A Child of the Pink Moon - Chapter Three (rough draft)

Go to Chapter One
Go to Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Elise Ryan was wearing a black dress with thin straps and Go Eun-Ji was wearing a dress too. A greenish one that reminded Nel of that horrible sweater. Eun-Ji also had a bow in her hair, causing Nel to figure that she had totally missed something.

“What are you guys dressed up for?” Nel asked as she joined them at their usual table.

They looked at her like she had forgotten something obvious. “It's a Free Day, silly. We're allowed to leave the school all day long!”

Nel had completely forgotten. Normally the “students” (or inmates) were allowed to leave for specific reasons and for limited time. Yes, they were nearly adults but they were supposed to be monitored because of their power. Until they reached eighteen, and they were all close.

“They even gave us cell phones.” Eun-Ji said, waving hers. “I finally get to see what it feels like to be really normal.”

It wasn't the first Free Day, Nel thought. Sometimes Eun-Ji said things that seemed odd for such a brainy person. This time was different though, they would be allowed to keep the cell phones for good and they would get every Saturday as a Free Day starting next week. Plus the pocket money.

“I have no doubt they are tracing these phones.” Eun-Ji told them, “But I guess we have to put up with some stuff like that.”

After Nel went to the administrative office to get her own phone and pocket money, she rejoined Elise and Eun-Ji near the main entrance.

“A hundred bucks won't go far.” Nel told them.

Elise Ryan laughed, “I didn't need their money. I have plenty of my own, and today is shopping day!”

As soon as they were outside of the main gate and standing on the sidewalk they all paused to look around. “Where should we go?” Nel asked.

“I checked online, and all the best stores are this way!” Elise told them and started walking. Nel shrugged and followed along with Eun-Ji. Sure enough they quickly came to a string of shops with display windows.

“This seems rather old-fashion.” Eun-Ji said, “We can order anything on the internet.”

Elise gave her a weird look. “Seeing it in person is much better than seeing it on the internet, plus we can try some of them on. Maybe I should buy something for Kareem.”

Elise entered the shop first and Nel happened to glance across the street. Norm was standing there watching her again. She quickly followed her friends into the shop. The guy was going out of his way to try and creep her out. It was like some overacted movie, but she was creeped out nonetheless.

The more Nel thought about it, Norms' power was similar to the one Elise had. Although she had never seen Elise try and use her full strength. Even at the demo she had been measured, when she used her mind to make a large wooden table rise up into the air and then break in two.

“Don't even think about trying to get me in a dress.” Nel told Elise and Eun-Ji who were conspiring over some flower-pattern sun dresses.

“It's really modest, Nel.” Elise tried to coax her. “We've never seen you dressed up before.”

“Yeah, today is the perfect day to dress up. We can get our hair done together and stuff.” Eun-Ji chimed in. These two were partners in crime.

“I don't have that much hair.” Nel told them, although it had grown almost to her shoulders since she came to the Adama Boarding House.

“Just once, we'd like to see you get prettied up.” Elise said, putting an arm around Nels' shoulders.

“Prettied up? Do people still talk like that?”

Nel had originally planned to lose these two and make a break for the ballpark where there was supposed to be a noon game. After seeing Norm stalking her again, she thought it would be better to stay with her friends.

“The dress really is more modest than my clothes.” Nel said about her short sleeved t-shirt and shorts, looking down at what she was wearing. “I forgot to wear my denim jacket.”

A couple of hours later she had Else and Eun-Ji fawning over her. Nel tried to play along as best she could but the dress, the shoes (“You can't wear sneakers with the dress!”-Elise) and then the makeup (“Just a little, it'll be natural-looking I promise!”-Elise) and a bow in her hair (Eun-Ji, of course), was starting to make her feel strange.

“Don't you feel like a girl, now?” Eun-Ji asked, as they crowded her sitting at an outdoor table in front of a coffee shop, sipping on something Elise had ordered. Nel wanted to avoid their looks but looking at the colorful fingernails holding her cup also made her annoyed.

“Feels airy down there now?” Elise asked,

“Well.” Nel said.

“You didn't wear boxers?” Elise asked.

“Well...”

“Earrings!” Eun-Ji said, “She needs some.”

“No!” Nel said, putting her hands over her ears. “I don't want holes in my ears.”

Elise looked shocked, “They're not even pierced? I was three when mine were pierced!”

At one point they stopped for a snow-cone and Elise handed her purse to Nel. Eun-Ji took a picture on the cell-phone. “Now we have proof.”

“Not funny.” Nel told them, scowling at little Eun-Ji. Suddenly she noticed Norm a ways off, near a pole at the corner that held up a traffic signal. The creep was following them or something. Nel turned and got closer got her friends near the snow cone stand. “Cherry!” she told them.

Now Nel looked around a lot, trying to be on guard against the menace.

“I can't believe you have spent so much.” Eun-Ji told Elise, “Four hundred dollars is a lot of money.”

“How do you know how much I spent?” Elise asked and then shook her head. “Never mind. I keep forgetting you have a brain like a super-computer.”

“Anybody want to ride a roller coaster?” Nel asked.

“We just had our hair done.” Elise told her, “Don't be silly.”

Nel wasn't going to be able to see her team play the Yankees this day either. She would be safe in a crowd, right?

“Maybe we could get a massage before we go back?” Elise asked. Eun-Ji was excited. Nel didn't know if that was something she'd like but if it got them off the public sidewalk for a while, it was worth it.

They were walking and then suddenly there were arms around them.

“You girls look so good!” Randy the clown said, pretending to give Eun-Ji a smooch on the cheek while back hugging her. She blushed.

“Yes, I think we could all be on a triple date!” Rocky said with him arms around the waist of Elise, who didn't seem to mind it.

“Maybe a movie, in a really dark theater.” Marcus said into her ear, hanging onto Nel. His arms had wrapped her arms and body together, like some kind of wrestling move. She noticed that the arms of Elise and Eun-Ji were free.

“Let me guess.” Elise said, smirking “There's some action movie at the theater you want to see and it'd be embarrassing to go without girls. Am I right?”

“It's Jacks 3 with Hark Rodding!” Randy told them. “It's supposed to be pretty good.”

Actually Nel had wanted to see that eventually. Not that she would admitted it.

