the monsters chased him down and found him here in bed with Elisabeth, fresh and lively and unwilling to do their bidding? How long until they exterminated him?… Continue reading
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Elisabeth was drenched in fear. She had not been out of the house that day, not since she had returned home from Edward’s apartment that morning. She had not accomplished anything that day—had not cleaned the house or made herself lunch or lit the candles when the sky began to grow dark. The ash falling… Continue reading
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Edward was troubled. In his mind, he saw the great waters of the ocean, stretched out before him, an expanse of salt and death. He saw the swallowed beach, the gray morning mist mixing with the ash as the two fell out of the sky, dancing in dreary patterns before they lay down to die… Continue reading
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She looked out her window into the morning dust. She looked out the window every morning to watch the dust fall from the sky, silently, eerily, before she started her day. And every morning before she reported to the tunnels for work, she stopped outside Edward’s door, and pondered over his manner. He was a… Continue reading
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The house was hot, the air stifling and smokey from the candles that burned in every room. A draft blew up from under the door to the bathroom across the hall. He’d left the window open. He sat silently at the piano, feet bare, wearing only his underwear, smoking a cigarette. He waited for the… Continue reading
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