Tag Archives: imagination

Excerpt from “Tales of the Lunatics”

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For #LineByLineTime “Rain”

Skyshaker dragged the mukat’s body into the cave and tossed it onto the pile of his other kills. “That’s the last. Think we’ll eat good tonight?”

Shadowstalker laughed. “I think we’ll be eating well for awhile! I haven’t seen that much meat at one time since the last Festival of Moons, and that was contributed by four clans!”

Striker stumped over to the outer entrance and stared out. She pointed her staff at the horizon. “Just in time, too. See the clouds? They tell of a storm that can last days. Could be we’ll need every bit of that meat, and all the plants we’ve gathered. Do we have enough of the fire rocks to last a while? Gathering more from the lower caverns will give us something to do when we can’t go outside.”

Skyshaker laughed. “Are you afraid you’ll melt in the rain?”

He blinked as all the others stared at him, their jaws dropped. “What? Did I say something?”

Loper shook his head. “If nothing else, that remark reminds us you have spent most of your life underground in the mines.”

“What do you mean?”

Moonsinger sighed. “The storm Striker speaks of is one well known to us. It does not come often, but when it does, everyone hides from it. It is not just rain, it is wind, and sometimes balls of ice bigger than rocks. Trees fall under its fury. Because our opening to the outside is large here, we must take our belongings and food down to a lower cave, where the storm’s power is muted. How long do we have, Striker?”

“Not as much as we need.” Striker spat out the opening. “We must hurry. Make sure the firestarters are safe from the wet first. Skyshaker, how weary are you? The rest of us will struggle to move that meat, but we must get it down below. Now!”

Skyshaker shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I won’t take it all the way down, just partway and then toss it. Just keep the bottom of the ramp clear.”

“Move, you laggards!” Striker shouted. Everyone in the cavern leaped into action.

Striker was correct. Just hours later, Skyshaker collapsed after tossing the last body down the ramp to the lower cavern. After catching his breath, he sat up and stretched aching muscles. The silence caught his attention. Usually the caverns were alive with the sound of the diggers chittering to each other or their claws scraping through the rock walls of the mountain. He looked around. They had all vanished. He ventured down the ramp and looked around. The other den members were huddled around a big fire. Striker had her biggest pot sitting over it, steam rising off the top. None of them were making a noise either.

His mouth opened to question the silence when the sound came from above him. As he jerked his head around, he saw the others flinch and huddle tighter. He raced back up the ramp. The wind met him with a face full of water and a rising scream in his ears. Holding his tail over his eyes, he managed to block the wind and rain enough to see the outside opening lit with a sky full of fire as lightning flashed nonstop.

Excerpt from WIP Project Burning Bush

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For #LineByLineTime : Tropes (The Wise Old Man)

Nita chuckled. “He said his name was Dark Moon Rising, but I call him Moonie.”

“That is very rude!” Minji snapped.

“He doesn’t seem to mind.” Nita shrugged.

“Probably because he’s still scared of you,” Harper suggested, shaking his finger at her with a teasing grin. “Shame on you. Show some respect for your elders.”

Nita blew a raspberry at him. “Why start now?”

Minji threw her hands up in the air. “Perhaps because we may need their help getting back home?”

“Hey, they’re not Munchkins, okay? I haven’t seen any yellow brick road around here yet, and I doubt if Glinda the Good Witch is going to show up looking for snazzy red shoes.”

(Skip)

Moonie interrupted Luthor’s retort as he stumped up to Minji and patted her shoulder with his four-fingered hand. “Be at peace, young one,” he whispered. “I have also known the betrayal of family and watched my family members die because of my decisions and words.”

Minji sniffed and looked around at him. “Did you choose the losing side and someone in your family did not?”

“What, you haven’t figured out who he is?” Harper sounded a little surprised.

Nita stared at him. “What are you talking about, Chico? He’s a toothless bald old man with some missing parts and lots of scars. What’s to figure out? What, is he somebody famous or something? And how did you find out?”

