Short Story Conceptual Intro

So I'm considering a new short story... playing around with a few ideas, and this is the one that has stuck so far. Thoughts?

**********

It is said that the heart is a muscle. And like any muscle, it grows stronger with use. A strong heart sounds of a war drum…

THUMP THUMP

Egging an army forward to battle. Not all hearts beat as a drum.

THUMP Thump

Some merely emulate the sound of a well organized squad coming to attention.

Thump thump

But within them all…

Thump… thump…

Is the sound of life.

thump…… thump……

Fading life…

thump……… thump………

And yet…

thump……….

That does not prevent you from feeling it…

thump

As it stops.

Stories 'For Sale'

Like, not really. I mean, I'm not selling any stories. But when I make posts on Craigslist, I like to 'Spice them Up' a little. Here are my last two posts as an example. ;P

Moving Boxes... All of the Moving Boxes

  So my girlfriend just moved in. That's awesome. Before the move, she asked me for boxes. So I brought her a few. Then I brought her some more. After that I got her the rest. All the rest. There are more boxes than can be used. There are enough boxes to make awesome box forts, and wage a small cardboard backed war. There are boxes enough to craft fine box armor, and to fortify box walls. We could mount an assault on mount box, and tear the tyrannical rulers of the packing kingdom from their Banana Box Thrones! The Apple Boxed will have their revenge!

Orrr.... you could just use them to move your stuff. Your call. Bring a Truck. We have a bunch.

condition: excellent
make / manufacturer: Box Makers?
model name / number: Apple and Banana Style?
size / dimensions: Various. Plenty Big Though

Bookshelf with Infinitely Adjustable Shelves

  So we're moving, and this awesome bookshelf didn't make the cut for the new space. There's just nowhere to put it. :? Our loss is your gain however, and for a cool $20, you can have a bookshelf that will accommodate all the weirdly different heights you can throw at it. Note the inoffensive white color that goes with everything, and the sweet shiny stickers (On the right side of the unit if you're facing it) that probably belonged to the eight year old girl that owned it before us. Add to that the six adjustable shelves, and this lovely unit will hold it all!

  Those cute little 1" figurines that just 'have' to have their own shelf? You can do that! That weirdly tall art book that just can't fit on a regular shelf without losing the shelf above it? It fits! And no lost shelves in the process. There's no limit to the configurations this unit offers (Okay, there 'is' a limit, but you can do the math on that yourself. ;P) and it can be yours tonight!

Side note, if you're going to put significant weight above the halfway point on a carpeted floor (Like we did with the books), I would advise either fastening it to the wall, or leaning it at the angle displayed in the pictures due to it's narrowness and height, but that's up to you. Just don't come yelling at me if it dumps your *ahem* exotic novella collection on you when you pull a book out. ;P

condition: good
make / manufacturer: No Bloody Clue!

model name / number: Shelf... of Books... or Something
size / dimensions: 36 x 76 x 7 3/4

The Pipe

A friend of mine saw this shirt, and commented that it needed a fiction based on it. I wanted a short diversion, so I obliged. Enjoy. ;P

----------

  It has been three years since the Princess vanished for the last time. Nobody thought it could actually happen. For countless years Bowser had come to kidnap the Princess, and the Brothers would rescue her. It was a strange routine, but it was life in the Mushroom Kingdom. Why argue against what worked. Besides, she’d long ago ceased to be anything more than a figurehead. It’s not like she ever participated in any of the Castle Courts… Tennis and Basketball aside.

  At first, the toad were afraid. What would become of them? Sure, she was only an icon, but her presence had kept the Koopa King from launching an actual attack against them. With the Princess to distract him, the toad could more or less go about their lives as they wished. Bowser very rarely came beyond the Mid-Lands, and the people there were used to the constant struggle for possession of their lands. But now…

  Eventually the fear gave way to apprehension, which then became unease, before finally settling into a nice light discomfort. At least, for a little while. It turned out that the Princess wasn’t the only one to disappear. Reports came in from the Mid-Lands that King Koopa hadn’t been seen in quite some time. This wouldn’t have been too remarkable on its own, as he occasionally launched off to set up some elaborate scheme that would distract him and the Princess for a blissful few months. But with the princess already gone, no word from the Brothers, and rumor coming out of the Badlands saying things were quiet over there as well… Unease began to creep back in.

