sci fi

Part 6: There goes the Wub

Matt1 Comment
Part 5: There goes the Wub

‘Do ya really ‘ave a photo?’ Jackson asked Merrick.

Merrick stood over the dead man; the man’s clothes were spattered in blood and brains. Merrick held up a hand and tilted his head, listening carefully. ‘Can ya ‘ear that?’

He could hear hushed voices along with the distant sound of hooves.

Merrick started to run from the house back the way they had come, he could hear Jackson breathing heavily behind him.

‘get it’

Merrick heard a voice whisper amongst the shiver of a bush.

‘It’s like a unicorn among ‘orses!’ Another voice whispered in amazement.

‘Show yasel” Merrick barked.

Jackson hunched over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath as he watched on.

There was a stark silence; a leaf brushed past in the breeze. A man emerged from the bushes, his hands raised above his head. ‘That unicorn among ‘orses,’ Merrick jutted his chin, ‘Owns me!’

Another man came out gingerly from the bushes, ‘We didn’t mean anythin’ by it.’

‘Yea, ya meant somethin’ by it.’ Merricks’s eyes were ablaze.

‘Please don’t shoot.’ The man protested shakily. ‘We thought the ‘orse was on ‘is own.’ He looked down at his feet, ‘Now we know e’s with you, we’ll leave it. It’s all fine ‘ere.’

Merrick lowered his gun, ‘Get outta my sight!’ He barked.

The sound of Tucker’s trot was receding, so Merrick started after the sound frustratedly, Jackson lagging behind.

They chased Tucker’s tail for the whole hour’s journey back into the little street with the pub. The men who were once under Jamesons’s charge were till there; only now they stood in their soiled trousers, disgruntled.

But it was Jackson, Merrick or Tucker they were paying any attention to when they arrived breathless behind the men. Merrick and Jackson followed their gaze up into the sky. Something was falling in a blaze down to earth.

‘What the fuck?’ Jackson stood arms folded over his chest protectively.

‘They’re back.’ Merrick gathered aloud.

Jackson waved a hand dismissively, ‘It’ll be a meteorite.’

‘Meybe.’ Jackson replied, ‘Is that any better?’

Jackson gave him a side glance.

‘Cuz if it’s that big coming down, we don’t stan’ a chance.’

The meteorite theory was soon put to bed, though, as the thing falling with a black continued on its trajectory over the cities; above it, the sky darkened. The city and the exclusion zone were cast in shadow.

‘Yup,’ Merrick nodded, ‘They’re back.’

‘No kiddin” Jackson whispered in wonder.

And so it was; the city imminently glowed under a green light while the exclusion zone remained in the shadows.

Apart from the lack of stars the exclusion zone remained the same, the beings above showing now interest in their little pocket of the earth.

‘Well, Fuck!’ One of Jamesons men hollared, ‘Looks like we’re all gonna die tonight.’ He turned to see Merrick and Jackson behind him.

Tucker neighed, which caused everyone to turn their heads to the stable next to Jackson’s shack.

Merrick laughed, ”e knows where t’ run to!’

‘Scott.’ The man tapped his mate on the shoulder, ‘Scott, the bastards!’ He jutted his chin towards Merrick and Jackson.

‘You ‘ave some brass balls comin’ back around ‘ere.’ The man said.’

Scott scoffed, ‘Or a death wish!’ He said, reaching for his gun.

Merrick whipped his gun out before he’d had the chance. ‘Careful there, son, someone might get shot.’

‘Yea, you!’ Scott pulled the gun on them.

‘Is this a game of who shoots first?’ Merrick asked, jutting his chin.

‘It’s lookin’ that way.’

Merrick turned to Jackson and shrugged, turned back to Scott and shot him in the wrist. Scott dropped the gun screeching in pain.

‘See, I don’t wanna kill anyone else tonight,’ Merrick kept the gun trained on Scott.

‘What the fuck!’ Scott’s friend hissed, ‘Ya coulda kilt ‘im!’ The man was still a bit drunk on his feet.

