Magenta Monster

I was horrified at just what a state my pelt was in, being with the other group we hadn’t thought much on physical presentation. The mental images we had of each other was that of when we first met, back when I was putting the teams of volunteers together. Now with new people about I realised how rank I had become. Matted fur, un oiled purples and of course the smell of night fever and sweat and poor latrine action.

I smelt bad, and looked worse and yet they seemed to all recognise me as leader. Maybe it was because most of them were not much better off than me, some looked decidedly worse. What ever the reason I started grooming myself with a sort of shameful urgency.

Once I felt I had neatened my fur as much as it was physically possible and I started to get people to settle down, there were not enough blankets and we were where trying to make as little noise as possible, so hunting through the stores was not going to happen. I noticed the odder looking members of the group were staying away from me, I had meant to check them out, to go over and just introduce myself but I really was just so tired and the thirst was beginning to make swallowing hard. I settled myself and just hoped no one would be stupid enough to try and go outside until I awoke.

But before long I felt an insistent tugging at my arm, a young girl, really she was not fully pelted. Normally have been classed as a youngling, she stared at me, looking worried. ‘Where do I.. erm… where’s the latrines?’ she whispered.

I closed my eyes and tried not to growl at her, when I opened them again she was still staring at me in ernest. ‘There aren’t any and nor can you nip round the corner which is what I assume you have been doing?’ she nodded. I gritted my teeth over idiots that let social convention put them in danger. ‘We cleared a corner in the other container and used that as best we could – we have only just built a sanitation unit in there and it is crude!’ Her ears dropped, it was a heart breaking site, somehow worse than the bodies. There was something so vulnerable I just could not leave her like that.

‘Depending on how desperate you are perhaps you could get some of the others to corner and area off with crates or something – just do not make too much noise!’

She thanked me and fled into the darkness, we had a few torches but no actual lights. I closed my eyes and sleep sloshed in on me – I dreamed of castles and kingdoms and battles. All the floatsum of childhood skittered away to be burnt with bodies on the pyre. I felt my people scream, felt the suffering in my bones, I needed to collect them together before they destroyed themselves but I was failing. I was wrapped in Uthine silks and smothered to insensibilities. The images became frantic and fast and vivid and then with a rush I was away and blinking at the quiet blackness of the container, little snores could be heard. I sat up feeling the prickle of the dehydration and scratched an itch, my fur was sticky with dream fever sweat.

I stretched, cold joints popped and I shrugged the rough canvas I’d been using as a blanket off of me. The light was even dimmer than when I’d closed my eyes – the batteries in the torches must be growing low. I cursed as I hit my shine on a crate, taking off a good handspan of fur off. I found the other torches but before I put them on I strained my hearing, making my mind creak as I listened and almost tried to feel the space beyond the container. I could find nothing, hear nothing and I knew that that meant nothing and shivered. I put on the other torches and began to take stock of what we had in there with us. The others awoke, one by one and helped me sieve through the boxes to find the bits we needed.

I made sure we were all armed before we risked opening the doors, the area beyond was a devastation and the bodies of the reanimates we had killed had been torn to bloody shreds, yellow oozing masses were all that was left. I retched by held down the bitter bile that was all my stomach had left to throw up.

We set up a parameter guard and I tapped on the other container – it hurt my hand but the sound resonated into the thing, clanking sounds told me that the others were stirring and they pulled the busted door open with an effort. I was so thirsty but I feared that I would find my lecturer not there – that they would be part of the shreds and tatters we had had to walk through. But he was there and I felt a whooziness of relief. I took stock of everyone – we were to my amazement all still alive!

They passed out what was left of the water and I shuddered at having to send them out to get more. ‘We have to get the two containers linked!’ I cried, I felt a desperation over that, ‘and roof access.’ We needed to be able to see if things were clear – I was gambling on the creatures not being able to jump more than twice their height. We stacked crates round the side of the original crate and the sort of fixed but really not quiet working hammer jack was passed up. But it would be noisy – it was going to attract attention. I could not let them start until the water team was back. Just one whole through that was all we needed – we had saws and could do it by hand from within.

The youngling who had tugged me back to wakefulness came trotting over, her purples were a bright pink colour, she really was very young, ‘ I’ve found loads of sand and cement and stuff – not sure if the cement will be any good but I thought we could make some sort of spiky fence?’

