Mid-Week Ramblings: Intro to Jace & some Hobbit Stuff

BAM!
I did it!  I said I would do it and I did!  Well 2013, year of the Fat Unicorn, I think we’re off to a pretty good start!

Farewell 2012!

Well, 2012 is just about over.  It’s been an…interesting year, to say the least.  I can’t speak for everyone because my last 6 months sucked beyond belief, but I know many people that got agents, publishing deals, both or their book came out this year (or will early next year).  So it obviously wasn’t terrible for all of us.  I just hope that for everyone, whether it was a good, bad or mediocre year that 2013 is even better! <3

I’ll spare you all what my resolutions are for the new year, but I will share what some of my writing and blog-related plans-hopeful are.
For starters, I want to start officially switching over from slogging to vlogging.  So you all will get to see my face.  I’m telling you now so you can make preparations, i.e. protective goggles, follow-up eye doctor appointments, smelling salts – that kind of thing.

I’ll also try not to freak out quite as much about scheduling perfection.  Sometimes I get an idea for a post and I spend more time wondering if it should be done on a Wednesday, Saturday or some crazy day in-between than I do actually writing the damn thing.  And more often than not I’ve postponed discussing something until it fit neatly into my schedule only to have forgotten about it later.  So, if I get an idea, I’ll be sharing it with you, whether it adheres to the Wed/Sat posting schedule or not.  ’Cause I’m a rebel that way.

Although 2013 is going to be very much a year of moving forward, trying new things and discovering a new me, I will start off the year with a serious open-letter type apology to a certain group of writers and readers.  I say this so you can a) expect it and b) hold me to it if I forget or get wrapped up in trying to perfect its posting date (see above).

And finally I want to have more fun with my writing and not forget that it’s okay to do so.  I get, and I think many of us do really, so wrapped up in perfection, what will an agent/editor/the market like, is this already done, is this looking outside the box far enough, etc, etc, that I forget, quite often, that it’s MY story and only I can tell it the way I want to, the way I feel it needs to be told, and that’s what my first and only focus should be.  Then all the other stuff can come in to play…maybe.

That’s pretty much it, gang.  I have every intention to enjoy 2013 to its fullest and do it with a huge, genuine smile on my face.  I’m going to do what I want, say what I want and be true to me.  It’s the only way I’m going to be happy with me.  You’re all invited to join me and certainly have my permission to bitch-slap me back into happiness should I ever let things start to weigh me down.

2013 is supposed to be the year of the Snake, I think.  Well, I say balls to that!  I’m declaring 2013 the year of the Fat Unicorn!  That’s right.  It’s happening.  Here’s why being the Year of the Fat Unicorn is amazing and you should embrace it:

Fat Unicorns are amazing and you know it.
Fat Unicorns need your love as much as those snarky skinny ones.
You can abbreviate it to – The Year of F.U.  How cool is that?
‘Fu’ is a chinese word for luck, good fortune or happiness!
I have a one-eyed hamster named Charlotte.  That hasn’t got much to do with fat unicorns but it is pretty cool.  Do YOU know anyone else with a one-eyed hamster?  Yeah, didn’t think so.

Come on guys, let’s show next year who’s boss!
Love you all,
-Jace <3

Mid-Week Ramblings: Meet the Villain!

No recording here for you guys, sorry!  But, I thought you might like to know that I’m over at the Speculative Fiction blog Aliens, Dragons and Wraiths! Oh, my! discussing villains in your writing, how to flesh them out, why it’s important to flesh them out and to possibly even consider when is the best time to introduce them into your plot.  Check it out here: CLICK ME, OH PLEASE CLICK ME!

Saturday Ruminations: Don’t Fight The Block

First off, IT’S DECEMBER!  Which means, Christmas and things.  Seriously, Christmas is my favorite holiday.  I love it more than my own birthday.  I won’t pretend I’ve been updating this here blog with any semblance of regularity so I want to be sure I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and New Year!  Y’know, provided the world doesn’t end in 6 days.  Just sayin’.

