crisper, posts by tag: 100words - LiveJournal — LiveJournal

07:45 pm - 100 Words: How Can You Still Be Living?

The assassin drops to the floor and strikes swiftly. Any weapon would be detected coming into the hospital, so he pulls the pillow out from under the target’s head and slams it onto his face as he awakens. The old man flails, but after a minute… uh…

…he keeps flailing.

And flailing…?

Die! Why won’t you…

The door opens. Guards pour in with tasers and the assassin jerks once, twice, falls. How did the target hold his breath so long?

The old man leans into view, chuckling: “Porous foam core. Breathe right through it. Hey, asshole: Do your research.”

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For consideration: "You must honor and respect the older fellow / Even as you suffocate him with a pillow / Though you're strong / He. Was. Wise."

07:00 pm - 100 Words: "We all got a space 2 fill"

“Sorry, babe. She’s more what I need. Long-term, I mean.”

He knows he sounds like a dick, dumping me for her, but he doesn’t care enough to be nice about it.

“It’s not like I was ever going to introduce you to my family, right?”

What he doesn’t know is, I set them up together. She stays married just long enough to strip the estate off him in the divorce. I get ten percent afterwards, and don’t have to put up with fucking him in the meantime.

And I have seven other new-money douchebags just like him in the pipeline.

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For consideration: "Did he put your million dollar check / In someone else's box?"

07:28 am - 100 Words: Honor and Respect the Older Fellow

My 100th birthday. The alarm wakes me five minutes before my younger self materializes.

He’s unpleasantly surprised. “The plan was for you to be asleep.”

“I know the plan. Duh. Plan’s off. Everything was wrong. Don’t do it!”

He looks confused. I remember the feeling. “Did you… I mean me… lie to me on our 80th, then?”

“I felt differently then, but now I want to live!”

His discomfort is growing. “But… But…” Poor kid. But he needs to learn.

Finally, I can’t help but grin: “Just kidding. Plan’s on.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Let’s go!”

He raises the disintegrator. “Happy birthday!”

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For consideration: "It's clear you're very much alive / It's 2105."

08:41 pm - 100 Words: Better Plan All Year

When I was a kid, Halloween was the Big Score. Bigger even than Christmas, really. Out all night, come back with a bag of hard-earned loot. Good honest ransack.

But then I grew. “Aren’t you a little old for trick-or-treat?” I didn’t want to admit it, but it was true. Too old. I had to stop, but every year I missed the game something fierce. What to do?

So that’s why I have nine kids now. A good crew. Out all night. Big bags of loot, every one. Kick your share up, little ones. Papa needs to dip his beak.

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For consider: "Why don't you take your social regulations, shove 'em up your ass?"

12:14 am - That Groovy Thing

Jack looks at the tubing around his arm.

“Explain how it works again?”

He’s a lunk but I do my best.

“Metabolic capability is limited by the internal bandwidth of your neurochemical processes. The… juice… reconfigures those processes for higher rate of transmission.”

He squeezes his fist several times, making the vein bulge.

“Super-steroid.”

I sigh.

“Something like that.”

He grins, imagining a new life.

“Stronger. Faster. Tougher. It’s gonna be awesome. I’m going to be a hero.”

I nod, then shrug.

“Sure, if the acceleration doesn’t tear you apart.”

He starts…

“Wait. What?”

…but I drive the plunger home.

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For consideration: "This could lead to excellence... or serious injury."

02:49 pm - 100 Words: It Doesn't Matter Who's Wrong or Right

What do you mean, the missiles won’t fire?

This is an untested scenario, sir.

Untested? We’ve run sixty overwhelming first-strike simulations!

Not like this, sir. The enemy has completely disarmed their counterstrike.

Our best-case scenario and THEN some!

In pure loss of life and materiel, yes. But in public perception...

Public perception? We’re gonna win! Everyone likes that!

Everyone likes winning against a clear threat. When the enemy accepts perfectly pacifistic vulnerability to annhilation...

...the people would rebel?

They might. We don’t know, sir. It’s an...

...untested scenario. I’ll be damned. Lost the war before it even started.

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For consideration: "No one wants to be defeated."

02:47 pm - 100 Words: Hope Someday You'll Join Us

John wakes from another nightmare. Worse this time, though, not for the dream but for the waking: Bolting upright to find himself in hospital gown, on something like an autopsy table, dimly lit, in an infinite space... filled with sleeping people in gowns on tables.