I hugged her, I squeezed her in a familial way, ‘that is a brilliant idea – do you think you can organise it?’ She nodded and smiled. She really did not seem to understand the severity of the situation but that suited me fine and I sent her off with two large builds. One of them had lost a lot of fur but again he somehow avoided letting me near enough to see how far gone he was. I was growing more concerned with that – I didn’t want anyone turning on us in the night.

The water team returned, the knot in my stomach eased – maybe at some point I would get some Stim.

Fellow writers, artists etc… feel free to use these story starters to get some ideas rolling 🙂

1) The urn was made to celebrate him, he had watched them make it and bake it and glaze it and he loved it but the world was crumbling around him.

2) There was no longer a clear path through to Earth for landing, the probes, transmitters and junk shimmered around the planet.

3) The star of trees where clustered in a ring almost obscuring the sky, green peppered light danced down their trunks.

4) The shopping basket was full but the wallet was not, still she lived in hope as she picked it up and dumped it in the appropriate indentation by the till. The bored check out assistant scanned the items.

5) Oh the burger looked divine, thick and brown with the fat oozing from it, the cheese slice had drooped with the heat and would be nicely melted beneath the bun top.

6) The chickens hurtled to and fro in the garden, the grass was taking a pasting from their claws but that was fine, they were laying well and their feathers were glossy brown.

7) Trapped the fish squirmed as they were raised out of the water, shimmering in the sun they would be at market not long after they gulped their last.

8) The beckon was a last ditch attempt, it was made of tin foil and bits of car, it was all any of them had had left, they had collected it all together, scavenge and scraped and in truth no one thought it could possibly work.

9) The blasts were mucking up the sensors, but no one was really sure what they were.

10) Clumsy, so damn clumsy! He had lost his spanner and he wasn’t even sure how it had happened, after all they had all been tied to him to make sure they didn’t go missing.

Cats

Minni waited by the door, she was getting hungry the Lady had left earlier with the Other Bigs. The Lady had looked distressed, Minni was worried. The Others had tied the Lady into chair that moved. Minni knew tying up when she saw it – the Lady had once rescued her after the Small Bigs had tied her up and hit her with sticks. Minni hadn’t known the Lady was nice and had clawed and scratched to escape she had even bitten the Lady but that was distant memory now. ‘Meow?’ she said hopefully at the door, but no one came.

The Lady hadn’t fed her last night either, this was very rare, the Lady always fed her at six on the dot, morning and night, but nothing had been put in the bowls, the water hadn’t even been changed. Minni was thirsty too but she was more worried about the Lady.

Had Minni done something wrong? Something to upset the Lady? Had she not caught enough rabbits? Yes that must be it she hadn’t caught enough rabbits, perhaps if she caught a rabbit and put it near the Lady’s chair, (the one she wasn’t allowed to sharpen her claws on) then the Lady would be pleased and come back.

Minni stood from her sitting sentinal position and with a quick little shake she padded across to the cat flap. She prodded it with one paw, there was no give, it was locked. The Cat flap was locked! The Lady only did that when it was time to go in the Thing and then in the Big Thing that rumbled this was normally followed by a room full of the scent of fear and pain, a place she could smell death then a Big, sometimes the Lady herself would hold her down and push a thorn into her. She was always grumpy with the Lady after these events. But the Lady wasn’t here now, so how could she take Minni in the Big Thing?

Minni sat by the cat flap poking it periodically, just to check it hadn’t somehow magically unlocked. Mmmm… Minni needed to go outside now, she needed to find some dry sheltered lose bit of earth in which to relieve herself. She would have to hold it – the Lady was very definite about what happened to cats who relieve themselves in the house. She went back to the door ‘Mew?’ she said uncertainly. It was getting dark now, where was the Lady? Minni curled up by the radiator and slept…

Minni was horrified with herself – she had managed to find a plant pot full of loose Earth, but she was sure the green plant should be in the pot but due to the burying action it now lay on the fake stone lino. Minni had also drunk out of the Lady’s litter tray as it was the only water she could find, why had the Lady abandoned her? She sniffed around the the back door maybe, just maybe there would be a way into the garden then she could catch that rabbit. There wasn’t even a draft, she snorted and moved back to her guard position, she raised her front paw and began licking it, she had to be nice and clean for when the Lady came back.

