They are the outcast, forgotten, overlooked refuse of the world. Nothing matters to them, and they matter to no-one. He retains a zest for life, despite its futility, but she has decided to stop the train and step off. He will watch her go without a word, but she will take his heart with her. Sunset over the water and the two of them standing at the center of a high bridge. One must make the hardest choice of a lifetime.

This particular corporal served all four years of the bloodiest war in European history, many of them as a message runner - one of the most dangerous and elite jobs of trench-bound combat. By all accounts, he was a strange young man with many strange ideas. He loved the war and thought it the best time of his life. To be sure, he would survive when so many around him perished, but how? He should have died a thousand times, but nobody could kill him. Only he could do that for himself.

A city viewed from a jet liner is eerily indistinguishable from a vast, sprawling anthill. It's a mound of tiny holes and endless trails with countless tiny creatures crawling through it all, bound from one mysterious errand to another. Occasionally, a drone wakens to question the drudgery of its existence. A small thing in a large place. Do you ever wonder, really wonder, what you are?

He's the proverbial grumpy old man and he ruthlessly keeps his hit-lists. You had better hope he never jots your name down in his notebook, because he'll make you the object of his obsessive ire. His dissatisfaction is relentless. Unfortunately, today is his last day on Earth and God just stepped over the line That's it God just made the list

He's the most prolific sniper in a long, deadly war. In fact, he's successful to the point that his own comrades have learned to shun him. Not even this form of isolation can prevent him from compiling a frightful tally of numbers, a tally of the slain. It's his job. He's good at it. Too damned good.

This is a tale of identity theft with a murderous twist. When this man assumes your life, he purges you from it altogether. He is forever seeking out those among us without family or friends, people who will not be missed. In fact, he is so effective and skillful that he has been known to participate in his own criminal pursuit He's a master of disguises, and he has lived nine lives. Maybe one of them was yours.

On the verge of a bloody and catastrophic defeat, a lone surviving robot tech risks life and limb to maneuver to the frontlines and activate an army of machines. Though these metallic monsters have failed in the past, this time their success would be utter and complete. Too complete, perhaps. These machines are harbingers of global apocalypse and genocide. Be careful what you wish for, because not all is fair in love and war.

Somebody has to do it, and his mind is sufficiently perverse to qualify for the job. It's the age-old conundrum of time travel. It's the ultimate experiment. He packs a handgun before he steps into the time machine. What happens when a young man travels into the past to kill his own parents? Hello mother. Hello father. Good-bye, Thaddeus.

To be certain, there are bad men in the world, but for every fistful of male villains there exists a shrewd woman to corrupt and torment them. She is the spider at the center of a web, and they have come to struggle violently in her traps. He's as loving and caring as a Gabon viper. She's as gracious and hospitable as a bristling spider. Choose your friends carefully.

Facing the hangman's noose, why not confess everything? If you've lived a notoriously colorful life, most of your stories cannot be believed Read this confession, and make your own decisions about the veracity and implications of it all. You'll get your chance to make a final statement. Make it count.