Post by Volyren Nightsong on Sept 10, 2011 19:15:55 GMT -5
***NOTE***
For some strange reason I cannot get the dratted code box to accept all of my formatting. It seems to pick and choose which tabs it wants to display, and that is very frustrating. Also, I cannot find a way to increase the text size inside the code box. I will be looking into getting this story moved to www.pastebin.com at some point in the future, once I have my editor's permission, as I am unsure if their terms of use take away my rights to my book.
If you do not want to read about how this story came to be, or whatever I am rambling about before hand, then just scroll down to the code box near the bottom of this post. I have attempted to format it, so as to be viewable on most phones as well as computer screens. This is a work in progress, and more will be posted as I get the chance to format it in the same way. All future updates will be added to this first post, and a new post will be created to call your attention to it. Hope you enjoy.
***********
Well, even though this didn't get the best reception in my other thread, due mostly to its length, and the fact that it was formatted like a novel, and apparently hard to read for some people who were using phones to view it, so I have begun working on an alternate format, using double spaces, and breaking up the larger paragraphs into smaller ones. The end result leaves the story even LONGER than it was to begin with. (17 pages, and only halfway finished with chapter 1)
In addition to the reformatting, I have also begun a second read-through to begin the process of editing. This is, for all intents and purposes, the SAME story that was in the other thread, and I will be happy to post a link to the post, as for the moment, this format is incomplete, and only represents the first section of the story. The other post has 2 or 3 times as much available.
However, I will be working to reformat the rest of what I have written, as well as completing the work AT LEAST to the end of chapter 1, which should contain enough closure as to not leave anyone hanging in suspense.
I am not sure if I am ready to write an entire novel based on this character, but having said that, I am writing the story AS IF I planned on forming the narrative into a book of between 200-300 pages. That is only about half of what my other books have been, but this is my first attempt at writing a futuristic/sci-fi/cyberpunk style novel. Up until now I have worked exclusively in the fantasy genre.
The story takes place in the New Boston Zone, fully in the world and fiction of Cyber Knights. I will use no material from any other fiction. Just Cory's creations, and a few additions that are all my own. (like the drug, "Smuzz", which is something funny in my own life, and I posted an explanation along with the first posting of this story. I will again, include the link at the bottom of the post.)
Even if this story completely bombs here, I know from experience that there will be one or two people who like it and want to know what happens. For you 2 (or however many you may be
) fear not. Even if I decide not to novelize this story, I will finish it. That does'nt mean just to the end of chapter 1. I will write until the story has played out and the narrative has ended. As much as I would like to tell you that I'm finishing the book just for you few, I cannot lie.
My editor is a good friend of mine and my wife, Jen's. She has always liked my writing, and if not for her, I would never have gotten my publication contract in the first place. She is the one who first found my work online, and set up a meeting with her publishing firm. So I really do owe her a lot.
Well, long story short... Somehow Callie (my editor) found out about my little side project here.
*cough*jen*cough*I hate you!*cough*
sorry, something in my throat...
Kidding aside, Jen is the culprit. I told her that I wasn't going to finish working on this because there didnt seem to be much interest.
That did not sit well with her, because she had already become interested in the book. So she did what any loving wife would do when her husband expresses his desire to stop working on something that she would prefer he didn't.
She went behind my back and emailed the one person who could twist my arm and make me finish it. (If she wasnt my wife, I would tell her how bitchy a thing that was to do!
)
So basically, this story will conclude, for better or worse, for the two women in my life that hold the reigns to my leash. ( and I think one of them has a riding crop that gets used when I do something REALLY dumb, like try to think for myself. But its ok. It's my fault, really. I SHOULD KNOW BETTER!)
Alright, alright. I know I ramble too damned much, so let me just cut to the chase here.
All entries in my novel/book/short story (whatever it ends up being) will be posted inside the code boxes on this forum. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the code box function, you can use it just like you do with any other forum code tag. its just <code></code>, and remember to use [] instead of <>. This was a function designed for forums where programming was discussed, and the code box provides two very convienient functions that make it absolutely perfect for posting stories.
