The Rage: Part 3

III

The other survivors are just like us. They trust no one. And to them, we are just like the Ragers, as likely to kill them as they are us. We left Anna and her attacker behind, finding somewhere new to set up camp.

Topi will be next. Since we lost Anna, he has been like a shell. He didn’t even smile when we found the warehouse, somehow untouched by other survivors. Shelves upon shelves of canned and dried foods greeted us. I felt like a fox in a chicken coop. Not that anyone has seen a chicken in years.

We will stay here until we are found. The food here will keep us fed until we die and there are no bodies, human or otherwise, if you ignore the rats and the flies. It’s a safe bet that no one but us has been here since Then.

We light a fire in a corner of the building, fuelled by broken pallets, books and alcohol. It’s not often we get hot food. Fires attract attention. Miro and Emilia say they used to have hot food every day. They speak of ‘power’ which could heat whole buildings. It just sounds dangerous.

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The Rage: Part 2

II

We have rules. In those stories our parents told, people lived together, shared food and helped those in need. Now, those things will get you killed. That is why it took Anna and not us. We do not share fresh food or any drinks. We do not trust strangers. We don’t settle.

Night is coming. I squint against the blazing sun as I look through a crack in the curtains. Anna’s hands bleed as she pounds on the door, leaving thick, black streaks like oil down the wood. The Rage dulls her pain.

Topi moves the other side of the curtain and sighs. He knows we can do nothing for her and that we must leave her behind, but he doesn’t want to. Anna pauses, spinning as if to face us, as if she knows we are here. She looks up, but she can’t see us; the sun burned out her eyes days ago. Topi holds his breath.

Then she falls. A spear protrudes from her chest. She screams, clawing at the metal, struggling to right herself. Topi and I push ourselves against the glass, searching for her attacker, but seeing nothing in the light. I turn away, my eyes streaming. Someone is out there. Someone is fighting back.

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Last week, I uploaded a worksheet on creating laws for your fictional world. This time, we’re going to punish all those characters that break them.

Punishment Worksheet

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Helpless”

“I’ll come back for you,” he said. “As soon as we find a cure.”

Anna opened her eyes in time to see Topi leave. She didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound. He would stop if he knew she was awake. She smiled as the door closed, leaving her in near darkness.

Beside her ear, a chain clinked and groaned. A pain in her wrist turned her head. A metal cuff anchored her to a heating pipe and the muscles in her arm were pulling against it. She forced herself to relax but knew she couldn’t stop it forever.

Shifting to make herself more comfortable, Anna closed her eyes. She had to keep calm, but the others had left her there to die. Even Topi. He had said he always be with her. He lied. She gritted her teeth and sucked in air. When she got out of there, she’d show him what happened to liars. It made her so…

Her eyes snapped open again. She had both feet against the pipe, pulling with all her strength on the chain. Tears blurred her vision and she shook her head. Every thought filled her with anger. No. Not anger. Rage. Her veins were filled with poison and the Rage would use her to kill her own friends.

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Your character is the last blonde person on the planet. In no more than 200 words, tell a story of them having the most fun.

Check out my short story Karma featured here.

The Rage

Our parents told us stories of when the cities were filled with people. They talked about how they would wait until dawn to go out, then dash from building to building, feeling the burn of the sun on their skin. Not now. Not since the Rage.

They said it started in a bar called Solarlios. There was poison in the drinks, but it didn’t kill those who drank it. It changed them, filled them with a rage so unquenchable that they destroy everything in their path. And it made them stronger.

Now, the cities are empty. The whole country is empty. We live where we can, in the shells of old buildings, not quite destroyed by Ragers and in armoured compounds in expanses of nothingness. We eat what we can find. We sleep in shifts.

When it began and our parents first began to run, there were forty people in our community. Now there are four. Some, we lost. Some, we left behind. Last week, the Rage took Anna. She’s still out there. We can hear her, tearing at the boarded windows of the building across the street. Screaming.

Other Short Stories

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Anna

For ten years, Anna had been the one person Topi could rely on. When those around them died, Anna kept going. Without her, Topi would have been amongst them, fallen, forgotten. But Anna never surrendered.

Until today. She couldn’t fight the poison; by morning, she wouldn’t be Anna anymore. She would turn on him, hurt him, maybe kill him. The others too, if she caught up.
Topi stroked her hair, slipping the metal cuff around her wrist and locking it to the radiator. She barely stirred.

“I’ll come back for you,” he said. “As soon as we find a cure.”

Written for the Miniature Writing Challenge on the theme “Friendship”.