JamesSavik

Cut me a break! My auto-incorrect spell checker is a real ballbuster.

scrounging sounds better than looting!

The Long Way Home Zombies don't move fast but, once they sense prey, they don't give up. Jack wasn't sure exactly how they did it: by smell, vision and definitely by sound. Noise will always get their attention. A gun shot would be like ringing a dinner bell for them for miles in every direction. That's why he carried a 32 inch titanium crowbar instead of a rifle. He was careful in his scrounging. He had to be to have been alive this long. He had dispatched over a hundred zombies as he plundered the pantries of the houses on the outskirts of town. Once those were picked clean, he had to go further into town. That was why he had a backpack full of Dinty Moore beef stew and forty zombies chasing him down the long road out of town into the hills. It was easy enough to stay ahead of them at a fast walk. Occasionally one of the fresher ones would get too close and catch a crowbar to the cranium. It was easy enough four hours ago but now, Jack was beginning to sweat- literally and figuratively. Of course he had been chased before. Ones and twos were no problem. A dozen had once followed him out into the woody hills where he had taken them out one by one. But forty? Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap on a crap cracker. As the shadows lengthened, Jack knew he had to make a move. Some kind of move. Sprinting to break away from the pack was out of the question. Hours ago, that would have been his choice. It wasn't anymore. He was too deep in town when this started. Now, he just didn't have the legs for it. If Jack was going to survive this cluster fuck, he was going to have to use every trick in his playbook and, make up a few more along the way. He crested the hill in front of the Johnson's ranch and decided it was time to start. Jack cut toward the wood farm fence and deftly hopped over it. For the zombies, the farm fence proved a difficult challenge. Slow and clumsy on a good day, the zombies tried to go over or through the fence only to catch a crow bar to their heads. Jack dispensed with twelve of their number before too many made it across to his side. With his entourage numbers somewhat reduced, he made his way across the pasture to another fence and repeated the performance. On the second fence he was able to bludgeon another ten but his arms were burning as hot and painfully as his thighs. Now that he had the zombie crowd cut down to more manageable numbers, Jack turned towards home. He still had about eighteen of the shamblers on his trail but they were pretty stupid. They kept falling for the same trick. Two more fences and they were done. Jack made it to the stronghold well after dark. The factory was the perfect hideout for their group of survivors. There was only the front gate and a ten foot cyclone fence with a privacy barrier surrounding the entire property. One of the kids was watching from a concealed lookout position and the gates opened and closed as soon as he was inside. The kid on watch Randy said, "What took you so long Jack? We were worried." Jack sighed, put his arm around Randy's shoulder, handed his pack to the kid and said, "Oh you know. Just another day at the office."

Humph! We were social justice warriors before it was cool. Now that it's what the cool kids do, I'll have to find something new and anti-social to occupy my angst.

Chapter 19 The Corregidor

Just posted- Operation Hammerhead Chapter 18- Stonegarden

The problem protestants have with this is that to accept God made you this way, they have to accept implied biblical error in the six whole verses in the protestant bible that might apply to homosexuality. It is hard for any religion to acknowledge an inconsistency. They have, and will, LITERALLY go to war over stuff like that. Europe's history in these matters is quite bloody.

Chapter 16 of my stalled novel Operation Hammerhead will post soon. Chapter 17 will follow soon. I intend to finish it in the next couple of months. Sorry to take so long on getting back to this. I just finished a new degree in which the writing was considerably.. less fun. I must stay close to home, I can bang on some of my stalled projects.

I read that way back when in the nineties. It had a lot of 70s nostalgia in it before it was popular. Falling Off a Log was a lot of fun too. Lot's of the old giants don't write for free anymore. I miss them.