Harper shook his head. “I just observed, made a few guesses, and then asked. Famous? More infamous, I guess, to the folks around here. Tell them your story, Moonie. It will help them understand what we’re up against.”

Moonie shivered. Minji sniffed again, grabbed one of the shemaughs out of her pack, and draped it around him. He offered her a weak smile and eased himself down beside Tweety.

“So many mistakes,” he muttered. “So much pain and death. My fault, all my fault.”

“Stop that,” Harper ordered. “This is all on him, not you. You didn’t put a gun – or a knife – to his throat to force him to make the choices he did.”

“Harper is correct,” the Voice said. “To claim all fault is arrogance and pride.”

Moonie blinked and sat a little straighter. “I cannot argue with the Great Spirit. This is my tale, then.”

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush

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For #LineByLineTime “Flattery”: A scene based on another movie or book

“Obviously, he was also experiencing an adrenaline rush,” Minji said, flicking her hand. “It can give unnatural strength for a short time. Personally, I wished to hit you over the head with a rock. You were very foolish to challenge an unknown entity after it demonstrated what it was capable of.”

            “Yeah, okay, okay. It was dumb.” Nita gave her hair a couple of frustrated tugs, then started pacing back and forth. “Now you know what I look like when I’m freaked out. I tend to react before I start thinking.” She spun to face the other teens. “You think that really could be an alien or something?”

             “I read a lot of science fiction, but I don’t know.”   Harper shrugged and rubbed his chin.  “Why would an alien care about a bunch of primitive natives? Maybe we’re all asleep and hooked up to some weird experiment like a virtual reality game and that was this game’s version of a dungeon master or something.”

            “Hey, maybe it really was God,” he said and chuckled. “You know what some games call their version of a dungeon master, to avoid trademark infringement on the Dungeons and Dragons game that came up with the term?” He grinned at the two girls’ frowning faces. “Game Operations Director. GOD, get it?”

            “I will be very angry if we are asleep and forced to play a stupid game. Why would we be made to do that?”

            “If that’s what’s going on, whoever the jokers are that did it better keep me asleep. They won’t like what I’ll do once I’m awake.” Nita rubbed her eyes. “We gotta get some shut-eye. Get Superman up before he goes all the way out so he can get to his bed. Why couldn’t we end up somewhere with a hot shower and comfortable beds?” She muttered under her breath as she trudged toward the separate shelter they had decided to make for themselves.

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush

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For #LineByLineTime: Mean lines

Harper snorted. “The only thing my parents ever did to help me was paying Luthor to be my bodyguard. Not having to watch for bullies gave me more time to do computer stuff.”

Luthor jerked upright from where he had leaned against the window. “You knew? How?  They told me not talking about it was a condition of the job.”

His small seatmate shrugged. “Like I said, I think half the time they forget I’m there. They talked about it over the dinner table the night they hired you. I didn’t know you then, but I kept my eyes open for a really big kid named Luthor, and you showed up the next day at school wanting to be my friend. I’ve been enjoying the lack of hassling ever since.”

Nita leaned over toward Luthor, her eyebrows raised. “So, the friend bit was an act all this time? You don’t really like Chico, here?” She wiggled her shoulders as if eagerly anticipating a fireworks display.

Luthor just curled his lip at her. “Didn’t Mrs. Williams say no trying to start something? As it happens I do like Harper. You, I can live without ever seeing again.”

“Oooh! I just want to die! He doesn’t like me!” Nita flung herself back in her seat with a dramatic fake sob and put her forearm across her face. 

The seat hissed with the sudden pressure, or perhaps it was Minji expressing her disgust. “Must you be so dramatic? Why do you not take drama class if you insist on overacting?”

Nita dropped her arm to her lap while she rolled her eyes. “If I want to be a drama queen, what’s it to you? I think it makes life more interesting!  Otherwise, I’d be screaming with boredom right now.”

