Writing Prompt #134

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm not labeling it this week, so take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

The new USB drive you bought came preloaded with a strange secret.

Friday Flash - Teenage Love and Heartbreak

Teenage Love and Heartbreak

by Eric J. Krause

 

No one cares. No one listens. Everyone sucks! They babble on about how she's my first love, and I'll have plenty more, but they don't get it. She's my everything; my only, for now and forever!

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"We leave in two weeks," Nat told me. "Dad got a new job in Bakersfield. Bakersfield! Can you imagine? What am I supposed to do there?"

"Don't go." That's all I said. I should have elaborated, maybe proposed. But I left it at that. "Don't go."

She laughed without humor. "Yeah, right. That'd go over big with my parents." Then she gave me a gentle kiss and a hug, and left. I watched her go. Why hadn't I followed? I should have followed.

I tried texting and calling her over the next few days, and even went to her house, but she wouldn't talk to me. Jenny Brewster, Natalie's best friend, explained why.

"She loves you, but if she sees you, this'll be way harder for her. She doesn't want to forget you, but she knows she has to."

It made sense. Sort of. I guess. But it didn't make me happy. We could have had an awesome final two weeks together, but I obeyed her wishes, relayed through Jenny, and stayed away.

Honestly, I didn't plan for it to work out the way it did. What happened was spur-of-the-moment, seat-of-my-pants. I doubt many people would believe that, but it's the truth. Cross my heart and hope to die. But I never actually hoped to die. That's just the way things worked out.

Two days before she was to leave forever, I saw her at Royal Pond Park, one of our favorite hang-out spots. Like I said, I didn't plan to meet here there, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't hoped. In fact, I'd hoped so much that I'd raided my piggy bank and converted that change to bills. I'm sure you're thinking it's silly for a fifteen year old to have a piggy bank, but I'd had it since birth. And I'd never once taken anything from it. So there I was, cruising around on my skateboard with a fortune in my pocket -- over 300 bucks.

So I hadn't planned, but I'd prepared. When I saw her across the pond, everything entered my mind at once. She saw me coming and didn't run off. That's when I knew it'd all work out.

I'm not quite sure how she died. I mean, I know it was the fall from the roof of the 7-11, but I don't know if it was an accident or murder. She yelled at me, I shoved her, and she stumbled. If that ladder hadn't been there, I don't think she would have tumbled down. But what do I know?

"I want to be with you. I do. I love you." She paused, and the look in her eyes told me I wouldn't like what she had to say next. "But this is crazy. Stupid even. We're way too young to run off together, to start an adult life. I know I am."

I tried to reason with her. I said something along the lines of we weren't too young, and I wasn't stupid. She didn't listen, but turned to climb down off the roof. I tried one last thing, this time proving how incredibly stupid I really was.

"If you leave now, you're dead to me."

A ton of different emotions flashed across her face until anger stuck. "This is why I didn't want to see you anymore."

That did it. I shoved her. I didn't do it to hurt her. Instead, my emotionally overcharged brain used the physical to show the symbolical. I pushed her away. She stumbled backwards, her feet smacked into the top of the ladder, and she tumbled off to the pavement below. A fall from that height isn't usually fatal, but she landed awkwardly. I saw right away that she'd died instantly, and a little bit of me died with her. It wouldn't be long before the rest of me joined her.

I shimmied down the ladder and bolted before someone came out of the convenience store. She'd fallen to the side, in an alley. Pretty convenient for me. I still had 300 dollars and change in my pocket, and I'd need it in my new life on the run from the law. Or so I thought.

I wish I could say my death was symbolic, as in the loss of my youth and innocence. Or that I offed myself in a perfect Romeo and Juliet-type suicide. Or maybe even that I'd gone out in a made for the big screen action sequence. But no. Late the next night, I bedded down on a park bench in a strange town. A floating sensation jarred me awake, and I found myself rising to the sky, my body lying in a pool of blood from a gushing wound in my neck, while a scraggly man, presumably my killer, ran away with my cash clutched in his fists. As I moved towards that proverbial white light, my thoughts focused on Natalie and a possible reconciliation. Maybe it had worked out for the best after all.

