As for the two arm twisters who threw down the gauntlet — below is my contribution to the contest and the blog link as requested here.

———–

Well, this is odd, he thought to himself. Time travel shouldn’t be this easy, should it? In less time than it took him to nervously swallow hard, Marco and his friend Baktu jumped 10 years into the past. One moment they stood on an alien planet, and now they found themselves in the cargo hold of the Union of Stars, flagship of the first emperor’s space fleet. They were here to stop an assassination and alter the course of human history.

Marco stood shocked for a moment at what they had done and were about to do. It still amazed him that a master thief and a mastermind should find themselves working together at this one pivotal moment in time …
—

Two years before first time jump

It took months of solitary confinement at the deepest levels of GovTech’s infamous prison before Marco felt madness creeping into his mind. Two slow daggers of thought kept him company: Knowing at age 27 that he would never see another human again and knowing his foolish actions caused the deaths of every other member of the Thieves’ Guild.

Marco had known GovTech would not take lightly to having one of their most secure data storage banks in the 14 Star Colonies hacked and sold to the highest black marketer, but he had no idea they would turn even the Mind Cops out in force across the face of Planet Tesla to hunt and kill every Guild member they could find.

The bastards of the ruling bureaucracy saved him for last. It took them a month of mind raping every pimp, junkie, and crime boss to find him, but they did. Death wasn’t good enough, though. After punitive torture, he was thrown naked into a self-cleaning cell with a 100-year time lock. Food paste and water dribbled out of faucets twice daily.

So it was with considerable surprise one day that Marco heard the huge metal barriers blocking his door start to slowly roll out of the way.

Had the high rulers at GovTech Administration given him a reprieve?

Expecting a host of armed guards, Marco stepped as far from the door as possible. His eyes grew big when he looked down and instead saw the strangest looking man he’d ever laid his eyes on.

“You need to work on that tan, old man,” Marco quipped. He couldn’t help himself; the small man looked whiter than an albino.

“And you need to work on those scars, yes?” the man replied, his impossibly blue eyes noting the vicious cuts and burn marks all over the taller man’s once handsome physique.

Throwing clothing and shoes at Marco, the man said, “My name is Baktu. I have made a clear path of escape.”

Following Baktu out of the cell and down the corridor, Marco saw dozens of prison guards talking excitedly to each other. He drew back, but Baktu said, “Follow me. They will not notice us.” Every guard they passed seemed intensely preoccupied with one task or a conversation. Baktu and Marco walked through the entire prison without a single glance their way.

Marco, a hundred questions dancing in his brain, followed Baktu on a trek to Tesla’s seamy crime district. Once there, they met with the captain of a black marketer’s ship who was waiting for them. All three boarded the sleek craft and took off from Tesla and away from any manhunt.

Onboard the ship, Marco quickly found the galley. Eating a real meal for the first time in months, Marco relished every bite. The whole escape still seemed unreal, but the food said otherwise.

As he ate, Marco looked across the table at Baktu and said, “Thank you for freeing me, but I’ve got to know. How in the 14 Stars did those guards not see us?”

Leaning back in his chair Baktu took a deep breath. “I’m not like other men…”

“Ha! No kidding!” Marco didn’t mean to be rude; it was just this frail, pale man seemed anything but normal.

Baktu patiently started again, “I’m not like other men because my brain has been altered.”

Marco suddenly lost all desire to kid around. “You’re a test-tuber?”

The horrors of early Gov-Tech experimentation left all humans with a phobia of genetic manipulation. Images of half-human nightmares were part of every history data bank. Marco felt like a million Tesla Tangle Spiders had just enveloped his body.

“The revulsion you feel is justified, but no, I’m not a mutation from a GovTech lab. The medical doctor who raised me four decades ago spent his early life studying autistic savants. He eventually noticed a pattern of brain activity and inactivity within his patients. He decided to create something similar, but controllable in a child test subject.”

“You were that subject?”

“Yes. With chemical injections, educational regimens, and temporary implants, my ‘father’ trained me to turn parts of my brain on and off at will. I can also connect sections of my brain that don’t normally work together.”

“So you can boost your mental output at will?”

“Yes, but even better, I can completely alter how I view and relate to reality as most humans know it.”

“What?!”

“I can change my brain to ‘converse’ – for lack of a better word – with my environment. In those moments, physics becomes a plaything to me, I can smell thoughts, see feelings, and hear creativity as a song.”

“Did you ‘converse’ with the guards on some level then?”

