The return

The world she returned to was not the same. Sure the neon lights were there. The venders. The cooks. The alcoves and tunnels. But the people were different. Attitudes were different. She was different. Meyno watched the young cadets run through the crowd laughing and through the Chocoberries away. She understood now why most of the veterans and instructors ate nutrition packs. They didn't remind you of sitting in a circle with your best mates, sharing favorite unhealthy treats. Nutrition packs didn't hold the flavor of laughter, of a life before pain and loss.
"Leonara. Help me" Meyno whispered for strength. Reckless Leonara. Strong, defiant Leonara. Meyno walked through the bizarre. Leonara's home. The cook fire Leonara's family unit tended hissed and spat at Meyno as if it knew. It felt to hot and the smoke and smell of cooking meant made Meyno sick. She shouldn't have eaten those few Chocoberries.
"What can we get you, you officer?" Meyno had only met Leonara's family unit that once. That week of break before.
"I am Meyno Cabrelli"
Blank stares.
"I was classmates and comrades with Leonara."
Still no reaction.
"I just wanted to tell you in person that I am so sorry for your loss."
"Well that's very kind of you. Would you like to order."
The cook wasn't reaction. She just stood there looking as if Meyno had said nothing more then 'the fire is hot'.
"Excuse me but I have customers."
Meyno walked away. She knew the fatality reports had just gone out. Maybe the cook didn't understand. She turned back to her.
"I am not sure you understood me. Leonara is dead."
"Oh I understood. But after all what other out come was there."
"What?"
"Well she joined up. Its not like she was going to survive. And even if she did, she wouldn't be staying around here. Not like we need any soldiers here."
Meyno acted before her brain kicked in. Her arm snapped out and her hand snapped around the cooks head. She slammed her face into the grill then shoved the cook to the ground.
"HOW DARE YOU? Leonara is dead. You were her family."
An old man rushed to the cook's side and looked up at Meyno.
"And for what? Yes, Leonara is dead. For what? Ever year we send our young to you and yours. Why? We know they will not come back. If they do, they are like you. So full of pain and rage, you can no longer live here. Leonara watched 5 siblings go off. One came back only to end his life in a back room. She left US. She chose her path."
Meyno backed away from the old man and the staring crowd. She had no answers. She didn't know. She didn't know why they had been sent to any of those places. Why the scientists had taken Leonara's body instead of letting the stars have it. Why Kelf had been taken into the off limits part of the ship while he choked on his blood and his insides tumbled out of him. She could hear his voice. "Meyno. Meyno. Stay with me. Please. please."
These people didn't know. Didn't care. But also, they didn't want to know. She did.

