A Writing Sample

Hello all!  I figured that since I can do anything I want on this blog, I should probably get some of my actual work out into the world.  This is very exciting actually! 

This is a short story that I wrote after one of my strange adventure dreams.  The main character is played by Jason Statham, at least that's who I was in the dream.  There isn't a title yet, maybe y'all can help me come up with one.  This is just the first installment...it's a little bizarre, but I hope you enjoy it.


Chapter One

"I will get home," I said aloud as I dangled hundreds of feet above the roaring waves.  I stared down at the surf as it broke against the rocks at a distance that seemed like miles.  I tried again to clear my mind and focus on my need, but my hands were losing their grip on the rock I hung from and I knew that any moment I'd have to let go.  To buy myself more time I swung my legs forward against the cliff wall to give my hands some relief.  In doing so, however, I realized that I hadn't shoved my phone deep enough into my pocket.  Panic began to settle in as I quickly tried to shift my hips to anchor the phone.  This proved the exact wrong thing to do as I watched the phone tip over the pocket and begin its somersaulted decent.  In agony I watched it hit the cliff wall, catch a fissure, and ride that fissure like a kid on a slide around the cliff face and out of sight.  Every curse word I remembered spewed from my mouth before I took a breath and let go of the rock.

The fall lasted longer than one might think, but the drop was farther than most humans could survive.  When finally I entered the waves feet first I had come to a decision regarding my phone.  I had to find it.  There was no way around that fact, and until I did find it I couldn't take a single anxiety free breath.  The phone was my most precious possession in this place.  And I had a sinking feeling as I rose to the surface that it had somehow ended up on the vampire side of the island.


A roaring hovercraft banked low as it passed the verdant treetops.  I shielded my eyes from the glare of the early afternoon sun as I watched it glide to the HQ roof and slowly descend.  My boots on gravel could be heard again as its engine switched off.  Damn those things were loud.  I crossed from gravel path to grass the color of emeralds and lifted a hand in greeting to the woman who waved at me from the pilot's seat.  I passed into the shade and entered the side door of the building that represented all things law and order on the island.  The hall I strode down was dark and smelled like the earth that constituted as the floor.  Thousands of feet had compressed it down so that it was as hard as the tile I remembered from what seemed a lifetime ago.  "Ten lifetimes," I muttered grimly to myself as I pushed open the door to the equipment room.

"Sir."

I looked over to my left as I pulled my shirt over my head.  A kid no more than eighteen stood at fierce attention, his boot clutched in his right hand.  I sighed.

"Don't call me that."  It was an old routine, a song and dance I was emphatically sick of.

"Sorry.  Noah.  Sir."

"At ease, soldier.  Christ, pull your damn pants up."

He blushed and bent to yank up his white, flowing pants.  I went to my cubby and yanked out the brown uniform.  I zipped into the tight stiff leather pants and matching jerkin.  The stuff was heavy, thick, and hot as hell in this heat.  But it was standard issue.  Tough, really tough to bite through.  Over this lovely ensemble went my gun holster, my knife belt, my wrist sheaths with six inch blades on each forearm, and my Uzi on its leather strap.  The Uzi, when in place, settled down my spine.  I pulled on my Guinness baseball cap, frayed and faded as it was.  Had to have something from home.  The pocket on my belt where the phone should've been felt like a gaping wound.  When I glanced over to where the kid had been I saw he'd fled.

"Good man," I said.  It came out as a growl.  I glanced into the cracked mirror and paused.  I needed to shave again.  I ran a hand over the stubble and realized I'd forgotten the gloves.  I hated the gloves.  I hated the whole world at the moment.


There were forty civilians on duty at all times, day and night.  We worked in shifts--twelve on, twelve off.  There should've been more, but until we'd gathered more leather to make our armor we had to make due.  Enemy activity had fallen off by a great degree, but the reprieve wouldn't last.  I felt that in my gut.  The kid I'd exchanged the brief greeting with in the equipment room was the youngest soldier.  Lazar was his name, I remembered.  I'd trained him a few times in hand to hand.  He had promise, but he'd never been truly tested.  Of the eighty soldiers in our sector, twenty-five were women.  The tribal leaders had balked at that, but in my experience women could be as tough as men.  And what they lacked in strength they made up for in tenacity.  I ran into Shebida, one of the veterans of the Ark War as I made my way to the front doors.