  And then the horrors began. Koopa’s Kids were found strangled by piranha plants. The whole lot of them, as if someone had just shown up and began stringing them up over the walls of Bowser’s Keep like some sort of sick decoration. Shortly after that Kammy and Kamek bobbed up from the bottom of the Great Lakes in Mid-Land. Nobody had seen them for some time, but the word was… they were going on about Peach coming back for them when they disappeared.

  King Koopa eventually turned up. He and Mario were found lying together in his chambers looking as if they’d just fallen asleep there. No marks on either one of them, but their faces were frozen in mirror masks of terror. It was then that the Badlands began clearing out. A mass exodus, and all the while people carrying on about the lady of the pipes, or something like that. The stories were unclear. All anyone knew for sure was, there was something dark in the Badlands, and nobody knew what to do about it.

  Then just as things seemed to be at their worst, Luigi turned up, alive. The story he brought was unbelievable.  Princess Peach had been hidden in Pipe Land this time…. Only the Mario Brothers caught up with Bowser in the Badlands, and thoroughly trounced him there. After that they went to the Pipe Lands hoping to find the Princess… but eventually had to return to Bowser’s Keep to drag him out there to help them. Nobody could find her… and then both the Koopa King and Mario went missing. One morning Luigi woke up and they just weren’t there.

  He’d heard the stories about the Koopa Kids, and of Kammy and Kamek, but he didn’t know what was happening. When he learned that his brother and Bowser had turned up he was distraught, but set out to figure out what was causing all this. That was the last anyone heard from him.

  Time passed without any further horrors. Life began settling down, and people had even begun to move back to the Badlands. The going story was that Luigi had succeeded in stopping whatever it was that was happening, but had either been killed in the process, or had left to mourn in peace. Nobody knew what to make of the crazy ‘Lady of the Pipes’ story, but in the end, it didn’t really matter.

-----------

  The Chancellor was tired. It had been another long day in the courts, and again the people were talking about choosing another ruler… as if that would help anything. No matter how they tried to explain the minimal impact the Princess’s disappearance actually had on the political system, Every little hiccup was blamed on her departure.

  Coming into his chambers, he was surprised to find a rather gaunt looking toad standing in the center of his room staring down at the floor. In his hand he held a dirty looking letter closed in the pink stationary that Peach had been fond of. Who would bring my mail here? he wondered before asking, “What is the meaning of this?”

  Looking up with a hallow expression that caused the Chancellor to take a step back, the toad intoned, “Here is a letter… from the Princess,” as he raised the envelope towards him.

  Uncomfortable as the young toad made him, the Chancellor stepped forward to take the letter, “Ummm… thank you for this. You can leave now,” he wasn’t sure what it was, but the starved looking toad gave him the chills.

  Waiting until the interloper had walked down the hall, he locked his door and looked at the envelope. It hadn’t been sealed, so even if it somehow had in fact been written by the Princess, which he doubted, there was no telling whether or not it had been tampered with. He almost didn’t open it, but he’d never been accused of a lack of curiosity, so he flipped the letter open and pulled the grimy sheet out.

Greetings,

  If you see any ghosts, be careful. They will give chase using Goomba’s shoe. The White Block contains magic powers. Be careful, the thief escaped. The creatures trapped in the ice will come to life. Please come to the castle, I baked a cake for you. I am well, hidden in the darkness at the end of the world.

                Princess Toadstool

  Standing there in horror, he let the letter fall from his hand. The Archives… Nobody had access to those… the boy! He ran into the hall, and down the corridor he’d seen him take. At the other end of the hall, he stumbled into one of the guard.

“Where did he go?!” he shouted without preamble.

“Who?”

“The boy! He just came this way, where is he now?” he snapped back.

“Sir, there hasn’t been anyone besides you and the watch in these halls for hours. Is everything okay?”

“I…” he didn’t know what to say, somehow the kid had snuck by, “I’m fine. Just keep your eyes open, and let me know if someone turns up who shouldn’t be here.”

“But of course sir,” the guard saluted, wearing a confused expression.

  Turning, he walked back to his room and stopped in the doorway. Sitting there in the center of his room was a warp pipe. He’d heard they could be summoned, that apparently the Koopa had the secret… but no toad had ever managed it. If this was here….

  Seven Moons… a voice he almost recognized came floating out from the pipe. Low, and whispered, with an edge that carried the promise of death as plainly as if it had spoken the threat aloud. Too scared to move, he could no more than watch as the pipe slowly lowered itself into the floor leaving no trace that it had ever been there. The words hung, if not in the air, then heavily on his psyche. This… this cannot be…

-----------

  The chancellor was found one morning hanging out the window of the keep’s highest tower. Days before his death he’d been heard mumbling apologies to the Princess, and going on about a secret archive that should have never been opened. The only thing out of place in his belongings was a strange grubby looking letter in the Princess’s stationary. In respect of his privacy, the letter was stored away with the rest of his personal artifacts to be delivered to his next of kin.