“Not quite. In my own research, I discovered the triggers to control other people’s mental functions, such as the ability to switch focus from one thing to another. For the guards, I used an airborne chemical to block them from changing mental gears for an hour or so.”

Marco fell silent for a moment, stunned at the magnitude of the older man’s skills. But then his Guild training kicked in.

A devilish smile crossed his face, “So between your skills and mine, the universe is ours.”

Baktu grinned back. “Exactly.”

——

With talents to spare, both men aimed their respective genius at the common enemy GovTech. Marco’s hatred was obvious, but Baktu’s drew its venom from a deeper pool of loathing. His “father” sold him to GovTech for a seat at the table of the Top Administrators. Baktu eventually escaped, but not before years of hellish experimentation in secret GovTech labs.

They decided the best way to bring the bureaucratic goliath down was to find and use the ultimate prize against it – the Planet of the Ancients. Quiet, fearful whispers in the rumor mill of the 14 Star Systems spoke of untold wonders abandoned there by an alien race – technological secrets so powerful only the research team on the planet and two Top Administrators knew anything beyond uncertain gossip.

Baktu and Marco started raiding data banks and personal diaries – anything to find out more information. They even paid vast sums to informants at all levels, but it took six months for them to get a break. A space dock worker came to them with the story of a huge space freighter with flight plans that didn’t make sense and a hold full of falsely labeled cargo.

With the dock worker’s help, they stowed away on the freighter, its small crew never the wiser. As Marco’s training taught him, those who think they have the ultimate security surrounding them usually become too cocky to maintain it. The same would be true on the planet. The two arrived safely and secretly on the Planet of Ancients and set up a hideout from where their well placed spy cameras allowed them to watch every move of the research team on several Vidscreens.

Weeks passed as they kept an eye on activities and secretly read the researchers’ notes. Then they found an uncensored GovTech data base the team had with them. As Marco and Baktu brought themselves up to speed on the team’s amazing discoveries, they learned more about the history of humankind, how their ancestors left Earth in the Great Exodus to the Stars 300 years before and made their way to the 14 Star Systems.

In more recent history, they read with horror of the corruption and power of GovTech. The historical records included details only true megalomaniacs, despots, and narcissists would dare record. Both Marco and Baktu wished they could go back in time and stop GovTech’s first big play for power – the assassination of the first emperor of the 14 Star Systems.

After a month watching and planning how to use all this newly amassed knowledge, the two men turned to their Vidscreens to see the scientists going mad with activity. Under the rubble of ancient ruins, the team found a sealed room labeled in the Ancient’s language as “Time Travel Portal.” Excavating around the shiny, black walls of the room’s exterior, they detected no entrance. They threw acids, explosives, sonics, lasers, heat, and cold at it – nothing even scratched the surface. Too light to be a solid object, it drove them crazy trying to figure out how to get inside.

As they watched the latest activities on VidScreens, Marco turned to Baktu, “What do you think of our friends’ failures out there?”

“I think they will never open it.” Baktu had a far away look in his eyes.

Marco knew that look well. He called Baktu’s moments of brain alterations “mental magic” or “communing with the cosmos.”

After Baktu came back to human normal, Marco asked, “Why won’t they be able to open it?”

“The key to opening it is not physical.”

Marco let that rattle around in his brain for a moment. “You mean you have to be psychic?”

“No, you have to be me.”

“Someone with mental magic?”

“No, I mean me. Whoever built that room, built it for me to open. Ever since we first arrived, I have been experiencing déjà vu. But that feeling only comes when I commune with the cosmos, as you call it.”

Marco’s experiences with Baktu’s skills allowed him to take that unlikely statement at face value. “In that case, we need to get you up close and personal with that room.”

After putting the researchers into an induced sleep with more chemical brain tricks from Baktu, they made their way to the huge lab housing the self-contained room. As they approached the walls of the room, they could hear and feel a bone-deep humming growing louder. First Baktu and then Marco were compelled to hum along with it. As the resonating vibrations filled his whole existence, Marco felt his body phase in and out of reality, or time, or space. He didn’t know and didn’t care. The world was nothing but the humming.

Suddenly it all stopped. The room was gone. In the air, just in front of them, floated two, small circular objects. Marco and Baktu exchanged glances before reaching up to grab them. As they reached out, the items disappeared, and then as quickly, reappeared on their wrists.

“We travel all the way to the Planet of the Ancients, and all we get is a bracelet?” Marco’s wry humor made them both smile and helped them finally to take a deep breath.

