https://ecency.com/hive-150329/@bobthebuilder2/contest-time-oh-yeah-over-100-hive-in-value-in-prizes
There is a contest being run at the moment to continue on the story which has been started for you. A story based in the Psyber X universe, personally I think the game itself is going to be brilliant and I'm happy to be adding this post up to be involved in the contest, see the link above for rules and details.
We've been living in this house for a few years. Nothing would have really prepared me for what was about to happen. Sure, they told us that if a disaster ever hit that we'd just have to hide in our basement and put on gas masks...that everything would blow over quickly. That's not exactly how it happened.
I was sweeping the floor in my kitchen, occasionally glancing out the kitchen window to catch glimpses of the green hillsides and to enjoy the singing of the birds nearby. With a ponytail and whispies falling at my cheeks, my three little children were playing in the living room. It was at this moment, while I was leaning against my broom with a sun-splashed warmth coating my dress and apron, that I saw a flash of light. Almost immediately there was a plume of green and purple smoke shooting up with an orange tinged halo near the origin of the flash.
"TO THE BASEMENT!!! NOW!!!"
Grabbing the nearest child to her which was @piratethanos he was her shadow, as usual, never too far from her side. @deraaa ran to the back of the house clutching her young son's arm. The boy began to cry, but, being swept up by everything that was going on she didn't have time to console him. Where are the others! She thought to herself. Desperately trying to conjure up the image of where she had last seen them.
@elementm was in her room, with a book in front of her on the ground. She quietly stared as the mother ran in. "Come here quick!" The young girl ran instantly to her mother, turning the corner she saw her final son @daveyjones7 playing in his bedroom, she ran over to him. Grabbing him by the scruff of his collar. He kicked and reached for one of his soldiers laying on the ground. "Leave it!" Another flash occurred, one which was followed by an explosion. The bass thud was strong enough to shake the whole house, debris and concrete dust fell. Sounding like small pebbles rolling down a tin roof.
The mother lost her footing and tripped, spraining her ankle as she did. The searing pain was hard to ignore, but she did. Getting to her feet she shepherded the children together. "To the basement, hurry!" They all followed her directions, thank god. She thought. Now limping, she made it through the door and down the staircase into the basement. "We're safe in here." She said while fitting herself and the children with gas masks. The kids had all gone quiet and with no noise, the distinct screams of people outside could be heard.
"Let's play a game. The counting game." The counting game, remembering how they would always play this when their father pulled up outside the house after work. Counting how long it would take him to get from his car to the house, she remembered it fondly. I hope he's okay, he should be back from work within the hour, she knew. Unless. She caught herself before thinking the worst.
She looked at her children, one of her sons staring back at her. One playing with the soldier he must have grabbed in the confusion. Her daughter too, who just looked out into the empty room.
"1.. 2.. 3" The other kids joined in, bar the daughter. "Is dad outside in that?" She interrupted. "No, he's safe. He's." Another explosion cut her off. "4.. 5.. 6.. Come on, join in kids."
She couldn't imagine how long they had counted. It had been like muscle memory, she wasn't thinking about anything. It was at least Two Thousand before she realized the others weren't counting along. Each of the children were fast asleep. During all of this, she would have laughed if she wasn't so afraid.
The bombs had stopped, occasionally there would be one going off in the distance up until recently. But, right now everything was still. The loudest noise to be heard, were the creaks and squeaks coming from the ceiling above. Occasionally the house would shake slightly, like a dog trying to kick some unwelcome fleas from its back. It didn't shake violently, a calm shake? The house settling perhaps? She could remember her mother had always told her that when she was a girl, asking about random noises in the night. "The house is just settling, that's all. Go to sleep." The memory was so strong that she could almost hear her voice as if she was in the room beside her.
She looked down at her kids, everything was silent and calm now. No screaming to be heard outside. Breaking the silence a brick must have come loose and fallen to the ground. With that, her son woke up. "What was that?" "The house is just settling, it's okay." She replied happily. The son closed his eyes once more. Her eyes were drawn then to her ankle, swollen, she couldn't even move it properly without it stinging.
Another brick fell, then a large creak followed. She looked up at the ceiling and only realized too late that it was bowing. The mother didn't have enough time to scream. As the whole building collapsed in on them.
(The officer.)
@bobthebuilder2
Sifting through rubble pile after rubble pile, dead bodies, clutching one another, preparing for their final moments. For what? He had no idea who or why someone dropped those bombs, frankly, he didn't care. Right now his concern was saving anyone and everyone he could.
"Over here!" Someone shouted down from one of the nearby piles. He scrambled up to the man on top of the pile of rubble. They each threw brick after brick behind them. Then he heard crying, a child, sounded like more than one. "Hello?" He shouted to them, to which there was no response, other than the sound of whimpering.
