There's Lieutenant Lawry, an ordinary soldier who must fight to keep an unknown, violent creature from killing his men. Sergent Frank Blacklin strives to keep children alive against insurmountable odds on a hostile planet. A man named Robert lives in a United States gone mad; where the enemies of the State are so numerous, their bodies are pushed into a gaping trench.

Other characters in James's stories follow more violent paths. A respectable businessman falls for a woman turned on by crime. A lonely man deals with the odd neighbors down the street by buying an assault rifle.