“I don't like to have my arms retrained, Marcus.” Nel told him. He pulled her back against his own body and whispered, “I'll protect you.”

“Marcus!” Nel aid, struggling to get free. He laughed and loosened his hold on her. Finally it was just an arm draped over her shoulder.

“Seriously, though. It wouldn't hurt you to go to a movie with us.” Marcus told them.

Elise and Eun-Ji wavered. Actually they seem to waver on Nel's account. She suddenly felt more affinity for them as friends. Then she saw Norm hanging back, watching the scene unfold. His face had looked neutral all day, but now he looked angry.

“I wouldn't mind seeing a movie.” Nel told them.

Elise looked at Marcus. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” He answered, looking bewildered and holding his arms in the air.

“Seriously, I like those sorts of films.” Nel added. She would feel much safer with Marcus there with Norm hanging around.

“I guess so.” Elise answered, sounding confused.

“Okay by me.” Eun-Ji said, sheepishly grinning at the red-haired Randy. He looked like a giant next to her, but whatever.

Nel grabbed Marcus by the hand, “Let's go. And watch where you put your hands!”

She spent the whole movie expecting something bad to happen. She had a feeling that Norm was probably right there in the theater with them. Fortunately Marcus and Rocky were too much into the movie to try anything. Elise looked very bored, but Eun-Ji and Randy were getting along like old friends. Weird.

The movie had an unexpected twist ending. The villain was the girl posing as the victim. The star had been trying to protect the person who was sending all the bad guys after him. She was right there with him the whole time. Oh and she was a PME.

“That's messed up.” Rocky pointed out, “Why are we always the bad guys?”

“Maybe we should demand our money back.” Randy said, but Eun-Ji squeezed his cheek playfully and said “It'd be better not to advertise ourselves.”

So they left the theater before the final scene, which was going to be predictable. The six of them stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“I think we should just walk back together.” Nel advised, still wary abut Norm. No way that idiot would attack her with all of the rest of them around. He wouldn't stand a chance.

Finally back in her room she took off the dress and threw it on the bed along with the bag containing her normal clothes. Nel was glad to get those shoes off, even low-heels were uncomfortable, she didn't know how Elise managed in her real heels.

Nel was cleaning the makeup off of her face in the tiny bathroom when she got the chills again. She stood up straight and looked at herself in the mirror. The bathroom door had been left open and she could see Norm holding and looking at the dress.

“You looked real nice, today.” He told her.

“How did you get in here?”

“Ordinary locks are easy to open.” Norm explained. “It's hard to keep secrets around here.”

She turned around to look at him directly but stayed in the bathroom. “What secrets?”

“You and Marcus. I guess it makes sense, with his powers he can seduce a statue. You aren't quite as cold as that.” Norm said with a sneer, putting the dress back down. “I'll either have to take care of Marcus or wait until he's graduated, I guess.”

Marcus was a few months older. He would be out of here before her and Norm. Nel started shivering with the chills. Norm simply opened the door and walked out of her room.

Bad things were going to happen. Very bad things.

I think the finished story will be a short novella. I would love to be able to put it out there and see if people like it. If they do, I could write a full length novel or two based on the Pink Moon Event. To do that I will need a cover and I can't make one for this story. If you like this story and want to see where it goes, you can donate toward a cover:
https://www.paypal.me/FloydLooney

update

I am very nearly done with the Second Front draft, it will be a full length novel. I think I can produce a pretty good cover with what I already have.

I am also thinking that a short novella for A Child Of The Pink Moon. If people really like the Pink Moon story, I might follow up with a full-length novel. I have no idea how am I going to get a cover for it, though.

You can donate for my next ebook covers:

paypal.me/FloydLooney

Recovery One - short story

Recovery One

 A Very Short Story

The single-seat, ducted-fan craft flew over the top of the last ridge and was looking down into a broad desert valley.

“Destination in visual range.” The pilot said into his helmet mic.

The craft dipped its nose and began it dive into the canyon.

“Roger, Recovery One, we copy.” a disembodied voice replied through the helmet radio. Meanwhile he was pulling back up and creating an air cushion below him. Sand, dust and pebbles flew out in all directions as he came within five meters of the surface. Then the craft buoyed and rose back up at a steady altitude of nine meters.

The pilot dipped the nose again and the craft began accelerating forward. In the distant a copse of squat buildings rose up, half-covered by the red sand. The craft came near them and circled the abandoned settlement before flaring and coming to rest on the surface throwing dust and sand every which way.

“Recovery One here, I have reached the destination.” He told them. He checked the life-support suit he was wearing before allowing the side of the cockpit bubble to iris open. He stepped out and climbed to the surface.

He strode towards the settlement and reached the outermost buildings in minutes. He used the light on his wrist to look inside of some of them. Sand and dust had breached them, each was clogged with dust.

Still, there was a mission. Some had stayed behind before the end, he needed to find and tag their remains.

After a while he checked into some of the taller buildings, two and three levels. On the top floor of the highest building he found what he had come for. The bodies were almost nothing but bones, a few till had skin stretched taught over skulls, but everything was coated in the clinging orange dust.

“I have located the stragglers.” He reported.

They thought they could survive when the barrier faltered. It was a normalcy bias, of a sort. People did not expect that they would be personally impacted by change or disaster. No doubt there had been a stream through the center of this wide canyon, as well as farms and gardens. It had been the idyllic small community at one point.

A handful had refused to leave. The atmosphere had been fixed, surely it would stay fixed. The barrier might falter but it was outdated anyway, everything would remain as it is without it. Humans had come here and Terra-formed. For a while everything just worked. Then suddenly everything began to revert as it had been before the humans came.

The cold came, the atmosphere began thinning, eventually the oxygen dissipated, the water evaporated and the world became dead again. Those who had refused to evacuate had died. Every augmentation meant to help them survive was not enough.
“Collect the implants, the data will be analyzed.” They said in his ear.

We can learn a lot from from failure. Humans always did. From failure we can try other things until something worked. We can build a new atmospheric generator, a new and improved barrier. We can even design human better suited to live here, using new augmentation.

Sure, someday humans would live, work and play here again. Just not now. Just collect the data storage chips from the bodies and leave.

“Recovery One here, on my way back.” He said, then he turned to leave.