1. It is the ONLY way to keep your formatting from programs like MS Word. There are no TAB spacing properties in HTML and neither are there any on the forum programs. Just try if you don't beleive me. If you copy and paste something in here, you will lose all that formatting and line spacing. But when you are posting code, the spacing and tab lines are VERY important. Thats why the code box works like it does.
2. You (at least in PHBBB) have a button above the code box that allows you to click it to select the entire line of code or text. then you can copy and paste it into a program, or in this case a text editor. That way you are able to make the font larger, print it out how you like it, or do whatever with it (except steal it, which is why my editor has made me put the legal notice right before the story.)
So now, enough of all this explaining, eh? I will start with the synopsis. (what you would see on the back of a book that tells you about what it is)
I did not write this, nor do any authors get to write their story "blurbs" or previews or whatever you care to call them. But no book would sell without them, because you would have no idea what the hell the book was about.
so without further ado, here is ;
"Bad Medicine: The Blurb" By Callie (no last name here!)
"John Rellios has had it rough in his short life.
Being born to a single mother who tried her best to raise him, he was left alone for hours each day while she went out to find whatever work would keep food on the table.
But the streets of the New Boston Zone are no place to raise a family. If the gangs, terrorists, or corrupt Bravestar officers don't get you, then the polluted water, air, and food just might.
After one horrible night, John lost his mother, his home, everything he owned.
But the most important thing he lost that night was...
His soul.
Now John is a grown man, scratching a meager living from the dirt caked, grimy streets of the NBZ. Addicted to smuzz, John's life is slowly spiraling out of control. He has no family, no friends.
The only people he knows are drug dealers, gangbangers and prostitutes.
After one particularly bad string of luck, John finds himself in a serious bind. Out of smuzz and suffering from withdrawals, he makes his way to the only person who can help him.
However, John's usual bad luck continues, and before he knows it, he is being chased by loan shark hit men, corporate death squads and a crazy old man who thinks John is the messiah. He has an experimental piece of cyber hardware in his head that he knows nothing about, and he is starting to hear his dead mother's voice.
But worst of all, Bravestar has cracked down on the dealers, and shut down the port, cutting off the city’s smuzz supply.
With John in full withdrawal mode, his body is shutting down, and desperation may drive him to places he does not want to remember…"
And now for the story. (or at least the first part of it.)
Please keep in mind that this is only the first section of the first chapter. The link at the bottom will take you to the rest of what is currently available should you chose to read on.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any event or person, living or dead is purely coincidental, unless otherwise stated by the author at the beginning of this text.
Some material contained in this fictional work may be disturbing to younger viewers, or those who do not like to read about violence, adult situations, and drug use. Parental discretion is reccomended.
This fictional work attempts to conform to the comparable MPAA rating for television and movies, classified as "PG-13"
This work is considered the property of Josh Hines <Volyren Nightsong>, or the person or persons behind the username under which this work is submitted.
As is standard with all material submitted without contract or legally binding agreement to a website owned by either an individual person or persons, or a company, for-profit organization, or LLC, except in the case where terms and conditions of said site specifically address ownership and rights to submitted materials, shall have full permission to use as they see fit on the website to which these materials have been submitted. Further usage or application of materials in question may or may not conform to local and state laws in the area which an idividual lives, or a company, for-profit organization, or LLC is currently liscenced to conduct business. The original owner of materials in question may or may not, at his or her liesure, extend or retract permissions pertaining to the use, sale, or distribution of said materials, above or in excess of the original permissions pertaining to said materials at his or her discretion, with or without prior notification to the website holder. All other permissions granted by federal, local or state law, are implied as to said materials. Neither the owner or website holder accept any liability for harm, physical, emotional or mental, arising from or directly related to the consumption of said materials. By consuming said materials, you consent and agree to abide by the terms and conditions above.
Here is the link to the original thread where the majority of the story was posted. It contains much more of the story than the above post does. Please keep in mind that the story has undergone slight changes as well as the formatting change.