Examining the smooth black “bracelet,” Baktu had another notion. “I think a better name would be Time Bands.”

Marco held up his banded wrist. “These things will allow us to travel in time?”

Baktu shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we will find out. Let us return to the hideout.”

On the way back, Marco and Baktu discussed the idea that their future selves left the Time Bands for them.

Marco laughed to think of an old Marco and even older Baktu making them go through all this. “I mean, crikes, Baktu, I think I would have given us these things long before the agonies we’ve been through so we could avoid them.”

“But then we would have never met.”

That thought gave Marco pause. Maybe this time stuff was trickier than he imagined.

At the hideout, they decided to try jumping back five minutes. Words didn’t work. Thoughts didn’t work. They even tried to repeat the hum and will themselves back a short five minutes.

“Damn things ought to come with a manual.” Frustration filled Marco’s words.

Suddenly Baktu had a flash of insight. “Since we were meant to find these together, I think we must use them together. And since time travel is probably more in the realm of my mind magic, let me try to move us in time that way.”

Instinctively touching his Time Band to Marco’s, Baktu felt them cling together as if magnetized. He looked at Marco who just nodded. Switching his brain to another gear, Baktu focused on jumping back five minutes.

It didn’t work. Nothing worked.

Marco pulled his Time Band back with a hard pull to separate them and sat down. “We must be missing something.”

Baktu nodded slowly and began to motionlessly commune with the cosmos again. Half an hour later, he came back. “Our first jump must be the one we really want the most.”

Marco jolted upright in his chair. “To save the emperor?” His eyes popped open as wide as Tesla’s moon. “That would mean these devices aren’t just for time travel!” He saw Baktu smile mischievously and nod.

Marco shook his head in amazement, “What if we don’t get it right and end up in a sun or in space?”

“It may seem like a leap of faith, but if we left ourselves these bracelets, it must have worked.”

“Crikes, this is maddening.” Marco threw up his hands as if the fates were playing him again. Then he looked into the calm face of his friend. He saw nothing but complete confidence.

Marco stood up, walked across to Baktu, joined Time Bands again, and said, “Why not?” Watching Baktu go into the mental magic for possibly the last time, he nervously swallowed hard …
—–

First time jump

Well, this is odd, he thought to himself. Time travel shouldn’t be this easy, should it? In less time than it took him to nervously swallow hard, Marco and his friend Baktu jumped 10 years into the past. One moment they stood on an alien planet, and in the next moment they found themselves in the cargo hold of the Union of Stars, flagship of the emperor’s space fleet. They were here to stop an assassination and alter the course of human history …

“Marco!” Baktu whispered the name intensely to get his friend focused. He didn’t want them to be found by any of the crew from the Union of Stars or by the emperor’s guards. They needed to hide and quick.

Marco turned to look at his friend. “Uh, yes … yes, I’m OK.”

“Are you sure of that Marco Polo?” The voice boomed from behind them.

Startled by the voice and use of his full name, Marco whirled around, as did an equally wide-eyed Baktu. Neither had thought to bring a weapon.

Their eyes fell on two familiar figures, one tall and one short. It took a long moment, but then they both realized they were looking at their older, almost unrecognizable selves. The older Marco wore the unmistakable clothing of the first Emperor.

The younger Marco looked like he was about to commune with the cosmos, so great was the shock.

“Yes, yes, younger selves, you have a million questions and few that I can answer. Here is what I can tell you, so listen well.”

The younger Marco and Baktu could only nod and do just that.

“I know GovTech is your main concern for being here, but their reign of bureaucratic terror started to unravel the day you two met. The escape and the work you did to find the Planet of the Ancients – it will all sow seeds of distrust and destruction among the Administrators who will first blame each other and then attack each other.”

The Emperor paused, watching the information sink in. “If you try to change the timeline here, GovTech will actually become more powerful and longer lived. You will learn as you age that there are things far worse than GovTech.” Then he smiled and added, “Trust me, I know this. I can’t tell you how I know, but I do.”

Stepping closer, the older Baktu took his turn to speak, “We’ve learned humans don’t do too well knowing their future. All you need to know now is that in 300 years, you two will be us.”

The younger Baktu abruptly cocked his head sideways, as if to hear better, since the last words didn’t make any sense.

The older Baktu grinned, “Yes, my younger self, you will discoverer a certain life extender that only you two will be able to use.” He turned to the other older man. “What else were we told by our older selves, Marco?”

