Whispers in the Darkness, part 3

"Whispers in the Darkness"

a short story

Gary Baker, March 2013

(part 3 of 3)

The screen flicked on. A dark, scratchy scene glazed in apple green.

A lone bed along the back wall hung by steel chains and ceiling bolts, hoisting a decaying mother and fetus for all to see.

A smashed lamp beside the bed lay like a fallen pillar with it's tungsten wire dangling in just the right position to create constant sparks. Each spray of light gave truth to the insanity that was the floor coloration.

Bloodstains coated the floor like an intricate abstract painting.

Even Jackson Pollack would have been envious of this existential display.

The Rise of the Dragon King

"The Rise of the Dragon King"

an excerpt

Gary Baker, March 2013

(part of a much lager project in progress)

Lithomir's arm streaked across the sky, then ducked in and came to a sudden stop near his chest before arcing out again in what seemed an endless ribbon of movement.

Then his other hand fell forward to grasp the darkness, and the two limbs became a torrent of fluid, precise motion. He looked over one shoulder, turned his body that way, and felt his arms wisp into orbit until their speed outraced his body. At once his arms pulled him into a deeper spin and he felt the forces pull his hair out in centrifugal motion.

He let the force carry him around and around, lifted one arm high to bless the heavens, then struck it down like a felled god of the forest. It brought his whole form toward the ground and into a low crouch, where he pushed off with his feet and

Whispers in the Darkness, part 2

"Whispers in the Darkness"

part 2 of 3

Gary Baker, February 2013

The screen flicked on. A scratchy scene glazed in apple green.

Along the back wall a bed hung by chains, holding a woman with a swollen abdomen breathing in heavy gasps and pants. Her legs had been propped up and to the sides where a bald man with dark skin knelt between as though looking into a television screen.

"Look, Kara," the man paced with his words while he wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist, "I need you to keep breathing and stay calm until the contractions start."

A woman with her blonde hair a mess stood from the pregnant woman's side and stepped to the counter top.

So Close

"So Close"

an excerpt

Gary Baker, September 2012

(part 9 of a much longer project)

PART...9

As consciousness slowly ebbed in like the mystic tides of an ocean cove, the soft shelter of sound reached the ears of the hospital's newest patient.

It was beautiful.

He had been brought in at nearly midnight that morning, air-lifted in by none other than a U.S. Grade-A Apache aircraft. Corporal Roi Anxo opened his eyes again and found himself looking up into the off-white hues of plaster and vermiculite tiles that held their breath over the patient's beds.

He had known this was a hospital, something about security concerns back on site which also explained why he had been informed about the location's close proximity to the mountain drill site. He knew the doctors here were well-studied, knew they were heavily-taught and influenced by military medical surgeons with top ranking chevrons next to their name patches. Most of all he knew that this particular hospital was a place readily made to accept any orders given by military command of any kind, meaning that if one particular soldier were hereby forbidden to leave the grounds under the