Now, onto business.
Writer’s Block.  Oh yeah, we’re talking about it.  A fellow writer and AQCer, R.C. Lewis touched on this topic when she discussed what she called Writer’s Mud, here.  A few months ago I did posts on how to write more by doing other things besides writing and how to write more by reading.  (All links open in a new tab.)  Both posts were more of a precautionary tale, what to do to try and avoid getting slapped with the dreaded block.  Granted, the ‘write more by reading’ post came about because I was experiencing a bit of block, and reading cured it.  This time however, there was no cure.  Nothing to do but wait it out.  And while it sucks, I think by the end of it all, I’ve come out on top and want to share with you guys a few tips and things I noticed.  ’Cause it’s one thing to discuss how to avoid the block or to discuss what to do to try and fight the block, but it’s not often we discuss what to do when NOTHING IS WORKING.

It’s a scary feeling.  You want to write, you even know exactly what you want to write, what story, the scene, the action and dialogue, you’ve been planning it in  your brainpan for weeks, maybe even months!  But nothing’s coming to you.  You try other things, you try reading.  Nothing’s holding your interest.  You try playing a video game, going to the movies, drawing a picture, and while each thing is entertaining for the time you do it, it doesn’t change the fact that when you sit down to write your head is empty.  And now you feel even more frustrated because you tried doing other things and you’re still stuck.

My best suggestion?  First and foremost, don’t allow the frustration to fester!

It’s fine to feel disappointed and maybe even a little angry that you haven’t done any writing in X amount of days, weeks, or even months.  Go ahead and acknowledge that feeling, flail for 3 minutes about how much it sucks and then move on.  Go play some more games, read some more books, take a really long nap, whatevs.  My biggest lesson when fighting this bout of writer’s block was to, well, not fight it.  Just let it happen.  Forcing the words won’t work.  Even if you do manage to squeeze out a few hundred words, you’ll almost always come back to them later and be even more disappointed or upset because you feel like they’re crap.  If it isn’t flowing as naturally, you’re finger tips flying or the pen burning through the paper as you write, then you’re forcing it and I promise, you won’t like the outcome.

My last post at the end of September shared with you guys some of what I was going through as a person and what life was throwing at me.  My depression fueled a writer’s block like no other.  On top that I was, well, depressed!  So even playing video games did little.  I didn’t want to read because it felt like every book I picked up had some romantic angle to it.  You guys wouldn’t believe the amount of time I spent laying in bed a) feeling sorry for myself, b) crying, c) sleeping and d) some hideous monster blend of the three.  It was bad.  I tried to write and it usually ended with me sitting at the desk, staring at the computer screen, watching the icon on the word document blink.  I tried brainstorming and after anywhere from a few frustrating minutes to several agonizing hours, all I wound up with was a headache.  What made it worse was I knew what was supposed to happen next.  I knew what was going to happen in the chapter, scene by scene.  I knew what new concepts and character conflicts I wanted to bring in.  But nothing was coming.

I finally mentioned to a good friend what I was experiencing and how every angle I tried, didn’t seem to work.  He mentioned something completely different I hadn’t considered and I was a little iffy on it.  I wasn’t entirely sure I would be able to get across everything I wanted to if I took that approach.  Well, after another two weeks or so of not really thinking about it at all, I sat down at the computer.  I re-read the last several chapters I wrote, 50-75 pages, just to get my head back into the MC’s head.  I opened a separate notepad, it still felt too ‘official’ to write on the document itself, and tossed around a few opening lines to the new scene.  I didn’t get very far.  I wasn’t completely ready.  Rather than giving up, I took those few lines, copied it to a bit of paper, and wrote in bed later that night.  It flowed a little easier, I could be sloppy with my writing (I usually am without much effort ;P ).  I could scratch things out, make notes in the margins, doodle a lopsided flower while I turned a line over in my head.

By the end of that first night of scribbling, I wrote about 700 words.

