A-Z Challenge #13: M is for Meat

M is for Meat, Bones and Blood

   She didn't like the small ones. The creatures that her parents would most often prey upon. They were all bones with little meat. They twisted more in her hands. Their teeth, though tinier, more often found their way to her skin. The bites stung.
   But, there was merit to the rats and rabbits and squirrels. It was easier to sink teeth and fingers into their thinner hides. The injuries they could leave on her fingers, and hands, and arms more quickly healed. Their eager noses and lighter frames made them fall more easily into the traps left in the dark corners of her territory. They were just easier - to roast over flames, to eat fresh, to pick clean and leave behind bones to toss, spiraling and turning in the air, to clack and clatter in her garden.
   But they didn't provide the same rush and allure as the big ones. The ones that could chases her down, if she wasn't careful. The louder ones. The ones that break and challenge her cages and ropes, her pulleys and tricks.
   They pushed and pulled. They threatened chunks and slivers of her own flesh. The types that would require more than the mushed creams and lotions of mashed up and liquified plants and clays that she collected and mixed and stored in cracked and shattered jars. They could grab and hold and bite back.
  They could prove that her body was nothing more than their bodies. Nothing more than bones holding meat thick with blood. Tender, weak, the only protection from death besides a pulse was the quickness of her feet matching the quickness of her mind.
   And her teeth, two rows sharply defined and ready, always ready...


[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]

A-Z Challenge #12: L is for Loner

L is for Loner, Not Lonely

    “But our adventures. We’re family.”
    “No. We’re not.”
    “Yes, we ARE! We’re family because families protect each other, like we do,”

Art’s being lifted by a large, dark hand, metal pole abandoned on the ground. James thinks about how if it wasn’t Art being caught it’d be him and that’s the only reason he picks up the weapon and swings it frantically at the Bomber’s knee, despite the burning in his side flaring and swallowing his organs in a blinding fire. A boot slams down on his arm and makes his bones creak ominously, and the pole slips from lifeless fingers. But he’s still got one hand free and he grabs the man’s leg and tugs weakly, thinking maybe he can trip him or unbalance him enough for Art to escape. From the way Art is screaming he knows they’re either both going to live or die and they won’t have to wait very long to find out.

    “and because they play together like we do,”

Art demands a song, and because they’re all alone and the sky is clear and the wind feels great on his face, James complies. The harmonica isn’t quite the same as a guitar, so he can’t sing as he plays, but Barnard’s deep voice and Art’s higher pitch can almost make a harmony. Sometimes, for the lines he really likes, he forgoes the harmonica altogether and they sing without aid. And when he starts to grow thirsty and Art doesn’t want to quit, well, isn’t that a giant cat with five inch claws in the distance? Art will hide behind Barnard’s legs and screech like a little girl and that’s not the reason James does this at all. The cat was there, he swears.

    “and because they have fun together, like WE do!”

Ellie steals a bite from the leg of meat that Barnard is in the process of bringing to his lips and she accidentally, maybe, almost takes his finger too. The bigger man spills his beer down the front of his shirt and Art starts laughing big hiccuping laughs, and even Ellie smiles and hisses out an amused noise around the food in her mouth, and James doesn’t know why it’s so funny but he’s laughing so hard he topples to the ground and his chest feels like it will burst.

   “I guess we’ve had some fun. But that doesn’t make us family.”
   That word is too big and too small, and if James doesn’t turn around now, here, then he doesn’t know if he ever will. And he has to. He needs to leave. The desire makes his heart stutter and his fingers curl and his legs tense. He’s smothered, constricted, he’s,
   “Sorry.”
   He doesn’t run. He turns and walks and time speeds up to him on a deserted road all alone and he’s not being followed and he’s so damn happy that’s the only explanation for the way his eyes well and turn the horizon into a blurred line.




[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]

A-Z Challenge #11: K is for Kitten

K is for Kitten, A Ravenous Beast

   James learned about Art’s fear of cats so fast that he never saw it coming. They had set up camp, and James was trying to get a fire going. Art was chattering away.
   “And then the Old Lady taught me a lot about water. And did you know that stag-nant water isn’t so good? I don’t really see a difference, but if the Old Lady said so than I’m not going to argue, because I tried to argue once and it didn’t work out very well, because that was before I had my metal pole you see, and not because she was super fast or anything, and the wooden spoon didn’t even hurt, not really, though I cried a little, because, you know, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, and then-”
   Maybe, if James had been paying more attention, he would have noticed the unusual silence that fell. Maybe he would have looked over and seen Art go stiff and wide-eyed, staring at the new intruder to their camp. Maybe he would have seen the way Art jumped up and began running.
   James didn’t see any of this.
   But he certainly felt it when Art collided into his back, ironically trying to climb it like the cat he was screaming about.
   “Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!” Art screeched, right into James’ right ear. The ear went deaf, and James nearly fell face fire into the stack of wood he had been trying to light. Art was heavier than he looked, but James swung around anyway, body tensing with anticipation - it wasn’t so crazy that they might have crossed paths with a wild cougar or something.
    If it was a cougar, it was the smallest one James had ever seen.
   The kitten sitting innocently on the log that Art had vacated, yawned. Art whimpered.
    “Really?” James sighed.
   “Demon,” Art whispered.
   “You chased a wild dog around the city and-”
    “Dogs are only part demon.”
    James sighed again. He guessed he’d have to shoo the kitten away.


