paranoid
August 31st, 2009, 12:56 PM
(For those of you currently unaware a "Drabble" is a short story of exactly 100 words, like these three:)
Plink….
Plink…
Plink….
Plink….
Joe awoke to the sound of water, dripping from the cracked pipe above his mattress. He rolled over and stood up, wincing at the pressure this put upon his bruised knees and ankles. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Joe wandered over to the basin in the far corner of the room. Slowly the memories of the previous day came back to him. How much of it had been real? The execution? The tunnel? The guard with the silver cudgel? He rubbed the line of raised flesh across his back, Ok so that had definitely happened.
***************************************************
The blood chilling howls echoed once again through the dark forest. Megan stopped and leant gently on a large pine tree, don’t panic she chided herself, that’s exactly what they want you to do. Breathing heavily, she risked a glance behind her, still nothing. Maybe, just possibly, there was some hope. Taking a deep breath the girl set off again, ignoring the thorns and brambles tearing at her white dress. Not far now she told herself, just one more hill and… and what? She’d never given a thought as to where she was running, just that she was running away.
***************************************************
Stephen shuffled uneasily; it wasn’t like one of his clients to be late. He glanced at his watch, before remembering that it had stopped a couple of months ago. He liked it that way, at least he could be certain that anywhere, twice a day, it would tell the right time. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, whistling tunelessly. Eventually he peered at the murky lights of the dashboard display: 7:54, the letter had said quite clearly “half past.” There was nothing else for it, patting the reassuring bulk in his coat pocket, he opened the car door.
********************************************************
A slightly longer piece, this one may form part of something bigger:
There was something strange about the old forest, the moment you entered the mighty wood, the forest canopy blocked out the light. It was a different world, one of silence and darkness….and death. It was said that the faerie folk dwelled in these parts, and that their hypnotic songs and tantalising visions had lured many a woodsman to his end. But today the silence of the forest was penetrated once more; travelling at a steady gallop, two horses plunged fearlessly through the inky blackness.
Leff, unused to riding, twisted uncomfortably in his saddle to face his friend, wishing he could fly off and leave the injured human to face to horrors of the wood alone. But a promise was a promise and he would stay with the boy until they were through the wood. “You alright?” he asked. Jed nodded, eyes staring vacantly ahead, hands still gripping the growing red stain across his jerkin. There was no doubt about it, they would have to stop soon. Leff dug his heels into the horse’s side, the sooner they were out of this God forsaken place the better. How long they travelled like this he could never be sure, was it minutes, hours, days? Everywhere in this leafy dungeon looked the same. A rustle in the nearby undergrowth brought the sprite abruptly to his senses; instinctively his left hand flew to his scabbard as he pulled at the reins and in one fluid movement turned his horse to face the bushes. Suddenly something grey leapt from the bush and scampered away through the forest, Leff’s horse reared throwing him from its back and both mounts galloped off through the forest.
Leff hit the ground with a sickening crunch and screamed, a searing jolt of white hot pain spread up his back to his shoulder and purple dots danced across his vision. For a while he just lay there on the stony ground, gently sobbing, then with gargantuan effort the young sprite pulled himself to his knees. Starting gently at first Leff began to peel the blood stained, tattered shirt from his back, piece by piece the garment came away, and with it a fresh wave of pain and nausea. As he removed the ruined piece of clothing Leff felt something hit his back, and, with a sickening jolt realised it was part of his right wing. From what he could feel the left wing was bruised but still operational, but the right now hung tattered and deformed in some grisly parody of a cloak. With his right wing so badly injured there was no question of flying out of this forest, there was no doubt about it, he would have to walk. He looked into the distance where Jed’s horse had disappeared. Hopefully it would make it out of the woods to where Elleya would be waiting. The horse was well trained and would head for the fort unless…no…the alternative was too horrible to think of.