Pretty Spry (for an Old Guy) How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. All the cuties say I’m pretty spry For an old guy. You know it’s kinda hard Being alone today. But all you really gotta do Is fake it anyway. He may not be cut, He may not be in style If he lacks for anything He makes up being wild! So don’t delay, he may be gray He won’t let that get in his way He’s made the grade, got it made Nothing to prove, ain’t lost his grove There is no way, there is just no way To stop the gray, just ride it all the way! How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. All the cuties say I’m pretty spry For an old guy. He’s got cool old tunes Not just any will do Led Zep still jams the Runes Nothing works better than the blues He not pretending to be cool He’s nobody’s fool, way outta school He knows just who he is. So don’t delay, he may be gray He won’t let that get in his way He’s made the grade, got it made Nothing to prove, ain’t lost his grove There is no way, there is just no way To stop the gray, just ride it all the way! He doesn’t need a tattoo A piercing or fidget spinner He doesn’t need any of that shit To mark him as a winner He doesn’t have to try too hard He defines his own style If all else fails, he makes up in denial How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. How’s it going Jamie? Saw-rite, saw-rite. All the cuties say I’m pretty spry For an old guy. So don’t delay, he may be gray He won’t let that get in his way He’s made the grade, got it made Nothing to prove, ain’t lost his grove There is no way, there is just no way To stop the gray, just ride it all the way!

The Words I Don't Ever Say When the memories come I can’t sleep Cause the time seems to drag on somehow I’d give up the world just to touch you It seems nowhere is home for me now In this sleep deprived moment On this endless hot summer night This night will eventually be over But I will never be right. We had our time together Sweet days we thought would last I’ve never wanted another Far too soon those days had passed All that I have are my memories Sweet lies I tell myself about the past It’s not at all like it is in the movies The days just go by so fast. You took best things about me When you left me here all alone Here I remain in an empty house No one could ever call a home. We had our time together Sweet days we thought would last I’ve never wanted another Far too soon those days had passed

If you are up for a psychological drama with a southern accent perhaps you'll like my Season of Leo https://www.gayauthors.org/story/jamessavik/the-season-of-leo/ 4 chapters in and no one has been shot yet. That has to be a record for me.

As soon as the Raptor was airborne, Master Chief Duncan launched a stealth drone that sped ahead of their flight path and began to circle two and a half kilometers high just east of Omaha. Within a few minutes they began to get data. There was a two kilometer long gash in a lush farmlands where the lander had come to earth less than gracefully. There were huge gashes in the insect-like body of the lander. The Tauron lander was all too familiar to Combine forces. It was typical of the Tauron organic technology looking like a terrestrial beetle. If it was loaded out as a typical Tauron lander, it had a company strength of the different insect like creatures the Taurons used as shock troops. From the image captures it was clear that they had been busy. Smoke plumed from over a half dozen downed aircraft and as they watched an A-10 Warthog made a strafing run over the site. Attack helicopters were using the terrain to protect themselves from ground fire and were popping up over the trees to take shots with their 30mm cannons and hellfire missiles. Jeremy asked, "How should we handle this Chief?" Duncan said, "How well can we coordinate with the US Military?" Jeremy said, "I've got all the right codewords- they'll play ball." "Good. If we can get this national guard mechanized unit to cover the north, I say we land to the south, push north and we'll have them in a cross fire." Kellum, Duncan's second, said, "We aren't facing an intact company. It's obvious that they are shot up pretty bad. I don't see any command dragons or griffins. Just gremlins and archers." "I concur", Duncan said. "We don't know what is still in the hull getting sorted. I say that we hit the lander with a couple of krakens to open the ball." There was a loud warning alarm- one minute to the hot zone. Their pilot's voice came over the circuit, "Krakens away. I've got your drop programmed and I'll be standing by for fire support." Jeremy changed channels and said, "Offutt Control this is Centurion. We'll be on target in one mike." A voice replied, "Centurion, this is Offutt, authenticate Victor-Sierra." Jeremy replied, "Tango-Whiskey." "Welcome to the net Centurion. It's getting real." Jeremy was watching the drone feed out of his corner of his eye and saw the two kraken high velocity missiles gut the Tauron lander. For a moment it twitched and writhed like a dying animal and exploded." Master Chief's voice boomed over the command circuit, "3-2-1... Death from above!"