10 Mile Xtreme Mud Run - Part One

A couple of weeks back, my wife and I went on vacation. The plan all along was to hit Las Vegas for a few days, and visit my aunt and uncle who live in Bullhead City, Arizona (right next to Laughlin, Nevada on the Colorado River below Davis Dam). When I saw there was a mud run in the neighboring town of Fort Mohave, AZ right around the time we'd planned to go, I decided to plan the vacation around that. We went for a couple of days to Las Vegas, headed to Bullhead City for the weekend, and then returned for two more days of Vegas fun. Turned out it was a great vacation on all fronts! For this post, however, I'm going to focus on the mud run, since I've had so many people ask me what in the heck it is. I haven't made any posts about running and exercise in awhile, so consider this a foray back into the topic.

The name of the mud run was the Xtreme Mud Run, and it was touted as the longest mud run in the nation. It had distances of 15 miles and 10 miles, as well as a 10 K and 5 K (6.2 miles and 3.1 miles respectively). I ran the 10 mile course. A mud run isn't run in the mud, but on trails, which are dirt and sand for the most part. It's basically a distance race with obstacles. The mud part of the name comes from those obstacles, which are often filled with mud. And since that's the most visually striking part of the run, both during and after, that's where the name comes from.

I've done a few races over the last couple of years, including one mud run (the 5 K zombie infested mud run called Run For Your Lives - I really should have told that story, but I blew it. I'll be doing it again this year, and I'll make sure you all hear the story). Most races have thousands of people, but this one, being in a small community in the desert, had only 300 or so participants. I originally signed up for a 9 AM heat, since the earlier ones were touted as competitive heats. I'm not a competitive runner (except with myself), so I had no need to go against the hard-core running adventurers, especially since I was technically on vacation. When I got there, though, luckily an hour and a half early, I found out there was only one heat for the 10 mile run - the 8 AM one. Good. I wasn't looking forward to standing around for an hour and a half anyway.

The run took place on the Avi Indian Reservation in Fort Mohave, AZ. From what I could tell driving in, it looked to be on farmland, and there was plenty of that to cover 15 (and in my case 10) miles. I spotted a few runners from the 7 AM heat for the 15 mile run, and saw them running on the dirt with no obstacles in sight. So it wasn't the strategic view that I'd hoped for (there were almost 40 obstacles set up to go over, under, and through, and for my distance, there were almost 30), but I was glad to see the event had started in a timely manner. I arrived to a large building that housed the start and finish line, as well as the final obstacle - rings to cross over a mud pit (like monkey bars, but rings on ropes instead of bars). I could feel the excitement in the air as I checked in and got set to race. The other competitors also had energy and nerves flowing off of them, and I could tell just by looking around that there'd be great camaraderie on the course, something which is a ton of fun in these races.

I watched the 7:30 heat (the final group of 15 milers) take off, and I slathered sunscreen on (hey, it was a relatively cool morning, but we were in the desert!). My uncle took my pre-race pictures, and I warmed up for the adventure. When it was finally time to line up for the start, I found that there were only two, maybe three, dozen other competitors in the 10 mile distance, a far-cry from any other race I'd ever done. As the guy at the starting line gave us our instructions, we all bounced up and down, working out the pre-race jitters and warming up, all in one. Finally, as the clock hit 8 AM, he shouted "Go!" and we were off.

How did I do? What was the course like? Was I sore for the rest of my vacation, which still had almost 5 days to go? Find out next week! For now, here are some picture of me awaiting my starting time. Enjoy!

Here I am up in the stands awaiting the fun!

 Here are three of the staring/finish line.

 My wife, Amber, and I in front of the promotional poster. I think it looks pretty cool!

 Here's one of the promotional flags. Like the poster, it's pretty nifty!

 Amber and I in the stands.

Writing Prompt #133

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as horror this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Everytime you enter your house, you hear the faint sound of children laughing. You have no children, and none live on your street.

