Heat Wave — Michael Sean Erickson

Max Gunn is a man haunted by a sad and vicious past. He wants to bury it in the sand somewhere. Hide it beneath the glare of a desert moon, clean his callused hands, and then return to the good and prosperous life he has carved out for himself. He can forget the past, he tells himself. He is impeccably dressed, drives a great car, beds more than his share of beautiful women, spoils his son, in essence wins more than he loses. Surely, he should be able to shovel enough dry sand over his guilt to make the rest of his years happy, if not particularly joyous. Then, one late afternoon, the world as he and everyone else has known it comes to an abrupt and violent end. Will he arise from the ashes like the Phoenix, or will his new life be much like the old one he had tried to bury? Moreover, can he save his family from the sheer horror of the despotic "new world," thus giving them all a chance to salvage the memory of what is good and noble? Struggle is the fertile soil of liberty. Is Max Gunn strong enough even to try? Or is he constrained by the howling ghosts of his past? The desert wind screams over makeshift graves. What does he hear in that scream? What would we hear just then?