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    Urban Nightmares: Tales of Horror and Wonder
    Urban Nightmares: Tales of Horror and Wonder
    Urban Nightmares: Tales of Horror and Wonder
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    Urban Nightmares: Tales of Horror and Wonder

    By Ronn Hanley

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    About this ebook

    We live in a tiny bubbles of time and space.

    The world around us is more amazing and terrifying than we will ever know.

    We wrap our lives in the familiar to stave off fear of the unknown.

    However, from time to time our safe world brushes against the edge of reality and the bubble pops.

    In that moment we realize that the world is darker and more mysterious than we imagine.

    Welcome to Urban Nightmares.

    Here are 4 stories of wonder and terror intended to remind us that our world is not as safe as we'd hope...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRonn Hanley
    Release dateMar 18, 2017
    ISBN9781370016877
    Urban Nightmares: Tales of Horror and Wonder
    Author

    Ronn Hanley

    I have been writing on and off (for fun) for more than 20 years. About 5 years ago I finally ran out of excuses as to why I wasn't publishing and writing every day like I should have been. At that point I got serious about learning the craft. Creativity and writing doesn't happen in a vacuum and I know now that sharing is what writing is really all about. For a long time I didn't trust my own voice, but that's something that you have to get over if you want to be a writer. I am doing what I've always loved and that's really the point of it.

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      Book preview

      Urban Nightmares - Ronn Hanley

      © October 2016 Ronn Hanley

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law

      Mall Busters

      Although his mother had told him to stay home until she got there, Tim found himself walking the green and white tile floors of the Springpoint Station Mall. He was risking a scolding, but for a chance to play ‘The Game’ he figured that it was worth it.

      He reached into his pocket and took out his last quarter. A lucky quarter, or so his father had told him. It flashed brightly in the light from the overheads.

      The arcade entrance stood across from him. He stood staring at it for a moment. For some reason he felt a little apprehensive about entering. Dozens of times in the past he’d been here with friends and had not thought twice about going in, but this one time, there was a feeling of dread that knotted the pit of his stomach.

      For a moment he considered leaving, he even began to turn away when the weight of the quarter in his hand reminded him of what he was there for. The moment of indecision passed as he felt the challenge well up in him again. The machine was in there. The unplayable, unbeatable game that had become the bane of his life.

      He wrapped his fingers around the coin and entered the dark.

      Odd metallic bleeps and whines filled the air around him. Every color of the rainbow assaulted the walls and floor of the darkened room. The other machines in the room called to him in robotic voices. Enticing him to deposit a quarter and try his luck. He ignored these machines. His quarry was in the far back.

      It stood alone. A jet-black cabinet surrounded on three sides by a green nimbus of neon light. The light pulsed slowly, almost like a heartbeat. Three control sticks, flanked by six buttons, each with a different function. The controls were some of the hardest to manage and so far no one had made it past the first level.

      Without being totally aware of his actions, he bowed to the machine, as if saluting it. He held out his quarter, only hesitating to look at it once more. A lucky quarter, his father had said. Then he slid it into the slot.

      The pulsing green stopped and faded down a little. The lights on the screen changed and several map screens appeared. Each one showed a different layout for a building. One was the mall.

      Above the map screens glowing green letters asked, Please choose your arena.

      Using one of the control sticks he moved the glowing cursor over to the map of the Mall.

      The screen blanked out then another replaced it, Please choose scout or destroyer class.

      He moved to the smaller swept wing scout ship. It was less powerful than the destroyer, but it was faster, more maneuverable and it packed a good punch. It would do.

      Again the screen cleared and then a final legend appeared Do you wish to test fire weapons systems?

      --- ----

      Will Branson, chief of Mall security noticed the lights dim at the far back end of the mall as he walked the corridor between Macys’ and Sears. People streamed around and behind him, but since they were ordinary shoppers and intent on their own tasks, he paid them no mind.

      The three teenagers that he had been following had gone into the record store, and for the moment were acting normally, but Will knew one of them to be a gang member and he’d busted the kid before for stealing CD’s.

      It happened that he was standing by one of the support pillars looking at the teens through the glass front of the store when a cloud passed in front of the sun. Or at least that was what he thought at first. When the light flickered green he realized it had nothing to do with the sun. He looked up and noticed some sort of disturbance in the air near Macys. As he watched a small green blob of light took shape in mid-air. It seemed to twist and turn within itself, like a snake with a broken back. The blob was fuzzy at first but quickly resolved itself into a small green glowing …thing.

      Will tilted his head in confusion looking at the little intruder. It was shaped like a spaceship out of some alcoholic dream. For some reason it looked familiar to Will, though he realized how ludicrous that sounded. As he watched the little ship rotated left and right. He could see small jets of yellowish flame shooting from the wings as it turned.

      Some of the other shoppers had noticed it and were stopping to gape at it. The little ship turned to regard them, and Will got the oddest impression that the thing could see.

      It moved forward a bit and a hush fell over the crowd of onlookers. Without warning, a bright green pencil of light shot from the front end. The hanging chandelier over the fountain exploded and fell into the water. Sparks and hot metal fragments blasted in all directions.

      The shoppers moved as a wave, shouting and dropping items as they ran. Another of the bright flashes issued forth and the front two windows of Macys dissolved in a spray of glass and sparks.

      Will tried to fight his way through the crowd to get to the little ship, but he was swept along with them as they bolted for the exits. For a moment the familiarity was forgotten as he tried to keep his feet under him and not go down under the press of bodies.

      --- ---

      Tim was enjoying himself. So far the controls had proven not to be a major problem. He’d learned how to control the ship motions and after a few seconds found a way to answer the game questions. When it had asked him about testing the weapons systems, he answered yes. The ship oriented on a large crystal chandelier that hung two levels above a fountain. He pressed the button and watched as a green lance moved from the ship to the chandelier. It exploded spectacularly and fell to the ground with a crash. Oddly enough, he thought he heard glass break in the distance.

      ‘Wow’, he thought, ‘the game’s sounds are even better than the graphics. That almost sounded real.’

      Then he shot out Macys front windows, marveling at the way the screen showed each shard of glass flying and the explosive sparks that shot in all directions when the pane was hit.

      Another question legend popped up offering him multiple targets. He’s played games like that until he was bored with them, so he chose no. The next option confused him a little. Of all the possible things that he could chase and shoot, this one at first made no sense. But as he thought about it, he realized that this was the challenge that all of his friends had been unable to overcome. He pressed the button indicating his choice. The screen blanked out again.

      When it came back on, the view was first person and he was surrounded on three sides by blinking dials and lights and control sticks. The screen in front of him gave him a 90-degree view of what lay ahead and he could switch the screens to view behind, above and below the ship at any time.

      The legend appeared again showing his ship choices and setting for the game.

      Please verify options.

      He looked them over and decided that this would be fine.

      Thank you for verifying, good hunting. The screen said. Primary target lock confirmed. Incidental targets are worth indicated points. Ship power-ups are available and marked on the overhead flight map. Primary target is marked in red, but only visible on the scanner when within range.

      He glanced at the status screen and half smiled at the glowing red icon that indicated the primary target.

      Mall Security.

      --- ---

      Will finally managed to disengage himself from the crowd and get most of them headed to the exits. He went to the closest alcove and pulled the fire alarm. The shrill alarm began to sound. At least now

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