leroypd

[leroypd]

*twitling my hair and giggling* omg Elon I bet you could make a submarine WAYYYYYY better haha no seriously I know if you made one it would work soooooo well

[leroypd]

Story scene throw away By LeRoyPD

In the new world, occasionally you can find relics and ruins of the old world. Where mother nature has devoured sky scrapers and flooded streets of cities whos names are long forgotten.

An overgrown parking lot as Papa calls them sits surrounding an old world ruin.

Papa was already higher in age when the old world fell. He carried a whole other life in his heart. Sometimes, when he'd be retelling old tales of his life, he'd get this far off sad look in his eyes. "Things ain't how they used to be," he'd mumble to himself a lot.

He'd tell stories of fancy machines called vehicles, or... what was it Papa called them...? Cars? That would carry people around the streets before they were overgrown with vines and trees, and the greenest of grasses. The land used to not be so overgrown, but large areas covered in black cement papa called "asphalt". Course you can still find some of this supposed asphalt but it's hardly black these days, small patches of almost ashen Grey concrete scattered about the old world ruins.

It's been years since papa passed on, and still to this day I can still hear his words of wisdom of the old world, where people had fresh running water everywhere, and food was in such abundance they would have to throw food away! Never could I imagine such a place and I often caught myself doubting papa's words.

How could there be so much food you simply throw it away? In the small village where my parents settled after the fall of the old world, there's hardly ever enough to go around. The adults regularly skip meals to ensure the younger ones get to eat, though it wasn't openly talked about.

In the middle of the lot is a dreadful looking old world ruin. A mall Papa once called it. The roof in a large portion of the building collapsed long ago, leaving the corridors inside completely exposed to the elements.

We don't typically come this far into the abandoned lands. Areas once full of human life, giant cities where people lived and had jobs, are now deserted and decaying.

In the end of the old world, war broke out, which lead to famine and disease crippling even the most developed cities. Papa told us some people even tried to leave the planet entirely, some lousy folks who hoarded tons of money wanted to try and save themselves. None of us know what happened with that, but good riddance, I guess.

They made giant buildings where people would simply go get whatever they possibly needed whenever they needed. Now we're mostly scavengers for everything we need.

I hardly hold hope for this abandoned mall to yield anything of use for me, but even sheets of non rusted metal comes in handy for roof repairs. Scattered about are the skeletons of cars, left so long ago, most look as if they grew out of the ground with everything else. Some are truly hard to spot, large pieces of oved growth that's impossible to see through or over.

As I make my way closer to the building, weaving through this tiny forest, another wall becomes exposed. Half of the entire wall is missing, what remains is criss crossed with vines and creeping plants. Under the organic wires, faded colors lost to time sprawl a mural across the bricks, hard to tell what it could be anymore. Where the wall is missing is also a dead end as the roof and bricks of the wall lay in a giant heap blocking the way.

Once I'm to the buildings edge the shrubbery is much easier to navigate. Each door and window along each wall is boarded up. Odd. I take off my backpack grabbing the small crowbar I keep in it. The rest if the bags inventory contains; a 6 inch knife, basic first aid, a compass, a flashlight with 4 precious spare batteries, and gloves. Scavenging requires certain gear to be able to get to anything valuable, smash and grab is my go to. The wood gives way and there's a space big enough for me to get through.

The flashlight shines on broken glass just inside so I slip on my gloves as to not cut my hands. Additionally I always wear elbow and knee guards I once scored from a sporting goods store. They have saved me more times than I'd care to admit. Being able to drop low and hide, or crawl across glass, without fear of being cut up is handy.

Inside opens to a large room, sunlight from windows in the ceiling barely illuminates the area. A thick layer of dirt covers every surface, old signs hang pitifully in disarray above counters that ring the room. Some of which are dangling by their cords, others a few of the letters have fallen on the floor.

Moving past the food court, I start to hear an odd sound that makes me stop in my tracks for quite a few minutes. Far away but possibly inside one of these stores it sounds like a man speaking? No. Not speaking.

Despite no longer being full of human life, the giant cities do house some people, small gangs that are dangerous still stick around. Most of the population spread out and died off during The Fall, big cities had the highest death tolls. Not enough food, or treatments if they had any for whatever the diseases are that killed them. Rumors circle about the people who still live in cities, ranging from them being social outcasts who enjoy killing people, to cannibals, to zombies ir plague victims back from the dead.

