Caught in a World So Cold Post by kailhofer » April 24, 2016, 05:33:52 PM This challenge was run by Eddie Sulllivan. The challenge was write a story set in an extremely cold climate where your protagonist or protagonists are lost, trapped, or fleeing. Example story: Wolves of the Tundra By: Eddie Sullivan The snow cracked underneath his boots. He could look back for miles and see his own foot prints. He didn’t understand why they didn’t come for him. They had left this gear a little to conveniently laying around. It was good gear but not sufficient for this wasteland. It was obvious he wasn’t supposed to make it more than a day or two. Each time the wind howled he swore he heard them, then he would convince himself it was just his imagination. The heat of his body melted the snow that got inside his clothes whenever he stumbled. That same howling wind drew the heat fro his body and gave it up to the ether. Ron Johnson had pursued stories through war zones and hurricanes and lived to tell the stories to his readers all around the world. He was thoroughly convinced that he would not survive coming to investigate reports of werewolves in the these snowy Canadian hills. He kept walking because he didn’t know what else to do. He had come across the cabin just where his guide told him to look when he said he would go no farther into the Rougarou territory. The whole town was unwelcoming and looked at him funny when he said he was looking to go back into that country. He had seen the cabin and there was smoke coming from the chimney. That was the last thing he remembered till he woke in the basement. The two backwoodsman taunted him for days in that cellar. He watched them change just to scare him over and over. Then one day nothing. After twenty fours hours of nothing he overcame his fear enough to climb out of the sub-basement. He found the clothes and a flashlight. He got the clothes on grabbed the light and ran out the door. He got forty feet from the cabin and that was when the howling started. He ran flat out till he couldn’t stand, as soon as he could he ran flat out again. Now he swore he hadn’t seen or heard anyone or thing for miles. He was considering just hunkering down in the snow when he noticed a light through the trees in the distance. The Town? He steeled himself to the pain of running when he was so cold and so tired. His breath leaked warmth out into the frozen waste around him. He got to the tree-line and it was the town. Then he heard it. Feet running through the snow behind him and growls. No! He would not make it all this way just to lose out at the last minute. The snowy town’s streets were empty but the lights were on and cars were parked at the local town watering hole. He ran with everything he had left. He half sprinted and half stumbled down the one little street. He got to the bar and couldn’t feel his feet, his lungs ached from the cold air cycling through his lungs quickly from exertion. He threw open the door. “The wolves, they are real. Behind me. Help.” The heat of the inside of the bar hit his lungs and the temperature change made it harder to breathe. The waitress came over and helped him up. “Please. They are coming right behind me.” She turned towards the old fellow nursing a beer near the front door. “Monti lock that door.” He gained some breath back. “We have to get help. The sheriff or something.” “Easy city boy. It is Sunday city boy. Everyone in town is here to watch the football from down your way in the States.” The girl smiled at him. It was then that he realized they were all looking at him. He looked across the room and there were the two men from the cabin. The old man by the door “Monti” cleared his throat. “God only knows a football game just ain’t right without a proper buffet spread, Right kin?” Then they all changed. The End Top User avatar kailhofer Editor Emeritus Posts: 3245 Joined: December 31, 1969, 08:00:00 PM Location: Kaukauna, Wisconsin (USA) Contact: Contact kailhofer Re: FLASH FICTION INDEX 2: Dec. 2011 - ? Post by kailhofer » April 24, 2016, 05:34:42 PM Skipping School By: Rick Tornello I was skipping school. I had my girlfriend Sheila jack into the system and fake our parental out-sick notes. I was sitting in the crotch of our favorite tree hiding spot in the park waiting for her. I heard this thunder like crack coming from the ground. I noticed ice. It was a bolder of ice. What was ice doing in the park? This is the south west. We don’t get snow. We get heat. We get parched and we get droughts. It’s a desert out there. We steal our water from up north. The cops showed up quickly and blocked off the park. National Guard Troops showed up a few hours later, armed. Armed against what, a giant ice cube that refused to melt? I had to pee and I was still in this tree. I kept quiet and hugged a big limb. I didn’t want to be seen. Sheila never showed up. She called. The phone was in my pocket. Luckily I had the phone on vibrate. Unluckily, that didn’t help my situation. “What’s going on in the park?” she wanted to know. “I have