Just One More Level

"Hello!" I called out as I walked into the house.  All I got was a vague grunt in reply.  I followed the sounds of laser gun battles to my girlfriend's room.  Sure enough, she was on her computer playing Star Guilds, the hot new MMORPG.  Her eyes never left the screen as I walked in.

"How's it going?" I asked, taking in the stack of dirty dishes beside her.  I was pretty sure the bottom few plates had been there last time I'd visited. 

I walked up and put my arms around her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.  This also afforded me the best view of her progress.  "You ready to go to the show?"

"Just one more level," she replied.  It was the only thing I'd heard from her over the last two weeks.  My eyes darted to her experience meter.  She had just leveled up; it would easily be several hours before she reached level 89.

I checked my watch.  "If we leave now, we'll still be able to make it before the movie starts."

No reaction beyond the now familiar furious clicking of mouse and keyboard. 

Coming to a decision, I sadly gave her one more kiss and let her go.  "Good bye, Jen."

All I got was another grunt as I walked out the door.

September Quote

"I fear the man of a single book." -Thomas Aquinas

She Shot Me!

“Wait here,” Daniel said, jumping out of their 4x4.  Drew watched his brother stalk up to the camp.  Daniel’s hand moved to the knife at his belt, a kind of nervous gesture Drew had seen since they’d moved to the camp permanently thanks to the zombies in town.

Somehow Daniel had known before almost everyone else had that zombies were appearing in Thunder Bay.  Daniel had picked Drew up from school that day, their truck loaded with gear and supplies.  He’d already alerted their friends about what was happening; if he hadn’t, most of them wouldn’t have made it out of the city alive.

It was his forethought that brought them out to this camp further down the road.  A girl Drew knew from school named Amber had had the same idea, making it out to her uncle’s camp when the zombies had appeared; her uncle had already been out here.  Drew wasn’t sure what had happened to the rest of her family, but he was guessing they hadn’t made it.  That’s why Daniel brought them here today: he wanted to ask the pair of them to move to their camp instead.  Everyone would be a lot safer in a group.  Plus then they could pool their resources together, giving everyone a better shot at survival.

Drew knew he was incredibly lucky to have his older brother looking out for him and the rest of their group.  Daniel had always been that ‘take charge’ sort of person, even before their parents had died.  If anyone would see them through a zombie apocalypse alive, it was definitely him.

Drew’s thoughts were interrupted by a gun shot.  He looked at the camp and saw his older brother staggering towards the truck, his knee a bloody ruin.  Drew jumped out of the truck and ran to help him.

“That bitch shot me!”

Daniel’s words made Drew pause.  He didn’t know Amber all that well.  But she’d struck him as an art nerd, always having her camera in hand.  Sure, the whole zombie thing had made everyone a bit crazy.  But he couldn’t believe she would shoot someone.  Especially someone who had come with an offer of help.

Before he knew it, he was heading towards the camp.

“Do you want to get yourself killed?” Daniel’s voice was a hiss.  “We can come back and get her once we take care of my knee!”

“Just a second,” Drew said.  He was at the door to the camp now.  He took a deep breath, then called out “I’m coming in, don’t shoot!”

He poked his head around the corner, expecting to see a gun levelled at his face.  Instead he saw Amber.  Tears streamed down her face.  She was sitting in a pool of blood.  Her uncle was down on the floor.  He had a knife protruding from his chest.  Daniel’s knife.  The shotgun was seemingly forgotten beside them.

“Don’t make her shoot you, too, son.”

Drew crouched beside the dying man.  “What happened?”

It was Amber who answered him.  “Your brother said we were coming with him.  Uncle declined.”

Her uncle gave a laugh which came out as more of a wheeze.  “He was going to take Amber anyway.”

Drew rocked back on his heels.  “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” 

*

A little while later, Drew made his way back to the truck.  He tossed his brother’s knife lightly onto the dashboard.  “Here’s your knife back.”

“Did you get her?”

“What do you think?”

Drew backed the truck out of the camp’s driveway, knowing nothing would ever be the same.

August Quote

 "His dreams of flying and breathing fire like his idol will never be realized." - Oasis Snapjaw

Outside and In

"Carla?"

"It's Carl now," I said.  I wanted to run up and hug him like I normally do.  But I knew from the tone of his voice that I shouldn't.  "I didn't realize you were home."

"Just for the summer."  His eyes gave me the once over before shifting to the window, refusing to look at me.  "So you finally did it."

"Babe, you knew I was going to."  I gestured down at my body, even though I knew he wasn't watching.  It was still thrilling to know that I could look down and actually see the masculine body I always thought should be there.  "Now I finally feel like my outside matches my insides."

I lightly touched his arm.  He flinched away, but I refused to let go.  "It's still me, babe.  Just now it's the real me."

"I'm sorry," he said after a long moment.  "I'm happy for you.  I really am.  But now, seeing you like this, I just...can't."

I stood there for a long moment.  And although it still pains me to this day, I dropped my hand from his arm.

July Quote

"We are not that different. We are not that changed. Though ages slip away, there are some things within one's being which do not change, which do not alter, no matter how many bodies one puts upon oneself" -Kali, Lord of Light pg 178 

Kali 2A by jubjubjedi.

Crushing the Rebellion

As her eyes adjusted to the gloom of the workshop, they widened in alarm.  “What are all those?”

He glanced idly to where she pointed, taking in the jars full of a smoke-like substance.  “Just revenants.”

She picked up one of the jars to examine it.  “You contained them?  How?”

“Through experimentation,” he said, removing the jar from her hand and placing it back on the shelf.  “I have to quickly fling the soul into the jar while it is still registering as ‘alive.’”

“How is that even possible?”

“Like this,” he said, turning to her and ripping her soul from her chest.  Her body had but a moment to register its shock before crumpling to the floor as he flung her soul into a waiting jar, deftly stoppering it.  Holding it up to the light, he was just able to make out the features of the girl who had moments before been standing beside him.

“It’s a shame we shan’t be speaking any longer, as I did enjoy our chats.”  He reverently placed the jar on the shelf.  “But no matter.  Now no one will be hearing your whispers of rebellion.”

A moment later, two of his guards entered the workshop.  "See that everyone knows what happened to their leader," he told them, nudging the body with his foot.  The guards nodded before dragging the body away to a cell where it would harm no one.