Rust

  Sooo... Maybe I shouldn't write when I'm in excruciating pain... >.> Anywho, this is a piece inspired by the prompt "Rust" on this dA Member's Contest. Enjoy? ;P

(This is a Repost... as I don't know what kind of craziness was going on the first time I posted it. O.o!)

------------------------

  What sounded like an explosion rocked the ship, and what had moments before been a pleasant exercise session turned into a panicked scramble for the bars lining the rooms walls. As the rocking grew more severe, if felt like the entire ship was tearing itself apart, and the grinding squealing sounds it was making as it did were enough to liquidize what little courage the men and women of the crew had.

"What's happening?" Soo the re-entry pilot shouted at nobody in particular as she reached the navigation bar fastened to the wall.

"How the heck should I know?" Jerek, the nutritionist, reaching the bar next hollered back assuming, as was his usual, everyone was talking to him. A habit that he obviously didn't drop even during a crisis such as this one.

"Where is that coming from?" Zaile, research lead, screamed as she reached the bar almost on top of Greg, physical therapist, who yelled, "What's going on?" at the same time.

"Everyone to the suits!" Barney, the maintenance guy, ordered, taking charge in a bad situation. This would have likely surprised everyone had they not just recently become aware of how short their lives were likely to be.

  With direction now, everyone began pulling themselves towards the door leading towards the suits.

* * * * *

  Yawning, Brett couldn't care less what the instructors were saying. His father had worked ship construction his whole life, and Brett came to it naturally. There wasn't anything more complicated to be found in this warehouse than he's already encountered at his previous job. Drumming his fingers silently on the table at the back of the room, he let his mind wander, dreaming of one day maybe piloting one of the ships himself. He knew that wasn't likely. You had to be rich to afford all the pilot training courses you needed... but it was nice to dream sometimes...

* * * * *

  As Barney was pulling the door to the exercise room too, a second explosion threw them all into the wall opposite the door and a scraping, crashing sound accompanied what was supposed to be a stationary bike as it lodged itself into the corridor, tearing through Barney and contorting him into a gruesome mockery of a human form between the bike and the wall.

"Don't stop!" Soo sobbed out, hurrying behind the rest of them as they climbed the ladder in the access corridor. Their only hope was to make it to the suits and from there straight into the emergency life pods... They had to make it... what was happening to the rest of the crew... what was happening to the ship...

* * * * *

  Lifting the panel into place, Brett couldn't believe how lucky he'd been. Coming out of the last warehouse with a less than stellar work history, he had assumed his future in ship assembly was over. His father had of course been livid... but it wasn't his fault they fired him. Just because he didn't brown nose the boss like all the other guys did during training, he'd been constantly harassed since he started. Every time he made even the tiniest mistake, the shift lead would jump down his throat like he'd done it on purpose.

  Now he was working for an even larger assembly house, and sure... he'd had to move to get the job, but he was 'way' over qualified for this work, and the money was great.

"What are you doing!" the boss's voice shouted out from right behind him.

Jumping and dropping the panel as he did, Brett whirled around angry at being surprised.

"If I have to tell you again not to use the external housing inside the ship, you're going to spend the next year sorting through the used materials! Do I make myself clear!"

"Yes sir..." he muttered looking down at the ground as he did.

* * * * *

  There weren't enough suits... this wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Safety regulations specifically required that every ship carried enough suits to protect every crew member in every station. There was one too few suits for all of them, and they couldn't go out in the safety pod without a suit.

"What are we going to do?" Greg shouted as soon as they realized there weren't enough suits for all of them, "Someone's going to have to go out without a suit! Someone's going to die! What are we going to... Oh my God!"

  Soo turned to see what he was pointing at and the sudden panic that snared her had nothing to do with the increasingly violent sounds the rest of the ship was making around them. Zaile was thrashing, aimlessly with a screwdriver sticking out of one of her eyes as Jerek took the suit she'd been holding and pushed it towards her.

"We didn't need her," he said in a voice too calm for the chaos of their current situation, and not at all balanced with what he'd just done.

"What did you do!?" she screamed, "What's wrong with you!?" she continued not taking the suit drifting towards her.

