“You two look exhausted,” Priya said as Luke and Lucy sat down at their usual table in the Student Union bar. “I don’t need to guess why, do I?” The Indian girl bit her lip as her two friends both shook their heads.

“Ugh,” Luke sighed, sharing a knowing glance with his sister. “Never mind ‘back from holiday’, I feel like I NEED a holiday.” Luke allowed himself a smile as his friends Gavin and Susie smiled sympathetically.

London's Met police have the only Police EOD Unit in the country. They had called me in because after an X-ray , they suspected the device to be nuclear. It was a dirty bomb designed to make a large part of the London financial district uninhabitable. My name is Matt Rixon and I’m a captain in the 11th Regiment.

Undisclosed Location, San Francisco, Cal.:
Mr. Galante wakes up hanging by his arms and naked. His head felt foggy, and his mouth had a cotton taste to it. Through blurry eyes, he spots his assistant Ariel hanging a few feet beside him. He was naked as well and was hanging by his arms.

The last thing Mr. Galante remember was going to bed with two young women. They had been sent by the company he normally used. One had been Filipino and the other had been the brunette he liked so much. Both had been young and in their twenties.

I can't remember when I knew I wanted to be a girl. I remember seeing girls in pretty dresses when I was 4 or 5 and wishing I could be pretty like them. I even asked my mum once.

"Can I be a girl mum?"

"Why do you want to be a girl, Simon?" She sounded angry.

"So, I can wear nice dresses like they do."

"Don't be stupid. Boy's don't wear dresses."

I thought then that boys and girls were the same. I thought girls were boys with long hair that wore nice clothes. I learned the difference as I grew older.

“Beep! Beep!”

“Eh? What’s that?” I thought to myself, as I slowly woke from my light sleep.

My alarm clocks illuminated display showed that it was just past midnight. With my phone set not to disturb me during the night, I was confused as to why a message alert had woken me. My sleepiness wasn’t helping me think straight.

I reached over to where the now brightly-lit phone was charging, on top of my bedside table.

“You nasty little bitch!” read the message previewed on the home screen, shocking me into a more fully awake state.

Queen Dana of Highwinds the Elf Kingdom inside the Empire has a problem. One that she cannot fix personally. The is with a small minority of her population. A problem that has been brought to her attention by the half elf son of a problematic Duke. What is a Queen to do? She calls on help from a friend. The question now is does she realize what she is letting loose on her kingdom?

Mantra (Malibu Comics) decides that its time to face down her bitterest enemy. The problem is that the enemy used to be her best friend. If the heroine gets the two opposing roles mixed up, she could be facing disaster.

Billy was listening to the radio transmission from the police band, and the emergency band as well. She and the Wolfhart family knew the attack was going to happen tonight, but when was the question. As she takes a sip of her tea. She notices the power grid that the Blackstone mansion was on, and the neighborhood was all going out at same time.

That wasn’t the only thing that got her attention. There was a citywide alert for the shooting of several police officers.

CHAPTER 33
My last exam was on a Thursday afternoon, and it left me drained. Alys was still due for another session, on the Friday morning, so there could be no mad celebration, or even easing of mental aches and pains, until she was finally released. I found my way to the familiar spot on the school wall, Sali joining me a few minutes later.

“You done, Enfys?”

I nodded.

“Just waiting for Alys. You?”

Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California:
Gina watches as Arabella and Jennifer chase after a frisbee on the beach. The two of them have been getting along really well. That was the one concerned Gina and Arnold had about the two girls. They were totally opposites of each other.

Julia’s and Christmas’s House, Caldwell, Montana:
Julia watches as Haylee and Catori ride their horses out in front of the house. Chayton was out with her father and a few other men hunting. He would have taken Haylee, but Haylee had a thing about killing innocent animals.

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Bounty?” Katy looks at Julia as she stood next to her.

Julia looks at Katy and smiles “I’m doing okay, Katy, but you don’t need to call Mrs. Bounty. Mrs. Bounty is my mother. Just call me Julia from now on please.”

Immune Response
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

What are allergies? An allergy is an immune system response to a foreign substance that’s not typically harmful to your body. Your immune system’s job is to keep you healthy by fighting harmful pathogens – things that could put your body in danger. It does this by attacking those things. The allergic response can be inflammation, sneezing or something much more serious. Shock is the extreme – the body shuts down to destroy the pathogen, even though it might not even be slightly harmful to the body.