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=1117&page=1
For some strange reason I cannot get the dratted code box to accept all of my formatting. It seems to pick and choose which tabs it wants to display, and that is very frustrating. Also, I cannot find a way to increase the text size inside the code box. I will be looking into getting this story moved to www.pastebin.com at some point in the future, once I have my editor's permission, as I am unsure if their terms of use take away my rights to my book.
If you do not want to read about how this story came to be, or whatever I am rambling about before hand, then just scroll down to the code box near the bottom of this post. I have attempted to format it, so as to be viewable on most phones as well as computer screens. This is a work in progress, and more will be posted as I get the chance to format it in the same way. All future updates will be added to this first post, and a new post will be created to call your attention to it. Hope you enjoy.
***********
Well, even though this didn't get the best reception in my other thread, due mostly to its length, and the fact that it was formatted like a novel, and apparently hard to read for some people who were using phones to view it, so I have begun working on an alternate format, using double spaces, and breaking up the larger paragraphs into smaller ones. The end result leaves the story even LONGER than it was to begin with. (17 pages, and only halfway finished with chapter 1)
In addition to the reformatting, I have also begun a second read-through to begin the process of editing. This is, for all intents and purposes, the SAME story that was in the other thread, and I will be happy to post a link to the post, as for the moment, this format is incomplete, and only represents the first section of the story. The other post has 2 or 3 times as much available.
However, I will be working to reformat the rest of what I have written, as well as completing the work AT LEAST to the end of chapter 1, which should contain enough closure as to not leave anyone hanging in suspense.
I am not sure if I am ready to write an entire novel based on this character, but having said that, I am writing the story AS IF I planned on forming the narrative into a book of between 200-300 pages. That is only about half of what my other books have been, but this is my first attempt at writing a futuristic/sci-fi/cyberpunk style novel. Up until now I have worked exclusively in the fantasy genre.
The story takes place in the New Boston Zone, fully in the world and fiction of Cyber Knights. I will use no material from any other fiction. Just Cory's creations, and a few additions that are all my own. (like the drug, "Smuzz", which is something funny in my own life, and I posted an explanation along with the first posting of this story. I will again, include the link at the bottom of the post.)
Even if this story completely bombs here, I know from experience that there will be one or two people who like it and want to know what happens. For you 2 (or however many you may be
) fear not. Even if I decide not to novelize this story, I will finish it. That does'nt mean just to the end of chapter 1. I will write until the story has played out and the narrative has ended. As much as I would like to tell you that I'm finishing the book just for you few, I cannot lie.My editor is a good friend of mine and my wife, Jen's. She has always liked my writing, and if not for her, I would never have gotten my publication contract in the first place. She is the one who first found my work online, and set up a meeting with her publishing firm. So I really do owe her a lot.
Well, long story short... Somehow Callie (my editor) found out about my little side project here.
*cough*jen*cough*I hate you!*cough*
sorry, something in my throat...
Kidding aside, Jen is the culprit. I told her that I wasn't going to finish working on this because there didnt seem to be much interest.
That did not sit well with her, because she had already become interested in the book. So she did what any loving wife would do when her husband expresses his desire to stop working on something that she would prefer he didn't.
She went behind my back and emailed the one person who could twist my arm and make me finish it. (If she wasnt my wife, I would tell her how bitchy a thing that was to do!
)So basically, this story will conclude, for better or worse, for the two women in my life that hold the reigns to my leash. ( and I think one of them has a riding crop that gets used when I do something REALLY dumb, like try to think for myself. But its ok. It's my fault, really. I SHOULD KNOW BETTER!)
Alright, alright. I know I ramble too damned much, so let me just cut to the chase here.
All entries in my novel/book/short story (whatever it ends up being) will be posted inside the code boxes on this forum. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the code box function, you can use it just like you do with any other forum code tag. its just <code></code>, and remember to use [] instead of <>. This was a function designed for forums where programming was discussed, and the code box provides two very convienient functions that make it absolutely perfect for posting stories.
