MalReynolds
11-1-2005, 01:26 PM
The End of the World and the Copy Shop:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=37493
The Burning Building and Wheels:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=37533
The Signal and the Station:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=37589
The Source and the Problem:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=519781#519781
(This one a little longer than the others)
They made their way back down the stairs, resting every five flights silently. Gopher was weaponless, the make shift club resting in the floor of the studio. Iggy had a satchel of the blue gel slung over one of his shoulders and a bag of tennis balls slung over the other. Eric was fervently trying to fix the gun, to no avail.
“Iggy, if you’re going to be doing the fireball thing for a while, could I have your gun? I don’t know how to fix mine.”
“No problem, Eric,” he said, handing over his firearm.
Gopher watched them exchange weapons on the landing of floor 20 with eager eyes.
“Eric, could I get your broken gun?”
“Sure, Gopher. Don’t know why you’d want it, though.”
“Because I think I’d just look cool holding it.”
Eric extended his arm and handed Gopher his broken pistol. It didn’t quite look cool; more comical seeing someone so large holding a small gun.
“Alright, Gopher. First time we find a big gun you get to hold it first, because that just looks kind of ridiculous,” Iggy chimed, starting down the stairs.
They burst into the lobby, Gopher in the front swinging the gun wildly like some kind of defunct SWAT team member, checking either side before making an absurd hand gesture that Iggy and Eric took to mean “All clear”. They left the building, walking in a row down the middle of the road, looking at all of the closed down shops. A toy store had its front window shattered; the display teddy bears all missing heads.
“Why would they go and do something like that? That’s just… Unnecessary.” Gopher frowned.
“They live for chaos. They do, and that’s all they live for. They’re trying to make anyone who comes around scared to be around, hopes to scare them into outing themselves. I think they’re having a hard time hunting down the last of the humans. They’re trying to trick us into giving something away,” Eric concluded, and looked to Iggy to back up his claim.
Iggy’s face was blanched. He slowly raised a hand to his cheek, and opened his mouth.
“I thought I saw Gina. I did. I thought I just saw her in the toy store.”
Eric and Gopher peered through the window, but it was too dark to really see anything at all.
“What? I can’t even see anything in there,” Gopher called.
“She was near the window, and then she walked back. I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t see her. Maybe I’m just going crazy,” his eyes began to well.
“Oh, cut it out Iggy. You’re not going crazy. And don’t cry. Please?”
Iggy nodded.
“I just don’t do well with people crying,” Eric said, “Never know what to do. Never have.”
Iggy bit his bottom lip and nodded again.
Gopher was still looking through the broken window, puzzled.
Something ran across the display. Gopher turned his head to tell the Eric, but the thing was already on the back of his head before he could get a word out.
“Gopher?”
He was fervently shaking, trying to get the thing off of his head, grabbing at it but not grabbing anything at all except for his hair. It was making its way around the front of his head by way of climbing across his bangs when he got his hand on it. He threw it into the air and Eric fired a shot, hitting the thing in the stomach, propelling it further into the air before firing another shot. It finally hit the ground, and Gopher walked over to it.
“The hell is that thing, Gopher?” Eric called, relaxing his arm.
“It’s like one of those Creeps… But smaller. Much smaller.”
“Like a kid?”
“No… It has all of the same features, just tiny. Did you see how fast that was?”
“I saw,” Iggy nodded. “That thing was too fast.”
They trio stood around the corpse, Gopher poking it with his broken pistol, Eric trying to think of just what in the hell this new thing was.
“Well… I figure we’re the first people to ever see something like this and live to tell the tale. That means we get to name it, I guess.”
“An Imp!” Iggy cried excitedly. “Just like in Final Fantasy!”
“Okay, going to shoot that idea down because I really don’t like Final Fantasy.”
“Well… I mean, it’s also a Norse thing, isn’t it? From mythology?”
“Could be, but you referenced Final Fantasy first. So, that’s a no go. A no go fo’ sho’,” Eric said, grinning.
“What about a Tiny Devil? Or a Mini Devil?” Gopher suggested.
“Hm… How about a Mini-Creep?” Eric said.
