Apocalypse Now Now

Baxter Zevcenko is your average 16-year-old-boy. If by average you mean kingpin of a smut-peddling schoolyard syndicate, and a possible serial killer who suffers from weird historical dreams. He's the first to admit that he's not a nice guy, but then, in high school, where's the percentage in being nice?

That is until his girlfriend, Esme, is kidnapped and all the clues point toward strange forces at work. Faced with navigating the increasingly bizarre landscape of Cape Town's supernatural underworld to get her back, Baxter turns to the only person drunk enough to help: bearded, booze-soaked, supernatural bounty hunter, Jackson "Jackie" Ronin.

Truth be told, Baxter would have preferred not be to chased by monsters, nightmares and the growing spectre of insanity. But, hey, nobody ever said reluctantly rescuing someone because you're being guilt-tripped by a conscience you didn't think you had was going to be easy.

Charlie Human is a denizen of South Africa’s speculative fiction scene. His short story, ‘The Immaculate Particle’, appeared in Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse, and ‘Land of the Blind’ was printed in the UK version of ZOO CITY by Lauren Beukes. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town.