1. It is the ONLY way to keep your formatting from programs like MS Word. There are no TAB spacing properties in HTML and neither are there any on the forum programs. Just try if you don't beleive me. If you copy and paste something in here, you will lose all that formatting and line spacing. But when you are posting code, the spacing and tab lines are VERY important. Thats why the code box works like it does.
2. You (at least in PHBBB) have a button above the code box that allows you to click it to select the entire line of code or text. then you can copy and paste it into a program, or in this case a text editor. That way you are able to make the font larger, print it out how you like it, or do whatever with it (except steal it, which is why my editor has made me put the legal notice right before the story.)
So now, enough of all this explaining, eh? I will start with the synopsis. (what you would see on the back of a book that tells you about what it is)
I did not write this, nor do any authors get to write their story "blurbs" or previews or whatever you care to call them. But no book would sell without them, because you would have no idea what the hell the book was about.
so without further ado, here is ;
"Bad Medicine: The Blurb" By Callie (no last name here!)
"John Rellios has had it rough in his short life.
Being born to a single mother who tried her best to raise him, he was left alone for hours each day while she went out to find whatever work would keep food on the table.
But the streets of the New Boston Zone are no place to raise a family. If the gangs, terrorists, or corrupt Bravestar officers don't get you, then the polluted water, air, and food just might.
After one horrible night, John lost his mother, his home, everything he owned.
But the most important thing he lost that night was...
His soul.
Now John is a grown man, scratching a meager living from the dirt caked, grimy streets of the NBZ. Addicted to smuzz, John's life is slowly spiraling out of control. He has no family, no friends.
The only people he knows are drug dealers, gangbangers and prostitutes.
After one particularly bad string of luck, John finds himself in a serious bind. Out of smuzz and suffering from withdrawals, he makes his way to the only person who can help him.
However, John's usual bad luck continues, and before he knows it, he is being chased by loan shark hit men, corporate death squads and a crazy old man who thinks John is the messiah. He has an experimental piece of cyber hardware in his head that he knows nothing about, and he is starting to hear his dead mother's voice.
But worst of all, Bravestar has cracked down on the dealers, and shut down the port, cutting off the city’s smuzz supply.
With John in full withdrawal mode, his body is shutting down, and desperation may drive him to places he does not want to remember…"
And now for the story. (or at least the first part of it.)
Please keep in mind that this is only the first section of the first chapter. The link at the bottom will take you to the rest of what is currently available should you chose to read on.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any event or person, living or dead is purely coincidental, unless otherwise stated by the author at the beginning of this text.
Some material contained in this fictional work may be disturbing to younger viewers, or those who do not like to read about violence, adult situations, and drug use. Parental discretion is reccomended.
This fictional work attempts to conform to the comparable MPAA rating for television and movies, classified as "PG-13"
This work is considered the property of Josh Hines <Volyren Nightsong>, or the person or persons behind the username under which this work is submitted.
As is standard with all material submitted without contract or legally binding agreement to a website owned by either an individual person or persons, or a company, for-profit organization, or LLC, except in the case where terms and conditions of said site specifically address ownership and rights to submitted materials, shall have full permission to use as they see fit on the website to which these materials have been submitted. Further usage or application of materials in question may or may not conform to local and state laws in the area which an idividual lives, or a company, for-profit organization, or LLC is currently liscenced to conduct business. The original owner of materials in question may or may not, at his or her liesure, extend or retract permissions pertaining to the use, sale, or distribution of said materials, above or in excess of the original permissions pertaining to said materials at his or her discretion, with or without prior notification to the website holder. All other permissions granted by federal, local or state law, are implied as to said materials. Neither the owner or website holder accept any liability for harm, physical, emotional or mental, arising from or directly related to the consumption of said materials. By consuming said materials, you consent and agree to abide by the terms and conditions above.
Pain.
With every breath.
Pain.
Every waking moment was agony. A thousand white hot needles stabbing through skin, through flesh, imbedding in bone, then exploding into boiling torrents of acid that surged through his veins.