  As he was putting his suit on Jerek responded, still in the too calm voice, "Somebody was going to die, we don't have time to talk about it, if we don't get out of her right now we're all going to die, would you rather we all died, I did what I had to do."

  Pulling her suit on as her stomach violently threatened to empty itself, Zaile's blood had been sent drifting across the room by her thrashing, Soo knew they didn't have time to discuss this... but what was wrong with Jerek?

* * * * *

  These last few years had been rough for him. Brett learned the hard way that after being fired from two of the largest ship manufacturers in the country, it was a little harder to get another assembly job. Even the autocraft manufacturers wouldn't hire him, and working in food processing didn't pay nearly as well.

  He'd heard some rumors though. Supposedly one of the primary assembly shops was getting bought out by their competitors... and his father used to have quite a bit of sway with this particular shop. Maybe if he talked to the right people...

  Only two months later he was manufacturing lead of a crew of about 20 guys, and all the nightmare problems his lead had dealt with in him was repaid in spades. Lazy workers, incompetent workers, workers that just stopped showing up altogether... they were lucky to get anything built. Next year they were going to bid on a rather important contract, and if he could show them how amazing a lead he was... Going back down to the floor, he knew he had an uphill battle ahead of him.

* * * * *

  Pulling the launch lever, the shuttle began separating from the ship. As the seal broke and the stabilization gel filled the pod, Jerek began thrashing in his straps. He could feel the gel oozing along his back. It shouldn't be getting into the suit! I sealed the suit! Oh God it Burns! Tearing confusedly at the releases for the suit, his vision was quickly swallowed by the gel as it seared the flesh of his eyes.

  Soo stared aghast towards where she knew Jerek was thrashing as his screams faded from the com. Something was wrong... did she really care? Too many people had died.. did anyone else even make it out? As the environment in the pod stabilized, and the gel became transparent, she looked over to see if Greg was okay. He was staring at Jerek with a sick expression on his face.

"I... had to do it..." Greg's voice came through the com, "He... he killed Zaile... we couldn't trust him Soo... we don't know who he'd have killed next..."

She didn't understand, and said as much, "What did you do?"

"I cut his suit. When we were sealing the pod, I took a torch to the back of his suit... We couldn't trust him Soo..." he stammered.

  She didn't know what to feel anymore. Too much had happened in too short a time. It seemed like forever ago they had all just begun their daily workout... and now... only she and Greg were still alive, drifting off in a life pod... with Jerek's dead body... dead because Greg killed him... It was all just too...

The sharp sound of something metal straining as if against a incredible force cut through the shuttle.

* * * * *

  This new kid reminded him a lot of himself when he'd been younger. All attitude, and constantly in a hurry. He refused to fire him though. Not only would that make things more difficult as he was about to retire, but he would prove that if you just worked with someone, you could help them grow. Look how far he'd come. Taking a deep breath, Brett spoke in only a low yell.

"Okay, one more time kid, and if I have to repeat myself again... I'm sending you down to used parts," a slight tingle at that niggled the back of his mind, but he shook it off, "I need you to put together these last few consoles for the navigator. Remember, this ship is heading out further than any ship they've sent before. The only reason you get to work on this project is because your dad spoke highly of your attention to detail. So tell me then, why are you using the old bolts for these casings?"

"Sir," the kid responded, almost sincere sounding... but he knew that most kids were just waiting till you turned around to say what they really thought, "all the newer bolts were left outside. The containers were full of water and some of the bolts had already begun to rust."

"Are you freaking kidding me!" he shouted back. They had to get this project finished before he could claim his full retirement sum, and he wasn't about to let something stupid like a few rusty bolts stop that.

* * * * *

It took less than a minute for the life pod to tear itself apart.

Be Healed

  Okay, so there are Weekly Contests for "Premium Members" at deviantART, and they typically make for interesting prompts. Last week's prompt was simply the word "Heal",  and this is the story that came out of me from that.

* * * * * * * * * *

Looking up at the counter, “The Child” was on a mission. She knew that the town Roose had what she was looking for. She knew that there had to be something here that would make her mother better. Using a chair that looked less like something you would sit on, and more like the kind of worn out furniture you found outside behind someone’s house. That ‘project’ that never got worked on, and whether it rotted as fertilizer, or held the tomatoes, it generally found its way to the garden. Using that to climb up where she could reach the counter, she began digging through the papers, vials, boxes, and more that littered the surface.