Leff couldn’t be sure when the singing started; it just seemed to have always been there, a low hypnotic chant that resonated throughout the forest. It was as if the trees themselves were singing, mocking him and suddenly he felt incredibly small, a good deal younger than his twenty-four years. Hastily he drew his sword, and, left hand gripping the worn handle of the crossbow in his belt, strode forwards towards what he hoped was Bergendass. Time passed, the sun was by now low in the evening sky and Leff was lost. He could have sworn that he had passed the same bush three times now. It was then that he heard the scream from behind him, the sound was terrible. It called out primal fears, ancient instincts and an unnatural desire for flesh. The words of his teacher came back to him; “Don’t turn around slowly, turn around fast” Leff spun round and slashed wildly. There was a crash as something grey and mottled hit the ground, a large gash across its skull. The creature was four foot tall and humanoid in nature, with grey skin and a much larger head to its body. A single drop of crimson ran down the length of his sword and landed with a soft splash on the leafy ground. At first there was silence, then they came.
Epilogue
It was early in the morning when a lone rider led his horse through the mighty gate of the Bergendass stronghold. Draped across his horse was the body of a young sprite, his breath was coming in short rasping gasps, right wing tattered and bloodstained. Immediately a doctor was called for and two stable hands helped carry Leff to a makeshift bed, where he stayed for three days and three nights. On the fourth day a visitor came to sit by his bedside, and there she waited without food or sleep until the day he woke.
Groaning, Leff wearily tried to open his eyes, squinting against the light.
“Jed?” he whispered through dry lips.
“Hush,” whispered Elleya bending close to his face. “He’s safe. You kept your promise.”
****************************************************
And finnally a random piece, this one is taken from the middle of an (unwritten) novel so no character developement is offered, sorry!
Celius was on his way back from the observatory when he saw the body. It was curled up in the foetal position in a circle of ashes and dust, one arm held to its face, the other stretched out along the paving stones that made up Plateau City’s Main Street.
Trembling slightly, although he didn’t know why, Celius walked up tentatively to investigate the corpse. That was when he noticed the wings, they weren’t like the joke wings the children wore on Kinesday parades, these were powerful looking, muscular things that seemed to grow from the flesh of the man’s back. If only he could see the man’s face, Celius knelt down beside the stricken figure and tried to remove the man’s hand from his face, but the arm resisted, tensing muscles and stiffening. For the first time that night Celius wished the professor was with him. He’d know what to do.
“Ermmm…Hello?” ventured Celius, wondering what language strange winged people might speak. The figure groaned,
“Are you alright?” The hapless corpse made no attempt to answer but lifted the hand from its face
(absolutely massive chunk missinng here)
Leff looked out across the endless plains. From his vantage point in the Royal Tower of Plateau City he could see for miles across the wastelands. They hadn’t always been like this; he remembered the Professor lamenting the change.
“Once, the plains had been home to many cities, mighty empires. Then the Demons came. Death and destruction that walked on two legs. The men had tried to defend their cities, they fought for their homes, their families, everything that mattered to them, but the Demons were too many and they were too few.”
Now the people of this world were forced to live in cities on the plateaux or in burrows like animals. Not blessed with the wings that Leff took for granted the people here were forced to crawl the ground, making them easy prey for the Demons.
“I see someone else couldn’t sleep either.”
Leff turned at the sound of the voice. The professor was standing behind him on the balcony.
“Just admiring the view,” muttered Leff
The old man walked up to join him by the balcony railings. Far below them two more Demons shuffled up to join the growing crowd at the base of the plateau.
“There are more of them every day.”
“You think they’re planning something?” asked Leff, turning for the first time to face the Professor. For a moment the old man was silent. Then he sighed.
“I fear it is so.”
“But…how?” asked Leff. “You’ve seen these creatures, they’re not even alive!”
“Do they not breathe, eat and walk?”
“Well…yes, but they have no intelligence! They’re just walking corpses surviving on the flesh of the living.” As he spoke a single drop of clear rain landed with a splash on the balcony between the two figures. Soon it was joined by many more until the noise of water hitting the domed roof formed a steady beat.
“A storm is coming,” said the professor, tugging his cape around him. “These days are numbered; look around you Leff. Was any of this…was any of this meant to last?”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“The plateau cities were never meant to be a lasting solution; they were just a place to retreat, to build up our forces for another attack.”
