Short Stories by Me

The writers of Community definitely didn’t Britta the finale :}

Kingdom pt 2

    The world we knew is gone. The laws that governed our day to day existence has crumbled we as a people are no longer an organized society, and what we have left is the consequences of our own doing. Our unquenchable thirst for knowledge and power was in fact our achilles heel all along, it’s what led to our society’s demise. We are now something new, something ruthless, we are a Kingdom.

Part 2: “Behind the Iron Wall”

   Led by Holden the four travelers followed armed guards through the narrow, rubble filled streets of what was left of Manhattan. After a long uncomfortable silence Mary broke in “you said we were going to see the king, who is that?” She asked still carrying Kim who was observantly taking in the sights of the silent city.

   “The king rules throughout all of the city, he keeps us safe, a few months after R day he took his place as the ruler of this city figured someone had to” explained one of the guards. “Citizens aren’t permitted this far behind the iron wall we’re already spreading ourselves thin trying to place guards throughout the city, we can’t be responsible for fools and outsiders lookin to make themselves reptile food.” He explained all the while keeping his machine gun close to his chest in case they ran into any trouble.

   The city had a quiet dignity to it. Nature sure did redecorate the once steel island but it still kept the essence of the grand city. The skyscrapers still towered triumphantly above. The graffiti on the walls was still visible underneath the green vines that had snaked their way up the walls and lamp posts.

   The overturned taxicabs that littered the streets now resembled large dunes covered in grass and moss. Even though the world had changed New York City was still teeming with life, just a different type of life. Insects and exotic birds soared through the sky, beautiful rainforest native birds weaved in and around the giant buildings. The city was replaced by the sound of natural life instead of honking horns.

   The group finally came to a large wall sandwiched between two buildings. The tall iron structure was clearly made out of scrap metal. Like a quilt made from different fabrics the iron wall was thrown together by steel doors, pieces of trucks anything that was solid and could protect the citizens from an attack. “Well here we are” said another one of the guards while the other ordered the gatekeeper to let them in through his walkie-talkie.

   With that the sound of metal screeching against metal cut through the air and the iron wall slowly creeped open revealing a bustling shanty town. “Jane, Kim look” Mary exclaimed taking in the sights of the crowded city. As they walked through the shanty town the citizens eyed the new comers curiously while carrying out various chores. Occasionally a poor beggar or salesman approached the group dangling useless merchandise in front of them hoping they would make a quick trade before the guards shooed them away. Jane took this time to inhale the vibrant scents of different cultural foods and the sights of the brilliant fabrics woven of fine material from different regions of the world. While traveling through the town Holden noticed the guards armed with sniper rifles standing on rooftops eyeing the citizens.

   The group made it to a large skyscrape. They entered the lobby “the rest are gonna have to stay down here, the king doesn’t speak to women” the head guard stated, Mary shot him a look. Holden followed the guard into the elevator and took it all the way up to the top floor. The doors opened with a ding sound.

   The doors opened to reveal a large penthouse most of the walls were comprised of solid windows, the floor was white marble and the ceiling was one large skylight letting in bright rays of sunshine, the entire penthouse was illuminated with light. Judging by the look of the place the king had a taste for exotic plants, they decorated most of the room. Large leafed plants were arranged next to the king’s seat, he sat solemnly eyeing Holden. In front of him were more guards, dressed all in black, one holding a pump shotgun, the other a small handheld oozie.

   The king was dressed in a vibrant orange robe which looked as if it had been imported from some far off country. Holden was tense, confrontational situations caused him to always to be on his guard. His sharp eyes shot from guard to guard then to the king. “Welcome traveler to District A” he said finally, breaking the tense silence, a slimy grin played across the king’s face. “How many of there are you and where have you come from?” He asked, his large strikingly green eyes sizing up Holden as he stood before him. “Well, umm your highness, I have three more with me, my wife and two young girls. We’ve been on the road for almost eight months now, we’ve been through everything from, Tyrannosaurs to raptors and pterodactyls, we hope to find safe harbor in your city.” Holden explained.

   The king took a minute to digest this information. “If you are to enter my city you must swear to obey the laws that govern our society here in District A, new civilians must stay in the shanty towns until you are approved by us that you are deemed suitable to stay in one of the cities apartment.” The bald, wormy looking man said. Holden nodded, “that won’t be a problem” and with that Holden was escorted back down to the lobby. “How did it go, what was he like?” Mary asked her worn eyes were bright and curious. “We have to stay in the shanty town, atleast until we get approved for an apartment.

