joifulartist84

I knew I had some old stories around here somewhere. This is a story I wrote several years ago for a World Lit class. The only limitation was that it had to be 7 pages. I started to edit it a little and then gave up - there's too much I would change now. I doubt I'll develop it any further; just wanted to see what you guys thought.

She woke up in a daze. Her muddy bag was next to her in the leaves and the moon was high. The forest around her was very still. She stared up at the constellations for a few minutes, not wanting to remember the evening's events: the screeching metal, panicked screams of other passengers, the unsettling feeling of being weightless as the train turned upside down. She had crawled into the bushes and vomited before passing out.

She snapped to attention as she heard voices coming from the upside-down train car. Peering out from the foliage, she saw four men in matching dark camouflage, inspecting the car and the bodies around it. A huge crater disrupted the track between cars.

The men carried semi-automatic weapons gleamed dully under the full moon. She watched long enough to see two more men come out of the train car, dragging someone between them. The men shouted to each other in an unfamiliar language. Their stiff postures and matching equipment indicated soldier. They seemed to be interrogating the unfortunate from the train with clipped phrases and sharp hand gestures. The crouched man sobbed quietly, his head between his hands. One man pulled a pistol from his armory.

He fired once.

The girl's eyes went wide and she clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. She couldn't bolt or they would see her. She decided these men weren't soldiers. They were killers; mercenaries sent to terrify and hurt civilians. She couldn't fathom what had happened to the police, or where the soldiers were to protect them. She crept from the scene.

The forest was dark and silent. She found herself counting her steps, making a rhythm in her head as she went along. She needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and the murderous men.

She shivered in her thin jacket and wrapped her arms around herself. She should be catching the train home from the city by now, pleasantly intoxicated. Not wandering around in the dark wondering if the men would find her; hoping that domestic forces would.

She stumbled over something soft and fell hard to the ground. Her bag went flying. Before she could curse her heels, the soft thing sat up and yelled out something unintelligible to her. Other shapes nearby materialized and bellowed to each other.

Panicked, she groped around briefly for her bag, then stood up and bolted away from them. Flashlights and shouts pierced the trees around her so she ran faster, losing her shoes somewhere along the way.

Morning found the girl in a small hollow, covered with leaves where the foreign men passed her by in the night. She reached for her bag; she had at least a stick of gum that would calm her roaring stomach.

It was not her bag. She must have grabbed the enemy’s backpack by mistake when she panicked. She poked inside, hoping for at least some rations. There was some jerky that she instantly devoured. She spilled the contents of the bag on the carpet of fallen leaves. There were typed papers with mixed up letters and numbers on them; she could bet they were some sort of code. She retrieved a rolled-up map. The military must be planning a counter-strike by now, they would need this information. Whatever it meant. She would follow the road to find them before the foreigners discovered her or the backpack.

The girl set as fast a pace as she could take. She kept in the shadows of the trees beside the road so she wouldn’t be spotted. The first few days were torture but on the third day she raided an abandoned grocery store, taking as much as she could carry and supplying her bloody, bruised feet with enormous boots. The next four days went better; she met no one and heard nothing except for some helicopters and distant explosions. She passed several burned-out automobile shells and she guessed that the enemy had done some target practice. Everywhere seemed deserted.

On the morning of the fifth day, her food ran out and she kept a lookout for another store. This time she found a whole town. She cautiously approached the large general store. But as she attempted to jimmy the lock, someone called out to her from the window above.

“Hold it right thar!” the voice said roughly. The girl froze as she heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun being pumped. “I got a loaded gun here and I ain’t afraid to use it. I don’t want no trouble so jus’ march yoreself back to where yew came from.”

“I’m sorry,” the girl stammered. “I’m not here to cause trouble, I just wanted some food. I have money.” It was foreign currency from the backpack, but the man didn’t need to know that.

“Money ain’t no good here anyway.” He was silet for a moment. “Alrigh’ wait there a minit.” He shut the window and disappeared. The girl waited, nervous about being out in the open. She was just about to leave when the lock clicked in the door; it opened and the man appeared.

“Come awn in.” He beckoned but when she didn’t move, he added gently, “I ain’t gonna bite you know.”

“Thank you.” The girl followed him into the apartment above the store.

“Can’t be too careful now with all them bullying SOB’s running around. Got tuh protect muh girls.” They stepped into the warm kitchen where two small girls with large, round eyes sat at the table.

“I kin give yew supper and a place to sleep tonight. Tomorra you’ll be on yer way,” he said firmly.

“Of course,” the girl breathed.

“Where yew headed, anyway?” the man asked as he finished some pancakes on the stove. The smallest girl poked a finger into her mouth.

