May 10, 2013

Video killed the radio star - Fiction Friday Challenge - all audiences.

Heya guys,

This week's prompt at Now Hark This! was an easy one .... if you know what to do with it: "Video Games".
I hadn't really been thinking about it much, because I'm on a roll writing a new fic, but I decided I would get my "2 cents" in for the week before I hit the hay, so I got busy on it.
I had a hint of an idea of where I wanted to take it, so I went with that and .... here's the result!

Enjoy the read and tell me how you liked it.


Thank you!





Video killed the radio star.



He knew things wouldn’t get any easier when the lights came back on. It had been a tough trip so far and he knew, just knew, it was bound to get worse. A lot worse. He could feel it in every inch of his body, in the way his skin tingled and his bones itched, in the thin layer of sweat that seemed to cover his entire body and in the fact the hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. He just knew this day was going to be a lot worse than the one before.
Clasping his weapons tightly, he inched forward, keeping his ears pricked and his breathing shallow so as not to give himself away. Quietly and carefully, he closed in on the corner, daring a quick peek to determine the dangers ahead. There were two. Two immediate threats to his advancement. Two targets to eliminate.
Taking a quiet but deep breath, he readied himself, tensing his muscles. When he was ready, he moved, fast as lightning, his weapons carrying his deadly message to the enemy, eliminating the threats before they could become real.
He crossed the room quickly, patted his victims down and retrieved their ammo. God knew he needed loads. He would never make it if he ran out of ammo. He needed to replenish it as often as possible. Thankfully his pockets were deep and he had loads of them. He could carry quite the stock. His backpack held some more goodies, but he didn’t need any of that right now, so he left it where it was, fit snugly against his back and secured across his chest and hips. He wasn’t about to lose it. If he did, he was dead meat.

Moving on, he spotted more enemies. Too many of them to take out in a frontal attack. He would have to be smarter than that.
Climbing up on some crates, he reached a platform from where he had a good angle and he fitted the sights on his rifle to help with his aim at this distance. He couldn’t afford to miss. Aiming carefully, he took out a first target. He went down without a sound and fell behind a crate.
Perfect.
He changed his aim and went for another kill, taking out the last of three as they walked the perimeter of the area. He changed his aim more quickly this time and took out number two as well, before anyone noticed anything. By then, he had given himself a good advantage. His aim was true and the third didn’t get a chance to reach cover before a bullet caught up with him. That was four down and nobody in a shooting position on their side. The fifth took a little more effort as he was hiding and only sporadically peeking out in the hopes of finding their foe. On one of those occasions, a bullet slammed into his forehead, killing him on the spot.
He moved forward on the platform while changing weapons. The last of the enemy was under him, hiding. He didn’t know if he was trying to locate the source of the danger, or simply hiding to keep from being killed. He put his money on the first option and proceeded with care. More men came running into the area and he cursed softly, backing up on the platform and changing back to the rifle. He didn’t need the sights this time but opened sustained fire on the group of men, killing half and causing the others to scatter. He flung a grenade in their direction, killing two more in the blast. The last one was hidden from view, but he could hear him and the other one calling out to each other. Taking a chance, he rolled off the platform and dropped down, controlling his drop with his left hand while his right held his handgun at the ready. His movement teased the others into action, but his reactions were faster and a first shot brought the first enemy down. Going low and spinning as he went, he brought the gun around on the last man standing as he ran towards him, probably intent on tackling him. He shot him in the face.

Alarms sounded suddenly and he realized he was running out of time.
He reloaded his rifle while he ran on, keeping his eyes on the area ahead.
Checking his watch, he knew he would have to hurry. His window closed in twenty minutes.

“Amanda!”

He froze on the spot.

“Amanda, time for dinner, honey.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.”

Now, Amanda. That video game isn’t going to go anywhere while you eat.”

The lights went out … for now.
They would come on again soon.
Right after dinner.




More entries can be found right here

No comments:

Post a Comment