Prompt

Dodge a Bullet.

I might have to skip. Tired and pissy. But I'll try if my mood improves.

Prompt: Eternal

I hated this one. >_> So I sort of gave up five minutes in.

“Vampires are awesome.”

“Yeah, well the old ones are. Not those flaming sparkly ones with the nice hair.” Chuckled one of the other men at the bar. “…you’re not talking about Twilight right?”

“No, no… I watched Bram Stoker’s Dracula the other night with my girlfriend so I could show her what real vampires were like… Though I have to tell you I hadn’t really seen it either. The closest I’ve been to vampire movies is Count Chocula.”

“And he only drinks chocolate milk. I think.”

“Whatever, anyway, they’re awesome. I didn’t realize how much cooler the older versions of them are. I mean… they get to be young, never age, drink blood they don’t even have to eat food. I mean there are certain restrictions, I get that. But don’t you think eternal life would be worth it?”

“Yeah, being immortal would pretty much kick ass.” The man finished off his beer, wondering what it would be like to have everlasting life.

“Pretty much kick ass? Imagine what we could do with that kind of time! This world is so fast, everyone moving so quickly… Hell we limit our education because if we gave it more than the fucking twelve years we give it then by the time we got around to having kids and lives and careers we’d be too fucking old to move. Think of the opportunities we’d have without the limitation of age…” The man seemed to drift off.

“So you boys think it’d be fun to be a vampire?” A man at the other end of the bar said into his beer. Neither of the younger men responded immediately. The mysterious stranger who had interrupted their conversation seemed shady.

“Well yeah, I know it’d be kind of gross but the chicks would never get old and ugly.”

Eternal

This was it, it was finally going to happen. Sally pushed her dark hair back under her hat and dove back into the sand. The find of the century and it was going to be hers! As long as the Israeli government allowed her to keep searching. She was so close she could feel it in her bones; her very soul resounded with that same truth- she would find it. It did exist, and it would be hers.

"You need to drink!" Her assistant yelled down the tunnel to her. She was ten feet below ground level, but that meant nothing in the desert- with how sand shifted, she could be fifty feet from the ground Jesus' had walked on, or inches. Regardless, she could not stop. He yelled down to her again. She ignored him. He was so pesky, always trying to make her do things like drink or eat or sleep. Who could think of such things! That was like blasphemy, treason! She strove forward, working with her hands now that she was so deep. She could not risk harming the artifacts.

She felt a drop of water hit her head and quickly looked to the sky to see if the rains were coming early this week; but no, they were the brightest blue she had ever seen. She glared to her left where Matt stood- her annoying assistant had climbed down to her with a gallon of water in tow. "Drink." he demanded. The sun had tanned his skin after their months of being stuck out here and his face was dry and cracked from the sand constantly swirling around them. His blond hair stuck out in all directions, and not from use of gel or other hair products, just because he hadn't showered in over a week. None of them had, any water they had with them had to be saved to drink or for emergencies.

"Don't waste that water, now get back up there and look over my research again." She demanded, turning her attention once more to the ground. More water fell to her neck and some splashed on the sand next to her. She jerked her head and found the gallon poised to be spilt with a look of resignition on Matt's face. "You wouldn't." she threatened.

"I will if you don't drink." he said firmly. She knew he would too. Mumbling curses she stood and grabbed the bottle from his hands and sipped. "Nope." he said as he prepared to dump more corrosive water onto her precious site.

"Fine!" she yelled as she grabbed it and took a deep drink. She immediately regretted it. Matt thought she refused food and drink because she was consumed with her work; he was only part right. She really didn't want to use the bathroom in the desert. While she loved field work, she hated port-o-potties, and holes in the ground were worse. She screwed the lid back on and shoved it into his arms, a self-satisfied look on his face. She punched him and walked over to the ladder. "I always have to do all the work." she yelled. "Now I have to go look at the research." she said, making excuses to have to go to the bathroom. She would not be gone long, she was too close. Her legacy was near.

