City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

A World of Silence (story)

Blitzwing_NA

By Blitzwing_NA,
Posted on: 2007-08-17 24:41 in Multi-Media Fan Creations

 

Posted

This is part 1 of the story for art trade working with Bloodwolfe, I apologize for it taking so long. Blood did a beautiful piece for me and has only asked for a cameo in this. So I am making it a....ahem larger cameo than usual

This story is the lead up to an event I will be hosting on Virtue for my SG and friends in the near future...as always feedback is welcome, wanted et al


"Mmm baby are you sure about this?" The boy asked.

"It's been three years now, Eric. I've thought it through and I'm ready. This is my valentines present to you." She said looking down at him. The lights were dimmed in the old volkswagon van. Shelly pushed her blonde hair back over one ear, brushing the loops of her earrings as she did. Catlike green eyes looked down at her boyfriend since junior year of high school with complete, total and utterly sweet love. She straddled his hips and put her hands down on his bare chest. They were the cliche high school sweethearts in Grovers Mills, but no one cared. You could see it in their eyes, the way they looked at each other. These two were made for each other.

Eric rested his hands on her bare thighs, looking back at her, thumbs brushing the little bits of fabric that were hanging off the bottoms of her daisy dukes. The van smelled of incense and the bottle of red wine the two had shared over pizza and a movie that night. He laid back his head on the mattress he kept in the back of the van and thought of just how lucky he was. Eric closed his eyes as she leaned down and kissed him, he always enjoyed this part more than anything more 'erotic'. None of the other guys could understand how a kiss did so much for him. It wasn't just her lips, her tongue, that sweet taste of her strawberry lip gloss. There was the passion to it, it's just because it was his Shelly.

Shelly pulled away from the kiss and wrinkled her nose, "Eric, do you smell that? It's like an animal died outside." Eric sniffed the air and he did smell it. She was right, but it didn't make sense. They were parked on the beaches of south jersey, not like they were in the north.

They both jumped as someone banged on the back window of the van. He turned his body slightly under Shelly and looked to see a hand silhoutted against the moonlit window.

"Do you think it's beach patrol?" She asked.

"I don't know. Could be. Not like they haven't bothered us at a bad time before," he grinned coyly, causing her to blush furiously. He smiled again as he gave her a quick kiss before sliding out from beneath her. He buttoned up his jeans and threw on his favorite black shirt that had a crow outlined in electric blue on one side. He opened the side door to the van with a look and a wink back to her, "I'll just explain what's goin-"

Eric and Shelly screamed as one, as rotting, putrescent hands pulled them from the van. Their screams, wet, ragged and fearful filled the night sky as they were attacked. They clutched at each others hands until their lungs and hearts stopped.


----------------------------------------------------------------------


"Barbara, I've come to get you. Are you ready?' The woman called into the house.

"Oh yes, sorry Brooke, I've been looking for Mr. Snuffles all afternoon. You didn't see him coming up the yard did you?" The slightly pudgy woman asked as she peeked her head from the kitchen.

"No grammy, I didn't. You sure the lil guy isn't hiding upstairs under your bed again?" Brooke shook her head at her grandmother, probably one of the sweetest people she knew in the world.

"Would you be a dear and check? Then we can head out to the St Patricks day festival and see the fireworks."

"Sure Grammy. Anything for you, you took your arthritis medicine right?" Brooke smiled watching the older woman waddle forward from the kitchen with a plate of fresh cookies for her granddaughter. Barbara was always cooking or knitting or making something for her granddaughter, all her life Brooke had been positively spoiled by the sweet woman.

"Oh of course dear. I wouldn't want to miss seeing this with you. We've been going as long as you can remember. Now have a cookie and I will get my purse." She smiled to her granddaughter.

Brooke took the cookie and kissed her grammy on the cheek as she skipped up the stairs. She had to laugh at skipping up her grandmothers stairs even at the age of 25. She took a bite of the cookie and began to look around the upstairs rooms for the basset hound she'd grown up with since she was 12. she looked back down the hall as the doorbell rang and heard grammy yell Ill get it. Her brow furrowed at who would be by at this hour, but shrugged and headed into Barbara's bedroom. she set the cookie and it's plate down on the nightstand at her Grammys bed and got down on all fours to look under the bed.

She surpressed a giggle as she saw the hound tucked up tight under the center of the bed, "Mr. Snuffles, there you are. What are you doing under there, you know Grammy can't find you here."