Leff looked at the professor quizzically. “We can’t beat them; you know what happened at Verenti.”
“Verenti was a mistake!”
Leff recoiled from the Professor's sudden burst of temper.
“I’m sorry,” he apologised “I didn’t….I didn’t know you….” He trailed off.
“They left us to die.” The professor was quieter now. “Two thousand men, the greatest warriors in the land.”
“I didn’t realise,” began Leff, but the professor paid no attention.
“We were at the base of the plateau, screaming at them to lower the elevators but they couldn’t.” He chuckled dryly. “They were probably just obeying orders, they couldn’t tell which of us had been infected.”
Leff nodded.
“The infection,” continued the professor. “I remember, first the men would fall ill, then they would begin to act strangely, wandering around like sleep walkers. They wouldn’t respond, it was as if they’d already gone. You could see it in their eyes, you know, a hunger, a longing, then they’d start to feed, first on the bodies of the dead and wounded, tearing off the flesh and gorging themselves. Eventually they began to attack us, but they wouldn’t hurt another infected, they worked together, picking off stragglers and hunting like animals...” The professor trailed of in a fit of coughing.
“Come on,” he wheezed, “let’s get some rest.”
Far below the balcony the first of the demons put its hands to the rocky cliffs and, clumsily at first, began to climb.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Two guards sat, smoking, by the elevator winch. The mechanism was old and smothered with rust, unused for 30 years- the world below belonged to the demons. Finally one of the sentries took one last drag on his tired dog-end and deftly flicked it over the edge. The second soldier wandered absently over to the cliff face to watch the descent of the old cigarette as the glowing dot dropped away into blackness before wandering back across the courtyard to the winch.
"Joe?" he called, noticing his companions absence for the first time.
“JOE!?”
The growl came from behind him, low and guttural.
“Oh, fu-”
---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
Leff slept fitfully; he never really felt comfortable around storms, they reminded him of the Gateway. Every time he slept the image of fire, the city in flames would paint itself across the inside of his skull. Eventually he was woken by a pencil thin shaft of light shining through a gap between the wooden shutters on his window, instinctively he reached for a tinderbox to light the candle and, pulling himself upright, eased the cramp from his wings.
The tinderbox struck on the third strike illuminating the room and causing Leff to squint against the sudden influx of light. Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he wandered out into the deserted courtyard. The first thing that struck Leff was the lack of noise, even at this time of the Morning Plateau City should have been buzzing, instead the only noise was that of the wind blowing through the deserted courtyard.
Eventually the silence was broken by the dull tread of footsteps from somewere near the elavator winch. Patting the area where his sword should have been Leff crept forward to get a better look. It was then that he noticed the guard: the soldier was quite definitely dead, something had tried to rip him open like a clam, his ribs stuck outward at jaunty angles poking through torn and mangled flesh. Hunched over the figure was a creature of some kind, too preoocupied with gorging itself on the unfortunate soldiers flesh to notice the young sprite. Leff was about turn and run when he noticed the second guard, the soldier was shuffling seemingly aimlessly around the courtyard, moaning softly to himself. With a jolt Leff remembered his conversation with the professor earlier that night “They would begin to act strangely, wandering around like sleep walkers.” The infected man had his sword drawn but he didn’t look as if he knew to use it. Chilled by the horror of what he was about to do Leff walked forward and quickly grabbed the sword from the bemused guard. The man didn’t resist, he simply looked up with a confused and almost childlike expression. Taking a deep breath Leff raised the sword high above his head and gritted his teeth, there was a thunk, a spray of blood and the infected man toppled forwards. The professor lowered his crossbow, “hesitation like that could kill a man you know.”
“Professor?!”
“No time for pleasantries, where did they come from?”
"I....I....I dont't know" then Leff remembered "Professor," he called "There's another one, over by the winch" Turning to were Leff had motioned the professor loaded another bolt into his crossbow and aimed it at the creature's head. There was a second thud and the demon fell face first into the ruptured chest of the corpse
“Never hesitate, show no mercy,”
Plink….
