My eyes caught the girl as soon as she stepped into the tavern. She couldn’t have looked more out of place if she’d been draped in glow-worms.
Of course, I wasn’t the only one to spot her arrival, her appearance, and I knew it. All around the dim, damp, musty room, the scum of Calaphel shifted in their seats, hands straying towards weapons.
We all sensed wealth, and we hungered for it. Continue reading
Continued from Chapter 3.2, here.
Read it from the beginning, starting here.
Axiom 3: Search for other survivors.
When I finished telling my story, I looked up at the girl, waiting for her to say something. Maybe she’d congratulate me on doing such a good job of surviving in this hellish landscape, I considered.
“That’s it?” she asked.
“Thank you, it really was a lot of hard- wait, what?” Okay, that wasn’t what I’d expected.
She looked around at the interior of my little home base. “All you’ve done is sit here, eat canned beans, and just wait for something to happen?”
“I think I’ve still got some cans of tuna or taco meat-” Continue reading
“You know, I almost laughed the other day.”
Her eyes focused a little, panned over to me. “Why?”
“Well, I was walking through the halls out there, just getting some exercise. Stretching my legs.” I gestured at the door to her room. It was propped open; she told me that she liked watching the nurses bustle about, running on their errands.
“And?”
Her eyes still looked bright, alive. I loved those eyes, no matter how the rest of her body shrank and withered. “Well, I thought to myself that I could probably walk through the hallways with my eyes closed, by now. I think I’ve memorized the entire layout of the hospital.” Continue reading
I gazed out at the world in front of me, beauty and serenity for as far as my eyes could see.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” piped up Serena, standing next to me. I felt the warmth of her hand as it slipped into mine, saw the shadows shift a little as she adjusted her grip on the lantern in her other hand. “So much possibility.”
“It is beautiful,” I replied, trying to clear my mind, to think of nothing but the world that lay in front of me, open for me to explore.
How long would it last? I knew that time worked differently here. It could pass faster, here. Entire lifetimes, I’d heard, could fly by in the span of just hours. Would that happen to me? Would I last long enough?
I hoped so. It all seemed so real, so perfect. I could almost believe it. Continue reading
Continued from Chapter 3.1, here.
Read it from the beginning, starting here.
Axiom 3: Search for other survivors.
The girl didn’t wake up gently, as I’d imagined that she might.
In my imagination, I saw her eyes slowly fluttering open, settling on me. “Oh, you saved me,” she’d cry out as she slowly looked around at my fortress. “And wow, you’ve totally prepared for this Apocalypse really well! How can I possibly convince you to let me stay here, where you can guard and protect me?”
“Oh, I’m sure that we can come to some situation,” I’d gallantly reply, moving over to her and thoughtfully dabbing her brow with a wet cloth. “But I do have to warn you, I only have one bed at the moment.”
“I’m sure that we can make something work,” she’d reply, looking up at me with soft, warm eyes, her hands reaching up to pull my lips down to hers…
At least, that’s how I thought it would play out… Continue reading
She reached out for the ringing phone. For a moment, her stiff fingers fumbled over the buttons, and she cursed the arthritis that stiffened her joints. She managed to hit the green button, and lifted the handset up to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hello – I, uh, I just needed to talk to someone. I don’t think I can keep going any longer.”
Another one of them. No matter how many calls she took, there always seemed to be more of them, each with their little problems, so convinced that no one else in the world had ever experienced what they were now going through. Her eyes drifted over to the two piles of stationary on her windowsill.
“Well, you can talk to me, although you best make it quick – I’m 92, so who knows how much time I’ve got left.” She settled back into her chair, trying to find a more comfortable position for the phone against her ear.
“92? Um, is… is this the suicide hotline?”
Ah, one of the faster ones. He’d caught on more quickly than some of the callers. “Afraid not, dear,” she replied. “You’re off by a number.” Continue reading
Captain Jack Gallant dashed across the war-torn and scarred battlefield, keeping his head low to avoid any stray blaster bolts. His coat flapped behind him as he ran, the active camouflage patterns shifting in an attempt to keep up with his changing surroundings.
He gritted his teeth as he skidded to a stop behind a boulder. He counted at least four Xorg walkers, and they knew that he’d made it out of the flaming wreckage of his own ship. He was alone, outnumbered, and without any way to contact his own soldiers.
Not that it would do him much use, he thought blackly to himself. They didn’t have the manpower to spare for a rescue. Continue reading
Continued from Chapter 3.0, here.
Read it from the beginning, starting here.
Axiom 3: Search for other survivors.
“Oh man. Oh, this is so bad. Oh, geez.” I panted these words to myself, over and over, as I scrambled over the rocks and dirt, heading towards where I’d seen my golf ball disappear – and the woman, possibly the only other human still alive, had collapsed.
I hadn’t meant to hit her with the golf ball! I just wanted to get her attention – and besides, I always hooked my shots to the left! I couldn’t have known that this one would go straight!
Finally, I hauled myself over one especially large chunk of shattered concrete, possibly the remains of an overpass support-
-and there she was on the other side, sprawled out in the dirt. Continue reading
I arrived at the brewery to find him already seated at a four-person table, his head buried in his hands. From the dent he’d managed to make in the oversized plate of nachos in front of him, I guessed that he’d been here for a while.
“Hey, buddy – I didn’t realize that you got here early,” I remarked, patting him on the back as I stepped around to sit opposite him at the table.
My friend Rich lifted his head up from his hands, blinking at me in confusion. “Early? I’ve only been here for a few minutes.”
I opened my mouth, but closed it again without speaking, as Rich reached out and scooped up a literal handful of nachos, cramming them indiscriminately into his mouth. That answered my next question, then. Continue reading
“Wow, uh, sculpture garden,” I said, trying not to let disappointment color my voice. “Yeah, this is fun.”
I glanced over at Meagan, wondering if she’d bought it. It was already our third date, and I still hadn’t worked out quite how I felt about her. Unable to make a decision, I eventually just threw up my hands and elected to base the future of our relationship on this third date.
I’d let her pick the location, and so far, I wasn’t particularly impressed.
Perhaps for the best, however, Meagan hadn’t caught my sarcasm. “Oh, it’s a really unique place,” she insisted. “The whole Kepler museum is amazing, but the Times Garden has always been my favorite.”
“Yeah, great,” I nodded, as she kept on prattling on about how much she loved the sculptures. I wondered if the museum had a food court. Continue reading
Missing Brains 