Above Hideaway
I walked through the spartan hallways of the flagship under pale blue lights. End of the hall, a hexagonal automatic door hissed open. I stepped on the lift. A young woman in a command jacket moved over, smiled, called me captain. Long brown hair, blue eyes. The same as mine. That’s what I hate about coming home – hard to tell who I’m related to. Half the crew probably shares a little DNA with me.
It all started with a phone call. Most things inevitably do these days.
Wait. Wait. I need a do-over.
It all ended with a phone call. Most things tended to these days. Ah. That’s better. Hendrick Hahn was lying on the bed in his hotel room when he got the call.
‘Hello.’
‘What do you want?’ Hendrick Hahn channels his inner asthma when he speaks.
Nine years, eleven months, and twelve days before the Pulse
Such a beauty. Maybe I’ll name you, Jordan Steyn thought as he carefully lifted the Musgrave hunting rifle off its hooks above his bedroom door. He enjoyed the feel of the metal and the smoothly polished wooden grip beneath his fingers. They assured him that he wasn’t helpless farm kid anymore. Unlike most boys his age, Jordan was ready to assume the responsibilities of life. Ensuring that his fingers were nowhere near the trigger, he walked across the room, pushed his school books aside, and set the rifle down on his desk. Old man Steyn had made it clear that he didn’t want his sixteen-year-old son to keep his Christmas present loaded, but Jordan figured his dad would never know.
The military schtick wasn’t for her. What with the siren stirring her from too little sleep and the general demands on personal time. It was the price, though. Hypothetically, it was all worth it. Just had to stick it out.
She lurched around her apartment, past her work area and blackboard to the kitchen. She touched the light switch and stuck a cup under her coffee machine. Turned an eye to her wrist and a holographic clock flipped on.
“You need to do something about the power failure at the hospital! OW!”
Carrie Waterson grabbed the side of her head at the same time as her double. The second Carrie then vanished from Chartreuse’s bed, making Carrie wonder if she’d imagined seeing her other self in the first place. Though the lingering headache implied she hadn’t.
I managed to miss it completely, and I’m not even sure what I was thinking about when I should have been listening. But I knew it was funny, and not nasty, because Zaheera and MJ were laughing. They wouldn’t laugh at something cruel; they definitely wouldn’t laugh at me or Ashleigh being the butt of a joke. In fact, Zaheera would likely get offended and say something to Stacey about how her attempts at humour were hurtful and undeserved.
So it was definitely a funny comment – and for once, that left me wishing I’d been paying attention when Stacey spoke, instead of mentally writing a few paragraphs of my latest Tarzan fanfic in my head.
Annabelle Park leaned back in her chair, absentmindedly chewing on a lump of tobacco that had long ago lost any flavour or texture. She’d gotten into the habit as a teen, when she’d had to spend a year living with her grandfather on his farm, and had never gotten out of it again, despite her dentist’s best efforts. Someday, she told herself, she’d quit, knowing full well she probably wouldn’t. Continue reading “Kill Yourself Working” by Knifleman→
“Yo, Magneto, what’s the word?” asked Manny’s curious neighbor Wyatt in the Lakeland Special Correctional Facility. Manfred Wells, aka Magnes, didn’t appreciate the nickname, but his gimmick, gadgets, and popular culture made it inevitable. He knew when he first started his career as a criminal to expect his fair share of derivative nicknames. Besides, Wyatt wasn’t too bad a fellow, Manny figured. His next door neighbor had taken it upon himself to make sure Manny didn’t get into too much trouble. Continue reading “Liberation” by Psycho Gecko→
Olivia hunched over on the couch in Ben’s apartment, threadbare blanket wrapped around her shoulders and wings. The tube TV across from her filled the dim room with flickering light and white noise. Outside, sirens cut through the night air, more than she’d ever heard in the last week since waking up for the first time. She tensed up every time it sounded like they were approaching, though they always turned away or stopped short. Continue reading From “Stone Burners” by Syphax→
I’m on vacation this week. To make sure that there would be a post, I asked people at Web Fiction Guide to see if anybody would mind filling in for the Thursday and Sunday updates so that there would be something to read.
I got a bigger response than I asked for, so much so that I decided to post one a day in the hopes that I’d be able to accomodate everyone.
Starting today, you’ll be seeing a new post around noon EST.
The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)