JANUARY 2021 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO THEENDISNIGH!

[Peter V]

RULES:

Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title

ONE entry per person

NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own


WHEN WRITING YOUR STORY, PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A FAMILY-FRIENDLY FORUM

All stories Copyright 2021 by their respective authors
who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here


The complete rules can be found at RULES FOR THE WRITING CHALLENGES

Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 23 January 2021
Voting ends at 11:59 pm GMT, 28 January 2021


We ask all entrants to do their best to vote when the time comes
but you do not have to submit a story in order to vote
as we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing the winning entry


The Magnificent Prize:

The Dignified Congratulations/Grovelling Admiration of Your Peers
and the challenge of choosing next month's theme and genre


Theme:

RESCUE / ESCAPE


Genre:

SF, FANTASY or HORROR



This thread to be used for entries only. Please keep all comments to the DISCUSSION THREAD


We invite (and indeed hope for) lively discussion and speculation about the stories as they are posted,
as long as it doesn't involve the author explaining the plot



** Please do not use the "Like" button in this thread! **​

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

A Hero's Welcome

Captain Lightning locates the enemy's secret headquarters and smashes his way inside. He runs through a labyrinth of corridors. Lasers from security robots bounce harmlessly off his skin. The machines topple over like toys as he slaps them aside. The Justice Society is trapped inside, prisoners of Doctor Armageddon. He reaches the inner sanctum of the archfiend and melts the titanium steel door with an energy blast. His friends are there, unharmed. "Surprise! Happy birthday!"

 

[Iwroteathing]

A Pour Investment

I fondled the magical teapot as it concerned me with peculiar glowing inscriptions.

It demanded something; a "Wi-Fi Password". Sounds rather goblin to me. I hastily fingered through an old tome to find an incantation to remove this curse. What ever provoked me to buy this obsolescent tool?

Why not boil water the usual way?

In a fit, I snatched the pot off the table and banished it to the realm of regret; the attic.

 

[AlekseiVashchenko]

Planet Earth - Part 2 (A continuation of December's 75 word contest submission)

Derius and his sister hadn’t seen his mother for a few weeks now. His father assured them that she had to be in quarantine for another month in a different part of the ship. However, Derius planned to sneak a peek into the room after bedtime. He pried the door open but closed it quickly. A glance was all that he needed to decide to wake his sister and get them into the escape pods.

 

[Calliopenjo]

To The Rescue

The beacon told me they were supposed to be about ten paces ahead. That was impossible. Nothing there but a deep hole.

The hole was large enough for a tree limb to go down but not a human. Unless they were small humans, otherwise known as, wall elves.

“Hello? Anyone down there?”

I got high pitched muffled noise in response.

I put a stick down the hole while hoping they could get out.

 

[JS Wiig]

‘Till Death Do Us Part

Over the years, the physical pain grew unbearable. With her around, it was manageable. Now, with her gone, it was torture.

He listened to the drip, drip, drip from the bag suspended on the makeshift hangar; saw the needle embedded in the pale, spotted skin.

Dreams slowly replaced the pain: distant memories, a glimpse of what lay beyond. A smile formed.

Finally, into her waiting arms, he escaped.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Escape Artist

Former stage magician and master thief Nathan Archibald sat in his cell, twiddling his fingers. A particularly nasty guard approached.

"Try getting out of this one, Houdini," he sneered. The magician chuckled.

"What's so funny?" demanded the guard.

"I'm not really here," Archibald replied," I'm on a beach in Bali."

"Keep telling yourself that, escape artist," the guard said mockingly.

"Actually," said Archibald, grinning, "I'm more of an illusionist."

Then the image of him vanished.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Hunter's Moon


In the heart of the night
An absence of light
Is causing the hunter ill feeling

The grey wolf he seeks
For it's pelt warm and sleek
The dark clouds above are concealing

Then the full of the moon
Breaks through the gloom
Giving the hunter new hope

But the tables will turn
When the pursuer has learned
His quarry is a lyncanthrope

 

[stevietee]

Daddy’s Home

Eleven O'Clock and Dad is home.
The pub has closed, or he’s ran out of money, I guess.
I hold my breath and mark time with my beating heart.

Thump - Thump.
He raises his voice.

Thump - Thump.
He raises his fists.

Thump - Thump.
Mam takes the beating tonight.

Thump!

I turn up my music to escape the sound of her cries and promise that one day, when I am able, I will rescue her instead.

 

[therapist]

Or not to bee

The wasp flailed, struggling to escape the water. Rolling waves—from the swimmer—battered the wasp against the pool’s edge as it fought for purchase. It clung to the gap between slick tiles; another swell dunked it back in. More flailing. More drowning.

