Pilar had just wanted to do a little bit of banking after work. The branch was on her way to her logout house from the office, and she needed to check her deposits, and see if she needed to do any currency exchanges before the weekend. She was going on a trip. A real-world trip. She had been looking forward to spending a nice long time logged out. But here she was cowering under a table while some yahoos were shooting up a bank. She hoped they wouldn’t boot her. She heard that was an incredible pain to fix.
The City: 083: Pilar
January 21, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Pilar, The City, The Robbery Leave a comment
The City: 082: Joseph
January 20, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Felicia, Joseph, Midas Corp, The City, The Robbers Leave a comment
Joseph watched Felicia flirt with a customer and checked off a little box in his head. The part-timer was pretty, and she wasn’t dumb, but she never kept her mind on what she was doing. That was what you got with teenagers. While she chatted, half a dozen more customers came in after him, and she didn’t give them the time of day. She was getting written up this time. Grumbling to himself, he stomped across the lobby floor to chew her out. He didn’t even see the figure by the entrance pull out his boot gun and fire.
The City: 081: Felicia
January 19, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Felicia, Ingmar, Midas Corp, The City, The Robbery Leave a comment
“Welcome to Midas Bank,” Felicia said with more enthusiasm than she felt. It was nearly 5, City Time, and she was ready to close up. The boy was blond, young, and handsome. He had a very nice smile.
“Thank you,” he said, and he leaned in towards her. “I’m interested in making some deposits. Can you help me get started.” He winked at her. Normally, she would have immediately blocked such a creeper line, but she giggled instead. He was just her type. The receptionist failed notice the crowd that came in behind him, or the gun under his coat.
The City: 080: Taddeo
January 16, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Midas Corp, Norm, Taddeo, The City, The Robbery Leave a comment
While his coworker Matilda sat gaping at the ruined tower, Taddeo was busy tapping out texts into his messenger, all cyphered and encrypted of course. The Cops weren’t letting them text, but he had a special hack from Renee. It let him text without sending any signals to his avatar, so he could type away while its hands were still.
TOWER ON LOCKDOWN. ABORT THE MISSION!
Norm was quick to reply.
ACKNOWLEDGED. MOVING TO SECONDARY TARGET.
Taddeo wanted to hit something. They were going ahead with the robbery at a branch location, which made him culpable, but with no cut.
The City: 079: Matilda
January 15, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Matilda, Midas Corp, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Matilda sat huddled with the car park with the other Midas Corp evacuees. The police weren’t letting them go yet, but wether this was for investigative reasons, or merely a show of power had yet to be seen. The building was sealed off, but she could see the zombies, avatars, whatever they were, banging on the doors. The blast had triggered some kind of AI virus, hijacking the avatars and putting them under a single control. They weren’t very smart or agile, but at least they knew enough to avoid the blasted out windows. The ones that fell stayed dead.
The City: 078: Peng
January 14, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Peng, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Peng walked as much as he could in The City. He had gotten a special treadmill for it and everything, which his husband had rolled his eyes at. He had called it a waste of money, but three months of daily exercise outside of the smog had really improved his heath.
He heard the moans and growls before he saw them. They were avatars, but violent and moving erratically, like wild beasts. He turned and ran, hearing his treadmill motor whine with unexpected stress. The zombies followed. He was only a mile from his login house. He almost made it.
The City: 077: Blanca
January 13, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Blanca, CPD, Drabble, The City, Traffic Leave a comment
Blanca directed the flow of digital traffic and felt a pang of regret for her decision to study Criminal Law over Medicine. Usually, she loved her job, hunting down hackers in The City as well as the physical world was a thrilling puzzle. But with the sudden set of crises today, everyone was working double shifts doing grunt work to keep up. She wished she had drawn something a bit more interesting than traffic duty. She waved a blue sports car past, and heard a scream from a few blocks away. She should have been careful what she wished for.
The City: 076: Phil
January 12, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Phil, The City, Traffic Leave a comment
Phil sat in traffic and waited. The day had been a complete mess. A river of red taillights spread out ahead of him, mirroring the color of the slowly sinking City Sun. It was usually sunny, and inclement weather was rare in The City. Rain you couldn’t feel took away from the illusion and freaked people out. Finally, traffic began to move. There was a cop directing things somewhere ahead of him, manipulating a pair of giant glowing sticks like an air traffic controller. Finally. Phil had places to be. He needed to log out and pick up his kids.
ICYMI-Doings for the week of January 4, 2015
January 9, 2015
In Case You Missed It Bloggoing, hugh, ICYMI, podcasting, review, The City, The Way of the Buffalo Leave a comment
Here’s to the end of the first full week of 2015! It’s been a busy one around here, and you may have missed something, so here’s the week that was in the world of Hugh:
On Sunday, I announced my Page of Awesome writing and podcasting goals for the year.
On Monday, I launched a new article series, The Gamer’s Guide to Writing. We’re starting off with an in depth look at plotting with Final Fantasy IX. You can check out our introduction HERE.
On Tuesday, I reviewed the podcast Wham Bam Pow with Cameron Esposito!
Wednesday saw the release of The Way of the Buffalo Podcast episode 79! Go and have a listen to the short story “The Pen Was Mightier,” by Rish Outfield!
On Thursday, I reviewed “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” #1, written by Ryan North and drawn By Erica Henderson!
And of course, there were five new installments of The City: A Story in 140 Characters!
That’s not a bad start to the year, if I do say so myself. Keep this site bookmarked for more free daily content, and if you like what you’re seeing, leave a comment, or support me on Patreon!
The City: 075: Erin
January 9, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, CPD, Drabble, Erin, Midas Corp, The City Leave a comment
Erin stood in the crowd that ringed the barriers, and hoped her record function was getting all of this. The crowd was full of Citizens and Daytrippers. In a disaster, class was irrelevant. She was a reporter, and this was her moment. The fire and smoke had cleared away, leaving half the building ruined and sooty. The glass had vanished rather than shattered. The top few floors were gone as well, as though they were never there. In their place, there was a tear in the sky, pulsating violet and black. It was like staring into the face of God.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 