I've come across some here and there. While yes, there are some who are dangerous and crazy lunatics who very well probably do eat human flesh, most of them are just people who didn't want to leave their homes. They lived in the big cities and managed to survive the different pandemics that killed everyone around them, survived the war, and the bombings, and whatever caused the power to go out. I don't doubt all of them have done stuff they might regret trying to survive.

Papa would talk about how bad it was during The Fall. People not having basic needs, being sick, the governments going after one another, and greedy rich people going unchecked by anyone. Apparently the whole thing had happened before, but this time people were just more aware of the cycle. I don't think anyone expected it to completely break this time.

According to papa towards the end they started to drop a few atomic bombs but that didn't last long, the effects were so catastrophic everything collapsed, and then not even 2 weeks later everything went dark. Nothing worked anymore, electricity, cell service, papa said even the compasses changed. The red needle with the but red N above it, if you were to follow it now, would take you in the opposite direction. To go north you have to go south. Course when everything turned off so did making stuff in factories.

Sure we can make clothes, which is time consuming and requires so much work, or I can break a window and get a nice new leather jacket. I spot a display window catty corner to me with a black leather jacket that looks my size. The shops main door has a locked grate down, stopping no one.

[leroypd]

Subject 8 by LeRoyPD

"Mali!" I screamed, flying out of my seat

"What?" She asks, confused as to why I was now screaming when not five seconds ago, I was calmly sitting in my chair, scrolling through my tablet. I don't respond. I snatch her up off the floor, barely pausing long enough to actually get a good hold on her arms. Making sure she has her tablet, too, cause god forbid she loses that for even a second. I am out the door and down the hall in under 30 seconds. I scream at others to get out and go. Only a few check the doors to see what the commotion is about. I know this is a mistake, but these are still people, even if they are for the government and NECRON.

Luckily, I was out of the building with Mali and in the street when the apartment erupted in a yellow and orange ball of light that hungrily consumed the other buildings and rooms. How can I explain what happened? Some dude I've been working with decided to blow my house up and fake my sister and I's death so the government will stop chasing us? I have to run. I can't stay here. James will take care of the footage, remove us from the frames but still have it play. Cops always get suspicious when there is a gap—no more questions. Soon I will have to tell Mali about what I have gotten myself into and accidentally dragged her into as well.

I sneak away into the dark alleyways and into the car that I was told would be there. Mali is dazed and is staring back at the place we have been calling home since mom and dad died. I can't tell her how the government killed them or how I am trying to shut down the government and the organization that mom and dad worked for. Kind of hard to do when they know you're alive, but I am dead now, thanks to whoever sent that message. On Mali's tablet pops up a message that covers the whole screen, instructions on where to go, how to get money, and a few other things. I hold the tablet viewing the instructions. "Okay, Mali, we are going to go somewhere safe now." I look at her, but her eyes are blank like she is aware of all that is happening, and it hit her all of a sudden.

"Are you okay?" I ask. She stares at nothing in particular. I follow the instructions on the tablet, driving carefully to avoid attention and cameras. "Mali, are you hurt?" again, she stares at the road ahead.

"Left," she mumbles. I look at her tablet and mine. I pull a hard left and slide into an alleyway."GET OUT," the tablet instructs.

"Okay, Mali, we gotta go. C'mon," I get out of the car, and Mali remains in the car. I shut my door and go to retrieve Mali from the passenger seat.

"No!" she protests.

"Yes," I say and pull her from the car. I reach back in and grab the tablet as well.

"GET AWAY," the tablet displays.

Running down the alley, I hear and feel the vehicle explode. Whatever trance Mali was in, she snaps out of it and starts to kick her legs, trying to wiggle out of my grasp. "If I put you down, will you run with me?"

"Yes, put me down!" she yells. I let her feet touch the ground, and she darts off in front of me. I look at my tablet and follow her.

She takes a right, and I hear her scream. "Mali!" around the corner, someone tries to shush her screams. Rounding the corner, I see an American teenaged boy grab Mali and put his hand over her mouth. "Hey! Let her go!" I shout, and he looks up, startled, and does.

"Are you Mariana?" the boy asks.

"Yes, who are you?" I demand.

"Jason. C'mon," I take Mali's hand and motion for her to stay behind me. Jason leads us in a dark tunnel that smells of vomit and mold. The sound of water dripping echos around our footsteps. Soon I lose sight of Jason in the dark, but I hear his footsteps.

"Jason? I can't see; where are you?"

"In front of you. Here," A light from his phone. Appears twenty feet ahead of me. "It's okay; you can't really walk into the walls. It's rounded. Just walk straight,"

"Where does this tunnel take us?"