Plink…
Plink….
Plink….
Joe awoke to the sound of water, dripping from the cracked pipe above his mattress. He rolled over and stood up, wincing at the pressure this put upon his bruised knees and ankles. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Joe wandered over to the basin in the far corner of the room. Slowly the memories of the previous day came back to him. How much of it had been real? The execution? The tunnel? The guard with the silver cudgel? He rubbed the line of raised flesh across his back, Ok so that had definitely happened.
***************************************************
The blood chilling howls echoed once again through the dark forest. Megan stopped and leant gently on a large pine tree, don’t panic she chided herself, that’s exactly what they want you to do. Breathing heavily, she risked a glance behind her, still nothing. Maybe, just possibly, there was some hope. Taking a deep breath the girl set off again, ignoring the thorns and brambles tearing at her white dress. Not far now she told herself, just one more hill and… and what? She’d never given a thought as to where she was running, just that she was running away.
***************************************************
Stephen shuffled uneasily; it wasn’t like one of his clients to be late. He glanced at his watch, before remembering that it had stopped a couple of months ago. He liked it that way, at least he could be certain that anywhere, twice a day, it would tell the right time. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, whistling tunelessly. Eventually he peered at the murky lights of the dashboard display: 7:54, the letter had said quite clearly “half past.” There was nothing else for it, patting the reassuring bulk in his coat pocket, he opened the car door.
********************************************************
A slightly longer piece, this one may form part of something bigger:
There was something strange about the old forest, the moment you entered the mighty wood, the forest canopy blocked out the light. It was a different world, one of silence and darkness….and death. It was said that the faerie folk dwelled in these parts, and that their hypnotic songs and tantalising visions had lured many a woodsman to his end. But today the silence of the forest was penetrated once more; travelling at a steady gallop, two horses plunged fearlessly through the inky blackness.
Leff, unused to riding, twisted uncomfortably in his saddle to face his friend, wishing he could fly off and leave the injured human to face to horrors of the wood alone. But a promise was a promise and he would stay with the boy until they were through the wood. “You alright?” he asked. Jed nodded, eyes staring vacantly ahead, hands still gripping the growing red stain across his jerkin. There was no doubt about it, they would have to stop soon. Leff dug his heels into the horse’s side, the sooner they were out of this God forsaken place the better. How long they travelled like this he could never be sure, was it minutes, hours, days? Everywhere in this leafy dungeon looked the same. A rustle in the nearby undergrowth brought the sprite abruptly to his senses; instinctively his left hand flew to his scabbard as he pulled at the reins and in one fluid movement turned his horse to face the bushes. Suddenly something grey leapt from the bush and scampered away through the forest, Leff’s horse reared throwing him from its back and both mounts galloped off through the forest.
Leff hit the ground with a sickening crunch and screamed, a searing jolt of white hot pain spread up his back to his shoulder and purple dots danced across his vision. For a while he just lay there on the stony ground, gently sobbing, then with gargantuan effort the young sprite pulled himself to his knees. Starting gently at first Leff began to peel the blood stained, tattered shirt from his back, piece by piece the garment came away, and with it a fresh wave of pain and nausea. As he removed the ruined piece of clothing Leff felt something hit his back, and, with a sickening jolt realised it was part of his right wing. From what he could feel the left wing was bruised but still operational, but the right now hung tattered and deformed in some grisly parody of a cloak. With his right wing so badly injured there was no question of flying out of this forest, there was no doubt about it, he would have to walk. He looked into the distance where Jed’s horse had disappeared. Hopefully it would make it out of the woods to where Elleya would be waiting. The horse was well trained and would head for the fort unless…no…the alternative was too horrible to think of.
