Welcome to the Weekly Challenge Number Two Hundred and Six, where I post a topic and then challenge you to come up with a 100 word story based on that topic.
The topic this week was… was…. um…
It’s Danger Zone!
VOTING
Go ahead and listen to them and then vote for your favorites (multiple selections are allowed):
Steven
The bomb disintegrates the glass wall of the bank in the musical
disharmony of a thousand xylophones in a trash compactor. The
concussion throws me and the few others who were standing in line to
the ground. My mouth serves up a single whispered word:
“terrorists”. I scan the area for bearded, turbaned men before I
remember to feel guilty.
The plump woman beside me wears a dress cut too low for her. I wonder
how I have time to notice her clothes. She points at the masked and
spandexed figures entering the bank and whispers:
“Not terrorists. Worse. Villans.”
Zachmann
I am the super hero called FlagMan. My job is to warn you that you are about to enter the Danger Zone in the middle of which is the Danger Hole. Have you ever noticed how many people podfaded. Many volunteered to make the search when Christiana did not return from the Danger Hole and were never seen again. Poor, brave souls. I will do what I can to stop you form entering but hope that only involves you heeding my warning. Did I mention the panthers, giant rats, and evil mimes. Stay away from the Danger Zone.
Ross
“WHAT did you just say?” Charlene asked, interrupting John mid-response.
John mentally reviewed what he had said and blushed. He fidgeted on the couch, staring at his hands, the floor, anywhere to avoid eye contact with his visibly irate girlfriend.
“What I meant is- Um, I mean- Well, I was just saying-” he stammered.
“You want to watch what you say next, honey. You’re already in the danger zone. What comes out of your mouth is going to seal your fate.”
John forced himself to meet her angry stare. “Uh, I’m really sorry?”
“You’re STILL sleeping on the couch tonight.”
TJ
Interstellar sophistos have been avoiding the system Sol Toxa for millions of years. A touring package at the time parked on Ganymede and slipped past Mars and Terra on a fuel run to Venus. During the layover, the runabout carrying the chancellor’s daughters failed orbit and sank inexorably into the gravity well of the planet. Plumes of sulfuric acid escaped the fuel cells of the pleasurecraft and reacted with the atmosphere. The lawsuit was astronomic. The entire system was declared an environmental hazard and a danger zone. Beacons were placed and no-one’s been back since – not even on a dare.
Anima (with Arri)
Joey looks up, startled by the loud noise to his right. He ducks instinctively, covering his ears and closing his eyes. Shrapnel rains down, peppering him with fragments of glass and the remains of the lamp from the living room.
Counting to twenty three (ten isn’t enough time), he slowly allows himself to uncurl from the fetal position he has learned to assume to minimize injury. Joey squints, surveying the damage. Everything seems calm; the dust is settling. He sees his older brother staggering towards the kitchen.
When Dan’s been drinking all day, home is the danger zone, downtown Kirkik.
R Orion D
Ever wonder why people jump from a perfectly good airplane? I do. Not all the time, mind you, but right now. Especially with the flashing lights of “Mr. Service With Integrity” blinding me in the mirror. The Skydiver jumping from 10,000 feet had the option to stay on the plane till it landed. I could of pulled over after running the light 10 miles ago.
Now with heart racing, everything moving in slow motion, and a likely stay at county I’m grinning like a mad man. Am I? No. That’s far from the truth.
You only live once.
Keeme
The ship found after being lost in space for so long. This is the account by the only known survivor, in his own words. “I can’t stop thinking about the others, they haunt me so. I only ever thought of me, me, me! I know I left them out there, but they never gave me any respect! ‘Don’t leave me alone. Wait for me!’ They laughed when I cried. That machine with its ‘DANGER’ this and ‘affirmative’ that. No one messes with ME. Now we’re doomed means YOU’RE DOOMED! Oh, the pain, the pain.” Dr Smith
Norval Joe
Charlie the gnome froze at the edge of the concrete walk that lead from the street to the front door. His signature inane grin spread between the stylized apple red cheeks.
The danger zone. It was folly to cross it, especially during the day. He could move anywhere in the garden, as long as he was carefull. The humans were too stupid to remember where they had placed the decorative statuette.
He couldn’t wait till dusk. His arch nemesis, Senior Gargago, el gnomo de jardin, was already about to slip under the neighbors fence and out of Charlie’s grasp, forever.3206
Justin
Price examined the map and sighed. With the damage the ship had sustained, the only route fast enough to get his crew home before the remaining fuel ran out would take them through the Adumreb Elgnairt. He’d have to have a careful talk with the superstitious sailors to avoid mutiny.
Once the sailors fears were compared with a sure death at sea, they rallied to risk the Adumreb Elgnairt.
The ship moving as fast as possible, Price’s worst fear came true. Mere feet in front of the bow a ship appeared from thin air. All hands were lost at sea.
JRadimus
“On your first day at the mill, they drill it into your head about safety, staying clear of the “danger zones”. They thought that was a clever name for the parts of the machines any fool should have known to stay clear of, anyway.
“Fast-forward 10 years, you develop a rhythm. You become one with your machine. You learn how much buffer they built in to their ‘danger zones’, and you take short-cuts. That’s how veterans keep up with more nimble rookies. Well, don’t. It’s stupid.”
“Well, thank you for that wisdom, Mr. Johannsen.”
“Just call me ‘Hook’. Everyone does.”
Planet Z
There hasn’t been a soul in Danger Zone, Utah in over 100 years.
It wasn’t a mining town, but a trading post that built up as prospectors headed West to seek their fortune.
Provisions, hookers, gambling… they had it all.
The problem was, of course, was that this all was in Utah, and they didn’t like all that going on right under their noses.
So, there was a fire. And those who tried to rebuild, they had another fire.
All that remained standing was the church.
But with nobody left in Danger Zone, well, what was the point of it?