Six Sentence Story: Train
A Writing prompt by: GirlieOnTheEdge
Last time on The Wasteland: Explore
“Rio, it is a pleasure to finally meet you,” a middle-aged man in ill-fitting fatigues steps away from the dozen or so folks standing around an old beat-up RV to extend his hand toward Shay; “I thought you would be taller… and darker?”
“Uh,” Shay mutters as he takes the offered hand, gives it a polite shake, then wipes his hand on his pant leg, “I’m not Rio, he turned a few months ago; I’m Shay. Sorry I’m pale?”
“But,” the man looks to Samantha with confusion clear on his face, “we came all the way out here for Rio, your friend who knows, and I quote, a ‘fuck ton’ about farming.”
“Shay’s the next best thing we’ve got,” Sam responds, “kid’s been training with Rio for two years, and before that he tended all the crops in a Habitech Shelter,” she pauses for a second for dramatic effect, “by himself.”
The man looks from Sam to Shay, allowing his gaze to shift back and forth between the two, then nods, steps aside, and directs them to the RV; “Welcome to the team.”
Six Sentence Story: Nebulous
Shay was pretty sure Sam was making shit up; while he had been the only person in the Habitech Shelter, the maintenance of the indoor gardens were completely automated, and what he could recall of what Rio taught him was too nebulous to be considered a skill. Maybe Rio should have taught him survival skills before introducing him to video games.
“So, are you with the military?” Shay asks, prompting the man in the ill-fitting fatigues to stop walking, turn around, look Shay square in the eyes, and burst into laughter.
“No, no, we’re not the military,” the man says after he manages to catch his breath and wipe a tear from his eye, “there hasn’t been a military since – the big ones appeared.”
“The-” Shay mutters, his eyes shifting between confusion and disbelief as he turns to Sam for confirmation, “the big ones?”
Six Sentence Story: Deal
“Yeah,” Sam says, “the big ones, they only come out at night. Rio was always quite adept at avoiding them, but I’m – I’m still pretty shocked you’ve never seen one.”
The man in fatigues raises a brow and looks down at Shay, asking; “you were in the heart of the city for the better part of a year and never saw one of the giants?”
Shay shakes his head; “no, Rio had a lot of rules for the night. I heard things, but he never told me what was out there, and he always kept the windows covered in cardboard so I couldn’t see anything.”
“Well,” the man in fatigues says as he slaps a heavy hand upon Shay’s shoulder and begins leading him toward the RV, “I don’t want to have to deal with them tonight, so I recommend we get our asses on the road.”
A new threat… as if there wasn’t already enough to contend with? Great triple bill, Ollie.
Always gotta up the ante, yaknow
Absolutely! Chase your characters up a tree and then set fire to it… oh, I think you did that already with a high rise building 😉
Who does not like giants?! Which leads me to believe Shay’s future will soon feature 1 or more of the giant remnants. Not a pleasant thought! No one to shelter Shay anymore.
🤔 Or…. More…. 🤔
Good thinking! 😉 😉
[…] Six Sentence Stories: Train, Nebulous, Deal […]