to be quiet. There are cops and troops all over the place. I have no idea. There’s a boulder of ice that won’t melt and I’m stuck up in this tree and I have to pee.” “Hold it tightly and let it leak out slowly,” she snorted and laughed. “Send me a picture you big dope.” “OF me peeing? Real funny.” “No you big doofus, what’s going on.” “I knew that. Hold on.” I yanked it out and peed against a distant branch as soon as the cops went off toward the giant ice cube. I heard her laughing. I got a few pictures off and then something strange occurred. Two people just showed up in Eskimo type garb from the same spot as the ice. They were screaming in a language I never heard. They were pointing to the ice and running. The troops tackled them after tazering them. It took a few shots since they were apparently well protected. “Sheila you have to see this.” I kept the phone camera on the whole goings on. “Freddy the news says there is something strange happening in the park and urged all the people to stay away. Your pictures are being downloaded all over the place. I heard that this is happening in other southern cities all over the planet. Turn your camera off before they figure out where you are. You know we have that other tree we screw against, go there if you can.” “Oh I’m just supposed to saunter off. It’s okay officer. I’m just going to my sex tree.” “Freddy, you’re such an idiot. Why do I love you?” “You tell me I,” answered quietly. “Cops below. I’ll keep the phone on, record what you hear.” I listened as they spoke: “I heard one of the Guardsmen say that there seemed to be a breech between our dimensions. I have no idea,” said the first one. “So the multiverse is real?” asked the other one. “I thought it was science fiction, something in the movies.” “The ice is coming in from another world and that these people are running from it. They said that it’s happening all over our planet. Washington is worried that they can’t stop it or close the breech.” “So what, are we going to have an ice age?” laughed the other cop. “This is the south west. It’s a desert out past the city limits. What ice is going to stand up to that heat?” “Are you blind and dumb too? Do you notice any melting?” Hissed the first cop. There was a big thunder like noise. “Shit now there’s more ice over there.” He pointed to an area just by a rocky outcrop. “Freddy, what’s happening?” asked Sheila “More ice. More Eskimos Oh my god there’s a whole tribe of them and they’re armed.” They’ve lifted their hands up and dropped their weapons. One is coming forward and talking to the troop commander. Are you getting all this?” “Shit yes.” “My batteries are low so I’ll transmit till they go dead. A helo just landed and some bigwigs in uniforms just got out. They’re meeting with the Eskimos or whatever they are. “I’m guessing it’s not good by the look on all the faces and, Oh shit, one of the soldier just ran to one of the officers. They are looking up in the trees. They’re pointing in my direction. I’m cooked. Sheila, call my dad. I’m about to be arrested.” Four military types were below Freddy’s hiding spot. “You in the tree, we have your phone located,” said one. Another one said, “It’s a kid.” “You, kid get down from there or we’ll shoot you down,” commanded the first guardsman. Freddy was escorted to the place where the officers were gathered. The first guardsman said, “General, Sir, it’s a kid up in a tree with a phone. What do you want to do?” “Get him in the copter and to base immediately. We’ll get his parents too and any of his friends. If this gets out…” “Sir it’s already all over the net.” The general shook his head and gave Freddy a nasty look. “Shut the net down. Call FEMA, GET a Declaration of National Emergency and jam all the fucking cell tower transmissions. If the Chinese can do it so can we. I’ll take responsibility.” A soldier ran up to the group as they were boarding the helo. “Sir, we’re getting more visitors… and ice.” The End Top User avatar kailhofer Editor Emeritus Posts: 3245 Joined: December 31, 1969, 08:00:00 PM Location: Kaukauna, Wisconsin (USA) Contact: Contact kailhofer Caught in a World So Cold Post by kailhofer » April 24, 2016, 05:35:45 PM The World’s Biggest Fool By: Michele Dutcher Ermil Sanders stood on a hill overlooking the frozen graveyard, noting the half-dozen mourners in the distance who were carrying a body bag to an empty space in the snow. He couldn’t help but smirk at their futility as they huddled together in the grayness of the afternoon, the Bishop’s ring around the blurred sun hanging in the cloud-choked sky. He noted from the shape of the bag that the feet of the beloved had been filed down to a point, allowing the corpse to eventually be hammered into the frozen earth. Death had become mundane. It was more of a surprise to him that the six mourners were still alive than their body-bagged companion was dead. The middle-aged man looked at the dog beside him, who wagged his tail as Ermil gazed down. “As a philosopher once said, ‘leave the dead to bury the dead’ – that’s the