Wednesday, June 17, 2020

#WEP #WEPFF Urban Nightmare #FlashFiction #Covid19 #PUSHunt Round 3


https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/06/wep-june-challenge-urban-nightmare-sign.html


Hi! Please enjoy this flash fiction, which is fictional, meaning it is pretend and not real, just a story from the imagination. No real humans were harmed, or will be harmed, as a result, nor does this story aim to imply readers should take any action similar to that taken in this fictional story. (Even if you really, really, really want to.)

Fangs to Mars

Group Message:

Final three minutes. Everyone in place to reveal and demand, or to end if necessary?

Verifying replies streamed in.

Jordan sent a thumbs up, then shoved the phone away. "Sir, if you plan to issue a presidential pardon, we should act now."

Jordan's boss turned the volume up on the screen. "This execution is just peachy in my book. Get it? That's what I told my K man."

It took all the willpower in the world for Jordan not to end the life of this boss. Though, if no one interfered soon, killing him tonight was a possibility. The clock ticked away. Needles plunged down. Jordan's boss prematurely celebrated the inmate's death.

On the screen, the doctor leaned over, listening with a stethoscope. Jordan took a deep breath while silent rehearsing a final time. The inmate broke the restraints, sat up, and took the stethoscope.

"Refreshing, but not deadly. I haven't killed anyone in centuries. Doc, I suggest you move, as they're about to waste bullets." The prisoner eased off the table, pulling the iv's free as bullets rained down.

Jordan clapped. "Well done. As you can see, immortality is possible. You often refer to our kind as vampires. That's not entirely correct, but it's closer to the truth than most of your dribble."

"Excuse me?" Jordan's boss paled, resembling a melted orange cream pop.

Fangs extended from Jordan's mouth. "Our kind has lived alongside yours since the beginning. We have not revealed ourselves until now for two reasons. One, you have presented too much of a threat to our favorite food source. Covid-19 must be stopped, and we can do that. Which brings me to point two, we are going to colonize Mars."

Jordan's boss blinked several times before opening his eyes wide, no doubt ready to start a rant. Jordan, and much of the world, had seen that enough times.

"You can decline this generous offer." With one hand, Jordan pressed the boss's lips closed. "Just let me check my group message. Ah! The third-in-command has agreed already. You're no longer needed. Care for a forgotten last word?"

"Why come here? You know I don't negotiate with terrorists!"

Jordan laughed. "I have a gun and look like this. My odds of you negotiating were much higher than you claim. Maybe if I had a sign and were peacefully protesting, then you'd ignore me and say I am a terrorist. My kind has been plotting to end you for some time now. Tonight just sped up the date. You're welcome, world."

Group Message:

One is ended. Remove two. Proceed with three.

Annita replied that she received the message.

"Congratulations, Madam Speaker, you will be sworn in as the new leader within hours. Now, as I was saying, your country currently leads the world in Covid-19. We will start curing here. It's likely to cure other ailments as well."

"We will need to test it, to verify."

"Yes, of course. Now then, the trade-off for ending your urban nightmare because, let's be honest, the larger cities are being hit the hardest. We will require regular donations of A-negative blood. The prisoner who just survived gives you a plausible reason to tell people our kind exists. Or you can say it's used for the cure, which is also true. Say it's used as fuel to get to Mars if you want, we don't care. As long as our numbers are met."

"If they aren't met?"

"We are offering to save the lives of your species. Our cure ends this virus. It's just a matter of getting A-negative volunteers to become our food source. Their blood will keep us fed on the long journey to other worlds. Donated blood is only useful to humans for forty-two days, then the nitric oxide is too low for you. We're only asking for A-negative that's thirty days old. It's nearly expired anyway."

Annita's boss nodded. "Type O blood is more common. It would be easier to meet your needs."

"No." Annita slammed her fist on the desk, breaking the solid wood as easily as an eggshell. "Type A blood carriers are generally kind and compassionate. You'll see, they'll put the lives of others before their desire not to donate occasionally. And you'll compensate them. You want to have this deal in place within hours of taking office."

