A new year is just around the corner and it's time to jump back into some collaborative writing!
1. Every Friday a new post will be pinned at r/WritingPrompts with a 200-ish word starter for your story.
There will be a variety of themes and genres to work with. After the initial "prompt" portion of the story, it will need a "Middle" and an "Ending". That's where you come in.
2. Every participant must write a 300 word "Middle".
You must have a top-level reply to the post that is 100 to 300 words and continues the story without ending it. Leave room for the next writer to add their creative touch.
You must title your comment with the following: <2/3>.
3. Once you have written a "Middle" you are qualified to write an "Ending".
You may reply to someone else's "Middle" section with an "Ending" to the story. It must be 100 to 300 words and finish the story.
Title your comment with the following: <3/3>.
4. Comments can then be placed on the "Ending" section.
Non-story comments can only be placed on the stickied comment thread or after an "Ending" as a reply.
Top level or second level comments will be removed if they are not story sections.
5. "Middle" comments are due by Tuesday 11:59PM CST. "Ending" comments are due by Wednesday 11:59PM CST
Yes!
Use comments and upvotes to identify your favorite thread! Reply to the Ending comment with your feedback and that thread will be considered for "Commenter's Choice".
There will of course be my favorite thread as well: "Cheetah's Choice".
That makes a whole lot more sense if you join our discord and see my profile pic.
Thorindi was a brutal place to be stranded. A featureless desert planet, marred by the deep trenches scooped out of the sand by its predator species.
Elmira pulled herself from the wreckage of her starfighter and surveyed the surroundings. She had heard of this place, but seeing it in the flesh made her knees shake. Or maybe it was the dehydration?
She stumbled forward, knowing that there was only one way to get water on the surface of Thorindi. She had to kill a goortik–
Before she could finish that thought, the ground began to rumble. Sand settled and filled in the nearby trenches as a cloud of dust billowed up in the distance.
She ran back and reached into the fighter's cockpit, smashing the controls. To her horror, the weapon systems were not responding. She was on her own.
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Welcome to Follow Me Friday!
• All top level comments must be a 100-300 word story “Middle”.
• Refrain from posting comments until an “Ending” has been added.
• Use this thread for off-topic comments, questions, or suggestions for future themes.
• Feel free to reply to this comment to mention your thoughts on the story starter. Was it easy to come up with a continuation? Did you enjoy it? Could it be improved?
4 more replies
<2/3>
Doom filled Elmira's empty stomach like the individual particles in a sand timer. There, they finally settled, leaving tears spilling down her eyes - water, the source of life, forbidden from her for so long.
What sounded like a hurricane ravaged outside, howling like desperate wolves, thrashing the barren terrain like a whip, merciless, cruel. Elmira gave a deep sigh, holding back further tears. She had not been appointed captain for nothing; if her commander had seen her like this, what would they think?
Eventually, the sound outside stopped, and she stepped outside her broken ship, her throat dry, her stomach groaning in agony, her legs screaming at her each step she took. The sun beat down on her, an inevitable beast from whom she had no escape from. Yet she was determined to survive.
Her heart dropped as she saw what was in the distance.
At first it appeared as black, a silhouette hiding the true identity of the thing. But then it stayed as black, no doubt unchanged, as she neared it.
It was a piano, worn from age. Splinters littered the floor, nearly disguised in the sand, and scartch marks covered its surface as if a painter had given up on a piece, and in a fit of rage vandalised their own creation. What was it doing here?
For some unknown reason, Elmira's heart beat down like a metronome accompanying an instrument, and her hand shook as it neared the intimidating object of her curiosity.
She pressed down a note.
<3/3>
As if a creature suffering from some terrible wound, the note screeched in a high-pitched cry. She wasn't particularly surprised - given the state of its exterior alone, Elmira knew it would be a miracle if any of the inner mechanisms survived.
'...But how is a human invention here?''
The inquiry had infested her thoughts almost as quickly as the sheer alarm had. Music wasn't even a discovered innovation in some galactic sectors, and the chances of an exact replica of an Earth-made instrument? She'd be a fool to believe it to be feasible.
One by one, Elmira's fingertips forced the keys down -- each releasing a sad sort of wheezing of breath, as though a chain-smoker was hiding within the devices compartments.
'So if This could have only been brought here from Earth, then why bother in the first place?' Despite her attempts to sustain a level-head, naught tempted her attention more than the mysteries of the stranded piano. 'And if someone dragged this thing here, that must mean-'
"Ah, am I interrupting you?" A bespectacled man in a plain white waistcoat asked in a purposefully gentle tone.
