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    90 Results in the "Burned Cover" category


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      11 – i – Anna

      11 – i – Anna Cover
      by Tower Curator “I’m going out, Mother,” Anna called out as she laced up her boots. “I should be back before dinner, but just in case I’m not, there is a salad in the fridge, all ready to eat.” The scrape-clack, tap-tap, scrape-clack, tap-tap of Mirabelle’s walker grew louder as she approached, until finally, the hunched woman stopped in the doorway. “I thought you had the day off,” she said, her voice trailing off. “Did the lab call you in again?” Anna patiently smiled as she pulled out a…
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      10 – Finding Motive Force

      10 – Finding Motive Force Cover
      by Tower Curator Erika ground her teeth as she circled the motel for the fifth—no, sixth—time. The neon vacancy sign flickered, casting a sickly red light across the empty parking lot, making the entire area feel somehow more ominous. She couldn’t tell what was going on inside. Her eyes scanned every shadow, every movement, and all the people still standing about watching; the cold sent most of the people away, either back to their cars or, the more daring of them, back to the neighboring motel rooms. A squad car…
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      09 – Renegade

      09 – Renegade Cover
      by Tower Curator The door exploded inward, metal shrieking as it tore free from the frame. The tattooed woman stepped through the wreckage, her face split by a malevolent grin. Her eyes, ringed with thick, bar-like tattoos, locked onto Delilah. Erika didn’t hesitate. She surged forward, bat raised, aiming for the woman’s head. The bat struck just below the woman’s eye, and Erika heard a crack of bone, but the woman stumbled slightly, and didn’t look bothered beyond that. Her eyes swiveled in her head as her hand…
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      08 – Uninvited Interference

      08 – Uninvited Interference Cover
      by Tower Curator Erika peered out the motel window, eyeing the cars as they moved up and down the street. This motel was a dump. The door next to hers looked like it had been in a fight with a battering ram and had only survived thanks to someone bolting a metal plate over a gaping hole. Mold clung to the air, thick and sour, around the entire block, while her room smelled of smoke. There were burn marks in the small table next to the bed—too big for cigarettes, more like the calling card of a heroin junkie. The…
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      07 – The Way We Deal

      07 – The Way We Deal Cover
      by Tower Curator Erika sat in her truck, eating a sub sandwich at a parking lot just outside Chicago’s downtown. Heavy metal music blasted from the speakers, vibrating the windows and drowning out the noises of the city. It didn’t seem to matter how much she turned it up; the music still wasn’t loud enough to quash her own thoughts. Rick had sent her a text earlier—Anna was awake, though not quite ready to leave just yet. Erika couldn’t decide if she should visit. Showing up with a ‘Sorry you died, get well…
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      06 – Recovery and Righteous Indignation

      06 – Recovery and Righteous Indignation Cover
      by Tower Curator Varn’s felt different without anybody around. Erika spent all of a Tuesday morning tidying up around the old arcade, cleaning a few of the neglected cabinets, organizing the stock of tokens that would replace quarters, and setting out the prizes. The boarded-up windows had been replaced with proper glass, though they were shuttered at the moment; between the light coming in through the windows and the new lights throughout the arcade, more dust than ever was visible on nearly every surface. The King…
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      05 – i – Daniel King

      05 – i – Daniel King Cover
      by Tower Curator “I don’t think we’re getting anywhere on this one,” Daniel said, snapping a book on ancient death cults closed. It joined the stack of dead-end books, leaving him with only one last book to skim through. But he knew that if he didn’t find something relevant, their search would go nowhere, and he hated feeling helpless. Bethany, leaning back on the rear two legs of her chair, absently balanced herself as she scrolled down her phone. “Maybe you should figure out what you’re looking…
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      04 – A Breath of Fresh Air

      04 – A Breath of Fresh Air Cover
      by Tower Curator Erika woke with a sudden gasp, confused and disoriented. She sat on her side, just as she had been ten seconds ago. The room around her was no longer The Castle’s operating theater. The last thing she saw was The Orderly, warning her that she would feel a burning sensation in her arm as she added some anesthetic to Erika’s IV line. Erika distinctly recalled feeling a heat in her wrist. She opened her mouth to comment on it, then… The recovery room didn’t look much different from the room Erika…
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      03 – The Castle at Large

      03 – The Castle at Large Cover
      by Tower Curator The Butler towered over Erika as she guided the way through the long, empty corridors of The Castle’s asylum. Erika couldn’t be certain, but it felt like The Butler was even taller than the last time she ran into the woman. “I am sorry for not contacting you,” The Butler said, breaking a silence that had lasted since leaving the operating theater. “It wasn’t that I deliberately ignored you, just that The Director doesn’t typically bring in outsiders.” “That’s… fine? I guess?”…
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      02 – Preferential Treatment

      02 – Preferential Treatment Cover
      by Tower Curator Erika winced and grimaced every time she heard the bone saw whir. Holding a meeting over an operating table was… an experience to be sure, one that Erika didn’t feel like she ever needed. Leah had wanted her to be a doctor once upon a time, and Erika actually considered it before getting her GED, but watching The Doctor hack into Anna killed any lingering interest in the idea. It took effort to hold back her nausea. Erika forced her focus on The Director. “I trust I have you to thank for…
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