#FridayFlash - Millennium Ship

Millennium Ship

by Eric J. Krause 

Matt's eyes flickered open as the seal of his hibernation pod cracked. He wiped the sleep crust out of his eyes and stretched. Damn. His turn for upkeep. Why they couldn't trust the computer to run the ship the entire way was beyond him.

He pushed the pod open and stepped out. It was amazing how limber he felt after 300 years of sleep. He yawned. Even though it did a perfect job of stimulating his muscles, it did little to get his mind ready for the awakening. Ah well. The faster he ran all of the diagnostics and made any necessary repairs and maintenance, the sooner he could return to another 300 year nap.

As he walked out, he didn't spare a glance to Amanda or Carlos. He stumbled out of the hibernation center and headed for the galley. A stim-drink would get him to full power quick enough.

Halfway down the curved hallway, a shadow danced in front of him. He blinked hard, but saw nothing to have caused it. Footsteps sounded from the other end of the hall, near the galley.

"Hello? Carlos? Amanda? Why are you awake?" Maybe he should have checked their pods. Maybe the computer had some problems and it needed all of them to fix it. The scientists said it was an unlikely situation, but certainly possible.

No one answered. He shook his head and continued on. If he was imagining things, he needed that stim-drink more than he thought.

Taps and bangs sounded throughout the ship, but he couldn't pinpoint them. The lights died in the galley, and the emergency lights flashed on. He slugged down the rest of his drink and rushed to check the main computer. As he ran, footsteps followed him. He turned his head, but saw no one.

The problem was easy enough to catch from the main terminal. Somehow the reset button had been pushed. The lights would be on again in less than an hour. But how had it happened? The system needed the safety key to be turned at the exact moment the button was pressed. It couldn't be done by accident. If Carlos and Amanda were both asleep, that was impossible. Unless there was an intruder or a stowaway.

The footfalls again sounded behind him, and a shadow passed the doorway when he turned. He leaped up and pursued whoever was there. He found no one, but a lingering scent of Amanda's perfume filled the hall. It was unmistakable; he'd smelled it enough that first year before hibernations. They'd slept together almost every night.

Matt sprinted down the hall to see if she was still asleep. He peered through the tiny porthole in her pod and saw her face. Something was wrong. It looked as if she'd been jammed in there. He cracked the seal, and she tumbled out. He caught her before she smacked into the ground, and checked her pulse. It should be slow but strong, but he felt nothing. He hugged her before laying her corpse on the ground.

He stood, looked in Carlos's pod, and found him in a similar state. Before he could open it up to examine his body, a presence filled the doorway. He turned and found Amanda standing there. He let out a yelp when he realized he could see right through her.

Matt's blood ran cold. A horrified look was etched on her face. She mouthed something, and it took a few seconds for him to catch on. Over and over she said a single word: "Run."

A burst of energy behind her dulled her ghost. He should take her advice, but couldn't. He had to see what this was.

"Carlos!" Matt yelled. It wasn't him, not exactly. His crewmate and good friend was now an energized alien being. His body was nothing but a blob of unformed mass, though his head remained. He stumbled into the room with no grace until he spotted Matt. Then he moved smoother than lightning.

Matt screamed as this Carlos-monster gripped him with its oversized hands. The energy bled off and encircled his chest. Precious oxygen seeped from his lungs, and he realized he wouldn't survive this. Before he drifted off to death, visions of what happened permeated his mind.

Wires worked loose under the ship's main terminal. As Carlos welded them together, the ship glided through an unknown energy deposit. Some sort of being launched itself through the wires and snuffed Carlos out before he knew what was going on. It took his essence and jammed his physical body back into the hibernation pod. Then it waited. 100 years later, Amanda emerged. It killed her and did the same with her body. 100 more years passed, and Matt woke. Now it had eradicated the entire crew and had the ship to itself.

He had no clue what it planned. As soon as his soul released from his dead body, Amanda grabbed him and they fled. Interestingly enough, one does not need to be on Earth to travel into that bright light that leads to the afterlife.

