A Little Tease on This Tuesday

Another short little snip from my as yet untitled fantasy.  Enjoy!

They come for us while it’s still dark. The clomping of their boots on the hard-packed earth outside as they rush at our little shack jolts me awake, instantly alert. In the Time Before, Mama used to laugh and joke that a herd of wild hendlings trampling through the village wouldn’t wake me. That might have been true back then, but now, I always seem to hover just at the edge of wakefulness, constantly on guard—for what I do not know, only that it will be somehow worse than anything I’ve seen before. And, it’s always worse.


This is one of those times. I know it even before the door is thrown open.

Chaos reigns down. Guards flood the already cramped space as they kick their steel-toed boots. Bodies flop and scurry as the others all hurry to evade contact with the hard leather kicks. The only light that is shed comes from the tops of the guards’ hats, beams of overly-bright white that hurts my eyes when they splash over my face, making me cringe. They only stay put long enough for my pupils to adjust to the onslaught before flitting away to focus on something else and then plummeting me back into the blindness that only the night can bring.

Across the room, there is a scream, and I instantly recognize the voice behind that wordless plea. Nita. My best friend back in the Time Before. I don’t know why or even how, but now, we barely speak. She is both screaming and sobbing at the same time, a hysterical sound that cuts through my ears and makes my brain want to bleed.

Latching onto one another, Leda and I curl into the tightest ball we can manage, sinking back into the shadows of our corner. We want no trouble. While the others are racing about, we remain still as statues.

Nita is still shrieking. Two women race over to her. One of them catches a boot to the stomach. With a low grunt, she collapses. The guard who kicked her turns his attention to someone else who is frantically crawling across the floor. He barely notices the crunch of breaking bones as he walks over the unconscious woman’s hand.

Some of the officers are laughing as they trade kicks for open-handed slaps to the face and fists to the stomach. We are all dropping like flies, even as Nita continues her banshee wails.

A shot rings out, the loud crack bouncing off the walls and pounding into our bones. We all go still, panicked eyes and hands searching our own bodies and those near us to see who was hit. The air thickens with our petrified silence. It is too quiet, and I know without having to look or even be told.

That bullet belonged to Nita.

Seven Up

So there's this thing going around the blogosphere.  You know the one with all the sevens?  No?  Oh.  Well, let me tell you a little.  It's called "Lucky Seven" and basically, it's where you go to page 77 of your current WiP (work-in-progress), slide on down to the seventh line and then share the next seven lines of your work on your blog. 

Fun, right? 

So, here we go.  This comes from my current WiP, which is as of yet untitled and a sci-fi/fantasy novel.  Two things that are super foreign to me.  (this is seven lines, based on my rough draft formatting. it may be more on your screen.)  Anywho...enjoy!

My hold on the man’s neck does not waver, even as I tumble half into his lap.


I will not let go, not before he does. I want his death. I need it. I thirst for it.

Hands grab at my waist, fingers digging into my hips and pull. But, he cannot pry me loose. I will not let him. Keeping a firm hold on the man’s neck, I spare only a quick look behind me. Just enough to locate the threat. Once found, I kick. My heel connects with a wall of solid muscle.

He grunts loudly but does not relinquish his hold on me. I throw out another kick. This time, he is ready.  My foot finds nothing but air.
 
So that's it for me this fine teaser tuesday.  What are you all working on? Do share:)

It's a TEASE!

This is quite possibly the shortest tease you will ever find on this here blog, but seeing as how it's the first scene I've written in my current as yet untitled WiP, it really should be the first tease.  Don't you think?  Exactly my point ;)

Enjoy!

I never expected there to be so much blood. Smeared across the front of my shirt. Dripping off the tips of my fingers. Pooling on the hardwoods at my feet. Splattered over the toes of the sneakers that had up until an hour ago been pristine, brand-new-shoe white. Coating my whole world in a scarlet sea of insanity.


Raising the knife still clutched in my right hand, I can’t help but stare at the crimson tinge the blade has attained. Shiny. Wet. Taunting me.

My work is not done. I cannot truly be free until it’s finished.

Eyes sliding closed, the knife lowers again, slicing through already ravaged flesh, tearing away every bit of the life I’d known and replacing it with this new existence. One where I am safe. I am new. I am whole.

I am free.