Leff couldn’t be sure when the singing started; it just seemed to have always been there, a low hypnotic chant that resonated throughout the forest. It was as if the trees themselves were singing, mocking him and suddenly he felt incredibly small, a good deal younger than his twenty-four years. Hastily he drew his sword, and, left hand gripping the worn handle of the crossbow in his belt, strode forwards towards what he hoped was Bergendass. Time passed, the sun was by now low in the evening sky and Leff was lost. He could have sworn that he had passed the same bush three times now. It was then that he heard the scream from behind him, the sound was terrible. It called out primal fears, ancient instincts and an unnatural desire for flesh. The words of his teacher came back to him; “Don’t turn around slowly, turn around fast” Leff spun round and slashed wildly. There was a crash as something grey and mottled hit the ground, a large gash across its skull. The creature was four foot tall and humanoid in nature, with grey skin and a much larger head to its body. A single drop of crimson ran down the length of his sword and landed with a soft splash on the leafy ground. At first there was silence, then they came.
Epilogue
It was early in the morning when a lone rider led his horse through the mighty gate of the Bergendass stronghold. Draped across his horse was the body of a young sprite, his breath was coming in short rasping gasps, right wing tattered and bloodstained. Immediately a doctor was called for and two stable hands helped carry Leff to a makeshift bed, where he stayed for three days and three nights. On the fourth day a visitor came to sit by his bedside, and there she waited without food or sleep until the day he woke.
Groaning, Leff wearily tried to open his eyes, squinting against the light.
“Jed?” he whispered through dry lips.
“Hush,” whispered Elleya bending close to his face. “He’s safe. You kept your promise.”
****************************************************
And finnally a random piece, this one is taken from the middle of an (unwritten) novel so no character developement is offered, sorry!
Celius was on his way back from the observatory when he saw the body. It was curled up in the foetal position in a circle of ashes and dust, one arm held to its face, the other stretched out along the paving stones that made up Plateau City’s Main Street.
Trembling slightly, although he didn’t know why, Celius walked up tentatively to investigate the corpse. That was when he noticed the wings, they weren’t like the joke wings the children wore on Kinesday parades, these were powerful looking, muscular things that seemed to grow from the flesh of the man’s back. If only he could see the man’s face, Celius knelt down beside the stricken figure and tried to remove the man’s hand from his face, but the arm resisted, tensing muscles and stiffening. For the first time that night Celius wished the professor was with him. He’d know what to do.
“Ermmm…Hello?” ventured Celius, wondering what language strange winged people might speak. The figure groaned,
“Are you alright?” The hapless corpse made no attempt to answer but lifted the hand from its face
(absolutely massive chunk missinng here)
Leff looked out across the endless plains. From his vantage point in the Royal Tower of Plateau City he could see for miles across the wastelands. They hadn’t always been like this; he remembered the Professor lamenting the change.
“Once, the plains had been home to many cities, mighty empires. Then the Demons came. Death and destruction that walked on two legs. The men had tried to defend their cities, they fought for their homes, their families, everything that mattered to them, but the Demons were too many and they were too few.”
Now the people of this world were forced to live in cities on the plateaux or in burrows like animals. Not blessed with the wings that Leff took for granted the people here were forced to crawl the ground, making them easy prey for the Demons.
“I see someone else couldn’t sleep either.”
Leff turned at the sound of the voice. The professor was standing behind him on the balcony.
“Just admiring the view,” muttered Leff
The old man walked up to join him by the balcony railings. Far below them two more Demons shuffled up to join the growing crowd at the base of the plateau.
“There are more of them every day.”
“You think they’re planning something?” asked Leff, turning for the first time to face the Professor. For a moment the old man was silent. Then he sighed.
“I fear it is so.”
“But…how?” asked Leff. “You’ve seen these creatures, they’re not even alive!”
“Do they not breathe, eat and walk?”
“Well…yes, but they have no intelligence! They’re just walking corpses surviving on the flesh of the living.” As he spoke a single drop of clear rain landed with a splash on the balcony between the two figures. Soon it was joined by many more until the noise of water hitting the domed roof formed a steady beat.
“A storm is coming,” said the professor, tugging his cape around him. “These days are numbered; look around you Leff. Was any of this…was any of this meant to last?”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“The plateau cities were never meant to be a lasting solution; they were just a place to retreat, to build up our forces for another attack.”