Free, free, free!

As you can tell from the title of this post, the topic today is free books. Two things have triggered this. First, I gave away two .pdf copies of my newest book, Dragon Guard, away on Twitter this week. I'll talk more about that in a minute. Second, I'm giving away my self-published novel, Ghost Betweens, for free on Amazon for the Kindle for the next five days. My reasons for doing this are more than simply I have five promotional days left for this selling period. I'll get to that after I talk about Dragon Guard.

As I said, I ran a contest to give away two free .pdf copies of my newest novel, Dragon Guard, which is a Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy story. I did this spur of the moment, so I didn't know what sort of response I would get. Turns out, not much but more than I expected. Let me explain. I received my .pdf file of the novel from my publisher, Hunt Press, late last week. I decided to give away two copies of it to anyone who retweeted a post I made. I didn't make a blog post or anything else; I simply did this on Twitter. Plus I only ran the contest over the weekend. Turns out, this didn't work out so well for my normal followers. I believe I had three people retweet it, and I gave plenty of chances for people to do so. That was a bit disheartening. But, as I said, I also got a much bigger response than I'd hoped. One of my tweets ended with two simple words: Free Book! I didn't hashtag it (for those of you on Twitter, you know this is how you get non-followers to see your posts), but I still got the post picked up by a number (about 30) of people who were, judging from their Twitter descriptions, big compers - people who love to enter contests for free stuff. I don't know if one picked up on this and it spread through their ranks or if it was on a contest list somewhere, but I had a bunch of people retweet to enter the contest that way. That was awesome for me! After all, they're potential new fans if they enjoy the story, right?

Anyway, I'm happy with how it turned out. Two people got a .pdf copy of my book, and I'm hoping they'll really enjoy it. If I hadn't put those two magical words ("Free Book!") in one of my tweets, I would have had a lousy turnout for my contest. But that is mostly my fault. I did simply run it as a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I didn't publicize it very well. In the future, I'm sure I'll have another such contest, but this time I'll give some heads-up to create some buzz for it. I'll post it on my blog and other sites. I'll keep it going for a full week so I get both weekend and weekday tweeters. This knowledge is probably the best thing that came out of this experience for me. (Though I hope the book is read, possibly reviewed on Amazon or anywhere else, and talked about by those who won. That would be an even bigger win for me!)

My second point in this post is my releasing of my self-published book, Ghost Betweens, a Young Adult Paranormal Adventure, free for then next five days (starting Thursday and running through Monday). The reason I'm doing this is because of Dragon Guard. I'm hoping people will download Ghost Betweens, enjoy it, and decide they'd like to give Dragon Guard a read. I'm confident readers just need a reason to pick up Dragon Guard, and when they do, they'll enjoy the heck out of it. I'm also hoping people will review Ghost Betweens on Amazon. I have 6 reviews right now (3 5-stars and 3 4-stars), and I'd love more. More reviews not only mean future sales for Ghost Betweens, but I'm hoping it rubs off on Dragon Guard, too.

So, if you have a Kindle, please download Ghost Betweens these next five days. Read it, review it, and pass the word on. If you don't have a Kindle, get yourself a Kindle App. It's free, and you won't miss out on great free promotions like this one. I hope you enjoy Ghost Betweens, and I hope it's a gateway drug to Dragon Guard!

Kindle Link to Ghost Betweens (Free Thursday April 11 - Monday April 15)
Kindle Link to Dragon Guard (Not free, but about the same price as a large value meal at a fast food joint, and much healthier for you!)

Writing Prompt #132

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm not labeling it this week, so take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Your rich uncle give you the supernatural secret to his fortune.

Writing Prompt #131

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as horror this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

You interact with a ghost that doesn't know it's dead.

