Trapper

She decided to search the ruins of the house. Sometimes there were still good things inside, medicine, bandages, clothes. It was dangerous, but the outpost needed supplies, one of the settlements had recently moved into the walls. There were more people and more chances of an attack.

She could hear the ghouls shuffling through the dead leaves outside, so she would need to be quiet. She slipped though the broken window and crept across the dusty floor. She was on the look out for traps, The Trapper having been spotted in the area a few days ago. She had never seen him, but the stories about the bodies found in his wake would make even the most hardened soldier tremble.

She searched the kitchen, nothing useful, just ancient food from before the bombs. She found some clothes in decent shape in one of the bedrooms. The house yielded nothing else of value. She slipped past the hoard, they were getting distracted by their own footsteps in the leaves.

Once they were out of ear shot she broke into a jog, keeping out of the leaves. The walls of the city rose up to greet her and she sprinted the last leg of her journey. She was greeted warmly by the guards as they locked the gate behind her.

“No trouble with the hoard today?” One asked as she caught her breath.

“They are noisy enough to hear coming a mile away.” She swigged metallic water from her bottle. She pulled the clothes out of her bag and tossed them to the guard. “Nothing else good out there today.”

“Too bad. At least someone will be a little warmer.” The guard looked at the clothes.

“We’re going to need all the help we can get this winter, its coming up fast.” She walked up the street and went to her bunk in the small house she shared with the other scavengers.

She crashed onto her bed, exhausted. Her stomach growled at her forcefully. She poked though her bag lazily, trying to find her food voucher. She was falling asleep and gave up quickly, opting to go to bed instead.

The morning came streaming in the window, warming her cold face. She rolled out of bed and took care of the morning necessities in the bucket at the end of the hall. Grabbing her bag she kicked her housemates awake.

“We got work to do today.” She shouted, they grumbled and got up slowly.

She went down to The Kitchen, handing over a voucher and was issued a plate. The plate of food was cold, like always, but it filled her grumbling stomach.

She headed out the gate, refilling her water bottle at the river that ran just outside of town. In the forest the air was musty with dead things. The hoard passed though recently, but they were long gone now. She listened carefully for any other things that might be lurking in the brush. Deeming it safe she continued thorough the forest. A twig snapped and she dropped to the ground. There were no more sounds, that didn’t mean it was safe. She laid prone in the dirt hoping that whatever it was didn’t see her.

Her mind raced as she heard a tapping, in code. She recognized it and stood up. She held her hands up as the other person approached with their gun raised.

“Who are you?” They asked.

“A Scavenger from Hope.” She sized him up. He was either a hunter or a settler. She didn’t recognized him so he must not have been from Hope. “You are?”

“The Trapper.” He grinned, the gun went off with a bang.

the loophole

She held the surrogate’s hand, she was a pretty young woman willing to carry a child that was not her own, her husband held hers. They were in the delivery room waiting for their little bundle of joy to come into the world.

The doctor coaxed the little one into the world, and handed him to his mother.

They arrived. The witches, there were three of them, standing looking confused about why the others were there.

The mother clutched the baby closer as she recognized one as Ssamdol, the witch she had promised  first born child for the gift of song.

The father recognized one as Fasd, the witch he had promised his first born child to for love.

The surrogate laying exhausted on the bed recognized the last one as Hajilkem, the witch she promised her first born child to her to survive a car accident.

The three witches looked at each other and in unintentional unison, “I’m here for the baby.”

“Who’s baby is it?” Ssamodol asked, her claw of a finger outstretched toward the child.

“Well, its ours.” The two parents said. “But we didn’t give birth to it.”

“So its your first born child?” Hajilkem planed her lender hands on her leather clad hips.

“Sorta, but biologically its not mine.” The surrogate said sleepily.

The witches looked between themselves. Fasd sighed, “Where does that leave us?”

“We should have written down what we did last time this happened.” Ssamodol rubbed her nose. “We alternated, I don’t remember the schedule.”

“The last schedule sucked, having to fly it back and fourth every week was exhausting.” Hajilkem tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. “What if we did months this time?”

“How do we do holidays?”  Ssamoldol shook her head.

