Killing Time Stories

BANG! Bang, bang, bang! What was that--gunshots?

Tap, tap, tap, tap. No, not gunshots. Not rocks.

CRASH! Windows shattered. Glass flies everywhere.

"The car!" he shouts. "Gotta save the car!"

We try to save the car. But it was too late--windshield shattered.

It's now over--the storm at least. We have no windows. Siding's gone.

What caused this? Frozen water balls. Icy rocks that came from the sky.

The biggest hail in 60 years, they said. Is this the new "normal"?

Heaven help us if it is!!

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We fought hard--the captain and I.

We gave them hell — pushed back against their ideals.

The battle is ours--we won. We won...

The Captain awarded me for bravery during the battle. Then he was shot.

I held him as his life slipped away. A stray bullet hit my shoulder. Then another in my back, then in my abdomen.

I don't feel anything--I don't have words.

I look over the scene before I leave.

We won! We won. We won...did we though?

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This is so uncomfortable!

I can't move; can't breathe; can't think.

I'm pushed into the wall. Crying and screaming, the others move about like livestock.

How'd we get here?

The visitors came to our planet about two years ago. They were very pleasant and helped us erase poverty and hunger.

They showed us how to create enough food for everyone on the planet. They even showed us how to eliminate war.

Everyone finally got along.

We got cocky and expected more from our visitors. But they encouraged us to come to their planet with them.

They showed us videos of happy people from other planets enjoying the good life on the visitors' planet.

We all wanted to go and enjoy that life too. So we left our planet in intervals.

They gave us new clothes and plenty of food for our journey. But something happened to change that.

I discovered the real reason they came to our planet. They were on a hunting trip. My people are a delicacy on their world.

I told everyone, but no one took me seriously. Our punishment?

Our entire population is being transferred without our new clothes or snacks. Once we found out, they treated us like chattel.

I just heard where we're going. Where's...Earth?

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The shrill, inhuman screech pierced the still summer night. Nick looked up from his phone as a cold chill traveled down his spine. Standing up on his deck, he scanned the dark for any sign of where the sound came from.

But, of course, this proved pointless, as he lived far from the city's bright lights. It was pitch black, save for his porch lights.

As he considered putting on his shoes and grabbing a flashlight, the shrill screech came again, but it sounded much closer this time. He hurried into the house, put on his shoes, and grabbed his flashlight. But as he left, he suddenly remembered his gun and made a U-turn back toward the house.

But as he did so, he tripped over something and fell face-first into the wet grass.

As he tried pushing himself up, he was confronted with red, glowing lights that almost looked like eyes. Scrambling to get away from those demonic eyes, he fell backward and hit his head on a piece of firewood.

Before he could get up, the body attached to those lights pinned him to the ground. Frantically searching for the flashlight, he felt something that resembled a large dog paw. He finally found his flashlight and shone it upward.

What he saw next turned his blood cold.

The red lights/eyes were attached to what looked like a rabid hyena. Nick tried getting up, but it was no use. This demon/hyena hybrid intended to keep its prey pinned to the ground. He tried yelling for help, but the words stuck in his throat. And since no one was home, it was pointless.

The creature was about to take its first bite out of his neck when a gunshot pierced the air, causing the creature to abruptly turn around.

Nick looked up and saw a large man dressed as an army officer walking toward him. The man extended a hand to help Nick up, and Nick grabbed his hand and rose to his feet.

“Oh god! Thank you! You came at the right time–what was that thing anyway?”

“A demon,” the officer stated matter-of-factly.

“What? It looked like a hyena! How could–”

“I can’t say more,” the officer quickly said, raising his hand to stop Nick from asking more questions.

The officer continued, “It’s better if you stay inside for the next several nights. Someone will contact you soon.”

At that point, the officer disappeared almost as quickly as he appeared. Nick ran into the house and locked the doors and windows. He grabbed his phone and called his friend with high connections…

Several minutes later, he put his phone on the side table, too stunned to move. The animal/demon in question was the result of a secret government experiment involving creating several animal/demon hybrids to seek and retrieve regime traitors.

How did they know what he’d been involved in recently??

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