The dog began to beat it's tail against the hardwood floor as she spoke to him, then it's deep brown eyes looked beyond her. The tail stopped and it's lips pulled back bearing it's teeth with a menacing growl.

"Mr Snuffles?" Brooke asked with worry, and a tinge of fear, in her voice. 13 years and the dog had never growled at her. She almost teared up at the thought of the cute animal growling at her when the floorboards creeked behind her. "Grammy, I found Mr. Snuffles, but he's acti-"




Hours later Mr. Snuffles crawled from under the bed and licked at the fingers still laying near the edge of the bed. He'd known this scent since he was a puppy. He didn't know why she wasn't talking to him anymore. The house in the chicago suburb was silent save the howling of a lonely basset hound.

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
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http://GuardianForce.Guildportal.com - Virtue
Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Horrifyingly wonderful, although not so much so that you are grossed out. *two thumbs up*

 

Posted

And part 2 with cameos by some notable folks...and Bloodwolfe.



"Is there anything on the radio?" A hushed female voice asked from the darkness. The voice trembled with fear in every syllable, begging and pleading for the hope there was something.

"Nothing for 2 days now." The man shook his head glancing at the old radio. He adjusted some dials and made sure it still had power, but it was silent. "WGAR was the last station broadcasting, I think they were out of Denver. Their last transmission was playing some fourth of july music to try and give people hope."

"Do you think, do you think they..."

"I honestly don't know anymore Sarah. I hope so, maybe the Shamblers got too close, heard the noise and they had to shut down for a bit. Maybe they will be back up in a few days."

"Maybe they are all dead. Maybe we are all thats left Kyle." She replied as she clutched her knees to her chest. She bit her lip as a roach crawled across her shoe and closed her eyes trying to forget everything that had happened.

Kyle sighed again and unplugged the radio to save what little power they had. The old supermarket store room had been the only place within miles they had been able to find that was moderately defensible when "they" came. Two entrances that were both steel doors, no windows, plenty of food, a back up generator and concrete walls. Three others had been with them when they started, seven had joined since; isolation and supply runs had dwindled that just to the two of them and a small girl by the name of Rebecca. That was in a month. Her favorite game was hide and seek in the crates that filled Storeroom.

"Sarah, have you seen Rebecca?"

"No..." she whispered back. They knew better than to talk too loudly. Loud noise attracted Them. Almost any noise did, especially voices. The two began to move about the small warehouse, using flash lights to signal each other when they got out of line of sight. They had been conserving power so only had the barred skylights on the roof providing light and it had been getting night, when the Shamblers came mostly. No one knew why but they didn't seem as active in day as they did at night.

Kyle flashed his light a few times and Sarah hurried over as quick as she could through the dry goods. "What is it?" She whispered.

"I found her doll by this AC Vent. I think she's in the duct system..."

"But that leads..."

"Outside I know."

"What if she becomes on of them or gets bitten before she comes back?"

"We could seal it up now?"

"But what if she is ok then we leave her out there to die...she's only 9."

"You can't have it both ways Sarah."

Sarah nodded her head and looked at the open grate for a long time in silence."Seal it."

The sound of banging came through the grate as Kyle screwed the grate closed and put some heavy metal crates that had been part of the butcher shop in the attached store against it. It took him nearly three hours to get them moved as heavy as they were and no one from inside would have the leverage to do so.

That night Sarah and Kyle listened to the sound of a crying child in the echo through the vents asking to be let back in. Telling themselves they made the right call, only time and their concience would tell otherwise.


-----------------------------

"Are you sure there isn't another way General Aarons?" The captain asked.

"No. There is no other way. Vanguard assured me this was it before we lost them Labor Day weekend."

"Sir, you realize this will affect the one's who aren't infected."

"I know, but I am thinking of all the ones who are. The Reapers can't be allowed to grow in numbers or power. They are too much of a threat. Launch the satellite."

"Y..yes Sir." The Captain said as he pushed the red button launching the last satellite to go up from Cape Canveral. It had taken them two months to get it constructed with Vanguards help and another two months to get the launch facility prepped and secure to get it airborne.

They were calling it Morningstar. It was a technomagical hybrid satellite that would project a field around earth removing all the heroes unique abilities of travel and severely limiting their powers. What was left of the U.S. government was fractured and mostly run by the military, and it reacted to the threat the only way it knew how. DC was a crater, as was London, Moscow, Beijing. Tokoyo, Coastal Australia, the phillipines, Hawaii and parts of Alaska had been submerged in other attempts to stop the epidemic. All had failed. The only thing they had left was to try and bring the super powered creatures under some control so that they could be beaten. It was decided by the President before Airforce one crashed into the risen deck of the Edmund Fitzgerald that it was worth the risk.

