Welcome back to the Weird, the Wild, & the Wicked. Fall has definitely hit with a vengeance. And it's Thursday again, so what should you be doing? Writing #FlashFiction, that's what! Welcome to Week 91 of #ThursThreads, the challenge that ties tales together. Need the rules? Read on!
Here's how it works:
- The prompt is a line from the previous week's winning tale.
- The prompt can appear ANYWHERE in your story and is included in your word count.
Rules to the Game:
- This is a Flash Fiction challenge, which means your story must be a minimum of 100 words, maximum of 250.
- Incorporate the prompt anywhere into your story (included in your word count).
- Post your story in the comments section of this post
- Include your word count (or be excluded from judging)
- Include your Twitter handle or email (so we know how to find you)
- The challenge is open 7 AM to 7 PM Pacific Time
- The winner will be announced on Friday, depending on how early the judge gets up.
How it benefits you:
- You get a nifty cool badge to display on your blog or site (because we're all about promotion - you know you are!)
- You get instant recognition of your writing prowess on this blog!
- Your writing colleagues shall announce and proclaim your greatness on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus
Our Judge for Week 91:
Cat lover, meticulous gift wrapper, and Awesome Auntie A, Angela Palevich.
And now your #ThursThreads Challenge, tying tales together.
“Unless we remove them.”
All stories written herein are the property (both intellectual and physical) of the authors. Now, away with you, Flash Fiction Fanatics, and show us your #ThursThreads. Good luck!
“That right there’s ya problem.” The woman backed away from the open-mouthed vampire. Setting aside her magnifying glass, she frowned. “Been cursed, boo. Ya meals been fighting back?”
ReplyDelete“This is no time for levity.” The vampire rubbed his jaw and rose from his seat to pace. “Witch! How do I remove this foulness?”
“You can’t, honey.”
“Listen well, witch,” he spat from the far side of the darkened shop. Candle light and rage danced in his eyes. “Address me by my title and break this curse!”
“I can’t!” she hissed. “And the name’s Mama Berta, REVEREND Berta Picou, of the Marengo House. I‘m the best witch in four states and the only one who’d even see you without a holy water or stake handy. So, Gray Vampire Court and High Lord Kian, you’d best watch your tone!”
Vampire and witch stared at each other.
Kian blinked first.
“I beg of you,” he whispered. Crossing the room, he knelt at her feet. “Mama Berta, please? I must feed and survive. I must keep status in Court!”
“Honey, ya fangs are cursed,” she replied sadly. “Can’t .. except… No. Never mind.” She turned away.
“How? I will do anything!”
“Can’t remove the curse… unless … see, it’s ya fangs. Can’t remove the curse, unless we remove them. Then well….”
“Do it.”
“How you gonna feed? Blood banks?”
“Now, please. I will find a way.”
Pliers in hand, Berta frowned.
“It’s gonna hurt, honey.”
“My enemies will suffer more.”
“I’ll help,” Berta growled.
“Unless we remove them.”
ReplyDeleteHannah stared, speculation knitting her brows together. “Any ideas on how to do that?”
Jacey looked around for a long stick. “If I had the right equipment...”
Perched on top of the large boulder, Isabelle kept her feet tucked up. “I’m sorry, y’all. This is all my fault. Stupid to use this rock for a lookout. I need to just keep my Cajun ass in the bayous.” She wrung her hands.
Annie hitched her baby on one hip while she rummaged in the back of the SUV. “Sean left some C4 in here somewhere.”
Her eyes widening until her eyebrows were lost under her bangs, Izzy swallowed hard. “Isn’t that an explosive?”
“Found it!” Annie straightened and waved a small block of gray-green clay. “We can blow those suckers up.”
Izzy raised her hand. “Uhm…how you plan on doin’ that with me sitting on this rock?”
“Easy. Jump off right before it explodes.”
She stared, horrified, at the three women. “But…but…but…”
“Mom, there’s a can of gas back here, too.” Liam lugged it out of the SUV and carried it closer.
Hannah’s eyes lit up. “Oh, good. We can burn them out.”
Returning with a big stick, Jacey poked at the base of the rock, the action met by a series of dry rattles.
Izzy screamed and leaped at Hannah, clinging to her. “Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?”