“The Child”, it may as well have been her name ever since her father had passed away. She was told that he’d gone on to a better place, that he was folded in the land’s final embrace, but when she asked if she could visit him there, they told her that it wasn’t her time to go. Ever since then it had been “Who will help provide for ‘the child’, you have no other family here”, and “What will you do with ‘the child’” asked of her mother by the neighbors when they didn’t think she was still listening. Opening a small intricately worked metal box, she frowned at the loose paper, and dried leaves inside. She’d seen some of the older folk sit around putting these together and smoking them on the porches. Finding them on the Roose’s counter caused her to wonder at the good effect they must have on people. But this wasn’t what she had come for, so she closed the box and continued her search.

Ever since that day, her mother had become more and more distant, her trips outside the home fewer and fewer, until finally they only ever saw company when it came calling. During that time she had become noticeably weaker, and had lost a considerable amount of weight. At first the Roose had refused to come to see her, insisting that it was normal for a woman who had lost her husband to mourn. But after the season’s had passed a full cycle, and her mother had not been seen for half of it, the Roose came to her. Standing beside the bed and never once opening her satchel, the Roose examined her mother, asking her questions about her diet, and about how she felt. She waited for the moment that the Roose would make her mother better, waiting for the satchel to come open and the Magic Words to be said. But after what seemed like far too short a time, she picked up her satchel and left the room. No herbs, no smoke, no tonics, and No Magic Words.

After the shock of what had just happened, she ran to her mother’s side and promised her, she would make her better. Getting no response from her mother, who had once again nodded off, ‘the child’ set off to find what she would need to help. And here she was, rifling through the many things on the Roose’s counter, not seeing the pouches or tonics that she’d watched the older woman use when people were ill. Frustrated, she looked once more around the room. Barrels that were held together by rusted hoops, and luck, holding tools and whatever was tossed into them in passing sat at the end of the counters she had just finished searching. Cabinets, that may have at one point had doors, lined the walls higher than she would be comfortable pulling the glass containers, holding all manner of things, from. The older wooden floor didn’t look like it’d been swept in years and the closet at the far end of the room with one of the barrels holding its door open was the only place she could safely reach, but hadn’t looked yet.

As she climbed down and made her way to the closet, a sound at the front of the building let her know she was no longer alone. Rushing in and crawling behind a convenient stack of books, she balled herself up as small as she could and hardly dared to breath. She didn’t want to get caught, didn’t want the Roose to stop her from making her mother better. She couldn’t imagine why the woman would want to stop her, but she would take no chances. She could hear the Roose come into her workroom and stop just inside the entrance.

“What in the lands…”

She could hear the woman moving about the room, and heard too, the sound of something being set on the floor rather soundly. The Satchel. Moving slowly, and as silently as she could manage, she attempted to peek around the books. To both see where it had be set, and also, to maybe see what the older woman was looking at now that the sound of movement had subsided.

“I don’t have time to… who would… the child… oh no…”

The Roose rushed from the room, not stopping to take her bag. As soon as the child heard the front door come too, she quickly rushed over to the satchel. It was far too large for her to carry the entire thing, but opening it up, she found the jars and herbs she was looking for. Using her dress to carry what she could, the child went back out the rear of the building and made her way home, careful to keep out of sight.

As she reached her house she waited in the trees until the Roose left, she had suspected the woman would have rushed here, and only then went back inside. Coming up to her mother’s bed, she couldn’t hear the heavy breathing that had been with her for the last few phases of the moon. Perhaps the Roose had done something this time. Sitting on the floor, the child began mixing the ingredients together. She had seen all of these things used to help people who were even worse off than her mother was, and every one of them had recovered to full health. So if she mixed them all for her mother, then there was no way that whatever she had wouldn’t’ be cured. Besides that, she knew the Magic Words.

As she sat stirring the thick concoction with a spoon from the kitchen that hadn’t seen a real cleaning in quite some time, the child considered how to get her mother to drink this… or if she ‘should’ drink it. Sometimes the Roose would apply her remedies to the bodies of the sick… but no, her mother would have to drink it. That way she’d get the full effect. Pulling the stool up to the bed, the child climbed up and shook her mother.

“Momma!” she called, “Momma, I got you a medicine. You can be better now Momma,” shaking her as she did she was frustrated that her mother wasn’t waking. “Momma!” she shouted, “Momma, get up! You have to drink so you can be better!”

The child jumped down from the stool and grabbed the mixture. Climbing back up to where she could see he mother, the child set the concoction at the head of the bed and began shaking her mother more vigorously. “Momma! I got you a cure, and I got the Magic Words! Momma, Wake, Up!”