Simple joys of friendship

They ran through the crowded street laughing. Neon lights blinked at them and hot grease from the cook stands spat at them. It felt good to be out and running. After 6 months training, they had a week before they shipped out. One week to enjoy the world that was their home. None of them thought that they might never see it again. Even though they had all been warned about it time and time again, it just wasn't real to them. Not real like the hard concrete under foot, or the think smoke from the cook fires mixing with the humid air. How could they never see home again?
Out of breath the five cadets swerved into a small alcove, crashing into the wall to stop their momentum with a combination of uffs and laughter.
"Oh that felt good. I can't remember the last time I ran just for fun," the tallest boy, Antio panted out with a grin.
"No kidding. I am so tired of all the fitness training. OOOOHHH....lets get something from the bizarre to eat!" piped in the shortest boy, Kelf.
"Sweet cream!" squealed the shortest girl, Meyno, shorter then the boy by a hand.
"Chocoberries!" piped in Antio.
"HMMMM Sauteed meat sticks" groaned out the tallest girl, Pello, a dreamy smile sliding across her face.
"More eating. Less talking!" order the last girl, Leonara, with the air and voice of some one in charge. Then she sped off into the bizarre with laughter trailing after like exhaust fumes. The others giving chase.
Before long all five were back in the alcove with a feast spread before them.
"Can you just imagine the expressions of the senior officers if they saw all of this?" Kelf said through a mouth of Chocoberries. All of them laughed.
"Most probabaly wouldn't know what to do. "What is this you are putting in your mouth? The nutritious value is limited. Unapproved. Unapproved" " Pello mocked. Antio choked on the roasted meat he was eating while trying not to laugh.
Leonara leaned back, a satisfied look on her face. "Hard to believe that we will not even see something like this for the next 4 years."
"Nutrition packs for 4 years." Meyno grimaced.
"Say that again while we are on leave and I will pummel you." Threatened Kelf, waving a frozen sweet cream at her. Meyno smiled, her eyes narrowed at the challenge.
"Nutrition.."
"Don't"
"Packs.."
"I'm warning you"
"Fooooouuuuurrr....years" The Sweet cream hit her square in the forehead. Pello, Leonara, and Antio scrabbled to save the food as Meyno and Kelf rolled around.
"Ok ok cut it out you two. Plenty of time to kill each other later." laughed Leonara.
The week past slowly it seemed. As they were returning to the port is seemed, looking back, to have passed to quickly. Leonara stood at the top of the ramp leading into the launch bay and looked at the filthy metal neon filled world that was her home and felt, for the first time, a fear. Fear of leaving her home. Her world.
"Please be here" she whispered to the cook stoves and the people who tended them, to the venders selling their goods, to the dirty corridors that had never seen any light but that of the neon lights that flickered some secret, private message.
Four years is a long time. Time enough for hearts to change. For places once loved to become alien and unwelcoming.

On the way home

She just kept her head down. Look at her feet. Don't look at them. Ignore them. Some one grabbed her bag and yanked on it. It nearly pulled her off her feet. She pulled on her bag. The kid let go. She kept walking. They were yelling at her and throwing snow balls. One hit her in the head and the snow packed into her ear. They had fallen behind a bit by the time she got to the small hill of snow that separated the snow filled school park and the slushy streets and houses. She hoped that they would stay and play in the snow in the park. As she got to the top of the hill something changed. She wasn't sure what but she dropped her bag and started running. She didn't look back but could hear them now. It sounded like the entire school was after her. Only four blocks to home. Four blocks. As she reached to block with the church, she knew she couldn't make it. In front of the church was the stone sign flanked by bushes. She dropped to her knees and crawled in between the sign and a bush. She tried not to look as the other kids crowded around yelling and laughing. For them is was so very festival. Hands reached in from both sides. "Get her", "Drag her out" filled the air between the grabbing hands. She couldn't help it she started crying. Tears and snob ran down her face. The hands were pulling at her like she was the rope in a tug-o-war. Finally one of the older boys grabbed her arm and twisting, pulled her out. Dragging her through the now muddied snow. Pulling her to her feet and shoving her into a circle of waiting kids. Their faces were a blur as they pushed and shoved and pulled. She tried to stay on her feet but they were pushing her from one side and from another. She landed on her stomach and mud splattered her face. Some one stepped up on her back. She turn on to her side to get them off. The school fat kid stepped up and sat on her side forcing her onto her back. He started smacking her face and head, laughing and calling her names. Finally bored with watching the kids started to leave. Deprived of their audience the ring leaders dumped her retrieved bag into the mud next to her and with a last kick of muddy slush, they headed off to their own homes. Leaving her to walk the last two blocks to her house soaking wet and covered in mud.

