9PTG: Alright, it's the obligatory falling-through-a-dimensional-rift story. I figure every writerwrites one of these sometime in their life, unless they don't. They're fun, and whatever wants to happen can happen. Only thing that annoys me about a lot of them is the Mary Sue/Gary Stu. (shudder) So, here is Lian Actualis, who is by no means aMary Sue. Which fact hopefully becomes quite apparent.
This may stand alone, may turn long. I really don't know; it just poped up. I can't spell popped.
Really, I just wrote it partly because it's fun, and partly I got tired of these things where the fight scenes happen and the protagonist ends up almost Mary-Sue-ishly winning all her (or Gary-Stu-ishly/his) fight scenes, relying on happenstance and almost freakish strength. How coincidences pop out of the snow…like daisies! And how everyone in the world is stupid enough to believe that they are from that world, just a "traveler."
(Finishes rant. Stops. Looks around at eerie quiet.) What?
Anyway, here you go. And the fight scenes? Well…yeah.
Lian got off the bus and turned right, stopping just before a rabid VW Golf slammed into her. "What the friggin' hell!" she yelled at the receding taillights, "s'posta friggin' stop when the bus comes, a-hole!" She shook her fist and visualized the car exploding.
"Dude, cool it." The kid who'd gotten off the bus behind her crossed the street, entered his house, and slammed the door behind him. Lian visualized him exploding, too.
The bus roared by as Lian began walking. She watched it turn the corner, wondering how the hell much homework she'd forgotten about and what was for dinner. Then she tripped on a rock, and stopped wondering altogether.
(break)
Lian saw the light through her eyelids before she opened them. She made to raise her head and open her eyes, but this did not seem to work out. She was frozen solid; not with cold, but frozen nonetheless. –Maybe it'll go away if I wait.- She decided to play a little guessing game, called, "where the hell am I?" -Hmmm, let's see. My backpack's still on. I'm lying down. Half on dirt, and half on stone. Dirt and stone floor—that's either a street, or a bottom floor of a building. Not cement; too uneven. Possibly…cobbles? Cobblestone? That works. Texture? Kinda dusty, though there's a puddle over there, can feel the wet spot with a soaked pant-leg. Alright, now for the light. Not really bright, and not direct. Shaded, rainy light. Noises? Wooden wheels, horse hooves, people's feet. And voices. Lots of voices. Smells: tomatoes, old meat, ashes, horse manure, dust, water.-
-Conclusion time! I'm lying on a street, half on a cobbled area, half on dirt. It's not a wet day, but there was rain at some point in the near past. There's some kind of event, or main street, or market, close by in that direction.-
Lian decided to try moving again. This time she had marginally more success: her head could move, she could twitch her fingers, and finally, she could open her eyes. Lian did so, curling and uncurling her fingers into fists. She'd been right about the light: the sky was covered by old clouds, scudding along at a steady rate.
Lian moved her head and looked around as much as she could. She was in a street (Hoo-hah! Mad deduction skills!). It was more of an alley, an offshoot from a major street that Lian's head was now facing. The street was crowded, but the people's backs were all facing her: the people were watching something in the middle of the street. Lian looked down. The ground was dirt, but there was a cobbled strip for runoff water. The puddle was actually a small stream, running from a house into the cobblestone drain, and it was soaking Lian's pant leg from the ankle up.
Lian, by the way, still couldn't get up.
She continued looking around. -It's rather surprising no one's come into this alley yet, it being connected to a main street and all.-
A trio of people ducked into the alley.
-Well, shit.-
Four people, it turned out; all men. One – more boy than man, probably in the range of fifteen – was being dragged by the other three. He was all but covered by a floor-length brown coat; those accompanying him were all in medieval garb, and not the best at that. Lian watched, head craned, as one of the boy's assailants picked him up by the neck and slammed him bodily against the wall. She heard a crack, and, next moment, the back of the boy's neck was dark with blood.
-They're mugging him within a yard of that crowd?- Lian drew her eyebrows together. –Either they're idiots, or he's…- she didn't finish the thought, because one of the men spoke.