   As the four of them stepped out of the building some sort of protest was taking place on the streets of the shanty town. A man stood atop of an old taxi with a megaphone “the days of our living on the streets are over! We demand social equality, that man who calls himself king is sitting in that penthouse feeding off of our hard, our dedication to making a society for ourselves. We have to do something we have to show that king Walder that we will not stand for this!” Shouted the young man. With that a group of at least 30 other citizens of District A let out a cheer. The guards pushed past Mary and Jane and went to grab the protester. The other citizens, now rallied up wrestled with the guard throwing him to the ground, the rest piled on top kicking and stomping the guard

   Holden and Mary grabbed hold of each of the girls, gunfire rang out a nearby protester turned to Holden “you picked a helluva time to enter District A pal” he lit a rag hanging out of a bottle and tossed it at the king’s building, flames exploded from one of the plate glass windows and the entire street erupted in chaos!

TO BE CONTINUED…

Kingdom

   The world we knew is gone. The laws that governed our day to day existence has crumbled we as a people are no longer an organized society, and what we have left is the consequences of our own doing. Our unquenchable thirst for knowledge and power was in fact our achilles heel all along, it’s what led to our society’s demise. We are now something new, something ruthless, we are a Kingdom.

Part 1: “Somwhere For Us”

   “There I was, surrounded by raptors and fresh out of ammo there had to have been at least six of those overgrown reptiles and I-”, “Holden, you’re gonna scare the girls” Mary interrupted with a gentle smirk playing across her face. The women in her early 50’s held her two young girls close to her, beside their dying fire. The eldest girl squirmed and fidgeted “can’t we hear the rest of Holden’s story before bed?” She pleaded before the younger one joined in “yeah Mary, can’t we?” She asked, her voice slightly lisped due to two front missing teeth.

   Holden smiled and gazed into his aging wife’s eyes “sorry girls, bedtime maybe you can hear the rest tomorrow. The girls slipped into their sleeping bags, the sound of rain hitting the top of the freeway bridge they slept under and the sound of far off thunder lulled them to sleep. Holden looked out to the car ridden freeway, he held his rifle close to him. Mary made her way over to him leaning her head against his shoulder “we have a bit of a journey ahead of us tomorrow if we want to get to the city before sundown” Holden thought allowed while scratching the slightly greyed stubble on his face. “Are we sure the city is going to be any safer than it is out here?” She asked still resting her head on her husband “it has to be, we can’t afford to keep living on the road, mating seasons over won’t be long until the reptiles can hunt.” He replied keeping his eyes peeled for any raptors scavenging for food on the road.

   The next morning Holden, Mary, Jane & Kim collected their things and headed towards the city of Manhattan. As they followed the moss and vegetation covered road towards the city the towering buildings were coming into view. “Is that where we’re going?” Kim, the youngest of the two girls, asked wide eyed. “You betcha kiddo” Holden replied, not daring to let go of the child’s hand. As they walked they passed numerous cars, the colour of the green vines that had wrapped themselves around them were vibrant in contrast to the dark red rust that coated them.

   Large insects buzzed and hovered around them mother nature had officially taken back what was rightfully hers making the road a playground for insects and other small creatures. The four of them walked along, all the while sharing funny stories and memories of their time on the road. They were tight nite, through the chaos and ruthless danger of the world they lived in they fashioned something of a nuclear family. Holden and Mary accepted these children as their own after they found them huddled together in the back of an aging RV a little less than a year ago.

   The stories they shared were fun and worthwhile when it was abruptly interrupted. A large shadow zipped over the highway leading into the Holland Tunnel. Holden didn’t skip a beat he reached for his rifle which was slung over his back ready for action for when he needed it in situations like this. “Duck, next to the cars!” He ordered, Mary grabbed the girls by the hands and ran full speed hiding next to a small two car pile up. “What is it?” Jane asked in a panic stricken tone. The giant flying reptilian creature swooped over the highway again this time letting out a blood curdling screech!

   Holden crouched next to a rusted 18 wheeler which had been flipped over on its side. Although Holden was an older man he did not lack in agility, he pressed himself to the side of the giant rusted vehicle and took aim at the flying monster. Through the scope of his old hunting rifle he was able to get a good look at the thing. It circled the rag-tag group of survivors like a vulture eyeing a dying animal. The giant pterodactyl was a good 40 feet in wingspan with a long lethal beak which had to be at least 5 feet in length and a mouth full of what might as well have been a collection of freshly sharpened daggers! The beast let out another drawn out battle cry when it finally got a lock on Holden and swooped in for the kill.

