Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.
The prompts: This story must contain the phrase: "It came out of nowhere."
Not for the Beast
Officer Sandra Miller pushed herself deeper into the dark corner.
“It” was lumbering towards her; manlike in shape, nightmarish in all other ways.
Shaking violently, she turned her head aside; away from the inquiring advances of the beast. Its breath was warm and ragged. Globules of something rancid dropped from its thick tangled fur, landing on her cheek and neck.
Only minutes before, everything and been going smoothly.
Then the call came in.
It was hard to make out what was exactly going on. The officer placing the call was in a state of panic. There was shrieking and then gun fire. She thought she heard, “It came out of nowhere.”
Sandra and her partner, Mike Sheffield, hurried to the location. Sandra couldn’t help but notice that everyone on the streets that night seemed to be running in the opposite direction.
They arrived at the scene to find a bloody mess. Sandra wanted to be sick but she had a job to do.
A movement over by the ally caught her eye. She signaled to Mike and they cautiously approached what they assumed to be an armed and dangerous criminal.
They were still a few yards out when it attacked.
The fact that “it” was clearly not human didn’t keep them from firing shot after ineffectual shot into the beast. It stood at least ten feet tall and was covered in long, brown tangled hair that smelled of something rotten, something long dead.
It took Mike first; tearing him apart.
Now it wanted her. Sandra felt her grip tighten on her gun. “It” sniffed her and then gently touched her face with the back of its hairy hand.
Trembling, Sandra brought her gun up slowly. She had one bullet left – and it was not for the beast.
Word count 297
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Then Came The Wind
Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.
The prompts: This story must contain the words: emergency, lock and bright
Then Came the Wind
Karen had just switched the channel to Oprah. The women in her salon loved that show and if they were happy, Karen was happy. She looked around and felt the same satisfaction she always felt when her chairs were full.
After little more than a year, her hair salon was a success. There had been failures before but those were all behind her now. The bad marriage was history. So was one job as a waitress/pole dancer and another as a receptionist at the Happy Ending Massage Parlor.
She’d worked hard to put herself through cosmetology school. Scraping and borrowing money to get her salon going was yet another challenge she had met and overcome.
Now the chairs were full and Oprah was in the air. To top it all off, she was having dinner tonight with the nice man that owned the dry cleaners next door.
Her life was good and filled with happy anticipation.
Everything changed when Oprah blinked off the air to be replaced by an Emergency Broadcast.
It was the president. He got right to the point with, “My fellow Americans, we are at war.”
Every head turned to the set in unison as the salon switched from hustle and bustle to silent disbelief.
“Everyone should immediately shelter in place,” he continued.
The broadcast was cut off; replaced by fuzz.
One scissor cut through a lock of hair as the hand holding it involuntarily spasmed shut. No one moved and then… everyone moved. There was screaming and crying as women scrambled to do something – anything.
Karen ignored the chaos and walked silently to the front window that faced the city across the bay. She watched a skyline become a fireball.
“It’s so bright,” she thought, “So bright.”
Then came the wind.
Word count 300
The prompts: This story must contain the words: emergency, lock and bright
Then Came the Wind
Karen had just switched the channel to Oprah. The women in her salon loved that show and if they were happy, Karen was happy. She looked around and felt the same satisfaction she always felt when her chairs were full.
After little more than a year, her hair salon was a success. There had been failures before but those were all behind her now. The bad marriage was history. So was one job as a waitress/pole dancer and another as a receptionist at the Happy Ending Massage Parlor.
She’d worked hard to put herself through cosmetology school. Scraping and borrowing money to get her salon going was yet another challenge she had met and overcome.
Now the chairs were full and Oprah was in the air. To top it all off, she was having dinner tonight with the nice man that owned the dry cleaners next door.
Her life was good and filled with happy anticipation.
Everything changed when Oprah blinked off the air to be replaced by an Emergency Broadcast.
It was the president. He got right to the point with, “My fellow Americans, we are at war.”
Every head turned to the set in unison as the salon switched from hustle and bustle to silent disbelief.
“Everyone should immediately shelter in place,” he continued.
The broadcast was cut off; replaced by fuzz.
One scissor cut through a lock of hair as the hand holding it involuntarily spasmed shut. No one moved and then… everyone moved. There was screaming and crying as women scrambled to do something – anything.
Karen ignored the chaos and walked silently to the front window that faced the city across the bay. She watched a skyline become a fireball.
“It’s so bright,” she thought, “So bright.”
Then came the wind.
Word count 300
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