"Hey G," she said with a tired grin.

I gave her a warning glare and she held up her gloved hands.  "Noah.  Whatever."

"Find anything?" I demanded.

She ran her eyes up and down my leather clad form.  "No activity.  They're keeping to the treaty.  Noah, they've kept to the treaty for nine months now.  Maybe it's time we--"

"No."

She shook her head, her short red curls unmoving from the sweat that glued them to her temples and nape.  Her brown eyes rolled.  "Fine.  You're the boss."

"Shebida, can you come here a minute?"  One of the nurses beckoned from the hospice wing doors.

Shebida gave me a small frown before turning on her booted heel and following the woman.  I continued out the front doors and fitted my wraparound sunglasses over my eyes.  The dimness of the lenses didn't detract from the bright humidity that greeted me.  Birds of every species called to each other, the drone of insects a muted undercurrent.  The jungle rose on every side of the large clearing.  I went up to a decrepit jeep and pushed the ignition switch as I yanked the door shut after me.  It protested on rusty hinges.  I grabbed a water canteen and took a long drink.  Then I drove toward the perimeter with a long-suffering sigh.


"Boatload of civilians just arrived from the mainland."

The low voice drew me from my reverie and I looked over at the short man who'd spoken.  It was midnight.  I had an hour left of my shift.  I stretched my neck and looked back across the perimeter.
"How many?"

"Thirty-three.  Mostly families."

"Their condition?"

"Fair.  A few wounded but they'll survive."

"Any dead with them?"

He spat on the soft soil.  "Two."

"Burned?"

"Already taken care of.  Carlson arranged for more huts, should go up tomorrow.  He, ah, wants to see you."

I bared my teeth.  "Doesn't he always?"

The short man, Louis, laughed.  "Yes."

A noise had us both shifting, weapons in hand.  My night vision caught the shadow of a doe as it sniffed the soil at the edge of the perimeter.  Louis aimed but I lay a hand on his arm.

"It's a female," I said under my breath.  He nodded and lowered the barrel.  The doe, wisely, turned and leapt back into the greenery it had come from.

Louis sighed.  "First deer spotted in a month and it's a damn girl.  We need more skins."

"I know."

We went back to staring across the half mile of churned soil.  I leaned back onto the wooded fence that was the barricade.  It was twelve feet high with one inch spaces between the slats.  At three-hundred foot intervals metal gates allowed us to cross to this side.  The metal, precious commodity that it was, was the best idea I'd had in awhile.  The enemy couldn't break through it.  I'd wanted the entire barricade to be metal but there just wasn't enough.  A thought occurred to me.

"Did they bring anything of use with them?" I asked.

"Tribute?"  Louis furrowed his brow.  "Some weaponry.  A few chickens."  He grinned.  "Some comely females."

"Nothing else?"

He slanted me a look.  "Better than females, you mean?"

"We don't need more females.  There's too much breeding as it is.  Another few years and we'll run out of resources."

He scratched his head.  "What about those scouting missions?"

"To the mainland?"

He nodded.

"Too risky yet.  They..."  I pointed to the east "know the treaty doesn't extend that far.  We'd be slaughtered."

He was quiet for a time.  When he spoke, it was in a hushed baritone.  "You could help them.  Like you helped us."

"Louis, the mainlanders are--"

"Like we were before you came," he interrupted.  "Stupid, illiterate.  Bands of primitive idiots who shit where they eat.  Right?"

I grimaced at the words.  I'd spoken pretty much the same thing to these people--my people--six years before.  Six god-forsaken years.

"I can't," I finally said.  "There's too many."

"But with all of us united--"

"They'd still have the advantage.  Look Louis, drop it.  We focus on the island.  Got it?"

"Yes sir," he muttered.

The last thing I needed was more people to educate.  More inflated bastards to take down.  The island community worked.  It had its problems, its more troublesome factions, but for the most part the laws were followed.  I no longer had to police the civilians.

"You going to bed soon?" Louis asked me as I checked my watch.  It was time to go.

"Yeah.  Sure."  I patted him once on the shoulder and he watched me walk away.

"Gotta sleep sometime, Noah," he called quietly.


Hey, Shanti here.  That's it for now, I don't want to make this too long and daunting.  Stay tuned for more to come!  And let me know what you think in the comments :)