NaNo Day 9 - Word 'o thon!

I love Sundays. The whole morning is reserved for myself and my thoughts. For my coffee too. There are no obligations, deadlines, or laundry to do. I crave this feeling of peace the entire week and treasure it when I have it.

Yesterday I watched my four year old niece for six hours. I love her little smile and curly blonde hair. My brother-in-law also decided to stay for dinner and we had to cook for another person. I was exhausted, but happy to spend some family time together.

And through it all, I met my double-up word count! It took me literally all day, but I did it. That accomplishment still propels me into this beautiful, peaceful Sunday. I wrote for a couple hours this morning, and later I'll be meeting up with a writing buddy to do a virtual write-in. We will write on our stories at the same time and send each other messages of encouragement! I would really like to get my "word buffer" back before the work week starts again and I have to face the possibility of lower days.

I also learned something new today by researching my story and using wiki! A crazy old man in my story named Jenkins has apparently repaired a "section car" for his own private use (it took me like 30 minutes to find the term "section car" btw). In my memory of old westerns, it's one of those pump-action platforms on wheels that old railway workers used to do maintenance on the railways.



But my story needs to be a little more modern, so I turned back to Google! I found some more modern pics and a website that explains more about them. Wiki calls them "section cars," while the little yellow buggy in the pic is called a "speeder."

http://www.subcompactculture.com/2011/12/subcompact-train-culture-speeders.html



So I'll use this little bumble-bee of a car as inspiration for my story and maybe add some "futuristic" aspects to it. Perhaps it hovers right over the rails, instead of being actually attached to it?

EXCERPT #1

Let's do something different for this blog post. Since I'll be writing a lot today, I'll split my word count and excerpts into two parts just for the sake of statistics. Before my writing buddy write-a-thon, I brought my word count up to:   14,256 words. Here is an excerpt from that:

========

                “There she is! In’t she a beaut? Restored her meself and all.”

                “Yes Mr. Jenkins, she’s…uh…its lovely.” Shiri pointed at the lifeless machine with uncertainty. “Um, what is this thing exactly?”

The old man unlatched the door handle and sat inside the small compartment. He sat back and smiled at the two inquisitive minds outside the door.

“This here’s my own travel car. After the Mayor shut down me priv’ledges, I went a hunting in these abandoned main’tence tunnels for a cart to fix up for meself. Aye and then I found this old motorbuggy.”

His palms slid over the steering wheel and his feet jiggled the pedals below. “For a while I used it to search these underground tunnels in the nights. Turns out they run right ‘long side the topside tracks and will take us straight to the farmlands without anyone noticin. “

Jenkins jiggled the ignition switch and the refrigerator shook, but nothing else happened. The old man winced and added sheepishly, “Looks like I busted the engine though. Meybe I shoulda slowed down last time.”

“You must have done some crazy stunts to blow the engine of this thing,” Jason laughed.  

It was never a dull moment with that old man around.  Jason squatted to look at the wheels and axle system – the energy modulator that powered the had been jostled out of its casing, but the connections were still good.

“Usually on these types of machines there is also an manual override...” Jason quickly walked to the back of the vehicle, and ran his hands along the exterior until he found a panel. “Here it is. Now…yep…it’s an old type of circuit board that uses semi-electrical pulses to…”Jason started fiddling with the wires and forgot to finish his sentence.

                Jenkins stuck his head out the side passenger window and started blabbing. “Don’t bother with that, this technology is as broken as it’s ancient. There’s a manual pump system I installed that will power the wheels with enough muscle. All I need from yeh is yer arms, boy!”

No sooner had the words left Jenkins mouth than a soft hum emanated from the machine. It rumbled to life and the front lamps lit up the tunnel.

                “Nice one!” Shiri exclaimed, grabbing Jason’s shoulder.

Her voice echoed more than she intended, and instinctively her hands flew to cover her mouth. Everyone squatted to the floor. Distant footsteps became hurried and louder. A faded voice rang hollow in the tunnels, “Oi! Anyone in here that’s not supposed to be?”

The crazed look on Jenkins face combined with is flapping arms told them to get inside. Shiri mouthed a silent "sorry" . Once onboard, Jenkins slammed his foot into the energy pedal and the cart lurched forward. The roar of the motor and the old man's hollering almost covered Jason's laughter at the stupidity of such an escape. He put his arm around Shiri to keep himself steady and he could hear her yelps soften into laughter.

With the motor working again, they got to eastern farm plots sooner than Jenkins had predicted. Even though the ride was fast, it was really bumpy. When the car pulled into the darkened subway station, everyone took a moment to stretch and get their stomachs back in the right place. Shiri walked toward the front of the buggy and used the front lamps to search through the assortment of pouches attached to her belt pack. Finding a silver canister, she swiped her thumb over the top. The green light beeped and the pressurized lid popped open.

                “Maybe some water would help your stomach?” she smiled, handing the canister to Jenkins first.

                “Aye. I believe it would lassie.”

The old man took a long drink and then offered it to Jason. The cool water hit his lips and the jiggles started to leave his legs. The canister was about the size of his palm, but could hold enough water for a week. This was another piece of forgotten tech that Jason would love to know more about.

Now that everyone was refreshed, Jenkins continued the tour towards the site of the wreck he described at dinner. He reassured the two young people there were no guards out here at this time. It was safe to turn their flashlights on. Small breezes heightened the smells of herbs and citrus as the group walked gently through the crops.

Out here there was simply open ground and a sea of stars. Dark blue moonlight seemed to reflect off Shiri’s jet-black hair, and her creamy white skin seemed almost luminescent. Every gesture and movement she made held his attention in that moment. She was so different from him.  It was surreal to think that tonight they were so close, and tomorrow she might decide to leave him. For good.

