TBOS-OCT

Scenery blurred past them, shelves congealing into the trunks of trees, dust twisting in the air like ash from a fire. In the distance, Anna could hear the baying of hounds and the rumble of hoofs, mixed with human voices. The heavy scent of smoke stung her nostrils and made her eyes water as they ran. The creature let out another howl, and a sensation like hundreds of red-hot needles charged up Anna’s arm. The infection, deceptively quiet ever since they’d reached the library, leaped to life and began surging through her blood once again. She gritted her teeth and held it back, even as it strained against its mental leash. Th

     "So it's settled," Mr. Smiles chirped happily. "I'll escort you to Mr. Pierce's home immediately."      "Hold on there," the Captain interrupted, holding up a metal-encased finger. "There's something we need to discuss  before you go. Something private."     He leaned forward and whispered something in the doctor's ear. Mr. Smiles' eyes went wide, and  he whispered something  back. Campren discreetly took a step forward, hoping to overhear their hushed conversation, but when they saw him get closer, the two only lowered their voices. Irked by being blatantly excluded from the discussion, he folded his arms and turned his back to them

Sian woke, her mouth had that dry, clammy taste to it,  like someone had stuffed  sawdust in her mouth, that she associated with  a blow to the head.  What had happened...the last she remembered she'd been...dancing?  Yes dancing, half lost in that stupid bloody  fantasy, with what two men?   As if two men'd ever bother fighting for her. Still it had been  more pleasant than wandering through the blood desert trying to punish a man for charging for water and fighting  men who wore feathers and changed into wild dogs,  that was for sure. Her biggest injury had been  falling off the stage there at the end. Her head still ached a little, but she

Jack got closer to the police boundry as he got more and more worried about Jen. After a few minutes, he started worrying. He wondered if maybe he should have gone with her, tried to help out somehow, yet he didn't want to spend any time at all where…the body, he decided to refer to it as simply "the body" from now on…had fallen. But he saw a lot of activity at the front of the zoo. People were shuffling out of the way, cop cars were swarming together, spotlights were being pulled out, and the police were making sure people were forced back. "What's going on?" asked Jack to one of the officers. "What happened?" "Just step back si

COMMENTS FOR FRED RobinRone: I know that the idea behind this was that the Book had broken down to the point of everything being a sloppy mess...but it just came across as rushed, poorly written work. Characters weren't in-character, the rather cool idea of a sentient narrator was not utilized very well, the entire thing was repetitive, and most importantly, there was no core. What held all your other rounds together was that Fred had a mini-story arc in each of them. He learned something new, or dealt with a new experience, and grew as a character. Each felt like a step in a larger path for his character ultimately culminating in...nothing.

The whale shark gave his little blue bug friend a great big bear hug as he prepared to log off. The bug wrestled free and gave him a punch on the arm. She reminded him to visit again tomorrow--not that he needed reminding. Once he was gone, she decided to check her mail. New message from Varra. She opened it. More stuff about how video game characters aren't human beings and that sort of thing. Oh, Varra, you lovable troll. Of course she wasn't human. She was an anthropomorphic bug wearing in a pair of boxing gloves. But more than that, she was a teenage girl living in a world of her own. The glorious clicks and clatters of the ancient type