Annita had toed the line about the reason for the blood preference. The true reason was to prevent racist leaders from forcing people to donate. Unlike other types, the majority of people with A-negative blood were Caucasians. The last time Annita and her kind made a deal with human leaders, slavery happened. They had been trying to eradicate that ever since. An unending war spanning millenniums. Though, knowing who Jordan killed tonight, Annita felt that a battle to save many was about to be won.

"Sending you to Mars will take longer, you realize. Even if I'm sworn in tomorrow, as you say I will be, the space program will need a much higher budget."

Annita waved her hand. "We have a plan. We even have our kind training as astronauts. Don't worry, it's as simple as agreeing when we ask, and knowing that we do have your best interests in mind. We could have let Covid-19 end all of you."

"Yes. You mentioned our Armageddon. But not how you know, exactly."

"Madam, your kind based vampire lore around us. It's not entirely accurate. We don't mind the title though. We're also where psychics come from, though in our case, it's perfectly accurate. I can show you the end of your country, if you like. We've avoided it already, but I still have the memory." Annita reached to touch her boss's head.

The door burst open. "Madam Secretary, please come with us. We need to swear you in."

Annita smiled, moving her hand to her boss's shoulder instead and giving a reassuring squeeze. "Best of luck."




ourworldindata.org/covid-cases


FCA: 990 words




#PUSHunt


HINT for Round Three:
There is a type of challenge mentioned at this address: https://buff.ly/3dawWQ2
"Here's my ___ of books."

On THIS post, comment if you've done ROUND TWO.
Round Four will be on uniquelymaladjustedbutfun next week.

48 comments:

  1. Yes.
    Loud applause - and some wonder. Rather a lot of wonder. I would like to read more of this story, and more of the hiding in plain sight protagonists too.

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    1. I had considered using my Existence characters for this. But "vampires" that want to go Mars was more fun. And I needed a little fun this month. :)

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    2. And add another blogger with blood type A to your list.

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  2. Hi,
    There are lots of insinuations, changing the world, vampires, sadistic measures of dealing with prisoners. I wonder how much the lady president will change.
    Shalom aleichem,
    Pat G

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    1. Yeah. A bit like I surfed through a month of news and picked a few headlines, then added some supernatural characters to fix things. ;) Would I do that?

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  3. Ha! My blood type is A- and if these vampires could get rid of the orange creamsickle and #2, I would gladly give them regular donations. However, I must warn them that my blood is sweet, as I have diabetes.

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    1. The vamps might cure that when they inoculate you against the covid...
      This was really so fun to write.

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  4. WHat an intriuging take! Love the melding of lore and reality ... and now I'm wondering about my blood type! :)

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    1. It was fun to research blood types, how long donations last, how common each blood type is, and the personality traits off associated with blood types.

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  5. Nicely done. Dark but satisfying.

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  6. Intriguing. I loved it. The entire premise... The vampires and the prisoners. Well done!

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    1. Yeah. A fair amount of people would like to see Jordan's boss as a prisoner. Or have a vampire take him out.
      Only fiction here though.

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  7. Awesome twist on our current situation. Love it. Even though I'm Type A. Very unique! Well done!

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    1. Interesting. Only 6% of the world is type A, and I have two comments from people with that type. I wonder if type A spawns more writers and bloggers?
      A-negative: 6 percent
      A-positive: 34 percent

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  8. What a disturbing story. So does that mean that only vampires can save our world now?

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    1. Honestly, in 2020, if this really happened, would you even be surprised? Add "vampires" to your 2020 news bingo card. ;)

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  9. Of course vampires can save the world, can't they J? No one else can. Loved this deliciously dark tale with fangs (my favorite genre to write). I don't hold out much hope for Madam President, although I'm sure she'll be an improvement on her predecessor. Great work. Would reward many readings as certainly a lot going on. Perfectly nightmarish for the prompt!