She didn’t know if the person had to be awake for the words to work, so she decided to try. Standing as straight as she could, the child tried to do it the way she’d watched the Roose do it when she made someone better. Holding the mixture in her two hands, as she wasn’t big enough to hold it with one, the child reached out with it and taking care not to mix up the words she said, “Take this tonight, and you should feel better tomorrow. Drink this, and Be Healed.”

Nothing happened. There was no light, no sound, and no wind. The room was silent enough that one could almost hear the tears as they hit the stool the child was standing on. A firm hand on the child’s shoulder received no response, and some time passed in silence before she heard, “You did what you could child. She is beyond your help now.”

Turning in a rage, the child lashed out with her little fists, and shouted, “You didn’t make her better! You didn’t even try!” chest wrenching sobs beginning to form within her, “Why didn’t you help my Momma!”

Doing nothing to stop the blows, the Roose tried to put a hand on the child’s head in a comforting manner. She had never been the best at comforting children, “Your mother had a malady of the Soul Child. There was nothing my tinctures and tonics could have done.”

Glaring up at the old woman, the child spat, “And why can’t you cure the soul!?”

“The soul is beyond my reach little one. The Wise Men, that is their domain. My cures are cures for the body.”

“Then I will learn to cure the soul!” the child exclaimed, “If I learn to cure the body, and the soul, nobody will ever have to lose their momma!” For she knew, she had seen her father when he had passed, and her mother had the same stillness. She had gone to the final embrace of the land… and she would never hold her again.

“That is a noble desire child,” the Roose said, pulling the child into an embrace, which was enough to loose the torrent of pain that the little one had just barely kept at bay, “and I will do whatever I can to make it so.” And though nobody had wanted to take this child’s care in their hands as the little one’s noble intents were commonly seen as mischief, the Roose knew that her future had changed, and that the child would be her responsibility from here forward.

E-Mail Storylett

  Okay, so I warned that occasionally I may decide to syphon some of my terrible writing through here, so you cannot claim you’ve not had fair chance to evacuate. ;P

  One of my Co-Workers was fixing to leave for a Week’s vacation, and I generally send him some Oddball quip in my Nightly Numbers E-Mail to him, for amusements sake. Well, I warned him that when he left, I’d have time to flood his Inbox with an “Epic” that he’d then have to wade through upon his return. He thought that was funny… until I made good on my threat.

  This isn’t meant to be a “Complete” writing, nor was it well Proofread/Edited/Etc. I literally rattled each Chapter out at the end of the night right before I went home. So that’s the level of Quality present here. I’d originally meant it to be longer, but I missed a couple of days of work while he was out, and thus I shortened, and “Abruptly” ended it. Here it is, in all it’s “Glory”. ;P

 

*****

Peering into the darkness, he was once again accosted with his fears.

What am I doing here? he thought to himself.

For three days he’d been tracking her, and why? Because she’d stolen from his home? He knew it was more than that. But what. It’s almost like he knew her… though that was impossible. Wasn’t it? Moving forward, he lit a torch and decided that the why wasn’t important. He’d come too far to start having second thoughts about this. There was nothing for it but to continue.

Looking at the walls of the decrepit cathedral he was reminded how poor things were outside the Sanitization zones. People out here didn’t have access to the luxury’s he was accustomed to, and thus things were generally left in a worn state. It’s like their buildings reflected the state of their minds. What kind of person opted to live in an uncontrolled environment? Animals mostly. And the Mentally ill… though occasionally someone would willingly choose to leave the Safety of the City… That’s why he was here. To find out why. She was just an excuse. He knew that, but to have really made the choice, to actually be here… there was no turning back, and that’s what really scared him.

Coming to the back of the Cathedral, he heard noises. Sounds of people talking, yelling even, though it was muffled, like it was coming through a padded wall. As he reached the wall he started looking for a door of some kind.

*Snap*

He’d stepped on something, a loose board or something, and the sound of it was loud in the empty building. The noises stopped. He slowly turned to leave, and noticed figures moving near the doorway. He’d been caught.

*****

Climbing through the Broken Window, she couldn’t believe he’d tailed her this far. First he surprises her by leaving the Sanitation Zone. Something she’d never seen a Zonie do before. And then he managed to keep up with her through the wastes. It just didn’t make sense. But now she was pretty sure she’d lost him. Sure he was in town, but it’s not like he’d find her amongst all the ruins.

“You’re late.” her sender stated as a way of greeting, from his seat at the only table in the room.

