Short Story and Drink That Book Updates!

Hello fellow nerds and geeks! And Neeks! If you're just joining this blog congrats! Sadly I'm not the writer who hovels away in the darkest corner of the coffee shop clacking away muttering that I don't need friends (because I don't have any. Except crickets that live in the corner). No, I'm sickeningly social. Like...REALLY social. Like, if you think I talk a lot on this blog, you should meet me in real life.

The point is, I've been super super gogogogogooooo all week long and as of last night it was the first time i'd been in my bed at a decent hour of 2 am. Yeah. Yeeeeaaaaaahhh.....So that means that my tiny little writer brain just can't cope with making a long in depth, thoughtful, deep, meaningful blog post. I'm sorry. I just....can't. I can't even figure out how to make pancakes with pancake mix right now. Or which way to read a comic. Is left to right, or right to left???

So to appease you all from murdering me and roasting me over a luau fire, I'm leaving you a short story I'm working on! So I hope you enjoy it! Because I'm not going to lie, I've been having a LOT of fun writing it so far!

ALSO: ANNOUNCEMENT!

DRINK THAT BOOK (my youtube booktube review vlog) finally has a book and a bartender! So here's the info:

On The Bar Shelf: FANGIRL by RAINBOW ROWELL

Bartender: The lovely Allison (she said she was putting glitter in the drink guys. Edible glitter!)

Date Airing: August 31st (that's a Monday, folks!)

And there you have it! And now, for an exert from my short story! ENJOY! And have a great weekend! I know I will what with the writing and the reading and the filming...oye vey....

BROWN SKIES 

By: Katie Masters 

        Sometimes I want to burn the entire city to the ground. All it would take was a simple flick of my cigarette and the whole place would become nothing but a pile of ashes. And even if I did, I wouldn't get in trouble for it. I'd probably be given a medal or something for getting rid of a place that was so corrupt and polluted. I took a drag from my cigarette and exhaled the smoke. It hung white against the brown sky for a moment, framing the tall hazy buildings in the distance before adding to the pollution. I hated this place.

     “Hey Ess, we're gonna be late.”

     “Says who?”
     “Says the clock and a lecture from Master Graller. Besides, you know it's not good to be out here too long without a mask.”

     “Yeah, yeah...”
      For a moment I considered tossing my cig in the bushes. It'd be so easy. No one would know it was me. No one would be alive to--
      “Let's move Ess!”

       I snuffed the cigarette out onto the metal plate encircling my forearm before tugging down my goggles and pulling up the black bandana over my mouth. The scratchy fabric itched like hell, but it meant the filter was still working. Still keeping the pollution out of my lungs. Not that it mattered. Nothing lived very long anymore—especially humans.

      “Is Ess okay?”
       Talking like I couldn't hear him. Pudge—a fun nickname me and Jin had made up for the new recruit—was a crappy piece of work. I don't know what backwater person birthed him or where, but he was literally the stupidest person I'd ever met. Couldn't keep his details straight. Couldn't figure out social cues or learn to keep comments to himself. He was leaning out the window with his goggles off, staring at the faraway city. I guess to a newbie like him, it looked impressive. But me 'n Jin knew better. We knew what was in that city. Jin shot me a look as we hopped into our recon jeep, were Pudge was waiting in the back.

       “She's fine. She's in a good mood today, can't you tell?”

        “A good mood? But--”

        Jin didn't let him finish his sentence. He revved the engine before gunning the car. It jostled and groaned under the undulating, heaving concrete road. But I didn't worry. The tires could run over a thousand nails before blowing up. I loved this jeep. We'd named it Nelly. The road home was a bumpy one, and above me through my green tinted goggles I could see dark gray clouds starting to roil through the brown sky. It was going to rain. Shit.

       “Jin--”
      “I see them. We'll make it.”

       Make it? I checked the clouds again. If we did, it was going to be a close one. A deep pothole in the ground caused Nelly to bounce roughly before fishtailing for one thrilling second. Pudge gripped my arm with a meaty hand and it took all I had to keep from punching him. I gritted my teeth together. I hated taking new recruits out. They always made everything harder and slower. But Pudge made it freaking impossible. He'd cried when we shot a Glower. Who cries when you shoot a goddamn Glower?
        I heard the low, menacing roll of thunder. Like metal hitting metal. Every muscle in my body tensed. The storm was almost on us. I glanced back, the wind whipping my hair in front of me like red streams of blood and framing the orange lightening striking the ground. Shit.
       “Jin, it's thirty clicks away!”
      “I know, I know! Hold on!”
        He veered off the road and into the dry, waist high grasslands. Behind us we could hear the lightening getting closer. I pried Pudge's hand off my arm and stood up, gripping onto the front seat while I adjusted my goggles with my free hand. I toggled the button on top, and the familiar green lines of scope entered my vision, neon green numbers and dashes blinking at me rapid fire. Jin was wrong, we weren't going to beat this storm.

        My scope zeroed in. A few thousand feet away was a massive rock formation with a cave, due North-West. I pointed in the direction and Jin spun the wheel, sending Nelly jostling over a small out crop of rocks hidden by the brush. My knees nearly gave out as we teetered sideways and then landed hard on the rocky ground again. Pudge had pulled his filter off, looking green. Or maybe that was just my goggles.

        “Idiot! Keep the filter on!”

         I yanked it back up over his mouth then hissed as a raindrop landed on my naked hand, burning it. What sounded like bullets began pelting our jeep. Goddamn rain.
        “Hang on every one!”

        Jin gunned Nelly as fast as she would go. I winced as a raindrop landed on my face, burning into my flesh. I couldn't go out like this. Not like this. Nelly's tires bounced over one more hidden outcrop of rocks and then we were careening and sliding into the safety the cave, dust and white smoke rising from where the rain had burned through the metal. Outside the rain slammed down, destroying the tall grass in a matter of seconds.

        I yanked my goggles off, flinging myself back into the seat. That was close. Too close. Jin had taken his goggles off as well, his slanted eyes making half moons as he laughed. I laughed back. Only Pudge cried. The loser.

      “Wait till we tell everyone we outran the rain!”

        Jin gave a whoop, his victory cry muffled by the bandana. We hopped out of the jeep, assessing it. Minor holes, but the tires were fine and the engine unhurt. I went to tell Pudge to get out of the car when I saw it. The familiar yellow light of a Glower. It was ambling towards us, blurry and swaying in the rain like a mirage. Jin was already handing me a gun. Pudge cried harder in the car. I almost made him take my gun to shoot it, just so he'd stop being such a baby.

        “Hang on.”
        I put my clip in and slipped my goggles on. I couldn't waste the ammo on wild firing. And anyways, the rain might melt the bullet before it reached the Glower. We waited, our breaths and Pudge's whimpers the only sound in the cave. I tapped my goggles to get a better view, then wished I hadn't. The Glower was melting—that was why it was glowing so brightly. It's flesh was hanging off of its arms and legs in ribbons, blood streaking down them. Its bones glowed yellow beneath its rotting flesh. I nearly gagged. I wanted to shoot it before it got any closer, but Jin put a steadying arm on mine.

       “Wait. Maybe the rain'll stop it.”

It didn't. The rain melted the hair and flesh right off the body like it was pudding, and the glowing mass bones and muscles was still getting closer. It was enough. I raised my gun and took aim, shooting the head. It dropped immediately, its body still faintly glowing.

       “Damn, you have good aim.”

        I whirled around, gun drawn as an unfamiliar voice spoke up behind me. Jin was next to me, his pole-tazer out and clicking. A man was sitting on a rock ledge behind the car, half his face hidden in shadows.