“We usually celebrate together.”

Fasd nodded in agreement. “These mortals thinking they can get out of promises with more promises.”

“Who gets him first?”Ssamodol reached out her arms for the baby, plucking it out of it’s mothers arms.

“Who gets him last?” Fasd suggested. “You take him for now, I’ll fetch him next month.”

They disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving the parents befuddled.

 

 

Six word story fourteen

Unintelligent, unorginal, pandering. You’re a failure.

The Devil Walks Among You

The two women run on the treadmills next to me. Religion is their main topic, I struggle to focus on my own workout.

“He’s going to send all those perverts to jail.” The most talkative one nearly shouts over the noise of the machines. “He’s going to overturn roe v wade, and bring this country back to its Christian foundation. What this country was founded on, religion.”

I could practically hear my eyes roll. How ignorant could they be, I turn up my machine, my own breathing drowning them out until I can’t run.

“That’s what the evil one wants.” followed by how wonderful and compassionate her preacher is, and something about the pope, and praying for those who sin, sex before marriage kind of thing and something about fake news. “Their lives will catch up to them.”

I reign in every comment I want to spit at her. I shut off my machine and march across the gym to continue my workout. The TVs across the gym are all tuned to the same station, telling us that our president will not be keeping any of the promises that got him elected, and directly contradicts most of the women’s conversation. I wonder how there got to be so much hate in their religion, in their beliefs, and how it was my fault people were so terrible to each other. They’re doing it for God, not for me. Confounded I go home, to eat snacks and watch Netflix.

 

Agent 0

It was like a plague erupted, the disease spread like fire. The hunger, the hunting the innocents, something needed to be done. Nox knew something needed to be done, researchers were furiously trying to get the disease under control. With so many infected, it would be nearly an impossible task.

He listened to his cohort of government interns, giving outlandish suggestions. Mass murder, camps, isolation, prisons, evacuations, massive military involvement, letting it burn out. There was opposition for every suggestion, nothing was getting accomplished.

Nox nearly stormed out of every meeting that was held. They usually found him in the research labs arguing with the scientists. His suggestions were just as silly.

“Nox you need to leave, you’re just getting in the way of research.” They shoved him out of the labs.

He went home at night, government housing, fearing an attack. His pistol never left his hand until his door was dead bolted. They would need to take action soon, or it would become a problem for the rest of the world. As it was the other countries refused to acknowledge there was a problem, the american president had laughed himself out of his chair.

That night he decided, there would be no more debate. He marched into the Minister’s office.

“Something needs to be done before our whole country is consumed by this plague.” He met the eyes of the man sitting behind the desk. “I will do something if no one else will.”

“What do you suggest we do?” The Minister’s expression was cold as steel.

“We need to fight them.”

“Are you volunteering?”

“Yes, I will fight them alone if need be.”

The Minister folded his fingers together. “That’s what I like to hear. Assemble a team, you will be in charge of training and getting this outbreak under control. You must do this quietly, we do not want any of this reaching the public, or other governments.”

“It may be too late for that already.” Nox muttered as he walked out the door.

He had an idea for the team, but they would need to agree to join him, He couldn’t risk someone turning him down. There were a select few individuals he trusted to begin with, of those maybe one could be trusted with this task.

He stopped by the research labs, they quickly shooed him out.

“I need to talk to Dr. Solen.” He insisted, “Its urgent.”

She came outside a few minutes later. Her hands on her hips. “What do you want now.”

“I need to know how to kill these monsters.”

“You know I can’t give that information out. We’re working on a cure.”

“You’re working on a vaccine, preventive, not a cure.”

She folded her arms. “Of course we’re working on a cure.”

“Dr. Solen, I really need your help on this.” He pleaded.

“Help with mass murder? I don’t think so.”

“Its preventive, if we can get the infected under control, there might be a chance of curing them before it becomes a global problem.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Nox, you know it already is a global problem. The virus lays dormant for seven days before people start showing symptoms. People have already traveled, and who knows if they were infected.”

“All the more reason to do something.”

She rubbed her forehead, “I know what you mean, I just don’t think its ethical.”

“Do you trust me?”

“About as far as I can throw you.”