Sleep.
Surely the pain could not find him in his sleep. Sleep was solace. Sleep would hold him tight, lull away the hurt, rock him gently and coo in his ear. Just like the mother whose name he could no longer recall. But he remembered that feeling. So comfortable, so relaxing, so content.
So safe.
How long had it been since he felt safe? It didn’t matter. Because he was there.
A small boy, being held by his mother, rocked gently, as a lullabye soothed away his fears. At last, he was safe. He remembered this feeling. It tickled the back of his memory time and again, only to slip away when he reached out to it.
But not this time. This time, he didn’t reach out to it. It reached out to him, enveloping him in a blissful blanket, both warm and soft, to protect him from the cold outside world with weaves of pure love.
He looked into his mother’s eyes, and the love he saw there made him forget about all his failings. It had been so long. So very long since he had felt happiness. Contentment.
This was where he was supposed to be.
His mother reached her slender arms around him and held him close, hugging him tightly. He nuzzled up against her chest, inhaling her scent. That wonderful perfume and another scent he could not describe, but that he knew to be his mother. He reached his arms around his mother, to return the hug. His hand slid across her taught belly, up her side, towards her chest.
His face became warm as conflicting feelings and emotions fought within him.
So comfortable and safe.
But the breasts. So soft, so smooth. His hand slid underneath her silk robe, acting of its own accord. Oh, the things he would do to her, this beautiful woman. His face buried between her breasts, he breathed in her smell.
Cheap perfume, worn down during a long day of rubbing against random strangers, their sweaty unwashed musk mixed in with hers, and covered in a coating of stale cigarette smoke. Desire began to take him. He wanted to look into this whore’s eyes.
A sharp stabbing pain shot through his head, causing him to wince, and whimper in agony.
“John? Honey, are you ok?”
That voice. Melodic and soothing, and as unmistakable as the sound of birdsong. He looked up and met her gaze.
“Mother?” There was no mistaking. A rush of shame and queasiness rushed through him as he fought back the urge to vomit. Did he just imagine all of that? What was wrong with him?
“It’s ok, dear heart.” His mother spoke softly as she reached under his chin and brought his tearful eyes up to meet hers. “John, its ok. I know you didn’t mean it. You just get confused sometimes, and its not your fault. You have a heavy burden to bear, my dear sweet son, and no man can carry that weight without being dragged down by it on occasion.”
Tears welling in his eyes, he opened his mouth to apologize, to tell her how disgusted he was in himself for letting his mind wander from her to some nightly conquest, taken in the back of a taxi on one of his tweaked out states. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for letting that dirty world into this sanctuary of peace, where everything was right and safe.
But no matter how many times he tried, he choked on his words as if they were nails.
“My son, please, do not be ashamed of what others have made you into.” She said with conviction, as if his shame somehow caused her pain.
Others? But he was the one who first took the bag from the body of that man in the alley. He was the one who took a pinch of smuzz from the baggie and heated it in a dirty spoon, salvaged from a dumpster, with a discarded lighter that was stained with who knows what. It might not have been the primo, the Red Smuzz, but he didn’t care, as long as it did it’s job.
The sharp pungent smell of smuzz tickled his nostrils as the resins and oils seeped out of the buds. He didn’t have a strainer. And he didn’t wait for it to cool. He took the needle and placed it against the bowl of the spoon and pulled back the plunger, drawing in a yellowish transparent, syrupy liquid. He always got a few pieces of the bud in the syringe as well, but he didn’t care.
“Real men like it chunky, boy!” his first dealer had told him.
John knew that the man simply didn’t want to give him a filter, since they were becoming hard to find, but that saying stuck with him over the years. He had grown used to the grainy feeling of the small bits rubbing against his veins. It did hurt, but that was part of the magic. The sweetest magic, that helped numb his mind, and keep the memories at bay.
Memories…he thought, as he reached under his shirt, looking for his newly acquired injection point.
Which memories was he trying to forget again?