And the Prompt Is................................................

Eternal

I'm Skipping. Sorry

Yeah, I just spent hours drawing a giant thing for Japan and so I have no drive to write something about it XD So I'll come back tomorrow. Sorry!

Japan

He had wanted to go for years. Being in the military though, he didn't always get his pick of posts. Lots of people wanted to go to Japan so it was hard to get on that roster. Finally, FINALLY he had gotten the orders, but this was not going to be a good visit. He was an officer and in school focusing on nuclear physics. His degree was not why he wanted to go to the land of the rising sun. The tsunami had ravaged the country and as he stepped off of the plane he was not prepared for the devestation that faced him. The smell was horrendous- rotting wood, fields, buildings, bodies all mixed together to create a stench strong enough to make the most iron stomachs clench. Mike did not have an iron stomach. He wiped the bile from his face and side stepped the mess out onto the tarmac. They were in a specialized security wing of the base and fierce looking MPs were guarding the entrance. He knew that many of the bases in norther Japan had allowed civilian planes to land, but that meant that security was stepped up. People without credentials were removed, forcefully if needed. While the US wanted to help Japan, they were not willing to give up Homeland Security to do it. He showed his badge and orders to the guard who reluctantly let him pass. A corporal scurried over from the hangar bay and saluted smartly. "Major, welcome to Fukushima." he said. Mike returned the salute and extended his hand. "What do we have going on today corporal?" The young man placed a clipboard in his hand and began rattling off lines of information that few could follow- it was obvious that, despite his lowly rank, he was exactly where he needed to be. Mike began to feel more at ease. It was a lot easier solving nuclear problems with people who actually had an inkling of what it was you were trying to do. When the corporal took a breath, Mike asked what he was most excited to know: "So when do we go to the plants?" The corporal looked confused. "The plants, sir?" he asked. "Yes, those big complexes that contain radioactive material that power entire countries and are trying to blow up at the moment. Plants." "We are not authorized to leave the base, sir." he said almost apologetically. "We are doing all that we can from here." "Well what the f-" Mike took a deep breath. "What can we do from here?" he demanded. "We need to be at the reactors, not watching them through Skype!" "The colonol will explain everything sir." he said quietly. Mike regretted his outburst. He hadn't been an officer all that long, but he knew that it was these guys that really ran things. He needed this brilliant little man on his side. They were trying to save the world after all.

Prompt of the day is................................

Japan

PROMPT: Rotting

hello! I haven't written anything in A LONG TIME. I used to write a lot. Hopefully this isn't too painful. I'll probably edit it tomorrow when I'm more awake. be kind!

“Uuugghh!”

“Watch out!”

“Urgg!”

“This place isn’t safe!” I stretched out a hand to grab Benjamin by the shirt to drag him closer to my face. “Ack! Its breath is worse than its bite!” He grumbled and jumped out of my grip.

“Why are you here?” I mumbled as I opened my eyes to a bleary world. Everything was too bright, too loud, and too fuzzy. “Why are you waking me at this ungodly hour of-” I looked at the clock and finished lamely, “of nine.” Benjamin grinned as he enjoyed my misery. People wide awake before ten are unbearable.

“You really are horrible in the morning!” he said to deliberately not answer my question.

“And you’re just brightness and sunshine. Why are we dating again?” I rolled over and muttered into my pillow.

Benjamin yanked it out from under my head, “You’re using me as a living alarm clock, remember? Especially when you have big important job interviews so you aren’t homeless after you graduate.”

My eyes finally adjusted to the light as a glared at him, “Oh yeah, but you’re a really horrible maid.” He stared at me with an adorable confused smile, “All that fruit you bought a month ago that you promised you would eat? It’s rotting in the fridge! The apples over-ripened everything because you wouldn’t separate them like I suggested. A good maid would clean that up.” I patted his leg to shoo him away.