Please check out my other writings:

8 Short Stories is free

10 More Stories is free

Dragon of Torik is free

Reward: Stolen Planet is free

New Arrivals is 99 cents (novel)

The Fourth is $2.99 cents (for now)(novel)

Oasis is 99 cents (novella)

A Child of the Pink Moon - Chapter Two (rough draft)

A Child of the Pink Moon

See chapter One

Chapter Two

Adama was a dangerous place. After being there for one half of a year, Nel now realized that some of these people are actually dangerous. Marcus and his bully friends, yes, but also Norm. Norm, who she often forgets is even alive, has decided to be her arch-enemy. Simply insane.

“I have no defense against Norms force-projection.” she told herself, locked into her room and pacing back and forth. “I have no way of even keeping Marcus from taking advantage.”

She sat on the bed. “What am I supposed to do?”

Marcus was probably goofing off at breakfast. He most likely didn't mean anything by what he had done, it was all a joke to him. It was doubtful he had any interest in her. Norm was most definitely not joking.

Nel wondered if her powers would blossom as much as everyone else's had. Most times this happened before someone became eighteen and she was on the cusp. Even nobody Norm had demonstrated he had become much more powerful.

Nel hadn't told anyone at the administrative office. Nobody ever tells on anyone at Adama. It wasn't their business, they had no powers. As much as she wanted to, it would be a disaster to tell on Norm, even though he didn't seem to have any friends. There were rumors that tattle-tales have been killed before. Just rumors, as far as she could tell.

Six months. She would be able to get far away from Adama Boarding House in six months. There was no reason for anyone to keep track of her with powers as weak as she had. Nel had been joking about becoming a firefighter, but the truth is that it probably was her best option.

Having avoided it before, she pulled out her laptop and began looking at the employment sites for jobs at fire departments far from Adama. Most of them would jump at the chance to hire someone who was flame-proof. Walking through a burning building and helping people get out was something she could do very easily.

Mr. Roberts assembled them as a class the following morning. He took off his charcoal gray suit jacket and folded it over the back of his chair. Then he walked to the middle of the front of the room and addressed them.

“Good morning.” He started, “If you have been following current events, which you should because it is important, you will know that the Russians are amassing troops on the border with Lithuania. There is said to be at least a dozen PME's with them.”

The Lithuanians were asking other countries to send help. Nel had read about it already. Most other countries were too worried about their own defense to come to their aid. Latvia and Estonia were just as threatened as that small nation.

“The United States has recruited some PME's already. They are preparing to send them as we speak, these young men and women are among the most powerful we have here.” Mr. Roberts told them.

“Some of us are also very powerful.” Rocky Alvarado said. Randy and Marcus nodded approvingly.

Mr. Roberts agreed, “Yes, yes. I know that. You will have your chance to shine someday too. All of you will make us proud some day, I am certain of that.”

Nel glanced across the room at Norm. She was certain he was already planning to do bad things when he had the chance. Norm felt no patriotism for his own country. Whatever had made him this way happened a long time before she laughed at the demo.

Not all PME's were good. Some of them were downright evil and it usually took other PME's or overwhelming force by normal people to kill them. The case of Craig Livingston was still fresh in her mind, it had happened just a few months ago.

Money, jewels and cars had been stolen from an upscale neighborhood in Atlanta. Security footage had been a blur at first but then some really good equipment was able to get the image that identified the perpetrator. They just could not find him, he hadn't been to his parents home in weeks. A national alert had been issued for Craig Livingston.

That is when young girls started going missing in the night. It was quite a shock but the experts, if there was such a thing, decided that his hormones were in overdrive. They wondered if he could even control his own behavior. It took another PME to track Livingston down, down an abandoned West Virginia coal mine shaft.

Craig Livingstone had built himself a throne on top of a small mountain of gold and jewels, luxury automobiles had been stashed down another side shaft. Then down in the deepest part of the abandon mine they located the sick harem. The battle between Livingston and the PME who was only known as Banner, was said to be very bloody. Parts of the mine had collapsed because of the powerful fight, but at least they recovered the girls alive, if not fully safe.

Someone managed to get an image of Banner after the fight, while paramedics rended to the girls. The mask he wore had been torn on the side, his blond hair showed through. The cuts, abrasions and burns showed on his bare arms. Livingston had put up a real fight before he was finally put out of everyone else's misery, but Banner did not look happy about what he had been forced to do.

Norm might become another Craig Livingston. He might have already.

It was obvious that Mr. Roberts had been asked to give this speech to boost military recruitment among the PME's at Adama. Not that Nel was interested, she didn't see how she could go into battle with her limited power. She also did not want to fight, kill and maybe die if she could avoid it.

Walking back to her room after lunch she saw Astra standing down an empty corridor twirling and dancing like a small child, which is what she looked like. Astra, as usual, totally ignored her and continued with whatever she was doing. Astra lived in her own world and nobody bothered her much, even the bullies stopped playing basketball when she was walking across the court.

Astra was treated like part of the environment.

When Nel got back to her room she checked her messages to see how many fire departments had responded to her queries. There were some automated replies, but there were actual human responses from Tampa, Dallas, Albuquerque and Los Angeles. The next step was to ask for a higher salary than starting humans normally received. Her power had to be worth something.

“I need to be able to save something up quick.” She thought out loud. Nel thought that it was only a matter of time until people turned against PME's. That is what always happened, isn't it?

At breakfast the next morning Nel could hardly concentrate. Elise and Eun-Ji were discussing the rumors surrounding the Storo Group.

“Some people say they do experiments on PME's!” Go Eun-Ji said, finding this a bit alarming, “I'd be scared to show up if that's true. I'm not a lab mouse.”

“That is a horrible thought.” Elise said covering her mouth with her hand. “We should go and tear the place apart!”

“We don't know if it's true, though.” Eun-Ji said, “It would be hard to explain why we are tearing it apart if we have no evidence. Right, Nel?”

Nel had been looking into space and shook her head. “What? Oh, yea, right. Of course.”

“What is bothering you?” Elise asked, pulling her mirror from the pure she was carrying, to check her makeup.

Nel looked at the plate in front of her. “I don't know. The possibility of war.”

“There are twelve international conflicts going on at the moment.” Eun-Ji told her, “None of the involving this country yet.”

