Modesty Contest

Gurney Halleck was exhausted. At the behest of his master, he had spent the last two lunar cycles sweeping sietchs in the southern regions of Arrakis. Many Sardaukar legions remained scattered across the planet, still loyal to the now dead House Harkonnen. They had clearly not received communications from their squadron leaders, alerting them to the fact that the planet was lost to the mighty House Atreides. It was gruelling work, slaughtering those who would not kneel to Muad'Dib. The previous day he had flayed a Burseg general atop a steep mountain where no worm could reach them, amplified so that remaining stragglers could hear his screams of pain. The Burseg had been tied to a post and whipped until there was little flesh left to his back. He was then executed and disembowelled. Parts of his body were strewn about the area for remaining warriors to discover. Gurney winced at the gruesome nature of such an act, but told himself it was but necessary to eliminate the

Pit was in an elated mood. It was the winter of 1888 in London. A light snow had covered the city yet thick soot continued to live on the surface of everything in the place. Pit hefted the full sack of dry goods on his shoulder and darted across the wet cobblestone street as carriages zipped by, drivers screaming obscenities of the most heinous order as they burst through the settling fog. An urchin wretched in the gutter, hot green slime splattering the filthy stone basin. A shopkeeper across the way opened his door and peeked out onto the increasingly busy road. As the fog grew thicker and the church rang 7 bells in the distance, Pit cut south down the alleyway off Leicester Street.  He bound up the staircase and slipped the key into the lock while twisting the handle, all in one fluid motion. He closed the door softly and winced when he thought of the time. Quickly he filled the kettle and placed it on the stove. He set the basket of scones near the fire to warm. A

CONVENIENCE  And so he sat. He sat in the convenience store, lights off, staring straight ahead, mouth agape. The cat played idly on the large front sill of the display window, rolling and clawing at her toy, as sun shone through the dusty window. The air was still and musty. Without much movement, a fine layer of silt had settled on everything. His jaw had mostly healed, but the store remained a complete wreck. The candy display was toppled, packets of chewing gum and chocolate bars scattered on the dirty linoleum floor. The small shelf near the fridge lay on its side, dirty cans of soup here and there. The fridge was dark and still, no erratic hum of the near-broken motor, now holding only terribly rancid milk and cream. Regular customers pounded on the door and windows, yelling for cigarettes, chips, sodas. Delivery men knocked at the rear, their carts loaded with goods that would never be delivered into the store. The phone rang and rang. And he continued to sit up