"Who the hell are you?" Elmira spat instantly. "What kind of madman goes to a desolate planet with a piano?"
"Going for insults right away, huh? I prefer the title musician, but-"
"Oh god, you're insane."
"I'm sorry about your aircraft, I really am." The stranger glanced guiltily to the wayside. "I didn't mean to endanger you during its destruction-"
"You were the one that shot me down? I checked on my radar, this is the only interstellar vehicle on the planet, why would-"
"That's twice you've interrupted me. But alas, I shall grant your answer."
He gestured towards the Grand piano.
"A duet is always better than a solo act."
<2/3>
The searing sun beats down upon the shifting golden sands. Elmira's thoughts spin around lazily in her parched mind as she tries to come up with a plan. "I need those weapons," she tolls herself.
The rumbling grows as sand rises up into the air. Elmira retreats into the cockpit as the small dust cloud turns into a raging cyclone; the sand twisting and turning mesmerizingly in the air. Stray bolts of lightning strikes down out of seemingly nowhere, bursts of sand being shocked into brilliant glass.
Elmira wasn't paying attention to any of this. Sweat streaming from her brow; consuming the little that was left of her precious water supply, pressing buttons seemingly at random. But it wasn't working. Elmira sighed with defeat, the terminal flickering hauntingly.
Outside, the storm grew; sand coming down in thick clumps, shards of glass clinking against the fiber glass of the hull windows. Far off in the storm, a glint of silver flashes as roars reverberated through the orange waves. Beasts roar their fury as they approach the marooned ship, gnashing their teeth. Lightning striking all around them.
Elmira gave a cursory glance through the glass and almost dropped the loose wires in her hand out of sheer shock.
How terrible was her luck? Within an hour of crashing upon the yellow wastes, they have found her. They were beasts of legend. Not many have not heard of their ferocity but, alternatively, not many know of their appearance. They have a simple name. A name that, strangely, remains the same all over the galaxy.
Sand sharknado: A certain end.
A set of jaws clamp on an external metal plate; trying to find purchase and rip off the armour. Elmira stares into empty red eyes and whispers a silent prayer to an absent god.
<2/3>
Left in a less than favorable situation, Elmira's survival instincts immediately accelerated into overdrive.
"I mean, I was gonna' end up killing one anyway, but couldn't I just be granted a breather before-"
Complaint cut rudely short, the stranded bounty hunter was forced to hurtle herself out of the vessel back-door, avoiding meeting the unfortunate fate of being crushed by a reptilian.
"ScrrrrrrraaaaaAAAA!" the Goortik cried, in what could be perceived as an accurate impression of a monkey exhibit set aflame.
Elmira winced at the memory of the Earth-inhabiting species. She'd been reminiscing about home for far too long, and all that did was imbue a potent feeling of home-sickness right in her psyche. And, if common sense proved true, feeling melancholic wasn't a particularly great distraction when being tackled by the most hideous creature this side of the galaxy. Aside of course, spiders, which was undoubtedly the prime caveat in Elmira's decision in deserting her home-planet.
But more importantly, she had to focus -- the parched texture of her throat, while fitting with the desert theme of Thorindi, could only be resolved by the quenching of water.
And so, the hunter extended an arm into her pocket, and forcefully launched head-first towards the approaching Goortik.
Immediately recoiling in a wild frenzy, the beast went for the most logical move. Eating her whole.
Just as she'd intended, Elmira hunched on her hindlegs within its jaw, and tossed a compact grenade right inside its stomach. She barely had time to leap to the wayside before crimson innards splattered all over her.
"Well, I did get the water..." she commented, stepping closer to a small pool of sapphire liquid. "This doesn't seem hygienic though."
Despite her grievances, Elmira refreshed herself. She'd need to to complete the real reason she'd came here.
The water flowed down her throat like a long-awaited birthday. Elmira closed the lid of her container, knowing she would need to preserve the liquid, before returning to her stranded ship. The technology needed to complete the seemingly impossible task had survived the crash.
"To prove her loyalty," as her commander had so kindly put.
Without her ship, the journey across the planet was a struggle. She trudged hopelessly past an ocean of sand, every hour or so digging a sizeable hole and throwing a tracker into it. Already, she regretted taking such a small amount of water, but the small size of Thorindi proved a life-saver. Literally...
Eventually, Elmira returned to her ship. Without the computer systems working, it would prove a challenge to activate all the trackers, yet after a frustrating hour that proved the Earth-equivalent of your WIFI not working, she managed.
And all those that had doubted her...
She accessed the trackers, looking at interesting statistics such as the amount of sand and life-forms on the planet. She messaged them to everyone she knew, a broad smile puncturing her face. This was more satisfying than the water.
