Friday Flash: Part II "S.S. Argonaut" and Cover Reveal of CassaStorm

 

Today's #fridayflash was actually a short story I wrote a long time ago. I've decided to break the story into three parts, so here is part two. Part I was up last Friday (February 15), and Part III will be up the Friday (March 1) after.

PART II, S.S. Argonaut 

Panic twirled from person to person as infectious as the flu. A scream here. A shove there. Mayhem reigned while compassion for fellow man halted. This very terror seized me by the throat. I twisted and pushed my way through the crowded hallways while attempting to contact Bethany and the kids with my wristscreen.

A hazy image appeared, but I couldn’t hear her tiny voice over the discord.

“I’m coming, sweetie, stay where you are.” I punched in a button for her location. A little red dot blinked in Sector C, Section 3. What was she doing in our room still?

I reversed course and jogged against the current heading toward Sector E.

Cruuunnch!

BANG!

When my feet left the floor, my first thought was someone deactivated the gravity sensors, but I was falling, not floating. My arm struck the wall, smashing my wristscreen. Instinctively, I grabbed hold of the man beside me, and we both tumbled, barely missing being squashed by three people.

The alarm faltered from wail to sickly whine. The lights stopped blinking. The dim glow of emergency lights was all we had left.

I scrambled to my feet. Pain spread from my wrist through my arm, but I clutched the appendage and continued toward Sector C.

When I arrived there, silence descended. A ghost town had sprung up in this residential corner of the spaceship. I listened for people as I raced toward Section 3. Turning a corner, I arrived there. A slow burning fire crackled from ripped wires. Smoke obscured my sight, and I felt my way towards our rooms.

A soft voice cried the word, “Mommy.”

I recognized that voice, and it clutched my heart in a vice.

“Jax,” I called to my son, shoved away a fallen panel, and entered our rooms.

The smoke was thicker in here, causing me to cough. I blinked back the tears when I saw Jax, Lara, and April huddling next to Bethany.

Dark blood oozed from a gash in her forehead. The sight stole my breath away, and I tumbled to her.

“Bethy, sweetheart,” I whispered, slowly checking to see whether or not she was alive.

She moaned and I could breathe again. I ripped a piece of table cloth and wrapped it around her head. Our children looked fine, scared, but fine. I lifted Bethany into my arms and looked at them.

“Jax, you and Lara hold April’s hands. We’re getting off the Argonaut.”

“What happened to mommy?” Lara asked, her eyes wide and pooling with unshed tears.

My heart ached for them. “She’ll be fine. We gotta go, though. Follow me.”

Seven-year-old Jax took three-year-old April’s hand and five-year-old Lara did the same. I ushered my three children out of Section 3 as we trekked toward Sector E.

And speaking of science fiction, have you seen the fantastic cover art of Alex J. Cavanaugh's CassaStorm? If you haven't, then you don't have to wait any longer because it's here. *grins*

CassaStorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, his only struggles are occasional rogue pirate raids and endless government bureaucracies. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, shaking Bassan to the core and threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could be on its way back. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

Release date: September 17, 2013

Science Fiction - Space Opera/Adventure

Print ISBN 9781939844002

E-book ISBN 9781939844019

#fridayflash "Compulsion" Part II #horror

*This is part two of "Compulsion." If you missed part one last week, click here.*

Compulsion

Part II

My foot tapped upon the blue carpet. Why blue and not red or gray? The shrinks said blue was comforting. I didn’t believe it. My breath spurted in rhythm to my tapping.

I needed it fixed.

I strode down the hallway. A faint lemony scent reminded me of pie. I counted the doors I passed.

Four, five, six.

Lucky number seven was Mike’s room.

I entered and the bunched muscles in my shoulders relaxed. I sank into the plush leather chair, which embraced me like an old friend. A sigh flowed from my lips and the door clicked shut.

“Hello, Jerry. How are you today?” Mike leaned forward, his elbows resting on his thighs.

“It h-happened again.” I tensed, clenching the chair arms. “Please, you have to make it better, Mike. I...I can’t help myself.”

“We will find the trigger to your compulsions. I promise you. Have you taken your medicine yet?”

"Not yet."

"Go ahead, then."

I pulled out a medicine bottle from my pocket. My hands trembled as I twisted the lid and popped the blue pills. Blue for calm. Yeah, right.  

Mike rose from the chair and grabbed the bowl-shaped silver helmet from the table. Wires sprouted from the top like a troll doll’s hair.

Its weight settled upon my head, comfortable and relaxing. I closed my eyes.

"Ready, Jerry?"

“Find it. Please. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“Take deep breaths. Relax.” His voice calmed me.

I breathed in and out while he shuffled around me. A gentle humming filled my mind. I floated in a space of nothingness.

A memory consumed the void. She grinned, red lips stretched over white teeth. She had brown hair, not blond or red. A name tingled on the tip of my tongue but skirted away like a skittish kitten. I could almost remember her.

The humming increased to a buzz, shaking my brain.

The image shattered into shards.

Blackness remained. Soothing, cold, perfect.

Nothing.

The Phoenix Prophetess - Chapter Twenty-Six and Part II

Today I finished chapter twenty-six in The Phoenix Prophetess, which means that Part II is now complete. My novel now stands at 64,632 words long. I am also two-thirds finished with it. I'm so excited. With the beginning of Part III, it means that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There is one more part to go, and then my first novel will be finished. You can't tell how happy I am about this accomplishment. I never once thought I would actually finish a novel, and now I am so close I can almost taste it! I left Part II with a big revelation as well, so I'm hoping my readers will be excited to continue to Part III when I get it written. Everything should be going much quicker in my novel, although there is still quite a bit I need to figure out to lead up to the big battle and the conclusion of the first novel in the Phoenix Trilogy.

I think next week I might take a break from The Phoenix Prophetess to work on Moonlight Murders. I wrote three chapters this week in The Phoenix Prophetess, which is the most I've ever written in one week with it. I really wanted to finish Part II though, so I might take a week off and give me time to figure out the next part in it while I get back to Moonlight Murders. Either that or I'll begin working on one of my ideas for the wizards anthology. We'll have to see. *grins*