“All of them involving PME's though.” Nel added. “There aren't that many of us and they're throwing people like us into battle. PME's are dying and governments just use them up. What happens when we're all gone? Will the world just move on as if we never existed?”

“Brutal.” Elise said and then turned back to Eun-Ji, “So we find the CEO and we kidnap him to Antarctica where he has to tell the truth before he freezes to death.”

“What?” Nel asked, her mouth dropped open.

“We're just kidding around.” Eun-Ji explained, “Haven't you been listening?”

After classes and lunch, Nel went back to the Study Hall. She looked around to make sure it was really empty before she sat at a table and opened her laptop.

More bad news. A PME had just taken out the government of a South Pacific island nation and declared himself their new king. Matahani Narvi, as he called himself, had decided that the former house of parliament be rebuilt as his palace and temple. The temple would allow the locals to worship him properly.

“That is crazy.” Nel said to herself. The experts who had known the guy warned that he was extremely powerful. They advised that other nations not try and intervene on the island with ordinary military forces.

Oh great. Send in the PME's, they're just tools.

Suddenly Marcus was standing right behind her. His hand was on her shoulder and she thought she might melt. He leaned over and read the headline. “More bad news, I guess.”

“It's terrible.” Nel told him, her eyes starting to tear up. “I don't know what we're going to do anymore.”

“You're safe here.” He told her, Nel reached up and wrapped her arms around his strong neck and shoulders and rested her head against his chest. It was all just sad. The whole world was crazy and people like them were just pawns.

Suddenly Marcus Smith broke contact and stood up. He was smiling and chuckling. Nel felt like she had just been jilted by a lover, at least for a moment. Then she was angry that he had used his power on her again.

“You're terrible! You know that? You are a horrible person. Marcus.” She said while he just laughed before he left the room. Nel breathed hard. Marcus could easily take advantage of her and probably most of the other girls, but he hadn't. He evidently had some self-control but he was certainly not a very nice guy.

Before she went to bed that night the news about the south pacific had led several countries to begin assembling an international naval flotilla with thousands of Marines who could storm the shores. Sending normal people against a powerful PME was a stupid idea, Nel thought, and she wasn't alone, many people online were petitioning against a move. Most of the petitions were telling the governments to let the PME's handle it.

“That's not much of an improvement.” Nel said before shutting the computer down and climbing between the sheets. The whole situation could resolved if someone could teleport into that palace and take out that evil PME. Someone like Kareem. Let Kareem bring Marcus with him, they could end it in minutes. Of course, then Marcus might stay and rule the place, she thought as sleep took over.

As usual Nel got up early and headed to the basketball court in shorts and t-shirt. The building was quiet as usual, with it being dark and everyone sleeping, but this time it felt a bit creepy. She shrugged off the ominous feeling and went down to shoot some hoops before breakfast.

A few minutes after she starting throwing from the free-throw line, she had a really bad feeling. Somehow she just knew she wasn't alone. Letting the ball bounce away from under the net, she turned around to see someone standing on the other side of the court, just watching her.

It was Norm. Nel suddenly regretted coming out to the court alone. She felt very vulnerable even though the guy was just standing there and doing nothing, so far. With her flight instinct frozen by fear of what he might do, she stood there watching him. Like some sort of standoff, in which she was very much unarmed.

After a minute of this Norm turned and left. Nel sat on the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees against her chest. He was now taunting her. Norm had basically threatened her when he said they were now enemies, he was just going to make her suffer until the end came.

Nel sat like that until the sun came out, and then she went to the dining room. Being in the same room as other students made her feel a bit safer. Not as safe as she had hoped, but some.

----

Please check out my other writings:

8 Short Stories is free

10 More Stories is free

Dragon of Torik is free

Reward: Stolen Planet is free

New Arrivals is 99 cents (novel)

The Fourth is $2.99 cents (for now)(novel)

Oasis is 99 cents (novella)

A Child of the Pink Moon - Chapter One (rough draft)

A Child of the Pink Moon

Chapter One

Nel bounced the orange basketball a few more times before she made the attempt and the ball goes into the hoop after bouncing off the backboard. That was a hundred! Nel walked to the bench next to the court and picked up the water bottle and took a long drink. Even with her head inclined the short black hair barely touched the base of her neck and shoulders.

The court was usually occupied by some of the boys from the Adama Boarding House, but it was too early for them. It was a fancy name for an orphanage that specialized in those almost at adulthood. The need to prepare them for the outside world was the excuse, but those who lived here knew the truth. Every one of the kids sent to the Adama Boarding House had a special power.

Nel used the towel to wipe her face, neck and under the arms of the sleeveless half-t-shirt. If she didn't wear a sports top underneath, everything would show. That would be some incentive for some of the boys to show up and play so early. Then again, nothing seemed to wake up some of them before 7:30.

Her real name is Kimberly Nelson, but she insisted everyone call her Nel. She was what they call a “Tomboy”, she didn't worry about what other people thought. Mind reading wasn't her power, after all.

“Time for some breakfast!” She announced to an empty courtyard, throwing the towel over her shoulder and the water bottle into a nearby wastebasket.

Kimberly Nelson was born seventeen and a half years ago, or just a year after the so-called Pink Moon Event. It became evident that she was not as normal as her parents had hoped when she survived a house fire unscathed at three years old. She hadn't even been afraid of the fire, even though it had burned off all of her clothes.

Two years later she was given up by the parents to one of the agencies specializing in taking care of the PME Kids. There were thousands of other children born with special abilities within a couple years of the event. None were born more than twenty-six months from the PME.

Nel had been raised in institutions designed to learn her abilities and teach her to control them from the time she was given up. Six months ago she was sent to Adama Boarding House before being released as an adult in six more months.

When she entered the dining room she found a few others were already setting down to eat. “Sweet Ebony” Kareem who liked his oatmeal sweet and never ate meat. He was tall and thin with long arms, but he was also stronger than he looked. Elise, who had a thing for Kareem, was already there too. The girl with curly blond hair was sitting at another table and often glanced at the man.

Everyone knew that Kareem was being stoic. They also knew that once he hit eighteen he would vanish from this place in a heartbeat. He might even take Elise with him when he teleported away for the last time. He just didn't believe in dating before his next birthday.