Leff looked at the professor quizzically. “We can’t beat them; you know what happened at Verenti.”
“Verenti was a mistake!”
Leff recoiled from the Professor's sudden burst of temper.
“I’m sorry,” he apologised “I didn’t….I didn’t know you….” He trailed off.
“They left us to die.” The professor was quieter now. “Two thousand men, the greatest warriors in the land.”
“I didn’t realise,” began Leff, but the professor paid no attention.
“We were at the base of the plateau, screaming at them to lower the elevators but they couldn’t.” He chuckled dryly. “They were probably just obeying orders, they couldn’t tell which of us had been infected.”
Leff nodded.
“The infection,” continued the professor. “I remember, first the men would fall ill, then they would begin to act strangely, wandering around like sleep walkers. They wouldn’t respond, it was as if they’d already gone. You could see it in their eyes, you know, a hunger, a longing, then they’d start to feed, first on the bodies of the dead and wounded, tearing off the flesh and gorging themselves. Eventually they began to attack us, but they wouldn’t hurt another infected, they worked together, picking off stragglers and hunting like animals...” The professor trailed of in a fit of coughing.
“Come on,” he wheezed, “let’s get some rest.”
Far below the balcony the first of the demons put its hands to the rocky cliffs and, clumsily at first, began to climb.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Two guards sat, smoking, by the elevator winch. The mechanism was old and smothered with rust, unused for 30 years- the world below belonged to the demons. Finally one of the sentries took one last drag on his tired dog-end and deftly flicked it over the edge. The second soldier wandered absently over to the cliff face to watch the descent of the old cigarette as the glowing dot dropped away into blackness before wandering back across the courtyard to the winch.
"Joe?" he called, noticing his companions absence for the first time.
“JOE!?”
The growl came from behind him, low and guttural.
“Oh, fu-”
---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
Leff slept fitfully; he never really felt comfortable around storms, they reminded him of the Gateway. Every time he slept the image of fire, the city in flames would paint itself across the inside of his skull. Eventually he was woken by a pencil thin shaft of light shining through a gap between the wooden shutters on his window, instinctively he reached for a tinderbox to light the candle and, pulling himself upright, eased the cramp from his wings.
The tinderbox struck on the third strike illuminating the room and causing Leff to squint against the sudden influx of light. Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he wandered out into the deserted courtyard. The first thing that struck Leff was the lack of noise, even at this time of the Morning Plateau City should have been buzzing, instead the only noise was that of the wind blowing through the deserted courtyard.
Eventually the silence was broken by the dull tread of footsteps from somewere near the elavator winch. Patting the area where his sword should have been Leff crept forward to get a better look. It was then that he noticed the guard: the soldier was quite definitely dead, something had tried to rip him open like a clam, his ribs stuck outward at jaunty angles poking through torn and mangled flesh. Hunched over the figure was a creature of some kind, too preoocupied with gorging itself on the unfortunate soldiers flesh to notice the young sprite. Leff was about turn and run when he noticed the second guard, the soldier was shuffling seemingly aimlessly around the courtyard, moaning softly to himself. With a jolt Leff remembered his conversation with the professor earlier that night “They would begin to act strangely, wandering around like sleep walkers.” The infected man had his sword drawn but he didn’t look as if he knew to use it. Chilled by the horror of what he was about to do Leff walked forward and quickly grabbed the sword from the bemused guard. The man didn’t resist, he simply looked up with a confused and almost childlike expression. Taking a deep breath Leff raised the sword high above his head and gritted his teeth, there was a thunk, a spray of blood and the infected man toppled forwards. The professor lowered his crossbow, “hesitation like that could kill a man you know.”
“Professor?!”
“No time for pleasantries, where did they come from?”
"I....I....I dont't know" then Leff remembered "Professor," he called "There's another one, over by the winch" Turning to were Leff had motioned the professor loaded another bolt into his crossbow and aimed it at the creature's head. There was a second thud and the demon fell face first into the ruptured chest of the corpse
“Never hesitate, show no mercy,”