Wednesday has come around again and I’m happy to present this week’s flash fiction.
“Is that a challenge?”
Detective Sloan slapped her hands over ears ringing with the discordant buzz of the creature’s voice and from how hard she’d hit herself. Curling over, she winced.
“Demand. Not challenge,” she muttered not bothering with the comms. Still the thing rolled after she spoke, an oily movement within the blackness suggesting waves tarred by oil.
“Demands can be challenges. Challenge engaged.”
Great. It could hear her even from within the vehicle and with the comes off. Detective Sloan decided not to grab the breathers, but the entire helmet. Slamming it on, she moved to the exit. Better not to be trapped within the crafts confines when she confronted it.
The ramp hissed as air moved between the vehicles compressed compartment and the village beyond.
Detective Sloan’s boots thumped too heavily on the ramp as she marched down and into the village.
Too loudly.
No other sounds carried through the area to cover her movement. She peered around, but the creature, whatever it was, had surrounded her vehicle. She glanced up as the light darkened. It had spread there as well.
Forward then. Which forward didn’t matter.
“Again, I demand in the name of the federation that you withdraw from this area.” She raised her hand as she spoke, pushing first out to point at the creature and then sweeping sideways. Her hand encountered the thing.
Sloan had enough time to glance sideways before the tingling surged over her. A final thought floated through her brain. “Bother.”
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