“Oh, that just reeks of originality,” Iggy commented.
“I like it, though. It’s a mix of what I said and what you said. We both named it, Eric. I like that.” Gopher finished.
Iggy frowned before realization dawned on him.
“Guys… Uh… Guys… Aren’t we forgetting something?”
“Yeah right. We got our weapons, we have your tennis balls and blue gel, Gopher has his defunct toy, we have our radi-,” realization then dawned on Eric.
“Shit. We forgot Wheels. Oh my God…” Eric pulled the radio from his pocket.
“Wheels, come in Wheels. We’re coming down now,” he said through is teeth.
There was a long pause.
“Over?”
Static filled the line.
“Come in, Wheels. Come on buddy. Talk to us.”
Nothing.
The three took off down the road towards the radio station, pumping their legs. Each breath burned and their legs ached, Eric burst through the rotating door as Iggy and Gopher ran through the swinging door. Their feet clattered over the faux marble floor past the reference desk towards the closet. The door was slightly ajar, and Gopher violently swung it open.
Inside was the chair, rolling backwards slowly. On the chair was the radio, lying on its side.
They stood silently watching the chair for several minutes. It finally rolled all the way back and hit the wall, stopping the movement.
“Shit,” Eric started, “I can’t believe we left him in a closet. I can’t believe we did that. That’s just… How did we do that? He was a person. He was a person in a wheelchair. Even if all he ever did was complain, that didn’t make him any less of a person. Sure, he verbally attacked us… But who doesn’t? I just… I’m going to miss him. I think I’m going to miss him. Amen.”
“Should we… Bury his chair or something? That would seem like the thing to do. I mean, it was a huge part of his life, wasn’t it? So… It would be like burying him. I think we should do that,” Iggy said.
Gopher didn’t say anything. A tear rolling down his cheek cut through the dirt that had filmed over his face.
Iggy walked back into the closet and pulled the chair out, getting behind it. He walked it out of the closet and back into the lobby. He walked it past the elevator tower and reference desk towards the door. Eric and Gopher followed, creating a funeral processional, their heads bowed.
Gopher was the person to actually spot Wheels, who was huddled behind the desk. He wasn’t moving at all, but it didn’t look like he had been cut or hurt.
Iggy was the first person to go to him. He rolled him over off of his face and began to lightly shake him.
Eric stood in front of the desk, watching, as Wheels opened his eyes.
The chair continued to roll towards the front door.
“Oh, you’re alive!” Iggy yelled.
“Of course I’m alive,” Wheels chided in a mocking tone. “I don’t die easy.”
“Well, what happened?” Eric called nonchalantly from behind the counter.
“I heard em’ out in the lobby, and I heard em’ go up the stairwell. I tried to tell you guys, but your radio was off. Who knows, they might not have even gone to your floor. One of them tried to open the door, but I held it shut with a broom. They knew something was in there, but they left anyway to join the others. I couldn’t stay there in case they came back, so I decided to go and hide somewhere else… On my way out the door, my wheel hit the door and I fell out of the chair. I could hear them cackling and coming back down the stairwell, so I left it and crawled behind the counter. I don’t remember much else after that, but I passed out. Maybe they thought I was dead, because I’m still alive.”
“Alright, good. It’s good that you hid.”
“We didn’t forget about you,” Gopher blurted.
“What? Forget about me?” Wheels questioned.
“Yeah, we didn’t forget about you. Honest,” Gopher said, very unconvincingly.
Eric made a mental note that if anyone had to lie for the group, not to make it Gopher.
“You FORGOT about me? What?! How could you forget about me?”
Neither Eric nor Iggy nor Gopher made a move. They all stood, shamed.
“You three are just a bunch of sons of bitches, you know that? You forgot about me? What’s that about! I… Ugh. I don’t think I’ve ever been more pissed off in my life. You drag me off of my roof, take me to this God forsaken hell hole, stick me in a closet and then FORGET about me?”
“Well… Pretty much,” Eric nodded.
“Maybe I should just go it alone from here. Someone give me a gun. I’m going to go on by myself now.”
No one moved.