order of the day, Spot. Right or wrong?” “It is far past time to be worried about such niceties,” answered the canine. “I wonder if the body-bag is being used to hide the fact that parts of the beloved have been chewed off while the body was in rigor – before it was frozen solid.” “You’re probably right, Spot. Everything’s gotta eat, you know…even what’s left of us humans.” Ermil thought about following the weaker humans as a small woman and her child peeled away quickly after the short service. The group probably had a hoard of food hidden somewhere – perhaps in one of the local caves or in a crypt nearby. He thought about introducing himself, but then thought again, deciding against looking for company. As a loner, Ermil had been able to raid small convenient stores in the city, getting enough frozen food to last one person and one dog for awhile. If he introduced himself, everyone in the group would see him and his dog as food and he’d need to watch his back, sleeping with one eye open. It was enough for now to watch from the top of the hill, knowing all the people below would probably be dead in six months anyway. The wind began to pick up, as the blowing snow began to turn red – reflecting the bright red sunset. A vivid red sheet of snow raced towards him, drawn up from a drift at the base of a long-dead tree. He pulled his motorcycle goggles over his eyes as the snow raced towards him, biting into exposed skin as if he were being sandblasted. “You hungry, boy?” the man asked the dog, knowing what the animal would say. “You betcha, boss!” said the canine emphatically. “There’s a 7-11 on Magnolia we haven’t hit yet. I know it’ll have some dog food for you and maybe some cigarettes for me.” “What’s your hurry - here’s your hat,” exclaimed the cocker spaniel. The two started to move on, making their way towards a small store he had gone to a couple of times before the comet hit, smacking the Hawaiian Islands so hard that the active volcanoes had exploded. There had been talk among friends of his who were also scientists, in the weeks following the disaster, that the Earth itself had been shoved hard enough to be veered from her path, forcing her to orbit further and further from the sun. It was just a matter of time before everything and everyone was as frozen as a Popsicle. In a way it was funny, because Ermil Sanders had been one of the greatest prophets of Global Warming – being asked to speak numerous times on the impending disaster that would happen decades in the future. Sometimes he had to laugh at himself, calling himself the World’s Biggest Fool. Global Warming didn’t seem like such a bad idea now. Ermil looked up into the clouds. “At least the acid rain hasn’t started falling yet. That’s the next step, you know…the sulfur that’s in the atmosphere falling in the form of rain.” He looked down again at his protégé – the one creature on Earth that made life worth living – at least until the end would finally come. Ermil had to keep alive for him. Who would look over the dog if he curled up in a ball and died? – They’d try to eat the canine - those rogues, those mourners in the graveyard. “Come on, boy,” said the man, pulling on the leash. Soon the dog was happily following behind him. An hour later, the man who had sludge-hammered the corpse into the frozen ground crossed over the snowy footprints left by Ermil in the purple twilight. He wondered about what the man who left the footprints was dragging behind him. The End Top User avatar kailhofer Editor Emeritus Posts: 3245 Joined: December 31, 1969, 08:00:00 PM Location: Kaukauna, Wisconsin (USA) Contact: Contact kailhofer Caught in a World So Cold Post by kailhofer » April 24, 2016, 05:36:48 PM Snow Now By: Sergio Palumbo Yafnof loved to stay next to the fireplace in the Wide Hall of the fortress, which was a bit strange, given the nature of his incredible powers. That was because the beardless 22-year-old slender man was best known as the famous ‘Ruler of the Icy Mountains’ or ‘The Snow Sorcerer’. It was reported that he could make it snow so hard as to create an impassable snowstorm that could quickly envelope a whole region, if he wanted to. That was why he had been sent by the king to this lonely fortress. The castle was positioned on the border of the Icy Mountains that were the entry point of the High Realm for everyone coming from the Northern Expanses. The place itself was very well defended during wintertime as the Trolls and the tall Orcs didn’t dare approach this site because of the steep slopes and the harsh weather. These creatures also found it impossible to hunt food during this season - notwithstanding that they could smell from a distance the tasty human meat that walked around inside those tall walls… The true problems started when spring came, as that was the right time for those hungry creatures to follow the mountain paths to reach the fortress, in order to eat the food (and the humans, too…) that the soldiers had been keeping in their strange building for so long. It was at that time that Yafnof was