SF Drabble #79 “Sliding Towards Bethlehem”

I’ve been in this alternate Earth a while. The machine is hidden in the garage, where I usually put it. The car is a Lexus this time. I’ve never heard of the brand, but it seems nice: upscale, but not flashy.

There are some weird differences. There’s a thing called an internet that everybody uses; it’s apparently some sort of repository of stored information. And there’s actual nudity on the television. And a lot more channels. Also, apparently the cold war is over.

So far I like it here. The Day is approaching, if the world doesn’t end, I’ll stay.

SF Drabble #78 “Staking Claim”

When the drive shut off and we turned to get our first view of the planet, we saw that the terraforming probe had arrived ahead of us, was doing its work. A verdant green was happily spreading itself across a wide swath of the planet.

Only, there are cities, too. Some look abandoned, left behind when the atmosphere became poison. A couple have domes, there are lights in those. There are ribbons of highway, but most are abandoned.

There were people here. There were people here already. There still are. I wonder what they look like.

What have we done?

Zombie Drabble #94 “Opposition Research”

The terrible smell from the bone saw doing it’s work filled his nose, like it had a hundred times before. The top of the skull came off easily. This brain was like the others, pink and engorged with blood while the rest of the body was gray and dry and corrupt with decay.

The zombie continued to snarl at him as he sectioned the brain tissue. Eventually it would stop, stop struggling against the restraints, it was always the same.

Maybe this time he would be able to culture the pathogen before it died. Then he could really start working.

Fantasy Drabble #47 “Waiting For Charles”

It was before dawn when the fog rolled in, so we thought nothing of it. When the midmorning sun didn’t burn it off, though, we thought it odd. Charles went to work late, but he went.

The office called an hour later, wondering where he was. There was no answer on his cell phone when I tried it. A while later, our phone stopped working altogether.

It’s been getting thicker, darker all day. I’ve closed the windows tight. I can’t see the end of the driveway. It’s oddly quiet, like after a snowfall.

I just want Charles to come home.

Fantasy Drabble #46 “Not The Fairy Tale Ending.”

I’ve been running from the Circle for so long, it’s become a way of life. The amulet protects me from their locator spells, but not from more prosaic forms of manhunt. I’m the only one left.

How did it come to this? Our attempt to overthrow them was right, just. We were brave and true, as heroes should be. We never expected to be betrayed by the very people we were trying to free. Their fear spelled the rebellion’s doom.

Fine. They can rot under the Circle’s heel forever, for all I care. Their cowardice has bought their everlasting oppression.

SF Drabble #77 “Two Ships In The Night”

I came up to take a breath, and there she was. It’s a wonder we ran into each other at all, given the size of the ship’s pool, much less the ship itself. We were the only two humans aboard, and I hadn’t seen a woman in more than a year.

She was six years older, had just divorced her first husband, some sort of tech millionaire, and was spending his money on a lavish interstellar vacation. I had won the trip in a fast food promotion.

We spent most of the next leg of the trip in her cabin.

SF Drabble #76 “Marooned”

Day 437.

Bagged another redpig over by where we buried Marsch and Wu. Got the meat cut and packed in the freezer pretty fast, so we should be fine for rations for another couple months. Lucky that we can even eat local life.

The shelter still holds, Marsch did a good job on it. The storms we get at night pound it mercilessly, but so far only a few small leaks trouble us. Harris never leaves it, since she can’t walk.

She keeps the ship’s transponder going, but I’m not expecting any miracles: If they haven’t found us by now…