Happily Never After

by Kirsten Duvall (ed)

  Margret sniffed and pulled the box out of her pocket. She turned it over in her hands, and re-read the inscription. The wind kicked up snowflakes and they sizzled against the dome while she steeled herself. She found the seam where the box met the lid, and tugged.

  She tugged again. It was stuck. Dented and bent so that it couldn’t open, even though the little mirrors didn’t have a scratch.

  Margret slapped a tear from her face and stood, snarling.

  She hurled the box at the dome. It flashed and popped with electricity as sailed right through.

  She heard a gentle tap.

  The billowing snow thinned, and a gnarled hand held the box aloft. Bony fingers curled around it. Then there was a gentle crunch… crunch… crunch of footsteps breaking the snow’s crust.

  The Rumpled Man stood next to his cart on a snowdrift far outside the dome. There was another figure out there. The wind died down, and Margret squinted through her tears.

  It was Lyolee. She was outside the dome. She trudged through the snow toward the barren junkyard. Margret shrieked and ran toward her, stopping short of the electric field.

  “Lyolee?”

  Lyolee staggered to the left, and looked around. Her jaw hung slack, and her sunken eyes didn’t seem to focus on anything. Her breath came in short, quick gasps. Even with the dome between them, her skin looked blue and frostbitten.

  Margret waved her arms and shouted, “Lyolee, don’t!”

  At the sound, Lyolee turned toward Margret and slammed face-first into the barrier. Electric arcs exploded all around her.

  Margret crashed backward onto a pile of rusted grates. Lyolee hit the snow with a soft thump. After a moment or two, only Margret got up.

  She crawled toward her friend, reaching for her, but afraid to go near the dome again.

  Snowflakes sizzled against the barrier, or came to rest on Lyolee’s body without any sound at all.

  Margret whispered her friend’s name. It was all that was left of her.

  Margret locked eyes with the Rumpled Man. The snow whirled around him. He nodded once, and walked into the blizzard, his cart creaking behind him.

  About Setsu Uzume

  Setsu Uzume is a novelist and regular contributor to Art Animal magazine. She co-founded both Write Club Seattle and Write City San Francisco, where new writers can take their first steps toward publication. Setsu has dabbled in many arts, but only martial arts and writing seem to have stuck. She is represented by Larsen-Pomada Literary Agency. For more of her work, please visit KatanaPen.Wordpress.com.

  Beware: Here Be DRAGONS

  by Sara Opalka

  I ran into an abandoned store, slamming the door behind me with a force that almost knocked it off its rusted hinges. I didn’t even have the luxury of taking a second to catch my breath before I was scrambling through the maze of overturned shelves and hazardous soup cans littering the floor. Behind me, the front door was blown apart with a deafening bang that lifted me off my feet and threw me to the ground. I had run out of time.

  The DRAGONS were here.

  A person who lived before the fall of the old government would have scoffed if they heard that dragons were chasing me. But I knew better. I wasn’t facing an oversized green lizard with a persuasion towards kidnapping princesses and duelling with knights. I was facing DRAGONS.

  Destructive Reconnaissance Artificial Grade Omnipresent Nocturnal Seekers.

  The only thing the two had in common was that the crazy person who invented those scary robots had gone to a lot of trouble to come up with a viable acronym.

  Oh, and they breathed fire as well.

  In my world, the new world, no one wanted to be trapped anywhere with DRAGONS. They were surprisingly deceptive. They looked like floating metal spheres to the naked eye. I don’t think anyone besides their creator had ever gotten close enough to one to see its flamethrower or laser section. I didn’t give them a chance to use them; I was up and out of the back door before they could complete a scan of the store.

  I ran down the alleyway, practically throwing my exhausted body over the wire fence at the end. I heard another bang from behind me; it was most likely the back door being blown to smithereens. I didn’t look back, just kept running.