“Thanks for you’re concern.” she replied, letting the sarcasm drip from her words, “I’m fine really. Don’t worry about it. I was just taking my time, you know, to see the sights.” she finished, throwing the carrier bag at him.

Peering inside, he asked, “Did you manage to get out unnoticed?”

She paused. She didn’t have to tell him she’d slipped up. It’s not like you expect to run into someone home during the work shift at a Zonie House. Though then she’d actually have to explain her tardiness…

“There was someone home.” she answered finally.

“So?” he stated, “What does that have to do with anything? You should have killed them and moved on.” he ended, narrowing his eyes at her. “Why didn’t you?”

How was she to explain to him how she’d felt when she saw his face. She knew she’d seen that face before. She had a knack for remembering people, but it didn’t make any sense. Sure she’d made a few runs into the Zones. But never Zone B. So why would he look familiar to her? She’d not bothered to worry about it at the time, needing to hurry and get out with her target, but still…

“I asked you a question!” he shouted, standing now, the bag laying on the table.

“Listen!” she shouted back, “I was in a hurry, and I didn’t want to make my escape any more difficult than it already was. You know how they respond to death in the Sanitation Zones. I figured I could…”

“Excuses!” he cut her off, “You always have an excuse for not killing people, and I’m tired of listening to them. If you think that..”

*Snap*

They both moved for the entrance to the front of the Cathedral. She had a sick feeling that it was him…

*****

This job sucked. He’d been “Pre Selected” at Eight to be a Protectorate. This was supposed to be some kind of honor or something. He must have missed the good part while he was sleeping through his four year training regime, and following 4 years of Public Service.

Sure they trumpeted it up. Making a big deal around the Zone for the populace, so that the people came to know, and even envy his position… but what they didn’t see was the grueling 16 hour days and seemingly endless amount of physical training they had to endure. From the moment he’d graduated ,not at the bottom of his class but not too high either, at 12, he’d not had a real nights sleep. At least that’s what it felt like. Getting to bed when he could hardly move, and up before his muscles had really loosened up. It was craziness… but he was supposed to honored by being there.

It sickened him to see the other Protectorates in Training (PiT’s he liked to call them) trying to outdo each other for some meager praise from the Teachers. He was just as content to let them ignore him, and though he never quite managed to stay completely off the radar, he certainly did a good job of keeping low. So it was a surprise when they graduated him early, and sent him right out into the De-Zones. The looks of jealousy his classmates gave him when the High Protectorate himself came and pulled him from classes a full month before he should have been finished was priceless.

They didn’t really give him a reason though. Which kinda bothered him. Just suited him up, issued him a roamer, and told him to patrol the outskirts of B-Zone. When he asked why he’d been pulled, they only told him that he was done, and they saw no reason in delaying him further. There were rumors that the last Protectorate had disappeared, roamer and all… so he was suspicious of their intent. Mayhaps they felt that he was expendable.

Coming into the ruins of old B, he was startled from his thoughts when his Life form Sensor started to blip. Pulling up the scan information, he could see that there were 4 humans in what looked like the ruins of a church, and two of them were armed with energy weaponry. Well, this was great. Now he was going to be shot at. Having trained for an encounter with rouge’s he wasn’t too concerned, but this would be the first time he’d actually run into anyone. Parking the roamer a block away, he activated his phasing gear, and pulled his stun rifle out. Locking the vehicle, he slowly made his way towards the door…

*****

He was tired of waiting for her. Tired of her excuses, and tired of trying to shape into the weapon that her father had been. Sure she was quick. That’s the only reason she was still alive. He’d tried to kill her the night he’d wiped her father, but she’d managed to get away. It had taken him several hours to finally catch her, and he was impressed enough that he took her on instead of finishing her off. Of course he’d had to wipe her as well. This was to be her final test. His way of making sure that she was ready to take the next step… and she was late.

Sitting at the Table, he thought about it… He’d known it was risky sending her to her father’s house, but that was the only way he could be sure. If she killed him, he knew she’d be ready. If not… well, no one would miss her now. He heard her before  he saw her crawl in through the window.

“You’re late” he informed her. Not because she needed the reminder, but because he was curious as to how she’d respond.

“Thanks for you’re concern.” she replied, in such a way that he knew she was stalling, “I’m fine really. Don’t worry about it. I was just taking my time, you know, to see the sights.” she finished, throwing the carrier bag at him.

He caught it, and peered in. It was there. Not that he cared, that hadn’t been the reason he’d sent her, “Did you manage to get out unnoticed?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

She didn’t answer right away. He knew she’d run into her father. He’d planned this run during a time he was sure to be home, workday or not. What bothered him was her reluctance to admit it right out.

