Free Tandem of Terror by Eric S. Brown Page A

window. With his strength
dwindling he tossed himself from the house, jagged glass scratching
his back. He lay on his belly, smelling the soil and grass at his
nostrils. He heard the plant inside, ripping through the rooms,
consuming his house. He knew soon that it would go after the rest
of the neighborhood. He had to do something.
    He looked up and saw his small tool shed
across the backyard. He limped his way over to it and through the
junk and piles of unused tools he found a jug of gasoline he kept
for his lawnmower. In the first light of dawn he searched for a
source of fire and discovered a box of waterproof matches from his
camping days on a rotting shelf. How long had they been there?
    He walked back to the house, blood seeping
from his nose and onto his lips, the salty taste filling his mouth.
He watched as the humongous plant busted through the roof,
shattered the other windows and hunted for him.
    Vines and stalks spun and shot at him,
attempting to spear him again but he managed to dodge them. Quickly
he doused the side of his house with gasoline and lit a match. A
flesh-colored vine speared his hand. The match went out.
    He bit back the pain as rage filled him. His
eyes saw red as he brought his bloodied hand to his mouth and tore
the plant out with his teeth again. Again he lit the match and cast
it upon his house. The flames roared and the plant was caught in a
blaze. It shrieked and Cameron laughed. He fell to his knees and
laughed and laughed...
    It was then that he heard the cell phone
ring. He suddenly remembered putting it in the pocket of his pajama
bottoms. He answered. "...Melissa..."
    " Hi Cam...Yeah it's me. Did
you get the surprise gift I sent you? I thought of you the moment I
saw it. It was in the back of one of my roommate's silly horror
comics. She really loves those things. Any way, I thought you would
get a kick out of the freaky thing. They called it the monster plant. A mutation of the Venus flytrap only this one
feeds on blood. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? I
knew that you would love it being so nuts over your plants and all.
So, did you enjoy it?"
    Cameron just laughed and laughed and
laughed...
     
     

 
     
    The Witch
Killer
    Eric S Brown
     
    The war had started long ago. No one had
expected it, the war between machine and man. It was nothing like
what Hollywood and science fiction had painted it to be. The
machines didn't nuke the world or storm the cities in force. No,
they played a much more subtle game, using humans as their pawns.
Maybe this was due to their lack of numbers. Less than four dozen
A.I.s existed in the coalition of evil who sought to rid the world
of mankind. They preferred the much simpler tactics of manipulating
us into killing ourselves through poisoning the environment, the
darkness of economic collapse, and gathering terrorists
organizations to their cause when they did feel the need to resort
to violence. That's where we come in. We're not what you would call
ordinary folk but we very well may be humanity's last hope to stand
against the technological edge the machines have. My name is Zack
and currently I am en route to our next mission.
     
    The wings of the S-92 cut the night air
stirring up a storm of sand as it touched the ground. Zack sat
inside its spacious cabin, his head bouncing as he hummed along to
"Bad Moon Rising". He flinched with surprise as Maria grabbed him,
pulling him to his feet. She was the kind of commanding officer you
really didn't want to piss off yet it was Zack's mission in life to
just that.
    Zack pulled off the earphones as he stared
into Rhia's anger eyes. "Are we there yet?" he asked.
    " We got incoming!" Florida
yelled saving him from her rage. Twin anti-aircraft rocks flew
towards where the S-92 sat.
    " Zack!" Rhia
shouted.
    " On it, boss," Zack shouted
as he jumped out of the bird into the open sand. He threw up his
hand and flickering shield of blue formed over the helicopter. The
sound of the explosion was