[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]

A-Z Challenge #10: J is for Jesters

J is for Jesters, Joking and Juggling

   In a more devious mood, Art bet he could juggle the sludge balls longer than him. In a more bored mood, James agreed to the bet.
   It was just after dawn. Art seemed to have an ongoing rivalry with the sun, or something, because the moment daylight even hinted at rising over the horizon, Art was awake and loud and ready to GO! Barnard threatened death to Art - which was promptly laughed at and ignored - and a week without music for James - which sent shivers up James’ spine and forced him to agree to keeping Art quiet - so that the older man could roll over and get more sleep.
   “Ok, here I go!”
   What was surprising was that Art actually could juggle. It wasn’t the most elegant, but the globs of moss, and mud, and pond sludge held up to the rough treatment. Art started with five of them, quickly losing one, and then not long after that losing another. But he was holding up with three, and James had to shush them both when their giggles and cheering threatened to get too loud. Art pushed his luck further, sending the mud higher and higher into the air, making the catches harder.
   James should have seen it coming. As it was, they both froze, eyes wide, when Art lost control and one round glob of mud landed smack dab on Barnard’s snoring face.
   “What. The. Fuck.”
   They soon had a large, simmering Barnard ready to swing a club into their skulls like the barbarian Art wanted him to be. James threw up his hands in protest.
    “Actually. You might not realize it. But it looks great. Very Conan meets Swamp Thing.”
   “What’s that?” Art piped, as Barnard momentarily gaped at James.
   “Cross between a monster and a... well... a barbarian actually. See, we helped.”
   For being well into his late fifties, Barnard could run really fast. And he could swing that club really hard. He chased them around the pond.
    Art gasped for air around each laugh, like it was just completely hysterical.
   What’s worse, James did do.




[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]

A-Z Challenge #9: I is for Idea

I is for Idea, Insidious and Catching

I

    For James, well, he's not sure he's bought it yet. Not sure he can carry it the way Barnard can. Not sure he can distort it and crush it and snap it between his teeth like Ellie has. And Art - well, James doesn't think he can ever be like Art, and he's better for it, isn't he?
    The world, no matter how wide or ruinous or alive, could ever handle more than one Art. More than one crazy, wide-eyed, grinning runt with a loud voice and a constant faith in every word he says.
    Why fight the truth like they have? One of them has to see things for the way they really are. Someone has to keep in mind that jumping is jumping, not flying. That life is…
    Life is…
    Since meeting Art, he's not so sure what this life is.
    He doesn't think he can see it the way they do. But now, now his own eyes see something not quite the same as before and not quite clear enough for a future.
    The distance wavers, like a constant lick of heat is flickering a mirage in front of his face, in front of his hand, as though if he just reached out…
    James hasn't bought it yet.

II

    For Barnard, it was after a quivering musician with soft muscles and a short, red-faced kid swinging a metal pole thought barreling through a door into his kitchen counted as sneaking. After Art called him Baggaro. After they had picked through his belongings with varying degrees of thought and care. It was after trekking towards the giant husk of Chicago. It was after Art pointed to a building and said, 'Are you ready?'
    It was after all of that.
    But not much after.

III

    For The Girl, it's before Art names her Elpirt. Before he’s grinning so wide it hurts as she tries to mirror it. Before Chester was too scared to look her in the eye but brave enough to say, ‘Elpirt’s a bad name for a girl, Art. So I’m calling her Ellie. That’s pretty, at least.’ Before a giant finger is wagged into her face by Baggaro, ‘I don’t care about much else, but these are the only things you can’t eat,’ and it is said sincerely.
    It was when she heard them laughing. Singing. When they danced through her territory light-footed and noisy and alive.
    Too alive to be anything else.

IV

    For Art, it's life.
    Pure and simple and wonderful.
    Why live it any other way?




