Heeeeerrrreeeee’s Saturday! Or my
alternate title – All Work and No Snippets Make Saturday a Dull Boy! It’s back and up and running on all
cylinders. Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday has returned and to celebrate, we’re
going to turn the clocks back this weekend here in the U.S. to give everyone a
whole extra hour to read some great snippets over at the main site –
SciFiFanSat.blogspot.com . Make sure you stop over and check them out – now expanded
to a new length of fifteen – that’s right, count ‘em – fifteen sentences in
length. All the same great snippet goodness, now with fifty percent more
content. This week I’m re-visiting Annie as she struggles for survival in my
WIP for SFFSat titled STEIN. She’s already been attacked by a hungry horde of
flesh-eating zombies and narrowly escaped with the help of a mysterious
stranger lurking in a nearby garbage dumpster. Here, she’s learning a little
more about her knight in tin foil armor. __________________________________________________
"They call me Stein," he said.
"As in...," Annie asked, hoping he would finish.
"As in I'm a monster."
Annie watched his hand involuntarily brush across the scar running the length of his cheek and neck. His face may have haunted her dreams a few months before but barely caused her to pause in the nightmare world her life had become since.
"You're going to have to work a lot harder than a couple scratches to be a monster in my book, Mr. Stein," Annie said as she touched his shoulder.
"You're not afraid?" The man brushed back the thick black hair covering his face.
Annie was more startled by the pain swirling behind his pale green eyes than the patchwork of flesh on his face.
"You’re not planning on making me a midnight snack, are you?" she asked, half-smiling.
"What?"
"You know, go all brains brains on me."
His laugh sounded like a mix between a gag and a cough and caught him as much by surprise as Annie.
"Well, good, it looks like I made a new friend then," she said. ______________________________________________
"As in...," Annie asked, hoping he would finish.
"As in I'm a monster."
Annie watched his hand involuntarily brush across the scar running the length of his cheek and neck. His face may have haunted her dreams a few months before but barely caused her to pause in the nightmare world her life had become since.
"You're going to have to work a lot harder than a couple scratches to be a monster in my book, Mr. Stein," Annie said as she touched his shoulder.
"You're not afraid?" The man brushed back the thick black hair covering his face.
Annie was more startled by the pain swirling behind his pale green eyes than the patchwork of flesh on his face.
"You’re not planning on making me a midnight snack, are you?" she asked, half-smiling.
"What?"
"You know, go all brains brains on me."
His laugh sounded like a mix between a gag and a cough and caught him as much by surprise as Annie.
"Well, good, it looks like I made a new friend then," she said. ______________________________________________
Stein as in Frakenstein, eh? Well, he probably looks pretty good compared with aggressive zombies. Jarn's here, by the way--don't know why my signup didn't work.
ReplyDeleteThe monster is usually a sympathetic figure - Stein definitely comes into that category. And he's clearly not used to having something to laugh about. Looks like this could be the start of a beautiful friendship... I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.
ReplyDeleteA good start to this relationship, if I may say so. I like the "go brains brains on me" phrase you used. I may just steal...er, *cough cough* borrow that one sometime.
ReplyDeleteExtremely well written snippet, but that touch of heart and humor really brought it home. I couldn't help but smile. Don't you just love when a story makes you do that? I do. :)
ReplyDelete