========

EXCERPT #2

After my write-a-thon, I bumped my words up to: 15, 898!!  <--- might be updated throughout the night. So get ready for another brick of story!

========

He flicked the left-middle switch and waiting for the video to start. Slowly images appeared on the screen, but froze a second later like it was stuck between pictures of beverage advertisement and a lady holding a microphone. Shiri reached around his head and smacked it without warning.

“Be careful! This is ancient machinery we’re dealing with.”

“Hey you do it all the time.”

Ironically the monitor groaned back to life and the image continued. There was no sound and the playback was filled with spots. But the pixilated woman looked scared and seemed distracted by something. Suddenly an explosion flashed behind her and the monitor went blank.

                “Wait, there has to be more than that,” Jason demanded. “Maybe it just ran out of power?”

                “Good thing I packed some energy cells and a charging unit,” his sister echoed behind him.

Of course she did. The power charger was about the size of his fist with a small extension cord coiled within. Placing the charger on the ground, he pulled out the extension cord so it could reach up to the monitor’s side panel. The cord’s connector sparked for a moment as it clicked into place and the monitor started to boot up again. Now connected to a power source, Jason could try to see if the monitors controls were online.

Taking his new Digipad out of his pack, he saw that the energy reading was a full 100%. He smiled – this is the first time he could use it in the field! He pointed it directly at the monitor and waited for the automatic sync. After a few moments he had complete control of the monitor’s playback controls and volume settings.

                “We are in business people.” Jason thumbed through the options on his digital display.  “I don’t think I can clear the picture up, but at least now we can hear what that lady was saying.”

Now it was Jenkins turn to get into a viewing position. The old man clung to the metal rongs alongside of the ship and pressed his balding head against Jason’s shoulder. His breath smelled like moldy bread.

With a tap of his finger, Jason started the recording. The sounds cracked and faded in, the strength of the wind blowing out the audio. A woman in a blue jacket and jeweled earrings almost dropped her microphone as she cracked a fake smile.

“We still have no explanation for the chaos in […city name…]. Reports of explosions started coming in from downtown this morning and more alarming events continue to occur.”

She paused as people ran behind her.  “Local residents seem to have conflicting stories about how this all started. Some say the abductions started with last week’s terrorist attack, while recent witnesses have claimed to see whole crowds of people simply ‘vanish.’ None of these reports can be confirmed by the state authorities at this time. Local law enforcement is focused now on search and rescue. From the looks of things down here, they need all the help they can get.”

The anchorwoman paused to touch her earpiece. She was silent and her cheeks seemed pale. A hand entered into the shot and motioned for her to keep talking. She sucked in another breath. “We just, uhm, received an update from our partner station at News 9. Apparently the ATC, Automated Traffic Control system has gone offline. There are reports coming in about extreme vehicle pileups. The roads are out of the city are…being closed. This could spell disaster for…”

A huge explosion shot into the sky behind her. The picture shook and a man behind the camera yelled for everyone to get back to the car. The cloud of fire grew as it plummeted into the sky, it's shape turning...almost humanoid. The top of the flame became the head and smoke billowed out of its open, gaping mouth. The white heat below turned into legs and the beast stepped out on one foot. The ground was crushed under the impact of its foot, sending another burst of flames higher into the sky. The shockwave hit the camera crew, and the audio cracked again with the woman’s scream. The picture turned fuzzy, but Jason could see the fire creature look directly into the camera. An evil grin of pure hatred formed on its lips, fire burning in the pit of its throat. Then the picture froze.

“Did you guys see that?" Jason whispered.

                "Yeah," Shiri said, "that was the worst disaster I've ever seen. Those poor people..."

"No I mean, did you see what was in that explosion?"

" 'In' the explosion? Whatcha mean, m'boy?"    

"I mean...okay, okay,” Jason tried to control his voice. “I will play it back in slow motion.”

Jason fiddled with his Digipad and reversed the video clip until it showed the beginning of the explosion. This time the picture played in slow motion, the voices sounding like mud. Again Jason saw the explosion form into the shape of a beast in great, hideous detail. It turned it his skin cold.

"See?" He asked.

"You mean, uh, the cars nearby? Do you think that started the explosion?" Shiri offered.

"Don't you see that weird fire-creature...thingy?"

That's when they both stopped and stared at him. "The what?"

"Oh my god," Jason quickly pointed to the spot on the monitor. "This thing!"

Shiri frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "All I see is fire and some cars."

Jason didn't want to think he was going crazy. "Jenks, come on, tell me you see what I'm talking about."

The old man looked worried and his brow furrowed as he was mumbling to himself, stroking his chin fuzz.

His mumbling turned to words "Nhmm, nah, nope. I thought I...but no. Must have been a mistake. "

Jason was stumped. He looked back to the screen, half-believing the image would disappear. To his confusion not only was it still there, the image of the fire beast grinned and started to move while the rest of the video stayed frozen.

 Jason gasped. "Shit!" He pulled the plug on the monitor, and it went black.

"What are you doing now?! Jason, what's wrong with you?" Shiri questioned him.

" That fire creature began to move, I swear. Did you guys really not see it?"

Shiri immediately picked up his bag and slid off the metal craft. "Okay I think we have all seen enough for one night. Jason, you’re totally freaking me out and I don't want to be here anymore."

She bent down and picked up the flashlights, only turning off one. "I say it's time to leave. Now."

========

My fingers. Need a break. Time to read instead of write :D