An eye on a mechanical stalk descends from darkness above. “Sleep,” it soothingly suggests.

“What...” John’s breath is panicky. “What is this?”

“World peace,” the eye replies, its voice strangely comforting. “At last.”

John’s pulse slows as he ponders the words. Then, eventually, with a calm nod, he lies back down and closes his eyes.

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For consideration: "You may say that I'm a dreamer / But I'm not the only one."

10:38 am - 100 Words: Thirty-Four Shows Every Day

True, he’s the worst Safari Boat guide we’ve ever had.

“The mighty elephant’s heart is so strong, when you shoot it through the neck the blood jets a hundred feet!”

Not a day goes by that we don’t get customer complaints.

“Of course, all the real lions I’ve ever seen were mangy fleatraps covered in their own shit.”

But it’s not like there’s anything we can do.

“He was only a mediocre guide, but that night in my tent... that’s when he really proved his value. Lord, what a sweet peach that boy was!”

After all, he owns the park.

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For consideration: "Look at those hippos, they're wiggling their ears / Just like they've done for the last fifty years."

12:03 am - 100 Words: You'll lay yourself to waste

“Disaster!” the imp shouted. “The end of the world!”

Satan glowered with open contempt. “It’s a war beyond any other, but it’s hardly the end.” He turned back to his tools, touching complicated electronics here and there. Finishing touches.

“All humanity! Immortal! Unstoppable!”

“They’re entirely stoppable,” the Devil reassured his companion. “We just need to be efficient in our approach.”

The little critter wrung its hands. “How?”

“Automation,” he announced. “Robots are great at replacing Man, no matter his status.”

The Lightbringer closed the hatch on his creation’s chest. With a faint whirr, the machine stood and spread its wings.

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For consideration: "You know the demon's in the design."

12:09 am - 100 Words: Stand Before the Gates

They lounge on the Vaticanus Mons under a sky full of stars.

“Will there truly be enough bloodshed?”

“Definitely.”

“It’s been a long time since we drank ourselves to bursting.”

“I know.”

Tomorrow night will be thick with the smoke of a thousand fires.

“Still, centuries of stability have been good for us.”

“We’re in a rut, darling.”

“True. We’re not meant to settle down, are we?”

“No. It’s unnatural.”

All they have to do is open the gate for the Vandals.

“I can’t wait to see the sun set.”

“What? We can’t watch a sunset.”

“I mean on Rome.”

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For consideration: "Empires come and go / We live forever"

12:11 am - 100 Words: U Keep a-Knockin' but U Can't Come In

It’s my room, too, so after Suzy shouts at me to fuck off through the door for the third time, I pick the lock. As the door opens, she’s hastily throwing clothes on to cover that she’s been webcam masturbating for one of her Amazon Wishlist “friends” again.

“Don’t you tell mom,” she hisses, “or I will mess you up.”

As if. Why would I show my pussy to pathetic convenience store managers for fifty dollar jewelry when I have thirty guys in Russia and Germany cracking credit card numbers on botnetted Xboxes? Dumb bitch is as dumb bitch does.

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For consideration: "Little Sister, don't you do what your Big Sister does."

09:09 pm - 100 Words: Hemi-Powered Drones

We’re making our slow, careful way out of the City. The road is littered with debris, crashes, bodies of thousands who tried to evacuate. How many millions dead so far?

Suddenly, ahead, the worst possible sound.

“Bystanders!”

They are coming. We cannot outrun them.

“I’ll save you, citizens!”
“No! They’re mine to rescue!”

Can’t hide from their senses. No barricade will stop them.

“Back off or I’ll punch you to the moon!”
“Give it your best shot, cape!”

We’re doomed.

A million threats... but in the end, it wasn’t Evil that destroyed the world.

It was all the damn superheroes.

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For consideration: "Highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive."

12:04 am - 100 Words: We'll Know When We Get There

The divine face is beyond reach. “Please,” I beg, “tell me how to find you! We’ve lost our way!”

“Faith,” it says, “is not something I can give. It is something you must find for yourself.”

Then light blasts through my eyes, my head ringing with alarm chime, and I am awake in my bunk. A remoteye hovers alongside.

“We. Trust. Your. Sleep. Was. Dreamless?” it menaces.

I nod cautiously, giving away nothing. If they suspect I harbor religious notions, of course, they will adjust my medication.

It’s hard to find God in these sterile halls, but I will try.

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For consideration: "In the morning, would you let me wake / With something to believe in?"

