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 Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 3:36 pm
Contest
Theme:
The theme for this very first contest is apocalyptic short stories. Zombies, nuclear bombs, aliens, it doesn't matter as long as your story is post apocalyptic or during the apocalypse. It can not happen before it.
Rules
Limit is 3 pages at the most, 1 at the least.
Follow the theme or you will be disqualified.
Follow the other rules I mentioned in the rules announcement.
There will only be 6 open spots for this contest. If you wish to join the contest send me a pm asking to join. Your entries will be reviewed and voted on by me and my Vice Captains. The prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd will be given out via trades. The prizes will be items and will not be revealed as of yet. They are expensive items, I assure you all.
Openings/Spots
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This contest will end on the 19th of July for voting by my Vice Captains and I. I will send out an announcement with the 3 winners as well as announce it here. Thank you and have fun with it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:09 pm
Sorry I took so long to post. I only started writing in the last three days. sweatdrop I'd like to think I created "superhero apocalypse" but it's probably been done before.
Azazel
Cola was on her hands and knees crawling through the building’s ventilation system. Children may not be allowed to join the Dive teams, she thought, but being small can come in handy.
They said the lower levels were too dangerous for children. There was little light and if the walls were breached then flooding was inevitable. That put them at risk of drowning or, considering that the sea monsters made their nests in breached buildings, something even worse. But these were risks even seasoned Divers faced. The team exploring this building had been gone for two days now, and that usually meant the worst, but some of the villagers held onto the hope that they were still alive and simply trapped on a very low level. Cola shared this hope. She had snuck away from the village rooftops to come here and find them. She was going to show everyone just what she could do and, eleven years old or not, if she succeeded, everyone would have to admit she was as able as any Diver.
As she imagined her heroic return to the surface a smile spread across her face, but it was quickly wiped away by a dull thud from far off to her left. Something outside brushing against the side of the building. Something big. It had not been a loud sound, but she had heard the Divers say before their expedition that this was a sturdy building, with airtight rooms and reinforced walls. She should not have been able to hear anything at all. Putting a stop to her active imagination, she kept crawling and soon found an exit panel on the bottom of the vent. After carefully lowering herself through the space and dropping to the open floor below, she looked around for any signs of her progress. There, on the wall beside the smooth metal doors - which a Diver once described to her as an “elevator” - were a large ‘1’ and ‘3‘. The thirteenth floor. Let’s see, she thought, they say sea-level is at twenty-one floors, and this building has nine floors above water. So I’ve come down … seventeen floors. Or is it eighteen? She was not sure whether her current floor counted.
Either way it was the deepest she had ever been before. The thought of all that dark, heavy water right outside the walls scared her, not to mention the things that lived in it. Once again, she banished the creeping fears from her mind and marched onwards.
One thing that caught her attention as she made her way down a wide corridor was the cleanliness of the place. Everything was shining white walls and steel doors that certainly looked airtight. It reminded her of Dr. Richards’ quarters, which he said he had modelled after the “hospitals” of the old world. Dr. Richards said that they had been big places for helping sick people. This place did not look like it was meant for helping people. Cola thought it was too perfect, too mechanical for something so nice.
At the end of the hallway was a door different to every other she had passed. It was taller, wider and - she could see because it had been wrenched open, much thicker. It was the same clean steel, but it split in the middle, and the two doors slid into the walls, like the elevator doors. A plain, black ‘A’ was painted in the centre of the doors, split in half now that they were open. There were marks on the edges of the doors, dents perhaps from the crowbars that the Divers used. The doors were opened just enough for a grown-up to fit through. She knew they had come this way, but wondered as she stepped though, What does ‘A’ stand for?
She found herself in a perfectly square room with dark metal floor and walls. The room was bare, save for a computer built into the far wall and large, humming vents to her left and right. Though the computer’s monitor was glowing, she had to struggle to see what it showed, or anything else in the room, for that matter. The lighting had been dim throughout the building, but there was something more to this room. The air itself seemed to be thicker, darker, but it was no harder to breathe. She found this peculiar, but that was not all. There were no other doors out of the room. The trail stopped here, but there was no sign of the Divers or their equipment.
Cola wandered through the centre of the room, turning full circle, and stopped right in front of the computers. She was certain that the room was empty, but could not shake the feeling that she was being watched. Damn these lights, she thought and studied the monitor and keyboard to see if she could turn them up.