  I emerged onto a street, littered with the hollow shells of cars. I sneaked a peek behind me to see that the DRAGONS had just rounded the corner but were being slowed down by their scanners. I had a few things working in my favour. The DRAGONS were machines, which meant they were precise. They didn’t work on adrenaline like I was, they first had to examine their surroundings and determine the best course of action. The other thing in my favour was the reason behind the N in their name. They were solar powered and spent all day charging so they could hunt through the night. And I could see the first rays of sunlight seeping over the horizon. They would be nearly out of juice. Never had I been more grateful to see a sunrise.

  I ducked behind one of the rusted cars and peered out through a broken window. The DRAGONS were giving up their pursuit and leaving. I was safe.

  I slumped to the ground, too exhausted to do a victory dance.

  “Impressive,” said a voice to my right.

  I jumped so high in the air; I was surprised I wasn’t sucked into the sun. I shakily pulled out my hunting knife, brandishing it in front of me.

  A guy was sitting next to me, with chestnut brown hair and green eyes. He had an easy smile and raised eyebrows. A black and white border collie sat beside him, it wagged its bushy tail and woofed quietly at me.

  I let out a breath. “If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with. I’ve stopped caring at this point.”

  His grin widened. “Killing you requires effort. I could have just let the DRAGONS have you.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  He winked. “Anytime.”

  I got to my feet, my muscles protesting. “Nice chatting with you, but you know, places to go, people to see.”

  His grin faded as he jumped to his feet, “Hey, wait. I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Jason by the way.”

  He held out his hand for me to shake, but I ignored him and started walking away. “That’s nice.”

  “Come on.” He was suddenly beside me, his long legs easily keeping up. “I know we just met and all but I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner with me sometime?”

  That threw me. I stopped and raised an eyebrow at him, “Are you serious? A date? Have you seen the world lately? There aren’t restaurants anymore! Last week I ate food from a trash bin and I never thought I would say this, but I don’t think you can compete with that.”

  I started walking again and this time he didn’t follow.

  “At least tell me your name!”

  I gave him one last look before I turned a street corner. “I’m sorry but my mother told me not to talk to strangers.”

  I couldn't help but notice that he was grinning despite my coldness toward him.

  oo00oo

  That afternoon, I woke from an unrestful sleep. I was holed up in the attic of an old house. The occupants were long gone and it was one of the many hideouts I stored supplies in. I couldn’t stop thinking about the DRAGONS.

  Ok, maybe not just the DRAGONS. That guy was just so… confident. I had just been running for my life, was exhausted, bleeding and bruised, sweaty and my hair was practically in dreadlocks and he had asked be out on a DATE. Who does that?

  I ran my fingers through my long auburn hair, not surprised at its poor condition. God, I needed a shower. And a fresh change of clothes. And while I’m at, a time machine would be nice. That way I could go back before the world went to hell. Before a crazy guy with a huge bank account, innumerable destructive weapons and way too much overcompensation had decided that world domination was his destiny.

  And did I mention this lunatic happened to be in love with me?

  That’s right, little old me was the object of this crazy guy’s delusions.

  I’ll be the first to admit I wasn�
�t the best person, back before. I was a “daddy’s little princess” type, waited on hand and foot. My father owned a lot of companies, I never really paid attention to what they were, just the fact that they made him, and therefore me, a lot of money. I used to model in my spare time; all the big brands wanted me. That was before I had a scar running down my face from my eyebrow to my lips. The blade of my attacker had just missed my eye. I now kept my hair down all the time, and I was no longer anybody’s princess. I had learnt very quickly, that in this world the only person I could rely on was me.

  I unpacked my supply bag, mentally taking stock of what was left. Three cans of unidentifiable food, it was a lucky dip when the labels peeled off, two bottles of water, a flashlight, batteries, a Swiss army knife, clothes, aspirin, bandages, a can opener, matches, a pen and some protein bars. I was going to need to find some more supplies soon.

