Utterly Mad
The Pit => Creative Endeavors => Topic started by: Forrest on May 14, 2015, 03:29:04 am
-
The Right to Live
Heya! So, whatever, school is still a thing. Thus, I can't devote the time that I wanna to the Rec Room. However, I'm still hankering for some STORY and EMOTION and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and all that crap. Muh writin' needs be outta control. So yeah, I think I'll take a crack at another little story I've been trying to think up. Trying to make characters seem more.....real, human, there, all that. Maybe git gud at trying to splice things together a little more. And, of course, I'ma try and make it entertaining for all y'all readers!
WARNING STUFF [I KNOW YOU GUYS DON'T CARE I'M JUST SAYING]
-Blood and gore, descriptive violence, etc.
-Language (IF THIS ****ING **** **** **** CENSOR THING GOES AWAY)
->Implying ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
-Might be some disturbing/torture-y/almost but never actually rape-y scenes. It is the apocalypse, those'd really only be to make you hate someone, and I won't really every say much.
So with any randomness outta the way, let's get started, shall we?
Major General Raymond Wilson Ewell stalked through the brush, the cold night air permeating his very being. He had heard the winters of this god-forsaken place were something, but he'd never imagined it was this bad. Ewell had found a relatively large patch of hardy, bristled bushes that led straight to the perimeter of the hostiles' camp, and the General was never one to forgo the tactical advantage of surprise. His rifle was clasped steadily in his arms, beneath Ewell's prone form as he wormed his way through the thick leaves, inch by inch. He could feel the polished wooden handle of his kukri pressing against the bone in his hip, the brass knob that topped it off getting a little uncomfortable the further he went. He could deal with discomfort, as long as it was worth it in the end.
The perimeter was deathly quiet. The Major General knew this didn't mean he was in the clear. He was far too smart for that. No, he was a man who knew how to trust his instincts, and right now, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. He surveyed his surroundings. Bushes on all sides, no visibility, no chances of detection from there. The base was a skeleton of a compound, simply a gathering of small, sheet metal buildings. A taller, tower-like structure had been built up nearer to him than the smaller buildings. It was an ugly thing, all recycled piping and solder, with a rickety, plywood crow's nest. Nothing fancy, to say the least. But Ewell was a cautious man. As cautious as they come. And he knew that no enemy was to be underestimated.
That's when he saw it. A thin red line, streaking out across the freezing cold plain, dancing among the scrub and low rocks. It led all the way back up to the tower's crow's nest. Of course. A sniper. Just what he needed. Ewell wasted no time. Just as the beam veered in the other direction, the sniper obviously starting to scan to his left, Ewell began a slow creep forward, silently emerging from the brush.......
That's when a loud, angry, shout sounded behind me, and a hand clamped on my shoulder. My headset flew off as I yelped, jumping into the air and mashing randomly on my controller. Major General Ewell abruptly stood up from my crazed motions, starting off at a solid sprint from the pressure of my thumb on the joystick. The thin red line centered on his chest and fired, burying a virtual .308 in the torso of my character. A grunt escaped his lips, and he stumbled back into the brush, collapsing onto a bed of sharp leaves. My screen lit up with two familiar words: YOU DIED.
A sound I knew all too well piped up from behind me, stinging my ears after the numbing of the gaming headset.
"C'mon, you little introvert! We've got a whole week left until spring break ends, and you're not gonna spend it huddled in here with your virtual boyfriend the General!" Kate's voice jeered, followed by her usual laugh. Mouth closed, trying to hold it in and sound serious.
A small, angry smile was visible on my face. "Jeez, least I have a boyfriend, Kate. Can you match up to that?" I mocked back, folding my arms across my chest and turning to the side, my back to her.
She punched my shoulder, hard, but not angrily. I turned around, reaching over the back of my couch, and shoved her. She caught my arm as I fell back, using the fact that I weigh next to nothing to pull me over. Two minutes of flailing and general friendly stupidity later, I was sprawled out on the floor, with a shoe planted on my chest.
"Say it."
"Fine, you psycho. Uncle. There."
I spat up at her, trying to hide my grin. She helped me up, and we walked out of my living room to the door. The house was silent; my parents were both working, and my bro and sis, Matt and Angie, were at violin practice. Mom and Dad were always busy. Dad was a lawyer, Mom was the dean of medicine at the local bigwig care center. The whole busy thing was good, I knew that. It meant we were well off. We could afford things like video games and violins, or the newer RivTech products. But on days like this, our house sure felt....empty.
Kate opened the door, skipping outside. She skipped a lot, and I always made fun of her for it. She was a little over a year older than me, almost seventeen, but she acted like a twelve year old all the time. I followed, stopping at the doorway to squeeze my shoes on. It was hot out, the sun burning up in the sky and scorching our dreary little neighborhood. I was feeling it a lot worse than Kate; the only clean clothes I could find were a long sleeved shirt and black pants.