I like what I see so far.

Suddenly a group of men appeared and fanned out around the Prince and what was left of his security detail. One of them approached with a silver box with all sorts of instrumentation on it. He said, "This will release your memory blocks and you'll understand." He pointed it at Jeremy's head and suddenly he did understand. Jeremy said, "How do we get in the bunker?" His lead agent said, "Follow me." They moved through a lush pine forest a few hundred meters and came to a very solid looking steel door in the ground. His lead agent said, "We'll need you thumb print and voice to open it." Jeremy open an access panel, put his thumb on the fingerprint reader and said, "Beta 9". There was a loud snap and the bunker hatch opened. The party went down a steel staircase to another door that automatically opened as they approached. They entered a large room that housed a squad of eight Royal Guardsmen. The oldest, most battle scarred and toughest looking of the bunch smiled and said, "Prince Jeremiah. Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Jeremy said, "Good to see you too Duncan. Right now we've got a serious violation of the Talwyn Accords." The hulking Guardsman said, "Yes, I've been following the situation from the command center. About thirty-five minutes ago a Tauron Task Force jumped into the system. It's too much for our stealth cruiser to handle by herself. She has sent a Broken Lance Code to fleet. And... the cats well and truly out of the bag. Several Earth militaries are heavily engaged with Tauron landing forces." Jeremy cursed and said, "Who is fighting them?" Duncan grinned, "Well.. all of them I think. The Russians had a lander at Kiev, the Brits shot one down over Sheffield and here in the states we had a lander just outside Omaha. There's two more in Asia somewhere but the satellite coverage is over the horizon. The American F-22s shot the Omaha lander up so bad she'll never fly again but there are bugs on the ground. " The man Jeremy had been think of as his lead agent said, "The landing at Omaha is near one of our biggest command centers- Offutt Air Force Base. It's where Vice President's hang out in emergencies. They couldn't have picked a bigger hornet's nest to kick over." Duncan said, "The humans are brave but they're taking a beating your highness. What do you want to do?" Jeremy looked at his Royal Guardsmen and said, "We would be a poor guests if we slipped out on this party. Gear up your team Master Chief. The human's are going to need our help." His team immediatly began putting on their combat armor. Jeremy went to a suit locker, stripped to his boxers and climbed in. The command suit immediatly began to boot up as the suits interior snugged fit around him. He asked Chief Duncan, "How should I load out Master Chief?" A gravely voice replied over suit speakers, "Standard kit should do nicely sir. Maybe add a Gauss rifle to crack their command dragons." Jeremy replied, "Done." As soon as the suit was ready, Jeremy pushed a panel in the suit lockers wall. The room turned 180 degrees and opened into the bases small hanger. A Raptor class drop ship was sitting on the Pad and it was already prepping for launch. He walked the combat suit up the loading ramp and took his position as the rest of the team boarded. He set up a call to Offutt Air Force Base and opened a channel, "Offutt Control this is Centurion One. Help is on the way. We'll be the aliens that aren't shooting at you."

awe come on Cole, Colin... jump in

I remember hearing a writing instructor say: It's not the number of words, it's what you say with them.

Sometimes I use flash fiction to test drive ideas. I think that's how Twilight In the Shadow of the Dragon started. Other times it's just for fun or... maybe I'm axe grinding. With a Whimper was a one shot in which I expanded on the idea: what if antibiotic resistance gets progressively worse? It's bad enough as it is but, it could get a whole lot worse: Black Death worse. Pandemic worse. Who knows? Maybe I plant a seed with that story in someone's mind. I am by no means the only person who is watching this situation nervously. I think its a dangerous situation that not a whole lot of people are aware of. I have a garage full of axes to grind.