especially useful: his powers were capable of making snow fall in a matter of minutes, producing a huge storm that would force the approaching monsters to move away again. That was exactly what the young sorcerer was going to do now. When Yafnof got to where he had the best view on the battlements facing south, his dark eyes stared at the scenery outside the fortress before noticing the Orcs that had been previously spotted by the guards. There they were, so he had to be quick and use his sorcery. He moved forward, his skinny arms wrapped in furs, when all at once the first icy particles magically started falling from the sky and the slopes were soon covered by a thick layer of snow. The noteworthy sudden change in the weather was just enough to make the castle’s enemies change their mind, of course. As he saw the creatures running away, Yafnof told himself that he had done his duty for today. He could feel his body beginning to freeze, starting from his fingers and along his arms - and it made him remember the consequences of using his great power. In fact, even though he was able to command the sky to snow, his body was not unaffected by the freezing cold and he might get frostbite or die of exposure if he wasn’t careful. That was why he had to limit his use of such sorcery. And that was why he loved staying next to the fireplace for most of the day, clearly… After that display of great power, the man walked back to the main tower and had a hearty lunch, offered to him by the soldiers.So, things went well and calmly for the rest of the Spring, but it was what happened the next summer that changed everything… ----------------------------- “They’re coming! Hairy Blue Trolls are approaching!” yelled the commander at arms. The men ran to take their assigned places along the fortress’s battlements. Yafnof looked at the commander. “Those are not just common monsters that can be stopped by using a single snowstorm. They eat snow and are not afraid of the worst weather on these mountains.” “I know it, sorcerer. And it seems that those creatures have found a powerful leader that is strong enough to bring all of his kind to our fortress. They are too many of them and they are too hungry to be stopped!” “My power might prove to be not enough today,” Yafnof said dejectedly. “Unless I try something even more dangerous.” So, the daring man walked down to the main gate. He ordered it to be opened and exited the walls, going directly to the middle of the plain that stretched before the fortress. Then he raised his arms and started the most potent enchantment that he had ever tried. At first an overcast sky swept in above the sorcerer and the incoming enemies, and the snow started falling on the rocks, flowers and trees. It quickly turned into a powerful snowstorm. Actually, in a matter of minutes it became the heaviest snowstorm any human had ever seen, and the Hairy Blue Trolls knew it was too much for them. They retreated and a cry of joy burst out back at the fortress, but it was not roaring enough to reach the ears of the sorcerer. The battle was won now, but the sense of deep freezing Yafnof felt inside his body and his mind was so overwhelming that he just couldn’t remove it from his thoughts. The man knew he had gone too far, that he had done something really dangerous that might be fatal. He also knew that he was unable to escape from his present situation! The sorcerer couldn’t speak, and the inability to use his hands and the impossibility of walking kept him stuck to the ground. His body turned itself into an icy statue as he finally lost the last of his power, the snow enveloping him once and for all. His upright figure - trapped in that state - remained there for many years, while the soldiers thanked him for his sacrifice and always turned to him with respect when walking next to his sacred icy remains. Yafnof would have been happy with how it all worked out. However, he probably would have been even happier if the children of the chief of the fortress didn’t throw snowballs at him, a lifeless snowman, when they were playing outside and nobody was around to watch and tell them to stop… The End Top User avatar kailhofer Editor Emeritus Posts: 3245 Joined: December 31, 1969, 08:00:00 PM Location: Kaukauna, Wisconsin (USA) Contact: Contact kailhofer Caught in a World So Cold Post by kailhofer » April 24, 2016, 05:37:37 PM - Winner - No Man's Land By: Brian Kendig "It's blue out here," Professor Blatt sighed. She pulled her coat and hood more tightly around herself against the cold. "Everything's blue." Her radio crackled. "No, the snow's white. And technically the ice has no color, it's translucent." "Don't contradict me, Asahi," Blatt snapped at the second-year grad student. "Give me red, give me yellow, give me anything but blue. There's nothing out here but snow and sky and more snow. The mining equipment is getting close to its maximum depth and all we've discovered is more ice. You still so sure of your coordinates?" There was a pause. "I'm sure," came Asahi's quiet reply. "And