While hiking outdoors through a prairie grass field, a voice warns Elijah and Jacob about an interlude in the building.
“ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL,” the commanding grizzly female voice called out over a speaker. “An intruder has been detected within the building. Please be on guard and report any suspicious activity.”
Elijah and Jacob exchanged perplexed glances in the prairie grass field.
“You heard that, right?” Elijah asked his boyfriend.
“Oh, I heard that. Where did that come from?”
Elijah scanned the vast field and shrugged. They were hiking through the area because they got a tip from some locals about a secluded waterfall worth visiting. The blue skies retracted like panels from a sports stadium, cutting off their light. They both pulled out their phones and turned on their flashlights.
“Where the hell are we?” Jacob fretted.
“Let’s double back,” Elijah suggested, gently taking hold of Jacob’s hand.
The two jumped at the sound of a laughing bark. They aimed their lights at the source–a prairie dog standing and pointing at them. They out a sigh of relief as the animal scurried away into the grass.
“Yeah, let’s head back,” Jacob replied, catching his breath.
The two jogged along the sightly worn-down pathway, not going too fast and keeping their lights on the ground to prevent tripping and giving away their location. Elijah came to a stop and pulled Jacob to crouch down with him.
“There are some lights up head,” Elijah whispered while pointing at the pair of yellow lights. “Let’s cut through the field to get around them.”
“But what about ticks?”
“I would rather deal with ticks than bullets.”
“Fair point,” Jacob conceded. “Lead the way.”
Elijah ducked through the grass with Jacob close behind. A series of sharp, repetitive barks from the prairie dogs filled the area. The lights beamed in on the couple and marched toward them. Spotted, Elijah and Jacob threw stealth out and ran full speed. The prairie dog alarm grew louder and louder until a net engulfed the two, causing the two to fall flat. The net sparked, stunning them into unconsciousness.
The alarm cry stopped as a pair of bison stood over them like a bipedal creature. The bison both had flashlight hats on, and one held a net cannon while the other held a tablet device.
“Good capture,” the tablet-wielding bison complimented.
“What should we do with them?”
The bison pointed the tablet at the young adults. “My scans don’t show any weapons. Let’s wipe their memories, replace it with a hike to a waterfall, and send them back into town.”
“Will do.”
Inspired by the writing prompt of the warning, “ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL. An intruder has been detected within the building. Please be on guard and report any suspicious activity.” For a twist, I thought it would be fun for whoever heard the warning to be outside and that outside turned out to be inside a building.
Here’s a quick first look of the new two-story arcade bar, Up-Down in Oklahoma City’s Plaza District. I was invited to a preview event yesterday, in which I shot and edited this video. In addition to the classic and modern arcade games, Up-Down has a wide selection of local craft beers on tap, cocktails, and in-house made pizza.
Be careful mocking eccentric small business owners, asking them for an adventure because you might find yourself on an alien planet.
Waking up in this battleground wasteland was payback. Rafael Vásquez was sure of it. His parents were small business owners themselves, and he knew better than to ridicule others. He was better than that. He regretted making fun of that eccentric couple and their boutique selling “personalities.” He thought their business was a joke or some crazy immersive art installation. The place did look the part with its floor-to-ceiling assortment of drawers, all labeled and allegedly filled with personality traits. At the time, he told himself he was “just playing around,” but now accepted that his attitude must’ve come across as mocking when he requested they give him an adventure instead.
Rafael went to bed like usual only to wake up on his blanket and pillow in a crater filled with corpses of green lizard people in military gear. He was no expert on alien lizard biology by all accounts, but judging from the bodies’ rot, they had been dead for a long time.
After spending the first half-hour pinching himself to wake up, screaming for help, and begging to be returned home, Rafael settled to a state of acceptance. An adventure was what they must’ve given me, he thought. I’m not sure why my clothes are different and why they didn’t bother to give me my shoes.
With no answers, he wandered about the graveyard. He knew he wouldn’t get far in his socks, so he took a pair of boots from a corpse. He then pilfered a golden sword and what he interrupted as an automatic assault rifle from someone who looked important because of their uniform’s cleanliness and intricateness.
“I wouldn’t normally steal from the dead, but I’m just trying to survive, so I hope you will forgive me,” Rafael apologized as he equipped himself. “Man, I wish you could tell me where I’m at.”