My daily goal used to be 1,500 words a day.  I remembered a time when I was felt like I couldn’t stop if I wanted to and was hitting betwen 1.5 and 3k a day.  So to see that 700 wasn’t a grand number, I knew, but damnit it was 700 more words than I had yesterday or the day before that.  It was the first real 700 words I’d written on that WIP in almost 4 months.  So instead of being disappointed I wasn’t immediately back to where I was, I was damn glad of what I managed.  (I will admit that while, overall, NaNo was an embarrassing bust, I did manage to squeeze out about 1.3k on a new WIP, most of which I forced out.  I may wind up rewriting it all, I don’t know, I haven’t looked at it since.)

A few nights ago, I sat down to the WIP again.  I opened up the doc and another notepad and picked up where those 700 words left off.  It was a little rocky at first, I decided to take the route my friend suggested, which wasn’t one I’d at all considered so it took me a bit to really figure out how to go about it.  Once again, I hit a bit of a bump.  This time, trying to describe the temple for one of the dominant polytheistic religions.  I jotted down what notes I had and took the book to bed again.  I did a bit of a brainstorming that night and the next.  When I next I went to the computer I had a bit of a starting point.  I worked on the description of that building, which then made me think about some world-building questions I had in regards to the religion at hand, then I went back to the scene, did some more brainstorming on the various gods and their back stories…when all was said and done, I’d written 2,026 words.  Not only was that way more (almost 3x as much) as my last attempt, it was over my wordcount goal!

And that was all I needed to kick that writer’s block on its ass once and for all (for now, cause it never really goes away).  It wasn’t so much what I’d written, although it felt really good to get work done on that WIP in particular, it was how much I’d manage to write and how happy it made me feel.  Feeling the happy and the confidence that came with it, that made all the difference in the world.

Now, I might hit another block or bump or mud before winter’s over, it’s possible.  But I won’t let it scare me into some permanent sublevel of insecurity and doubt.  I’ll just coast right through it and eventually my muse will stand up and say “Enough!”.  Because we want to create, we want to write and world-build and spin that story, and nothing’s going to keep us from doing that for very long.

<3

Obligatory NaNoWriMo Post

It’s been over a month since my last update, and I did do some work on Slogs in the interim but, well I warned you guys it was going to be a hard month, and it was!  But, some things are looking up.

For one, my sister is out of the hospital and seems to be doing really well.  She’s taking some stuff for her depression and anxiety and it looks to be helping.  We still have to deal with the city and social workers and all that, but at least she’s home.  As for school, I got a letter in the mail letting me know I was accepted to CUNY Lehman college!  It’s literally down the block from my house and I can’t wait to get back in a classroom, I’m a dork that way.  I fully intend to go for my Bachelor’s in English, with a creative writing specialization.  I may even minor in something else, who knows?  I haven’t found a new job, but with going back to school in the Spring, that’s fine.  The doctor’s may have also figured out what’s causing my abdominal pain!  I’ve got a few more tests to do but it’s FINALLY a start in the right direction.  Also, a very dear and close friend of mine gave me an early birthday present by providing for me to take a bit of a vacation in Texas and visit her.  I’m here for another week (provided my flight gets un-canceled).

So, all things considered, things are actually going okay.  It’s not completely easy though as I’m still struggling with depression that comes and goes (and when it comes, it doesn’t hold back).  But I think I’m getting better, bit by bit.  School will certainly help.

You know what else will help?  NaNoWriMo.  That’s right.  I’m going for it this year.  I tried back in 2010 but didn’t get very far.  This year I’ve even joined the site (under the tantalizing name: E.F. Jace) and will attempt to meet other authors and really keep track of my wordcount.

Originally, I intended to use this year’s NaNo as an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and work on one of my MG concepts, but after some brainstorming, it seems my muse is inspired for something else entirely.  I’ll still be wading through unfamiliar territory but not with a MG.  Instead, I’ll be working on a fairy-tale re-telling written not only in 1st person (strange waters for me) but also in present tense (strange, shark-infested waters)!  It’s a story I’d been kicking around for some time and a week or so ago I actually sat down and pumped out a first chapter.  I’m still really excited to work on it and it made little sense to work on this new WIP, try to finish the current WIP and then do something altogether different for NaNo.  So I’ll be working on this re-telling as well as attempting to finish my last few chapters of the current WIP.  I’ll try to update every Friday with a NaNo update, where I’m at, where I should be and how far I’ve got left to go.