“Please, John, you mustn’t blame yourself. You didn’t choose to have this done to you. You didn’t want this life at all. It’s ok! I still love you, John, no matter what!”
The frantic tone of his mother’s voice was enough to snap him out of his self-disgust. He hated to hear her voice like that. It reminded him of how she sounded the last time he ever saw her alive…the men, ripping, tearing at her, laughing at her screams for help…
“John, my love, please you have to clear your mind of that right now! You have to wake up John, you must wake up!”
He had walked to the store to get her some flowers for mother’s day.
“John, Please!”
The door was cracked open. Mother never left the door open. She said “an open door invites trouble.”
“No! No, John! It wasn’t your fault! You have to stop blaming yourself! Please, son, wake up! There are people depending on you!”
There was so much blood.
Blood at the doorway, on the coffee table, on the hallway light switch.
Blood on his toys, scattered around the floor.
“John! PLEASE!”
Around the corner. Open the door. Peek inside. Eyes locked on horror.
Innocence shattered. The death of childhood.
“NOOOOooooooo!”
The truth of the world revealed.
The group of men surrounded her, slapping her, beating her with their fists. She screamed in pain and fear, but they laughed at her, ripping her clothing off, exposing her vulnerabilities to their evil intentions.
Frozen in shock, in fear, in anger. The boy stood there, staring, unable to blink as the horrific scene unfolded before him. The tiny sliver of light peeking through the door was all he could see. The rest of the world did not exist.
Transfixed as he was, he did not see the figure sneak up behind him.
Sinewy arms reached out around his waist and grabbed him tightly, hoisting him up off the ground.
“Hey! Look at wot’s I gots ‘ere, Chummers! A peepin’ Tommy boy!”
The men turned away from the battered woman, approaching the struggling boy. Little fists pounded against the barrel chest of the man who had him in the air in a futile attempt to break free so that he could save his mother.
“Hey, Milo, looks like the little turd doesn’t like you! Damn surprisin’ considering you smell like shit!”
The others chuckled and chortled at the crude comment.
“So what you want me to do with ‘im boss?
A wiry framed man with mutton chop sideburns turned away from the boy’s mother and faced the one called Milo.
His dark, sunken eyes pierced the boy’s bravado, and he suddenly felt very afraid as the man walked over to him, a wicked grin revealing yellow and blackened teeth. A black tribal tattoo, stark against his pale white and red blotchy, peeling skin lifted in sync with his his pierced eyebrow as he stared right into the boy’s face.
The child became deathly still as the man brought his face down level to his, until their noses were practically touching.
His fetid breath tickled John’s nose as the skinny man spoke. “You like to watch, do you boy? You like watching a real man take care of your mum?” A wicked grin spread across the cracked lips of the gang’s leader.
“Too bad you wont get to have a fine little tart like your mum over there. I’m afraid dead little boys have a hard time finding their first piece ‘o puss!”
The other gang members laughed loudly at their leader’s crude joke. Then the man turned back to John’s mother and began again ,with his gang, the systematic torture and humiliation of the woman who had loved and raised him.
Protected him from harm.
Baked him cookies when he was sad.
“Umm, Zael, you really want I should off the kid?” the big man asked, struggling to control the squirming, flailing boy.
“Did I stutter, you stupid hulking ape?” He rhetorically quipped, not bothering to turn away from the lurid act in front of him. “Just snap the little twerp’s neck, and we can toss em out the window together when we kill this bitch.”
John froze. His mother, dead?
Unacceptable.
Impossible.
“No.”
Zael turned around and stared at the boy.
“No, what, little man?”
“I wont let you hurt my mommy!” John screamed with all his might.
The men stopped for a moment and looked toward their leader. Zael cocked back his head and laughed loudly. “You won’t let us, huh?” that evil grin spread across his face again. “What do you think we have been doing to her, you stupid little twerp, playing with our dollies?”
The boy stared defiantly at the gang leader, hatred burning in his eyes.
“You don’t get to decide what anyone does, you weak little dog. In this world, only people with power get to decide their fate.” He chuckled “And when you have enough power, you get to decide the fate of others. Like your mom. Like YOU!”