Excerpt from The Angel Tree

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For #LineByLineTime : Tearful scenes

Christie sat in her favorite rocker and slowly moved back and forth, staring at the display.  “My children loved to do this sort of thing.  All three were always making things, drawing pictures, and every Christmas they would make an ornament for the tree.  They were so creative, so – so lively, so…” she stopped and began sobbing.  “They were so alive, and they’re not anymore.  Ronnie, Donnie, Juliet, my babies, they’re gone.  James, my husband, they’re all gone.  I’m all alone, and I can’t bear it anymore.  I can’t stay here anymore, I have nothing left!  I want to die!  Please, just let me die!”   Her throat closed until the last was a whispered scream.

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush (a work in progress) for #LineByLineTime : “Morning Scene”

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The smell of burning wood and the rustle of movement snapped the four teens into wakefulness. Nita and Harper were on their feet before their eyes were completely open.

Luthor stretched and yawned. “Morning already?” He rubbed his face. “Guess breakfast is up to me and you again, Nita.”

Minji rolled to her back and groaned. “It was not a dream, then? Ow, my back! This ground is far too hard. Perhaps next time I will try the hammock you suggested, Luthor.”

Nita collapsed crosslegged on her silver emergency blanket and grabbed her shoes. “Phew,” she muttered. “Need to do some laundry, but how?”

Harper heaved a sign and reached for his shoes as well. “Laundry, sure. I want a cup of coffee and a breakfast taco, myself. Mom was all ‘that’s unhealthy!’, but Dad always got some for both of us when he took me to school. School, huh. Wonder what Mr. and Mrs. Williams are doing right now?”

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush

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A Work in Progress

For #LineByLineTime – Killer Chapter Endings

“We should compare notes on training. That’s some impressive wetwork on your part.”
“What a professional phrase. You, too, are an expert in black ops?”
“You sound pretty professional yourself, Dragonlady.”
Luthor stared at all of them. “What are you talking about? What’s wetwork? And black ops? Doesn’t that mean something bad?”
“I think we should have a long conversation soon,” Harper murmured. He looked around them. “But not right now. And not here.”

Excerpt: Project Burning Bush

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(A Work in Progress)

For #LineByLineTime: The Good Guys Win

Everybody swung around as one old woman cried out.  People screamed, pots were dropped, and everybody ran, except the pregnant girl, still sitting by the fire, and the old man, who gripped his staff in shaking hands and stepped in front of the teens. 

Four horsemen stared back at them.  One pointed toward the deer carcass as he chattered excitedly in Spanish to his companions. They nodded, their mouths open and their eyes wide as they looked at the four teenagers.

Nita didn’t take her eyes off them as her hands slid to her knives still hidden in her jeans. “Apparently they’re upset we caught a deer.  Sounds like we did a big no-no.  They also think we look way too much like their bosses.  I’d assume that means they’re the bad guys.”

“Not to mention the way the locals ran off screaming.  Wonder if these are some of the guys who were here before?”  Harper scratched his chin. “Maybe we should go hide somewhere, too?”

Minji stood straight, then marched, shoulders back, to stand beside the old man.  “I will not leave Dark Moon Rising and Singing Water to them. They are brave, but helpless.”

“Maybe I can scare them,” Luthor growled, and flexed his arms, waving the bloody knife in his hand.

Harper shuffled backward.  “I’ll just stand behind the tree, shall I? I wouldn’t want any of you to trip over me…” He trailed off as he reached the tree and darted around to crouch behind it.

“All of you shut up and let me talk to them and stay out of my way.  I just killed a deer and four rabbits.  These guys are no challenge.” Nita’s hands were in her pockets now.

Minji sniffed. “There is a large difference between hunting animals for food and killing a human,” she began.

Suddenly all four horsemen drew sabers and charged, screaming and waving their weapons.  Before the others could move to escape or defend themselves, there was a knife in the throat of the foremost. He toppled sideways off his confused horse, who stopped charging and turned in circles, dragging its rider. 