It’s hard you guys, but things look like they may be getting better, for which I’m so very thankful.  Now if anyone could just express mail me a real knight in shining armor, I’d be set .

Personal Reveries: Brand, Human, Or Both?

Why, hello there readers.  No, you aren’t seeing things, this is an actual blog post from yours truly.  Truth be told, I debated writing this post.  It’s not specifically about writing or editing or any of my usual topics, it’s actually more of a personal life update.

On one hand there’s the argument that this is my writing name, my persona, my brand.  I’m attempted to build a platform, an audience/fanbase, a network and friends.  There really isn’t any room for personal drama or crap to get mixed up in that.  A) people never really know what to say to it and B) some feel it blurs the lines of work/personal life and dances on the border into TMI-land.

On the other hand, and this may come as a shock to some of you, but I am HUMAN.  Yeah.  Shit happens, dudes.  I can understand and appreciate that people may not always know what to say or have anything to say at all to certain things.  I understand some may only be here for my advice & input on writing and my rants on fat unicorns.  But there’s more to me than that.  Just like we, as aspiring authors, have to remember that agents and editors are in fact human in nature, we have to remember there’s more to us than this concept of ‘branding’ ourselves.

So, yes, at first I had a bit of an internal debate about writing a post regarding what’s been going on with me.  And then it occurred to me, should this really be something that’s debate-worthy?  Do I have to actively decide whether or not I should display aspects of vulnerability or doubt?  There’s this concept of creating a brand as a writer.  Most, if not all, of you writers know what I’m talking about.  But for anyone new to the game, it’s basically building your platform, your image.  Take for example, J.K. Rowling.  Her new adult novel is out and some people can’t untwist their panties about the fact that it’s NOT Harry Potter.  That’s because she (probably unintentionally) created a brand for herself as the Harry Potter-lady.  Wizards, pre-teens growing into adults and defending the world against evil, wands, cauldrons, and the like are synonymous with her name.  At some point fat unicorns is probably going to be synonymous with my name.  I want to be seen as a writer of Dark Fantasy, (all aspects of fantasy, high, urban, maybe even epic) but mostly a writer that can bring to the table a balanced blend of horror and high fantasy.

And also fat unicorns.

But is there more to me than that?  Of course.  Yet no one talks about those things.  Yeah, you’ll see a few tweets about someone’s pet doing something adorable.  Someone else will recount an anecdote of what happened with their friends or family.  All the fun happy times.  Rainbows and cupcakes.  But c’mon people, that’s not life.  And I’m not going to pretend that it is.  You may think its just not how things are done, but I think there’s room for improvement.  E.F. Jace is my brand.  But E.F. Jace is also a person.

Now, in reference to my absence of late.  My last post (before the Bloom chapter) talked about a new job and was generally optimistic about where things were going.  That was August 19th.  On August 21st, my fiance of what would’ve been 8 years this October, broke up with me.  And man did that throw EVERYTHING out of whack.  I was so depressed I had to quit my new job, I couldn’t focus, almost started bawling on the phone with a customer, it just wasn’t professional.  There’s been a lot of back and forth between he & I and those details I will spare you because that, I think, would be crossing into TMI-land, but suffice it to say it’s going to be a long road and I’m still depressed.  I’m not talking cry into a bowl of ice cream and watch sappy romance movies depressed, I’m talking laying in bed completely cool with the notion of never waking up again.  That’s a tough thing to deal with, even tougher to put out there.  But you know what?  Pretending everything is okay when it isn’t, just makes it harder.  I’m getting better, but like I said, it’s a long, uphill road.  I’ve never been completely confident in myself in any aspect and recent events certainly haven’t helped.

Tack onto all that the fact that I can’t seem to find another job, my school application got jacked by some blip in communications that I have to try and fix this Monday but it’s possible I won’t make the Spring Semester and one of my Little Sisters is in the hospital (ironically, for depression and anxiety).  Not to mention my physical health issues, like constant migraines and mysterious abdominal pain.  It’s a mess!  I’m emotionally and physically fatigued.