Good Pup

She snarled as the metal beam he was swinging caught the side of her head. It sliced open her scalp but slid along the bone and off. Her adrenaline made every thing move so fast. She brought her fist up and it connected with his jaw. She felt rather then saw his teeth sever his tongue before the jaw bone cracked.
He fell back and she grabbed up a metal beam of her own. She advanced on his as he crawled away from her drooling blood on the concrete. She raised the beam above her head and brought it down with all the force she could muster. She continued to do this long after he had stopped moving. Only stopping when she heard the cough behind her.
She looked over her shoulder at her brother. Standing to the side in his perfect suit, looking rather bored.
She dropped the beam. Her expression went from demonic to hopeful.
Her brother walked up and looked down at the red mess of torn flesh and broken bones.
"Thank you, pup." He smiled his cold distance smile at her and walked off.
Her eyes shined with tears of joy and with fading blood rage. Blood dripped down her neck, soaking into her shirt. But she didn't feel any thing. She had helped him. She had pleased her big brother.
"Go clean your self up. I'll call you later."
She didn't even spare the corpse a single glance as she left. She would return to her home under the city and wait. Wait for him to call her. To ask her to do something for him.

Classical Rock

She dropped down to stand on the cushioned seat and pulled the hatch shut above her. She waited until the seal showed red all the was around then dropped down on to the seat. She gave the thumps up to the control bay and started to disengage the clamps. She stretched to front legs first. They extended out in front of the opaque shield. She brought them back and stretched the middle legs up and to the side, then brought them back. Then the back legs out behind then back. Like some kind of insect stretching after a long sleep she worked the legs through their paces until satisfied that the hydraulics were in order and all the dust was worked out of the joints.
She moved out of the storage bay and started out toward the Rim of the cave. Once there she moved the mine-ant toward the current vein. Other ants stopped and waved as she joined them at the site. She stopped and pulled her helmet off. She hated wearing it but regulations required is. All the miners wore them until they got our here, away from the prying eyes. Here they were free.
She flicked then comm onto the miners private channel and was greeted by another forbidden situation. Music pounded through the speakers all but obscuring the chatter of the miners and their machines.
It was big John's day to pick the music so it was 1700's classical. Not bad. She dug in and started ripping rocks apart as Utrecht Te Deum filled her control capsule.

Brother, mine

It so late. He was so bloody tired he could fall asleep standing. But he knew a nice comfy bed and a weekend of rest waited at home. He walked through the abandoned parking structure. Why was it always so dark down here. He could barely see. He did not see the figure step out of the shadows behind him.
He did hear something. As he turned something hard connected with his head. He was one his knees spitting out blood the next moment. His head was spinning as arms grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. He could barely focus as he was shoved into a windowless van. The fuzzy spinning shadows slammed the door, with just him in the back and the van took off so fast it made him sick and he vomited onto the van floor.
Dizzily he got to his knees. He tried to open the door as the van speed down the road. It wouldn't open. Next he banged on the metal plating that separated him from the driver.
"HEY! Hey. What do you want? Money? Do you want money? Please just tell me."
Eventually he gave up and just slumped against the side of the van. His head ached and he felt ill, but as the van kept going and time passed he started to nod off.
He was awoken when the van turned off the pavement. He could hear the crunch of gravel under the tires. The van slowed to a stop and her heard the doors open and slam shut. He moved away from the door and tensed. The door was thrown open and he was momentarily blinded by the light. It send sickening spikes of pain through his skull. He had to support him self with one hand and closed his eyes. Swallowing to keep from throwing up what ever was felt in his stomach.
"Oh Jim. I am so sorry. My employees are a bit aggressive. I told you to bring him here. Not to beat him up."
"Sorry sir"
"Sir. Its about to begin"
Hands pulled him from the van and he found him self being supported by his smiling dead older brother.
"So happy you could be here" his brother said then looked into the distance.
Him followed the glance and could just make out the city before it was destroyed by hundreds of explosions.

