suggested soundtrack
"Total Eclipse of the Heart," Bonnie Tyler
"Holding Back The Years," Simply Red
"Help!" The Beatles
A
##
Ghosh Dhar sat bolt upright, her heart pounding like a jackhammer in her bosom. A perspiration fueled by coldest dread beaded her forehead. She felt cloudy sweat trickling down her ribcage. (After a hot day, her armpits never smelled like roses! [Well. Maybe twice dead roses.])
Ok! Ok! She scared skunks!
Wait.
Something... felt... wrong?
She turned her head towards the north. Wasn't there a lake half a league hence?
B
##
Dances With Moths yelped whilst bounding straight up. Before her startled mother could compose a coherent thought, the young rabbit first landed, and then tore off towards the south at a full, adrenaline-fueled gallop.
C
##
#// paused for maybe 2.5 beats. She cautiously backed out of her emergency burrow.
Something. Felt... What??
This was nuts. This was wildflower bulbs, even. Yet...? East. Towards the thunder.
Go. Or don't go. But choose. And choose quickly.
#// had 6 limbs. However, "she" could function as a hexapod, quadruped, or a biped. (Think: apex predator + natural contortionist + musculoskeletal origami = yikes!!)
Unlike most mammals on Homestead, "her" species were hermaphrodites who alternated generations. A tad complicated, but "her" generation was the shock & awe. The other generation were vaguely centaur-like, acrobatic quadrupeds.
• Both alternate generations? Together? A natural, nearly all-terrain calvary.
• Ideally, one's favorite steed was also one's "husband." (Marriage. Gotta luv it.)
#// was a living weapon. A true hunter-killer.
But. No. "Boyfriend." No. Anybody!
No tribe. No adults. No "girl" pack. No "boy" herd.
-ouch-
Something. Felt... What?
WRONG
Focus! Go!
Swiftly, "she" both folded and leaned into her bipedal sprinting posture. Unlike big cats or kangaroos, "she" lacked a counterbalancing tail. Instead, "her" 2 dorsal strikers were outstretched backward as dual counterweights. "Her" rodent-like, prehensile feet ferociously gripped the ground. "She" purposed herself to maneuver at speed with terrifying agility.
Today? The grassland flew past beneath "her" feet.
Today: #// was a purest nightmare!
-just-a-hideously-lonely-one-
D
Something...? Go!
"Fly away, birdie! Fly!"
Blood Daisy hurled her half-plucked pheasant up at the root cellar's plank ceiling. She'd exited the root cellar before the bird had finished bouncing off the ceiling. She was racing west before the unfortunate fowl hit the dirt floor...
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Bright Shadows 2: A Hinterlands Anthology
Science FictionI want my second anthology to be more user-friendly on Wattpad (TM). Hence, I'm reorganizing material from my first anthology and exploring some creative gaps. The front material is almost a writers and directors guide. While I'm launching a quality...