It’s been a month since my life was turned upside down.  All of my plans for the future and who I intended to spend them with were completely crossed out with a red pen.  As some of you that follow me on Twitter may/may not know, I was looking at wedding dresses the week before everything went down, we even had a date picked out.  So now, I’m feeling a little lost.  It’s taken me even this long to convince myself that I AM worth focusing on and moving forward.  I may not be able to find work, and school is looking sketchy, but I still have my writing.  ”Make good art” and all that, right?  I’m trying to move forward and I guess I just need a little confirmation that I’m not completely worthless.  I need it, I do, and I’m not afraid to admit it.  BAM, vulnerability and doubt.

Well, there’s that.  October is going to be a rough month guys.  The 15th is what would’ve been the 8th anniversary and I had SO MANY plans for that month, all of which are down the crapper.  I’m going to try to get back on track with my blogging and my slogging as well as my writing and editing.  I understand if you don’t know what to say or don’t have anything to say.  I apologize if this entire post has made you squirm in uncomfortability.  But, hey, I’m human and as a person I’m reaching out for a little emotional support here.  I’m not looking for miracles or even answers, just a few support beams if you’re willing.

<3

Bloom: Chapter 13

Hey guys!  Taking a brief break from my hiatus (you can check my Twitter to find out why I’m on hiatus) to post my contribution to the Bloom Blogvel.  The Blogvel is a project started by Michelle Simkins, in which she writes a chapter and then a bunch of us writers each present a chapter to follow with Michelle tying it all up with a final chapter.  You can find the table of contents here.  The first few chapters are linked to directly and then there are only links to the blog of the contributing author.  In some cases the Bloom chapter is the most recent entry, in others you may have to scroll down a bit, but don’t worry, they’re all clearly labeled.

If you’ve been following along I have to say I really do like the Evil-Wanda personality that was introduced early on and I decided to develop on that while hopefully bringing in a few of the threads that were mentioned earlier.  Also, I’ve never written in first-person present and the first chapter or so was, so I thought this would be a good chance to give it a shot, hopefully I don’t screw it up.  Chapter 14 will be posted at Jack-A-Dreams.

Well…ENJOY!

BLOOM

CHAPTER 13

I can’t think of a word to describe what’s happening before me.  Carnage, mayhem, bedlam, they all came close but miss something.  There’s a certain level of…beauty to it.  I chuckle at the thought and then wince at the pain it sends through my side.  I mean, think about it, we’re fighting plants.  Golden, camouflaging plant monsters my job-turned-boyfriend created.  Not to mention the plant monsters that were once people.

That thought sobers me.

I shift in my seat and my shirt remains plastered by my blood to the cuts around my waist and stomach.  Is the infection seeping through my bloodstream?  Or did my clothing act as a filter?  So far from a lab, there’s no way to test.  I clench my teeth.  I knew the risks, I read the fine print.  Of course, at the time, I didn’t really think it was possible.  And there was that sky-high salary to consider…

The closed windows of the car dampen the sounds of screaming, metal clinking and that god-awful squelch they make as they feed.

“…Wanda?”

The sound of my name jerks my gaze from the scene ahead to the person at my left.  Jessica is sitting with her shoulders hunched and her grip tight on the steering wheel.  She looks exhausted.  The rush of spraying weed killer and taking down monsters like the heroine of some bad sci-fi movie was undoubtedly wearing off.  “What are we going to do?”

The thought crosses my mind that I could toss the teen and keep it moving.  Jamie wouldn’t appreciate it too much but hell, he’s not going to like me by the end of this either way.  That fine print was very specific in what could happen if I don’t do what is expected of me.  A shame, I really like him.  I push away the thought of sacrificing Jessica for now; I need someone to drive the damn car.

“Well we can’t do much by gawking from here.  Try to pull in as close as you can—slowly.  I don’t want to get their attention.”

She nods and gets the car moving with shaky fingers.

