12 Results in the "Burned Cover" category
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Chapter
10 – i – Bounty
Noblesse Oblige. Before Sargon of Akkad united his peoples and formed his empire, before the pharaohs of old Egypt erected their monuments to their own demise, before the Romans built their roads, and before humans made the paradigm shift from hunter-gatherers to an agricultural society, man hid in caves and cowered from the monsters that lurked in the night. The apex predator, the tool-using top of the food chain… Those titles did not belong to humanity. They weren’t the dominant species. Not…-
41.8 K • Ongoing
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Finding a hotel in Chicago, even on short notice, wasn’t much of a trial. A few hundred hotels, motels, hostels, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts were scattered throughout the city. Erika had no particular preference, as long as the place was clean and discreet. The kind of place she could get into with cash and few questions asked. Cash was the important bit. Perhaps it was paranoia, but after having been in a massive archive that seemed to catalog everything, from street light patterns to the mayor’s…
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41.8 K • Ongoing
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Erika followed the navigation on her phone, turning down one of the seedier streets in Chicago. It was up north, pretty much the opposite side of the city from where Erika and Daniel lived. It was, nonetheless, the street he had given her over the phone. She drove down, frowning at every building she passed. A video rental place that looked sketchy as shit right next to a store advertising clothes, shoes, erotic toys, and lingerie. And a hookah lounge. Two separate tattoo parlors whose signs had faded…
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41.8 K • Ongoing
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Erika didn’t want to look too suspicious as she stalked around the church. Not the easiest thing in the world when it was three in the morning. Anyone was suspicious at this hour. It was some small consolation that there was next to no traffic or pedestrians in the area of the Old St. Patrick’s Church at this time. That said, Erika wasn’t one for subtlety. That nun was in some way associated with this church. Maybe finding Friar Tuck inside would be an acceptable alternative. If Erika could…
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41.8 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
06 – A Proper Investigation
“So, I call you on a Friday and you can just come right out and hang?” Daniel shifted in the passenger seat of the old pickup, looking uncomfortable. “Sorry,” Erika said, not taking her eyes off the road. “Didn’t mean to imply that you had nothing better to do. But… did you not have anything better to do?” “My… family likes to go out on Friday nights,” he said, still looking distinctly uncomfortable. It was probably the worn seats—though the passenger seat wasn’t half as…-
41.8 K • Ongoing
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He adjusted his necktie as he stood in the elevator. The floor indicator lit up slowly. It wasn’t a modern elevator. Even though the building was only ten floors, the elevator took its sweet time. He occupied the time picking off small bits of lint or dust from his suit. Most were probably imaginary specs but the cleanliness felt important. A single chime accompanied his arrival to the final floor. Picking up the long black case at his feet, he stepped out into the old Gilmore Building’s…
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41.8 K • Ongoing
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Erika Walker stared at the ceiling of her room where a Red Hot Chili Peppers poster hung. The four strips of masking tape at each corner were losing their adhesiveness at a glacial yet still noticeable rate. The tape needed to be replaced. Soon. Otherwise, she would end up with the poster falling on her while she was sleeping. Or, it would if she ever managed to get some sleep. In the last five days, since becoming aware of her mother, Erika found it difficult to sleep. Most of her napping occurred…
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41.8 K • Ongoing
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“They were staring and snickering and Penelope looked at me like I was crazy for knowing so much about your… your… body.” “That’s rough buddy,” Erika said without a single note of sympathy in her tone. She sat in her pickup truck, dipping chicken nuggets into sweet and sour sauce while listening to her newest phone contact rant over speakerphone. The lights were out, the engine was off, and she was parked well down the road from her house. Just around the corner where most of her truck…
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41.8 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
02 – Florence Erika Walker
Erika sat hunched over a bowl of breakfast cereal, watching her mother’s back as the woman washed the range with a rag cloth. The woman in the kitchen wore a plaid shirt with an apron thrown on over the top. The teal and white blouse that was today’s outfit for her job as a hotel clerk hung over the back of one of the counter stools, ready to put on as soon as she had to go in to work. Erika paid attention to every little detail. From the large freckle on her elbow to the way her sandy brown hair…-
41.8 K • Ongoing
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Erika Walker is a young woman with a bit of an odd family. Her little brother can coax minutes to stretch or snap like rubber bands and Erika has yet to come across something she cannot break. Erika has never seen her father before and her mother… Well, her mother isn’t exactly her mother anymore. The woman looks like Leah, sounds like her, but…
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