fearofboredom
June 2nd, 2014, 08:06 PM
So I had a really weird/kindof cool dream that I wrote down in a dream log and recently started turning it into a story. Here's the introduction, let me know if it catches your eye? Thanks
“You looking for something?” Bone asked, watching over her counterpart’s shoulder. Caroline sucked in a breath, startled. She spun around, her chair at the monitoring station squeaking as it swiveled.
“Don’t scare me like that, Bone,” she said. “I didn’t even hear you come up.”
Bone smiled. “Sorry. But don’t let me distract you,” she nodded to the screen.
“I take it my shift’s over?”
“Not quite yet.” Caroline humphed and swiveled back around, placing a hand on the control pad as Bone repeated, “Watcha lookin’ for?”
“Hmmmm? There!” With quick fingers, the older girl froze the screen. “Got a walker.”
“Really?” Bone leaned in.
The young woman in the frame was facing toward the camera, so they had a perfect angle on her. Bone looked closely at her face, and all the sudden, she was remembering-
“You want to go out to eat today? I don’t have a lunch.”
“Sure. I didn’t have time to pack one this morning.”
Bone laughed. “I just plain forgot.”
Her friend – Jennifer, Bone thought – joined in. “How about Taco Bell?”
“Do we have time?” Bone asked.
“If I drive fast.” Both girls laughed again.
“Sounds good.”
Bone blinked, and Caroline was pulling out a pen with which to jot down her sighting. She got to the name column and looked up. “Hmmm. Brunette. A good brunette name… I don’t think we have a Karen, do we?”
“Jennifer.” Bone said.
“No, that’s more of a blonde name. Besides, we already have a Jenny.”
“Jenny’s not the same as Jennifer. Her name’s Jennifer.”
“Who made you the boss?” Caroline bristled.
“You’re shift’s officially over,” Bone said, spinning the chair around forcefully. “My turn.”
The other watcher looked ready to argue, then shrugged, obviously deciding it wasn’t worth the effort. “Fine,” she said, levering herself out of the old office chair. “I wish you the joy of them.”
Bone replaced the other girl at the desk, looking at the clipboard as she picked up the pen. She wrote in graceful script, under the column that read ‘Name’: Jennifer.
It was the watcher-on-duty’s job to name those they spotted. She took that duty seriously, but too many of the watchers didn’t. Victims of the contagion who had recently awakened forgot nearly all of their past before their exposure, names included. The survivors had long since taken to giving those they found new names, for lack of a better option.
Bone sighed. She knew the four-letter word was not her real name. Besides the unlikelihood of it, she knew she would remember more, if only she could recall her name.
At least Caroline picked real names, common ones, for all that she chose by hair color. Not like the lazy watcher who’d spotted Bone, out there wandering when she woke up. She’d asked him once, where he’d come up with the name.
“Well, it was one o’clock when I first saw you.”
Momentarily, Bone was speechless. “And the ‘B’?” she finally managed.
“You were my second walker of the day. The first was ‘A’, and then-hey!” Bone turned on her heel and walked off before he even finished.
How were you ever going to have any chance at all of stumbling upon someone’s real name if you didn’t at least try?
Bone pressed the play button on the console when she finished writing. She watched for a moment as the oddly familiar figure on the monitor turned and beckoned to something off screen. The tall brunette knelt and, seconds later, lifted onto her hip a young girl.
A young girl!
Bone froze in her seat, then leapt up and hurried after Caroline. She had said ‘I wish you the joy of them.’
“Caroline!” Bone called anxiously. “When did you first spot them?”
Caroline stopped and turned, arms akimbo with annoyance written in every line of her posture. “About ten. They walked off-camera really fast, and I didn't know where they were going so I had trouble picking them up again.”
Bone returned to her station and sat back down with a thump. About ten. What time is it now - they been up for, let’s see… at least an hour. Registering that the video still ran, she froze the frame, a perfect angle illuminating the child’s face. She looked to be no older than four and, from the way she leaned against Jennifer’s shoulder, was plainly tired.
Quickly, Bone figured in how long the waking process took, guessed the time that could have elapsed between her wakeup, the two girls finding each other, coming into view of a camera to which Caroline had access, plus the time for actually spotting them; she guessed they could be more than three hours into their second awakening. Jennifer could probably make it eight, nine hours. Children had five, at the most.
If they had to wait another five hours for rescue…
The girl wouldn’t make it. She’d be asleep soon.
And this time, she wouldn’t wake up.
The premise is that there's a toxin that puts everyone into a coma; they start waking up again one by one, & if they seal themselves inside they're fine for a while (I'm thinking because uv rays make the toxin much more active), but if they fall asleep again there heart rate drops too low and they die.