The alien landscape reminded him of some photos he’d seen of Mars but mixed with New Mexico’s desert that he’d experienced with his older brother and cousins during a road trip to visit family. A few hours passed, and all was silent until three white lights whizzed past above him. They looked like drones to Rafael as they spun a circle around them, flashed gold, and proceed to fly north. With no better leads, he chased after them.
Thanks to the flat red clay valley and the casual cruising speed of the lights, they were easy for him to follow. The lights came to a stop when they arrived at a patch of land unobtrusive by bodies or nature. The lights spread out, singling for a landing spot for the spacecraft above. To Rafael, it looked like a house-size flying limo. The ship had a few significant scratches against its shiny black paint, but they only gave it a sexy rebel battle scar vibe. Along the side near the front were neon blue digital letters in an unrecognizable language until he blinked. They transformed into English to read Starbringer II.
The side doors began to slide open. Rafael pointed his rifle at them, but then he had a thought. Maybe they’re here in peace? After all, if they wanted me dead, they probably could’ve killed me from their ship. Rafael returned his gun to his holster.
The ship’s ramp extended out, letting off three people. Taking command of the center was a six-foot-tall humanoid lizard with sapphire, red skin. There was something about her that gave Rafael the impression she was a slick, badass rebel with a gentle heart. She sported black jeans and a black leather jacket with a neon blue backlight like a rebel, but then she also wore a black t-shirt with a drawing of a calm white tree with flowery branches.
To her left was a seven-foot-tall minotaur with red bull fur and muscles that could crash kegs with a glance. Numerous pockets adorned his outfit, from his brown camo cargo pants to his matching brown shirt. Then to the woman’s right was a flying metallic silver sphere the size of three basketballs with four mechanical arms surrounding it.
The lizard woman pointed her pistol up, flipping it to its side, showing she was didn’t want to fight. She spoke to Rafael.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand you,” Rafael replied.
The woman sighed. She turned to the robot and issued a request. The robot beeped, pulled out a wristband from a compartment inside itself, and strapped it around Rafael’s wrist. Rafael was hesitant but didn’t resist. Upon finishing, the white wrist band pricked his skin like a needle.
“Ouch,” Rafael commented.
“There, can you understand me now?” the woman asked with slight annoyance in her tone.
“Yes, I can understand you now. What is this thing?”
“It’s a basic networker,” she explained, dumbfounded that he didn’t know the answer. “How’d you get here, kid?”
“All I know is that I went to sleep in my bed, and I woke up in a crater filled with dead bodies on an alien planet.”
The minotaur huffed. “You expect us to believe that?”
“I swear, I have no idea where I am or how I got here.”
The robot emitted a series of beeps.
“I see,” the woman acknowledged. “What is the name of your homeworld?”
“Earth.”
“What!?” the minotaur exclaimed. The robot beeped in confirmation. The minotaur turned to the robot. “What do you mean he’s not lying?”
The woman put the backside of her hand against the minotaur in a gesture to calm him. “You’re a long, long way from home then. My name is Kára. The big lug is Sinas, and the mechanical is Norbit.”
“I’m Rafael. Could you help me get home?”
“Visiting Earth is highly restricted, but I might know someone who can smuggle you in.”
“Thank-”
“But it won’t be easy, and it sure won’t be cheap,” Kára finished. “We could use someone in our crew to do miscellaneous errands, you know, earn your way back home.”
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” Rafael offered.
“Good. How about you start by handing over that sword you got. The family commissioned me to retrieve it.”
Without wavering, Rafael turned the sword over. “Here. It’s yours.”
“Thank you. I hope you’re an adventurous sort, Rafael, cause that’s what’s in store for you as part of my crew.”
This week’s short story was brought to you today by the following writing prompt: “You lay your head down to sleep, only to wake as the sole survivor of a horrific battle of some kind. Blasted earth and wreckage are all that surround you. You walk through this silent graveyard towards eerie lights in the sky.”
I thought it would be fun to callback The Little Shop of Personalities with another character having a different reaction to the shop. I was initially stumped on how to end it though. Did I want Rafael to get home or not? No, because he wanted an adventure of a lifetime so I turned his tale into his origin story for joining Starbringer II, which is from an audio drama podcast series I’m developing. Don’t forget, you can find other stories I’ve written about characters and places in the page tags.
Thank you to Bien Julian at Design Pickle for bringing this scene to life!
That’s all for this week! Be careful what you wish for now.
Dance, play, or walk on the interactive art piece, Aqueous by Jen Lewin, outside Oklahoma Contemporary for a colorful experience in Downtown Oklahoma City. Yes, please touch the art!