Minni was dozing again when she heard the metal on metal of the lock, her ears pricked up and she keenly awaited the Lady, the purr had already started in her throat. But it wasn’t the Lady instead it was the Man, the Man had once been a Small Big, Minni had been shocked that the Lady had Small Bigs, it had taken six weeks before any of them could stroke her and even then they would often be clawed or bitten or hissed at. Form watching the Lady with these Small Bigs, Minni had decided that they where in fact Kitten Bigs. The Lady often acted just as she had done when training her kittens, though they didn’t scrap the floor after eating instead they scraped the round things food appeared on. But it was basically the same thing.

Minni was happy to see the Man, the Man often came round for meals, he also stroked Minni lots. The Man didn’t seem very happy though, even when she rubbed up against him ‘Meow?’ she asked. He stroked her half heartedly and then strode to the kitchen. He put out food for her, she wolfed it down, even though he had forgotten the biscuits.

He cleaned up her mess and rumbled at her in his deep voice, Minni rubbed against his ankled, but he picked her up and shoved her in the Thing and then took her to the Big Thing that rumbled and she yowled and hissed and laid her ears back. Was it because she’d messed in the house?

Finally the roaring stopped and Minni was pulled out of the Big Thing and taken into a House but it wasn’t Her House. The Man let her out and she shot off to hide, The Man’s Kitten Bigs thundered into the room and he shushed them but still they came for her, she hissed even though she normally let them stroke her when they came for meals.

The biggest Kitten Big managed to grab her, Minni gave up struggling as the scritching of her head started, it was so lovely and needed. She relaxed into it, the Kitten Big was explaining stuff to her but she never had mastered Hoomin. Minni awoke in the middle of the night on the Kitten Bigs bed.

She felt awful! The Lady was still missing, she had to catch her a rabbit, looking around though she couldn’t work out how she would get the rabbit to The Lady’s special chair.

But later that day the chair appeared in the living room, Minni padded over to it and sniffed it, she could small not The Lady Bigs on it but mainly the lady and she purred and rubbed her scent all over it. Now she could catch that rabbit!

She darted around until she found the door but there was no cat flap! She meowed pointedly to the Kitten Bigs but they just stroked her and though she head butted them with affection it was very frustrating that they were not letting her OUT!

She would never be able to catch the rabbit for The Lady like this. Minni sneaked away from the Kitten Bigs and lurked by the front door, ready to skaddadle. But the Kitten Big found her and picked her up as the door was opened, she struggled but was held firmly. A metal chair was being dragged through the door by The Man, it had round spinny things on the bottom of it that looked just right for running over tails, Minni did not approve. Then to Minni’s delight, The Lady appeared! She had a metal cage in front of her that she was moving bit by bit, it seemed to be slowing her down a lot Minni wondered why she didn’t just walk around it but mainly she was happy to see her Big.

It was very frustrating, the Kitten Big just would not let go of her and she wanted to wrap herself around the lady’s legs and show her how pleased she was to see her. But then the Kitten Big did take her over to The Lady’s chair, she jumped on her Big’s lap and purred and purred, even though her Big smelt a bit funny, like the place with the thorns and the scent of death but that would pass then maybe they could go home?

She nuzzled her Big and settled down for a lap nap.

Well the monster cards for the game I’ve designed are on order and I am looking into print on demand as well as having my own bulk stock.

Photos as soon as they are here and they will be going sold here and in my etsy shop 🙂

I want to produce an app version of this as well. There will be an online lunch party once I have the bits all here 🙂 And I may even run a special Creativi Tea as a real world launch.

The office was unbearably hot, the aircon had died and due to the scorcher of a summer they were having the shops were all out of new units! Samantha sighed and stretched in her swivel chair, she was drenched in sweat already. It didn’t help that the window was actually nailed shut!

Her micro-managing boss had done that, to stop people from breaking the aircon by opening it, what a laugh! But the heat really was bad, she felt slightly sick. Standing she walked to the window and examined the nails. The wood was riddled with little wholes, she pressed her finger into it and smiled grimily – the wood was soft and rotten and full of wood worm. She pulled at the upper part of the frame and with a groaning sound the nails ripped through the wood.

The window slide upwards.