Hannah winked at the others. “That worked.”
+++
246 rather mundane words but a scene for the new WIP
@SilverJames_
I know what this is from... :D
DeleteI pulled my phone from my pocket as I carried my five year old daughter to my truck. She laid her head on my shoulder, wheezing and sniffling; it’s the pits when your kids are sick. I carefully lowered her into her purple booster seat, then dialed my husband and prepared to give him the bad news.
ReplyDelete“Hey. What’d the doctor say about her tonsils?”
I buckled Eliza in and kicked the door shut “This is going to keep happening unless we remove them.”
“Fudge.”
I nodded, climbing into my truck. Eliza coughed and I flinched; she sounds like a two-pack-a-day-smoker.
“Yeah, pretty much. I scheduled surgery for next Friday, since we’ve got the weekend off work.”
“Isn’t she a little old to have them out?”
“Nope. She’s about the target age, actually. Her adenoids will come out, too.”
I listened as Jacoby sighed on the other end of the line. I faintly heard our one year old daughter start to cry in the background. Apparently, nap time was over.
“Might as well do it all at once I guess. I gotta get Cilla, but we’ll talk when you get home.”
I put the phone in the cup holder, then headed for the interstate. We’ve got to pick up an antibiotic on our way home and some pain medication for her throat. Glancing in the rear view mirror, I was relieved to see she’d fallen asleep. Maybe we can kick this stuff before we have a long fall with sick kids.
@Aightball
250 words
Leaning on the railing, Cade watched her leave. Shelby put the last of her bags in her trunk and slammed it closed, sending an echo through the valley. She marched around the car and look up at him as she grabbed the handle. The tightness of her expression ripped him apart and the need to run after her became stronger than ever, but knowing she would be safe somewhere far away from him would have to get him past the searing ache turning him cold.
ReplyDeleteThe shuffle of feet behind him and his brother’s firm grip on his shoulder did nothing to calm the beast screaming to get out.
“This is for the best, Cade.”
“Like hell it is.” He pushed off the railing and paced the balcony. “Her place is here with me, not hiding in a place I can’t see.” He stopped and looked at the dust settling onto his driveway. Rage and regret burned up his backside.
“They’ll keep pushing, you know this, unless we remove them.”
“Then that’s exactly what we’ll do.” Cade didn't want war, but nothing could stop that now. “Call everyone in. I want a plan in place tonight.”
196 words
@SJMaylee
The two people under a pitch black sky, hid beneath the pine tree, watching the house in the dark.
ReplyDelete“The sky gets darker and that’s a hazard. I don’t want to be hit by lightning,” complained the woman.
“Unless we remove them, they will be the hazard.”
“Remove them? Do you suggest we kill them, Pedro?”
“Yes.”
“We can’t kill someone or someones.”
“We have no choice, Alison.”
“But to take a life or lives?”
“They’re monsters and beasts kill. You know what they did to Frederick and Cherise.”
“What if they sense us out here?”
“They won’t they’re sleeping.”
“You’re sure about this?”
“At nine a.m. we kill them, Alison.”
“Why nine a.m.?”
“You understand why. Are you ready Ali?” Pedro asked
“Yes,” Alison answered.
“Let’s go stake us some vampires then.”
Two days and ten vampires later Alison and Pedro left the house. They met a couple heading for a late movie at the multiplex. The couple invited them to join them at the movies. Ten minutes later, their appetites satiated at the movies; Pedro and Alison headed home to their new family who had taken away their stakes and welcomed them into the clan.
@SweetSheil
197 words
“You will tell me.”
ReplyDelete“Will I?”
My calmness unsettles him, even though I’m bound by chains. The blow rocks my head. I smile. From the window above, the light fades—it won’t be long now.
“Where is she?.” He raises his fist. “Those chains will cut into the flesh of your wrists. Unless we remove them, they will sever your hands.”
“Let me go now and I’ll let you live.” I hold his stare.
He laughs as the light of the full moon floods the room.
I did warn him, but he wouldn’t listen— now it’s his head that’s severed.
100 words
Twitter tag @Helenscribbles
Out of the ballpark, Helen!
DeleteThanks Jess. ^_^
DeleteLindsey could face a jacked up junkie with a loaded weapon, but one little needle entering skin made her want to run screaming for the hills. Just push it in and be done, Jarvis.
