100 Words a Day 730

Garric slowly pushed the door open with the long pole. It creaked, but nothing happened otherwise.

“Seems safe,” Ogrin said.

Muckluck threw a rock onto the flagstone on the other side of the door. When it hit the floor a square of rusty spikes dropped from the ceiling, clanging when it hit the stone.

Looking at Ogrin, he laughed.

The young man looked sheepishly back.

“You stay here with me while Tatiana does her thing,” Muckluck said.

Tatiana eyed the ground as she stalked forward, watchful for more trapped flagstones.

She reached the door without incident and sighed in relief.

100 Words a Day 729

“Shit,” I said as the rain turned from drizzle to downpour. I had hoped to beat the storm, but was forced to shelter in the doorway. It hadn’t left up after fifteen minutes and I got tired of waiting. I didn’t bother hurrying. There was no way to avoid getting wet; so I took my time. I was able to enjoy the feel of the rain once I was soaked all the way through, as at that point, there was not a sliver of hope that some part of me would stay dry and I was able to enjoy myself.

100 Words a Day 728

The material of his glove squeaked as he gripped the stick. He swallowed loudly, but the sound was lost in the noise created by his respiration system. He ran the ship’s controls though their diagnostics again, green lights across the board.

It was his first mission. They were to clear some pirates out of an asteroid field. The raiders’ base was just coming into visual and he could already see their fighters scrambling to meet his flight wing. This was the sort of thing he had trained for, to help keep order in the galaxy. But his hands were sweating.

100 Words a Day 727

Smoke and noise filled the room. Crinkles was backed into a corner, struggling to see the hostile gunmen through the chaos. His companions were dead. Hawk had died in the hallway when the bomb went off. Crinkles had seen his head blown almost clean off. Glassjaw and Badger were on the floor in the room with him. He could see their boots, unmoving, from where he stood. There was no hope for them; he had seen them riddled with bullets.

He dove to the side, landing heavy on the ground, when a stream of bullets splintered the wall around him.

100 Words a Day 726

The fire crackled merrily, unaware of the frigidity it was keeping at bay. The strange foliage gave the flame a green, witchlight glow. Katherine and her sister huddled as close to the fire as they were able. Their physical position was not the most comfortable, but it kept them warm enough that they were able to enjoy their jerky. It was spicy, which helped with the cold as well. They chewed silently, looking over each other’s shoulders into the darkness beyond their fire. It was the only light in the desert. There were not even any stars in the sky.

100 Words a Day 725

The city was not as large as he had imagined, but there was more activity than he expected. People were rushing through the streets at a pace he normally reserved for a fire. And it seemed that each person bore the mark of a different clan. The shops on the first street he walked down each had a different totem hanging over them, and he didn’t recognize a single one. As he wandered, his eyes never ceased moving. He quickly got separated from his clanmates. After admiring a statue for several minutes, he looked up and realized he was alone.

100 Words a Day 724

“I’m here to trade,” Segat said, dumping her sack onto the table, scattering the bits of metal she had collected across the weathered surface.

Golab’s eyes lit up when she saw the sparkle of the scrap. It was very pure and would bring a lot in trade to the forgers.

“What were you looking for?” asked Golab.

“I want gas,” Segat responded, getting straight to the point.

“How much?”

“How much have you got?”

“I have quite a bit, but I don’t know how much I can give you for these scraps.”

“This is good metal. I know its worth.”