Friday Flash: Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars

by Eric J. Krause

Timothy and Abby lay on the soft grass of Towerbell Hill, ready for the start of nature's firework show. Tonight was the night of the Quinn-Baines Meteor Shower, a once in a lifetime event. There were other meteor showers that could be tracked, but this one took the scientific community by surprise. Once it was determined that the rocks would burn up in the atmosphere, the event captured the population's imagination. Everyone wanted to view the spectacle. All around the half of the world where it was night, even in major metropolitans, the shower would be visible. And for the other half of the world, or if there were clouds in the area? The Internet, of course, had viewing options.

As luck would have it, Timothy and Abby both had the evening off, him from his job at Milton's Burgers 'N Ice Cream, and her from school. She technically had class until ten, but her professor knew he'd get no sort of attention out of his students, if they even bothered to show, so he canceled. They agreed that he wanted to watch the show, too. And it certainly was a spectacular night for it. Not a cloud in the sky, and their town, not large, but large enough to pollute the sky with its multitude of man-made lights, made way for the special night by turning off as many non-essential lights as possible. That brought out more stars than either could remember seeing since their senior class trip to the mountains three years ago.

"What time is it?" Abby asked, and Timothy held out his phone for her to see. A quarter after nine. The sun had set, and the stars were in full bloom. According to the media, the show would begin right about now. It would be a few trickles here and there, and then by 9:30, the meteor shower would begin in earnest.

Timothy pointed up. "Did you see it? A short one, but that was the first."

"Yeah, cool. Did you make a wish?"

He kissed her neck, murmured that he had, and squeezed her breast. She giggled and knocked his hand away in case anyone could see. Not that everyone wasn't focused skyward, but a girl couldn't be too prudent.

As the minutes ticked away, dozens upon dozens of shooting stars flashed across the dark night sky, some at the same time, previewing the awesome show to come. The ooh's and ahh's came from all over the hill, and Abby couldn't help but smile. The crowd reaction reminded her of a Fourth of July Fireworks Extravaganza. And, truth be told, this would likely blow any man-made show away.

More and more shooting stars streaked across the night sky, but then Timothy's arms stiffened around her. "What?" she whispered back to him.

"One of them changed directions," he said. "And I don't mean like a light bend. It turned a hard right."

"Maybe two collided. Or it hit something else."

"Another one did it," he said, fear in his voice. Why would that upset him? She noticed others around the hill shared his worried tone, though she couldn't hear their conversations.

She stared up, determined to see one change directions with her own eyes. She didn't have to wait long, nor did she have to concentrate hard. A half-dozen of the shooting stars turned, as if on cue, a hard 90 degrees to their right. The crowd on the hill now raised a ruckus.

"It's on the news," someone shouted. "They aren't just falling rocks."

"What does that mean?" someone else yelled. "What are they?"

Before the first man could answer, the shooting stars stopped and hovered in the sky. All hell broke loose.

Set Goals and Reward Yourself

You have plenty of ideas about what you want to write, how much you plan to write each day, and other tasks that will further your writing career. But how often does the day slip away? All of your good intentions to write are easily erased by other things that pop up in your day, both important and trivial. This is why you need to set goals. And not only set them, but write them down where you'll see them. That way they'll seem official to your mind, something not to be missed or ignored.

Personally, I write down my goals in a notebook that I keep by my desk. That way when I see it, I know I have writing to do. And inside, I've written down exactly what that writing entails. I have my weekly time goal (which, at the moment, is 25 hours dedicated to writing type stuff), my daily word goal (which is 500 words, though that usually turns into over 1000), a reminder of which blog posts I want to publish that week, a reminder to read at least a chapter in a book each day, and a reminder to publish something fun on my Facebook author page each day, and other such things. You can see not all of these are pure writing, but marketing of sorts, too. In my 25 weekly hours, for example, I allow myself to count my time on Twitter provided I'm clicking on links, commenting on posts or links when I have something to add to the discussion, retweeting, and generally marketing myself as a writer. Since using social media is a part of being a writer nowadays, I have no problem counting this time as part of my weekly hours.

