Haley: Part 8

I hung upside down outside of Donna’s house, waiting for Cassie to knock on their door.

The final plan had turned out to be Cassie’s with a few tweaks, and maybe not enough, but there’s a lot to be said for simple plans. You don’t have as much to think about. Not that that automatically meant it was a good plan, but it was still better than a great plan I couldn’t remember.

Quietly I hung to the side of the window, slowly turning the little pieces of metal that held the screen in. I couldn’t remember their names. The house had the old style of screen windows. Modern screen windows let you control whether you have the screen or the storm window from the inside. In the old style (and I mean really old, like the 1920’s), you swapped the screen window out for the storm window when spring came.

So I was loosening the screen window so that I could crawl through if I had to. It seemed nicer than punching a hole in the wall or knocking down their back door. Beating up a little girl’s uncle would be bad enough. I didn’t want her to have to sleep in a hotel too. Continue reading Haley: Part 8

Haley: Part 6

“I call him Laser Guy because he’s got lasers under his arms.”

Cassie said, “Armpit lasers?”

She thought she was funny. That’s the kind of thing that drives me a little crazy about Cassie. She’s totally intense one minute and then the next minute she’s making jokes. It’s not that I have a problem with jokes, but sometimes I don’t want to laugh. It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel respectful.

“Big lasers, CC. Car melting lasers. We’re not going to be able to just jump him. Anyway, I can’t talk now. Find me, but stay out of sight. I’ll tell you when you can catch up.”

“Got it. I’ll be there before you know it.” Continue reading Haley: Part 6

Haley: Part 5

I fired a grappling gun while I was still falling, and I didn’t do it right away. I waited, and I shot at the next building over—another big, brick building—and let the rope turn me until I was above the semi-truck. Then I let out the line until I was just a few feet above it, set the gun to release it’s hold, holstered it, and dropped.

It was almost perfect. Continue reading Haley: Part 5

Haley: Part 4

The dumpster flew through the air, blocking him from my view. He didn’t have a chance to avoid it.

That’s what I hate about the Change. I just do stuff before I can even think about it. It’s not that I do bad things. I do things that I would do, but without thinking about it at all.

And that’s not quite true. I know why I did it while I’m doing it, but I can’t always put it into words.

I couldn’t put it into words then either. All I knew was that unless he was more than just a guy with laser arms, the dumpster would turn him into a red smear ending in crushed bones and meat. Continue reading Haley: Part 4

Haley: Part 3

Changing into costume on the roof of a pizzeria isn’t a good idea, but it’s better than changing in the parking lot.

After everything that happened during the end of my junior year, maybe I should have been wearing my costume under my clothes all the time, but I didn’t. Summers are hot, and we were already into the middle of July.

I stayed low, pulled my costume out of my backpack, and stuffed my clothes inside, hoping that no one was working late in one of the old, brick buildings across the street.

I pulled my costume’s pants most of the way on before the Change hit. Continue reading Haley: Part 3

Coming Attractions…

Some of you are probably wondering what happened with the poll.

I thought I’d answer your question. So, just for the record, there were 279 votes. People could vote for more than one person, and so that’s less than 279 people participating, but that’s the way it was supposed to work, so cool.

You can go back to the poll (by choosing previous on the bottom of the front page) and find out what happened yourself, but I’ll save you the bother for at least the top five. Continue reading Coming Attractions…

Space Date: Part 10

Once, when I asked my grandfather what Xiniti were like he said, “You know those science fiction stories where an explorer visits an unknown planet, discovers aliens that sneak back to Earth aboard their ship, and destroy the world? That’s what they’re like. At least, if you’re the Abominators. We managed to get off on the right foot with the Xiniti despite that.”

Staring at the Xiniti on the screen, I tried to come up with something appropriate to say. Not much came to mind. Continue reading Space Date: Part 10

The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)