On the other side of the room Bradly “Bash” Johnson was still deciding on what to put on his tray. He was never very decisive when it came to food or girls. Although when it came to a real fight he never had to pause to consider his next move, it was all instinct. He had a career ahead of him as a superhero but he wouldn't know if a girl really liked him even if she lived in his bed. Then again, he also didn't believe in casual relationships.

Maybe it had something to do with the Pink Moon Event, but nearly everyone she met that had been born with powers were very reluctant socially. Since she was five years old Nel had never been worried about her power, never felt like an outcast because of how she was raised. Most of the others had the same kind of background, it's not like they were bullied when they were younger. Some things were hard to explain.

Such as their varied powers. It made no sense. It was scientifically impossible by all measures that had been implemented. Simply impossible that these kids could exist with the powers, yet there they were.

“Good morning Bash.” She said while putting her tray together. He was still there and she tried not to let her amusement show.

“Oh, hi Nel.” He answered.

“Just take both the white milk and the chocolate milk. It's not kryptonite.” She told him before picking up her tray and going to sit across from Elise. She had nothing against Kareem, but he was a terrible guy for small talk. He hardly ever said a word, but if you ask him a question you might end up with a twenty-minute dissertation.

“Hi.” She said sitting across the table from the other girl.

“Hi Nel. You've been working out?” The girl asked and took a sip of her juice. She wore a loose top that looked vaguely like an ugly Christmas sweater. It was thin material, though. Elise still had a middle school fashion sense with the purple earrings and pinkish lipstick.

“More or less.” Nel answered, “Mostly shooting hoops.”

Elise didn't use her power much. Once in a while she would do something just to remind everyone else that she still had them. Last week for no reason at all, she levitated a piece of toast with jam and brought it to her lips while making goo-goo eyes at Kareem. If she really wanted to, she could lift him into the air and bring him to her lips. It would probably surprise him enough to make him teleport to China.

Nel almost snorted her orange juice out of her nose from the imagery.

“Are you okay, Nel?” Elise asked. Nel wiped her nose and mouth with a paper napkin. “I'm fine.”

That's when the boy band entered. Actually they were the three muscle-bound beefcakes that usually controlled the basketball court and the gym. Randy, Marcus and Rocky wore gray t-shirts as usual as they went to the lunch line like they owned the place. Unlike the others, these guys were not shy at all and had even dated “normal” girls. Something they all swore off doing for various reasons. Probably because normal girls were boring or weak.

Nel suspected that Elise had dated Marcus before but had no evidence except for the way she talked about him. As if she had some grudge against the guy. He was kind of a snake, come to think about it. Marcus could easily use his secondary power (some PME kids had more than one) to take advantage of girls. Not that he would ever admit to doing that.

Those three had been scouted by the military since they were in middle school. Last year, they were brought out to some secret location to show their powers off to some high-level brass. Randy, the joker, had let it slip that Marcus lifted a tank and threw it quite a distance. Even though Marcus steadfastly denied that he would ever work for the government, he still took the opportunity to push his limits.

Elise's eyes widened and she said, “He's coming.”

Nel looked behind her just in time to see Marcus' face inches from her own. He didn't look like turning around had surprised him. “Are you finished with the ketchup?” he asked in a soft, smooth voice that made Nel's lower stomach clinch.

“Um, yes.” She answered, showing a rare smile to Marcus. He smiled and then stood up and walked away with the bottle.

“Oh my gosh.” Elise said, as if disgusted.

Nel shut her eyes and shook her head. Had that fool just used his power on her? How aggravating! She could hear laughing from their table and that made it worse, because she decided they were laughing at her for being so easily swayed.

“Those guys make me mad sometimes.” Nel said, and suddenly realized how many times she had heard Nel say the exact same thing.

“Eun-Ji!” Elise said loudly, brightening up. Nel felt like a secondary friend as she looked around to see the short, bespectacled asian girl entering the dining room. Go Eun-Ji was short, her hair was cut straight across the bangs and she always wore that puke-green sweater even though it wasn't cold. She was like a walking stereotype of a nerdy asian school girl.

Eun-Ji sat right next to Elise.

“Good morning.” Eun-Ji said, “How is everything?”

Nel looked away and rolled her eyes. They had just seen her last night and Eun-Ji acts as if its been a long time. Eun-Ji was extremely shy and quiet, she made Kareem look like the class clown by comparison and he was a rock.

“I have received an invitation from the Storo Group to work as a research fellow when I am released from here.” Eun-Ji told them.

“As a fellow?” Elise asked, “You'll be starting work at the top? That must pay well.”

The girl nodded. “I haven't decided whether to take it.”

“Are you kidding?” Nel asked, “Look at me, what can of job will I get? Firefighter? NBA?”

“There are reasons to be hesitant. There are some rumors about this company that need to be checked out first.” Go Eun-Ji told them and took a bite of her steamed rice while the other girls looked on.

“And...? Don't leave us hanging.” Elise told her friend.

After a shower and putting on pants and blouse Nel was in the Study Hall on a laptop. There were commentators in the media saying that the US was falling behind on utilizing the PME kids. That Russia and other countries had integrated them into their militaries years ago, not waiting for them to become adults.

“The United States will have little PME defense if it comes to war, unless we act now!” One of the top commentators in the country had said.

The debate had been on for several years but it was becoming a top issue now that PME kids were becoming adults and their powers were blossoming. Already there had been stories about military clashes in some countries involving PME powers. At least one PME kid on the rebel side had been killed in battle in Azerbaijan.

The idea that she could be drafted into the military bothered Nel. She appreciated that the country had allowed the PME kids to grow up as normally as possible and make their own decisions. If they were all pressed into the military, it just wouldn't feel like the same country anymore.

Nel was staring off into space when the laptop closed with nobody touching it. When she looked down she felt something against her chest and then was flying backward. “Aaahhh!” She yelled as she slammed into the far wall. Nel was pinned to the wall and her feet didn't reach the floor.

“Someone help me!” She yelled. This was against the rules, heck this was against the law. This was assault. “Who is it? Who's doing this!?”

Nel saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Astra. The albino girl was casually walking toward her from the left side.

“Astra! Are you doing this?” Nel asked, “Let me go now, okay?”

Astra didn't say anything, she just seemed to examine Nel and whatever was holding to the wall. Astra turned her pale face and pinkish eyes to Nel. “I did not do this.”