The emperor’s tone grew serious and wise. “You must know this: you will make the universe better. You will help humanity grow through its toughest times by reminding it that adversity must be faced with ingenuity and perseverance. You will face a heavy price for drawing a line in the sand and making a stand for what you know is right, but you will do it anyway.”

The younger men remained dumbfounded as the older men each pulled one sleeve back to reveal shiny, black Time Bands.

“Oh, by the way,” the older Marco said, “You only have ten minutes before this ship explodes.” With that, the two men blinked into some other time and space.

It took the younger men several minutes of staring blankly to processes what they had just heard. Finally Marco snapped back to reality.

“Crikes, Baktu, get us out of here!”

“Where and when should we go?”

“By the 14 Stars, how should I know? Just take us somewhere else now!”

Baktu grinned and communed with the cosmos.

Can’t wait for Chapter 2!!

Good luck everyone.

Well, this is odd, he thought to himself. I feel so hungry, really hungry. Must be why I’m feeling so weak. But I had a full lunch, didn’t I?

Why can’t I remember? And where am I? So difficult to see. Come on Miles, think! Where were you last? What were you doing? Ow, my stomach. I wish this damned hunger would go away!

Wait! A hospital. I was in a hospital! Wait…why was I in a hospital? Goddamnit why can’t I remember anything! Think Miles, think.

OK I’m in a hospital, I’m weak, can barely move and I’m having difficulty seeing properly. You’re also lying on the floor Miles. Get up. GET UP!

Getting up however was not so easy. Miles’ weakened legs struggled to lift the weight of his body but there was something else conspiring against him. The floor was slippery, too slippery for a shiny hospital floor. Something was coating the surface where he lay, something warm and slick.

With a small thud Miles fell back to the floor. If he was capable of crying then the tears would already be flowing. But his eyes remained dry and open. Unblinking and seemingly transfixed on the opposite wall.

Goddamnit! What in the hell is going on!

Miles opened his mouth to yell for help but all that came out was a guttural moan, the sound of which surprised even him.

Great I can’t speak now eith….Oh God no. No this can’t be happening to me. Please God don’t let this be happening to me. Why me? I can’t speak, can’t see, can’t move. Oh God I’ve suffered a cerebral infarction, why m- wait a what? How do I know the medical term for a stroke? Doctor…I’m a Doctor!

Was a Doctor. Now I’m just a vegetable, a mind stuck in a non-functioning body.

Miles slumped out on the floor and lay wallowing in his self-pity for what seemed like hours. A painful pang of hunger in his stomach brought him out of his preoccupation as an invisible force compelled him to move. Something had clicked in the back of his mind, a primeval, sub-concious sense – the will to survive.

Must eat he thought as he dragged himself across the floor with comparative ease.

Come on Miles, you’re a Doctor! Why would a stroke victim be so hungry? And how does it explain why you’re lying on the floor?

As these thoughts and more raced through his mind Miles’ body lifted itself from the ground and he stood in an almost drunken stupor in one of the hospitals’ long corridors. His body was slightly haunched over, his arms hung limply by his sides and his head tilted rather abruptly to the right. Unbeknownst to him a dark liquid from his open mouth began to dribble down his chin and dripped onto the floor.

Ok I’m finally on my feet. Now what? Where do I go? Must eat.

Thoughts of food and of sustenance were beginning to overwhelm the broken Doctor. So much so that he didn’t notice his surroundings. He failed to note that the lights in the corridor had all but stopped functioning. The ones that were still lit were struggling to maintain that state as they flickered constantly.

He failed to notice the almost war like destruction that had occurred to the corridor. The cabinets that were toppled over and strewn across the floor along with files, clipboards, stethoscopes and other various pieces of medical equipment. He also failed to notice the sheer amount of blood that was splattered all across the walls and gathered in great pools of red on the floor.

What he did pick up on though were voices. People in the distance though not too far and rapidly coming his way. The sense of relief was almost over-bearing and Doctor Miles Harrison turned his body to face the source of the noise.

Finally some help.

That sense of relief was short lived.

“Quick, there’s another one. Zombie!”

Wha-

“Aim for the head!”

Oh no…

Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Creative Writing

The Crossing

She never imagined that crossing the street could mean so much.

Harry and Wendel stood on either side of Stephanie, the shields in their hands nearly as tall as they were. The shields had once been car doors. Their eyes darted from the open windows of broken burned out buildings to the piles of rubble scattered throughout the streets, anywhere one of Dragon’s Flames might be hiding. They couldn’t risk a confrontation with Stephanie in the condition she was.

