Innocence Lost - (Part One)

Region: New Spain (Napa)

Innocence Lost

(Part One)

“So we’re really going to do this?” Tara asked looking back at Cecily nervously.  Cecily just rolled her eyes and looked toward Gina saying “She’s gonna chicken out on us and you know it.”  “No she won’t Cess. Now stop giving her a hard time and be quiet.”  Gina responded flashing a broad smile at Tara while reassuring her.  “This is going to be so simple and when we are done just think about all the money we will have.  We can finally get a place we can call home and not have to deal with shit like this anymore ok?”  Tara agreed, shaking her head yes, returning a nervous smile to Gina.  If anyone could calm Tara down and lead this rag tag group of outcasts it was Gina.  Gina was always the one the group looked to for the smart decisions, any decision for that matter, so today was no different.  The only thing that changed was that instead of bringing their brand of thievery and recklessness to the people of Napa they had a bigger target in mind.  Today they were going to blow up a train, Queen Lo’s train.

Three nights ago Gina had drove into town with the girls following at her heels.  They were tired, filthy and badly in need of a good meal.  Stealing and robbing from unsuspecting travelers was becoming more and more difficult especially in Napa.  Since Hepatitis X ravaged the world and brought out the worst in most places people did what they had to do to survive.  For the last three years the girls had managed to make it on their own with only one another to depend on while avoiding the dreaded military enlistment or other life draining jobs their friends and family had taken just to survive, but now times were getting tough.  People were getting smarter and deadlier.  The general life of raiders and thieves was becoming all the more dangerous with each passing day.  If something didn’t change soon Gina knew that she and the other misfits would soon be a family no more.

Redemption - The Destroyer of Man

Region: Unknown

Shifra slumped to her knees a bit dizzy and stared in disbelief.  “You are the destroyer of man, the mother of tomorrow, but you have lost your way.” whispered the woman that stood in front of her.  The woman’s body shook as tears fell from her eyes while she forced the words out.  Shifra’s head swam as she tried to register what was happening.  She looked from the woman’s mouth to the lab coat she wore and noted the fact that it was peppered in a spray of red.  Is that blood? Shifra thought to herself.  That’s not supposed to be there.  She then noticed the woman’s hands, the right one in particular.  It held a scalpel and they both were painted with a thick red; a red that matched the odd sprinkling across the woman’s white cotton coat.  Shifra struggled to focus on what the woman was saying but for some reason the words were muffled.  She just could not make out what was being said no matter how hard she tried. 

As dizziness swallowed Shifra she turned her eyes away from the woman and to the floor where she knelt. It was then she saw her own lab coat was splattered with the exact same red.  Shifra’s hands were clutched to her stomach where a faucet of thick red syrup flowed out and splashed on the white tiled floor below.  It is blood. It is my blood.  Why is it my blood? Shifra thought to herself.  Still the events of the past few moments had not yet sunk in. When she looked back in confusion at the woman that stood before her she saw her mouth the words “I’m sorry”. A moment or maybe an eternity after she spoke those words the side of the woman’s head burst out in volcanic spray of yet another brilliant red.  Shifra watched, in what seemed like slow motion, as the woman that stood before her fell lifelessly to the floor.  She clearly heard the clang of the scalpel the woman had held hit the floor and bounce along the tile.  As the sound echoed in her head the last clear thought Shifra managed to have was how pretty the woman had looked in white; soon after a thick and inky darkness consumed her.

Trust - Chasing Tomorrow

Region: Key West

Lyn & Jack

(Trust is a 4 part story in the Chasing Tomorrow series that centers on the exploits of Ashlyn Weaver, Cassidy Welch and Jack Steiner.  The story is combined here in its entirety so that readers do not need to jump from one part to another)

Trust

She lays there asleep as I watch.  She doesn't know I am there enjoying the rise and fall of her chest and the soft smile on her face as she dreams.  Slowly I shed my clothes allowing them to pool on the dirt floor by her bed as I step towards her.  I raise her worn blanket and stealthily slide in behind her spooning my body against hers. I am greeted with a whispered and welcoming moan.  She nuzzles back against me contouring her body to the shape of mine as I run my hand across her exposed thigh.  She is wearing only a pair of silk panties and nightshirt.  At least that is the guess made by my exploring fingers.  When she finally opens her eyes and looks back at me it is accentuated by her bright baby blues and her warm smile.  She does not show fear or distrust.  She doesn't care how I found my way into her room or why now I am laying with her in bed.  She simply enjoys the moment.  As she stares me down, her mind wondering about something I can’t fathom, I quietly whisper “Good morning Lyn”.  Without uttering a single word her response is simple and immediate; moving her hands to my neck, she pulls me in for a long and sensual kiss that makes us both forget we have places to be today.

A few hours have passed and as she lies against my chest, exhausted and smiling, while slipping in and out of sleep, I stare out into the distance listening to the gulls cry while watching the crash of the waves on the nearby beach.  As I think to myself how I could stay here forever, with her, I almost miss the sounds of approaching boats.  In that same instance Lyn must have heard it too because she is suddenly standing in front of me with her hand shading her eyes, squinting into the blazing sun, past the white sand beach and scanning the blue water for wherever the sound is coming from.  When her gaze finally settles on the two dark objects I spotted moments ago rushing across the water toward the beach in front of us, panic floods across her face.

Instead of Drowning

Region: Unknown

Alice Holt

Instead of Drowning

(One Shot)

I looked around the room and took in my surroundings during a moment of calm. My labor had started so quickly that I hadn’t taken the time to really look over the makeshift delivery room.  As it turned out it was really nothing to look at. Green paint flaked off the walls and the plaster in places was crumbling. Large damp patches grew in the corners of the room and stretched across the celling. The windows were dirty and defused the light that came through in a strange yellow haze. The pipes that ran along the top of the room were rusty and leaked in places leaving a ruddy trail of brown as the water slowly marched toward the ground.  The room had a strange smell.  It was a kind of combination of damp and disinfectant that worked itself easily into your nose. The bed I lay upon was not much better.  An old white metal frame with rusty springs creaked with my every movement. The sheets were clean but could not disguise the disarray beneath them.   Where one of the corners had come undone I saw that the mattress was stained and my nose crinkled at the obvious smell of stale blood and urine.  But I couldn’t complain, at least I would have some help to deliver my baby.

“Ok Alice this is it” I heard the soft timid voice of the midwife, who up till then, had been at my side and helping me through it all, without pain relief I might add.  This was just one of the many major drawbacks to having a child unlawfully; at least unlawfully in the eyes of the community.  A community I never really wanted to be a part of. I pushed down with all my might grabbing the side rails of the bed and planted my feet just as I was told. Then, somewhere in the distance, I heard a faint voice say stop and so I did. “Just pant, it’s time to birth the head” came the voice again. I stopped; quick short purposeful breaths leaving my mouth. I felt myself stretch and burn but I took every ounce of pain, as every mother should for their child.  “Relax Alice” the strange voice said yet again, but this time from a little further away.