He nodded, “Keep me in the loop please.”

“Fine,” She opened the door, “Anything else you want?”

He shook his head a walked away. She would never leave her research, but she would let him know anything they discovered in  the labs. He needed some field agents.

Over the next couple days he observed his cohort, determining which of them would be the most trustworthy, combat ready, and loyal. He decided on three, who he was positive would say yes.

His first recruit was a man who had completed more combat missions than anyone, he even had a metal for it. He jumped at the chance to fight the monsters. The second recruit was a little more hesitant, but she agreed. She was the best strategist of the entire office. His final recruit told him yes before he had even finished asking, he was the most loyal friend he had.

He told the Minister about his selections, the Minster was pleased. “You have a lot to do.”

 

One hour

They sent me one hour into the future. I volunteered, hoping to witness something amazing. I stepped out of the machine, everyone was gone.

I walked over to the desk where there was a note.

“Thank you for your participation.”

I walked outside everyone was gone. I checked a clock, it was only one hour. The date on the calendar were the same.I ran back to the lab hoping to find some clue as to where everyone had gone. I tore through every drawer looking, maybe something had malfunctioned, maybe I was dead, just something.

I turned over the note. “Suck it bitch, see ya in forty years.”

I thumped my head against the wall. I guess this is what happens when you have a messy breakup with a coworker, who is probably the most brilliant person on the planet.

I went home, expecting the jubilant puppy I just got to bound up and greet me, but only silence. I found a note on the fridge on the back of a picture of her flicking me off while my loyal pooch licked her face. “Suck it again!”

“Son of a bitch!”

Ice Queen

She touched her finger to the window pane. The summer heat shimmied just on the other side, as the frost formed around her.

A tiny snow flake drifted down from the sky, melting on the hot concrete. In this heat, a single snow flake was all she could do. She had wanted power and now she had it, but it wasn’t the kind she was expecting. The deal she made felt sour.

Ice formed on her walls in her brooding. Inside she had more control, fewer variables. The air conditioner turned off. A crystal formed on her palm. She set it down on the night stand next to her bed, with the others.

She went to the kitchen, made herself lunch before trying again. Every day it got colder, so so it should be just a matter of time before she had any control. She sighed, the cold crackled around her.

She grabbed her bag, the water bottle in it freezing with a snap. She shouldered her bag and got into her car, she drove to work, the second shift at the grocery store. She stocked, and stayed mostly in the back.

In the huge dusty storage area she played with her powers, frosting boxes of fruit, and making tiny flurries dance down the rows of storage shelves. When she had to enter the public domain she tied to avoid the customers. Her boss spotted her.

“We need you on register three.” He ordered marking things down on a clip board, “Dia didn’t show again.”

She dutifully marched herself up to the front of the store and signed into the register before flicking on the light. The line formed instantly. She did her job, surreptitiously doling out justice, refreezing melting fudge pops for the worthy, and freezing the milk and eggs of those who displeased her.

“This is not what I had in mind.” She muttered under her breath as she scanned items.

“Did you say something?”

She looked up from the belt, he was cute, he was young but had white hair, curious. Her brain felt like it was underwater, “No nothing.”

She passed him his change. She stared at him, he didn’t flinch when her fingers brushed his hand. Blinking, she stumbled through the store mandated goodbye. She swore he looked back at her and smiled. The grouchy old lady next in line banged her cane on the counter.

“Some of us aren’t getting any younger here.” The lady shouted much to the lines amusement.

Blushing furiously she got back to work. The lady snatched the receipt away from her so fast it gave her a paper cut, she was glad she froze the old lady’s sour cream. The store closed at eleven, but her shift didn’t end until midnight. She cleaned and restocked with the rest of the staff until their official third shift arrived to relieve them for inventory.

Finally done, she went to her car and rested her head on the steering wheel. The leather was still warm from the sun.Her windows started to fog, condensation from outside gathering and freezing. She sighed a cloudy breath and tried to refocus so she could get home. The raindrops splattered on the ice melting it.

She drove home in the rain.

In the morning she tired to freeze the puddles until it was time to go to work. Her sadness crept into the cold of the store room. The flurries of yesterday turned into ice, slick ice. Her coworkers blamed it on the air conditioning.