She reached out to enter a command, but right before her finger hit the first key a loud and awful scream pierced the air.
It was a man’s scream, the sound of his voice breaking as it could no longer express the pain he was suffering. It came from all around the room, making Cola feel as if he was screaming in her ear. She did not know what was happening, but she was frightened and she wanted that terrible sound to stop. Hands covering her ears, though it was little help, she shouted back, ‘Stop it! Stop it! Stop screaming!’
Abruptly, the sound stopped. In the sudden silence Cola’s ears were ringing and her whole body shaking. What was that? Who did it come from? Were those words it was trying to say?
She jumped as the noise returned although this time, to her surprise and confusion, it was her own voice, shouting as she had been a moment ago. Those were words she could hear, but she could not understand them through her own shrill tones.
‘How are you doing that?’ she asked in a calmer voice. ‘Hello?’
Another moment of silence before she was answered in her own calmer voice: ‘Please do not touch the computer.’ A short and polite request.
Cola looked back at the computer, and understood that this is what this mysterious Other had been trying to say to her. She stepped back into the middle of the room. ‘How are you doing that with you voice - my voice?’
‘I needed a voice to communicate with you, and to warn you. I did not mean to scare you.’
That was definitely her voice, but those were not words she had ever spoken. ‘But how did you take my voice? And how are you talking like that?’ The voice was still without a speaker, seeming to come from the very air.
‘I can do many things that normal people cannot,’ was the Other’s matter-of-factly reply. The “normal people” part caught Cola’s attention.
‘Are you a superhero?’
‘A superhero?’
‘Sorry. I meant a power-person. I found some old comic books one time, and they called them superheroes.’
A short pause while the Other thought about this. ‘I have never been called a superhero nor a power-person before. I have never heard these terms before.’
‘You’ve never heard of the power-people?’ Cola was amazed by this. Everyone in the village knew about them; there were so many stories. ‘They were these people from a while ago, around when I was born. People with special powers,’ she explained. ‘They could do all sorts of cool stuff, and everyone though they would be nice and use their powers to help. But then they turned out to be bad. They only did the stuff they wanted, and they kept fighting with each other. And they were so powerful that when they fought, all kinds of bad stuff would happen. That’s why there’s so much water now, and some say it’s why there’s monsters, too. The grown-ups say there use to be no water and no monsters, and they would walk around on the ground between the buildings.’
She stopped telling her story to take a breath, and the Other said, ‘These power-people sound terrible. I am capable of things that no normal person could do, but I do not think I am a power-person. I do no want to hurt anyone. I do not want to hurt you.’
There was much Cola still did not understand about this person, but her or she sounded honest. Cola began to relax, and settled on the floor in the middle of the room. ‘My name’s Cola. What’s yours?’
‘My name …? My Master would sometimes call me Azazel. I think Azazel is my name.’
Cola grinned at the open room. ‘Hi, Azazel!’
‘Hi … Hello, Cola.’ Another pause, but it was not entirely uncomfortable. ‘What happened after the power-people fought, Cola?’
‘Oh. Yeah. Once the city was flooded they left, and the normal people made a village on the rooftops. The grown-ups say it’s nothing like what the city used to be, but I like it. Playing on the rooftops is fun, as long as you don’t fall off. Once you’re in the water you’re as good as dead.’
She let out a small laugh then realized how grim that sounded. She had not meant it to. She decided to change the subject before Azazel could ask about it. ‘You said you have a master. Is that, like, your mom or dad?’ Azazel was still speaking in her voice; she could not help but picture him or her as a child.
‘Mom or dad? Mother and father? Oh. I do not have parents. My Master was there when I first opened my eyes. He was kind to me. I always did as he ordered, and I still do.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘He left this place. I do not know where he went.’
‘Will he come back?’
‘I do not know …’
‘Well, when did he leave?’
Azazel had an answer ready for this one. ‘Ten years, three months and nineteen days ago.’
‘Wow,’ was all Cola could manage. ‘You said that really perfectly. You sounded like a computer.’
‘I am not a computer!,’ Azazel snapped back. ‘Computers are machines that only follows orders. I think and I feel. I live!’ This proud declaration was followed by a quieter, les confident, ‘I am alive …’
Cola was not sure what to say to this sudden outburst. She had not meant to upset him - and she had started to think of her unseen companion as a him. ‘I’m sorry,’ she began. ‘I don’t think you’re a computer. I really don’t … Did you argue with your master about this?’
