Short Stories

Three Strikes, You're Out!

I woke up with a feeling of dread. I checked the time and I was already late for school. Gosh, what a way to start the day.

I showered quickly grabbed an apple and set out down the footpath after fumbling a bit with the front gate. I was still groggy from having woken up and I wasn't paying any real attention to my surroundings.

My sense of foreboding increased dramatically and I looked off into the distance.

Funny. I wondered why that ball was getting bigger.

Then it hit me.

I staggered back in surprise and blinked. I lost my balance and fell down what looked like an open manhole.

When I regained consciousness, my vision was blurry and my hearing muffled. I felt something like a weight taken off of my chest and I took in a deep breath. My vision cleared and things looked brighter now. However, I couldn't hear much and strange sounds persisted.

My clothes felt constricting and uncomfortable.

I found I was wearing a long black trench coat laden with buttons and belts and buckles. A golden gear emblem decorated the breast-pocket.

Suddenly I was slapped in the face.

I turned quickly to look at the offender. A small girl, dressed in a similar fashion, who couldn't have been more than eight or nine stood looking down at me a shocked expression on her face. She looked like my sister, Cornelia.

"Evan, why are you still alive?" she asked me sounding as baffled as I felt. I didn't answer.

She pursed her lips.

"Don't just sit there, answer me," she demanded. She raised her hand to strike me again.

I decided this was the best time to see if she was my sister.

"Corney is that you," I asked and she winced.

Yup, it was her. I looked around. I was sitting in a ditch and the strange noise I had been hearing became much clearer. A loud roaring noise filled my ears and I covered them protectively.

"What is that noise? Where am I?" I asked feeling more disoriented than ever. My sister, who now looked somewhat like a hardened criminal, handed me something that looked like a cross between a sword and rifle. I was stupefied.

"Corney!" I cried in surprise. Why would my sister have this?

She scowled at me (she hated her nickname) and pressed one of the many gear shaped buttons on her coat. She did the same for me, pulling me to my feet.

"Your shield won't last forever," she said, "You may be confused now but I guess that's just what happens when you somehow survive three strikes. Get out and take down as many of the invaders as you can. The committee wants some hostages so avoid shooting to kill and bring them back here. Once you get out there, you'll know what to do," she pushed another button her coat and deployed something like a grappling hook that helped her out of the trench.

As she went over the ledge she yelled out to me:

"Don't forget the main rule, THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT!"

"Corney wait!" I called after her but to no avail. Frantically I pushed random buttons and buckles. When nothing else seemed to have effect, I pressed on the emblem. Without warning I was thrust into the air, landing expertly on my feet outside the ditch in a tightly packed forest.

Instinctively I grabbed my weapon and ran into the thicket following the roar until I reached a clearing.

I was greeted by an ugly scene of motionless soldiers sprawled on the ground covered in blood next to things that looked less than human.

There were soldiers with bloody faces and crimson splatters on their uniform fighting on the ground and in the air, battling humanoid things that outnumbered them ten to one.

Their limbs were metallic, gleaming in the sunlight. I supposed that those were the invaders Cornelia mentioned.

I stood rooted to the ground, paralysed and unable to do anything until I spotted my little sister, going at it with an invader. I steadied myself and took aim.

I pulled the trigger and the invader went down, a gaping hole in its head.

My accuracy amazed me. But I didn't have much time to feel proud of myself. My shot had given away my position.

I felt a pain in my abdomen, sharp and piercing. An unforeseen enemy had stabbed me with its blade. Its unfeeling eyes bore into me as it drew out its blood-stained sabre. I sank to my knees. I guess my shield's time had run out.

Strike one.

I put a hand on my stomach expecting to find an open wound that would lead to my quick blood loss and eventual death. Instead, there was nothing. My clothing wasn't even ripped.

I leapt into the shrubbery and covered myself with leaves and twigs. Things were starting to feel like routine to me now, odd as that may sound.

I still had no idea what was happening or what those invaders were or why everyone was dressed in such strange clothes.

I didn't understand how I knew to shoot certain adversaries in the legs and how I predicted the right time to drag them into the bushes and tie them up. I could barely tie my own shoelaces without them coming easily undone.

By the time I started to haul away some hostages, taking them back to the ditch that I had appeared in, it was afternoon. I was met by a person who looked akin to my friend Billy. Except he looked even more like a hardened criminal than ever and he wore an eyepatch. He must have been my superior in this world because he looked at my captives with a certain anticipation.

"Well done Bondaruk," he said stiffly, deigning to pat me on the shoulder. War had made him soft. Billy would never do such a thing. Billy walked in the direction of the clearing.

"It's a pity you couldn't remember your training, though," he said pulling up his sleeve, revealing polished metal.

"You couldn't see that I wasn't your trusted friend. How will you humans ever manage to protect your measly planet from us" he sneered. Gears turned in his arm and it reconfigured into a gun. Without giving me time to react he shot.

Pain. All I could feel was the agonising pain in my head.

Strike two.

It took longer this time to heal. When the torment finally subsided I was starting to grasp what was happening at last.

I moved more briskly towards the clearing than I had the first time. When I reached the sun was setting and things were getting harder to see. Not as many humans were falling now. It seemed that more invaders were being defeated than there had been during daylight.

I used my sword this time, running through opponents as though it was second nature. They were bloodless creatures which made it fairly easy to do without guilt. Reaching into one of my many pockets I pulled out pellets and reloaded the firearm component of my weapon.

I switched to rifle and aimed upwards at the attackers in the air.

They fell like leaves from a vine. While I dragged a select few off to the bushes again I felt a presence behind me.

A shadow loomed over me, with a large rock in its hands. It brought it down heavily on my head.

Strike Three.

I was out.

I opened my eyes. I rubbed my aching head. I was still standing where I had been when that ball hit me. I looked around for the manhole I had fallen into but it wasn't anywhere to be found. I picked up the ball and looked around for the owners but no one was around aside from the kids on their way to school.

I checked my watch but barely any time had passed. I started to wonder if anything interesting really had occurred. I put the ball down and carried on, the feeling of dread I had woken up with no longer there.

"Evan!" a voice called. It was Evan waiting at the bus stop ready to leave me behind. I walked up to him, putting a greeting hand on his shoulder, a hand he promptly removed. 

It was good to be back.