“How can you stay back here, its like zero degrees.” One of her coworkers opened the shipping doors.

She shrugged. “Its not that bad.”

“They’re going to start calling you the ice queen if you keep this up.”

“Better than ice fingers, frigid bitch.” She rested her head in her hands, “Or singing ice ice baby.”

“You should report them to the manager if they do that.”

“Could be worse.”

“That doesn’t make it okay. Lets step outside and warm up a little?”

She surrendered and followed her coworker outside. The heat was suffocating.

“We should go back inside, I wouldn’t want to get in trouble.” She went back through the shipping door and started restocking the bread.

She hoped every tap on her shoulder would be that guy, but it never was. Weeks passed, she started to make it snow a couple of flakes before they melted. Months passed and she was in her glory, the leaves dropped off the trees and the temperatures plummeted. The first snow fluffy she turned into a full scale blizzard.

Feeling unstoppable she marched out of her house, she cleared snow with flick of her wrist. Icicles dangled  from every house, the trees were coated in ice, the three feet of snow completed the picture.

“A world of ice.” She smiled.

“Is it everything you wanted?”

She spun the voice, it had to be him. His snow white hair nearly blended in with the landscape.

“What?”

“Your power.” He gestured around. “The snow.”

“How do you know it was me?”

“Because I didn’t make three feet of snow the first of November.”

She looked at the snowy ground.

“I’m Jack, and you need to control yourself.”

Admonished, her shoulders fell. “I just wanted to be comfortable, happy.”

“Just be careful.” He turned and walked away.

She ran to catch up to him. “Jack wait, you were at the supermarket.”

“Man’s gotta eat.” He stopped walking. “Now I don’t want to have to come back here.”

“Why not?”

“I have better things to do than babysit you.” He said then disappeared in a swirl of snow.

She sulked back to her house. The store was closed until the snow got cleared, she sat in her living room playing with the snow drifts. Her house was cold as an ice box.

It took them four days to finally make the roads passable. The store opened, and she went to work, the dry heat from the furnace making her sweat. Everyone was complaining about the snow. There were hardly any customers, and most of the day was moving around boxes in storage room to make room for new shipments.

The next flurry she couldn’t stop herself and again a full blizzard.

A note floated in her window on blue paper. “Please stop” was all that was written on it.

“Why?” She screeched out her window. The snow deadened the sound.

It rained the next day, she turned it into a sheet of glass. No one dared travel.

Another note arrived. “What are you doing?”

“I just want your attention.” She wrote, then erased, changing it to, “Being powerful.”

He showed up at her door the next day. “Do you think this is a game?”

She shook her head, “Do you?”

“I don’t want to fight, I just can’t stay for very long, there are other things I have to take care of. You are taking up a disproportional amount of my time, with nonsense.” He put both hands on her shoulders, she looked into his ice blue eyes. “No more nonsense.”

She nodded, she could hear her heartbeat in her ears.”No more nonsense.”

He turned to walk away and she nailed him in the back with a snow ball. He turned and ran up the walk, slipping and sliding on the ice. “I just told you no nonsense.”

“Maybe I wanted you to come back.”

“Are you five?” His face was getting a little flushed.

She put her hands on her hips and tried to look womanly, “Obviously not.”

“Really?”

“I’m like twenty, I’ve got a job and everything.”

“Well good job for you, I’m the king of winter and you’re throwing snow balls at me. I’ve got bigger problems to deal with, you need to let me deal with them. Then I can deal with you.”

She crossed her arms. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I’m the king of winter!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Fine then don’t, just behave yourself.”

She tried to make a pile of snow from a tree fall on him as he walked away, he deflected it. Furious she marked back into her house and slammed the door.

“I’ll just have to take over this ice monarchy.” She muttered as her windows frosted over.

She practiced every day to get better, she could make it snow for days now. Jack had showed up twice to reprimand her. It wasn’t December and they were having record breaking snowfall.

Jack didn’t show up until the new year had started. He looked disheveled, broken. He pushed his white hair out of his face. His ice blue eyes were sad, brimming with tears.

“What happened?” She stopped smiling.

