Carpe Diem

James is dead. All it took was a quick flash, a crack, and then a loud thud. After waking in a world of endless gray he meets a man named Bud who claims to be what he calls "The Guide." James follows Bud through levels of his own mind, discovering that the afterlife isn’t like he thought it would be and that the secret to life isn’t so secret after all.Life in the Stone Age was hard for Karg and his tribe. They couldn’t go into the lower forests because of the predators there and that meant they had to stay in the cold mountains where food was scarce. Then during a hunting trip Karg came across a hidden valley with all the food, water and wood they could ever want. And there were none of the dangers of the lower forests. He was planning to move his family to the valley when he witnessed a sun being born on the ground. It rose into the sky and became a roiling black cap on a growing black stem and reminded him of a mushroom. Karg didn’t realize it but the future of his people was about to change and not necessarily for the better. He’d found a Kthpok nuclear test range and the Kthpok had just discovered that humans were living in the mountains bordering their most sensitive facility.