The fax machine on the counter sprung to life, printing out a sheet of paper before dying again. It fell squarely on Wheels’ legs, whereupon he quickly grabbed it, read it, crumpled it and in a very childish move, stuffed it in his mouth and began to chew.
Eric, Iggy and Gopher stood aghast of this retribution.
“Alright, gimmie a gun I’m getting out of here,” Wheels swallowed.
“Wait, what did that fax say?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I want to leave. Someone bring me a chair and give me a gun so I can go.”
Eric looked to Iggy and Gopher.
“Alright, guys. Let’s leave him. We almost did anyway,” he said, winking.
The group began to walk to the door as Wheels crawled after them.
“Wait, come on guys. I was just kidding. Come on, come on, I’ll tell you about the fax?”
Gopher opened the door and Wheels’ chair rolled into the street.
“And I want to stay with you all. I can’t make it on my own… I need you all.”
Eric turned around.
“Alright, listen up Wheels. You’re traveling with us now. We’re not going to leave you. Ever. You can leave whenever you wish, but so help me, if you decide to leave you won’t be getting any help from us but just remember: We will never leave you.”
Wheels nodded.
“It was from the sister station in New Jersey. Another AM. The fax actually says they have survivors. I think we need to go there.”
In the street, three Creeps ran past not looking into the building, moreover fascinated by the wheelchair in the road. The three creatures jumped upon it and began to ride it down the road.
“I also think we need to get my chair back,” he said, motioning to the door where the Creeps rode away.”
Eric began to laugh.
“That’s irony, isn’t it? Did anyone expect the Creeps to take that chair instead of head in here? I think that’s the definition of irony. I’ve got a better idea than getting your chair back. Iggy, could you cut some off of the straps on that tennis bag?”
In a few minutes, a makeshift harness was built. Gopher slipped his arms through the loops, Eric and Iggy lifted Wheels into the harness. His legs went under either side of Gophers arms and he held on across his chest.
“What’s the fastest way to Jersey from here?” Iggy asked.
“The Holland Tunnel,” Eric answered, heading for the door.
Gopher frowned.
“That doesn’t sound fun.”
Eric turned around and opened the door.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be,” he said, stepping out.
Mal
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=37493
The Burning Building and Wheels:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=37533
The Signal and the Station:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=37589
The Source and the Problem:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=519781#519781
(This one a little longer than the others)
They made their way back down the stairs, resting every five flights silently. Gopher was weaponless, the make shift club resting in the floor of the studio. Iggy had a satchel of the blue gel slung over one of his shoulders and a bag of tennis balls slung over the other. Eric was fervently trying to fix the gun, to no avail.
“Iggy, if you’re going to be doing the fireball thing for a while, could I have your gun? I don’t know how to fix mine.”
“No problem, Eric,” he said, handing over his firearm.
Gopher watched them exchange weapons on the landing of floor 20 with eager eyes.
“Eric, could I get your broken gun?”
“Sure, Gopher. Don’t know why you’d want it, though.”
“Because I think I’d just look cool holding it.”
Eric extended his arm and handed Gopher his broken pistol. It didn’t quite look cool; more comical seeing someone so large holding a small gun.
“Alright, Gopher. First time we find a big gun you get to hold it first, because that just looks kind of ridiculous,” Iggy chimed, starting down the stairs.
They burst into the lobby, Gopher in the front swinging the gun wildly like some kind of defunct SWAT team member, checking either side before making an absurd hand gesture that Iggy and Eric took to mean “All clear”. They left the building, walking in a row down the middle of the road, looking at all of the closed down shops. A toy store had its front window shattered; the display teddy bears all missing heads.
“Why would they go and do something like that? That’s just… Unnecessary.” Gopher frowned.
“They live for chaos. They do, and that’s all they live for. They’re trying to make anyone who comes around scared to be around, hopes to scare them into outing themselves. I think they’re having a hard time hunting down the last of the humans. They’re trying to trick us into giving something away,” Eric concluded, and looked to Iggy to back up his claim.
Iggy’s face was blanched. He slowly raised a hand to his cheek, and opened his mouth.
“I thought I saw Gina. I did. I thought I just saw her in the toy store.”
Eric and Gopher peered through the window, but it was too dark to really see anything at all.