The captain muttered a small prayer, "God save our souls for what we do. I hope he is forgiving today."

The General looked at him impassively as the rocket launched. "You'll see this was the right decision son."

-----------------------------------

"Hey Blood?" The woman asked.

"What?" He growled back, the blue glow eminating off his arms the only light in the room.

"I found out what happened here."

"So?" He snapped back, tired mentally after nearly a year of this.

"Looks like right After they launched Morningstar a bunch of telepathic Reapers showed up. Aaron's had his face eaten by some captain who got bit."

"Serves him right, listening to Crey and Vanguard were mistakes. I'dve killed him myself when I heard he got the tech designs from Crey."

"Yeah well, it's a lil late now."

"I know. Did you get the transmitter up?"

"Yeah, you sure about this plan Wolfe?" A third person asked as they crawled over the facility.

"No, but they have the best intact comm gear there is within the US. Maybe we can get a signal to another world and get off this dead rock. Save the people we can and just be out of here."

"Fair enough." She said quietly lifting one of the blinds to look over the mist filled landscape. "How longs it been since the Mist showed up?"

"I dont know Larissa." Bloodwolfe replied lifting an energy infused hand to weld some metal plates over the door. "6 months. At least since Christmas."

"Thought so." She said turning from the window to help get the signal gear prepped. "Thought about who or where?"

"Primal earth...and whoever listens."

"Good choice." Larissa responded. "Lady Judgement, you ready over there?"

"Yeah Celtic has the final wires patched together and we have enough juice for a good pulse."

"Lets do it." Bloodwolfe stabbed the red button angrily, his hand still covered in light blue flame.

"This is Bloodwolfe, of Earth 426. We are dying here, the Shamblers came, then the reapers. There's only handful of pockets of humanity left. Please help get us away from this dead planet before they kill us all." The camera exploded in a ball of light as the charge overloaded it. He sheilded his eyes and looked up to the two near the array hatch. "Did we make it?"

"I hope so. I've set the beacon to have them come to the hospital when they get here. It's the best location we have." Lightspeed replied, huffing a bit as she blurred in.

"Alright, let's get going before some Reapers get too curious about the explosion." He looked back to the smoldering camera. "Yeah, god help us....no one else has."

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
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Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Ha! Thanks for the cameo Plasma... I like the set up, now get to the heroic payback part that I know you're so very capable of doing!

LJ

 

Posted

/em clap. Yay a cameo, brings warm fuzzy feelings to my heart. Well other than the horror part because of all the death. I love the hopelessness and finality of your pieces. They are so wonderful.

 

Posted

Agreed, nice writing!

Hmm...writing for art trade...why didn't *I* think of that?!?!

Don't suppose anyone'd be willing to have me write their character into a funny sketch or 2 alongside some of my own heroes? I have ideas already in mind, but will need extras and cameos.... Lemme know!

 

Posted

Stephen King meets Firefly? :P Nice writing

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Stephen King meets Firefly? :P Nice writing

[/ QUOTE ]

I've never had that said before. ...but I can live with having elements of Joss and King =).

Joss Whedon is definately an inspiration for me, as is Aaron Sorkin. Most of my dialogue tends to have their...flavor to it.

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
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http://GuardianForce.Guildportal.com - Virtue
Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Joss Whedon is an excellent writer. I mentioned King because of the whole mist aspect... I thought of Aliens with Rebecca in the ducts (since Rebecca was newt's name).. Sparked a lot of memories of many different stories, but nothing that made me go "ew copy", so to me that's a good thing. A nice stew of familiar ingredients that tastes brand new Yes I'm hungry, sorry for the food comparison.

 

Posted

Glad you noticed. Alot of names I use are homage or reference to stories and characters that always struck a chord with me.

I think Ill make it a contest...if someone gets ALL the references they get a cameo in the next story =)

@PlasmaStream
"Big Bada Boom(tm)!"
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http://GuardianForce.Guildportal.com - Virtue
Niska: Are you Familiar with the works of Shan Yu?

 

Posted

Ack.. *rereads*

I think I'm too tired to get them all

 

Posted

Awesome work Plas! I couldn't be happier with it!