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[Xion]

'Tis the last day for entries!

[skaldicpoet9]

Man, I am completely dry right now

I have had a writer's block for a long time now...

Is there a chance that there will be another one of these after this? I would really like a chance to freshen up my skills

[Bood_War]

With no word limit. (I realized my story was too long to be told in 1000 word)

[Xion]

Is there a chance that there will be another one of these after this?

I sure hope so!

(I still think a word limit is justified though.)

[Alec S.]

Take It Apart

It was late at night, and a man was looking for a thread.  This time it would work, he was certain of it.  Time could only twist in so many ways before it became undone.  He could see the seams, see them becoming frayed. 

He would take it apart and then...and then...and then what?  He thought to himself for a moment.  He remembered his childhood, of taking apart household machinery and putting it back together.  Eventually he began not simply putting things back together, but making things better.  Yes, that was what he would do.  It was simple.  You took something apart to see how it worked, and then you changed it into something better.

It's how he got here and how he would continue.  There was nothing else he could do.  He looked back through his laboratory.  Bright colors whizzed around each other in cages.  Earlier, when people visited to see his work, they thought it strange to put them in cages, like they were animals.  Like they were alive.  But they were alive, he had realized that a long time ago.  They were more alive than he was.  They were more sane than he was.  Sometimes he though he could hear them talking to him.  People didn't visit anymore.

He ate a food he invented himself, from a grain he bred himself, served by a machine he devised himself.  He made all he needed.  All the plant-life here were his experiments, from the moss growing between the cracks in the metal walls to the flowers which provided light to the room.  They grew with the energy from the sun held in one of his cages.

As his eyes followed the cages on the wall, he saw they got larger and larger, until one was half the height of the wall.  He flipped a switch to open the adjacent wall to reveal the window.  Although it appeared to be before him, it was actually above him...or was it below?  He had tinkered with dimensions so much in this building that he couldn't tell anymore.

Machines the size of molecules wandered like ants through the window.  He could see them all in frightening detail.  Toiling in his name.  He'd forgotten his name a long time ago.  He mused that they were toiling for his name, creating him a new one.  It would be him.  He had seen all the lights he kept in cages.  They knew more than he did.  He knew they knew more than he did.  But he learned.  And now, he was ready.

Perhaps the walls only have one side, he mused to himself, with a deep part of him beyond his awareness suddenly realizing with fear that the window was all around him.  Perhaps he had gone too far with his dimensional experiments.  There was only one side to the room now.  And it was all around him.  He was inside it.  A system of shining lights forming all around him.  It was all there was.

And he took it apart.

[Inane]

I weep for those behind me
  as sooner and sooner they will find me
    and long-held dreams I was so long ago binding
      will be lost, and their own I regretfully include. Signed, me.

[Xion]

Okay it's over!

But you know, if you're writing something right this moment then finish and post it real quick because you know, timezones and all. And also the more the merrier. It'll count. But in like, a few hours it won't. But really this thing is officially over so hurry up.

[Xion]

(My shamefully slightly late past-last-minute entry)

Ran Ran

"Ran!" Sergeant Teary's gruff call echoed between of the walls of the narrow alley, his large figure blocking entry to the street entirely. He fingered his badge. "We know you're here, Ran!" he called again. "Come out now and we may just...let you off easy." A smile at his lie.

No reply.

Teary nodded and his smile widened. He enjoyed the prospect of a chase. Enjoyed watching the ArmO units crush their target into submission. A crying, begging, pleading submission. Bloody, weak, helpless. Teary chuckled at the thought of Ran beaten and powerless. Anticipation.

At last he could hold it no more and let out a raspy, diseased laugh, and his nodding head shook violently up and down.

"Yes. So. You'll...take the hard way." The Sergeant regained his composure and stepped away from the alley, still nodding his head and smiling. He waved to two sleek, silvery beings behind him and they slipped into the alley with all the noise of a shadow. Teary produced a small computer from his jacket and sat down on the sidewalk. He powered up the computer and the monitor flashed on.