More had joined the effort now, even civilians who were in good enough condition to help. It went on for what seemed like grueling hours. But, they made it. "Four! There are four of them. Excuse me miss?" He shouted to the mother. She didn't flinch though. "Must be unconscious, get them out of there."
Two officers were lowered down, returning with three children. Along with the body of their mother. They lay her down and the children didn't look at her, all except one of the boys, who lay beside her.
"Get the kids out of here." He told one of the relief workers. "And call for a body bag." He whispered before the relief worker turned away.
It's been over two days since the attack. It's a miracle that the children survived, and without serious injury. As one of the workers tried to take the son from the body of his mother he kicked and screamed. The other two went quietly.
"See that these kids are looked after, and given a good education." The officer said to the person holding the two quiet children. One of their workers had a big struggle to settle down the son that was causing the issue, soon though they were all taken away.
It was hard to watch, but the officer knew that there were so many more out there, who needed help. He looked out over the destroyed city. "It won't be easy for Zeelis to recover from this. But, we will rebuild it." He whispered to himself.
The End
Thanks so much to anyone who read this and if you want to get involved there is a link at the top of this post.
For those of you I tagged sorry to do so if you didn't want to be tagged in the story, but, I knew that the four of you are good writers and I've seen a lot of the work you have done here on Hive and thought each of you should get involved and write something for this.
I would definitely be the one on the ground reading lol 😌! Great story (if I didn't have such a wicked case of writer's block I might give it a try too 👏)
Oh no, sorry to hear about the writers block. I hope you can get through it, I had a big case of writers block for about a year. I don't know if it would help you but, one thing that helped me through mine was watching some interviews with some really good authors and screenplay writers and videos of them on stage talking to the audiance.
I found it really good for a boost of inspiration, it didn't help get me out of it all the way, the thing that helped me to get fully through it, was I changed my room around and made a blank area to sit down to work and I haven't really stopped now. Before having a clear out I was so overloaded that I just couldn't get my mind focused.
I never thought of watching author interviews etc but I'll give it a try, thanks 👍 Creating a separate work area that my 3-year-old can't access will be more of a challenge for now though.
Well I hope the interviews can help you, I don't know if you're into them but I watched a great one with Stephen King and George R.R Martin which was very entertaining and insightful.
I think I've found it on YouTube, I'll check it out 👍
So I died?! Whaaaaaaat?! Why? My kids. My pooor children 😩... Jeez. What is this?! 😭
I'm sorry hahaha it's a bit of a tragic end. It's a competition running at the moment where we need to tag 4 friends during the course of the story we write continuing on from the two paragraphs the host has written.
You should join it, I linked the competition at the top of my post, the 1st place prize is 25,000 lvl tokens.
I decided to tag the four of you, because I know each of you not only like a good story but, are also really good writers so might be interested in joining in on the competition.
Is there a specific community where we can post the story or...? What am I saying, I'll go read it
Oh sorry, I just posted mine in Freewriters. I'm sure it would br okay to post in the Ink Well too.
oh boy...better luck next time...lol j/k...
😭... No you weren't... 😑
This part kinda reminded me of God of War II, after Kratos has fought off some humongous beast that had led to the destruction of a building. It always had this kinda eerie feel to it.
This is great writing. You were able to have my entire attention fixated on what this family is going through. I have a tunnel view most times and this story made me oblivious to a couple of people saying hi to me. Wow. You even made me a character and that further endeared the work to me.
I'll try to write something. You see how much you inspire me?
I'm glad to be an inspiration, even if I think my skills are still a bit lacking. I can see a major improvement in them though, as time goes on. Especially since joining Hive I think I've improved a lot. The encouragement means so much to me, I know you have it in you! You're going to come out with a piece of writing that blows mine out of the water!
That's so cool, I'm glad the story was able to capture your attention! Looking forward to reading your submission Thanos.
Sure Mr. @killerwot. Do you like Killowog?
I don't think anyones ever called me that, usually people call me killerwhy, killerhow or killerwhen haha
Wow! That was a very touching way to turn the story. I love the submission. Now I need a tissue...
It was pretty heart wrenching, I tried to not let it go like that but, as I wrote on I knew it had to be. Which kind of made it even more sad. Even looking back over it I wish they had more time in the basement together before it collapsed. It's a catastrophe and the build up to a post-apocalyptic, dystopian, cyberpunk world, so I suppose we need to see tragedy.
Amazing story !1UP !PIZZA !PGM
Thanks so much! I'm happy to have my entry in the competition. I would say I enjoyed writing it, but, that would be a lie. I found it a lot sadder than anything I would usual write. But, it fits the tone of the world I think.
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