Now hopeful, she honed in on the life-form statistic. A heinous amount of Goortik roamed the sandbox-like planet. Just her luck...
But when she checked the amount of spiders, she smiled further.
"Yep. I can live here. None of those creepy-looking pricks will ruin my morning ever again. Paradise, here I come!"
<2/3>
Elmira had hope.
She held on that morning. When she miraculously killed a goortik with just her side-arm.
She had it that evening, while she converted the ship’s fuel into warmth. When the day’s scorching heat became sub-zero.
That night, she got a call from the commander on her makeshift transponder.
Around midnight, she smashed the device against the ground and cried herself to sleep.
Rescue isn’t coming.
Elmira woke up to the sounds of moving machinery. Her body swung left and right, shaking sand off. She was resting in what appeared to be a hammock. The coarse threads of the netting cradled her body in a tight yet reassuring manner.
She should be dead. Abandoned along with those fallen in her crew. Instinctively her hands reached down to her stomach. Shocked that someone would redress her bandages.
Elmira was more shocked to smell a familiar aroma wafting in the room. Crispy chicken? Her mouth wanted to water, reminding her of the dryness in her throat.
She followed the smell, leading her to a weather beaten door in the back. Elmira tiptoed to the door, cracking it enough just to peek through.
Bug-Men.
Humans DNA spliced with insects. Anything goes to get an edge, back in the Old War. Eventually, a truce was settled. Along it’s many agreements was to terminate the use of human altering experiments. Those already altered we’re called back, with a promise to revert the splicing. Those who returned were never heard from again.
Yet here two were, sitting at a spool shaped table. Slicing chunks off a spit roasted gorrtik with a bladed appendage.
Elmira’s blood ran cold. When one of the laughing bug-men took a moment to glance in her direction, and waved for her to come over.
2/3
Elmira took a deep breath and reminded herself that Banshee’s don’t fear, they bring fear. She spat on the controls and cursed them for her momentary lapse. Turning to the small bay behind the cockpit she pushed aside the corpse of her scholar-maiden, Drelemon, and found the only weapon she truly needed. Her custom-made war hammer.
Smiling, Elmira leapt from the wreckage to the sand. A second bigger tremble caused her to momentarily lose her balance. If Drelemon hadn’t died, the weakling, she would have recited, for the hundredth time, that the second was a warning that the goortik was actively hunting.
Elmira surveyed the vicinity; the disruption of dust was getting closer. She gave her weapon a loving caress, pulled a chain near its head, and watched as the hidden motor brought it to life. She marveled in its viciousness. It was blunt on the front, pointy in the back, and whirling blades on the side. A death machine unlike any other.
Elmira screamed her thanks for the honor of being the first Banshee to bring death to Thorondi, and it resonated around her, creating a shimmering field of wailing echoes. She dug her heels in and prepared for the fight.
Fifty meters out the ground heaved and the predator emerged.
Elmira’s only thought was, Drelemon got a few things wrong about these goortik.
<3/3>
The thing that erupted from the sandy earth was no worm. No beast of smooth plating and spiralled teeth. No. Not even close.
It glowed a bioluminescent green as it poured upwards; like lava from a volcano. It merely seemed to absorb anything in its way as it rose. Like an unsatiable slime, it washed over rocks and dunes in its pursuit of the only edible thing for miles. Elmira.
Backing up, Elmira gave the unconventional leviathan a final fearful look before turning into a full burst sprint in the opposite direction. "Shit shit, this ain't gonna put a dent in that thing!" Elmira breathed, as she threw the giant war hammer behind her, the considerable weight loss giving her a much needed boost in speed.
Despite all of this however, the nightmarish wave oozed ever closer, its squelching terrible tendrils ringing louder and louder in Elmira's ears. Her instincts flared as they sensed some unseen danger and Elmira dove to her left, narrowly dodging a translucent appendage lunging from behind.
And that's when it came to her.
The beast was still fifteen metres behind. From its writhing twisting body, thin torrents of white mist rose into the hot air as the sun baked it from above. It looked like a mirage of sand and steam as the gelatinous flesh bubbled, releasing more precious water. Even as the creature advanced, it shrunk under Elmira's gaze. The sun siphoning away its life.
A spindly limb reached for Elmira's boot; barely grazing it as it melted away. What was left of the behemoth attempted a hasty retreat, diving into the sand and sinking to its blessedly cool depths mere centimetres away.
"Heh," Elmira gave a shaky laugh. "Goortik. More like Goo-rtik." She mumbled as she stood to retrieve her discarded war hammer.
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