~

Ran took one last look out the window overlooking the alley. The acrid stench of the city drifted up out of its darkness. No sign of Teary. Ran tossed the last of his gear in a black duffel bag and headed for the stairs. He had heard Sergeant Teary's demands, heard his offer - his lie. Knew he had to leave. Had to live up to his name. Within a few hours Ran would be gone, vanished from between Teary's fingers like smoke. Maybe he'd be on a train to the Cyrnst, or a motorbike along Shasin highway, or on a plane to New Wicksley. Only certain thing: he wouldn't be here.
First things first, though.
He headed to the rooftops.

Ran pulled himself out of the maintenance shaft and onto the field of tar that was the Jothan Heights apartment complex roof. Doss, it stank out here. Ran surveyed the cityscape for a safe route.

To the north lay the center of the city. Buildings too high to be properly navigated, streets to wide to be jumped. Ground though, dangerous as it was, would be crowded there. It would be
easier to melt into the people. Train station was to the north as well, on the other side of town. Would be risky.

East and West were the residential districts. The ghettos. Flat and low enough to navigate easily and quickly. Monitored though, and easy to be followed. Subway station not far from here to the West. Would be crawling with pigs, though. Similarly risky.

And to the South...that great pumping factory, its mechanical thrum pounding steadily like the heartbeat of some great monster. Its pulse flowed throughout this city. Its toxic black breath flowed across the sky like a blanket of shadows, casting the city in a perpetual twilight, and its blood was the waste that flowed beneath the streets and buildings. Beyond it lay the airport and marina.

Ran stood a moment in thought. Something was wrong. He heard no footsteps coming up the stairs after him. No rustle of the army of pigs they usually sent after him. No running engine of cops in wait, ready to pursue him in his inevitable flight. Something was wrong. Ran whirled around, looking hard at every shadow on the roof.

Too late.

A click and the ArmO units pounced, one leaping from the maintenance shaft, the other from the darkness beneath a nearby billboard. One low. One high. No escape. The impact sent Ran spinning through the air head over heels. Hit like a truck. Ran landed on his duffel bag and jumped to his feet. Aching. Pain. He forced the sensations out of his mind. No pain. He had survived worse. Gotten out of tighter. The ArmO units were approaching for another strike, their liquid, silvery bodies reflecting the filth and blackness of the world around them. Pristinely clean beings among this wretched and dirt-ridden world, yet still they shone with all the evils of their surroundings. They whirred as they wound up for another pounce. Another click and they leaped again. Ran was ready this time. He dodged to the side, ducking beneath one of the units. The other unit managed to clip his foot, sending him off balance. Step, step, step. Ran caught himself. Step, step, step. Ran ran.

~

Sergeant Teary looked at the computer screen, smiling wide. He watched Ran on the display as he fled from the ArmO.

"Run, Ran, as fast as you can." Teary laughed aloud, "You've nowhere to go! You're dead, Ran! Dead!" The Sergeant's raspy laugh filled the street as he screamed; "DEAD!!!"

~

Ran leaped from roof to roof, the ArmO units closing in quickly behind him. There, up ahead. A window to a warehouse. Lights on inside. People. Ran made for the window, jumping off of an air-conditioning unit and into the glass. No shatter, No crash. Ran bounced off with a dull thud. The ArmO units were upon him, pounding away at his body. His arms did little to deflect their barrage of blows. Ran managed to plant his feet in the underside of one of the units and with a mighty shove he heaved it off of him. Ran rolled out from beneath the other and, for a second time, jumped to his feet. No pain. No blood. Forget the window. Ran dashed to the edge of the roof and, without pause, jumped off, over a street 4  stories below.

~

Teary watched his screen as Ran disappeared over the edge of the building and his laughing ceased. “NO!” The ArmO units moved to the building's edge and peered over, looking for their target. No sign of Ran. Teary's scream deafened even the city's pulse as he stared at the screen with no sign of his quarry.

[Bood_War]

Bah.

I hate word limits. If its too long for you to read, don't read it. (And then don't vote for it)

[Xion]

Okay so for voting should I just have a link to each entry's post or...anyone got a better idea?

[Melly]

Put a link to each post on the first post of the thread, and make it a poll.

There.