Back to just me writing today, no AI stories … although ….
Jane’s heart froze …
Jane opened her eyes, thick-headed from a night interrupted by distant thunder. She rolled over, squinted at her bedside clock. Blank. She touched the bedside lamp. The room’s darkness held. Damn, an electricity cut.
Blinking, pushing back the covers, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet grateful for the coolness of the wooden floor. She lifted her hair from her sweaty neck. The air was warm, stuffy. Hadn’t she opened the window before crawling into bed, over-tired from spending too late a night marking homework?
She stood, her nostrils twitching. A faint smell of smoke. Worry snuck into the pit of her stomach. Smoke?
Jane pulled the curtains open to a grey day, the air hazy, fog like. Her worry crept from her stomach, snaking its way into her chest. The window was shut tight, and as Jane pushed it open, another boom came. She flinched. She sniffed. Smoke, not fog. Outside, which was good –
A boom. Another.
Not thunder. And then, to confirm her thought – sheets of soaring flames lit the gigantic alien ship hovering above the houses, turning the dawn sky red and gold before being hidden by spiralling clouds of black ash.
Jane’s heart froze.
Hell danced on the rooftops.
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Jane’s heart froze. There, within spitting distance in front of her, was a lioness with two cubs in tow.
She had only left the vehicle in which her group was travelling through the Kenyan savannah for a moment to find somewhere private to relieve herself when she looked up and noticed the animal eyeing her balefully.
Not daring to move in case the lioness decided to attack, Jane called for help. But no one in the group heard her – they were all too busy chatting and photographing the surrounding sights.
Jane shuffled cautiously backward hoping the family would ignore her. No such luck. The lioness inched forward, a low growl echoing threateningly from its throat.
“Cripes,” panicked Jane, “I think I could be in serious trouble here!!”
She called louder. Still no response from the group. What was the matter with them? Couldn’t they see she was in dire straits? After all, there was only a single tree separating her from her companions. They must have noticed what was going on by now!
Jane mentally measured the distance to the bus. Maybe if she broke into a full-scale run, she might just escape the lioness’s clutches.
The lioness crept closer, its tail twitching as it crouched on all fours ready to pounce.
Sweating profusely, Jane turned and sprinted. She could hear the pounding of feet as the animal gave swift pursuit.
“I’m gone,” she thought blindly. “Goodbye world and everyone in it!”
Suddenly, a shot rang out. Jane turned to see the lioness skulking back to her cubs as another rifle crack echoed through the savannah.
In a few more steps, she reached safety as her fellow travellers pulled her on board the bus.
Looking up, she was just in time to see the tour leader lower his hunting rifle and give her a relieved grin.
That’ll teach her to go before she leaves home, won’t it?
Sounds much more like you. Very dramatic!!
Ha ha – drama queen