Bioflash Short Stories

The Shoeless Wonder

The Shoeless Wonder

Josh stepped into the polished bronze elevator and readied himself for what was about to happen.  One way or another, the world was about to change.  He just prayed it was for what the world needed right now. 

The thirty-third floor loomed up above as tireless cables lifted him higher.  Looking down at his own feet, he wiggled his toes.  Yes, he was without shoes.  The elevator docked and the doors slid open.  How much time did he have before it began? 

The first round ricocheted off the wall behind him.  He knew they would try to stop him.  Josh raised the phaser in his right hand and took cover next to the elevator door, launching stun rounds that incapacitated one man and missed the other.  He suddenly recoiled as the elevator doors closed with a ding, followed by hollow blasts landing on the outside.  “Damn it!” he cried, standing up and frantically searching for the button to reopen it.  He didn’t find it in time as the elevator rose, and his shoulders dropped.  “Think, think,” he said, getting ready.  The elevator docked on the thirty-fourth floor and opened, revealing a kind old woman wearing a pink dress and hat.  She gingerly stepped onto the elevator carrying her purse and dragging a quaint piece of luggage behind her.  She looked up to give the hello courtesy nod, the kind that two strangers would share on an elevator, seemingly oblivious to his bare feet.  Josh quickly clasped his hands behind his back, remembering the phaser he wielded.

“Mam,” he said through an uncertain smile.  They both stared straight out, waiting for the doors which stayed open far longer than they had during the shootout a floor below.  When they finally did close, the elevator promptly descended and docked back at the floor below.  Josh carefully stepped to the side, and then when he had to he pushed the old woman out of harm’s way as the doors reopened.  A pointed phaser followed by the man carrying it emerged and fired, erupting with an explosion of sparks.  Josh attacked the man’s arm with a chop, knocking the phaser loose and tackling him against the wall.  For a moment both men struggled for superiority, until a burst of determination sent the other man tumbling.  Josh raised his phaser and fired, incapacitating the man.

He looked down at the old woman he had thrown to the side, and suffered a glare he would not soon forget.  Her sweet demeanor gone, Josh helped her back up and then went to retrieve her purse, handing it to her, suffering guilt the entire time.  She slapped his hand when the purse was back in hers, prompting a hasty apology and a hastier retreat.  Though he was turned the other way, he could still feel her glare as the doors closed and the elevator took her the rest of the way down to the lobby.  Maybe pushing her was a little unnecessary, he could have just warned her about the impending phaser duel.

He glanced down at his watch and it was already quarter after noon.  He had taken too much time, the meeting would start at any moment.  If it started with this document, then all was lost.

“Hahaha, Mr. Murcray, shoeless again I see,” laughed Victor Torelius, the man who had tried desperately to keep him from this secret meeting.  “From now on I will call you the Shoeless Wonder.  Do you really think I wasn’t prepared for this?” he sneered, the hallway light wrapping and unwrapping off his bald head as he strolled side to side, hands clasped behind his back.  A long, black trench-coat swayed subtly to his feet as he walked.  Suddenly he stopped and looked right at him, eyes spewing hatred.  “They will never have that file!”

Victor suddenly pressed a button on a handheld, no larger than a garage door opener.  The floor beneath Josh began moving, opening, revealing a bed of spinning saws and belching flames.  At the last second, Josh, now known as Shoeless Wonder, lurched himself forward into a double somersault, landing with a heel crush on Victor’s hand.

“AYE!” he cried in pain, nursing the badly mangled hand, tossing the destroyed detonator aside.  Victor ran, clutching his wound down the hallway.  Shoeless Wonder chased after, down the corridor which seemed to stretch into eternity, until suddenly Victor was gone.  The lights had changed, and he found himself in a black room surrounded by mirrors.  Shoeless Wonder spun and searched, his phaser at the ready.  Everywhere he saw movement, but it was his movement, an illusion cast by the mirrors.  Or was it?

He glimpsed Victor’s evil glare on the far side and fired, shattering the mirror that had tricked him.  But for a moment, in the phaser’s glow, he saw an outline of the ceiling.  Shoeless Wonder stepped back, carefully watching, slowly moving, phaser at the ready to fire again.  The file was still safely under his shirt, but he had to get to that meeting on time or all was lost.

He sensed something behind him, and instead of turning to fire, he leapt.  Shoeless Wonder vaulted, thirteen feet up to the ceiling, using powers that only came to him in unique, especially written moments, and snatched a rope he had seen in the outline of the ceiling.  The rope gave way and he swung like an adventurer, shattering through mirrors and then glass, coming to a rolling, shoeless stop in a completely new room.

Cough cough

Shoeless Wonder looked around and noticed a ficus plant in the corner.  Then he noticed the oblong mahogany table, and the six executives sitting around it in mild shock at his intrusion.  It only took him a moment to realize that this was the meeting, the one he had fought to make it to.  But, was it too late?

He looked over and saw the CEO with a pen in his hand, just about to strike his signature on a new contract.  Shoeless Wonder didn’t hesitate, he acted.  The file came out of his shirt and flung across the table, spinning and sliding, right on top of the contract about to be signed.  The CEO stopped.  A millisecond later, and Shoeless Wonder would have been too late.

“What is the meaning of this?!” the CEO demanded. 

“It’s something you need to see, sir,” Shoeless Wonder said, humbly.

Begrudgingly, the CEO looked down at the file.  “A new Star Trek series?  Why wasn’t I told of this?  This is exactly what we need.  This is brilliant!”  The CEO held the new file in the air and kissed it, signing it immediately to a raucous burst of claps from everyone in the room.  Shoeless Wonder was almost afraid to believe it.  He made it.  He won.  Despite Victor Torelius’ attempt to condemn the world and withhold the salvation of Star Trek, Shoeless Wonder had conquered evil.  But he knew it would not be the end of Victor’s attempts.  He knew he would have to be ready, watching, and waiting for the moment Victor struck again.  And when he did, he’d have to fight.  Because Shoeless Wonder had a job to do—make the world a better place, and triumph over evil.  He realized that was two jobs, but it wouldn’t stop him.  Until the day he was watching television to the new Captain of the Enterprise leaning into a mirror to examine his own forehead, Shoeless Wonder would remain vigilant.

The End.

Thanks for reading.  This unique short story was written for fun.  I made the challenge on Twitter that the first person to respond would get a short story written about them based on their twitter page and or blog.  @JoshuaWMurcray responded.  From what I could glean, he loves superheroes and dreams of Star Trek coming back.  Thank you again, and click VOTE if you’d like to see more. 

Follow me to be my next short story on:

twitter @nrburnette

facebook @AuthorNRBurnette

Also Available

Paphos 1 (Free ebook)

Paphos 1-5 (Complete Set)

Cargo Lock 5

Kenji

www.nrburnette.com for more