“What? I can’t even see anything in there,” Gopher called.
“She was near the window, and then she walked back. I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t see her. Maybe I’m just going crazy,” his eyes began to well.
“Oh, cut it out Iggy. You’re not going crazy. And don’t cry. Please?”
Iggy nodded.
“I just don’t do well with people crying,” Eric said, “Never know what to do. Never have.”
Iggy bit his bottom lip and nodded again.
Gopher was still looking through the broken window, puzzled.
Something ran across the display. Gopher turned his head to tell the Eric, but the thing was already on the back of his head before he could get a word out.
“Gopher?”
He was fervently shaking, trying to get the thing off of his head, grabbing at it but not grabbing anything at all except for his hair. It was making its way around the front of his head by way of climbing across his bangs when he got his hand on it. He threw it into the air and Eric fired a shot, hitting the thing in the stomach, propelling it further into the air before firing another shot. It finally hit the ground, and Gopher walked over to it.
“The hell is that thing, Gopher?” Eric called, relaxing his arm.
“It’s like one of those Creeps… But smaller. Much smaller.”
“Like a kid?”
“No… It has all of the same features, just tiny. Did you see how fast that was?”
“I saw,” Iggy nodded. “That thing was too fast.”
They trio stood around the corpse, Gopher poking it with his broken pistol, Eric trying to think of just what in the hell this new thing was.
“Well… I figure we’re the first people to ever see something like this and live to tell the tale. That means we get to name it, I guess.”
“An Imp!” Iggy cried excitedly. “Just like in Final Fantasy!”
“Okay, going to shoot that idea down because I really don’t like Final Fantasy.”
“Well… I mean, it’s also a Norse thing, isn’t it? From mythology?”
“Could be, but you referenced Final Fantasy first. So, that’s a no go. A no go fo’ sho’,” Eric said, grinning.
“What about a Tiny Devil? Or a Mini Devil?” Gopher suggested.
“Hm… How about a Mini-Creep?” Eric said.
“Oh, that just reeks of originality,” Iggy commented.
“I like it, though. It’s a mix of what I said and what you said. We both named it, Eric. I like that.” Gopher finished.
Iggy frowned before realization dawned on him.
“Guys… Uh… Guys… Aren’t we forgetting something?”
“Yeah right. We got our weapons, we have your tennis balls and blue gel, Gopher has his defunct toy, we have our radi-,” realization then dawned on Eric.
“Shit. We forgot Wheels. Oh my God…” Eric pulled the radio from his pocket.
“Wheels, come in Wheels. We’re coming down now,” he said through is teeth.
There was a long pause.
“Over?”
Static filled the line.
“Come in, Wheels. Come on buddy. Talk to us.”
Nothing.
The three took off down the road towards the radio station, pumping their legs. Each breath burned and their legs ached, Eric burst through the rotating door as Iggy and Gopher ran through the swinging door. Their feet clattered over the faux marble floor past the reference desk towards the closet. The door was slightly ajar, and Gopher violently swung it open.
Inside was the chair, rolling backwards slowly. On the chair was the radio, lying on its side.
They stood silently watching the chair for several minutes. It finally rolled all the way back and hit the wall, stopping the movement.
“Shit,” Eric started, “I can’t believe we left him in a closet. I can’t believe we did that. That’s just… How did we do that? He was a person. He was a person in a wheelchair. Even if all he ever did was complain, that didn’t make him any less of a person. Sure, he verbally attacked us… But who doesn’t? I just… I’m going to miss him. I think I’m going to miss him. Amen.”
“Should we… Bury his chair or something? That would seem like the thing to do. I mean, it was a huge part of his life, wasn’t it? So… It would be like burying him. I think we should do that,” Iggy said.
Gopher didn’t say anything. A tear rolling down his cheek cut through the dirt that had filmed over his face.
Iggy walked back into the closet and pulled the chair out, getting behind it. He walked it out of the closet and back into the lobby. He walked it past the elevator tower and reference desk towards the door. Eric and Gopher followed, creating a funeral processional, their heads bowed.