Astra pointed at the other side of the room. Nel followed, with some effort, and saw that a boy was standing there. He had one hand, palms flat facing Nel. She had to squint to make out the guy who was in shadow.

“Norm?” She asked. Norm! Seriously? The shy guy walked up to her and put his hand right over her chest. “I caught you.”

“I see that! Now let me go.”

He smiled. “Don't you remember how weak my power was? Remember the last demo?”

Nel closed her eyes. At Demonstration she had laughed at his failure. Just one quick laugh and then she had apologized. “I said I was sorry, Norm.”

Her nodded and then looked down for a moment. “Nope, still hurts. I guess you didn't know or care how much I liked you. I would have probably forgotten by now otherwise. I think this is what they call a grudge.”

Short little Astra didn't seem to care that an assault was taking place. In a matter-of-factly, disinterested tone she nodded and replied, “Yes, it is called a grudge.”

Norm released her and she fell into a heap on the floor, almost too weak to stand up. Nel breathed hard and deep as if she had been suffocating. Norm stood there looking down at her, his eyes looking malevolent. “I finally have my real powers. I even have an arch enemy.”

Nel was still hardly able to move as Norm walked away. Enemy? He had just declared her to be his enemy! 

 ------------

Please check out my other writings:

8 Short Stories is free

10 More Stories is free

Dragon of Torik is free

Reward: Stolen Planet is free

New Arrivals is 99 cents (novel)

The Fourth is 99 cents (for now)(novel)

Oasis is 99 cents (novella)

 

WIP Sample

As I continue to write this next ebook, I thought I would post a rough-draft sample from it. One of the soldiers has been captured by the aliens, who are not used to having prisoners. Normally they just wipe out life on a planet they are about to strip of all resources.

Sergeant Frank Gore screamed as the alien poked him with the white staff again. It looked like a simple white staff but it acted more like a cattle prod. The pain engulfed his entire body when the alien poked him, no matter where it touched him. It paralyzed him while he was being touched too.

Then suddenly the pain was gone as soon as the contact was broken.

“Stop doing that you bastards!” He screamed at them, wondering if his mother would approve of the language in the situation.

The two aliens screeched at him. They were questioning him and he could hear nothing but fingernails on the chalkboard. He put his hands over his ears. Their screeching was almost as bad as the prod.

“I can't understand anything you say! Are you too freaking stupid to know that?” He yelled in return.

The wall had been cut out of the stone and he was fastened to it around his middle while he feet were bound by metal strips to the floor. They had left his arms free for some reason even though his shirt had been taken.

Sgt Frank Gore had been watching the holographic recording of the AH-64 IQ unmanned helicopter when something knocked him out. He woke up in this position. It was some type of interrogation but without any possible way to communicate, nothing would be gained.

“This is a waste of time.” He said when there was a pause in the screeching. The white stick poked him and the pain froze his body again. “You mother---..!”

Then the pain stopped again. As far as Gore could figure, they were targeting his nervous system which spread out everywhere instead of localizing the pain. It was exhausting. The pain vanished when the prod was removed, but the tiredness stayed.

“I do not understand...” He started to say and then noticed that the two aliens were chatting with each other. Suddenly they reached toward him and everything went black again.

Sgt Gore was lying in a dark cave when woke. He stayed where he was for several minutes before pushing himself into a sitting position. The cave ceiling was barely higher than his head as he sat there on his rump.

A light appeared in the wall and a wide but shallow bowl was pushed into what he considered to be a cell. He reached out and pulled the bowl to himself remembering how hungry he was. The food didn't smell particularly good and it looked like thick, gray mashed potatoes.

Then he remembered seeing the roots that seemed to be for sale in the underground city, they probably made up a large part of the alien diet. Boiled and mashed root would probably look and smell exactly like this mushy stuff.

Gore stuck two fingers into the bowl and brought it to his mouth for a small taste. “Yeesh.” He said, it was definitely some sort of root. It had a sort of vague nutty taste, but the consistency was more like food that had been partially digested already.

Frank paused with that disturbing thought. His stomach picked the perfect time to growl. As much as he wanted to resist, he had to admit that he was hungry. They had departed Earth with the bare essentials needed for an extremely short mission. Instead, most of them had survived.

He sighed. “Well, I guess it's better than starving.”

----

8 Short Stories is free

10 More Stories is free

Dragon of Torik is free

Reward: Stolen Planet is free

New Arrivals is 99 cents (novel)

The Fourth is 99 cents (for now)(novel)

Oasis is 99 cents (novella)

Unifinished story - "Desperate" Chapter 1 & 2

Two chapters of an unfinished dystopian story.

Desperate

Chapter One

The tires crunched over the dirt road as the “Number Two” bus rolled at a respectable thirty kilometers an hour across the barren wasteland. Jonathan Richter sat on the floor, his pack sitting next to him, his back to one of the rusty walls of the old bus. The driver and the rear gunner ignored the passengers while they were moving.

The tires threw up dust and much of it hung in the air inside of the bus since all the window had broken out years ago. Once upon a time these things had row after row of comfortable seats, but those had either been stolen or rotted away way back. Now the passengers on the floor, where a thin worn carpet barely covered a floor that was rusting away.

The other passengers included an old woman closer to the front who carried an ungainly suitcase and a wooden chicken coop, with chicken. No doubt this was a new purchase and she was returning to her family with the prized possession. She had one of those paper masks over her face that had been used too many times.

There was an older man, staring as if blind, and a woman who appeared to be in her thirties. Jonathan had heard her call him “pa”, so she must be guiding the blind. She had used some precious water to wipe the dust from his face the last time they stopped for a break.

The others included a woman with two children, one a girl. The reason Jonathan noticed the females is that they stood out. They were more rare and precious than gold these days. The other passengers were mainly nondescript men wearing jackets with cloths over their mouths and noses. Some of them were coughing more than seemed normal.

Jonathan didn't like to be reminded of the plague. The plague had killed his Belinda, the mother of his children. He didn't understand how it had gotten her and no-one else in the family. It wasn't easy to protect his children while making a living for them alone.

Sometimes he had the irrational thought that Belinda should have lived and that it was himself who have gotten sick and died. His eyes moved back to the woman with the two children. Then he moved his hand over his eyes, don't let them see a tear fall. This world was no place for a single mother like this one.