Cool fresh air caressed her face, she drank it in, admiring the smell of blossom that it carried. She opened her eyes and lent forward to peer out. Her breath caught, there where flowers and butterflies and the sunlight was not harsh but a beautiful golden shimmer on everything. The leaves dark and green seemed to glow from within.

There was an entire meadow there beyond her, and at window height! Samantha stared at it, the building must have become one of those living green buildings, the sort the Permaculterists where always going on about! How had she not noticed.

She reached out to the cool looking grass, but it was just beyond her reach, she scrambled up onto the window seal and leaned out, little yellow stars of flowers smiled up at her. She over reached and tumbled.

She was blissfully in hailing the flowers when she smashed into the pavement below.

Hour later her boss sadly nailed the window shut, this time she would brick the thing up, ‘bloody fairies’ she whispered and shock the tear from her eye.

These are openings for stories which writers can use to get writing – it started as a twitter meme.

1) He was too old for this, the years weighed heavily on his still firm frame, white hair flowed down his back and the beard was straggily.

2) The garden had a patio area hidden amongst arches, over grown with roses.

3) Head scarf tucked around her face tight, not a wisp of hair could escape, the woman walked to the tree, a ladder had already been placed against it’s trunk. She put her basket down.

4) Purple wooded trees sat under the sky of dark pearlessence, bright stars moved creating light tracks in the dust pattern.

5) The chest burst open spilling the coins across the grass of the grove, they were not what the thieves had expected.

6) The knight awoke and knew the world was wrong, motion was slow and he felt little weight on his bones even though he was decked in armour. The sky was a murky green and little light shone here.

7) On that day the people heralded him like a prince, he preen and pimped and basked in the glory, knowing that his crimes would soon be revealed.

8) Moonlight bathed the hillside in a strange blueness, the wonderer stood to admire the view.

9) The data discs where heavy, the mage carried an armful of the shining things, he wondered briefly once more if he could destroy them.

10) He would hold fast, the sticks chittered at him, he held their dead brethren and hit out at them, the children behind the door he guarded needed him to pull off a miracle.

We froze, someone hiccuped, the bang came again and again and then we heard the desperate voices. ‘Is there anybody there? Please, PLEASE?! Help!’

I was the first to move as I jumped over boxes to the door, my lecture was there moments after with a weapon, we opened the door with some difficulty due to the slight buckling of the door from our escape the day before.

I emerged into the gloom, there were… people, about twenty of them, looking scared and frightened, something was odd about some of them and I worried that they were on the brink of change. I scouted the area and realised that we were now all in danger – such a large group would attract the reamimates a lot sooner but I could not ignore such survivors!

But desperate people could be more dangerous than the ever living, it was a tragedy of our spieces. The group was larger than the one I already had and I was charged with trying to save our people from extinction. My domain had just doubled.

‘I am Ginglar, daughter of the council, who has been leading you?’ I snapped at them, I expected an answer and quickly. I tried not to shake.

They shuffled and then a young male like me barely more than a youngling stepped forward. ‘I think I am?’ he was shaking.

‘Get them into that container,’ I was indicating the one next to the one we were in – we could not all fit in one. I called my lecturer and he stepped forward. ‘You will lead a group of these survivors to collect water. We must all get back under cover as soon as possible.’

‘I have no more canisters?’ he spoke softly, I closed my eyes – for some reason I was angry.

‘You will have to find some!’ I didn’t mean to snap but he bowed to me and headed off to organise his new cohorts.

I twisted my ankle on one of the loose tools we had scattered during our escape the previous day. I ordered them tidied up and taken inside, I then went about setting up a watch and people to sort exactly what weapons we needed.

Then I headed over to ‘next door’ they were working away like hoppers in the hive phase but I could tell they were bewildered and scared, how had they survived?

I located the youngling leader, he looked like he was about to cry, his features relaxed with relief when he saw me. I gritted my teeth, I would have happily relinquished my control of the group to someone else. Evidently he felt exactly the same and though his group was larger my councilor parents made me an obvious choice for the power.

‘Reanimate!’ came the cry from the look out and I turned away from him before I had even found out his name. ‘Do you have weapons?’ I cried at them – they fumbled with hand made bodges similar to what we ourselves had created, they were no where near as sturdy looking.