"Let's just call it the base..." is all he says the rest of the way.

Jason bangs on a metal door in a pattern, and it opens up with a horrendous creaking noise. Behind me, Mali whimpers.

"It's okay," I hope. We head inside, and I can swear I hear someone walking behind us.

Inside is filled with the blueish hue of LED lights and rows of bunk beds. To the right and left are two more doors like the one we entered. The floor is some sort of grate and concrete. People in the beds look up at us. There are maybe 20 people in the room. Some show no interest others look at us as if we are a present at Christmas. I pick up Mali, so she doesn't try to run and hide."Welcome to our hideout. You will be assigned a bed and given a work station once we find out where you'll fit," Jason pipes up.

"Wait, what?"

"It's okay. You're one of us now. We are a family with a united goal. Taking down NECRON and their affiliations. That also includes a number of government officials. Their experiments need to come to an end."

"Agreed, but what is it exactly you're trying to do to accomplish this?"

"Several things. The shootings in the news? Protests and releases of restricted information? That is us, but the news covers it. It makes it out to be some angry citizens. No one pays that much attention to a temper tantrum. In reality, the situations were more direr than some citizens getting shot. The numbers were a lot greater, and they were all us.""How many have you lost?"

"Hundreds since we started. Many of us are like you and your sister. Killed by working for NECRON. Do you know what caused your parents' death?" Jason asks.

"The media said a fail experiment, but I think it was purposefully shut down. Maybe my parents found something NECRON didn't want to get out..." I trail off, thinking of the possibilities.

"Or the experiment went just as planned, but they made your parents work on it in tiny pieces like bread crumbs. Genetic mutations, biochemical warfare, new technologies, the list is endless on what they could have been working on. Still, we have small samples of experiments they have going on," Jason says, handing me a tablet filled with files from NECRON.

"How did you get these?" I ask.

"Those were files they practically left lying around, some were harder to get, but nothing Gus can't handle. We have information on the experiments your parents were a part of... some they didn't even realize. This," he says, tapping a file," is everything we have on your parents... and you...."

"Me?! I'm not part of NECRON!" I shout in defense.

"No.... but NECRON is part of you..." he says, tapping more files. A file labeled GENE-MOD pops up, and he opens it. A picture of me as a baby is displayed. "Your parents were way deeper in than you think, but they were even deeper than they knew too... NECRON had them believe they were working on a cure for cancer and other illnesses. We aren't fully sure what exactly you were a part of, but we do know it's about your DNA."

I look at the picture of me, in probably a lab in some sort of hospital; I'm not even in regular baby clothes. I feel as though my world is crumbling just as the world around me explodes.

[leroypd]

The Dreamer

By LeRoyPD

Wandering through the grave yard it felt like something was watching me. The fog was so thick you you couldn't see twenty feet any direction. The grave stones stood silently like soldiers long forgotten, a scream shattered the silence. A near by tree, that seemed full of leaves was left bare after a burst of crows took flight. I ducked to the ground to avoid the flying ornithurae. "Angie!" I yelled. Where was she? Why did I let her talk me into coming here? "Angie, c'mon this isn't funny anymore!" I shout again.

To my right a large shadow darts by leaving a trail in the fog. An eerie laugh echos throughout the grave yard. Behind me I hear the figure run quickly from my right to my left. I spin around but only see the fog swirling after it. Too slow to move out of the figures way. All around the fog begins to move in a circle around me. The figure runs by again, it is 8 feet tall, a forward curving back, long arm with long claws dangling down.

This thing running around me is not human.... Nor is it any creature known in myth or history. To my right I see it walk towards me, still hidden in the curtain of fog. Its head is a perfect circle, no eyes or mouth. A weird alien like sound emanates from the creature. Behind me the sound echos, but with different pitches.

I turn around to see another figure same has the first except this one is larger. I freeze in terror, icy fingers run down my back stopping in the middle.

I let out a blood curdling scream as the creatures hand penetrates through my body as easily as if I were a wet piece of papper.

I bolt upright in my bed. I have no recognition of the girl in my dream except for the faint feeling her name was Melody. She isn't dead yet but she will be. They all die within a month of my dreams. Lately they have all been similar. Weather turns bad and a thick fog settles down those creatures appear and kill the victims by stabbing their arm through their back. I have had 27 of those dreams... This was 28. Yesterday night I dreamt of "Angie's" death, she died in the same horrific way Melody did.