   The winged creature flew swiftly over the rusted 18 wheeler, it’s giant talons skimming the top of the metal cylinder making an ear piercing sound of old metal being grazed by knives. Holden had to duck his head to dodge the reptiles deadly talons. He spun round and again taking aim at the pterodactyl this time firing a shot into its wing, the bullet made a clean exit barely affecting it. The beast circled around, pulled its wings in close to its chest turning itself into a speeding bullet headed straight for the man. With another desperate attempt to take the monster down Holden aimed, and fired another shot into the dinosaur now hitting it directly in the head, killing it.

   The thing fell out of the sky and crashing right onto the highway in a bloody heap. Mary and the girls peek out from behind the rusted cars. “Wait here girls” Mary instructed before running over to her husband, who was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to calm himself down after that sudden adrenaline rush. She crouched down near him trying her best to comfort him, “are you ok?” She demanded, “I’m fine I am, just another story for the fire” he responded in a lighthearted tone.

   The group continued their journey through the Holland Tunnel and finally made their way into New York City. The four of them reached a blockade. Three men stood in front of the recently made blockade equipped with body armour and semi-automatic machine guns. They were dressed in black with trench coats and aviator sunglasses. “Who the fuck are you” one of the men demanded, raising his weapon. “We just want a place to stay, that’s all, please we have kids” Mary pleaded holding Kim on her him and clutching Jane’s fragile hand. The men eyed the group for a beat, then turned and whispered something into his walkie-talkie after a moment a voice squawked back. “The king wants to see you” demanded the man leading them into the city ravaged by green vegetation just as the sun was beginning to set. “What is this place” Jane asked Holden tugging on his faded cargo pants, he picked her up into his arms and kissed her head “somewhere for us”.

TO BE CONTINUED…

TWD

EDRIS ELBA FOR TYRESSE!

   “Where are you?”, that question in all of its simplicity woke James from his day dream. “What?” He asked Amanda just after she obnoxiously removed her hand from the front pocket of her pink hoodie and waved it in front of his face. “Just thinking” he responded with a half smile. “Did you hear what I said?” She asked her boyfriend with an aggravated tone in her voice, disappointed that he wasn’t listening to whatever deep profound bullshit that she was rambling on about. “Let me guess, lipstick, Paramore and your Facebook status?” James joked, his girlfriend responded with a very unamused glare.

   “I was asking you if you paid for our prom ticket yet.” “Oh no, not yet I will”. The two stood together behind their school sharing a cigarette. James frequently shifted his weight from one foot to another and kept his arms tightly folded. It was in the middle of January and James was getting increasingly pissed that this bitch dragged him out of drama rehearsal to smoke a cig and chat. The cold didn’t seem to affect her she just kept rambling.

    James collapsed onto his bed when he got home, he rolled a joint and took a hit and stared at his ceiling. A knock at the interrupted his thoughts. “Hey fucker when did you get home?” Asked Daryl his older brother. “Just know, I had to walk Amanda home” James responded after taking another hit, Daryl reached for the joint “you get it in with her yet?” He asked, “no”, “what the fuck? Why not she looks fuckin’ good, if I were back in high school fuckin’ forget about it” he joked but James just shrugged “you loose your v-card yet?” “No, Daryl I didn’t loose my v-card yet”, “shit your slackin’ bro Jeff’s gonna beat you, your 17, Jeff lost his on his 18th, you don’t hurry and your gonna be the last one in the family to loose your virginity” he laughed. He took one more drag of the neatly rolled joint just before leaving the room.

   James hated when the subject of Amanda came up, or girls in general. He just took another drag and tried to forget the fact that he was a little scared. What would actually happened if his brothers found out that he didn’t like Amanda, or even girls for that matter. At the end of the day he would weigh the pros and cons of coming out to his family. Each scenario he played out in his head did not end well. So he put out the joint and went to bed.

   “WHAT?” Amanda shouted, loud enough for the sound of her voice to echo down the hall. “I think we should break up” James repeated this time looking into her eyes instead of the floor. “What is there some other bitch your fucking?” She demanded, “no, its not like that, I just don’t think this is working, that’s all” he said calmly, like a doctor telling a patient they have some sort of disease.