I assessed the situation at the container entrance and breathed a sigh of relief there was maybe three, we could handle this. A tension ran through us all and then several people split off rushing towards the invaders, they were dispatched messily. I zinged with it.

It was over quickly, it had seemed like a life time.

We all felt the extra drive to get everything sorted and into safety. Food was surprisingly plentiful in the containers but I still did not want it wasted – if we lived long enough it could take months maybe years to escape. We would need that food!

I felt the time pressure and transmitted it to those around me, I decided to sort the tools and get things set up so we could at least bash a whole between our metal caves. The thin pale male from my original group sidled over to me to say he’d found a working power unit for the hammer jack. I felt a strange euphoria and was about to set up some sort of external staircase to get to the roof when a sicking scream echoed around us.

I actually slumped with the thought ‘not again’ before I went to see what the issue was exactly. My fears rung around me in the burblings of the others, hair and ears sticking out in tension. There was a tide of reanimates. ‘In the containers!’ I cried.

I was not in my correct one, and as the door clanged shut I realised that I had no idea if the water collectors were back or not. I slumped too my knees in shock. Were they now locked out there with the killing horde?

My lecture was with them, I had potentially sent him to his doom. I wanted to sink into the pain of the moment and let it cut my soul out but instead I assessed what needed to happen with the group around me.

I counted us, 14 less than our group in the other container. How many had I sent to get water? Six?

I ordered everyone to be quiet. We had little light, the thumping and crashing of the creatures outside filled our ears and I had a large female smother the younglings sobs. It settled down relatively quickly and quietly I insisted that each individual went to sleep. There was not quiet enough blankets for everyone and no Stim or water nor cooking equipment – we’d moved that into ‘head quarters’ I cursed my own efficiency. The supplies were separated from us by centimetres but that could be enough to kill us if the reanimants got it into their heads to siege us.

There was also no medic to tranquilize those who needed it.

I took the watch and quietly chatted with most of the group as they slinked over in twos and ones. All concerned, all wanting to know if I still had contact with the council, all convinced that my parentage gave me special powers or that I’d been given the secrets to our escape. I’m not sure how much they believed and how much was just hope, a coping mechanism.

I reassured as much as I could, but I was beginning to be thirsty and tired, my eyes felt hot and gritty and my purples were slightly sore. I combed out my knotted matt of fur, to distracted myself from worry. There was nothing much any of us could do until we were reasonably sure that the reanimates were gone.

I gestured for us all to huddle together, ‘we need to be quiet and I think they will go away,’ the medic nodded but I was so uncertain of my statement and yet I could see the need in their eyes to believe what I was saying.

‘We should sleep,’ I said, startled eyes scorned me, ‘we will be quiet and they will go, but to make sure they have gone we are going to have to stay in here for more than a ‘sleep”. Night and day no longer made any since in the dank cavern.

‘How long?’ a thin tall woman with vibrant purples asked, her ear flaps agitatedly jostled.

‘I would say two days,’ the medic nodded.

There was a slight grumble, I knew we were all hungry but the stress of what had happened would make us all more likely to bring the precious food back, plus if we opened the door and the horde were still there we would have to close ourselves back in again as quickly as possible. I settled us all down.

The medic took first watch and I… did not sleep. I could not, all I could hear were the shuffling scrapping noises from without. I tried to relax my muscles though and that did help, I could not afford to be exhausted and everything about our situation would strive to make me more so.

I worked at clearing my mind and began to drift, making mental notes on what we could and could not do and what was a good and bad idea. I don’t think I ever managed to sleep as such but I did float into a relaxation of sorts and felt a warmth haze which I regretfully left when the medic tapped me upon the arm.

I stretched and rotated my various joints and took the cover she offered me, a thermos of stim was already in place and I sat and sipped it feeling the energy flow into me. I watched those sleeping giving the medic some privacy as she settled herself down in my place.

The two patchy furred ones were twitching in their sleep and I wondered how long they would have, the thought of the youngling we had taken to the caving stirred in my mind and I shuddered. How long really did any of us have?

I tried to extend my senses beyond myself, beyond the container. I felt bodies still moving beyond the container – hungry, searching minds devoid of anything much, awaiting… something. I physically gave myself a little shake for spooking myself, I could not have really felt the reanimates beyond. I thought of the hoppers and their hiving, how they all seemed to be connected, but quickly dismissed the feeling. You would not eat creatures you were connected to.