[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]

A-Z Challenge #8: H is for Hanging

H is for Hanging, Holding, Hoping

 
“This is your fault!” James shouted. The wind rips apart his words, throwing them up to his companion in bits and pieces. It takes time for Barnard to put them in order. When he does, the old man's bellow has enough weight to sink three feet and land on James' head before the wind can think to snag it.
   “How do you reckon that? It came from Art.”
   Art was strapped to Barnard's back. The blood along his temples had stopped dripping, but he was still out cold. It was for the best. If he was awake, he'd be laughing.
   Then James would have to kill him.
   “Don't play dumb. 'Well, not most have dared it.' Your exact words.”
   “Well, not many have.”
   “So you tell Art – Art! – crazy shit who wouldn't turn down a challenge if it involved eating his own foot!”
   Now Barnard was the one laughing. Deep, throaty guffaws. The precarious, leaning wall grumbles. Its body grinds and churns and shakes, and James was left breathless. When everything settled – and doesn't shatter, taking them with it on its plunge down, down, down to the very far away ground, thankyougodthankyougod – Barnard hollered over his shoulder,
   “I've got a plan!”
   “Oh?”
   “Here's what I'm thinking. You climb up, I'll grab you, toss you towards the top, you grab on, then, you pull us up.”
    James looked down. Then he looked back up.
   “That's not happening.”
   “Don't you trust me?”
   “I trust you think you can throw me.”
   Like a ghost, Ellie was suddenly there. No longer content with bringing up the rear, her small hands were searching, and she was pulling her body up and even with his own. She was finding handholds and footholds that were invisible to James. Her face perfectly serene as she shimmied past him, wound herself around the others, and used Barnard's head as a trampoline to jump to the top. She disappeared from view.
   “See. Elpirt's got the right idea.” Barnard demanded.
   “Ellie's basically nine pounds.”
   “I said I'd help by tossing you-”
   “And I'm still not convinced she's human. Probably a demon. Maybe half spider. Don't pretend you haven't thought about it!”
   Barnard was silent.
   “Yeah. That's right. So, how about a new plan?





[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]

A-Z Challenge #7: G is for Giant

G is for Giant, Long Necks and Spots

[Sorry, this is another long one.]

   Barnard looked up from the campfire as a noise gradually grew louder the closer it came. Instinctively he reached for the gun he normally kept tucked into the back of his pants; no gun was to be found. Without missing a beat, he reached down for his new club, only half worried, because Art was always screaming about something.
   His barreling, rolling, and screeching new comrade dashed right into their campsite and tripped over something, landing flat on the ground. Damn, Art had to have the luck of the devil to live this long.
    “This is why you shouldn’t ever be without a weapon,” Barnard counseled. “Then you wouldn’t have to run anywhere.”
    Art staggered up painfully from where he landed, face covered in dirt. “Dinosaur! I think there’s a dinosaur! Though it might not be because they’re all dead. But then again, it could be, because it might be!”
   Barnard shook his head. There was no talking to Art like this. He’d have to wait until, oh, there he was.
   James entered the campsite much calmer than Art, though even he looked a little spooked. “Don’t be ridiculous. I told you it’s not a dinosaur.”
   “But it has a long neck like the broncosaurus and-”
   “What’s a broncosaurus?” Barnard asked. He didn’t remember learning about that one. Then again, it’d been a long time and a world ago since he’d been in school.
   “Made-up, that’s what. It’s a giraffe.”
   Well, damn, if that still wasn’t weird.
   “No, it’s not!” Art protested, voice hot. “It can’t be.”
   “Didn’t the Old Lady teach you about-”
   “I saw a giraffe before. In a book,” Art said, and made it sound insulting, like books were still commonplace. “It was a lot friendlier looking though. And it would never try to eat a person.”
   “A giraffe tried to eat you?”
   “No,” James said, exasperated. “Art, was climbing a tree - and no, don’t ask - and then we heard something and-”
   “Something was shiny in the tree! It was probably treasure and-”
   “And that’s not a good reason to risk breaking your neck. What type of treasure could possibly be in a tree-”
   “If I knew that I wouldn’t have been climbing it-”
   “I’m trying to tell Barnard-”
   “Baggaro-”
   Barnard sat back down and leaned against the tree behind him, taking in the argument with a steady growing calm. These kids were... kids. And damn, if that wasn’t something he ever thought he’d miss. Plus, he’d have to wait until they quieted down to ask about the merits of hunting it. He’d never had giraffe.


[I'm keeping my A-Z challenge entries themed. They're set in the post-apocalyptic world of my current w.i.p The Wandering Shadow. They're typically scenes featuring the four main characters - Art, James, Barnard, and Elpirt. I hope you find them entertaining and enjoy learning about the characters. Excited to be a part of the A-Z Challenge!]