Donny had been kidnapped by the gangs a couple years after Belinda died. They either called it recruitment or the draft. It didn't matter. His son might be alive or he might not, either way there was little doubt it was a horrifying experience. The rumors of what the older boys and men did to younger ones was painful to contemplate.

He let his hand fall from his face and rested his head back against the rusted wall of the bus. His hand landed on his pack. The image of the rag doll entered his mind. Jonathan had found it among the rubble of one of the old cities, destroyed in the cataclysm. Somehow the rag doll had been preserved in pretty good condition.

It was destined for his daughter, April May Richter. April May was waiting for her father to return from the expedition to the city. The scavenging trips were getting less and less fruitful, most of the useful things had already been harvested years ago.

Jonathan rolled to his knees and rose to look out the window at the passing desolation. This whole continent except for the southwest had once been fertile and green, now it was just dead. The moving air felt good on his forehead, it was cleaner than the settlements too.

Suddenly he was alert. Something had moved on the horizon. He scanned it quickly but couldn't tell what had changed for a moment, then he noticed something moving fast toward them leaving a white contrail behind it.

“Missile!” He had time to think, but not say out loud before the explosion occurred.

Jonathan was deaf, he covered his face from the heat and flash and felt himself falling. He hit the ground on his side, his right shoulder taking most of the impact but lessened because he had rolled. He hadn't rolled on purpose, of course, it's just how he landed.

When he stopped he lay there breathing hard, arms underneath his chest, fingers gripping the ground while his legs lay spread out. “Attack. We were attacked!” He thought to himself, he looked around and saw no attackers.

Finally he looked back to find the bus. Instead he found the wreckage torn into pieces, especially two large chunks. His hearing started to return and he could hear the cries and pleas of other survivors. Probably thrown clear the same way he had been, when the rusty bus was split into two like an egg.

Jonathan found the single mother crying over the body of the boy child. “Please help me, somebody save my son!” she cried, her own legs bloody. The boy was already dead, though. She should be more worried about finding the girl, Jonathan thought to himself. He shook his head and walked away.

He found his pack and hefted it over his shoulder. The survivors were starting to crawl together in a huddle. He saw another man picking up several bags and packs and running off away from where the missile had come. “Smart.” Jonathan told himself.

Only an idiot would stick around until the marauders who had fired the missile finally arrived. These people could not be saved. He could already hear the whine of an engine in the distance. It was time to get as far away as possible.

Jonathan moved toward a nearby hill, hoping to find a cave or something he could hide out in and get some rest, before moving again when nightfall came.

“May God have mercy on you all!” He said before getting as far as fast as he could.

Jonathan was able to reach the boulders in front of the hill before the marauders had shown up at the explosion site. A two-wheeled vehicle and a six-wheeled truck with a double-cab carrying a big cage in the back. At least five large men with weapons sifted through the remains, digging through bags and packs.

Then they shot the wailing woman who fell atop the body of her dead son. The marauders then took two younger men as prisoners. Jonathan was confused. He had been certain the woman and the old blind man had survived, where were they? These guys would have whooped it up and had a good time raping her, they would kill the useless old man.

Then Jonathan wondered where that little girl had run off to. He hadn't seen her body, but surely she had been killed too. It was mostly a wide open wasteland, where could these people have run off to? Where could they have hidden?

As he watched the driver crawled out of the front of the wreckage and pulled a pistol. He shot one of the marauders in the back at close range before the others had shot him down. They put several more rounds into the body to make sure, then they took the pistol too.

“Nothing I can do.” Jonathan told himself as he sat with his back to the boulder.

“You didn't exactly try!” A complaining voice said, Jonathan opened his eyes to see April May Richter standing there with her hands on her hip. “I'm very disappointed.”

She wasn't real, this was part of his imagination. She was wearing the flower-patterned dress, her favorite, except this one was clean as new.

“How would I fight those guys off? I'd be dead too.” Jonathan explained.

April May stamped her foot. “You could have led some of them away. Brought them with you. They weren't all helpless, just in shock.”

“I'm no hero.” Jonathan told her. “I'm just trying to survive. If that makes me a coward then so be it.”

The look on April May's face softened. “You are so much better when you aren't alone. You act like a real man when you have something to protect.”

Jonathan wanted to say something in reply but the imaginary girl was no longer looking at him, she was looking off to his right. He followed her gaze and was shocked to see a woman, a little girl and the old blind man hiding behind the next boulder. The girls were staring at Jonathan Richter as if they expected something from him.

April May was gone.

Chapter Two

The cave wasn't very large but it was shelter against the sun, weather and from being seen for the moment. The marauders had left the attack site but there was no good reason for them to go back there.

Jonathan stood near the mouth of the cave looking in. The old man sat on the dirt floor next to his daughter who was consoling the sobbing girl child. When the shock of the explosion and crash had finally worn off, the girl had another shock: her mother and brother were dead.

“I'm going to climb the hill and scout around. I don't think we were all that far from the next outpost before the attack.” Jonathan told them. He didn't get any reply or even an acknowledgment, so after a moment he turned and left.

At the top of the hill he could see the bus, looking in the direction they had been going he could see the pyramid-like top of another hill in the distance. When he had made the trip coming here, there had been a way-stop over there on the far side. It had to be several miles or more, he was no real judge of that.

He looked down at his pack, lighter because he had offered a liter of water and some bandages to the others when they reached the cave. The daughter of the old blind man, who said she was called Sela, had taken charge of the orphan and now played caregiver to both of them. Jonathan shook his head, they were doomed. He'd be doomed too, if he stayed.

“You can't just abandon them.” April May said, she was standing right behind Jonathan.

“We'll just all die together if I don't.” He replied.

“You always run away!” She accused him.

He nodded. “That's called survival.”

“Sela tries to help people.” April May said.

“Selia is a fool. I'm shocked she lived this long. Probably never left the safety of the settlements before for all I know.” Jonathan said, “Now that she's out here in the wastelands, her lifespan could be measured in hours.”

“I could make it to the Way-Station in a couple of hours by myself.” Jonathan told her, “If I have to bring them along, it could take more than a day. That's how people die out here, they get concerned with others who become anchors.”

“They're people too.” his daughter responded. His imagined daughter, at any rate.

