I picked up a book yesterday called "642 Things to Write About" to give me some prompts for future writing. In spite of the craziness of NaNoWriMo I have been enjoying writing again, and figured the book would be a good way to keep me going. One of the prompts was the first line of this story. The rest of it just sort of happened from there.
This brings me to 39109 words for the month.
"If we're not in Kansas anymore, where are we?"
The two men stood on the edge of a cliff, staring down at the raging river hundreds of feet below them. The water was a birlliant green, reflectin gthe colour of the sky above.
One was the son of a major diplomat. He was youngish, about 25, and his name was Justin. He wore skin tight jeans, and had his face adorned with the oddest looking bear the other fellow, a bodyguard that was hired to get him home, had ever seen.
The bodyguard was a much older man, Irving Berlinski, who had been working security his whole life. He had never in all his years aever come across a door that was supposed to lead to a men's room that instead led to the edge of a cliff. He had no experience in this matter, and didn't know what he should do next.
Well, maybe he should move them further from the edge of the cliff. Irving grabbed Justin's jacket and physically hauled him back to a safer distance.
"Hey man, let go of the threads!" Justin swatted Irving's hand off of the jacket, and took a step away. THankfully the step was also away from the cliff.
Irving shook his head. "Maybe we should go somewhere a little safer and figure htis all out." He looked around at the miles of orange soil that stretched out in front of him, and tried to figure out where that could possibly be. The only thing he knew was that the cliff was not safe. THe opposite direction had to be better.
Justin followed, whining the whole way. "Where are we? WHat's going on? I have a date tonight, she's going to take off if i don't show up and I'm going to be lonely for the rest of my life!"
It was unbelieveable, Irving contemplated as he tried to tune the boy out, that someone of htis age and this starture could be so immature and annoying. Also, alien planet. You think it would shift the priorities a bit.
They walked for about an hour. Nothing seemed to change in this landscape. It was flat, rocky, and the most horrible shade of orange that Irving had seen in his life. This couldn't be Earth just on the basis that nothing on Earth this colour would allow them to breathe for any amount of time before killing them. As it was, Irving was pretty sure that the end was nigh, and that this wasn't going to end well at all.
And Justin was still whining. Irving took a deep breath, resisted the urge to punch him, and turned around. "Will you shut up."
Irving was pretty sure no one had ever told Justin to shut up before. The indignant look was lamost worth it for the hell Irving would pay once his boss heard about it.
If they could get back to where his boss was, that is. If not, he'd never hear the end of Justin, and that would be really scary.
They walked on in silence for a while longer.
Eventually, a hill rose on the horizon. The suns were setting by the looks of it, and Irving didn't know what that would mean in terms of the climate at night. He knew the desert could get really cold once the sun set on Earth, and he assumed that with two suns it would just be colder here. A hill meant the possibility of caves and shelter. If they could get there before nightfall, it might not be so bad.
Irving forced himself to not think of other problems unless he ran into them.
The suns were very low on the horizon and the temperature was definitely dropping by the time they reached the hill. It was bare rock, the same orange as everything else they'd seen so far.
Fortunately, there was also a cave. It was small enough they had to stoop to go inside, but it was shelter of a sort. There was a depression in the middle of the floor that looked large enough to be a fire pit, although Irving was wondering what they could use to start a fire to keep warm. As he was looking around the cave for something flammable, he realised that it was actually much warmer in here than it had been outside. Maybe just being in the shelter would be enough.
It had been a while since he'd heard a peep out of Justin. he looked around, and saw that the boy had sat down in a far niche in the wall of the cave. It looked like a natural indent, and Justin seemed to be finding some sort of comfort there. The kid's face was still like thunder, although Irving couldn't blame him for that. this was miserable enough without being a spoilt brat; the hardship to Justin would seem a lot worse thanks to his privilege.
With shelter taken care of, the next problem was going to be food. there was no way of knowing what would be ok to eat, even if Irving had seen anythign that would be a possible food source. If they ate nothing they'd definitely die, so it might come down to just taking a risk if they needed to.
"Stay here," Irving said quietly, although he was surprised to see Justin jump at the sound. "I'm going to take a quick look around the other side, see if there's any civilisaiton or supplies we could use."