Where are Jamie and Jane?  Somehow, in the chaos, we got separated.  Is he still with his mother or did he go off to find his father?  Why the hell did the Henley parents have to show up?  One Henley-love interest and one Henley ex-plant is enough for me, thank you.

It’s not long before the build up of cars, body parts, plant sludge and some sickening mix of the two prevent us from going any further.

“I think we’re going to have to get out,” Jessica says in a quiet voice.

No shit, Sherlock.  I undo my seatbelt and open the door.  I let the pain the movement causes overcome my want to slap the teen.  I need to find Jamie and then I need to get the hell out of here.  All those zeros on my paycheck mean squat if I don’t live to spend them.

“Check our supplies,” I tell Jessica.  A good thing too, as soon as the words leave my mouth I feel a dull tingle on my hip.  At first I think my leg’s gone dumb and my mind spirals in a panic toward thoughts of infection.  Then I realize it’s my phone vibrating.  I swallow my moment of fear with a bit of relief and retrieve it.  But the moment I see the number on the screen that relief quickly turns to solid dread and drops to my heels.

My employer.

I steal a quick glance at Jessica.  She’s still fumbling with the canisters, testing their weight.  I duck down below the windows and answer the call.  “Yes, sir?”

“You want to explain what the hell is going on there?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t.  Just don’t.  We’ve got enough of a headache trying to spin this into some movie animatronics gone wrong on one end while subduing any footage that leaks out on the other.  We want you out of there.”

No problem with that.  “What about the town?”

“That’s not your concern.  You’re a scientist, Miss. Thompson.  Secure the data and get out of there.”

My brow twists, “…The ‘data’, sir?”

“James Henley, we want him brought back.”

Shit.  After all this, with all the information Jane probably blabbed, there is no way Jamie would go back to work on this.  Not for TS Labs at least.  Genius yes, but the man was sadly lacking in the ‘Evil’.  To be honest, a part of me doesn’t want to drag him back into it either.  He almost lost his sister, possibly his Grandmother, who knows where his father is?  And, well…he wasn’t too bad on the eyes, either.

“There isn’t a problem, is there Miss Thompson?”

“It’s just…in all this chaos, it’s a little hard to find Jamie.  We have all of his notes, couldn’t we just adjust another—“

“No.  The adjustment created the interest, but it was his mind that created the formulas which made all this possible.  We need him.  Are you going to deliver?”

I squeeze the phone in my hand, hoping to crush it and end this conversation.  Unfortunately, no Hulk smash for me.  Not even a merciful signal interruption.

“Wanda!”  Jessica’s panicked voice rings out as she realizes I’m ‘gone’.

“Miss. Thompson?”

“Wanda, where are you?”

“Is this going to be a problem?”

I shut my eyes.  I knew the job, I knew the risks.  I was supposed to watch Jamie, keep him on task, push him in certain directions.  But he managed to keep his unauthorized experiments away from me and there was no way the Director would overlook that fact.  It’s bad enough his parents are AWOL.  The parameters of my job are very clear; everything else has been a bonus.  I open my eyes with a deep breath, “No, Sir.  There’s no problem.  I’ll bring him in.”

“Wise choice, Miss. Thompson.”

A thought.  I’m going to lose Jamie no matter what I do, even if he does live through this, he’ll never forgive me.  There is, however, a chance for me to remain in the good graces of TS Labs.  “Sir?  There’s been an unexpected development.”

“You mean besides the evil plants devouring an entire town?”

I roll my eyes and manage to contain the sigh that builds up; I had that one coming.  “It’s the Henley daughter, Jessica.”

“What of her?”

“She was infected and Jamie bled it out, but there’s been some residual effects.  For one, she can actually hear what the things are thinking.”

There’s a pause on the other end as he takes in the information.  “Some sort of latent link between her and the things?”

“Possibly, I haven’t had the time or opportunity to fully test it.”

Jessica apparently remembers the car has another side and dashes around the hood.  She sees me crouching down and I can tell by the look on her face her first thought is that I’m more hurt than she realized.  Then she sees the phone in my hand and all concern for my well-being evaporates.