Gopher was the person to actually spot Wheels, who was huddled behind the desk. He wasn’t moving at all, but it didn’t look like he had been cut or hurt.
Iggy was the first person to go to him. He rolled him over off of his face and began to lightly shake him.
Eric stood in front of the desk, watching, as Wheels opened his eyes.
The chair continued to roll towards the front door.
“Oh, you’re alive!” Iggy yelled.
“Of course I’m alive,” Wheels chided in a mocking tone. “I don’t die easy.”
“Well, what happened?” Eric called nonchalantly from behind the counter.
“I heard em’ out in the lobby, and I heard em’ go up the stairwell. I tried to tell you guys, but your radio was off. Who knows, they might not have even gone to your floor. One of them tried to open the door, but I held it shut with a broom. They knew something was in there, but they left anyway to join the others. I couldn’t stay there in case they came back, so I decided to go and hide somewhere else… On my way out the door, my wheel hit the door and I fell out of the chair. I could hear them cackling and coming back down the stairwell, so I left it and crawled behind the counter. I don’t remember much else after that, but I passed out. Maybe they thought I was dead, because I’m still alive.”
“Alright, good. It’s good that you hid.”
“We didn’t forget about you,” Gopher blurted.
“What? Forget about me?” Wheels questioned.
“Yeah, we didn’t forget about you. Honest,” Gopher said, very unconvincingly.
Eric made a mental note that if anyone had to lie for the group, not to make it Gopher.
“You FORGOT about me? What?! How could you forget about me?”
Neither Eric nor Iggy nor Gopher made a move. They all stood, shamed.
“You three are just a bunch of sons of bitches, you know that? You forgot about me? What’s that about! I… Ugh. I don’t think I’ve ever been more pissed off in my life. You drag me off of my roof, take me to this God forsaken hell hole, stick me in a closet and then FORGET about me?”
“Well… Pretty much,” Eric nodded.
“Maybe I should just go it alone from here. Someone give me a gun. I’m going to go on by myself now.”
No one moved.
The fax machine on the counter sprung to life, printing out a sheet of paper before dying again. It fell squarely on Wheels’ legs, whereupon he quickly grabbed it, read it, crumpled it and in a very childish move, stuffed it in his mouth and began to chew.
Eric, Iggy and Gopher stood aghast of this retribution.
“Alright, gimmie a gun I’m getting out of here,” Wheels swallowed.
“Wait, what did that fax say?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I want to leave. Someone bring me a chair and give me a gun so I can go.”
Eric looked to Iggy and Gopher.
“Alright, guys. Let’s leave him. We almost did anyway,” he said, winking.
The group began to walk to the door as Wheels crawled after them.
“Wait, come on guys. I was just kidding. Come on, come on, I’ll tell you about the fax?”
Gopher opened the door and Wheels’ chair rolled into the street.
“And I want to stay with you all. I can’t make it on my own… I need you all.”
Eric turned around.
“Alright, listen up Wheels. You’re traveling with us now. We’re not going to leave you. Ever. You can leave whenever you wish, but so help me, if you decide to leave you won’t be getting any help from us but just remember: We will never leave you.”
Wheels nodded.
“It was from the sister station in New Jersey. Another AM. The fax actually says they have survivors. I think we need to go there.”
In the street, three Creeps ran past not looking into the building, moreover fascinated by the wheelchair in the road. The three creatures jumped upon it and began to ride it down the road.
“I also think we need to get my chair back,” he said, motioning to the door where the Creeps rode away.”
Eric began to laugh.
“That’s irony, isn’t it? Did anyone expect the Creeps to take that chair instead of head in here? I think that’s the definition of irony. I’ve got a better idea than getting your chair back. Iggy, could you cut some off of the straps on that tennis bag?”
In a few minutes, a makeshift harness was built. Gopher slipped his arms through the loops, Eric and Iggy lifted Wheels into the harness. His legs went under either side of Gophers arms and he held on across his chest.
“What’s the fastest way to Jersey from here?” Iggy asked.
“The Holland Tunnel,” Eric answered, heading for the door.
Gopher frowned.
“That doesn’t sound fun.”
Eric turned around and opened the door.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be,” he said, stepping out.
Mal