Normal

Normal – CHAPTER ONE
“Fuck you and your goat,” Steve said as he pulled the tailgate of his truck closed. “You already did,” Sheila replied. “And neither of us liked it all that much.” Steam rolled off of Steve’s head in waves, like bay fog in a particularly transitional zone mixed with distant wildfire smoke and just the tiniest… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER ONE
Normal – CHAPTER TWO
If anything, Sheila hated the sunrise. It was always just… there. It never stopped, even when it was dark. Consider the spheroid nature of the Earth and the on-the-ground functional infinite measurement of its circumference. The sheer geometry was too much for her some days and she considered taking a rifle out for potshots at… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER TWO
Normal – CHAPTER THREE
The mayor was not as friendly in death as she had been in life. There was a coldness to her now, particularly on winter days given that the projectile that had killed her had also broken the window behind her. Steve looked into the office and waved. The mayor did not wave back. She would… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER THREE
Normal – CHAPTER FOUR
The basket of eggs sat precariously on the ground, threatening at all times to defy physics, gravity, and the well-wishes of various theoretically possible but physically non-present onlookers by falling over. It didn’t, but we would keep our eye on it if we were you. Not for any kind of serious reason, but with an… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER FOUR
Normal – CHAPTER FIVE
Steve’s day continued, much as it had before and much as they usually did. He drove the truck, he stopped, the schnauzer leapt out, the truck sprang up, and he collected supplies in a workmanlike manner, wending his way through the stops he marked for himself across the town. Stores were getting lower, but he… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER FIVE
Normal – CHAPTER SIX
Sheila looked at the radio, sitting silently in the center of the dining table she and Steve had stolen from a mansion in the wealthy neighborhood just to the east. It was slightly too big for the room and absurdly heavy, but it was a perfect dining table and she’d wanted it. So they’d taken… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER SIX
Normal – CHAPTER SEVEN
Steve stared at the tracks before him. They shouldn’t exist, and yet they did. They shouldn’t have gone into the woods south of town, and yet they did. They shouldn’t have continued, or veered off, or led into what looked to be a militia compound with guard towers and men in trucker caps, and yet,… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER SEVEN
Normal – CHAPTER EIGHT
“Ok, they’re comin’ up the right.” “Got ‘em.” “Hey! Nice shootin’!” “Thank you, thank you.” “Send the kids out to grab ‘em.” “Will do.” Sheila listened, mounting curiosity mixed with mounting fury in a kind of sick ice cream sundae of negative emotion. Who were these people, and who were these people to be so… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER EIGHT
Normal – CHAPTER NINE
It was nice on the ground: cool and solid, and it smelled fresh. Not like up in the air where it smelled like battle and growls rent the air in the gaps between shouts and gunshots. Steve liked the ground, Steve decided, and snuggled closer to it. His shoulder hurt a little, and by ‘a… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER NINE
Normal – CHAPTER TEN
We suspect you didn’t miss us. We hope so, anyway, given the intended dynamism of the previous few chapters. And yet, as may have been expected, we couldn’t stay away forever. Consider, if you will, the life of a survivor. By necessity something is different. Steve and Sheila, to take two examples, are not the… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER TEN
Normal – CHAPTER ELEVEN
The road stretched before Steve like a normal-length ribbon, slate gray and the width of two cars plus the lines and the shoulders, which themselves varied in size and called into question the decision-making process behind the creation of what were once vital through-ways of human life. The schnauzer’s head rested on the base of… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER ELEVEN
Normal – CHAPTER TWELVE
Sheila held the door open as the truck wound its way down the arrow-straight drive. She thought it moved more tentatively than usual and became concerned, though the head of the schnauzer resting atop the cab with its tongue lolling out did nothing to inflame her concerns. It pulled forward, slowed, and stopped with a… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER TWELVE
Normal – CHAPTER THIRTEEN
At first, Steve didn’t understand that the brilliant white curtain settling in over his vision was anything to be concerned about. He was, after all, in a bathroom. Then he remembered the one in which he sat was a muted green and his nausea reflex caught up with the shredded remains of his nervous system.… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Normal – CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sheila heard a sharp yelp from Steve as he probably bumped his shoulder on the doorframe of the bathroom. He did it every time. She wondered briefly whether or not she had subconsciously taken him to that bathroom for that reason, but dismissed it as unlikely given the longer distance to the other bathroom. Plus… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Normal – CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Steve was uncertain as to what he should make of the shift in circumstance. He was no longer clean, which was something of a bummer. The food was no longer edible, from a civilized perspective, but at least he’d done most of what he was going to do on that front. The schnauzer was now… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Normal – CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sheila, certain of everything and positive about nothing, found herself at a loss. Death would find them, that much, as far as she was concerned, was heading for them at the speed of an old Land Rover with aftermarket lights and huge mud tires that had once been unnecessary but were now prescient. Of all… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Normal – CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The house seemed the same as it always had to Steve. There was the television that didn’t work and the sofa that did, the stockpile of candles and the thick black cable that ran out to the generators, the rain boots by the door beneath the gas masks. But something felt off. Perhaps it was… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Normal – CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sheila saw nothing. Much to her dismay the landscape meant she couldn’t even see the body of the man she’d shot, which also meant she couldn’t see his friends come collect him and, consequently, shoot them at least. There was nothing to see. Still, she stood sentinel as Rob and Steve faded into the house… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Normal – CHAPTER NINETEEN
Steve watched her go. He could feel confusion stretching his features, and in this particular instance he didn’t feel bad about it. The interaction he’d just experienced made very little sense and he knew it. Was so confident in it, in fact, that he wondered whether he’d actually missed something. His belief and the situation’s… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER NINETEEN
Normal – CHAPTER TWENTY
An explosion rocked Sheila awake. Truth be told, the idea of a totally quiet life after people was always something of a lie given that all things make noise and lots of the noisiest are the things directly replaced by people. Her life had been full, for quite some time, of doubled mating calls reverberating… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER TWENTY
Normal – CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
And it was very interesting dirt. Not because it was special, or because it had some new and mystical property, but because when focused on it gave Steve an opportunity to avoid looking at anything else. It held his attention like no dirt ever had before, and for this he was more grateful than his… Read more: Normal – CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE