Excerpt: Qiviut

Flash.

A tall man with graying hair wearing a red plaid flannel shirt raised an axe and cleaved into a blonde woman's skull with a wet, hollow splat. Jazz's stomach turned as she thought of an overripe melon rolling off of a counter and bursting onto the floor. She was instantly sure she would never eat watermelon again. The mere thought of carving through the skin to the meat inside, red juices oozing out onto her cutting board brought a violent cramp in her stomach.

Flash.

A young man wearing aviator style sunglasses and a toothpick bobbing jauntily between his lips jerked on the wheel of his semi truck so suddenly that he jack-knifed into a red minivan. The van burst into flames, smothering the family inside with acrid smoke. Jazz watched in horror as the flames overtook the kids in the back of the van. Their hair lit in a corona of light, cutting through the haze of oily smoke. Jazz could not help but think how beautiful the children were with the light shining above them in a celestial glow that made them look like angels sent from god. Only seconds later, the beauty of the horror was destroyed as their skin charred and sluffed off of their skulls. Their innocent eyes stared right into her own with pleading desperation before clouded boiling jelly burst from melting sockets, spilling down cheeks that were no longer there. (Grapes. They're like white grapes, squeezed to the point of popping.) Jazz gagged, slapping her hands over her mouth and trying to prevent what would surely happen if she couldn't look away. She screamed, clawing her own face as if to make sure she too was not bursting into flames, and tried to squeeze her eyes shut. It was useless. (Oh please please please I can't take this please stop stop please dear god) The horror show played directly into her mind. She saw everything.