The sound of gunfire erupted outside and a strange sound that sounded a lot like a bug zapper. Even in the afternoon sun, there were blue-white flashes. One of the agents said, "If there is a back way out of here kid, now would be a good time." Jeremy remembered to breath and said, "Follow me." One of the agents got in front and the rest of the agents took up a shield formation to cover them on the way out the back door. Just as Jeremy left the room, a bolt of blue-white lightning sizzled through one of the windows and destroyed a lamp. He led them through the living room and out into the back yard through a sliding glass patio door. Unfortunately the bad guys were covering the back and Jeremy got his first look at them. They were big, at least six feet plus, massive and were wearing some kind of black armor. They were carrying a weapon like nothing he had ever seen before. The agent in the lead open up on one with what looked like a pistol but wasn't. It made a loud TOCK sound and the big, black figure was thrown backwards and shattered the fence into the next door neighbor's yard. Another one rounded the house and another agent fired a weapon that buzzed like a short circuit. The second black figure went down convulsing. The lead agent said, "Is there anywhere nearby where a helicopter can land?" "The baseball field: through the back yard, over the fence..." He was interrupted as another weapon went TOCK and one of the agents disappeared into a cloud of pink mist. There was nothing to do but run so the group sprinted to the fence. One of the weapons went TOCK and boards splintered. They ran through the hole in the fence, out the front gate of the yard behind Jeremy's house and down the road two blocks to the baseball field.. Just as they arrived a big Blackhawk landed in the outfield. Two Apache gunships circling protectively above. Strong hands lifted Jeremy into the Blackhawk and the agents boarded behind him as a crewman on a minigun covered their retreat. They were in the air before the last agent was fully aboard. Jeremy tried to ask questions but the roar of the engine filled the helicopter. One of the agents put on a headset and handed one to Jeremy. As soon as the headset was on, he asked, "What's going on? Who are you people?" The agent answered, "We're your protection detail. The Taurons found out where you were. We were just seconds ahead of them." "Who the hell are the Taurons and why do they want me?" The agent said, "The Taurons are a race of really nasty aliens making a play on this part of the galaxy. They have been at war with the Galactic Combine for centuries." "Why are they after me?" "Your majesty, you are the Crown Prince of an Allied power. We've been hiding you since birth at the request of the Galactic Combine. When we get to base, we will release the memory blocks. It's obvious that this place is no longer safe for you."

Hello summer storms, my old friend You've come to pummel us again Because a visage loudly booming, Left trees down while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains the sounds... of chainsaws

The horrible mutt just got to the kitty before his Ninja skills were strong enough.

2nd Warning: Circular Reasoning: is a logical fallacy in which the reasoner begins with what they are trying to end with. The components of a circular argument are often logically valid because if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true. Example: Father Porter's answer to the atheist was Psalm 53:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The problem here is that Father Porter has used a bible verse to argue the existence of God. Another example much closer to my point: They must really be stupid because they don't think like we do. Sometimes others see things we miss. This is especially true when the corporate owned media is spoon feeding you a distorted version of the truth. A version they spent billions trying to sell the country and the country rejected.

http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html

It's not the first time that biased and politicized "intelligence" has caused serious problems. The last time we got a close look at it was in the run up to the 2nd Gulf War. One camp was absolutely sure that Saddam had WMDs. The other was absolutely sure that he did not. Both had paid informants that were telling the spooks on both sides exactly what they wanted to hear. We're all a bit like that. We are ready and most willing to hear and believe what our preconceived biases tell us. To be perfectly fair, Saddam had sworn vengeance on the US for his humiliating defeat in Gulf War 1. It wasn't unreasonable to expect that he had bad intentions. What everyone forgot on both sides of the behind closed doors debate was that no one had a smoking gun either way. What too many people in the Washington bureaucracy have forgotten is that they don't work for their patrons. They don't work for a party, bureau, agency or agenda. They work for the people. If you can't do your job without bias, you need to retire and manage a fast food establishment.

This story was published on Codeysworld