He leaned over my face as he snarled his retort but I cut him off with a sudden kiss. When we pulled apart some minutes later he stood up to continue glaring, but I knew it was a farce so I looked innocently up at him.

He broke after about thirty seconds with a grimace that turned into a smile, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

“I know,” I beamed as I sat up and put my feet over the edge of the bed, “Just throw the damn fruit out!”

Prompt: Rotting

I like this one a lot but I rushed it.

Three days without food or water now on this expedition. The two men walked side by side, not saying a word. It wasn’t worth it, every word turned into a snide remark which only led to an argument which neither one of them had time or energy for. They had to try and find their way back. They’d heard a rumor that somewhere in the Sahara desert the Garden of Eden hid. It was told that inside lay the tree of life, and if one were to eat an apple from that tree, they would gain all the knowledge of the world. Some people had speculated that the tree of knowledge was in actuality the fountain of youth, but these two knew better than to think that. It was knowledge that was gained, not agelessness. They’d be able to gain immortality through their knowledge of the universe. Finally all the arguments of theology and science would be settled with a bite of one apple.

“It doesn’t exist. We should try to find some help.” Thomas spoke up after a moment. His voice was raw. He missed water desperately. He knew they’d die in less than forty eight hours if they didn’t have any. It felt as though his throat were swelling and suffocating him all at once.

Paul didn’t respond, he just kept walking, adjusting the backpack on his shoulders which he only kept to distract him from the hunger pains that were becoming crippling. Paul didn’t want to fight with Thomas again over the same damn thing but he knew it was going to happen.

“Oh yeah? What should we do? Have you seen a single other person out here in this godforsaken desert besides us?” He mumbled. “Just keep walking.”

“I didn’t even want to come out this far you know. We should’ve turned back the first day we ran out of food.”

“We were close.”

“Oh clearly. God you’re so stupid! If we get out of this alive, I’m never listening to another stupid idea of yours again.” Thomas rolled his eyes but then stopped and stared beyond Paul who was still arguing with him.

“Me? My idea? Sure, who helped pay for the supplies and the plane tickets? Who got me a map of the Sahara and left it on my desk as a present? You good sir. My wife is going to kill you when we get back home, so choose wisely.” Thomas didn’t respond, he was still staring into the desert. “Hey, don’t you ignore me!”

“Shut up.” Thomas whispered, looking past his friend and shoving him out of the way. He started at a walk toward something in the distance than ran faster and faster as time continued on. He dropped to his knees, seeing the apple lying on the ground. One, singular, perfectly red apple. “Dear God…”

“What? What did you find?” Paul walked with a limp to catch up to his friend. Thomas turned to Paul, tears dripping down his cheeks, holding the apple cupped in his hands. Paul gaped at the beautiful, shining apple in his hands. He’d never seen a more perfect piece of fruit. Was this the fruit of the tree of knowledge? Was this what they had come all this way for? Where was the tree? Did someone grant them mercy with the fruit they had so long searched for?

“We found it… We found it Paul! Look at this! Even if it isn’t the fruit from the tree of knowledge, surely it’ll be enough sustenance for us to last a few more days so we can find help! Our bodies don’t need much! Oh Paul we’re saved, I’m sorry I ever said anything bad about you!” Thomas looked back down at the apple and went to take a bite of it, a small one so he could share with his friend.

He stopped, eyes wide as he got close to the apple. Blood dripped down over the back of his neck, down and over his shoulders. The sickening thud of the empty canteen was all that could be heard as it hit his head over and over. He fell to the side, eyes hollow and empty. Dead.

“It’s mine! It’s mine!” Paul shouted at the top of his lungs. He threw the canteen to the side and ran over to the apple. He pulled it close to his chest and held it there in his arms, hugging it like it were a lover. “I’ve searched so long, you’re everything I need!” He stopped and looked at the apple. One bite and he’d have everything he could ever desire. Money, power, women, luxury- everything. He brought the sweet apple to his lips, inhaling the scent of the natural sugars it would provide his body. Amazing how one little apple could give him so much.