now you usually say something like 'this had better be worth it,' and then I remind you that it is. We're digging through snow that's an ice age thick. It's going to take time to find anything down there. But I'm sure that this is the right place and I'm absolutely certain that by the end of the day we're going to make a discovery that will tell us a lot about the ancient people who were here before us." The voice paused again. "By the end of the week, at least." That didn't help Blatt's mood any. "How did you talk me into leaving the basement lab for this? I'm not fond of being out in bright light." "You know the nighttime temperatures can be lethal. And you'll want to be here, anyway, in case we make any discoveries. I meant 'when,' not 'in case,'" Asahi amended. The professor spotted some commotion from the workers around one of the rigs. "Stand by, Asahi," she radioed. She half-crawled across the ice, leaning into the wind, until she found the expedition's anthropologist, wearing a nametag that read 'Palm.' "Tell me what's up." "What's up is a relic!" replied Palm, gesturing breathlessly. "I believe the drills have finally reached what was once ground level, and we've recovered ... this!" As she spoke, a crane gingerly pulled a living-room-sized block of ice from the nearest excavation tunnel, lowered it to within a few feet of the ground, then dropped it the rest of the way. The thud knocked Blatt onto her back, but as she rose and shook snow from her coat, she saw the vague outline of something large and yellow inside the block. She approached it slowly, trying to make out its contents until Palm interrupted her: "You'll want to come around this side, it's easier." Sure enough, the other side of the block of ice revealed that the drill had sliced this artifact cleanly in half. Already, the engineers were dragging warm-air blowers over to this side to begin the thawing process. Blatt found her voice. "What IS it?" "I believe," Palm said excitedly, "it was called a 'taxicab.'" "And that?" asked Blatt, pointing to a smaller piece that had broken off the block. Palm crouched over it and studied it intently. Then she stood and took a half-step backwards in surprise. "Man!" The commotion around her ceased immediately, all attention on her and her discovery. "Well, the top half of a man. We really need to be more careful with our drill bits. But I am familiar with the style in which this one is dressed, and if my hunch is correct..." She turned the frozen remains face-down and pulled at the fabric behind its neck. "'Men's Wearhouse', if I'm reading it correctly. You know what this means, don't you?" she asked the professor. "It means that men were still alive during the last ice age," Blatt answered her, as the significance of this sunk in. "There must be millions of them trapped down there, frozen solid. I thought they had died out thousands of years earlier. This is going to turn science and history on their heads." Palm had already left the corpse and was pulling something else from the ice. "Bonus!" she exclaimed. "This is what was called a 'briefcase'. This particular one is made of genuine crocodile leather, which should make it water-resistant, and that means there wouldn't be any water damage to..." She cracked the briefcase open like an egg. "This!" Nestled within the briefcase, between manila folders and a well-preserved fast food lunch, was a small black smartphone, still intact. She attached a clip that snapped readily into the data port on the phone's edge, powered it up, and defeated its encryption. "I had hoped that would work!" she said giddily. "We only had an incomplete set of specifications to work from. But now we should be able to access all of the data it holds. Cached information, news, personal messages --" "Give it here," Blatt demanded, and Palm complied. Blatt examined the device from every angle. "This symbol on the back has religious significance," she said in a hushed tone. "It appears in references to temples where people would gather and sacrifice their wages." She turned the device so that she could see rows of icons on its glowing face. "How do I view the data stored in this?" "Just tap the glass." Blatt tapped gently on the glass. Nothing happened. Then she tried slightly more firmly, but still nothing happened. She handed it back to Palm for a try. Palm tapped at it, shrugged at her. Blatt sighed unhappily through her mandibles. "We've come all this way..." She pulled her hood back from her face, let it slide off to expose her head-carapace to the frigid air for just a few moments so that she could unfurl her antennae. "The temperature will drop soon. Let's call it a day. We've discovered the ruins of Boston, we've found evidence that man survived longer into the Information Age than previously thought, and we've even recovered a relic from that period." She tapped again at it with her claw; still it did not respond. "Once we learn how to access the data in this device, we could very well understand a key chapter in cockroach evolution." The End