“You win.” He muttered.

“Win what?”

“Are you really this dense?” He shouted. “Do you have any idea how any of this works?”

“No, no one would tell me what was happening, yourself included.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Well she was supposed to explain it to you when you got your powers how everything worked.”

“No one did, I did try to ask.”

He made a noise at her. “Well here’s what happened. My father died, I got his powers. On her death bead mu mother granted several women powers, and failed to explain anything to any of them You are the strongest, so we are getting married at the start of spring. I have arrangements to make. Goodbye.”

“What if I don’t want to marry you?”

“You don’t have a choice anymore.” He left.

He didn’t return till spring. She had believed it had all been some kind of nightmare.Then the ceremony started. She was practically marched down the aisle by a guard She was briefed on her duties as Ice Queen, nothing sounded unreasonable.

“Maybe this won’t be so bad.” She muttered looking around her new home. “I might actually like it here.”

 

 

Temp Hiatus

Will be taking a break from posting for the month of November for Nanowrimo, national novel writing month. Was trying to do a post a week while editing my other novel, will return to a post a week in December.

Sister Planets

It took months of travel and secrecy to get her to the planet. She had explored the rich cities, realizing how similar their worlds were. There was a lot to gain from an alliance for both sides, but tempers were high. They had tried for an open alliance hundreds of years ago, and it fell through because of a similar circumstance as the one currently threatening their relationship.

None of the general population ever knew of the alliances, and the parliaments were ready to back out. They were terrified of the influence the other planet would have over their people if contact was formally approved.

She hid in the wings of the debate hall, her supporters near by ready to push her out into the spotlight when the time was right. Her hands were sweaty, and her mouth was dry. The proposal was introduced, Amark planet three alliance with Sun planet three. She twisted her hands together as each of the leaders gave their reasons why the alliance should not pass. There were only three who were in support out of ten. She got the signal and walked out onto the stage.

The crowed gasped at her. Humans and Sasida looked very similar, both being bipedal, with forward facing eyes, and similar skull structure. The differences were mainly in height and physical ability. It almost looked like she was looking out over a crowd of humans instead of aliens.

She wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans and took a deep breath. “I am from Earth, and I speak for all of the people of Earth as decided by the SGAC.”

There was stunned silence, one of the leaders stood up as if to counter her argument. She placed the paperwork on the table before all the leaders.

“I am here to let all of you know that Earth is willing to try to start fresh. We know were were the ones to fail you last time, and we regret it. Our planets are like sisters, evolving like twins separated at birth. Identical suns, planet positions, and habitats.”

There was a murmur of discontent. She pulled out her phone, “What is your personal calling number?”

The delegate closest to her whispered their number. She quickly typed it in and hit call. Much to everyone’s surprise the call went through.

“Even our technology is similar. My phone from Earth should not have been able to place that call unless you have networks almost identical to the ones back home. We are more similar than we are different. We are attempting to build bridges after thousands of years of isolation. We are well aware of our imperfections and our dark past. We should all proceed with caution, but Earth is going to attempt to make it right and move forward, we hope you do the same.”

She bowed and hurried off the stage.

 

Super Hero: Captain Crafty

Captain Crafty isn’t your everyday super hero. She doesn’t necessarily fight crime, but would be able to supply essentials to super hero teams. Need mittens for a stake out? Done. Need a killer disguise, way better than just a baseball cap and hoodie, she will whip out her costuming skills and bam you are now Twilight Sparkle for under twenty bucks. Blankets? She laughs in the face of blankets. Crochet, knit, quilts she does them all. Is your super hero outfit looking a little drab or in need of repairs? She’s got you covered.

Sewing faster than a speeding bullet, hot gluing entire buildings, bedazzling everything in her path, its Captain Crafty.

If the Avengers were to ask me to join their team, I would be their Edna Mode (from the Incredibles). I would rock the disguise department, and it would give them more money to spend on gadgets. I once made an entire Heather (from Silent Hill) cosplay for five bucks. Not to brag, but I can crochet pretty well too, making scarves, hats, blankets, mittens. Imagine Captain America incognito with a retro Captain America crochet hat. Or the team with matching Christmas sweaters.