《The Designated: Out of Control》Two
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Rob mused over the stupidity of robbing people while a hurricane was bearing down on everything. It wasn't like there was any place to go that would be made better with a few hundred bucks.
Oh well. He shook his head and guided the car north. He'd always planned to leave his commuter in the garage and take the SUV north with his bug-out trailer. It was a long drive to the mountains, but he'd planned for things going sideways for years. Hurricanes, civil unrest, there was always something that could upset the fragile balance the world had come to live in.
Thirty minutes later he pulled onto the grass alongside his driveway. He'd put the car in the garage after he pulled the SUV and trailer out. There wasn't really a rush...yet. He figured he'd take the time to shower, change, and do the laundry before finishing prepping the house and hooking up the trailer. Most of the neighbourhood had finished covering their windows and battening down the loose bits outside a few days ago. Some people were determined to ride it out, and a few had left for shelters or friends and family upstate.
Rob was well known, both as a veteran and an outdoors enthusiast, so when he started boarding up his place, all of a sudden other people started taking it seriously. If it was time for people like Rob to get out, then the civilians took their cues and started packing up.
Since he wasn't much of one for big TVs and stuff, most of what he valued was already securely packed in the SUV. He tossed on what was in the laundry hamper, and headed for the shower.
An hour later he was doing his final checks of the trailer connections when his neighbour Max walked across the lawn. She looked spooked, which wasn't her normal state.
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"Hey there. I thought you were headed out this morning." Rob called out.
"That's what I thought too, but my folks didn't show up and they aren't answering."
"Is that unusual?" Rob asked.
"Any other time, I wouldn't think so, but today? I'd think they would at least leave a message if they were going to be this late."
"Where would they be coming from?"
"Straight down the Interstate and over. It's a pretty straight run up I-75 to their place up across the state line."
"I'm passing near their place on my way north. Do you want to leave them messages and hop in? Either they can wait where they are and we can meet up, or I can drop you off at their place if they've had car trouble or something."
"Really? That would be awesome."
"Well I can't really leave you here hoping that they'll make it down in time for you all to get out safely. Besides, I haven’t had a chance to talk with your dad in awhile, it’ll be good to catch up. Get your stuff and leave them messages anywhere you think they might get them. Is your house shut down?"
“Yeah, sometimes I forget you and him knew each other back before I was born. Everything is done except the gas and power."
"Let's get your stuff loaded and you can message them from the road. The sooner we get out of town, the less likely we are to get stuck in traffic wasting fuel."
Thirty minutes later they were headed for I-75 and hopefully safety further north.
"Do we need to stop for anything?" Max asked.
"Unless you have sudden snack food cravings, we should be good for at least a few hours. I've been stocked and ready to go since the first forecasts started seriously comparing Irma to Andrew. Plenty of extra food and fuel in the trailer if we get stuck in traffic for a bit."
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"You're not one of those 'prepper' types, are you?" Max asked, making quotes with her fingers while she looked at him like he might be a bit crazy.
Rob chuckled. "Nope, not a crazy prepper type. Just a guy who likes to be self sufficient and have some options open to him. I grew up camping a lot, then the army taught me a lot more. Being prepared comes naturally."
"Okay, I think I can handle a boy scout army guy better than a crazy prepper." She said with a smile.
"Normally the driver picks the tunes, but in this case you can have first dibs, as long as we check in with traffic and weather."
"Are you sure? I might like Norwegian Death Metal, or Japanese string quartets."
"Do they even have those? The Japanese string quartets?"
"I have no idea." She laughed. "But if you're going to go, go all the way."
"Good rule." He chuckled. "So, what'll it be?"
"Well, let's start with some oldies or classic rock. That's middle of the road enough for a bit. Then maybe I'll torture you later." She said impishly.
"Fair enough. It sounds like you're feeling better."
"I'll be a lot better when I know what's up with my folks, but yeah, thanks."
"No worries. We'll stick together until we sort it out."
"I always wanted to ask you. This truck isn't exactly stock, is it? It looks like you're planning on doing some back country camping."
"Yeah, I've made a few improvements and had some work done. It's more efficient, more versatile, and helps turn camping into glamping." He said with a laugh. "I've spent enough nights cold and wet to know that I'd rather not spend any more nights cold and wet. Worst case we can rearrange things and sleep inside, but if it's decent out, the pack on the roof is actually a sleeping platform with foldout tent. They were designed for safaris and adventure travelling, but I like it because it keeps my delicate butt off the cold hard ground."
"Delicate? Yeah, I believe that one." She snorted.
"We used to say, 'Any idiot can be uncomfortable in the field.' and it's even more true when you have access to the wonders of the modern world. I'll take warm and dry."
"On that we are in agreement. Now what's for lunch? I brought sandwiches, and the coffee in the thermoses should still be warm from this morning."
"Well then, serve it up. In the cooler there you'll find snacks and drinks as well. Help yourself."
"Thanks. Any allergies I should be aware of? I wouldn’t want you to stop breathing and die while you’re driving…and I tend to go heavy on the mustard."