“There was someone home.” She finally answered him. At least she wasn’t going to try and hide it but…

“So?” he stated, “What does that have to do with anything? You should have killed them and moved on.” he ended, narrowing his eyes at her. “Why didn’t you?”

This was a problem. Did he evade her, stop her, talk to her… Why was she taking so long to answer, was she considering lying to him!? He stood, discarding the bag onto the table, and yelled at her, “I asked you a question!”

“Listen!” she shouted back, “I was in a hurry, and I didn’t want to make my escape any more difficult than it already was. You know how they respond to death in the Sanitation Zones. I figured I could…”

“Excuses!” he cut her off, he knew there was more to it than that, “You always have an excuse for not killing people, and I’m tired of listening to them. If you think that..”

*Snap*

Someone had entered the building. They both moved with practiced ease toward the passages that would let them out near the front doors. First they’d take care of this intruder, and then he’d take care of her. He wasn’t going to take any chances.

*****

It awoke with a start. It had never been given a formal name. It didn’t really need one. Most people avoided it from a distance, and anyone close enough was too busy screaming to call it anything. It had been comfortable though, and being woken up made it grumpy.

Looking down from the beams of the building it’d been sleeping in, it noticed a manthing standing in the back of the building. He was looking across at the manthing and womanthing standing in front of the doorway. They were yelling at the manthing, but it was hiding behind some benches. That was silly of him. They couldn’t seem him there. It didn’t understand why the womanthing looked nervous, didn’t know why the manthing hiding looked scared. What it did know was that they were being noisy, and it knew how to take care of noisy things.

It dropped from the ceiling, and everything was thrown into chaos. It was used to that.

*****

  The Cathedral hadn't been lived in for several years. Once there'd been a small family residing in the back. The Husband was the Pastor, and the Mother and children helped keep up the building. This was before the world moved on. Since then, maybe it was the spirit of kindness that had inhabited the building, but for whatever reason, it had been left more or less alone for quite some time.

  Then the Unliving Thing moved in. The result of experimentation, it was a fusion of an Embryo, and a Mechanical Monster. To call it alive was too much, but it wasn't quite dead either. They grew... though not in the way of normal things, and they consumed everything around them. After which they would rest... indefinitely if left alone. So it seemed that once again this building would be at peace, even though it now housed a monster.

  Some time passed, and a couple of Humans, Man and Woman moved into the back. Sure they ventured to the front, but they were always quiet, this was their quiet place, and thus they never woke the thing. Again, it seemed the building would continue at peace.

  More time passed... and now, too many people were here at once. Too many sounds, too many problems, and too much activity. It awoke.

  Given the situation, it's a miracle that any of them lived. The two who had moved in turned on each other at the sight of an intruder. They were so intent on each other, that the man didn't see the thing as it came down on him. That's not fair. He saw it, but he was so convinced that "She" was behind it, that he went to take her out. That's why he died.

  The young officer didn't see this happen. What he did see was the man's head come rolling out of the door. He'd never expected things to elevate before he'd gotten there. He ran in to stop the commotion. His sensor told him that there were two humans right in the door. A young one, and an older one. The young one wasn't a threat. His sensors couldn't tell what "It" really was. So he came in ready to deal with the older one. That's why he died.

  The intruder wasn't sure what was going on. He didn't know what this thing was, and he didn't know what they'd been talking about. But he did know something. He didn't know why he knew, but he knew that her life was more valuable to him than his own. When the officer came running into the room, and pointed a weapon at her, he tried to get to them, before something happened to her. That's why he died.

  She was paralyzed. She'd just watched this, thing Kill four people... and none of them had stood a chance. Not even the officer. The officer however had been equipped with phasing armor. This particular suit was an experimental model. It was meant to take someone else along when it moved the officer. "It" was still holding the officer's body when the suit went off. That's why "It" died.

  She sat there... too shocked to move. Too scared to breathe almost. When they came, to collect her, where they knew they'd find her. They didn't ask questions. Their computer had never been wrong. It told them where to go. It let them know what to expect. And when they were told to come here by drop, and that they'd have a young woman sitting alone in a blood splattered ruin, with a charged rover sitting nearby, they hadn't even considered the oddity of the situation. Sometimes, it wasn't worth it to ask questions.

  After they left, the building was once again empty. And it was once again left alone... until the next time it would be needed.

*****

 

Okay, so that’s it. Please forgive me. ;P