“His motive is to take down Midas and let the world go with it,” Neva said. “The question remains, how do we stop him?”
“Underwood is only in control of the situation as long as he remains logged in. If we can disconnect him from the system and shut the City down, the backups will restore most of the damage he’s caused.”
“If he’s in control, isn’t he invincible, though?”
“Not from a boot gun.” Ingmar slid down the embankment and into the hidden section of the park. Renee and Dorothy followed. “Get me a shot, and I’ll boot him.”
The City: 123: Neva
March 18, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Ingmar, Neva, The Cat Lady, The City, The Daytrippers, The Robbery Leave a comment
The City: 122: Idris
March 17, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Idris, The Cat Lady, The City, The Daytrippers Leave a comment
“Wait,” Idris said. “are you saying that this guy will have that much control over the economy of the entire world?”
“For a start,” The Cat Lady said. “The City intersects with every major computer system on the planet in some way. Given enough time, he’ll be able to hold every man, woman, and child on Earth hostage.”
“But this will destroy Midas. Why’s he doing it?” Dawn asked.
“To show the world he’s done it. Or perhaps revenge. Babbage’s real name is Simon Underwood He was a security consultant about the time I quit. Midas fired him shortly afterwards.”
The City: 121: Jemma
March 16, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Jemma, The Cat Lady, The City, The Daytrippers Leave a comment
The Daytrippers were talking in circles. Even if they did have a good idea of what Babbage was doing to The City, thanks to The Cat Lady, they didn’t know how to stop it. If the virus even could be stopped. It had already spread so far throughout the system.
“Do we even need to stop him? Let’s just find a way to escape!” Jemma said. The Cat Lady scowled at her.
“In addition to the massive amounts of fraud and data mining he’s already committed, Babbage is making himself the sole proprietor of a fifth of the world’s economy.”
The City: 120: Savio
March 13, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Dorothy, Drabble, Savio, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Savio watched from a rooftop. When the zombies first started shambling, he had gone for higher ground and pulled the fire escape ladders up after him. He was trapped, but unreachable, unless the viral avatars took up skydiving. He used his vantage point to document what he saw in open messenger. He didn’t know if he was getting through, but he wrote anyway. He watched the young woman get overrun, and the boy reluctantly sprint to catch up to the other fleeing woman. Then he saw a flash in the night and a water tank fell, crushing the zombies below.
The City: 119: Tamika
March 12, 2015
140 Characters, The City 140 Characters, Bo, Drabble, Ingmar, Mina, Renee, Tamika, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Tamika grabbed Bo and pulled him away from the window. “What are you doing? She whispered. “They’ll find us in here!” Bo shook his head. “They’ve been pounding on the door for hours. They know we’re here, but can’t get in. We’re safe until they fix this mess.” Neither of them heard the scratching in the walls, which were much thinner than the door.
Below them, Mina, Ingmar, and Renee ran from the zombies, but they couldn’t gain ground. The zombies were getting faster. Mina tripped. Renee kept running. Ingmar reached for her hand, but the zombies got there first.
The City: 118: Bo
March 11, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Bo, Drabble, Reyna, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Bo smirked at the middle manager. “You’ve got a real cynical attitude, you know that, man?” Silas glared at him, then went back to staring out the window. “They don’t look like cops. I wonder how they got guns.”
“Hacked ’em, probably,” Reyna said.
“I hope they work on zombies. Look!” Bo pointed to the other end of the street. The zombies were coming, and the three of them couldn’t see it from their vantage point. They were going to walk right into a horde of them. He slid the window open. “Hey! left! Go left!” He shouted and waved.
The City: 117: Reyna
March 10, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Reyna, Silas, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Silas nudged Reyna and pointed. Both watched but neither said a word, not wanting to draw attention to themselves or the people running. The zombies were everywhere, and it seemed like they were getting faster, more graceful, and more cunning with each passing hour. The two women and the boy didn’t stand much of a chance. There were just too many of them.
“I think they have boot guns,” she said, and the two others looked up and came over to the windows too.
“You’re right,” said Bo
“Then they should shoot themselves and be done with it,” Silas said.
The City: 116: Silas
March 9, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Silas, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
It was nearly dark when the three figures crept out of the back entrance to the bank and into the alley. Silas watched them with interest. He was holed up in the building across the street. He barricaded himself and a few coworkers in an empty office when the virus started spreading through the building. It wasn’t as nice as some of the others, but there was no outward facing glass and the door was solid oak. It had held for five hours. They spent that time in silence, just listening to the zombies beat ceaselessly against the door, waiting.
The City: 115: Connie
March 6, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Connie, CPD, Drabble, The City Leave a comment
Connie ducked out the back. She felt half a coward, but part of police-work was being smarter than whatever the problem was, and you couldn’t fight these things. And throwing themselves against it would do no good for Citizens. She just hoped the rest of the force would follow her example. A few did, but not enough. She made it outside, and turned just in time to see the building crackle and warp. It wasn’t the explosion the overload at Midas tower had been, but the results were the same. The space where headquarters used to be ripped apart.
The City: 114: Rick
March 5, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, CPD, Drabble, Rick, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
The wave of zombies poured into the CPD lobby and stood, staring silently at the police officers. There were hundreds of them, far outnumbering the crowd of cops. Jenkins shut up too. Rick drew the pair of cuffs that he ‘forgot’ to turn in to evidence this afternoon. The zombies weren’t susceptible to booting, but he bet the would respond to environmental damage. The problem was, there was only one of him, and so many zombies. He sprinted to the first one and managed to cuff it. It shook and went still. But three of the others were on him.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 