Crunch. He bit into the red flesh of the apple. He coughed and spit and gagged on the inside of the apple. He looked down at it. This apple tasted awful. Upon closer inspection it was brown, filled with maggots.

Rotting. Like the corpse of the man he’d killed to get it.

Rotting

The trees outside seemed more withered than usual, their branches dryer, more like a hollowed husk of one that once bore life. Rebecca chuckled as the thought came to her, realizing she herself felt more and more like that dead tree outside of her office than she ever imagined she would. At one point in time she had had dreams, real dreams! From the childhood fancy of becoming a hit country artist, to wanting to take care of animals, to wanting to take care of people, to...sitting behind a desk? When did that fit in? Totally not in the ten, twenty, or fifty year plans! "I hate this, you know." She said as she sat back in her ergonomically correct chair and stared at the blinking computer screen. "I hate that this is what my life has become." She didn't expect an answer, God didn't usually speak audibly to an office filled with people, if he spoke audibly at all. She hoped for that stirring in her soul, that breath that filled her with hope that she was not doomed to sit behind neutral walls for the rest of her life. "Why did you ever bring me to this place? I sometimes think I would have been happier at the local grocer than here!" A face popped over her cubicle- Nate from merchendising. Of course. He was always there at the wrong time. "Hey Bex, what's on the plate for today?" he said jovially. He was one of those annoying people who actually enjoyed their work. She admitted, though never aloud, that at times she was jealous, the rest of the time she loathed him. It was entirely possible that she was not being objective and her jealousy over having a job she enjoyed overshadowed the nicer aspects of her annoying cellmate, but highly doubtful. She was always objective. "Just getting through another day Nate." she said casually. "Great. Well, I've got those mock-ups lying around the office so I'll send them over to you, okay?" he asked, easily ignoring the dead look in her eyes. How could he so easily rattle on and on about such trivial things when she was writhing in agony behind her cool green eyes. He waved off and she turned back to her computer, another sigh sitting tantalizing behind her lips. "Someday." she said as she read the prayer she had written years before, looking once more for the hope that would lift her from her pit, free her from her life of Excel sheets and Power Point. "Someday."

Prompt!

My good friend, Semi-Automatic Green Tea joins us in the writing blog today. The prompt is:
Rotting

Risk

The general looked cautiously at the troops as they stood below him, each scared to death but ready to die at his signal. His communications officer stood beside him as he glanced at the map that lay on the table. "Send the airstrike." He said, his decision made. The planes soared overhead and moments later he heard the resounding crash of buildings toppling. Victory. Subtley he motioned for his men to begin their attack. They had had the city surrounded for weeks but made little headway- somehow, the survivors had held on. The troops moved slowly, quietly along the terrain. Each was trained to make no noise, not even to hear them breath. It had to happen today. He had lost too many soldiers and if he could not take them down he would have to retreat to the mountains. His last chance. With a battle cry that echoed for miles the troops charged, men, tanks, airplanes flying from overhead. Screams of frustration tore from the buildings as his hidden enemies realized that this time, he was stronger than they. As his men finished their approach what few survivors could, fled from the city gates. As the rebels ran, the captain smirked. So much still to happen to that proud general. He had no idea what was in store for him. Let him have this city, it would not be his for long. Only a hundred or so had made it to the rendevous point. It was a hard hit, but the men would not die in vain- not this time. The captain looked and saw the looting happening in his city. Nearly all of the generals forces were inside of its walls now. He raised his arm and waved. Hundreds of planes roared overhead, tanks came crashing through the forest and torpedoes and missiles bombed the city to ruins. If it couldn't be his, then it need belong to nobody. "Dude! C'mon!" Ginny yelled as Cap flicked her red pieces off the board. "You totally cheated!" she pouted. "I hate this game." "I did not cheat!" Cap laughed as he grabbed the box. He began picking up the little pieces and dropping them into the box. "And if you hate this game, why did you insist that we play it, huh?" he smirked. "Oh shut up. I'm going home." she stormed off the porch and grabbed her bike. "Fine!" he shouted over the railing. "Then we won't play anymore. Ever!" Ginny glared at him over her shoulder. "I'll be back tomorrow." she said in the most threatening voice she could muster. Cap watched her ride away from his house and laughed. He loved summer vacation, and he loved Risk.