  Now normally I don’t condone stealing, but when the apocalypse has been and gone and what’s left is not enough for those who survived, it’s a necessity. I’ve robbed more people than I can count, but I always made sure I wasn’t taking from those who desperately needed it. I guess I was kind of like Robin Hood, in a way, except I only gave to myself.

  I packed up my gear and left the house, it was time to leave town. The DRAGONS were getting too close for me to remain here any longer. It wasn’t them I was afraid of, but their master. That crazy lunatic who was stalking me? His name is Lucas and he invented them to find me.

  And bring me back to him.

  Like hell that was going to happen.

  oo00oo

  Before I left town, I stopped at what used to be a computer warehouse. There was this older guy who lived there, his name was Malcolm, but I always thought of him as a wizard with technology. I was hoping he might know something about DRAGONS weaknesses, if they even had any. Before the world went crazy, Malcolm was one of those live-in-his-mother’s-basement type of guys, who played World of Warcraft every waking minute and knew more about computers than the guy who invented them. He was a bit scatterbrained and didn’t interact with people as well as he did with machines. I heard from another survivor that if anyone could find a way to defeat the DRAGONS, it would be him.

  I entered the back of the store, knowing that the front was boarded up. I did a secret knock on the door, it was something from a popular movie but I could never remember which one. I heard the rattle and scraping of more than a necessary amount of locks being undone before the door was opened an inch and Malcolm poked his head out.

  “Gwen? Is that you? What are you doing here?”

  I rolled my eyes, “Do you also remember how you told me to come see you about the DRAGONS?”

  Malcolm pondered that for a moment, using a dirty fingernail to scratch his balding head, “It does sound like something I might say. Well, come on in then, before someone sees you.”

  I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes again, I always forgot how much Malcolm was able to get on my nerves.

  I walked into Malcolm’s workshop, ignoring the echo of Malcolm scraping and rattling the locks back into place. As usual, there were wires, pieces of hardware and scraps of unidentifiable metal on every available surface. Malcolm once claimed that he had it “in an order” but it was obviously not one known to man. I heard Malcolm mumbling to himself as he walked past me and made his way to a work bench in the centre of the room. I approached it, thinking that the round metal object on the bench looked familiar.

  “Damn Malcolm!” I yelled when I recognised it, hurriedly booking it back out of the room. “You brought a damn DRAGON in here?”

  He shook his head at me as if I were five years old. “It’s deactivated. Harmless.”

  “You wouldn’t think it was so harmless if you had seen one in action,” I muttered. I took a deep breath and slowly approached the robot, half expecting it to wake up from its mechanical slumber and decide to attack me.

  Malcolm ignored me and went back to examining its insides. I could see half of the outer shell had been gutted and was lying all over the bench.

  “Where did you get one?” I asked.

  “Some guy brought it in to me, said he brought it down with a high powered rifle and some clever timing,” Malcolm replied, pulling more of the wires out of the dead machine.

  I whistled. That guy must have been pretty good. The little death machines were notoriously hard to take out. It was far easier to run away and live to fight another day.

  “So what have you found out about it?”

  “Less than I would have if some people didn’t stop asking me stupid questions,” Malcolm said.

  I gave him a death glare but he didn’t notice. He never did. I watched for a few more minutes as Malcolm examined a certain component or wrote down notes in a ragged notebook. After what seemed like a thousand years, Malcolm finally remembered I was there and looked up from his work. “These are very sophisticated. The chip inside them is next generation technology, definitely not something you could buy from any old store. They are programmed with very few directives, but they are almost impossible to sway from them. Lucas is one very smart, very crazy guy.”

  “But do they have any weaknesses?” I asked impatiently.

  “Aside from their need to recharge their solar batteries every day? None that I’ve found yet. But I only got this two days ago, I need more time to work on it.”

  I huffed, “I might not have two days, Malcolm! Lucas wants me and you know how obsessive he can be.”