Not of this world

She watched the figures in the Spanish plaza. The two girls walked arm in arm talking, laughing, pointing little trinkets out to each other. One of them shared her face. This was her heaven. This was the "might have been" of her life. Two best friends in a plaza market.
The other her picked up a necklace, her eyes sparkling as she looked over her shoulder at an older woman on the other side of the plaza. The third in their happy little trio. She leaned over to her friend conspiratorially. The friend's smile widened and she nodded vigorously, then she spoke to the merchant and coins were exchanged. The necklace concealed in a pocket the two young women went to join the older woman looking at a displace of dishes.
A smile crossed her lips as she watched. She would never have these moments. This friendship and companionship. But that was ok. Some one would. Here in this would it would be the other her. In her world, it would be some one else.
She moved way from the warm European sun into the dark shadows in the tunnel. She could feel to weak spot in the fabric, veil, what ever it was, that kept the worlds separate.
She pulled off the hooded jacket. Her neck a solid band of bruises that crept up her left check to a blood shot eye. From heaven to hell. She pushed through the weak spot. It was like pushing through one of those gummy hands children got out of those coin machines. With a pop she was through. With a little blood and a lot of knowledge she strengthened the weak spot while the demons howled in the distance. This was her world. A world she would contain and protect other world from. Violence and cruelty.

Where did I leave that story?

There was a scream in the night.

There was always a scream in the night. Just as it was always a dark and stormy night as well as a cool, clear night, and a hot, sticky night, here in the city of opening chapters.

She should never have let her story sit for so long. It had obviously gone bad and now she had come here to find it and get it straightened out. She had already found five miraculous births, three murders most foul, and she was pretty sure she was being followed by a gang of lovers parting.

She was working her way through the inky streets, past sketched and smudged buildings, heading toward the city park. There was always a park at the center of the city. After all, her story had been conceived and brought forth with ink and paper in a park, perhaps it would seek out a familiar place.

“How could you? I loved you.”

A murder mystery bumped into her.

“Get off, you predictable plot.”

It scurried back into the dark. Cheeky bastard, just needed a firm hand with an eraser and white out.

Something grabbed her and knocked her down. She flipped over to see a fan fiction crawling up her leg.

“Oh no you don’t. I will not be THAT scream in the night.” She kicked and slashed at it with a black marker. It let go with a shriek and a “YOU are the chosen one” and shuffled back into the blurred shadows.

She had heard of writers who had come here less prepared. Some could only write the fan fiction that had snatched them. Others did the cutesy greeting card messages. With black marker in hand, she forged ahead. The lurking first lines now kept their distance.

Some of these stories had been here for years. Some were grey and dull. Others, rabid, prowled around trying to steal lines and characters from other stories.

Some were beautiful and haunting, tragically left in some drawer, never to be told or finished.

On the edge of the park was a story of a little girl and her grandfather, sweet, but unraveling at the end.

She found traces of her story near a bench deep in the park. It looked like it was alone and not too badly mutated. Perhaps it had not had time to join some of the roving gangs. She saw it as she rounded a bend in the trail.

“PUT THAT DOWN.” She snatched away the story it had been chewing on. “Oh dear. This is just going to make you sick. Spit out whatever you have eaten. RIGHT NOW.”

The chewed on writing was a painfully immature love story with dark, brooding vampires and busty witches.

“Ugh. It’s going to take forever to clean you up. At least you didn’t go rolling in some religious drivel.” A group of priests ran past, dribbling basketballs. “Wha..? Not going to ask. Ok, come on. I have a nice new sheet of paper waiting for you back home.”

In the distance a creature howled…..and another creature howled….and another, on that dark and stormy night.

Irreverently Yours

“I’m not supposed to be here. I followed all the rules. I never sinned. I shouldn’t be here,” wailed a middle aged woman from the trench. She was covered in blood, mud, and snot; clutching her gun, staring in terror at the lip of the trench. “God was supposed to take me up to heaven”

“Well I guess he missed the memo” Javier quipped from the trench lip, drawing chuckles from his comrades.

“THIS IS HELL AND YOU ALL BELONG HERE. I DON’T. IT’S A MISTAKE. A MISTAKE,” She leapt up and started over the trench away from the direction the people were facing. Something dark leapt over the trench and tackled her and wet sounds followed with a crunch ended her screams.

