One
1.
Who is coming around the corner?
I can barely see
her through the night vision goggles, but she comes around the corner with a
massive dog. I t might be a mastiff, brownish sweater patterned fur. Sort of
that damaged by sun blonde hair past her shoulders. She’s wearing a heavier
jacket, it’s cold out, but not so cold that she has to zip the jacket up. As
she rounds the corner she pulls back, the reaction when you almost ran into
someone. She wasn’t expecting me to be there either.
2.
What is their secret?
She stammers
apologetically for almost running into me, but I think there’s more to it than
that. She shyly tells me she comes here
to snoop around, visit the abandoned places in the state. She tells me her
favorite times feeling like she’s the most alive are when she’s spooked herself
badly. She brings her massive dog in case she runs into any actually threats.
Just like me, she’s not supposed to be here, I’m guessing that’s why she feels
comfortable telling me this at all. The only way she’d get in trouble is if I
ended up in the hot water too.
3.
What are they carrying?
She’s only got the
leash for her dog in her hand, who really doesn’t seem all that unfriendly, as
he shoves his nose into my crotch and leaves slobber stains down my pants. I
pat his head as she explains, and I can hear worry in her voice. It seems no
matter how I reassure her I won’t cause her any trouble, she’s rather used to
exploring these places alone, alone-ish. The look of worry on her face becomes
so pronounced I have to make a hasty exit to stop freaking her out.
Two
1.
Why did Peter lose his temper with Joanna?
“You lost them?
How could you lose something like them? They reflect light blindingly!”
“That’s exactly
how I lost them, Peter! They were so bright that when I put them down and
walked away so I could see again, I don’t know where I put them. I think, I
think someone took them.”
Peter ran his
hands through his hair as he paced around. “Someone? Just someone? It could
have been anyone and now they have some of the most powerful items in their
hands and they have no idea. That’s just great. Of course now the League could
pick them up easily. ‘Someone’ doesn’t have the ability to protect them.”
“I’m sorry, Peter.
I – “
“You’re sorry?”
Peter shouted in her face. “You’re sorry? The enemy could have their hands on
them right now, and that’s all you’ve got? You’re sorry. Gah! I just, I can’t
take this right now. I’m going looking for them.”
“I’ll come too.”
“No, Joanna, you
stay here. You’ve done enough for today, thanks.” Without a word, but with a
very loud slam, he left.
2.
Where did he go after he stormed out?
Peter spent the
next few hours storming known warehouses of their enemies, the League. Many
times it had been asked, “The League of what?” But there had never been an
answer. It was just the League. Often they would seem disorganized and clumsy,
but this was commonly a front to hide their true competence. For example, on
this particular day all but one of the warehouses in the city were completely
empty. The last one held a single table in the center of the very empty room,
two chairs, and a hanging lamp directly over the table. At the table sat a
communication droid that beckoned Peter to sit down after he’d dramatically
smashed the door open.
3.
What happened to him when he got there?
Peter approached
the table silently. He sat down silently, and waited silently for the droid to
speak. When it did, he groaned inwardly in recognition of the voice coming from
the mechanical mouth. Samantha was actually one of the most competent members
of the League, but she conversed as the complete opposite. Her annoying voice
and manner of speech were an act to put someone off their guard, and even
though Peter knew all about the tactic, it worked on him too.
“Hi, Petey! I
heard you’ve been raiding all of our warehouses today, heehee. I wonder why you
would be doing something silly like that.”
“I know you’ve got
them Samantha, and I’m going to get them back.”
“I have no idea
what you’re talking about. The only thing we seem to have is a bunch of big old
empty buildings. But then, you knew that part.” This was followed by an
obnoxious amount of giggling. There was no chance this was as funny as that incessant
tittering suggested. Her laugh quickly reached a high enough pitch to bore
right into the headache that had been building all day.
“Samantha, I’m
giving you one chance to return the tools before I come find them by force. I
won’t be nice about this.” Now the robot was miming doubling over with laughter
as Samantha’s shrill voice continued its cackling.
Well beyond his
ability to put up with this harassment, Peter stood up suddenly, flipping the
table and smashing it into the droid. His super strength made quick work of
flattening the droid into the concrete floor. Then out of sheer annoyance he
broke through the table, then the droid, and left a palm sized crater in the ground.
He stood up, let out a sigh, and clapped the dust from his hands. As he walked
to the smashed-in exit, he gave thought to reconsidering his position on not
murdering his enemies.
These prompts were found here: Practical Creative Writing