As you can see, goals don't have to be overly specific - I don't break down how I spend each of those 25 hours, and as long as I'm writing some type of fiction, be it a full piece of flash fiction or a part of a longer story, I don't worry about tracking those words. I also called some of my goals reminders. Anything to make the writing day and week productive. Try it yourself. Start small so you simply get in the routine of not only setting goals, but following through on them.

And speaking of following through on goals, the best way to keep yourself honest is to offer yourself a small reward if you complete them. Pick something that will motivate you. Personally, if I finish all of my goals (note I said all - if I get my 25 hours, but haven't finished my words, I didn't earn my reward), I download an episode of a television show on Amazon. I've been doing this for a month, and so far I've earned the first three episodes from Season One of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. For me, I figure I can afford to spend $1.99 for a week of completing all of my writing goals. You may do something like this, or you might choose to allow yourself to watch a completely frivolous movie on Netflix or DVD or whatnot. You may treat yourself to a movie in the theater, a new book download, a decadent cupcake from a local bakery, or whatever else you can think of. As long as it motivates you to complete your daily, weekly, or monthly goals.

Set goals. It'll help you accomplish more. And reward yourself, even if it's just something small. But don't cheat, either on your goals or your rewards. The main point is to become a better author. So good luck, and get started!

Writing Prompt #130

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm not labeling it this week, so take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

Your new running shoes have a special feature which allows you to run further and faster, but it comes with a unique price.

Writing Prompt #129

Here is this week's speculative fiction prompt. I'm labeling it as science fiction this week, but, as always, take it whatever direction you choose. Have fun with it!

A strange new social movement was actually started by space aliens (or time travelers). 

Chapter 4 Part 3: Dragon Guard

Click here to read Chapter 4 Part 2

Dragon Guard
Chapter 4
Part 3

"I'm a dragon, and so is my dad," Andi blurted out. "Don't hate me."

"If he hated you, or was even frightened by you, he'd be long gone," Mr. Thomas said. "Not sitting here sharing an afternoon snack. As meager as it is."

"Yes, Lee, I'm well aware you want me to go to the grocery store," Mrs. Thomas said as she rolled her eyes. "I'll do it tomorrow."

Ben and Andi's eyes met, and she gave him a shy smile before concentrating on her soda can. What Mr. Thomas said was true, though. Andi being a dragon, whatever that meant, didn't frighten him one bit. And he certainly didn't hate her. Quite the opposite. But it did confuse him to no end.

"Besides," Mr. Thomas said, "he's your guard. He's programmed to not hate you, and you him." He gave Ben a hard stare. "But just because I acknowledge it doesn't mean I condone you putting your hands all over my daughter."

"Daddy!"

"Lee!"

Ben could only sit there and wonder what was going on. He hadn't even been close to putting his hands all over her. They'd almost kissed, sure, but she started that, not him. And what did he mean that Ben was her guard? None of this made any sense.

"What?" Mr. Thomas said to his wife. "I'm stating my feelings. I thought you liked it when I displayed them."

"I also know you understand the concept of tact, but you're choosing not to show any of that at the moment."

"Excuse me," Ben said, hoping he spoke loud enough to be heard. He had, as all three looked at him. "Uh, well, I mean…" He took a deep breath, and though Mr. Thomas kept his sour expression trained on him, smiles on the faces of both Mrs. Thomas, and more importantly, Andi urged him on. "What do you mean I'm her guard?"

"It's fate, dear," Mrs. Thomas said. "You're destined to be Alexandria's Dragon Guard."

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Chapter 4 Part 2: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard
Chapter 4
Part 2

When he did, Mr. Thomas frowned, looking every bit as menacing as he had yesterday morning. "You again? Are you spying on us?"

Ben shook his head and tried to say he'd come to warn them, but he couldn't get the words out. He glanced at Andi. Her face held an expression that was both horrified and embarrassed, and he couldn't blame her. If he was some sort of monster and she found out, he'd feel the same way. But she didn't need to. For reasons he couldn't figure out, he didn't care. He still felt the same about her as when she almost kissed him a few minutes ago. How in the world was he not more freaked out about this? About any of this?