“Oh shit” Gun fire blew the thing apart. “Where the hell did that come from?” Everyone started scanning the terrain nervously.

“Hellllooo. Um…heavily armed people? Helloo. Hi there.” A man waved from behind a small hill. “Can we talk? Sorry about your friend. These lower demons are just so easily distracted. Just like puppies or kittens chasing a toy.” He popped his head up. He had an easy smile and had one of those faces that you just want to be friends with.

“Who is this clown?” Javier aimed for his head.

“The bloody anti-christ” Emma said from beside him, glaring across the field. Her jaw twitched. “Don’t bother. That asshole has been shot so many times, he really is holier then thou.”

Javier looked at her, “And to think you are a commander in the army of God.”

“I interview well.” She shrugged and looked at figure who was shifting closer, “What do you want you walking cliché?”

“Walking cliché? Oh that’s rich. Emma? That you? Oh I do love getting to talk to you. You bring such color”

“Save your verbal diarrhea and get to the point.”

“Oh Emm..”

“Lalalalalalalalalalalala Point?”

“Are you going..”

“Lalalalalalalala”

Javier looked at Emma, “What are you, five?”

Emma looked at Javier, “Lalalalala.” Javier rolled his eyes.

“Ok, point.” The anti-christ started, “Let’s stop all this killing. Listen. Just go home. We will leave you alone. We won’t even leave the area we have. No more corruption. No more possession. No more horrible deaths. We can have peace. We can all have peace. Just put down your arms and go home to your families.” He had gotten close enough so he could look into the trench.

“Javier. Your sister just had a baby girl. They are alone. They need you. Clara. Your two little boys miss you. Richard. You hate it here. You miss your comfortable chair and your beers. You can have that. You can all have that. Just go home. No more pain. No more fear. No more sleepless nights staring into the dark wondering what is coming for you.”

Clara put down her gun, “I can’t do this…I..I’m sorry Emma.” She climbed up the ladder and ran off with fearful glances behind her.

“She’s right,” Richard stood, “They want peace. No point in staying here and dying.”

“Richard.”

“No. We have been dying for too long. For who? For what? God? And where is he? I am out of here. I recommend you all do the same.” He climbed out and walked away.

“Very wise, Richard.” The anti-christ smiled benevolently, then half his head was blown off in a roar of a shot gun. Emma climbed out of the trench to stand over him.

“I don’t fight for God and I fight because all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. I may not be good but I do know that I am not about to just step aside and let shit like you run through the streets.”

“I thought you said bullets won’t work?”

“They won’t. But they did shut him up. Anyone else want to go home to their little beds and cower under the covers wondering when him and his are going to come for you? Do you really think that they would just leave us to our white picket fences and porn collections? These are the things that encourage fathers to rape their daughters. Adults to slaughter children. They take everything worth living for and twist it. Now I will keep on killing them until either they are dead or I am dead. You can leave if you want. I got killing to do.”

“What do we do with him?”

“Glad you asked, Javier. Father?” A priest backed out of a hole in the trench, dragging a coffin behind him. It was covered in words and markings.

“It won’t hold him for long but it sure will ruin his day.”

“And you just happened to have this ready?”

“Be prepared. It’s the boy scouts marching song.”

“You’re not a boy scout.”

“True. But you were.” Emma beamed at Javier and hands him a shovel.

Three days later, the anti-christ finally dug himself out of his grave. His cursing spoiled all the food for 30 miles and gave every one in a mile radius a nice sunburn.

“EMMAAAA!!!!! I can’t even think of all the horrible things I will do to you.” He stormed off.

“Aren’t you afraid of him? Of Hell?” Javier looked at Emma. She grinned back at him.

“Not really. Never seen hell, unless you count this place. Maybe if I had I would be out there licking his toes. But I don’t know it so I am not afraid of it and I’m not going to worry one twisted tit about it”