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    1. Number 3 would only have to hold the office for a few months. There's an election in November, and she's not on the ticket. Plus, the vampires have her back, so there you go. ;)

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  10. 🤣 Nice one. 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️ You made vampire heroes. Love it. Nancy Pelosi can take over any time in my book... I mean "number three." 😉😄

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    1. Decoding my secret names! Shhh... they're watching.
      Ha ha ha.

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  11. I enjoyed the twisting of history and current events in a deliciously dark way.

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  12. Perfect meld of current politics and speculative fiction! Love the dark humour. Considering the fate of bats (and pangolins and other animal species) at the hands of humans, it is only fitting that vampires save the world from covid. Brilliant take on the prompt!

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    1. Yeah, you can just see that interview, can't you?
      "A bat got us into this mess, and vampire is getting us out."
      "First off, no. Second, we don't turn into bats. Third, you look delicious."
      Ha ha ha.
      Thanks.

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  13. I'm not type A- so I'm good. ;P

    /jk

    A dark, disturbing story. I'm pretty scared of vampires as a rule so nice to know they are a force for positive change. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I'm pleased my vampires were able to reassure you.

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  14. I'm advised so ready to take action...Anyway, suspense from the start and tension. Humour too? I'm enjoying this... Cleverly written and conveived, J. You weave current events - and wheeler dealing - into a nightmare/macabre yet entertaining tale. 'Fraid my blood is tainted. Nobody ever asks the vampires to write the lore. Why not? So, where do I sink my fangs, please?

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    1. I believe the fang people follow the newly named Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest in DC to the large home at the end. Just something I read somewhere...
      ;)

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  15. There is so much packed in here. I like reading about a world where vampire-like beings have been living alongside humans for a long time. I'm curious about that old deal and how it led to slavery. I can see why they would want to avoid another situation like that again.

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    1. I imagine a certain group of people not being willing to be food for vampires. (This is before needles and blood donation, mind you.) So that group would have decided another group wasn't human (check the history books, because they literally did that-- my great-great grandparents were not humans, according to those laws). And those non-human groups would have been food for the vamps. And then why not turn them to slaves as well. And then the vamps pretended they didn't exist anymore to try to stop the madness. But too late. So they're finally giving it another go.
      It's fiction and I figured this gave it a bit of grounding.
      Thank you for asking about the research that didn't make the 1000-word cut! :)

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  16. So much going on here I was breathless!!! Well done!

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  17. What an interesting story, great stuff.

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  18. An interesting, and at times unexpectedly amusing tale. Well done.

    Yet, I must to being curious why the vampires want to go to Mars?

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    1. They're tired of being here. And they see that humans are talking about colonizing Mars and, well, they want to get there first. They don't need air. They can tolerate the extreme temperatures. And getting there first means they can make the rules. Sort of a "just because we can" mindset, mostly. You can only climb Everest so many times. Olympus Mons has never been climbed.

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  19. This was a very imaginative take on the prompt. I love rebels and I must say the twist with the A negative blood was fiendish.

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  20. Hi J Lenni - well I'm on the slush pile being of the Common O type ... but I have no wish to go to Mars, or for that matter for a Covid 19 vampire to find me... but a fascinating mix of reality with possibilities - who knows what lies ahead. I prefer life here and don't think I'll change my mind. Stay safe ... Hilary

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    1. I'm also on the O blood train. But I would give to cure Covid.

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  21. Wonderful. I really enjoyed your story J.Lenni. So original and inventive. Looks like your ‘ vampires ‘ aren’t too far from my little blue people. Great dialogues. Trump/Biden ?

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    1. Biden isn't a character mentioned in this story, or referenced, as he is not currently part of the "line of succession."

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  22. Loved this! Ousting (or offing) the Orange One is a fantasy of many right now. But vampires... inspired! And they want out of here. Can't say that I blame them! An innovative take on the prompt!

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