Stroke At Midnight

It took one person every midnight. One person in the camp who was asleep at the stroke of midnight would never wake up again.

We lost too many people who didn't believe us, who just assumed they had just given up on the hellscape that was life.

But eventually enough people had died that the camp believed us. We instigated rules, everyone had to check in ten minutes prior, and make sure their partner was awake.

And it worked, we stopped losing people to whatever it was.

For a week. And then one person asleep at noon stopped waking up...

Flight Fight

"For the love of God, is anyone reading me on flight GPC-474?"

He gingerly moved the body of the pilot out of the chair and then put on the headset.

"Uh, is that this plane?"

"Finally! This is Control Tower 86-JN, what's the situation?"

"Um... Well the pilots are both dead."

"What? How?"

"They fought over the stewardess and then over a gun which went off twice."

"Alright, well your cabin crew should be-"

"She's dead too. That was the fight starter."

"I see.

You ever pilot a plane?"

"No."

"Time to learn."

The cause of the crash is 'debated'.

Test Case

He had invented a fully functioning transporter, like on the TV, able to break down matter and rebuild it elsewhere.

Base elements had worked well, as had simple compounds, but before he shared his discovery, he had to know what would happen to living things.

He started small, a worm, his pet dog, and they came out... Different, maybe? Certainly his dog was much more subdued.

So, not wanting to risk anyone else, he made copious notes, then sent himself.

The notes came in useful to what emerged, it needed as many beings to become available as possible after all.

Please?

As soon as I asked the blunt question, I'd have given anything to take it back.

The night had gone so well, and now my stupid big mouth had let my brain switch off and given an opening for my hormones to blurt out what I was thinking. Any moment now, i thought, she would slap me, or at the very least order me to get out of her apartment. In fact I was already beginning to stand when she finally spoke.

"I don't think I know that, is that a cocktail?"

In retrospect, explaining it was a bad idea.

What Kept Him Alive

The Old Man stood in the middle of the bridge, so still that a hawk had perched on the top of his oversized weapon.

As the sun was setting, the man he was waiting for arrived on horseback. The younger, stronger fighter laughed as he dismounted and unsheathed his larger weapon.

"Ah, so they think you can stop me where so many more have failed. Stronger, faster, more exotic, I've bested them all. Your experience counts little, and you have what else?"

He swung, startling the hawk, which attacked, driving the fighter over the edge of the bridge.

"My luck."

There's A Mole

The take from the three robberies was substantial, each hit greater than the last as they panicked further and tried to move more money. Substantial, but hot as hell.

So it was buried, deep in the forest, in a leather  case with four locks on it, one per member. As they died, the keys would accumulate, and eventually the lucky last survivor would get the cash, they all decided.

Wheels, Buckshot, and Grifter all died at Blueprint's hand within a fortnight, and he left it five whole years.

Plenty of time for the moles to chew through leather, and bills.

What Causes Multiverses

You think the multiverse gives a damn about you, me, or humanity in general? Yes, universes split and diverge due to choices and decisions, but only the macro level. Is gravity this strong, or stronger? What speed does light travel at? Shit like that. What you have for breakfast means less than nothing to the universes.

Humanity does not matter, with one exception. If Humanity creates self-replicating nanobots or some other Universe ending catastrophe, that will have an impact, a split.

The fact that the vast majority of created universes are due to such factors is affirming, in a way.