 
So, what do we think?  Did I get your attention? Until next week, folks! :)

This TEASE is for You

I know you all were expecting another snip from SHUT UP, but sadly, I was overtaken by a bright and shiny new idea last Friday, and it just hasn't let me go yet.  Surprising enough, this SNI is planted firmly in the realm of fantasy AND in present tense, which many of you fun friends know is not at all my usual style.  BUT, that hasn't stopped me from penning a whopping 5K! yeah, impressive, I know :)

So, here is a little nibble from my as yet unnamed fantasy novel.  Hope you like it...but if you don't, for the love of god man, say something!!!!!

When the first settlers arrived, we were a little bit perplexed, a little frightened, and a whole lot overjoyed at the knowledge that we were not alone in this great and seemingly endless universe. We didn’t care why they’d come, only that they had. Curiosity overrode good judgment, and we turned a blind eye to their vague explanations and insincere promises of civility.


Now, there is no more happiness. There is only confusion and fear.

It has been two years since they first landed, since they destroyed everything that I held dear, and yet, none of us can figure out why. Why they would destroy one planet and then immediately set about killing the one they’d come to in search of salvation. Why they must take and take and take without offering up anything of themselves as payment. Why they would feign an eagerness to learn our ways, to become part of our society, if they intended from the very beginning to eradicate us.

We ask why? all the time, I more than any of us. Answers never come, just more questions. The ones that hurt me the most are the softly uttered queries that Leda shoots at me in the darkest hours of night when both of us should be deep in dreams. They are tiny bullets with unerring accuracy, punching through the thin flesh around my heart, poisoned tips lodging deep inside to spread the black disease of bitterness throughout my body, my soul.

“Thia,” she whispers, and I can’t help but cringe as I know what words will follow close behind. She always begins with the same question, the one I want more than anything not to have to answer. The one I want to cower away from. The most important question of them all. “Do you think Mama and Papa are still out there? That they’re on their way back to us right now?”

My eyes begin to burn, tears pushing their way up, but I snap my lids shut quickly, a reflex response left over from the days when I thought I had to put on a brave face. But, those days are long gone, and now, I’m not worried that Leda will see this display of emotion.

The cabin we are being held in is little more than a windowless room, crammed full of twenty other souls, and the one small opening we’d carved into the wall to let in light is nothing more than a black hole. The moons—all three of them—are hiding behind the mountains tonight. I wonder if maybe they know something that we don’t, like there is some ominous threat marching steadily towards us, and there is no escape.

“Thia?” I’ve been quiet far too long for her tastes, and she nudges me back to this unfortunate reality.

“I don’t know,” I snap out a bit too harshly.

I know the moment the words fall from my lips that I’ve hurt her feelings. Poor Leda. She’s so small, so young. I don’t think she can remember the Time Before, before those black-hearted beings came and took everything over. This harsh, painful life is the only one she’s ever really known, and Mama and Papa are little more than images from her dreams. Her memories of them are mostly stories that I told her, a happy past that she had only a sliver of but nothing concrete.

Stifling a sad sigh, I reach out to her, my open arms an invitation she’d been longing for since we lay down to sleep. She launches herself at me, burrowing deep into my body, as if she just can’t seem to get close enough. I know how she feels.

“I’m sure they are,” I tell the top of her head and hug her close. “I’m sure of it, Leda. They’ll come for us, take us away from this place. I know it.”

“Really? Promise?”

Another well-aimed bullet, this one with a hollowed-tip, like the kind that they use when they think we’ve gotten out of line…the kind that kill instantly. Slowly, I nod, and I wonder when exactly it was that I’d become so comfortable with dishonesty. Our parents are dead. This is the only explanation for their long absence. I know this, and so does Leda, but that doesn’t stop her from asking after them. And it sure doesn’t stop me from giving that same hopeful answer.

“Yes, of course. I promise.” I hate that I am the one furthering her delusions. The blow will be devastating when she finally allows herself to discover the truth we now live.

But for the moment, she remains blissfully unaware, and I cannot bring myself to be the one to shatter her dreams. It will happen soon enough, and then she will never be able to forget. Her world—the soothing bubble that shields her from the evil surrounding us—is built on lies.

Ones that I told her.

So?  What's the verdict?  I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments, and then hop on over to Kelly's blog for her next FUN AND GAMES WITH K & K snip.