Caity's World, Epilogue by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Epilogue
The young woman slammed the front door shut, carried in the two paper bags of groceries, and set them on the wooden island in the kitchen. She flicked on the television, and the local news station sprang to life.
" er member of the Human Society was arrested today, bringing the total killed or captured to twenty-seven," said the woman on the box. "Juan Alonso Ruiz was considered to be a mid-level operative in the terrorist organization. Allegedly the director of the Human Society's M-based experiments to turn Changed people into humans again, he is accused of kidnapping, torture, assault, and wrongful imprisonment. He faces life
Caity's World, Part 34 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 34
The freight elevator took them down to the basement this time, and it was a crowded ride: The three centaurs and four wolfmen filled all the available space, and to fit them, one wolfman stood on Steven's back and another laid on the floor between their legs. It was too close, too hot, too smelly, and far too claustrophobic: Caitlyn wanted to escape the moment she was pushed inside.
But the doors did reopen, and the centaurs spilled into a long, narrow basement hallway, the wolfmen bouncing and prancing around them like dogs. Van der Wals and Ellen and her husband were waiting for them under the
Caity's World, Part 33 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 33
Caitlyn walked toward the stadium, the cage rolling along beside her. O'Connell, Hawkins, and Kim-na walked a little ways to her left, but she clung to Steven as though she might collapse without him. The brute tromped along behind them, its oversized mitts dragging in the dust. The night was so quiet that she could hear every leaf and stone her hooves touched and a sickening sizzling noise coming from the glowing cage. She huddled close beside Steven, shying away from the horrors all around her.
The slumped pale silhouette in the cage was nearly motionless, but suddenly it spoke.
Caity's World, Part 32 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 32
She stood outside under the glare of the spotlights, with Steven and Kim-na beside her. A dozen or so resolute-looking Marines brandishing large black weaponry surrounded them, and among the Marines, to her surprise, stood the battered figure of Yuri O'Connell. She was bruised and bandaged, and one of her right legs was bleeding and wrapped in a bandage, but those steel-blue eyes were still as sharp as ever. She had a large pack strapped to her lower half, and carried a rifle far larger than Caitlyn would have expected O'Connell would be able to lift, much less use, but its battle scars revealed its history: O'Connell had killed people t
Caity's World, Part 31 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 31
The humvee rumbled and bumped along the worn dirt road and ground to a halt in the blue-tinged darkness. This road had once been real asphalt, paved and painted, but years of disuse by vanished humans and abuse by unnatural nature had left it as little more than a lumpy dirt two-track. It was difficult to believe the surrounding dense foliage was a mere mile from what had once been a major city. Nothing lived here now, or at least nothing that Caitlyn wanted to encounter.
The front doors of the humvee opened and the two Marines up front got out. One fired several rounds at something dark in the forest, and then they came around behind
Caity's World, Part 30 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 30
Kim-na opened the door of the stairwell, having clumsily worked her way back down two floors worth of spiraling metal steps and six more floors of their cement cousins. She loved heights, but stairs less so. Neither horses nor centaurs did stairs very well. She was more an elevator kind of girl too bad the elevator in this building hadn't worked in years. She squeezed through the second-floor heavy metal door and let it squeal closed and slam behind her.
Grab your backpack, said the silhouetted figure of Camberley, already hovering over the pile where shed dumped her gear. But le
Caity's World, Part 29 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 29
An expectant breeze blew across the rooftop of the library, and the moon shone brightly, three-quarters full and waxing, beside a front of rolling clouds whose edges shimmered in the moonlight. The air felt like rain, and the leaves decorating the landscape began to dance and twirl as the wind picked up.
What do you see? asked Camberley.
Black on black, said Kim-na.
A ghostly finger hovered over her huge goggles, pressing buttons and adjusting dials. Suddenly the goggles made a little whirring noise, and a picture skittered and jumped into view, green-on-black, brilliantly detailed in the s
Caity's World, Part 28 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 28
Caitlyn disengaged from the kiss slowly, and just when Steven thought he was out, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him back in. This was her moment of happiness, and by God she was going to make it last as long as she could.
But eventually she pulled her head back, and he drew a deep breath. ...Wow, he said.
She smiled in reply.
So, uh, I guess that makes us boyfriend and girlfriend then, he said.
She bit her lip, stepped back, and started to lift her shirt up.
He grabbed her shirt. What are you doing!?
What does it look like Im doing?
Caity's World, Part 27 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 27
You knew Caitlyns daddy? said Kim-na, her rifle aimed squarely at the shadowy sliver of a person standing in front of her.
He smiled, his teeth forming a pale crescent-moon shape. I used to be her father, he said in that same soothing, calm baritone voice.
The corrupted figures in the distance turned toward the stadium and solemnly bowed when the clock struck six. The tennis court stopped playing its spirited match and turned quizzically toward the odd procession that was gathering near it. On a platform near the stadium, a disheveled heap of hair and bones, wrapped in a black cloak and sporting fuzzy pu
Caity's World, Part 26 by phantom-inker, literature
Literature
Caity's World, Part 26
It was unnerving to be that high up and to realize that the only thing holding them up was thread, all of it from the soldiers walking around her.
In fact, the whole place was unnerving. The Drider Mobile Command Center everybody called it Drycom was really nothing but a bunch of loose boards and slabs of metal and strips of fabric held together by a dizzying patchwork of spider threads no, no, drider threads, she corrected herself. That was all strange enough by itself, but the fact that the whole base moved once a week to a completely different location in these mountains, well, that was just insane.