100 Words a Day 1211

I shot a glance at the rearview mirror. My mouth went dry when I saw the headlights. They were closer. I pressed the accelerator down as far as I dared; I was still too far outside the city for streetlights, or even straight roads.

I wrenched the wheel back and forth, trying to stay on the pavement. As I swerved, I felt the wheels lose traction as they ran over the muddy ground on either side of the narrow road. I didn’t dare look back, but bright lights reflecting off my rearview mirror told me they were still following me.

100 Words a Day 1210

“Brother Li, this can’t be the right place. There’s no way the greatest boxing master in the province would be in a place like this.”

The three-story building leaned alarmingly to one side. Half a sign hung from a piece of rope: “Gamb.”

“It matches Big Brother’s description,” Li said.

Shrugging, Li took the worn path to the steps of the building. Zhao lagged behind, trying to figure out why a famous teacher would spend his time in a building that barely had one shutter per window.

Li opened the door the two brothers were hit by a smoky cloud.

100 Words a Day 1209

Deep in the bowels of the submarine, neither George nor Neil saw the leviathan emerge from the black abyss. The impact of the great beast against the submersible sent them crashing around the engine room.

Unfazed, George hauled himself over to the pressure gauges as the sub continued to rock under the leviathan’s assault. Neil struggled to stand and was thrown against the walls of the room repeatedly.

“Stop foolin’ around, boy.”

When Neil was finally back at his station, he jumped each time the leviathan’s blows echoed through the metal tube.

“Agh, it’s not even a hundred tons, boy.”

100 Words a Day 1208

The members of the Iron Brotherhood filed through the Threshold of Infinity, each pressing their lips to their fingers before touching their palms to the Eye of Astro-Eternity. Once inside the grand meeting hall, they took their appoint places at the Dark Table. When all the seats were filled, except the Siege Perilous, they began to intone the Litany of The Castigation of Man. This lasted until the Hour of the Wane Man. When their chanting ceased, the gibbous moon was high overhead, visible through the Window of the Pale Eye. As a single entity, they stood up and turned.

100 Words a Day 1207

When the red mist faded, Shahzad’s lungs were working like bellows. He looked down. His slippery hands held an enormous sword that he didn’t recognize. He looked around. Corpses lay so thick that he wouldn’t be able to find a bare patch of ground between himself and the field’s edge. He dropped the sword and stumbled forward, unsure in which direction his camp lay. He was tired. Lifting his feet was a struggle and by the time he reached the tree line he had fallen many times. Eventually, he found the a sea of empty tents with smoldering cooking fires.

100 Words a Day 1206

“Hi there.” 

An elaborate glass filled with an unusual, swirling liquid appeared next to Jake’s cheap beer. The owner of the glass had a smooth, soft arm the color of melted caramel.

“Uh, hello,” Jake said, turning. The eyes of the woman who addressed him were dark and smoky, but flashed with something he would’ve described as predatory, if he’d possessed the awareness. Nor did he notice the sinister appearance created by the sharp lines of her makeup.

“Your beer’s empty,” she said.

“Huh? It’s fresh.”

He lifted the can and shook it. Nothing.

“Let me buy you a drink.”

100 Words a Day 1205

Elizabeth’s eyes asked again why he had to go. She held their daughter in one arm and reflexively clutched the air with the other.

“Och, Lizzy. Yah know I have ta go.”

“Can’t yah find somefin else?”

George shook his head. He said something, but the deep horn of The Day Star drowned out what he said.

Lizzy looked up at the ship. The bow leered down at her. Other crewmen walked up the long gangplank, heads bent. Like the condemned.

George turned and took a step towards the behemoth. Lizzy suddenly seized him his arm with her free hand.