Zombie Drabble #96 “Routine”

There were three zombies in the pit at dawn. Big Mike adjusted his baseball cap as he looked down at them. “Mornin’.”

They hissed and moaned in response. It was always the same. There was only one break in the wall: the opening for the driveway. Big Mike had dug the pit trap across it first thing. He checked it every morning. He would douse his catch with gasoline, light them, go have breakfast while they burned.

Soon he would have to dig the pit out again. It was starting to get shallower as it filled with bone and ash.

Zombie Drabble #95 “Reprieve”

Millie woke with a start as the sound of a gunshot reverberating in the lockup area died. The woman in the next cell had turned during the night, and the guard had just dispatched her.

He came to her cell door and stared for a moment. “Seven days. You’re clean. Let’s see your wound.”

Millie stayed curled up against the back wall, but pushed her sleeve up to show the bite marks. The blue and purple stain to her skin around the wound was fading.

The guard gestured, and the cell door rumbled open. “Guess you’re lucky.”

Millie shivered. “Yeah.”

Fantasy Drabble #49 “Stanley and the Medusa”

Who knows how long it’s been since she turned me to stone? Not I. For a long time I remained standing there in the cave mouth, orange leaves drifted in past me. Then the snow, first a few flurries and then a blizzard.

When it melted I knew summer had come again. Presently I was discovered by a caravaner, probably searching for a new pass through the mountains. He laid me carefully in the back of his cart and, upon reaching the city, sold me to the King.

Now I stand symbolic guard within the King’s harem. I’m not complaining.

Fantasy Drabble #48 “Ambition”

In our hubris, we set a trap for a god. We were powerful enough that it might have worked, and foolish enough to imagine the odds in our favor.

It is said that Gix, water god, cannot resist a drowning maiden. We kidnapped an innkeeper’s child, dressed her in finery, and threw her into a pond.

The plan was to freeze the water with magic when Gix appeared therein. When Gix, a hundred crackling feet of angry ice, arose from the empty basin, we knew the extent of our failure.

I live only because I betrayed the others to him.

SF Drabble #81 “Stalker”

The sensors had picked it up a week ago, while I was taking spectrograph readings of the big blue gas giant’s atmosphere. It was in the trailing trojan point, just sitting there.

When I started my burn to move into the inner system, it followed. I never saw any type of drive flame, but it was matching my course, about a day behind.

I’ve tried to hail them repeatedly, radio and laser. I’ve even modulated my drive flame with a simple numeric message. No response.

If they don’t answer soon, I seriously might drop some ball bearings in my wake…

SF Drabble #80 “Seventh Inning Stretch”

We had box seats, but the ambassador wanted the full experience, so we sat along the third base line.

“I think I understand the rules,” he said after a few innings. “but not the purpose. This is not how you choose your leaders…”

“No,” I laughed. “We vote on them. This is entertainment.”

“Like a play?” He had seen a production of ‘Henry V’ the day before.

“Not exactly.”

Later, a batter fouled one off, right at us. The ambassador snapped it out of the air with a tentacle, and handed it to a little boy two rows back. “Fascinating.”