‘It ent toy guns we’re playin’ wit.’ Merrick spat, ‘But if ya twist me arm enough, I will kill ‘im.’ Merrick shrugged, swept the gun over Scott’s pal, ‘I’ll kill ya both if ya twist my arm enough.’

Scott looked up at his friend pleadingly. His hand wrapped around his wrist, blood gushing between his fingers.

‘We all know ya didn’t even like Jameson anyways, no one did.’ Merrick smirked, ‘So why don’t you scoot off now.’ With the gun, Merrick pointed at the cities, ‘We’re the least of your worries now.’

Scott’s eyes were wet with tears; he turned to look at the cities, emanating its new green glare.

The exclusion zone stood in dead silence.

Drops of blood ran down the cobbled road in the direction Scott and his boy went. People were stepping out of the bar and looking toward the cities in silent wonder.

With a screech and the sound of flabby flesh bubbling over gravel and cobbles, a stampede of Wub’s ran down and into the direction of the city.

‘Welp,’ Merrick yawned and stretched his arms, the gun still in his hand, ‘There goes the Wub.’ With his other hand he reached out and clasped Jackson’s hand in his.

The end.

Authors note: I have tried to make this a longer story, but everything I tried eventually led me to writer’s block. I hope to continue writing this story in one way or another and seeing how I go.

Neon noose

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The neon world shone through the mist, the creatures called ‘humans’ or more scientifically, ‘homo sapiens’ were becoming like the dragonfish of the deep, deep ocean. Though their physical biology refused to become bioluminescent they were compensated for this by their adaptability and creative abilities.
The mist had become an ocean in which they constantly lived and had planet earth been a sentient being it may well have regarded humanity as its greatest mistake.

Their evolution of super adaptability meant they externalised many traits and habits other animals had inbuilt. With delusions of grandeur on a mass scale, the homo sapiens had no regard for animals, despite being one themselves, the animals in their linguistic headspaces had become ‘other,’ and expendable. Some homo sapiens had come to the conclusion they were making too many mistakes, indeed in one cartoon (something they created with an implement known as a pen) that caught my eye the homo sapien had drawn a dinosaur with a meteorite falling from the sky, one dinosaur looked to another and said, ‘We should do something about that,’ and the other said, ‘We can’t, it’ll hurt the economy.’ This cartoon was supposed to be something called comedy.
The laughing matter is that the cartoon was pointing out a real phenomenon. To the homo sapiens, the ‘economy’ was more important than saving their lives. And I have wondered ever since what sort of diety this ‘economy’ must have been to them that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for it. They worshipped this God called ‘economy’ and the thought of hurting this God was baulked at more than their own demise. Perhaps they believed in some kind of afterlife. They appeared trapped in a hell of their own making, the air was dense with all sorts of stuff they pumped into it daily. But they could not or would not help themselves. I believe they were all (a term they used) addicts.

They had divided such a line between themselves and the expendable others that they ironically othered themselves as a consequence.
They had mind-bending ideas that meant they figured anything ‘man-made’ was not nature, for they were above it or in some minds below it.
But the species were so fractured that although they lived by this principle even many of the homo sapiens who purported to be ‘at one with nature’ would baulk at ‘man-made’ progress and they didn’t see how this was a contradiction.
They figured themselves enlightened and the ones who would take them back to nature and none of them stopped to question, ‘When did we leave?’
Was it when they first harnessed electricity? Was it when they first landed a man on the moon?
If it was the earth that had birthed them in the whole scheme of things, then ‘man made’ need not be excluded from being called natural.
After all, it was their evolved capabilities that naturally gave them these abilities.

Homo sapiens by my alien (alien to them) observations, were addicts who were so out of fear of death.

If Homo sapiens were just mere natural beings then they too would perish, they too came from and were part of the dirt.

The homo sapiens were to the earth what the metallic starlings were to poison-dart trees.

Homo sapiens had the disadvantage that they were harmful to all of the earth, but the supposed advantage was their tendency to be highly adaptable.

But too many chose to ignore the signs, too many chose to ignore the men and women shouting and screaming that the world was on fire.

Because they were addicts.

All for fear of the thing they only brought more of, death.


And now, in their misty neon ghettos, they try to forget their inevitable demise, looking into the halo of a neon noose.