Justin looked terrified at the thought of being left here, but just nodded. It was the first real good thing that had happened; not having to fight over every decision. there might still be hope for the kid yet.
A careful trip around the hill in the last rays of the second sun didn't show anythign more than dirt and rocks. Irving sat on a boulder and stared into the horizon for a long time after it went dark, trying to figure out a way to survive this little surprise trip they'd taken. There was nothing but black as far as the eye could see, and not a noise that sounded natural or mechanical. Food and water would be very high priorities in the morning, but right now all they could do was try and get some sleep.
Walking slowly back around the hill, Irving almost missed the cave entrance. His eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, but not enough it seemed. He'd have to remember that for next time he tried something like that.
Inside the cave was darker.
"Irving?" Justin's voice sounded tiny in the blackness.
"Yes, it's me. I can't see anythign out there. We're probably best to try and get some sleep."
there was a sharp intake of breath as Justin most likely prepared to give Irving a piece of his mind about the lack of anything. Wisely, Justin just let it back out though. Even he had to realise the futility of complaining about a lack of food and blankets in their present situation. Oddly, this thought didn't make Irving feel better this time.
He curled up close enough to the door to be alerted if something came in while they slept, wrapped his jacket around himself a bit tighter. and tried to sleep.
The next morning the suns' light burnt into the cave bright and warm. Irving woke up quickly, and woke Justin up as well.
"With two suns we have no idea how hot it might get today,"Irving explained. "If we want to see if we can find food or anything else, we should get moving now."
Justin nodded, and followed Irving out of the cave. He did everything that Irving asked without any questions. If they'd been home this would have been Irving's dream job. Unfortunately, they weren't at home.
They walked silently for a couple of hours. It was getting warmer, and both men had shed layers to try and stay cool as they hiked. They'd made a bag out of Justin's oversized hoodie, and wrapped the other layers inside. It was starting to get dangerously warm, and Irving assumed that the building he saw on the horizon was a dehydration-invoked hallucination when he first saw it.
The building didn't waver though, it got larger as they approached at what seemed a reasonable pace. Irving started to feel hopeful as they walked closer. Shade wasn't all they needed right now, but it would make a good start. Justin was starting to look sunburned and Irving bet he didn't look much better.
The building was very low, orange like everything else, and primitive in design. But it definitely was designed, made by someone's hands. There was a wooden door with steel hinges and handles, the first thing they'd seen since getting here that was dirt or oddly coloured water.
Justin hung back as Irving checked the building out for any dangers. he didn't see anything, and decided that staying outside was going to be a lot more lethal than almost anything they might run into inside. He tried the handle and was surprised at how quickly and easily it turned. He gestured to Justin to follow him, and they went inside.
It was dark and cool in the house. Justin gave a yelp that made Irving and his raw nerves jump about three feet. They stood for a long time after in silence, jsut enjoying the feel of the cool air, and reassembling their clothes from the bundle they'd been carrying.
Irving felt around the walls as his eyes adjusted to the dark. They were cool and smooth to the touch. He wouldn't have expected this much skill ont he interior given how rough the exterior had looked. As he turned to check out the next wall, his hand hit something hard jutting out from the wall.
It felt like a doorknob. Incredulous, Irving turned it. There was a click, and then the knob swung towards him.
The next room was brighter. A dull thumping noise could be heard through the room. The plain walls were broken only by a rather Earthly looking door and doorknob on the other side.
Irving turned to where they'd come, and only saw a solid wall. There was no other door to go back. Justin was staring at him, looking like he wanted to urge him to open the door, but also looking like he was half mad with terror.
What the heck, Irving though. It couldn't be any weirder than what had already been happening. He walked over and opened the door.
On the other side was the men's room.
Irving blinked. He heard Justin walk up slowly behind him. "What the hell?"
They walked through the door, and had a good look around. It was definitely the men's room they'd been looking for yesterday. There was a click behind them, but when Irving turned around the door they'd walked through was gone.
The two men stared at each other in disbelief as the thumping got louder, and became distinguishable as music in the night club they'd been at. It sounded like the same band, even.
They made a bee line for the exit, and headed home as fast as they could.
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