Enjoy this unedited excerpt from a story I'm writing.
The Constrictor led Thom and some
others to a designated section of the large room. Up on the mega screen
pictures of happy working people scrolled past in an eerily cheerful slideshow.
Thom looked around him, spotting a few familiar faces from around camp; he
didn’t see Kaden anywhere which he supposed was a good thing. Something was
wrong, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this little gathering on getting a
job would end like planned.
Two
gunshots to the sky informed him it was time to start paying attention. The
pictures faded away and Radiator’s shadowy mug replaced them. The knot in
Thom’s stomach tightened as Radiator’s voice surrounded him.
“Welcome,
it seems it’s that time again.” His voice didn’t even sound entirely human. It
was almost as if he was one of the countless AIs he ruled over. “Time for all
the children over the age of fifteen to—“ The screen went black. That wasn’t
supposed to happen.
Nova, I trust you are ready with that thing?
Thom
kept his eyes glued to the screen. Waiting for Radiator to come back and
complain that some stupid drone had tripped over a cord. That had to be why he
was gone.
“Please
let me be wrong.” He whispered. “Please tell me they didn’t.” A burst of static
followed by the appearance of four words confirmed the worst. At first the
crowd was silent, absorbing the message that was left there in blood red.
Consume.
Be Silent. Die.
Then
all hell broke loose.
So there's that.
As an interesting side note, I've noticed that the majority of writers I've met all agree that a lot of the time your characters write for you. Sometimes even when you want them to do one thing they do another. It's odd from a non-writer standpoint I guess, you'd think of all people the author would have most control over a story.
Anywho, that's that post. (You might have noticed I'm trying to be more daily. It's summer. I have time.)
As a writer myself I agree completely - the characters do what they want, and the writer just records it all. Really irritating when you need them to do something and they do another thing entirely, though ever so rarely they awe you with what they decide to do (even if you're just awed by their stupidity).
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