103 Results in the "Burned Cover" category
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Layer by layer, sense by sense, Erika felt herself peeled apart. Sound went first: the gunfire, the shouts, the screech of metal birds all stretched and warped, then snapped into a cacophonous silence. The bridge, the van, and her allies smeared into streaks of color, then into impossible geometries—shapes that hurt to look at, their colors did not exist. Smell and taste followed, but not quietly. The spiciest curry paled compared to the taste of reality. A violent explosion of every taste at once…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
27 – Did It Work
Erika’s skin tingled and burned, rubbed raw from her scrubbing. The water running down her skin felt exquisite anyway, and yet it wasn’t enough. Two empty body wash bottles littered the floor along with three bottles of shampoo, but Erika could smell the bile and sludge. Some still circled the drain, sticking to the edges of the stream where the water pushed it aside; the stench was as strong as ever. “I think I got it up my nose,” Erika groaned, rubbing around the interior edges of her nose.…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
03 – Not So Dangerous Anymore
“Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is the most haunted graveyard in the world?” Erika read off her phone. “I find that hard to believe.” “Why not?” Daniel asked, sitting alongside Erika in the back seat of Rick’s new van. “It’s a creepy old graveyard.” “It isn’t that old,” Erika corrected, reading from the article. “The first burial was apparently in 1844, not even two hundred years ago. Pick a random graveyard in Europe and I bet they’re older than this place.” Leslie,…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
15 – Moonlit Encounter
Erika shooed out the last of Varn’s regular customers, locking the front doors for the night in the process. The idea that an arcade could have customers, let alone regulars, still shocked her every time she offered to watch the place. They weren’t many, but they existed. Alone for the evening, Erika did a little light cleaning. Rick did not pay her enough to get her working hard, no matter what kind of friendship they had. He had a rare prior engagement tonight, and nobody else was available, so…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
14 – i – Suppression
Two birds fell, sniped from so far away that neither had any idea where the shots were coming from. Debates on how intelligent the birds were had been going back and forth since their appearance, but instinct drove them to lash out at anything nearby. The Art pulled back, dodging the sharp talons of an irate bird. Coils of tendrils concealed within her porcelain body tensed and thrust, sending her sharp, ceramic claws between the metallic ribs of the monster. Thinner tendrils erupted from the ends of…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
13 – Silent Hospital
“We don’t usually go to hospitals,” Leslie said as he advanced down the dark halls of the building, flashlight sweeping into each room he passed. Erika moved along just behind him, bat resting on her shoulder. “The ghosts too violent or something?” she asked as she checked a room on the opposite side of the hall. The only thing inside was an exam table coated in a thin layer of dust. No ghosts, no cultists. “No,” he said with a small chuckle. “They’re harder to sneak into,…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
12 – Stalking with The Stalker
Erika walked alongside The Stalker, arm-in-arm, casually strolling the sidewalks late in the evening. Erika leaned up against The Stalker, squeezing together as another group passed by in the opposite direction. The streets weren’t crowded, but there were enough people to provide cover, mostly couples on dates heading in or out from the various bars and dives. “What are you doing?” The Stalker hissed as Erika dragged a finger down her spine. “We’re a couple on a date,” Erika whispered…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Erika stood in a narrow alley between a pair of large garbage bins, watching the minute hand of her watch fly over the numbers. A pair of fire escapes, mounted on opposing brick buildings, now sported GoPro cameras strapped to their lowest rungs, aimed down either end of the alley. With no doors close to Erika, anyone who entered the alley and got anywhere near her current position wouldn’t be both obvious and caught on one of the cameras. With a slight mental tug, Erika bent time around her watch,…
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362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
10 – Kill and Tell
Erika couldn’t help her leg thumping against the floor as she looked around at the other Hunters. A flutter of butterflies in her stomach refused to let her sit still. Some little whisper in the back of her mind told her to get away, to crash at random hotels and motels again, knowing that The Monk was out and free. “Honestly should have expected this,” Rick said, only half-paying attention as he fiddled with the command line terminal on his laptop. “When you said the archive had strange things…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
09 – Positive Outlooks
The Adjustment kicked back, feet taking up the armrest of a small couch. “Glad to be out of that,” she said with a relieved sigh. “Thought I was going to have to treat my poor carapace for burn damage again halfway through.” Erika stood at the window, looking out over Chicago and the lake with a small smile on her face. “I did see a few sparks.” “Empy really managed to restrain herself.” The Adjustment barked a laugh. “I’ll have to pat her on the head later.” Impassive…-
362.6 K • Ongoing
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