“You looking for something?” Bone asked, watching over her counterpart’s shoulder. Caroline sucked in a breath, startled. She spun around, her chair at the monitoring station squeaking as it swiveled.
“Don’t scare me like that, Bone,” she said. “I didn’t even hear you come up.”
Bone smiled. “Sorry. But don’t let me distract you,” she nodded to the screen.
“I take it my shift’s over?”
“Not quite yet.” Caroline humphed and swiveled back around, placing a hand on the control pad as Bone repeated, “Watcha lookin’ for?”
“Hmmmm? There!” With quick fingers, the older girl froze the screen. “Got a walker.”
“Really?” Bone leaned in.
The young woman in the frame was facing toward the camera, so they had a perfect angle on her. Bone looked closely at her face, and all the sudden, she was remembering-
“You want to go out to eat today? I don’t have a lunch.”
“Sure. I didn’t have time to pack one this morning.”
Bone laughed. “I just plain forgot.”
Her friend – Jennifer, Bone thought – joined in. “How about Taco Bell?”
“Do we have time?” Bone asked.
“If I drive fast.” Both girls laughed again.
“Sounds good.”
Bone blinked, and Caroline was pulling out a pen with which to jot down her sighting. She got to the name column and looked up. “Hmmm. Brunette. A good brunette name… I don’t think we have a Karen, do we?”
“Jennifer.” Bone said.
“No, that’s more of a blonde name. Besides, we already have a Jenny.”
“Jenny’s not the same as Jennifer. Her name’s Jennifer.”
“Who made you the boss?” Caroline bristled.
“You’re shift’s officially over,” Bone said, spinning the chair around forcefully. “My turn.”
The other watcher looked ready to argue, then shrugged, obviously deciding it wasn’t worth the effort. “Fine,” she said, levering herself out of the old office chair. “I wish you the joy of them.”
Bone replaced the other girl at the desk, looking at the clipboard as she picked up the pen. She wrote in graceful script, under the column that read ‘Name’: Jennifer.
It was the watcher-on-duty’s job to name those they spotted. She took that duty seriously, but too many of the watchers didn’t. Victims of the contagion who had recently awakened forgot nearly all of their past before their exposure, names included. The survivors had long since taken to giving those they found new names, for lack of a better option.
Bone sighed. She knew the four-letter word was not her real name. Besides the unlikelihood of it, she knew she would remember more, if only she could recall her name.
At least Caroline picked real names, common ones, for all that she chose by hair color. Not like the lazy watcher who’d spotted Bone, out there wandering when she woke up. She’d asked him once, where he’d come up with the name.
“Well, it was one o’clock when I first saw you.”
Momentarily, Bone was speechless. “And the ‘B’?” she finally managed.
“You were my second walker of the day. The first was ‘A’, and then-hey!” Bone turned on her heel and walked off before he even finished.
How were you ever going to have any chance at all of stumbling upon someone’s real name if you didn’t at least try?
Bone pressed the play button on the console when she finished writing. She watched for a moment as the oddly familiar figure on the monitor turned and beckoned to something off screen. The tall brunette knelt and, seconds later, lifted onto her hip a young girl.
A young girl!
Bone froze in her seat, then leapt up and hurried after Caroline. She had said ‘I wish you the joy of them.’
“Caroline!” Bone called anxiously. “When did you first spot them?”
Caroline stopped and turned, arms akimbo with annoyance written in every line of her posture. “About ten. They walked off-camera really fast, and I didn't know where they were going so I had trouble picking them up again.”
Bone returned to her station and sat back down with a thump. About ten. What time is it now - they been up for, let’s see… at least an hour. Registering that the video still ran, she froze the frame, a perfect angle illuminating the child’s face. She looked to be no older than four and, from the way she leaned against Jennifer’s shoulder, was plainly tired.
Quickly, Bone figured in how long the waking process took, guessed the time that could have elapsed between her wakeup, the two girls finding each other, coming into view of a camera to which Caroline had access, plus the time for actually spotting them; she guessed they could be more than three hours into their second awakening. Jennifer could probably make it eight, nine hours. Children had five, at the most.
If they had to wait another five hours for rescue…
The girl wouldn’t make it. She’d be asleep soon.
And this time, she wouldn’t wake up.
The premise is that there's a toxin that puts everyone into a coma; they start waking up again one by one, & if they seal themselves inside they're fine for a while (I'm thinking because uv rays make the toxin much more active), but if they fall asleep again there heart rate drops too low and they die.