Under the Mango Tree: 101 Tales (3)

MILITARY ASSETS

Challenge No.53 - Fairy Tale Remake.

Write a scene or story that puts a character or characters from a fairy tale in a different situation.

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Despite the awful, sometimes horrific circumstances which cause a person to find themselves to be incarcerated, very often the jail cell provides the opportunity for reflection and course correction. Unfortunately, not often enough.

Pinocchio sat in the prison cell; his mind blank. So far it was all that he could manage. But recently he'd begun to thaw. That return to life was hastened by a visit.

The door to the cell creaked and groaned open. A little lubricant of any sort would have relieved the gate of its stress, but that was not to be.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in, Jimmy himself. No longer a cricket. Human, now I see."

"You should talk. You who have gone from puppet to boy, to man, to prisoner."

"What'd doing here... James? What'd you want?"

"The usual. Your welfare. I heard you were here. I came to see for myself."

"Now that you've seen... now what?"

"Why are you here? I mean, what did you do? How'd you get here?"

"I see you're still full of chatter."

"Pinocchio, my friend, I'm here to help, if you will let me."

Pinocchio sighed in surrender. "I joined the army."

"ARMY!" James screeched, then he saw Pinocchio's glare. "Sorry. Do go on."

"Well first, I'm a crack shot. I hit what I aim at, every time. I never miss."

"What? Never?"

"Never."

"How come?"

"I guess I got that way from hunting in the forest back home. You get more money if there are no pellets in the game. So, I aimed for a headshot every time. Word soon got around that game from Pinocchio had no pellets in it. Then the war broke out."

"Indeed. WWIII changed things for many of us."

"I signed up. As soon as they realized what I could do, they trained me as a sniper. I went from accurate to deadly. If I was given one hundred bullets, then I had one hundred kills. I never wasted my ammo. One-shot. One kill."

"I understand that. Such are the rules of war. That doesn't explain why you are in here."

"Did you ever ask yourself how the war ended?"

James frowned. "No."

"Without authorisation, I went in and ended it. Enough was enough. I see you don't understand."

"No. I don't."

"I know how to hunt. I know how to track. I know how to kill. That night, I went AWOL, I crept past enemy lines, entered the capitol, positioned myself and assassinated the Head of Empire of the Snake and his entire cabal. Ten shots. Ten kills. They didn't know what hit them and by the time they did, I was gone. With the head cut off, the snake died. Quite metaphoric I thought."

"And now someone is baying for your blood."

"No worries. I'm still a useful asset. No way the Army will let this get in the way of their agenda. There are lots more despots to deal with."

"Unfortunately, lots more."

© 22 April 2022

The story of Pinocchio may be read at https://storiestogrowby.org/story/pinocchio-fairy-tale-story-english-kids/

This link was valid at the time of posting.

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