Sci Fi
The Thing With Feathers
Hope strained her muscles and pushed the pedals of her bike the last 200 yards to the safety of the shade of the former four-stall car wash. The idea of wasting water for vanity's sake was a ludicrous notion to Hope. Still, her people had put the building to better use. A grow house. It warmed her heart, thinking of all the plants that large of a building could maintain. The solar panels appeared cared for, and the roof was of special greenhouse glass. The air purifier was attached to the side building. The old "Holiday" sign still stood, beckoning long-dead travelers to its doors. Not much for travelers these days. This location was a part of H.O.P.E. Heal Offer Protect and Educate. A last-ditch effort for the survival of life on earth. Their fight was an uphill battle. Some chose a nomad lifestyle, trying to survive however they could instead, often stopping through posts to trade goods, news, and even act as a postal service. Nomads were always a risk, and special precautions were taken with those that had not taken the oath. A nomad could become a scavenger if they grew desperate enough. While H.O.P.E. was against the destruction of any living thing, those that preyed on others were a cancer that could not be tolerated. Even names were safeguarded against strangers. Hope was the name of all that brought it to others.
By Jessica Spates5 years ago in Fiction
De-Unification
We were digging up the potatoes when Maggie-Mae collapsed. She slipped silently to the ground between the neat green rows - I don’t think anyone else saw. I didn’t want to draw attention, so I kept digging as I moved closer to her position, near enough to see she was still breathing. Her soft, gray hair clung damply to her cheeks, and she made a rasping, phlegmy sound with each shallow breath. It was clear she was unfit for work.
By Angel Whelan5 years ago in Fiction
The Patient Who Could Not Recover
A shaft of dusty light vertically suspended the young graduate. A punishing boot of stiff plastic contained ser terrible wound, now clean, but ceaselessly dripping like a hungry critter’s mouth. The young graduate would soon learn why and how Sie arrived in this dank and most sorry of places, but for now the mist kept ser sedated.
By Jayde Kirchert5 years ago in Fiction
The Secret of the Heart-shaped Anomaly
They existed in a perfect reality. All 100,000 Units were meticulously created, trained and guided through their lives by the master. They each lived precisely 10,000 days, serving society in their distinctive functions to maintain perfection in the dome. Outside the dome nothing mattered, as it was not a perfect reality. They were happily sealed off from this disturbing possibility and for centuries it rarely occurred to the Units that there was another reality.
By Scott D. Williams5 years ago in Fiction
The Locket
She kept running. After lifting the amethyst encrusted locket Lana knew she'd get caught. It was late afternoon as the boat shipped out with whole families being seen off by relatives. Running up the plank Lana was stopped by a crewmember. "Pass please." Lana just stomped his foot making the plump mustachioed crewmember begin to hop on one foot like an overweight kangaroo. She was a former street urchin. Flowing strawberry blonde hair and barely visible freckles in green and brown rags. It was painfully obvious that if only by disguise she didn't belong. The ship itself was incredibly plush with intricate and ornate decorations. Even the carpets looked oriental or persian maybe. Why this was on a ship in the ocean Lana had no clue.
By John Lewis Wright5 years ago in Fiction
Out on a Limb
Monica sat motionless in an oak tree as she watched two men pass below. From her vantage point she saw that the men were dragging a deer. She’d seen these two often lately but like most people, they’d not seen her. Most people had formed groups that now lived behind protected walls and rarely ventured out, some like the two arguing over who had to clean the deer, lived off to themselves. These people were not normally a problem, but they could be dangerous.
By Miah Crosby5 years ago in Fiction
The Crypt
‘The Crypt’ The kiss of cold air woke Jago from his restless sleep, his eyes creaked open to the dull light that seeped into his cell. Blinking, Jago wiped the sleep and frosty gunk from the corners of his eyes. Looking up from his awkward foetal position at the figure looming over him, Jago saw a hooded person, wearing a thick, weathered brown coat and worn-out gloves. Was it an uncanny skill and awareness that alerted him to the presence, or simply his unconscious mind warning him of danger, the question was mute as the figure, looming near the doorway, was seemingly the exact match of presence and stature as his friend North. Taking a second to listen closely, Jago focused on this new arrival, feeling for anything awry, he sniffed the air for familiar scents, a few quick glances from head to toe completed his rudimentary assessment. Deciding finally that it was his friend, Jago took his hand of the knife under his pillow as he swung both legs out from under the thermo-blanket that barely covered him. He rubbed the remaining sleep from his tired eyes, and slapped his cheeks with both hands to shake off the lingering grip that was the comfort and warmth of his slab-like cot. When in reality, the sleep he had just had was one of the worst of his life, they all were, every single one. Jago’s room lacked any homeliness or comfort, as there was no comfort down here to speak of, the only wares, or memorabilia he held onto were the knives he honed most waking hours, extra scraps of leather, blankets, some food and a tiny heart-shaped locket that belonged to his daughter. A picture folded up inside, framed a younger version of himself, his wife and their daughter, both of them remained trapped in the locket, and in the sweet ignorance of time.
By Tom Mcmulkin5 years ago in Fiction
Doomsday clock.
THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK The year was 20065 the world has been destroyed by tornadoes, floods, volcanos, and a giant dust storm destroying all crops and cars, people were starting to die until we decided to make small towns away from everyone else and ration canned food until we die. It was midnight when it happened, my mother woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to run. She handed me her locket; she never took off that locket I thought. My ears were ringing, it took me some time to realize that every clock around the world had stopped. A bang at the door made my mother scared, I heard men yelling my mother's name “Mary come on out, we won’t hurt you, we just want the girl and the necklace.” My mother told me to go. I saw a gun in her hand and jumped out the window, my ears stopped ringing as I put the necklace on. I saw everyone was yelling at each other and then 5 minutes after the clocks stopped time had stopped it was 12:05pm at night, for the rest of time nothing would happen. I heard a bang in my house and the men cheering. I never even got to say I loved her before she died. Then before I knew it the men came out from the house and saw me. They started chasing me. It was like when the dust came to earth everyone was running trying to get to shelter putting cars in garages. But this time it wasn’t dust or a storm or a volcano destroying Tokyo. They were chasing me, and I had no clue why. This can't be happening I should be in bed right now, but I was fully awake at this point. I was coughing so much because of the dust because I was running away from the bad men. When I was far away enough, I looked at the locket and saw there was a way to open it. When I opened it, I saw a note, it read.
By Kiernan McCluskey5 years ago in Fiction
SKY
Whispered footsteps announced the approach of her opponent, “Rule number 5” Lin exhaled calmly, “Never show pain or emotion!”, sweeping a low kick at Sky. She evades it at the last second by rolling backwards onto her feet and quickly counters, combining the accuracy of Dragon style, catching him off guard. This time she sweeps him off his feet and follows up with a punch to the chest, but he recovers by planting a palm to the floor, shooting another fast kick, hitting Sky's left shoulder. She backs away a step and resumes Dragon stance, rolling her shoulder over to check for damage. The punch to her stomach still aching from moments before, she forces it from her mind and turns to Lin who is standing tall, patiently waiting for her next attack, his eyes piercing and scrutinizing her every move.
By Tom Mcmulkin5 years ago in Fiction