Disturbed the notion of cutting hair and nails entered my mind, I felt sick. I sipped the stim and tried to focus on the problem at hand, I was sure there were still many reanimates out there. How many could a band of fifteen really kill? The creatures were after all far superior to us in strength. All our nerves were stretched.

My lecture joined me for which I was immensely relieved, ‘so what is the plan?’ he in a hoarse whisper.

I shrugged closing my purples in resignation, then I began to list what I thought was our only real options. ‘We shall eat and assess the supplies we have in here.’ The place was pretty crowded as we had pretty much shoved as much as we could in. Boxes, crates and piles of stuff surrounded us making it claustrophobic and tight.

He nodded, ‘I’m sort of hoping we have tools in here that we can dig through the roof with,’ I nodded it had been what we had been discussing when the reanimates arrived.

‘How easy will it be to punch through do you think?’ I asked, he was a material scientist as well as a miner where as I had specialised in electronic mining equipment. I just hoped he could think about the metals behaviour without his computers to do the advanced modelling for him.

He paused and looked into the middle space, ‘it should be but I need very specific things, several ways really just depends on how neat we want things.’ I nodded.

‘What is the list?’ I asked not really wanting to hear the answer as it would mean more problems for me to solve.

And so we killed the time awaiting the others to stir planing how to bust out of the metal box we were in.

Once everyone awakened had eaten we began to sort the piles of stuff, to go through them systematically but it still reduced our space critically and tempers were beginning to flare and I could not even make Stim breaks a regular thing as we were running low on water. We’d secured a good day and half’s water but had been down from the previous day when they had lost a canister and everyone was thirsty for the actual water. Washing and cleaning were out of the question but we would not be able to eat safely for long with how things where.

Sanitation had become a pressing issue literally, early on and our tin can smelt, one corner fouler than any of us wanted to think about.

We were focusing on looking for the tools to blast or bash our way out of the roof. But after hours of relentless searching we still didn’t have what was required.

‘I think they were in the stuff we dropped,’ said one girl, her ears dropping right down. I nodded, that was what I had suspected.

‘Never mind, we now have more of an idea what supplies are actually here and what we need.’ I said with forced cheerfulness.

‘Actually I’ve found enough stugg to make a sanitation unit, we maybe even be able to recycle our waste products,’ the medic was almost bouncing with glee at her discover I admit I felt releif.

‘That would be good,’ I said and almost laughed at how I sounded like a poor imitation of my strict and strident but annoyingly polite mother.

We then set about trying to make the inside of the container more homely, this was a good activity and everyone got into it and were merrily chatting and arguing over the placement of things when there was a large echoing crash on the canister wall. Items toppled that had been placed too near the impact site.

Music can be a great source of inspiration to writers, why not have a look at your music collection. List the names of ten albums or the bands themselves. Use this list to write from. Write the album name as a title adn begin to write, don’t worry about what the album actually is about – what does the name alone mean to you?

If you find it hard to just side down and write like this then getting a timer cane be very helpful. Set it for 2 mins for the first title, 5 for the next and then 10 for the third.

These are my story starters which can be used as openings for stories – it started as a twitter meme. These ones are slightly too long for tweets but I thought I’d share them anyway.

1) Ambient lighting filled the bar, it looked rustic and old but was a well oiled sleek money making machine with the best tech and a very cheerful bar tender.

2) They had dressed him up like a peacock, he even had a tail. It was not going to be a fun evening.

3) Lightning they say never strikes twice and in truth it didn’t, it took different paths down through the building.

4) The children picked and picked the blooms, flowers of different colours which they sorted into the large shining metal tubs.

5) She watched the maids running home to their mothers for the holiday, eyes sharp with hatred, she wanted to run.

6) The crown was his, but no one had told him that it must be worn upside down, the weight of the gold tips where pressing into his skin – soon he would bleed.

7) There was no glass at the windows and the stone stole all the heat and yet the boy still sat by candle light trying to read a book

8) Eyes that no longer saw, that no longer where, hide behind the soft cloth

9)Jeff had more than one sword hanging over his head, there was a whole bristling metallic tree of the things and they where poised to crash down on him at the first mistake.

10) They where ornamental, sleek, wood and gold, but they seemed to fly. On their own you understand.