Fiction

Another weekly post in the making. I still have to decide what exactly this will be used for -- the focus is going to be on fiction writing. So, this week I have a bare-bones, unedited scene as a bit of a placeholder:

“This can’t be a good idea, Boss,” a large, bald man said as he peered over the edge of an ancient, ruined balcony. Boss, a much shorter man bearing a large grin on his face, stood behind him.

“You’re right, Stew, it’s a great idea,” Boss said, patting Stew on the back.

“That ain’t what I had in mi-” before Stew could finish he was flying through the air off the side of the balcony, the ground thousands of feet below and rushing up towards him.

“Just work with it!”

Stew hurtled down the side of the tower, regaining his senses and doing the only thing he could right now -- searching for the other balcony he was supposed to land on. It wasn’t that easy, however, as there were hundreds of old balconies on this part of the tower -- an ancient structure built before the fall of humanity. Legends say that millions of people once lived within these structures -- frankly, Stew never believed them. Heck, he didn’t even know how much a ‘millions’ was, and, right now, it didn’t really matter.

“You’re getting close to the balcony, move to your left a few feet and get ready to pull your chute,” Boss said, crackling over the old earpiece Stew wore.

“Are you sure the chute will work, Boss?”

“Of course! I packed most of it myself.”

“Stew stayed silent for a few moments. “Alright Boss, I see the balcony, pulling chute.” He yanked the old, plastic handle on the small pack he wore. Dust and old fabrics shot out from the pack and filled with air, abruptly slowing Stew’s descent and nearly snapping its straps. The parachute had no control mechanisms, meaning Stew had to rely largely on the winds and some fidgeting to maneuver himself over and down onto the target ledge. He landed hard but safe.

“Make it, Stew?” Boss crackled.

“I’m in, Boss. Glad the hard part’s over.”

“Oh, that wasn’t the hard part, that was the easy part.”

“Why ain’t I surprised? What do I do now, then?”

“Now you get that door in front of you open and sneak down the hall to your left where you’ll find two doors -- take the one on the right.”

“Sneaking? You seen how big I am, Boss?”

“Well, you don’t have to sneak if you don’t want to, but you will have to deal with all the robot guards.”

“You never mentioned robot guards before.”

“Oh? Must’ve slipped my mind. Anyway, be careful! I’ll see you soon -- just be careful with it.”

Stew grumbled and kicked in the old, rusty metal door that led to the hallway.