03:09 pm - 100 Words: Smile and Grin at the Change All Around Me

I enter his office, as I have done many times before.

He gestures: “Have a seat.”

“I’d rather stand,” I say.

He nods as though expecting this. “You know why we’re subjecting you to disciplinary HR action again?”

I shrug. “I hate and loathe this place and can’t be bothered to hide it.”

He purses his lips. “Maybe the ultrafast-cloning business just isn’t for you.”

I close my eyes, take a deep breath. “Maybe,” I admit. Then I draw my pistol, shoot him through the head, and walk out.

Tomorrow, of course, we’ll be having the same conversation again.

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For consideration: "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."

11:35 pm - 100 Words: Even Our Masters Don't Know the Webs We Weave

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.”

It was all going smoothly, until that prick Markiel decided to angle for the bigtime.

“The showroom is this way.”

His little heist squad got out with enough artifact firepower to potentially conquer the newly-opened Terrestrial Kingdom.

“Beyond its doors lie horrific power beyond imagining.”

There was no alternative. To keep the playing field level, they had to let all the other newly-minted immortals arm themselves, too.

“The Creator informs me that everything is negotiable.”

The Archangel throws the door wide.

“Nothing is off limits.”

A billion pairs of hands rush forward to take.

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For consideration: "Hell opened up and put on sale / Gather 'round and haggle"

11:31 pm - 100 Words: Can't Carry It With You

They say it’s joy like nothing you've ever known.
But what if they're wrong?

They tell you to throw your arms wide at the last moment, to catch as much as you can.
But how would they know?

They warn you, that it will rip you apart, that your body will be disintegrated.
But who cares, if what lies beyond is so perfect?

They claim it’s a one way trip and there’s no coming back.
But who can say where new life comes from?

They push you towards it whenever they can,
But I notice they never do it themselves.

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For consideration: "Happiness hit her like a train on a track"

10:05 pm - 100 Words: Today, Patronize

She has hardwood floors. She’s right above me. I hear, every night. All night. Why? What’s she like? Is she tall and athletic? Short and curvy? If I tried to talk to her, would she kick me in the groin and step on my neck? Or maybe she’s demure, submissive, hiding behind tough attire. Is she walking around alone, or is it for someone’s benefit? I have to stop thinking about her. But I can’t. I can’t stop hearing each and every step. I don’t know anything about her. Except what she wears on her feet. That, I know perfectly.

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For consideration: "Listen to the sound / of my big, black boots"

03:28 pm - 100 Words: We're Sacred and Bound

“Pick me!”

The demogorgon floats above, its triple eye looking over our writhing bodies.

“I’m here!”

Its gaze is drawn only to the strongest, sexiest, most physical.

“Look at me! Over here!”

Every voice drowns in a sea of noise.

“Throw me into your maw.”

My body is covered with sweat, but I am not flexing or waving.

“I beg you!”

I do not wish to be seen. I wish to remain here, in the Fire.

“I’ll do anything!”

I don’t know what lies beyond the demogorgon’s jaws, but I know that in Hell, change can only ever be worse.

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For consideration: "I pull my shirt off and pray / I'm saving myself to suffer the heatwave."

10:51 pm - 100 Words: Love Like Invisible Strings

I was drawn to the park that morning. Didn’t know why. Just had to go. Then I saw him, feeding birds from the bench, and understood everything.

He looked up. Confused for a second, then suddenly clear. “How long has it been?” he asked, smiling.

“No idea,” I replied. “We were in... Manchuria?”

“Long time, then,” he nodded, then looked grave. “Think... the others... are around, too?”

I shrugged. “Always seemed to work out that way before, right?”

He chuckled. “Centuries, and a whole world to reincarnate in. You’d think we’d drift apart. Lose touch.”

“Not a chance,” I said.

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For consideration: "There's not a word yet / for old friends who've just met."

10:54 pm - 100 Words: Please Don't Stop Me

I had a name once. An identity. I was somebody. The best driver on these roads. My name meant something. But the problem with being somebody is that nobodies eventually come after you, to make their own names. I had to escalate. Strip away weaknesses. Like... who I used to be. I had to focus on the car. I had to become the car. I had to do what must be done. Everything, everyone, that got in my way... Well, they’re not my problem. They were a person’s problem. I’m nothing but the car now, and this is my road.

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For consideration: "License, registration / I ain't got none / But I got a clear conscience / About the things that I done."