Not that I can blame her.

“Bring her in,” the Director orders before hanging up.

Jessica drops to her knees beside me, “Is it Jamie?  Or Mom?  Are they alright?  Where are they?  Have they found dad or-or Gran?”

I put up my hand and squint as though I’m trying hard to hear someone on the other line.  “What?  No, I’m losing you, I can’t—Jamie?  Jamie!”  I call his name a few more times while my thumb slides over the power button and holds it.  From the corner of my eye I see the screen light up as it powers down and I move the phone from my ear with a dejected sigh, holding it up for Jessica to see.

She buys it and her shoulders slump, “Did you get any idea of where they are?”

“No,” I say as I push to my feet, “I only just picked up the call, it kept going in and out.  Say, can you still hear the things?”

She stands and shifts her weight, like she doesn’t want to re-admit the insane.

“Come on, kid, we haven’t got time for this!  If you can hear them then we can avoid them while looking for Jamie!”

“It’s all so muddled and-and crazy.  I can’t make sense of it.  They just want to eat and keep eating and reproduce, I don’t think they have any real plans beyond that.”

“Okay, so basic levels of cognitive thought that don’t extend past self-preservation, that’s good.”

“It is?”

“That means we don’t have giant people-eating plants that are also bent on world domination.  That’s good in my book.”  I look around her.  The creatures are following the road, veering off only long enough to chase down any stragglers.  They don’t seem to be in any rush.  The main street of the town isn’t too far off.  We might be able to—

“Wanda, look out!”

I turn in time to see a lash of vines and leaves whip at my head, but not in time to dodge them.  Dozens and dozens of tiny cuts split open across my face.  I recoil toward the car, dropping my phone and putting my hand to my eyes.  As I wipe them frantically in an attempt to keep the blood out, I stumble in Jessica’s direction.  I can hear the desperate pumping and spraying of the weed killer.  My vision clear, I stand behind Jessica and look toward my attacker.

Violet.

I’d wondered where she disappeared off to.  Well, not really, but maybe I should have.  Where there was Violet, there was also… “Tank!”  I grab Jessica by her shoulders and pull her back just as the massive tree comes bounding off the side of the road and toward us.  It crashes into the debris of cars that litter the path but they do little to stop him.  He turns toward Violet, maybe to check on her?  Don’t know, don’t care.

“We can’t stand here and spray this crap at them all night!”  I snatch the canister from Jessica and undo its nozzle.  While Tank is tending to Violet, I empty the contents onto the ground in front of us.

Jessica stares wide-eyed, “What are you doing!”

“This is low-grade stuff, they’ll adapt to it quickly and then what?  We can’t kill them but we can slow them down while we,” I toss the empty canister to the ground, the edges of the liquid have reached Tanks feet-roots, and grab Jessican’s wrist, “run!”

I lead her through and around the vehicles, trying hard to ignore the pain.  We jump over bodies, whole and in parts, duck under lashing vines and hurled home-made Molotovs, all the while keeping an eye out for Jamie or Jane.  How the hell did they get so far so fast?  I steal a glance behind me to see Tank is still determined to make a meal out of us, or maybe just drag me back to Violet, she seemed to have a thing for Jamie after all.  But the mess and mayhem is slowing him down.  Good.

I look forward again, still searching for Jamie, when Jessica stops short, damn near popping my arm right out of its socket.  I round on her to ask, or really snarl, just what her problem is but her focus isn’t on me.  Instead, she’s staring slack-jawed at a group of plant monsters that are pounding against an RV.

I lean close so that I can whisper, “What is wrong with you?  We need to keep going!”

She just keeps staring at the creatures.  At one in particular.  Is she listening to it?  It doesn’t seem to be attacking but more…supervising.  Can she hear what its orders are?  I open my mouth to ask her but she wriggles her wrist from my grasp and takes a step forward.  In a tiny voice, almost unheard over the destruction around us, she calls out to it.

“…Gran?”

———–

Well, hope that wasn’t too off the wall!  Again, Chapter 14 will be posted at Jack-A-Dreams.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on my contribution!