Humanity was nearly extinguished in the cataclysm and had been cheap ever since. Life was brutal and short, unless you were “lucky” to live long enough to suffer even more. The blind old man would have been dispatched in most communities, “mercifully”, as a burden on others. Hardship was a way of life for everyone, sometimes it made no sense to sacrifice everyone for the sake of one person.

No doubt that Sela loved her father, but she might condemn all of them to die on his behalf when the time came.

Jonathon pushed the thoughts away. He was getting way ahead of himself. He decided to return to the cave and inform Selia that the Way-Station wasn't too far away. “Too far” had been a stupid comment, what was the alternative? Die here instead?

When he returned to the cave Selia looked up in surprise, as if she never expected him to come back. The little girl was leaning against her, asleep. Selia had been dabbing at the tears on the face of the girl with a cloth when he walked in.

“We can get there before nightfall.” He told her. Actually, he suspected that the girl and old man would slow them down far too much for that to happen. “If we could hurry.”

Selia looked at her father. “So, realistically, it would take longer than that?”

Jonathan sat near the cave entrance with his back to the wall. “A person could make the trip in a couple of hours. I was being reasonable.”

Selia shook her head and answered, “No, you were being a jerk. Are you suggesting that you go alone and that you would bring back help? Because I know that never happens.”

“Well, it'll take forever if you decide to pick up and carry every boulder we come across along the way back to civilization, such as it is.” He told her.

“This girl is not a boulder. Her name is Rose, by the way.” Selia told him. “You never asked, because you didn't want to personalize this. My father's name is Jack.”

The old man looked around. “I can talk, you know.”

Jonathan couldn't help but grin but he looked outside the cave to keep Selia from seeing it. That was the first time the blind old man had said anything at all in his presence.

“My name is Jonathan Richter. I want to get back to Great City as badly as anyone. I have my own little burden there, waiting for me.” He told her, not looking in her direction. “If we are going to reach the Way-Station sometime tonight, we should start walking.”

Soon they were walking through the desolated landscape toward where the Way-Station was supposed to be. To say the landscape was totally barren was untrue, there were large clumps of green mold growing here and there. These served as a food source for the giant lizards, Reekers, that roamed the continent, but they would just as soon eat an animal or a person.

The little girl, Rose, walked quietly. She didn't complain and seemed lost in her own world. Selia kept an eye on the girl but her hand was holding that of her fathers.

“The first thing I'm going to do when we get back to Great City is rob my piggy bank and buy me some actual meat.” Sela said in a hopeful voice, “I don't care if it's Reeker meat, I'll take it.”

“Yuck, Reeker meat.” Rose said.

“The secret is to soak it in a sauce for an hour before you cook it.” The old man said, “Then it'll taste and smell more like the sauce than the Reeker.”

“Well, I couldn't afford much better.” Sela replied. “Then again, I guess I could always stick to beans and potatoes.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. Sela was trying to keep the minds of her two tired charges off of their long trek, a distraction. Still, he found all this talking to be annoying.

“So Jonathan.” She called out. “Where abouts in Great City do you live?”

After a sigh he answered, “The Northern-eastern quarter.”

“I see.” She answered, and didn't offer a response telling him where she lived. He wondered if she was trying to bait him into conversation.

Great City had been built after the Cataclysm by those who survived. At the center was the core that had once been a township, beyond that it had all started as a shanty full of refugees from the death that had conquered the world. Since then the shanty town had been improved but it was still nowhere near the advanced civilization that had existed before.

Jonathan and April May had lived in a three-room tenement. There was a bathroom in the hall. One room was the living room, one was a kitchen and one was a bedroom. It was small, as all of the housing in Great City was, unless you had grown wealthy.

There were peddlers on the streets and some shops took up the bottom floors in the tenement buildings because life and commerce had to go on. Seeing a wagon pulled by a horse or dog was common, but a few times he had seen running vehicles that weren't buses.

“I had a radio.” Selia said.

“Really?” Rose asked, “I saw one in a shop once. The shopkeeper wound it up and I heard music from it. It was too expensive though. Like seven whole pounds of potatoes expensive.”

The Great City authority owned the broadcast tower and for a few hours every day there were two channels of music and later on there was an official broadcast for an hour or so. There might only be a thousand working radios in the whole city, and it seemed wasteful to Jonathan. People were dying because of diseases spread by all the human waste and dead animals and the authority was more interested in entertainment.

It was starting to get dark and they were coming up to the hill with the pointy top. The Way-Station was probably only a mile or two away but they would not make it before dark.

“I'm tired.” Rose said. The old man echoed her, “Me too.”

“Jonathan, look for a place to stop for the night.” Selia called out.

He stopped and looked back at them. “Who put her in charge?” Jonathan asked himself, but out loud he said “I'll look for a cave or something.”

As soon as he was out of their sight, April May was walking next to him.

“Rose seems nice.” April May said, “Sad, though.”

Jonathan tried to ignore the imaginary image of his daughter. He found a depression surrounded on three sides by boulders. It might do for the night.

“Do you think it will ever rain out here again?” April May asked.

He shrugged. “As long as this isn't a Reeker nest, and it's too clean for that, I think we're in business.”

He found the others and led them back.

“This is kind of cozy.” Sela said.

“Like a topless cave.” Rose told her.

“We should be safe here for the night.” Jonathan told them.

Later the blind old man asked, “Selia, can you see the stars? Do you remember the constellations?”

She shook her head. “I don't really remember.”

“Oh, come on, what about the easy ones?” he asked his daughter.

She looked around and then pointed up, “That's the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.”

The old man laughed. “If you keep looking, you'll find other ones too.”

Then Rose pointed to a moving light in the sky. “What is that?”

Jonathan answered, “It's a satellite. Probably a dead one. It's bright because the sunlight is glinting off of it.”

“Oh.” The little girl said. “I guess the stories about the old world were true then.”

“Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow we will reach the Way Station and find a ride back to Great City where we live.” Selia told the girl who looked sadder than before. “You can live with me, if you want to.”

“Okay.” Rose said before lying down and turned to face the boulder wall.

.....

8 Short Stories is free

10 More Stories is free

Dragon of Torik is free

Reward: Stolen Planet is free

New Arrivals is 99 cents (novel)

The Fourth is 99 cents (for now)(novel)

Oasis is 99 cents (novella)