Dragon was an older boy, almost nineteen by some accounts, and was the self-proclaimed leader of The Flames. Dragon was Asian, muscular and a vicious fighter. No one knew his real name, but they all knew to fear him.

Stephanie caressed her round belly that extended outward. She was unsure of what was going to happen and exactly how it worked but knew there was a new person growing inside of her frail thirteen year old body.

Harry began to cough and she turned to look at him. Unlike the other Smiths, Harry was her real brother from before. They had survived together. Harry wasn’t the oldest or the strongest boy on the island, but certainly one of the smartest. She thought about all he’d done for her and the others and couldn’t imagine never being able to see him again. The other Smiths affectionately called him Turtle because of the glasses he wore. He was her younger brother by a year or so, but she looked to him for guidance as did the rest of the family.

Harry had managed to collect a number of books from throughout the ruined city and he had read as many of them as he could. When someone had a problem or if they got sick, Harry usually knew what to do. So when Stephanie started vomiting each morning about four months ago, it was Harry that revealed to her that she was pregnant.

After the bombs had all been dropped and the last of the bullets fired, you couldn’t see anything but fire and smoke on every horizon. The big green statue to the North was charred and broken. Looking south, burning boats and ships littered the wide expanse of blue.

They had all looked for a way off the island, but the bridges had all been destroyed. Swimming seemed an unlikely success. Many had tried and failed to get to what had once been Brooklyn. A shorter swim existed on the western side of the island but no one wanted to go that direction. All day and night nothing but screaming came from over there since the fighting had stopped. They must have gone crazy to the West.

Dragon and The Flames had made their home to the North somewhere.

So the Smiths settled to the South East, taking refuge in some of the less disturbed suburban homes. Everything had been looted, nothing was left unscathed. But with a little work under the guidance of their former leader Desmond, The Smiths were able to carve out a decent existence.

Desmond had been the last adult to live on the island and when he finally succumbed to the sickness like the others, the family he had built needed a new father. Harry was well liked, knowledgeable and had been close with Desmond. He was the natural choice to lead the family. Even though he did not want the responsibility, he wasn’t given a choice. It was unanimous. He became the head of the Smith family.

Dealing with the threat of Dragon and his Flames was enough of a daily concern, but they also had to contend with the Scavengers that would come across the water from time to time.

They were adults and they would come take anything they thought might be useful. The problem was as far anyone on the island was concerned it all belonged to them. They’d been left abandoned here, so anything that was on the island was theirs. No one could be allowed to just come and take their property.

It was rumoured though that the Scavengers were just a few of the many adults that lived across the water. It was also said that they had managed to bring back electricity and that they had proper doctors over there.

This is why Stephanie had to go.

So when the look outs spotted the Scavengers’ boat and reported back to Harry, he immediately set out with Wendel and Stephanie to meet them.

Dragon had once had a girl that always stuck by his side. She was less vicious but seemingly as crazy as he was. They called her Diamond. Her belly got fat just like Stephanie’s was.
Five months ago, Harry and another boy named Sam were on lookout duty and spotted Diamond shuffling weakly past a couple of the Smith residences. Before they could approach her, two visiting Scavengers stumbled upon her and after a short conversation all three walked away together.

Harry and Sam followed the trio and watched as she was loaded onto the boat, wrapped gently in a blanket and given a bowl from which she cautiously began to eat. Once the other Scavengers returned from looting, the boat’s engine started up and they all went back across the water.

Harry and Sam reported this to Desmond and he asked them not to speak of the incident to any of the others. They promised they wouldn’t. Out of respect for the family’s father, the lookouts kept their word.

Shortly after, Dragon came looking for Diamond, convinced she had run away to join the Smiths. He brought about twelve of his Flames. Four of them were girls, although you wouldn’t know it to look at them.

They came to the Smith’s neighbourhood hollering and screeching, Dragon loudest of them all.

“Diamond! I gave you everything! You owe me everything! Come back where you belong! You’re mine!”

Desmond had become quite ill and could not get up from bed. He could do nothing when The Flames began dowsing one of the unoccupied homes with gasoline. And he could only watch as they lit it on fire.

Desmond asked Harry to gather some of his brothers and see if he could manage to chase Dragon off or at least convince him that Diamond wasn’t with the Smiths.

Harry ran from house to house and gathered ten of his brothers. They joined Dragon and his bunch in the street just as they were beginning to soak a second lawn. The groups were only a couple houses apart.