  Malcolm pulled off his glasses to wipe them on his stained shirt. “I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m not a miracle worker. I can’t conjure up a magical solution. The best I can do for you is give you a low grade frequency disrupter that might mess with their scanners long enough to give you a chance to get away.”

  I sighed. It was better than nothing.

  “Thanks, Malcolm.”

  oo00oo

  Dusk was beginning to darken the sky, and I knew it was time to find a place to hide out. I was about five hours out of town and pretty sure the DRAGONS wouldn’t be able to find me easily. My feet were sore, and I hadn’t stopped to rest for fear of losing daylight. I needed sleep, but was too keyed up to be able to settle down enough for that. I got off the highway and turned into a farm I spotted from the road. It was set back far enough to not be easily visible and was only surrounded by farmland, dead earth and weeds. I made it to the main house before the sun had completely set and checked the house for occupants. When I was sure it was clear I bedded down in the large rust coloured barn at the back of the property. I noticed a few horses in the paddock that were able to survive on the leftover vegetation and creek running through the property. I guess they didn’t want to stray too far from home.

  I found some blankets in the cellar of the house, and along with some jars of dried vegetables and some salted meats, was able to have what I considered in the new world to be a feast. I curled up in my blankets but knew I would not be sleeping; I had to be vigilant tonight.

  A loud snap brought me out of my thoughts, and I scrambled to my feet, knees shaking, and knife at the ready. If the DRAGONS had found me, they would not be taking me alive. I was getting tired of running.

  I silently padded to the barn doors and opened one, wincing when it squeaked so loud there was no way someone could not have heard. I couldn’t see anything in the darkness, not even the tell-tale red beams of the DRAGONS’ scanners.

  A black and white dog emerged from the darkness and ran up to me, tongue out, tail wagging. I was too stunned to react at first, His owner, Jason, materialised a moment later, grinning like the cat that got the cream.

  “What do you want?” I asked, clutching my knife as if it were a shield.

  “Whoa there,” he said putting his hands out as if he were approaching a wild animal. “I’m not going to hurt you; we were just passing through and thought we would stay at this place tonight.”

  “We?” I asked.

  “Yeah, me and Jasper,�
� he said, nodding at the dog who was sniffing me curiously.

  “Oh,” I said, “Well, you can’t stay here.”

  “Come on,” he said with a cocky smile, stalking closer, “Please? Just for one night.”

  “No,” I replied, taking a step back, “You need to leave.”

  I heard myself saying the words but my heart was beating loudly and my breaths were quick. Jason continued inching forward and I kept going back until I hit the barn wall. Crap! I thought, where’s the door?

  “It’s ok,” Jason said, “Do you want to put down the knife?”

  “No,” I replied shakily. Jason was a foot away, I could see into his deep emerald green eyes. He had a strong jaw and his hair was shaggy and a little long.

  He smiled at my continued stubbornness, “Ok then, but I bet your arm’s gonna get sore pretty soon.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Sure.” He said, clearly not believing me. “I guess if that’s the way you feel, we’ll get going.” He whistled for his dog.

  I should have been happy he was leaving but a part of me wanted him to stay. I’ll admit it, I was lonely. I hadn’t really spoken to anyone in months; I was always running and leaving town before I could get to know anyone. And, I thought, if the DRAGONS came tonight, there would be someone else to help me against them.

  “Wait,” I said as he turned away.

  Jason turned back around, smiling already. God, my insides were melting from that smile. Why did he have to be so good looking on top of it all?

  I looked anywhere but at him, “I guess there’s enough room in the barn for both of us. And your dog.” I tried not to let him see the heat creeping into my face.

  “Thanks,” he said and I followed him into the barn, wondering if I had made a mistake.

  oo00oo

  I settled down in my corner of the barn, once again wrapped in my blankets. But this time my hunting knife lay in easy reach. Jason had unpacked his sleeping gear in the opposite corner and Jasper was busy sniffing every inch of the building.