"You know darn well he's not spying on us, Lee," Mrs. Thomas said. "And you know why he's here, too. Even if he doesn't." She flashed a warm smile his way which made him feel a lot better.

"Fine," Mr. Thomas said. He growled something under his breath, and then barked, "Andi, lighter fluid. The damn things are moving closer."

And they were. The body parts had been strewn across the backyard in heaps, but now looked like they'd been carefully placed for future reattachment. Ben guessed burning them was the only way to actually kill them. Had Mr. Thomas torched the ones from yesterday?

Andi came out with the lighter fluid, but wouldn't meet Ben's eyes. Did she think he wouldn't like her after what he saw? Or did she not like him anymore? He wanted to say something, but didn't dare in front of her parents, especially her dad. They were all silent until the zombies were well on their way to becoming ash.

Mr. Thomas spoke first, his voice calmer than Ben had yet heard it. "Zombies burn easily. It's one of the few ways to ultimately stop them." Ben realized it was directed at him, so he nodded to show he understood. In fact, even though he had no business knowing, he could have told them that. And he didn't think that knowledge came from watching zombie movies and playing video games.

"Since you haven't run off," Mrs. Thomas said, "you're obviously who we think you are."

He glanced over to Andi, saw her blush, and then back to Mrs. Thomas. "What do you mean? Who am I?"

"Let's discuss it in the house where it's not as smelly." She wrinkled her nose and looked at the burning bodies to emphasize her point. "I know Andi and Lee will agree with that."

Once inside, everyone sat around the kitchen table. Ben sat next to Andi and across from her mother's chair, while she sat opposite her dad. Mrs. Thomas placed a basket of potato chips in the middle. "What would you like to drink, Ben? I'm afraid all we have is soda, milk, and tap water. I haven't had much of a chance to grocery shop yet."

"Doesn't matter. I'll have what Andi's having." He cringed inside when he said it and wished he'd just made a decision. Mrs. Thomas hid a smile, Andi blushed and again refused to meet his eyes, while Mr. Thomas frowned.

She pulled four cans of soda out of the refrigerator and set them down in front of everyone. They each popped the tops and took sips, no one saying anything for a few beats. Mrs. Thomas broke the silence. "There's no need to hide anything, Ben, but I'm curious as to what you think you saw."

He grabbed a chip to give himself a few extra seconds to think. Should he go with the truth, or would they hold that against him? They were a different sort, that was for sure, and they might cover it up at any cost, including burying him in the backyard. No, he'd seen too many movies and cop procedurals. Whatever Andi was, and he honestly had no clue, she was a good…person or whatever. Her mom, too. He glanced at Mr. Thomas as he swallowed his chip; the jury was still out on him, though he couldn't imagine he'd be evil when Andi and her mom were so nice.

"I, uh, felt the zombies, and when I turned, I saw four at the front of your house, moving to the side gate."

"You felt them?" Mr. Thomas said.

"Yeah, like pins and needles on the back of my neck. Just like yesterday morning."

Mr. Thomas started to say something else, but Mrs. Thomas jumped in. "Lee, let him finish. What next?"

"I figured I should warn you guys, so I followed them into the backyard to see what they were up to. But you were already there, waiting."

"I noticed them right after I got in the house," Andi said. She finally looked at him, and they shared a smile.

Mrs. Thomas prompted him to continue. "And you saw us…"

"I saw you chop two up with a couple of swords, just like yesterday morning, and I saw…"

"Say it, boy," Mr. Thomas said. It sounded like a dare.

"I saw you and Andi turn into…" He almost said monsters, but caught himself. "…something."

Mr. Thomas flashed a wicked grin that proved he knew what Ben almost said.

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Chapter 4 Part 1: Dragon Guard

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Dragon Guard
Chapter 4
Part 1

"You didn't," Andi said, her hand pressed to her mouth. They'd walked home together and were almost to her house.

