[One-shot] The Day The Fighters Died (Original)
Title: The Day The Fighters Died
Wordcount/Rating: 500+ words / G
Summary: We thought it was just fireworks. We were wrong.
Author's Notes: Who'd have thought this would have descended upon me while in Denver? There're a few military bases around here, and apparently CIA, too. I guess that knowledge worked on me, because this bunny woke me up at 6am today. I'm not sure if it's going anywhere, but here, have a standalone. Possibly SF-ish. Comments from those interested in a continuation would be greatly appreciated!
The booming woke me. It was a distant sort of boom, a muffled rumbling sound that sounded like a far-off explosion. I opened my eyes and sat up, looking towards the right where the sound had come from, and saw what looked like rockets shooting straight up into the sky in a circle ten blocks or so away, leaving white trails of smoke behind them. Their formation looked like a strange sort of floating jellyfish.
From the corner of my eye, I could see that Lucy and Marge had turned to look, too. Lucy said, "Is it a fireworks display? What day is it?"
"Fireworks so close to the city? There wasn't any announcement or anything like that. Do you think they wanted to surprise us?"
I kept quiet as they talked to each other, still watching as the ring of rockets stayed suspended in mid-air. It took me a moment to realize I wasn't waiting for the red-white-rainbow sparks and smoke of fireworks, and then I wondered why I wasn't. Still somewhat groggy from the sleep, I didn't say anything and stared at the rockets blankly.
Marge was speaking now. "You know, the city said they didn't have any money for grand celebrations this New Year. Why would they go and celebrate a holiday most people don't know about like this?"
"Bet you it's a religious holiday and the mayor's one of them," Lucy said. "Just look at all those rockets. I'll bet they cost a fortune! Stingy man. He wouldn't celebrate earlier because he wanted to buy all these expensive rockets. Twenty dollars says the manufacturer's got him in their pockets."
"Not rockets," I said, staring at the strange jellyfish formation.
"Oh, were you awake, Kaye?" Marge asked. "Look, fireworks."
I was aware they had turned towards me, but I kept my eye on the rockets. They had begun to head out now, in straight lines radiating out from the center of the circle. Something about the way they were moving seemed unnatural to me; something was wrong, but my mind wasn't working, and I couldn't place why I thought it was off. I watched the rockets move, some of them headed in our direction. The closest one was a green blur resolving into a fighter plane.
"They aren't rockets," I said again, pointing at it. "Planes. Fighters. They're coming this way."
As I said it, I realized what was wrong. The fighter wasn't flying; it didn't seem like it was flying. Its nose was pointing straight up, but it was moving towards us anyway, not spinning, and there wasn't any sound except for another boom, still far-off and indistinct. I turned to the left to see another jellyfish fighter-formation shoot upwards.
The green fighter had paused now. It hung there in the air maybe a hundred feet from the balcony where we were. I could see inside the cockpit; the pilot was working furiously at the canopy above him, trying to get out, and it dawned on me that maybe this wasn't a celebration after all.
The Day The Fighters Died by Aiwritingfic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://community.livejournal.com/apples_for_me/46307.html.
Wordcount/Rating: 500+ words / G
Summary: We thought it was just fireworks. We were wrong.
Author's Notes: Who'd have thought this would have descended upon me while in Denver? There're a few military bases around here, and apparently CIA, too. I guess that knowledge worked on me, because this bunny woke me up at 6am today. I'm not sure if it's going anywhere, but here, have a standalone. Possibly SF-ish. Comments from those interested in a continuation would be greatly appreciated!
The booming woke me. It was a distant sort of boom, a muffled rumbling sound that sounded like a far-off explosion. I opened my eyes and sat up, looking towards the right where the sound had come from, and saw what looked like rockets shooting straight up into the sky in a circle ten blocks or so away, leaving white trails of smoke behind them. Their formation looked like a strange sort of floating jellyfish.
From the corner of my eye, I could see that Lucy and Marge had turned to look, too. Lucy said, "Is it a fireworks display? What day is it?"
"Fireworks so close to the city? There wasn't any announcement or anything like that. Do you think they wanted to surprise us?"
I kept quiet as they talked to each other, still watching as the ring of rockets stayed suspended in mid-air. It took me a moment to realize I wasn't waiting for the red-white-rainbow sparks and smoke of fireworks, and then I wondered why I wasn't. Still somewhat groggy from the sleep, I didn't say anything and stared at the rockets blankly.
Marge was speaking now. "You know, the city said they didn't have any money for grand celebrations this New Year. Why would they go and celebrate a holiday most people don't know about like this?"
"Bet you it's a religious holiday and the mayor's one of them," Lucy said. "Just look at all those rockets. I'll bet they cost a fortune! Stingy man. He wouldn't celebrate earlier because he wanted to buy all these expensive rockets. Twenty dollars says the manufacturer's got him in their pockets."
"Not rockets," I said, staring at the strange jellyfish formation.
"Oh, were you awake, Kaye?" Marge asked. "Look, fireworks."
I was aware they had turned towards me, but I kept my eye on the rockets. They had begun to head out now, in straight lines radiating out from the center of the circle. Something about the way they were moving seemed unnatural to me; something was wrong, but my mind wasn't working, and I couldn't place why I thought it was off. I watched the rockets move, some of them headed in our direction. The closest one was a green blur resolving into a fighter plane.
"They aren't rockets," I said again, pointing at it. "Planes. Fighters. They're coming this way."
As I said it, I realized what was wrong. The fighter wasn't flying; it didn't seem like it was flying. Its nose was pointing straight up, but it was moving towards us anyway, not spinning, and there wasn't any sound except for another boom, still far-off and indistinct. I turned to the left to see another jellyfish fighter-formation shoot upwards.
The green fighter had paused now. It hung there in the air maybe a hundred feet from the balcony where we were. I could see inside the cockpit; the pilot was working furiously at the canopy above him, trying to get out, and it dawned on me that maybe this wasn't a celebration after all.
The Day The Fighters Died by Aiwritingfic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://community.livejournal.com/apples_for_me/46307.html.