Proximity

Proximity: Why did they start to dislike her all of a sudden. She was so ordinary. Yet everyone she comes in contact with now are mean and hurtful. Even her best friends and her mother, who she loved so much are off hand a disappointed in her without warning. A man who'd been turning up in her dreams was the only one who wasn't affected by this malaise. Indeed, when she was with him those in close proximity behaved normally, though they seemed to be becoming shallow and even stupid. Unfortunately the perimeter around which the man who had this effect was closing in. And dislike was morphing into a hatred that had become a global phenomena. She wasn't going to take this lying down.

Holes: The two soldiers knew that the patrol wasn't to find enemies. There were none in that area. They were there to keep the men sharp and get them off the base. It was also a way for an experienced Sargent to explain what patrolling was about to a green recruit. What to do and what not to. The two had walked for several hours over a generally flat, featureless landscape relieved by the occasional low ridge. Peterson asked why they didn't get a drone to do this stuff. Guthrie's reply was tinged with annoyance. Then it turns up. And the world was never the same again.

The Dog's Dream. A beautiful warm day on the huge flat place with moving water on one side and high steep places on the other. The Pack Leader is throwing a round thing for me. Out into where I'm jumping over the moving water. I know if I bring it back to the Second in the Pack it will make both of them very happy. I do this some of the time. It's warm. Much warmer than it usually is. That's why they have hardly any fur on. I'm a little hot even in the water. I like to swim. But I like to run more. Where we live has some grass to run on. But a steep wall stops me going too far. Everything is good. Until the dreams come. I'm terrified, but I can't wake up.