Five Sentence Fiction: "Somewhere, Somehow, Somebody Must Have Kicked You Around Some"

Sweating, feet aching, back of the neck burning for the lack of sunscreen, slapping at insects that have bitten and gone, pressing on. The compass app on the phone still points, but the map waits in vain for data from long-gone positioning satellites.

The city I fled — first in a car and then in a stranger's truck and then on foot — is a bubbling mess turning into something horrible and alien. There are other people heading into the hills and woods, masses of people, huge crowds of them, but I'm avoiding them for fear that in their numbers they make a target.

It probably won't make any difference.

15 comments:

  1. Chilling.

    Probably not your intent, but I'm thinking Ferguson, Missouri.

    Oh, well . . .
    JzB

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    1. It's been on my mind, certainly, so I can't imagine it didn't inform the thing somehow.

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  2. A great use of your five sentences. I particularly liked the futility of it all captured in your last sentence.

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  3. Dear David "Futility" Blackstone,

    This is a futile attempt at commenting, but I liked your story. .I liked your title.
    Now, if I could just get over the futility of what one has to do with the other....

    Futilly (or fruitfully) yours,

    Randy:

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    1. What kind of person is the character in the story, and what song does that lyric come from. Hint: it's the same word. :)

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  4. Oooh! This is reminiscent of somthing much longer that I am working on, outside of my blog. I love a chunk of dystopia - well written, the tone was just right, I think.

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  5. This is an awesome piece! Great response to the prompt. The brevity of the form and your chosen words lend such an immediate sense of "escape" and refuge .... it's bold.

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