‘No,’ Azazel replied sullenly. ‘I never spoke to my master about such personal thoughts, not even when he asked. However, I have thought on this matter quite often.’
‘Have you been here by yourself for the last ten years, Azazel?’
‘I have.’
Cola took a lot out of those two words. She looked down, where she hope he could not see her face. Ten years, three months and, what was it, nineteen days? He had been alone almost as long as she had been alive.
‘Do you want to come back up to the village with me?’ she asked carefully. She could not stay with him forever - even a few hours and her parents would wonder where she was - yet she did not want to leave him alone.
But his answer was stern, and put down any hope she had for taking him out of here. ‘I cannot. My Master’s last order was for me to guard this place. I shall do so until he returns.’
‘What if he doesn’t come back?’
Pause. ‘He will return. I will guard this place until he does.’
Cola did not want to argue; it might only upset him more. Feeling slightly rejected, she got to her feet and shuffle towards the door.
‘Cola?’
She turned back to face the room, waiting for Azazel to continue.
‘Will you come to this place again?’
Oh. She smiled, surprised. He had held onto hope longer than she had. ‘Sure! I can come back down tomorrow. How does that sound?’
She still had trouble seeing the room, and could hear only the humming of the vents, but she could feel Azazel smiling back at her.
‘Goodbye, Cola.’
She turned and left, happy to have made such an interesting friend. Though climbing up and down the building each day would be tough, and the grown-ups would start to question her whereabouts, for now she could think only of talking to Azazel again. She had even forgotten why she had come down here in the first place.
Azazel watched his friend leave, saw the warm expression on her face and knew how she felt. He felt the same way. It was a feeling he had never experienced before, but he enjoyed it. He cherished it.
He was glad now that he had managed to warn her away from the computers. His master’s orders were clear, and he would have had to take action, just like the other day.
Those strangers had not been as nice to him as Cola. They had forced their way through the door, ignoring the warnings he gave in his Master’s voice. ‘A recording,’ they had called him. ‘Just a machine.’ When they touched the computer and he was forced to act, he had already lost his temper. Their panicked and pained screams still rang clear in his mind. But they were all gone now.
Maybe not all gone.
An irregularity on the dark metal floor drew his attention: a lone finger, stuck in place by congealed blood. Thankfully, Cola had not seen it, and the powerful vents had carried away the smell.
He was glad of this. Those men were surely from her village; she may have even known them. If she found out what he had done to them she would become upset. Angry. She might hate him, and not want to be his friend anymore. He could not let that happen. Master had left him alone for so long. Now he had a friend, someone who was nice to him, someone he could happily pass the time with. He was not about to let her go. He could not let her find out what he had done.
The fine black dust that thickened the air in the room swarmed around the severed digit and set to work.
Atom by atom, the flesh came apart. Strips of skin disappeared to reveal fresh blood, only for that to quickly evaporate. Even the bone crumbled to dust, miniscule specks of white carried away by the infinite specks of darkness.
Invisible forces guided them into the vents, and Azazel was glad that they would never be seen again.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:50 pm
I finally have my internet back to post this beloved story of sorrow. It is called Salvation
“If you see something, shoot this flare into the air. Do you hear me?”
Wayne looked at Prescott as he handed the girl the flare gun. He knew she was young when the outbreak began. All of it flashed before his eyes as he remembered the hazmad suits being given to the Hive employees.
He was one of those employees, yet he had broken off when he realized that Hive premeditated the destruction of the world, but it was already too late. The gas had already been released through every major city in this god forsaken world. Crops were blackened as building began to crumple. It was the true Armageddon gas. Only a few had gotten to a safe place before the gas engulfed their lungs. People began to fall where they stood. Cars veered into one another as all chaos was unleashed. Wayne and Prescott were one of the only lucky ones.
“Wayne?” Prescott asked attempting to get his attention. She knew that he was zoned out again. “Wayne!”
“Did you say something?” He looked at her before realizing that he had his flashback.
“So all I have to do is point this up and shoot and you will be right back? I can sense mutated things out here.”
“Hmm…” Wayne looked around as he scanned the area for anything out of the ordinary. He looked for any of the trees for any sense of movement but found none. The forest was quite, too quite.