“Not sure,” the girl replied. “I have to find the defense.”

The man chuckled. “Is a lil’ thang like yew gonna join up and help?”

The girl bristled. “I have information they’ll be wanting.” She retrieved the papers from the backpack. “It’s a code and a map. It must be what their plans are.”

“Is it now?” He slid plates of steaming pancakes in front of them and glanced at the papers. “Shore looks like it to me. Wal if yore going off to fight the enemy, you’ll need more than that.” He gestured to the barely appropriate clothes she had planned to wear in the city clubs. “I’d go with you except… well…” He nodded to the little girls. “I’ll be right back.” He stumped out of the room and soon returned with a pile of clothing and a blanket. “Here. Belonged to muh late wahf. Don’t think she’ll need it no more.”

“Thank you,” the girl said, pulling the heavy work clothes over her flimsy one. She could hide the bag underneath the folds.

The next morning the man again fed her and gave her a large pack of groceries. When she stepped out the door, he also presented her with a medium-sized handgun and several full clips.

“Yew know howdda use this?” When she nodded, he went on: “Good. Don’t unless you have to. Keep yoreself and those papers safe. Good luck n’ be careful.” He thumped her on the back.

“I will, and I can’t thank you enough,” the girl promised, tucking the gun carefully into her belt. She started away.

“Just git rid of them SOB’s so muh girls kin play in the yard!” he called at her receding figure.

Several days later on the road she awoke to a strange commotion. Peering out from underneath her coat, she could see dozens of people walking. Nobody was speaking, nor were they particularly organized; they just looked rather defeated. Many were pulling rickety, homemade carts filled with possessions. They looked like remnants of families but there were few small children. All walked with their eyes to the pavement.

She watched them pass for awhile and when she saw no one bothering them she decided to tag along. She gathered her things and when an opportune moment came, she fell into step with the rest of them. There were too many people here for her to stick out; she would just be another face. Eventually she worked her way into the center of the group, next to a boy about her age. She managed to catch his eye and smiled. He smiled back cautiously.

“Where is everyone going?” she whispered to him.

The smile disappeared and he shrugged. “South. Everyone’s headed south. Safer than the cities, I guess. No one can fight-”

His words were cut off when automatic gunfire burst from the forest. The girl threw herself to the ground and covered her head. People screamed and ran, trying to pull their carts. Someone tripped over her as they tried to get away. The boy lay next to her, his eyes wide and staring. The single bullet hole in his forehead oozed red. Her hands shook as she reached out to shut his eyelids.

Camouflage-clad men followed the bullets to see what fresh mayhem they caused. The girl lay still, hoping they wouldn’t notice her.

“Stop! Stop it! Leave my kids alone!” a woman shrieked nearby.

The girl cautiously glanced over. A middle-aged woman struggled to defend her two young teenage boy and girl from one of the men, disregarding the fact that he had the gun. An old man sat in their cart, shaking his cane at the man. The mother grabbed the cane and beat the dark man over the head with it. The girl had to admire the family’s bravery. The dark man savagely cracked the mother with the butt of his gun and she fell to the ground, dazed. The teenage girl screeched when the dark man grabbed her; the blows on his back from the boy mere mosquito bites.

The girl had the only means to stop this horrible man’s deeds. She strode up behind him with the borrowed gun pointing down. She had to be absolutely sure she would hit only the man. She raised her outstretched arm to his head and released the safety. Only at this click did the man freeze. He only had a split second more to live as the girl squeezed the trigger.

She had never hit anything other than paper targets before. The man’s blood splattered everywhere and he slowly sank to the ground. He stared up at the sky without seeing, a surprised look on his face. Both the family and the girl stood there in shock as the man’s blood pooled onto the pavement.

The mother was the first to move. “Thank you, oh thankyouthankyou…” The mother’s tears soaked the girl’s hair as she hugged the girl tight.

The girl stood stiffly in the embrace; the gun hung loosely in her hand and she stared down the road at the terrorists further pillaging civilians. The wounded and dead outnumbered the living. Terrified people ran from a pile of possessions that someone had put a grenade to.

Over the mother’s shoulder and through the curtain of smoke a familiar flag appeared on the horizon. It snapped to attention in the breeze and shortly the soldier attached to it appeared. A slow smile spread across the girl’s face.

She had found them.

__________________
Salutations from my corner of the universe,
Joi


"Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."- Stephen Hawking

phurst

Got boring after a while. Mistaking a pack for her purse? Don't buy it. Looks like it could be a good story but it reads kinda like Red Dawn perhaps. Her travels are a bit too easy like you are in a hurry to get her somewhere so cut the number of days lost and go right to the old man's store.