Shifting The Blame

When Jackie found the caterpillar crawling in her front lawn, it precipitated a world war. The war began with nuclear warheads dropped on several strategic locations, including Jackie's house. She and her parents were killed instantly, without understanding her role in the sudden collapse of human civilization.

Jackie's family lived near a top-secret military installation that was critical to the nation's defense. That caterpillar was a nanobot from an enemy state. When Jackie picked it up, thinking it was an actual bug, the remote handlers panicked.

That did not stop the world for cursing Jackie as it slipped into oblivion.

The Margin Between Here And There

The margin between her final breath and eternity was shorter than she'd been led to believe, barely enough time to comprehend what was happening. She felt herself suffocated by regret and panic and an overwhelming sense of injustice..

There had been one moment when she'd been truly happy.

As her body twisted inside its metal chariot that would drive her forcefully into the afterlife, the airbag slammed away her breath, swallowed up her regrets, bludgeoned her consciousness, until all that was left was that moment.

She wanted to call out to him.

Before she could say goodbye it was over.

Just A Game

Paul steps to the line and takes a deep breath. Were he to sink the next two shots, he will be celebrated globally for the rest of his life. Women will worship him. Children will be named after him. Movies will be made and he'll be the star. His legacy will be forever secure.

If he misses, however, not only will his own life be ruined, but those of an entire city.

The shots miss badly. Death, when it finally comes, will be a mercy for Paul.

And to think there was a time when basketball was just a game.

240th

Baldwin kept careful track of his place in line. It was important that he always know exactly where along the front he was in relation to the enemy. At this moment, he was 240th back. That didn't mean he was going to be the 240th soldier to die. Death was random in war. He'd kept track of enough battles to know that sometimes the 240th person would be shot in the head, and sometimes he'd be injured by shrapnel, and sometimes he'd remain unscathed. There was no pattern, but it still helped him feel in control to do the counting.

Daphne

Daphne had always maintained a strict policy of never doing anything that she was ordered to do. When her mother told her she must always look both ways before crossing the street, she would immediately run headlong into traffic.

As you can imagine, not only did Daphne's attitude make her a difficult employee, but it also put her life in constant danger. So it really should come as no surprise that she died horribly when a paramedic told her to swallow the antidote to the poison she had just defiantly swallowed and she refused.

Very few people attended Daphne's funeral.

No More Sequels, Please

As she awaited death, memories of her many poor life choices channel-surfed through her mind. Jennifer couldn't help but think that her life too closely resembled a science fiction novel.

There was the time she'd been scooped up by aliens and narrowly averted the destruction of the Earth. Or the time machine that sent her back to colonial times where she accidentally killed George Washington. Or there was the trip to the outer rim on board the pirate ship, where she was sold into slavery.

Now that she looked back, Jennifer realized her life story was more of a trilogy.

Human Resolve

Hernando lowered himself into his chair and began the painful process of unbandaging his feet. The mines took a lot out of him and the thought had crossed his mind many times that surviving might not be worth the effort anymore. He winced at the bloody mess. Even if he'd once been the one lecturing his friends on the need to keep fighting, no matter how small the act of resistance, he was now reaching the end of his resolve.

But if humanity was ever going to win back its freedom from the outerworlders, Hernando could not abandon all hope.

Today's Story was based on a prompt from Lillie McFerrin Writes.

After Thanksgiving

Kurt returned home after several hours at the bar, slightly buzzed and no longer furious at his wife. He expected the house to be spotless after that disaster of a Thanksgiving dinner.

Instead, when he opened the door into the kitchen, he discovered chaos. The entire house smelled of urine and vomit, and what might have been blood was smeared on the walls and bannister.

Fearing the worst, he ran upstairs, but although he encountered the same state of disorder, Andrea and the kids were nowhere to be seen.

What he found was that damn turkey sleeping in his bed.

The Red Lever

Danger...Danger...Danger!

The alarm system sounded throughout the starship, almost to the point of annoyance. Every crew member was well aware their lives were in imminent danger as they passed the event horizon.

Ensign Jones waited in the heaters. He understood little of their mission besides the rumors. But he hoped it was important. He didn't want to die for nothing. He had joined the Fleet hoping to become famous, and after eleven years he was still an ensign.

Jones yanked down the red lever. He didn't want to die for nothing, but they were all going to die.

Everything Has Its Cost

Lester frowned. The map told exactly where to find the hidden fortune of Reginald Day, the object of treasure hunters everywhere. Unfortunately, the map was now in the possession of his chief rival.

Lester plotted many possible methods for securing the map, but all of them ended either with him in jail, or in violence. Though it was at times necessary, Lester didn't particularly care for violence. But the thought of prison was even less appealing.

So it was that Lester absconded with the entire Day fortune, at the cost of dropping Reginald's 11-year-old granddaughter off the village clock tower.