Excerpts
Here I’ve placed a few excerpts from my short stories which have been published or are inclined to become so.
From “Hellcare”
Sarah found herself in a vast white room. The clean panels faintly reflected her face, and she could see lines that represented scars crisscrossing it in the faint light. There was a bluish glow that emanated from somewhere in the room, and as her eyes adjusted better she could see strange tanks along the wall with numbers. She wondered where the genarians were. There was, indeed, no one in the room. She wondered if “23” was another hallway, or room, and briefly panicked that she would not have enough time. As she turned to the wall to look for another door, she saw a distinct “11” on the wall. Next to it was a hand-shaped lighted symbol. Next to it was a 13, further down the line. She counted all the way down until her number showed up. There it was, dimly blue, reflecting in her large grey eyes. She pressed her small hand into the shape.
A faint hum echoed in the chamber, and Sarah felt movement. Above her, a blue tank was descending from the ceiling. She could see the outline of a shape within it, but at first could not recognize the object suspended within the orb. As it drew closer she saw that it was a human form, but that something was horribly wrong. The first thing she noticed was the limbs. They were disfigured, and twisted, and all, especially the legs, had been amputated in successive pieces. Little marks were made on the pale flesh like rulers, and at each notch was a date. It seemed as if they were slowly dying, and when one part could not be sustained, it would be amputated. A faint barrier of misty-clear plastic covered the abdomen and chest, which was faintly rising. The creature was alive. Slowly, Sarah forced herself to look up at the face. There it sat, eye to eye with her now. There was no nose. It had been removed to make room for tubes which carried oxygen, no jaw, only tubes which carried some form of liquid nourishment. The skin was paper thin and colorless. There were no ears. The last thing that Sarah came to was the eyes. They were sunken into the sockets, retreating in fear. In fact the only thing that proved the creature had been human at one time was its eyes. They were deep gray wells of despair and fear. And they looked directly into hers of their own volition.
From “The Allenach”
It was night, but the burning wreath of the sun was peering behind the rough and rugged edges of the Azlue Mountains. Into the pre-dawn potential peered an older boy. His tunic was besmeared with dirt, his eyes large and full, with wide pupils that evolved to take in the low light of his subterranean home. He loved to sit up here, sometimes, just before the burning light became too bright for him, although he had to be careful lest the Jordanus should catch him. He liked to spread his light-skinned toes in the dry soil of the upper world, observed the night creatures slinking into their day-homes, and breathed in the dry air, even though it hurt his nose.
The Azlue Mountains were not really blue as their name implied in the Sudian language, they were green. They spread across the Eastern shores of Silas like the backbones of extinct sea creatures, twisted into convoluted fossilized shapes in death, with soft vegetation covering their carcasses like a shroud. Tiny rainwater lakes nestled amongst the earthy peaks, in the snowmelt valleys, spread across the landscape like rugged jewels, like so many rough and uncut sapphires, skipping off into the distance until they met the sea.
As he watched, a small prickly creature began to burrow into the earth not ten yards from his forbidden vantage point. Bits of rock and soil were flung hurriedly as the animal attempted to hide itself before the dangerous animals of the day would arise. Into the pile of debris ejected a brilliant rock and it caught the boy’s eye. It was turquoise, the color of the sea, and against his judgment, the boy wandered towards it cautiously. It was luminescent, like the moon, or stars. Reflected in his vision, it was all he could see. Slowly he padded towards the object, eyes widened in the darkness.
Beneath his feet a twig snapped. He fought the urge to gasp as he felt the beady eyes search, then lock onto his form. The beast rose up, nearly half his height, extending its claws menacingly. The boy stepped backward, and the spined creature forward. It became a chase, and then a fight. The boy scrambled for the doorway, the entrance to the caves. The brightening sky became increasingly harsh, and he could feel razor sharp teeth biting into his leg, a sharp pain and pressure on his very bone. He made no sound, no cry of pain, but with an anguished expression reached backwards to fight off his attacker. The light was so bright, the morning beams began to take away his vision, making him blind. He wasn’t far from the cave.
The boy was determined to survive. He kicked with all his might, turns toward the beast and screamed. Finally, it let go, and the boy watched as it scrambled off into the shade, only a blur. He dragged himself into the cool darkness, as silent tears streamed down his face.
