Tag Archives: Short Story

Tribute to DayZ

It seemed like i’d spent days in the water, after jumping the rail from my ship, the infected were everywhere and I had no other options, scrambling onto the beach I lay panting on the shore, thankful for being alive but starting to feel the cold wind starting to bite. Off in the distance the sound of a shot gun tells me all I need to know, the infected are here. Picking myself up, I throw my arms around me, shivering, looking around I can see a house about a hundred yards to my right, just off the shoreline, keeping low, not wanting to be seen, I creep closer, very aware that the t-shirt and jeans I’m wearing are inappropriate for the late autumn weather, thankfully its not raining. Stopping just outside the gate of the one story fisherman’s house I listen, the only sound the birds, opening the gate I wince as it gives a loud squeak and free swings out of my hand with a loud tang against the metal stop. No point waiting, I need to get indoors, even though as I just noticed half of the windows a broken, running forward I try the closed front door and to my relief its unlocked, opening it quietly my eyes instantly spot an old black woolen coat hanging on a hook to the right. Keeping it quiet and assuming from the broken windows, there’s no residents, I pick up the slightly musty coat and slip into it gratefully. Inside one of the pockets there’s an old army knife with attachments. Taking in my surroundings, I note I’m probably not the first visitor, the food cupboards by the cold old iron stove are all open, one hangs swinging from one hinge. Looking around I see a table and chairs and door leading to internal room presumably a bedroom. I open the bedroom door, and the unmistakable stench of something rotten hits me so quickly its closed. Just as I’m pondering my next move, I hear the pounding of soft shoes and a rasping of breath from outside, without thought I open the back door and run!!!

Rough First draft may return later to expand or edit, but may not.

Man Hunt

Below Micro Short Story recovered from long forgotten blog:

THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2005

Man Hunt

The K drive gives one last static stutter and dies, a small red light starts flashing on the console, the whining hum of that usually accompanies normal ships operations slows and dissipates in to silence. The cockpit of the Aurora class deep space shuttle is dimly lit only by the yellow overhead emergency light. Through the front view port, a green and blue moon can be seen slowly drifting across a class seven gas giant striated with angry purples and reds. The silence is disturbed by an electronic hum coming from behind the door to the rear of the cockpit, followed by a clang, minutes pass and the door opens revealing a tall naked man with long unkempt black hair, yawning as he staggers towards the pilots seat, leaning heavily on the seat back and levering himself down and round in to it. Reaching out he flicks the red light, which immediately illuminates the cabin. Touching another button on the console brings a detailed heads up display across the view port showing the moon, planet and system in digital detail. Two small red dots on the display have white numbers displayed next to them and seem to be travelling between the second and third planets in the system. The gas giant and its companion lay in the sixth orbit of ten from the G type sun.

“All Quiet” he says to himself, punching in a few numbers in the keyboard the display changes to a magnified section of the moon, showing a valley near the equator buried in a heavily forested area, pressing another button the display shifts to the northern end of the valley displaying a large square concreted area with a scattering of small buildings surrounding a large round domed structure.

“Thought you could hide from us, did you”