Before Melody's image is gone from my head I get up a draw her face and add it to my wall. The reports of deaths in this manner have yet to surface on the news. 28 of these dreams and nothing has yet to happen. There are 30 days this month and the first one I've had a banker named Erik is still alive. These kills are either going to happen the 30th or I am dreaming a month early.

I discovered my burden when I was 13. I have had dreams about people's deaths for as long as I can remember but when i was 13 I dreamt my neighbor Edna, who was a sweet old lady who always gave me cookies when I got home from school, died of a heart attack. Three weeks later she had a heart attack and died.

I always felt the name of the person when I woke up and I always remembered it as well. I began looking into them and discovered all of them had died within a month of my dreaming of it.

I began to draw them after Edna so at least someone remembers them. I also want to remember how they looked.

On my dresser my alarm clock buzzes loudly. Groaning I turn it off and get ready for work. It isn't easy being a barista but somebody's gotta get the local public their drinks. God forbid I am ever late. Marty my boss would have my hide if I was even thirty seconds late. He's not a punctual guy just an angry one who tries to find ways to ruin everyone elses day.

The walk to work is as boring as ever, cars on their daily commute, people the same. But as I was walking by a giant office building a man in a vest and dress shirt with his over coat hanging on his arm walked by. He had dark hair and glasses. He was about mid thirties but his style said eighty. Erik. Erik Burton the banker from West Point Banking Services. He is leaving work when he dies. Sad part is Erik is a punctual man and keeps meticulous records of his actions like it was the money he handles. Too bad the day he dies he is rushing and never looked at a calendar. I have no idea when he will die. But with two more days this month I say he has got only a few hours left.

At the corner of the street of the office building I see two girls being loud and holding hands walking all over the sidewalk. Melody and Angie. Best friends since they were little. Inseparable. Such a shame they will die.

At work Marty comes up to me bubbling with anger and I can already tell today is going to suck. "You are late!"

"Am not Marty, your internal clock runs mock ninety," I shoot back.

"Don't get smart with me you were supposed to be here at ten o'clock!" he yells.

"Yes Marty and guess what? It's eight o'clock. If you are going to yell at someone yell at yourself," I tell him and go to clock on early. "Honestly Marty you are the one paying me. My paycheck is a loss to you I don't see why you have to yell at me all the time I am here aren't I?"

His face turns red and he stomps off before he yells at me even more in front of customers. I just roll my eyes and get to taking orders and making them as fast as I can.

The day passes without a hitch and its already closing time. The chairs are on tables all dishes done everything were it needs to be. Marty comes out from the office with papers sprawled out in his arms. As I am shutting off the open sign I see something dark hiding across the street just out of reach of the street light. It darts away while Marty mumbles something at me. 

"Carla did you hear me?" Marty barks.

"Hm? I am sorry what did you say?" I turn around to look at him and he has his usual scowl on his face.

"I said move so I can unlock the door," he says.

"Oh! Right, sorry," I step aside as he rolls his eyes and huffs. He is a short man with a big belly and a combover. His keys jingle as he puts them in the lock and turns it. We step out as he turns around to lock it back. "It's nice out," I say taking a deep breath. Marty looks at me and rolls his eyes.

"Don't make me regret doing this," he says and I look at him confused. "Here.... I want you to look out for the shop from now on," he says holding out the keys.

"Um, but where will you be?" I ask slowly taking the keys expecting him to jerk them away and laugh.

"The misses.... she's not doing well these days..." he says his mood completely changing.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, I'll be sure to take care of things while you're away, if you ever need anything just ask," I insist. He nods his head and turns to walk off. The sound from the creatures in my dream rings out from across the street. Startled I search in the dark for the creature.

"What's wrong with you?" Marty says turning around.

"Did you hear that?" I ask still looking intently in the shadows.

"Wasn't it your dumb phone?" He grumbles.

"No it came from over there," He looks to where I'm pointing and notices Im visibly shaken up.

"I'm sure it was nothing, have a good night don't forget to turn the alarm off in the morning." Is all he says before leaving.

In all my dreams people died outside, never has anyone died inside. Trying to remain calm I start to quickly walk home, before I know it i'm sprinting. I hear the same sound echo behind me a few times on my way home.

I quickly scan my residential ID and get inside. I climb the stairs two by two and fly to the second floor. I lock my door and shiver, even though I'm safe at home an eerie feeling has followed me.

I don't want to fall asleep tonight but it seems like a trance falls over me and before I can stop it i'm dreaming of a death. Marty's death.

[leroypd]

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