"Why'd you have to drag me out here, anyways? Got any bright ideas? This entire town is dead for excitement." I complained, blowing a stray hair out from over my eye. I needed a visit to the barber soon.
"Pffft, come on, Marc. Quit 'yer whining! There's plenty we can do!"
"Yeah? Name something. One thing."
"Alright, I've got a game called 'Shut Up, You Don't Have Anything Better To Do."
I grumbled, thinking of how close I was to leading the boards in Jungle Fever. Three more close-range takedowns, damn it! Alas, I knew if I went back in to play games, Kate'd bother me about it for days. So, I followed. She skipped about a foot ahead of me as we made our way down the sidewalk. Nobody was on the street. Nobody was visible in the windows of the bright little houses we passed by. Those stupid pastel posters about the new automated police forces stuck to telephone poles. I forgot how creepy this place could be when you were out and about during work hours......
That's when Kate stopped. A foot ahead of me, with my mind drifting. I kept going, lightly bumping into her and snapping out of my surveillance. She didn't seem to acknowledge it.
"Hey, come on, speed up before I change my mind about coming, I don't have all day!" I said, smiling as I made my way around her. Kate was looking forwards and up, her vision seemingly on the horizon. A perplexed, stunned look was plastered on her normally lucid features. I let curiosity take over and took a gander in the direction she was looking. I immediately wished I hadn't.
Because Kate wasn't looking at the sky. Namely, because......well, there was no sky. Not at the moment. Right there, smack in the middle of where you would expect perfect little high-class small town clouds, there was a gaping hole in the air. It wasn't impossibly far up. Not above where the clouds would be. It was hovering, a few hundred feet above the center of our town. The perimeter of the area it was covering probably began a few blocks ahead of us.
I didn't know what I was expecting for the first few seconds. Sure, this was scary, unnatural, all that, but, looking back, I never really knew what this meant. I didn't think this was a real turning point in my life. Some crazy scientific thing, maybe a new natural disaster of some kind, but.....it didn't feel dangerous. It looked like a tranquil, unmoving celestial body, somehow suspended above a dreary little suburban community. I couldn't tell what Kate was thinking, and I wasn't looking at her face.I was gazing right at the rip in the cosmos before me.
And that's when it all started, really. The edges of that awful.....portal, they, they sort of.....fluttered. Shivered. The whole thing moved like the surface of a pond, disturbed by a pebble, for a few seconds. I felt a little panic set in, and both Kate and I instinctively backed up, unsure of what to do. That's when the surface of the thing in the sky rippled downwards. Not like a pond being disturbed by something going in. Like a sheet, over a hole, with something pushing out.
*****
That's always when I wake up, and wake up I did. A choking sound, between that of a cough and a scream, made its way from my throat as I sat straight up in my cot, drenched in a cold sweat. The dark, concrete room of our shelter echoed with the noise. I heard a snore of protest further down the room, but nothing else. Good, hadn't woken anyone up, at least. It had been a whole year, and I still had the damn dreams.....
"Still having the dreams, huh, Marc?" Her voice came from my left, on a cot about five feet away. Kate was whispering. No sense in waking the others.
I paused for a little, staring into the dark."Doubt I'll ever stop. Only thing I've kept the past year. Lost everything but the nightmares." I muttered back, my eyes fixated on a random spot of blackness.
"Aw, come on, you've still got your watch! And the......uh, your shoes!" Kate's voice was upbeat in her attempt to cheer me up, and the desperation of it was almost working. Another tiny smile found its way to my lips.
"Well, thank God I can still tell time and hop like Jordan. That'll sure save my life someday."
"That's the spirit! Come on, let's get up early. Pax probably wants those traps out in the woods checked fast, something might try and take our dinner." I heard her slowly worming outta her sleeping bag, then the clatter of her shoes as she pulled them on.
I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see the gesture. Quietly crumpled the crinkly emergency blanket I was using, and set in on the floor next to my little cot. After a little stretch, I heaved my legs over the side, onto the floor. Felt around with my feet until I found my shoes, and put them on. Kate was already standing, and I pushed myself up, taking a few wobbly steps towards the big door of our little safe house.
A sudden light blinded me, before my eyes adjusted to the gasoline lantern Kate had lit up. She was in a heavy brown coat, her tan face smiling next to the dim glow of the lantern.
"Alright, try and keep up, loser! Dunno what horrors this world'll hold next and all, right?"
Yeah. Sure, like we hadn't already seen it all, huh?
Thoughts? Good? Okay? Bad? Crap? God awful trash? Share what you think!