You can visit Aqueous for yourself at Campbell Art Park at 1146 North Broadway Avenue in Oklahoma City. It will be on display every night until 11 p.m. until October 19, 2020. Oklahoma Contemporary is asking visitors to wear masks and observe social distancing practices. Learn more at OklahomaContemporary.org
I want to give a huge thanks to Jew Lewin Studio for commissioning me to capture b-roll and to edit several videos with the footage. If you watch Oklahoma Contemporary’s feed, you’ll see another video of Aqueous with different shots, including some drone footage by another videographer. (I’ll edit this post with it when they publish it.) Learn more about Jen’s work at www.JenLewinStudio.com
This is my first video shot with my new Lumix S1H. This video shows off what a beast this camera is capable of capturing. All the footage, with the exception of the slow-motion shots, were shot in 5.9K 10-bit HDR HLG. Despite the low light conditions, the image is so clean. I’m really happy with how well this video turned out.
Thank you to my supporters on Patreon for their continued support of making Uncovering Oklahoma possible! Supporters get awesome rewards, like early access to my episodes. Big thanks to superstar supporters: Revolve Productions and the Lynn and Steve Keller-Kenton Family.
Upon seeing a news story about his death, Jason visits the scene of the crime for answers.
I didn’t care about being made fun of for eating cake while watching the Friday night news. Everything was more fun with cake. It was part of my end-of-the-week ritual after my shift at the hospital. What wasn’t part of my routine was dropping my plate while seeing news about myself.
“In a strange turn of events, the serial killer known as the Isolation Cleaner has changed direction with their latest victim, Jason Sizemore,” the TV news reporter announced. Two paramedics dragged my disfigured and waterlogged body out of the river in the video clip that popped on the screen. “Police say, Jason Sizemore, Caucasian, male, age 27 is the youngest victim of the serial killer who in the past has only targeted senior citizens who lived alone. Jason was found earlier today along Green River at Fort Dent Park in Tukwila. Police are asking for any information.”
“This has to be a mistake,” I muttered as I replayed the clip on my DVR. “I must be imagining things.”
But I wasn’t mistaken. The news didn’t change when I rewatched the clip. I took a deep breath and decided I needed to know more. I searched online for directions to the park–a 15-minute drive–and grabbed my jacket, leaving my cake on the apartment floor. It’s not like I had any roommates who would complain.
Thanks to the bright yellow crime screen tape blocking a section along the Green River, finding the scene was easy enough. I was surprised to find that there weren’t any officers posted there. I hoped to speak to someone, but I took advantage of my fortune and crossed the tape. There had to be some clue still around to tell me what happened—anything as I wadded into the water.
What I did find was a bright flashlight in my face.
“What are you doing here?” the voice demanded.
“I’m Jason Sizemore, and I’m the person the police said they found earlier,” I explained, trying to see who I was speaking to, but she kept the light on my eyes. “There has to be some mistake because I’m not dead.”
I tried to step forward, but she ordered me, “Stay right there.”
“I’m staying right here,” I reassured, raising my hands while using one to shield my eyes.
“I tried to go to your house, but the address was fake.”
“I’m a private person.”
“But here you are. I had to go to great lengths to find you.”
Wait. Great lengths to find me? I thought. I had to ask, “What do you mean you went to great lengths to find me?”
“I hired some performers for a short film, which was the news clip of the police finding your body. Then I visited the local news station under the pretense of a story for my podcast. I set up a backdoor into their systems to keep tabs on them for when they would air a story about the Isolation Cleaner and replace it with you.”
As I listened to her tale, I began to recognize the voice. “You…”
She cut me off. “You got pretty cocky calling into my podcast explaining the Isolation Cleaner to me, like how you got off watching the news of your accomplishments while eating cake. But, you’re not the first serial killer I’ve tracked down and ended because I’m the Pacific Northwest Podcaster.”
I moved to run, but I wasn’t fast enough for her stun gun. I face-planted into the river, with the water filling up my lungs, unable to move.
This week’s short story was inspired by the writing prompt: “Your name, age, height, weight, and race all flash across the T.V. screen. You look in horror as you see your dead body being dragged out of a river as a reporter announces that you’ve been brutally murdered by an infamous serial killer who has been on the run for years.”
For my take, I thought I would have the prompt be a trick to lure out the real serial killer by another one, with the return of the Pacific Northwest Podcaster. One idea I had was to reveal her sooner with her interviewing him, but I decided it was best to keep the twist as late as possible.