Another knife appeared in the middle of the second rider’s torso.  He dropped his saber and clutched at the knife, his mouth open and his eyes wide.  His horse also stopped charging to step nervously side to side as the rider swayed and fell back across the horse’s rump before the horse’s movements made him slide to the ground, his feet slipping out of the stirrups.

Before Nita could aim at the other two riders, Minji snatched the staff from the old man and screamed at the one coming at them. She swung her staff at the man’s sword arm.  There was a loud crack and the blade dropped to the ground beside her.  Her attacker yelled and clutched his arm as it flopped loosely, the bones in it moving in different directions halfway between the elbow and wrist. Minji spun on one foot as the horse and rider moved past her.

Her momentum slid the staff through her hands until she held the end of it. She swung it like a bat at the back of the man’s head.  There was a sound like a melon dropping on pavement, and the rider flipped forward, falling past the horse’s shoulder.  The horse shied, kicking at the fallen rider as his body landed at the horse’s feet. 

The fourth rider spun his horse and started to race away out of the clearing. Before he made it to the trees, the old woman their host had called Burning Wind ran out in front of them. She waved a blanket and shouted as the horse almost reached her. The horse squealed and reared.  Its rider fought to bring him back down, sawing at the reins and shouting. But the horse reared up again as the old lady snapped the blanket at its nose and screamed.  

Unbalanced, the rider yanked at the reins again trying to pull himself up, and the horse rolled backward and landed on the rider.  The rider’s legs spasmed, then went limp.  The horse rolled back and forth a few times before he got his feet under him and stood up, leaving the man on the ground.  The man did not move.

Excerpt from Tales of the Lunatics: Skyshaker and Moonsinger

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Author’s note: This is a work in progress about an alien world and alien creatures.

How to show surprise and shock for #LineByLineTime

The one-eyed guard stared through the bars at the big male. He had never in his life seen an alpha feed lesser members of the pack, but he remembered the tales from his grandsire. He turned and strode away. His movements were careful, normal. They kept an ALPHA male in their prison?

As he passed other guards, he kept his face frozen in its usual surly expression. When the others tried to speak to him, he snarled to avoid speaking back. He was already known for a foul temper, so nobody was surprised. They finally left him alone.

He kept walking, all the way past the guards’ rooms and past the storerooms buried deep within the underground complex. He walked faster, then finally ran, deep into the tunnels he had discovered there. He staggered to a stop in a small cave, his breath whistling out of his snout, partly from exertion, but mostly from pent up emotions finally allowed to escape.

He threw his head back and screamed.

Excerpt: Project Burning Bush

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(A work in progress)

Right in the middle of another funny face, Harper grabbed his head and dropped to his knees with a high-pitched scream.

Nita fumbled her phone back into her pocket and scowled. “Knock it off, Chico, that’s not funny. People gon’ start callin’ 911!” She cursed briefly in Tex-Mex when he thrashed on the ground, making more high-pitched noises.

Luthor and Minji ran back to them. Luthor tried to pick Harper up but couldn’t hold onto him. He finally pinned the smaller boy to the ground with his own body. “Call Mrs. Williams!” he shouted. “Harper’s having a seizure!”  He managed to get a hand to Harper’s mouth to check if Harper had bitten his tongue. Harper’s teeth were grinding together, but there was no sign of blood.

Minji shook her phone. “I’m only getting static! What about yours, Nita?”

Nita yanked hers back out of her pocket. “You serious? He’s not putting it on?” She tapped her phone and shook her head. “Same here. Nothing but static! What’s going on?”

Luthor did his best to brace Harper’s head where the boy was whipping it side to side on the gravel. “Never mind the phones! One of you run as fast as you can to find the teachers! If he doesn’t stop seizing soon, he might get some serious damage! Go, already!”

“I’ll go!” Nita jammed her phone back in her pocket and hitched her backpack up. But as she spun on one foot back toward the start of the trail, she found herself falling sideways across Luthor and Harper. “What the!” she started, then lost her breath as Minji piled on top of her. “Hey, get off!” She tried to push the other girl away but discovered neither of them could get their balance.