“Dragon!” Harry shouted his voice wavering ever so slightly as his nerves reached a fever pitch, “We need to have a word!”

The entire group of Flames moved as one and began to approach the Smith brothers.
“No!” Harry shouted again, “Just you and me.”

His brothers mumbled protests but Harry hushed them.

“Just be ready.”

He walked toward Dragon. Dragon signalled his boys to stay behind as well and met Harry about halfway between the groups.

“This better be good Goggle-face,” Dragon spat the words out, “Where’s Diamond?”
“She’s not here—“

Dragon lashed out with a single punch that knocked Harry to the ground. His glasses fell off and skipped a step or two away from him. Harry could hear his brothers start to charge but put his hand up to stop them. Then he crawled and recovered his glasses returning them to his face.

“Liar! Don’t lie to me!” Dragon roared.

“I’m not lying,” replied Harry standing back up, “I saw her about a week ago. She left with the Scavengers on their boat. Dragon, she was preg—“

Dragon lashed out again. He buried a knife in Harry’s ribs. Harry fell against Dragon’s shoulder and his attacker whispered, “I don’t like liars.”

Then Dragon was gone, Harry was on the ground and there was chaos all around. Behind all the shouting and fighting Harry watched the house that had been set on fire burn. He didn’t have the strength to move and there wasn’t a free hand to help him.

Harry woke up on a couch. It was dark outside and candles lit the ransacked room.
Stephanie knelt at his side carefully, like she was sore all over.

“What’s wrong? What did they do?” Harry tried to sit up, but a sharp pain from his wound made him lie right back down.

“Tore up every house looking for Diamond,” she spoke softly, “And they … hurt me. But I’ll be okay. We all will.”

Harry thought of Dragon’s words, I don’t like liars.

The Scavenger’s boat was pulling up near the shore now. They could see the light on the bow guiding it safely in.

They crossed the street, Harry in front of Stephanie and Wendel behind, with shields in hand. All three of them scanned the streets and buildings for any sign of Dragon or his Flames.

They reached the other side of the street and made their way down the gentle slope directly toward the boat. Two men clad in yellow rubber suits were disembarking, their heads covered by the yellow hoods sealed to the necks of their suits. As they turned and came face to face with the three kids, Harry saw that a clear plastic seal covered the front of the hood. It was nearly impossible to make out any facial features in the late dusk light.

The two men still on the boat began to shout for the kids to stay back. One of them fired a weapon and a large rubber projectile slammed into Harry’s shield knocking him back into Stephanie who helped him regain his balance.

“We just want to talk!” Harry yelled out. He began to cough and the two men on the shore each took a step back.

“Stay back!” one of the men on the boat demanded again.

“Please,” Harry began, “My sister here. She’s pregnant. She needs your help.”

“Turn around and walk away!” came the voice from the boat.

One of the men on the shore turned to face the boat, “Shut up Mike! You know the Doc’s gonna want to see her.”

The man turned back to face the kids and started to walk slowly toward them his hands raised up to his shoulders.

“Let’s see her kid.” He said to Harry.

Harry nodded at Stephanie to step out from behind him but she was reluctant.

“I won’t hurt you miss,” there was something in his tone that reminded her of Desmond.

She stepped out from behind Harry, her hands wrapped around her belly.

“How far along are you?” the man asked.

Stephanie looked at Harry.

“Four months or so,” Harry answered.

The man looked silently at each of the three kids in turn.

“You know we can’t take you boys too, right?”

“We know, “Harry said, “The sickness.”

“Can’t risk it. But her. She’s a different story. With every new baby comes the chance for a cure. One of these days a baby will be born that’s not sick.”

Hollering and shouting could be heard in the distance.

All four men looked up over the kids’ heads.

“You better get going,” Harry told the men. He lifted his shirt showing his scar, “They’re good with knives.”

Stephanie kissed Wendel on the cheek and then held her brother for a long moment until the man in yellow spoke softly, “Come on miss.”

“I love you,” Stephanie whispered in her brother’s ear.

She didn’t give him a chance to answer as she turned toward the boat, her tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.

Harry watched his sister float away across the water. She’d be safe. She’d be taken care of.

Wendel’s free hand fell gently onto his shoulder.

“Better go Harry.”

Wendel was right. The shouting was getting closer. Harry picked up his shield and the boys ran off into the night.

Timm Holmes’s last blog post..Collective Inkwell Creative Fiction Contest Entry