"Nope. That sounds good. If we see any coffee shops still open, we might want to stock up on fresh coffee so we don't have to set up the coffee pot until we stop somewhere for a good rest.”
“Why am I not surprised you have a coffee pot in there somewhere?” she waved her hand behind them.
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Of Men and Dragons, Book 2
Jack, S'haar, and all their family are back. After crashing his ship on an underdeveloped world, Jack found friends and family among the terrifying cat-lizard natives of the world, but now mere survival is no longer enough. They must carve out a new home for themselves in the landscape of the now rapidly changing world. Raiders, politics, and even nature threaten their happiness and their lives while they struggle to deal with the nightmares and traumas of yesterday. They'll need to depend on each other more than ever if they hope for their new home to have any kind of future. In case you missed it, here's book one. ATTENTION: This is soft sci-fi rather than hard sci-fi, hence why I chose that tag. For those of you unfamiliar with the distinction, here's what Wikipedia had to say. 1. It explores the "soft" sciences, and especially the social sciences (for example, anthropology, sociology, or psychology), rather than engineering or the "hard" sciences (for example, physics, astronomy, or chemistry). 2. It is not scientifically accurate or plausible; the opposite of hard science fiction. Soft science fiction of either type is often more concerned with character and speculative societies, rather than speculative science or engineering. The term first appeared in the late 1970s and is attributed to Australian literary scholar Peter Nicholls.
8 226A Goblin's Tale
This is the story of a nameless Goblin. He lives alone in the dark dungeon, battling Mimics and Slimes in the darkness. Everyday in the dark dungeon is to live with Death breathing down your shoulder. It is a place where only the strong survive and the weak is devoured. But this particular Goblin is different. He raids the dungeon not for weapons and armor to arm himself, but for books and knowledge stashed away in some forgotten corner. But life isn't that simple. What happens when adventurers that fight monsters for a living and a Goblin that avoids adventurers to live accidentally stumble paths with each other? This is the story of a nameless Goblin and how his life changed. Both for the worse, and for the better. Word Count: 2,000 Words Minimum per Chapter Update Schedule: Once a week, maybe.
8 152The Book of Mors: Summoned
Around two thousand years ago, The world of Acoria suffered what is known as The Great Calamity, turning the continent of Teknish into a smouldering wasteland, irradiated by chaotic mana and ravaged by savage energy storms, causing the surviving sentient races to flee to the much smaller and resource deficient continent of Malthasia. The year is now 2101 AGC (After Great Cataclysm) and the intense competition for space and resources has left humanity with only three surviving kingdoms, protected by the nearly impassable mountains of the Antaeth basin. Standing on the verge of collapse, the human kingdom of Vonai is forced to perform a summoning ritual, ripping souls from another dimension and implanting them into magically created bodies. Little do they know that by doing so, they have changed the fate of the world and everyone in it, for, in the infinite dimensions of the mortal realm, there are some existences you do not want to provoke. BOM:Summoned: 2-3 releases per week Evolution tree dynamics Limited stats/Game style mechanics Mature language/Graphic Violence Varying paces between action/adventure and information based chapters Special Thanks To: Solfyr - Contributor and inspirational genius
8 165Doomed Dungeon
Bastill is kidnapped and sacrificed. Turned into a dungeon by his captor, furthermore they plan to return in five years to collect the matured dungeon core. While his stats are reverted back to the first level, will he be able to overcome his enemy? With experiences from his human life, watch as Bastille builds his dungeon into a fortress, amass an army, and level up. Will he protect his core when the time comes? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please send me art! I will use it and treasure it! ART... I really would like your art... PLease? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Started on {5/15/2018} Feel free to crtitique the writing. Its in a rough Draft right now. If I get decent enough feedback I may continue on writing it.
8 191Little Giant
A Mecha Fan tripped by fate, suddenly isekai'd into a fantasy world with the worst possible start. He is of the grass folk, small tiny bipedal people, with greenish skins and pointy grass hats. They are not fairies, but they are an offshoot. Some corners of the continent, people call them the fair folk, people who never intervenes, never intertwines, never do anything. Now discover the Journey of this Reborn and his struggles and his dreams of achieving to be a mecha pilot or a knight. Author Note #2 Will take couple weeks break after epilogue to backlog chapters for the second installment.
8 1058Monsters Came Following
This story sets in the modern world where our protagonist returns to. After being abandoned, the once hero became a demon king as his fate sets him forward into. His adventures in the another world can upon an end after ascending and being forcefully sent back into earth. Yuan lives his life ordinarily in his homeworld but things don't just end as how it should be. If only that Gates didn't appear in four months of time after he had returned. If only that everything remained as simple. But no, it didn't. Monsters came out of these gateways and wreck havoc in the human world, games are starting and his life of simplicity didn't go as planned. On the good side, he got kids, well there's three of them and he can reunite with his wife - speaking of which, the four were the masterminds. This story is randomly written. Have vague ideas on how it should end. This story is present at first on scribble hub, doing my best to catch up.
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