Zael’s hand shot out and struck the side of the boy’s head, rocking his head to the side, and causing his vision to blur as blinking yellow and white lights filled his vision.
Suddenly snapped out of her protective, self induced catatonic state, John’s mother struggled against her bonds, kicking at the men pinning her down to the bloody, body fluid stained bed. “You will not hurt my son!” She screamed, a low guttural sound, as if a wild animal were growling at a potential predator. “John, Run!”
She wrenched her right foot free from the goon who had been holding it down, and lashed out at Zael, slamming her heel into his exposed groin.
With a grunt Zael dropped to his knees, clutching his manhood and swearing loudly.
John began swinging his arms at the face of the man who had him pinned. A few of his blows connected and Milo staggered.
While John struggled against his captor, Zael was regaining his feet. “Milo! Take that stupid brat out of here and snuff him out, NOW!”
Milo began dragging John out of the room with his mother, who was still struggling and screaming his name.
“Ya know, ya dumb bitch, “ Zael bellowed, loud enough to be heard over the mother and son screaming match “ I ain’t one to go for none ‘a that necro’ crap, personally I find it sick and disgusting. But you’ll still be warm long enough for my boys to finish up, so I say that this doesn’t count!”
Zael pulled his gun and pointed it at John’s mothers head. John could see the blinking LED below the ganger’s right ear begin blinking read as his cyberware combat link connected to his pistol.
“ No! Wait! Don’t!” John screamed out as Milo dragged him from the room. He reached out searching for something, anything, to grab onto. His fingers found the edge of the doorframe and dug in, holding on with all his might against the powerful tugging of the brutish criminal.
Zael cocked back the hammer on his antique pistol. “You should feel honored, bitch! This gun’s been in my family for generations. And you get to be the first whore to be killed by it since the civil war!”
John’s mother, Allora Samantha Rellios, tore her beautiful eyes, stained with blood and tears away from the barrel of the gun, and stared, lovingly, into the eyes of her greatest achievement.
“John.” She managed a smile despite the pain she was in, “I love you, my son”
His fingers began giving way, but he stared into his mother’s eyes until the doorframe obscured all but her loving smile, and the pride in her eyes.
“Aww, ain’t that sweet. Well you can have yer little one with ya in the next life, you dumb whore!”
With a deafening crack, and flash of bright light in the dark room, Zael fired point blank into Allora’s skull.
Her gaze remained fixed on her son, but the bright spark that lit her eyes, and lent its power to her beauty, was gone.
Dead lifeless eyes stared back at John. Eyes that only hours before shone brightly with love.
“MOOOOOMMMMYYYY!” John screamed at the top of his lungs.
“SHUT HIM UP!” Zael yelled from around the corner “NOW!”
Milo clamped his meaty hand over John’s mouth and took grip of his neck. “Sorry about this, little man, but I wants me a piece while its still warm. It don’t feel right when they’s cold and stiff.”
John bit down as hard as he could, until he felt the “pop” of skin breaking and tasted blood. He clamped his jaw down as Milo yelled and jerked his hand back, tearing out a chunk of his palm.
John kicked loose from the wounded goon, and ran. Around the corner, throwing open the door, then backtracking to the window and climbing down the fire escape as the gang ran by.
As he neared the bottom, he noticed that the lower fire escape had collapsed to the street below. He frantically looked for another way down.
“He ain’t out here!” someone yelled from inside the apartment building. “You! Go check the fire escape!”
An icy chill ran down John’s spine. The street below was at least 20 feet down. Much too far to jump. He heard footsteps on the fire escape above him, and decided to take his chances. Aiming for a dumpster, he threw himself out into the airy void.
He thought only of his mother as the ground, and the smell of rotting garbage rushed to meet him.
Here is the link to the original thread where the majority of the story was posted. It contains much more of the story than the above post does. Please keep in mind that the story has undergone slight changes as well as the formatting change.
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ckrpgtalk&action=display&thread=1117&page=1