Prompt: Risk

D'aw my timer went off before I got to finish what I was gonna do!

It would be risky. But everything that was worth doing generally had some sort of risk involved. She looked down at the ground beneath her, and behind her. Solid land, normal path, inviting grass and flowers and her horse tied up to the tree. The horse grazed lazily, hiding under the shade of the tree.

Ahead of her was a broken down looking path. Half of it looked flooded while half of it looked like it was going to fall apart. One side went down in a steep incline, littered with pieces of what was once a fence, but didn’t seem to have done its job of preventing objects or people from rolling down the edge into what appeared to be puddle up rain water over some jagged and unfriendly looking rocks.

“Well balls.” She muttered, pushing back her hair. The paper in her hand was telling her that she had to go through this path. She couldn’t ride her horse through it, there was no way. The girl would lose her footing and stumble, killing them both, or at least killing one of them, less likely the horse, more likely her. She had spent years trying to get to this point. Her mother had received a map from a man who’d shown up at her door years ago, ill. He told her that there were treasures beyond her imagination at the end. He was too ill to find them himself and he died in their home the next day. Her mother had hidden the map for years, believing it held some kind of curse that had made the man fall ill.

When her mother had died, she’d inherited the map and spent years trying to solve the riddles on it. It didn’t depict any land she could find on any map at all so she started looking to see if it were an interpretation to throw simpler people off and she had hit the jackpot. She’d followed clues, gone on expeditions, hit dead ends and started all over again several times but here she was now, on a path she was clearly supposed to follow without her horse. She didn’t want to just leave the old girl behind but she had no choice if she were to go ahead. She walked back over to her horse, her companion through all the trials and tribulations the years had led them through.

“Well, I’ve got to leave you here for a little while. Don’t you come running after me okay? It’s dangerous.” She gently brushed her fingers over the horse’s mane. The horse didn’t acknowledge her, it was just a horse after all. She gave it a nice pet behind its ears and then headed back toward the path. The horse whinnied and bucked, trying to get to her. “No, no girl… Don’t follow me okay? You’ll get hurt!” The horse calmed after a few moments, but looked mutinous nonetheless.

“I’ll be quick. I promise…” She moved on the path, trying to find a place to get her footing. If she were lucky she could make it across quickly, but if she made a wrong move the whole place looked like it would fall apart in a landslide and send her plummeting onto those sharp looking rocks in the water. It looked like shallow water too, maybe only a foot or two. She’d be impaled, in the very worst case and in the best case she’d break her arm and drown in the damn puddle.

“I just have to be careful… that’s all… It’s a risk I have to take.” She slowly pressed her foot to the muddy ground in front of her. She had about a foot she could walk on in width of the path. She couldn’t risk moving any further to the edge, or to the precarious foliage on the opposite side. She stood still in her new spot on the path. Nothing had fallen, nothing had even given for a moment. The horse seemed to be watching her in fear, like it knew something bad were to happen.

“Not so bad…” She smiled a bit at the horse, then continued on the path, becoming braver with each step. Something seemed amiss, the closer she got to the other side, the further it seemed to be.

Prompt

And today's prompt is......*drumroll*

RISK

Prompt: An Attic

I liked this one but didn't get to finish it. I was going to kill him. Yes. I'm mean.