ReplyDeleteLindsey pressed the plunger to let out the air and inserted the needle into John's vein. She kept her mind on the feel of his warm skin in her hands to push off the threatening nausea. Focus. At last the plunger hit bottom and she pulled the syringe out.
“There. That should do it.” She glanced up at his eyes and grimaced. “At least get it started.” She deposited the used syringe back into her purse and sat down beside him, certain to keep in his line of sight.
“I guess we have a little time to get to know each other.”
She paused, resisting the urge to run her hands over the taught muscles of his legs. She’d learned the softness of his hair and ached to touch it again. “So I did some checking and I found out you’re in the Navy out of Coronado Naval Base. Is that right?”
Lindsey met his gaze and he blinked twice. “I know the Naval SpecOps trains there.” She scanned his body. “And no tattoos, which is unusual. Most military guys get tats, but not you.”
The scars stood out against his tanned skin. “Unless we remove them, which leaves bad scars and hurts like hell, so I’m told. Did you once have a tat, John?”
250 ineligible #WIP500 words
@SiobhanMuir
Missions
ReplyDeleteMajec scrubbed his hand over his scalp, missing his once-long hair. “How many are there?”
“A dozen, no more.” Wentz lit a cigarette.
“Even with a full clip, I couldn’t take out that many.”
“Since neither of us have half that, point’s moot.”
Mary Agnes pulled the pins out of her hair, long red curls tumbling down. “Unless we remove them for you.”
“Like that’s gonna happen.” Wentz blew smoke groundward.
Majec punched him on the shoulder. “What he means is that, even if trained, we couldn’t let you endanger yourselves.”
Mary Grace laughed. “You mean you won’t risk your CO’s wrath by screwing up this job.”
Majec nodded.
Mary Lucia stretched, long legs extending well beyond her black skirt. “Agnes, how many of these celebrations have you attended?”
“Four, not counting the one where we bailed at the last minute due to fire storm.”
“Grace?”
“Six that I remember. I started young. It’s a little blurry.”
Wentz frowned, confused.
“This is my second,” whispered Mary Margaret.
Lucia stroked the girl’s hair. "Listen up, new guys. I have as many as they do combined, which means we’re at two dozen, and not once have we failed our duty.” She began stripping off her habit, revealing a slinky dress underneath. “So, kindly step aside and let us seduce these jackholes standing in our way. Then we can offer ourselves up to the new god as virgin sacrifices – again – and get back to the abbey before someone wakes up another goddamned demon.”
250 words
@rrkovar
ReplyDeleteLinder scowled. “Ain’t this some shit. Ever seen anything like it?”
Aubrey blinked back tears. “Bastards gotta die. Unless we remove them from existence, one by one, we’re all gone.” She swiped at her wet cheeks. “ I’m in charge now. Makes you second in command.”
He smirked. “How does that bulls-eye feel on you? Is this where I say ‘Hooah!’ for your benefit?"
“I forgot. You’re not standard military. You cut your teeth running merc ships.”
Linder nodded. “Yep.“ He looked back at the remains of what was, until an hour ago, their captain. “Weird, whatever did it must be intelligent, working down the chain of command like it did.
”
He’d sounded a little too giddy. She felt her imaginary hackles rise.“Intelligent? Hardly. Pure evil, yes.”
He quipped, “Just a difference in how you qualify attributes, I guess.”
“I gotta secure some things, pronto.” Turning away, she walked down the narrow hall toward the Captain’s quarters, casting wary glances through the steel grid floor. Fear resided in every ounce of her being.
“I’ll escort you. Bad place for an ambush.” Thrown left, then right, the ship stabilized. Linder added,” Magellan Constellation. No man’s land. Spooky place.”
Stepping into the cap’s quarters, Aubrey shuddered. “We detected nothing foreign. Can it jump from human body to body? Your thoughts?”
He smiled, “Maybe.”
“Think it’ll be back?"
Locking the door behind them and exposing claws and teeth, Linder answered, “I think it never left.”
243 words
@teresa_cypher
#ThursThreads is now CLOSED. Thank you to everyone who wrote this week and I hope to see you next week. :)
ReplyDelete