The human spotted it, approached slowly and scooped it up. Relaxing. Breathing.

‘Claire! That’s not a bee!’

The swimmer flinched in fear, slapping the wasp's frail body back to its watery death.

 

[nixie]

Next time, please ask.​

The rescue mission was a success, the heir safe.

Still needed to find out who was behind the kidnapping but that could wait, I needed to check on the Prince, "Highness, may I come in?”

No response, I called again, still nothing. Dread filled me as I opened the door. He’d gone, a note was pinned to the wall.

Bye, please don’t attempt to rescue me again, escaping is too much like hard work.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Shivertail

Ogre peered into the spikes-floored hunting pit and saw a small animal, its skewered paw bleeding.

“Mmm, snackies!”

He lifted the fluffy white thing out; its tail shivered repeatedly, its paw dripped.

The creature stared into Ogre’s black eyes.

Love unrelated to dinners erupted within him, and radical ideas: “I’ll nurse, not devour, little Shivertail.”

Ogre carried the animal home gently, taking unfamiliar pleasure in the journey’s beauty.

He’d check other pits for snackies later.

 

[Daysman]

The Mulligan

Asher cornered me in a study alcove. "So, you found him?"

I sighed. This wouldn't go well. "Retrieved from his uptown apartment, New York, late 1999… he'd made a fortune in the dot-com bubble."

"I have to see him."

"He's still in isolation... also, he's refusing to see… anyone."

"He's my husband!"

"Who abandoned this reality and everyone in it."

Asher stormed out.

I stared into the desolation beyond the alcove window.

"He's soooo dead."

 

[reiver33]

Jock's Raft To The Rescue


Frost ferns spread across the pool, sending the surface into slow motion, then dead stop.

Bathers turned to a tableau, the very air in their lungs flash frozen.

Yet under the insect there formed a raft of still, warm air, lifting it clear of this localised Antarctica, to eye level…

…with a man who glittered like Winter incarnate; clad in black, sporting a sunburst yellow waistcoat.

“Napoleon liked bees, but, personally, I prefer wasps.”

 

[jd73]

Spe

There’s hope in the hands of the innocent, pounded against the wall of their bedarkt prison. Certain that someone will hear. Others will learn how they were snatched, taken, kidnapped – is that the word? Evidence will come to light. A bulletin will be issued. Swarms of enforcement drones will scour the area.

There’s futility in hammering on cold stone a lonely mile beneath the unforgiving ground of a dead planet in an utterly lifeless galaxy.

 

[Wayne Mack]

T’Sheila Escapes​

The plasma blast struck the door frame as T’Sheila dove into the airlock. She fired her weapon at her own left hand, arc welding her suit to the wall inside. She kicked the door closed and smashed the red emergency release button with her pistol.

The guard peered through the window as the contents of the room evacuated into space.

I’m officially dead now, thought T’Sheila. Soon, I will actually escape this wretched prison ship.

 

[Edoc'sil]

Jonas's... Escape?

“AHHHHHH!” Jomas screamed, running down the corridor, safety towel flapping in his wake. Rounding the corner, he smacked into a hulkish figure “Oops, sorry.” Sidestepping this new obstacle, he sprinted forward, leaving the confused figure behind.

He stopped to catch his breath and began tugging doors at random.

“Locked. Locked. Locked.” He muttered desperately, suddenly he fell through and was falling downwards.

“AHHHhhhhh…” Thump, landing on a soft lump.

“OI, ge’off!” Protested the lump.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

Intent

In the quiet and the dark he runs; steps sounding in a world of absence, increasing nothing. He dare not look behind, lest doing so doom him to inanimacy.

If there is something beyond, untouched, he will return equipped to rescue; to vanquish all semblance of the dark.

The monotonous clatter is a comfort; the stretch of road curves up into the invisible distance.

Footsteps echo into the night.

 

[Bren G]

Passage to the New World

Two tickets in hand, just a penny between us,
We’ll cross the expanse, like our ancestors did,
Neither sickness, nor thrust will loosen my grip,
Hand in hand we’ll drift,
Down Stardust Passage.

Past Earth’s surly bonds, we will escape,
Behind us, strife and famine,
On Martian shores, we’ll raise our eyes,
To scarlet skies, of cosmic glory.

I pray, that day,
We’ll share a kiss,
And dance a jig,
Like our ancestors did.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Luck of the Draw

“Phew, that was close,” Shultz shouted.

The downed spaceship lay in the distance: a tangle of debris lit by its reactor’s flaming unspent fuel.

How he’d managed to dive through the hatch, don his grav-suit and grab on to my escape pod as it plummeted earthward releasing his hold just at the right moment and land safely, was nothing short of miraculous.

Pulling my blaster, I shot him dead and escaped with the loot.