Tommy pulled the covers higher around his body, but not to protect him from the cold chill in his room. No, it was to hide him from the monsters. The monsters his parents said weren’t there. They had even shown him that there was no way for anything to get around in the attic above his room, but he didn’t believe it. There was something up there, skittering and crawling, breathing in the walls. It wanted him.

He was sure of it. Why else didn’t his parents hear it? They were just down the hall and the attic spread over their room too. Surely if there were a creature up there as benign as they claimed, occasionally it would bother them as well. His parents had continued, at Tommy’s persistence of course, to check to see if there were animals crawling in the attic. They had patched up an old hole in the roof they’d found from the woodwork. The exterminator said he hadn’t found any feces (a fancy word, his parents explained, for poop) so there weren’t any squirrels or pigeons taking shelter inside of their attic.

Well it had to be a ghost then. Or a monster. Tommy was convinced it was likely a monster. Ghosts couldn’t scratch like that against the walls, he’d seen that on that TV show where the two plumbers went around to investigate haunting. They said it took a lot of energy even for a ghost to make a knock! In this case he’d take the monster over the ghost anyway. If the ghost was strong enough to scratch at the walls and breathe at him through the ceiling then it was one scary ghost. A monster at least he could throw a hockey puck he kept in his drawer near his bed at.

“Not there…” His whisper seemed almost as loud as regular talking as he pulled the blanket over his face. The scratching persisted, almost as more of a taunt than was necessary. The creature was moving, all over above his room, searching for something. It had to be sneaky, or even invisible if his parents didn’t see it. Or maybe it just hid in that foam stuff that filled between all the attic beams. That was the other reason his dad had told him there was nothing up there. He said that it was too hard for an animal to survive up there, nonetheless a monster.

But there was a monster and it was trying to get to him every night. One night it would scratch so much that it would break through the ceiling and unleash all hell upon him. He felt guilty for even using that word in his mind, but it was the only thing he could think to describe it. He never said it out loud, his parents said he was too little for grown up talk. But he figured he was old enough for it in his head, that way no one could hear it and get upset.

Scritch, scratch, scrape.

“That’s it!” Tommy cried, but not loud enough to wake his parents. He got up from his covers and put on his Darth Vader slippers. He didn’t want to get splinters in his bare feet when he went up into the attic. His dad had told him that he couldn’t hide from what scared him, he had to go and face it. So that was what he was going to do! He was going to go right up into that attic and show that monster who was boss.

Of course he was going to bring his baseball bat with him. Just in case the monster didn’t want to be told what to do. His dad had told him he had a “pretty damn good swing” so he thought it would be okay. More guilt for cursing. Surely no one would realize he’d done it, but he’d put two dimes in the swear jar the next morning anyway.

He crept out of his room, bat in his hands like he was ready to swing. He walked up the narrow staircase to the old attic. When they had moved in his dad had told him that the attic would be less scary than the one they had in their old house that had the pull down staircase that screeched like a big scary monster. He was so wrong. He missed the old screechy attic door with the cool swing down ladder. Plus there were no monsters in that attic.

He opened the scary door and left it open. If the monster didn’t like the baseball at, he’d run out and close the door and yell for his parents. It seemed like a good enough plan. He crept slowly inside. The moon was shining in from the singular round window against the wall, showing him where all the beams were. There was no monster, but there was no sound either. It was just playing tricks on him, it had to be in there somewhere. He tip toed onto the landing and waited there for a few moments.

“Hello? Mister Monster?” He whispered in a scared and quivering voice. Something from the left skittered. Or was it the right? Tommy looked all around but saw nothing.

“I know I have a bat but I’m not gonna hurt you. We can be friends… but you have to stop scaring me?” Against his better judgment he balanced himself on one of the beams. Maybe if he got closer to whatever was making the noise, he could see it and prove to his parents that there really was a monster living in the attic. Then they could move back to their old house with the only creepy attic.