Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday Flash Fiction: Week #5

Amy C over at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie over at Tink's Place
have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt wi
ll be posted and if you choose to participate - you post your story on Friday.

And here is the fifth picture prompt:




Too Late

Max sheathed her short blade and grabbed her sword from the holster on her back. Turning she beheaded the harpy just as it’s talons seared the flesh of her cheek.

Three down.

For once Max thought she and Roman would be able to enjoy a Saturday night free of the shit storm that was the life of a Parakind Enforcer. But that was just asking too much.

When the call came through she and Roman were about to share their first kiss. Finally. After fours years of being partners - the last two years full of sexual tension - they had decided to take the next step.


And then the harpy call came in - may all harpies rot in the hell that they call home. Max and Roman grabbed their gear and headed out to the south end of town.


When they arrived at the cemetery the harpies were fighting over a dead body and a suitcase full of uncut diamonds. Deciding that splitting up was the best course of action, three harpies grabbed the body and the remaining three grabbed the suitcase - and they took off in opposite directions.


Having dispatched her three harpies Max glanced over at the body - he was a goner. Max was unsure if there was enough left to identify him - but the geeks would do their best.


Max headed back to Roman - she was surprised that she didn’t run into him heading in her direction. When she heard sounds of fighting she sped up - surely Roman had taken care of his targets.


Roman staggered into view, blood running down his face and into his eyes, his left arm limp at his side. The remaining two harpies were taking turns slashing him with their talons, a third lay dead at the base of a crypt.

Max jumped into the fray. She stabbed one harpy in the eye, pulled her sword out and quickly beheaded it. Rounding on the last harpy Max was too late to stop it from advancing on Roman.

The harpy grabbed him by the hair with one hand and with the other ripped his heart from his chest - it was still beating as the bitch held it in her hand.


“Roman ” Max screamed.

Running to the harpy Max took her head off with a swipe of her blade.
Dropping to the ground, Max gathered Roman close, leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

“We wasted so much time.” Max wiped the tears from her face and called for a retrieval unit.


The End
Word Count: 420

What do you think? :)

M

9 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

Ohhhhh harpies :D Very cool Michelle. I do expect blood from this challenge, I sure wrote like that

Nina said...

Well done! It's really good and fits the picture. :)

ps; your header is so awesome!

Amy C said...

OMGoodness, Michelle! I thought this one was going to be a happy ending! I had my hand over my mouth , I was shocked!

Great job as always :D

You can tell you read alot of Urban Fantasy, it shows in theses. Have you ever written full-length novels or short stories before? I really think you should give it a go if you haven't. You have some great story ideas!

Michelle Greathouse said...

B,

I'm beginning to think all my stories are bloody. LOL

Nina,

Thank you. :) I am having a blast doing this - you are more than welcome to join us if you like. The more the merrier. and I found the pic for my header online - a very generous friend made the layout for me.

Amy,

I have written a little Harry Potter flash - but nothing more than that until these stories.

I do love my Urban Fantasy - LOL. But I don't think I have what it takes to write - I much prefer reading. :)

Thanks for stopping by ladies.

M

Amy C said...

Well, I can say that you definitely have what it takes to write flash fictions!

I was browsing through your pictures in that file on FB...holy moly, there are some fabulous ones. I'm undecided with three of them. Maybe I'll post a comment on each of them that I really like and then you can narrow it down to your favorite of the three and we can use that one!

Jackie said...

I like it very much, for only a little over 400 words you painted a heck of a good story in that short amount of time!

The shocker of no HEA was a nice touch, sometimes it is nice to see a casualty or two to make it more "real"!

jackie ^_^

Unknown said...

Hi Michelle!

How cool, harpies, I love it!

You do write wonderfully, Michelle, maybe you'd like to join B and I (maybe AmyC?) for NaNoWriMo in November? I know the word count sounds hellish, but it is doable and you have some great ideas. What do you think?

Dottie :)

Amy C said...

Haha, yeah (maybe AmyC)! LOL I'll stay in parentheses :D

Christine said...

How dreadfully tragic, but once again very well written.

Keep up the good work everyone. These are amazing!