"Yeah. He all but asked for it by being an ass. So Randy and Vince filled a lunch sack with dog doo, and Jay borrowed one of his dad's lighters. I rang the doorbell as soon as Jay had the bag lit, and we ran like hell. We couldn't see from our hiding spot, but by the way he cursed, we knew he stamped it out. Hopefully with his indoor slippers."

"Oh no," Andi said, this time not successfully holding back the laughter. "I've made friends with a hooligan. Not doing homework yesterday, and telling me about lighting dog poop on fire today."

He winked at her. "Yeah, you better watch out. I'm dangerous."

She lost it even more and gave him a half-hug to keep from toppling over as she laughed. Ben took a deep breath and held it, but he didn't think she noticed. Good.

They walked a little ways further, and she wiped away some tears that had spilled out. By the time she regained control, they were in front of her house. "Thanks for walking me home," she said. "It's nice to have company."

"Glad to. You're fun to be around." And nice to look at, he thought, but didn't dare say it aloud. She dressed like most girls at school, with jeans and a tight white shirt, but he had to admit he liked the way she looked in the clothes better than any other girl.

"I don't know about that." She nudged his arm. "I've never even thought about leaving a flaming bag of poop on a doorstep."

He nudged her back. "I'm guessing you have some secrets you haven't told me yet."

"Maybe. You'll have to wait and see if I share."

Had she hesitated and looked nervous before she said that? No, he was being silly and reading too much into everything. "I can be patient," he said.

"We'll see." She turned towards her house, but before she moved, she looked back at him. "Hey, since you walk this way anyway, would you mind if I joined you on the way to school?"

His breath caught in his throat, but he managed to nod and choke out, "I'd like that."

"Me too." She moved her face close to his, then stopped, blushed, and hurried up to her house. Whoa, she almost kissed him. Too bad she stopped. That would have been cool.

He started towards home, not sure his feet were even touching the ground. He hadn't felt this good the time he and Melissa had made out, and Andi's lips hadn't even touched his. Weird. And she was so easy to talk to. He always ran out of stuff to say to Melissa, but with Andi he felt like he could talk for hours without repeating anything. And it was even better that they could be silly together. Melissa didn't tolerate that. They spent half of lunch today coming up with new ways to shorten different names after she said she went by Andi because no one expected Alexandria to be shortened like that. Everyone, predictably, tried to call her Alex.

Before he lost himself in more thoughts, he spun back towards her house. That strange tingling sensation assaulted his neck again, just like yesterday morning. No, that was impossible. All of that seemed like such a dream. How could the zombies be back now?

There were four shuffling around the house. Like people, each had different features and such, but all shared the same limping stride and pale bluish-green skin tone, just like the two yesterday. This group moved around the front porch and pushed through the side gate to the backyard. Ben dropped his backpack on the front lawn and followed at a safe distance. He'd see what they were up to and then ring the doorbell to warn Andi.

A quick peek into the backyard showed Andi and her parents already waiting for the zombies. Her mom had the same two short swords she used yesterday morning, but neither Andi nor her dad had any weapons at all. As the zombies lumbered forward, none of the Thomas's looked frightened. But that was okay because Ben's heart beat fast enough for everyone put together.

Without warning, Mrs. Thomas leapt, skewering a zombie's torso with one sword, while decapitating it with the other. In the same motion, she lunged at a second. While that was going on, something happened to Andi and her father. Their necks stretched, his about ten feet, hers not quite as long, and their heads morphed into some sort of blue reptile. No way. He was hallucinating again. But that wasn't true, and he knew it.

As her mother decimated the second zombie, Andi and her father each bit the remaining two in half. When all four lay in still wiggling pieces, Andi and her dad reverted back to normal. Ben blinked hard to see if all of this had really just happened.

"Andi, the lighter fluid is in the garage," her dad said. "It's next to the box marked BBQ. Go grab it before they start to regenerate."

"Wait," Mrs. Thomas said. She looked towards Ben, and Andi and her dad tensed, ready to jump back into action. Ben pulled his head back and hoped she hadn't seen him. He thought about running, but before he moved, she said, "It's okay, Ben. Come on out."

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