"Check his pockets," the first man said. The other two were quick to comply. They rifled the boy's pockets, throwing the contents onto the ground. "Seeds, a purse, a knife," he put the wallet in his pocket, and held the knife up. The third man whistled.
"Real pig-sticker, huh?"
The second man nodded and shoved it in his pocket, then continued his search. "Handkerchief, more seeds," he said, then laughed, "the boy's plannin' on starting a Garden. You a Verdant, kid?"
The other two appreciated the joke.
The second guy threw the seeds in the gutter. "No!" the boy shouted, and jerked forward, reaching out a hand. The first guy took him by a fistful of collar and held him against the wall, a foot above the ground. The boy started to choke, and attempted to claw away the guy's hand. His eyes, though, never left the seeds being carried by the gutter, down to where Lian lay. He saw her and his eyes widened.
The first man noticed. "What's 'e starin' at?" He turned his head and saw Lian, then nodded, grinned, and jerked his head toward her. The other two drew back as the first guy dropped the boy – who promptly crumpled – and the three started toward Lian.
-Blast it,- thought Lian. She tried to move again, and to her delight, succeeded in raising herself to her knees, then to a crouch. Then she stayed on her haunches, fingertips on the ground, conserving her energy.
The men got closer, and Lian sized them up. The first guy was definitely the strongest of the three – after all, he'd picked up a kid larger than her with no difficulty. –Don't get caught by him.- She told herself. Then she amended, -or by the other guy,- because the third could could've been the first's brother, matching in build. The second guy…his grip she might be able to break. –Okay, you know what, Lian? Jus' don't get caught by any of them.- She watched them approach.
The first guy looked down, and Lian decided that his face was deeply disturbing. Without giving him time to rattle off any clever but menacing phrases, Lian darted forward, ducking under his arm. Maybe because she had the element of surprise, it worked.
She was past the first, but there were still two people blocking her way, and now there was no retreat.
Lian whirled to get all three in her view at once. This ended with her backing up toward a wall; not a position she liked. She looked around, then slipped out of her backpack and threw it toward the boy's dazed form. "Watch that for me, kid!" Then she turned back, still backing up toward the wall.
The men continued forward, staggering their advance. Lian looked around, weighed her chances, and darted into the space between the rightmost man and the wall. The three men lunged at once…
…and it became apparent that Lian was still recovering from the effects of inter-dimensional traveling. Her muscles stiffened suddenly, and she stumbled, slowing long enough for the third man to barrel into her and the second man to grasp her wrist. Lian fell into an awkward half-crouch and pulled away, rotating her wrist to claw at what she could of the man's hand. She glanced quickly toward the boy at the front of the alley. –Sorry, kid, but I'm gonna have to call you Bait.-
"Look! He's getting away!" She pointed toward the alley front, and apparently this struck a chord, because the three glanced up at once. Lian elbowed backward into the second man's abdomen, then twisted her wrist from his grasp. She ran toward the end of the alley, slowing at the end of it to grab her backpack and yell at the kid. What was he doing? "Quick, get the hell up!"
The kid was picking up his seeds.
Lian let out a sound of frustration, reached down, grabbed the kid's arm, and hauled him up. "The hell's the matter, kid? Move it!"
The men were gaining. She looked back at them, then ran toward the crowd, dragging the kid behind her. There was an empty space, void of people, and they broke through, Lian pushing behind and to her side, away from the men, the kid stumbling along behind. What was taking him so long? Lian looked back: the kid was covering his face with one of his arms, stumbling after her blindly. And just behind him was the first man, and Lian put on an extra burst of speed and broke through the end of the crowd, into the middle of the street.
The men stopped. They backpedaled, running back into the alley as fast as they could. Lian had no time to watch them: she turned around, to see what event they had interrupted.
And immediately ducked.
PTG: Man, Aren't you loving this? I'm loving this. Cliffhangers are fun.
I don't want to say what about this, because I don't want to bias your opinions. But REVIEW!