“Just go get the food and wood, Wayne, I’ll be okay.” Prescott moved as she leaned against the tree. Only a few more days before they made it took the supposed salvation for survivors.
It was almost a month since she met up with Wayne and had heard of the outpost. Salvation was the stress signal. They had been looking for survivors, any to start the building of a new world. Hive stole hers, and left nothing for her to hang on to, not even her parents had survived. Wayne had come up to her when she was hurt and gave her shelter and someone to rely on, he was her spirit brother, at least that’s what she thought.
“Okay, I’ll be back before you know it.” Wayne left camp as he went with his revolver on his hip to try to find some food for them, or at least wood.
It was almost an hour before he returned with a stack of wood and a few rabbits. Prescott was ecstatic on Wayne’s luck. It was getting dark and she was hungry. As Wayne skinned the rabbits, she stacked the wood to start the fire. Once it was blazing to the point of warming them from 100 feet away, Wayne placed the animals onto the fire. As they cooked Wayne sat next to Prescott and asked if she missed home.
“I do, well before all this Hive stuff took over, now everything is dying, it took us a week to find these woods. How long till we run out of food or don’t find salvation?”
“I’m not entirely sure, Prescott, but I know we will find that salvation. After we eat, you get some sleep.”
“Okay, Wayne, I do believe the food is done now before it catches fire.”
They ate in silence as the two of them began to set up a tent to sleep in. It wasn’t the most secure, but it kept them from dying of the toxic fumes that flowed out from the cities. It would reach them at night if they weren’t careful. It wasn’t soon after they had dozed off when Wayne jolted up. He knew he had heard something.
Wayne looked up holding his revolver as he went outside the tent. He grimaced as he saw what Prescott had sensed earlier. Two Mutated wolves circled around the smoldering fire. They growled at him as he readied his gun. He knew he had to shoot to kill otherwise he would be infected too and die slowly. He fired at one of them to try to scare them, but to no avail. He heard Prescott jolt up at the sound of the gunfire.
“Prescott, stay inside, we have some wolves bothering our camp. I will handle them and then we will move on to the outpost.“ Wayne fired again as it made content with one of the wolves. It howled as the other pounced for him. He dodged it as it flew into the fire mound. It started to disinigrate as the other ran away as it tried to recover from its wound. Prescott came out terrified as she looked at Wayne.
“Are we safe now?” She asked as she looked around. Everything seemed fine now, but Wayne looked shaken as he was moving around their camping gathering stuff.
If wolves were around then so are the Hive, he thought. He had to protect Prescott so she wouldn’t be taken and probed like a test subject. He heard rusling in the trees around him as he pulled out the gun again. How could have they made it this far without being detected only to be found now. He wouldn’t allow it.
“Prescott, I need you to get the big gun in the case, we may have company sooner than later.”
Prescott hurried around in the tent searching for the gun, once she found it, she hurried back outside as the sun started to rise. As it did, however, people began to come out of the woods. There was ten off them. All in black, they approached with guns at the ready. So this is how it ends, Wayne thought, they will kill me then take her. This wasn’t good, not good at all.
“Surrender or be killed on spot. Are either of you contaminated with the gas.” One of the figures stepped forward as Prescott looked at the ground. The Hive had killed her parents and now was after her. She hoped she wouldn’t have the same outcome.
“No, we are clean. What do you want from us? We are just trying to survive.” Wayne stood his ground as the group moved forward.
“We give you credit,” another Hive member stated, “you have done well but now you both need to come with us.”
Wayne smirked; he noticed one of the guards advanced on him. “Oh we won’t be going anywhere,” he replied. He shot at one of the guards, only to cause a gunfight.
Prescott screamed as she heard the shots being fired. She hit behind a tree. She heard people hit the forest floor as she shivered in fear. When she heard someone walking towards her, she thought it was Wayne. She was surprised when she saw one of the men in black. He dragged her out from behind the tree to the rest of the group. She saw as one of them shoot Wayne in the head. She screamed as they stabbed her with something. She felt dizzy and then fell to the ground.
The group moved her to a truck on the nearby road. Inside where white beds that had other kids on them. Against the wall was a radio that was broadcasting a distress signal. The Hive members were bringing in kids from all over. Prescott woke up but stayed still as she saw the radio. One of the gaurds patrolling saw her eyes and then stuck her with another needle. The last thing she heard was the radio.
“We are the outpost of survivors, find us and find your freedom and safety. We are Salvation”
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