The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Bridge
by Melissa R. Mendelson

My shoulder ached from the pull, hands singed from hot metal. Smoke clouded the eyes, the scent of gunpowder down my throat, but my body was used to this, rigid, waiting for the next move. There was none, but I still waited, meeting the gaze of the one standing nearby. Our eyes moved in synchrony down to the hole in his chest. Finally, he fell down, but it was too late. Our barriers had been breached.

My gaze settled on the tattoo from the collarbone up to his ear. A spiderweb of gray. He was from the concrete world, where there was no green. There was no blue sky but artificial skylights. There were no animals unless on your dinner table, and nobody believed in having pets because they had no souls, they had no purpose but to try and quiet our unsatiated appetite. And anything green, anything wild had to be controlled or eliminated. They rather elimination.

There were some of us that believed otherwise. We were imprisoned, tortured, and even brainwashed, but the brainwashing wouldn’t hold on the few now guarding this place, this last place that they were bent on destroying. It was beautiful here, peaceful, but an abhorration to them.

The grass stirred before me. More were coming. Now that they had found a weak spot, they would press and push their way in, and they would show no mercy. Any of us found here would be destroyed along with the wildlife, and the sanctuary would burn. And they would celebrate, the world finally under their gray thumb, but I hope their celebration is cut short. Mother Nature has been beaten, brought to this brink of extinction, but she will not die. She will hold her last breath until she takes them all with her. One way or another, they will all fall down.

A twig snapped. The sound was close. They were on the bridge. I spun around with my gun pressed against the shoulder, but something sharp cut the skin, pushed into my stomach. It was a young girl holding the handle, and she pushed again. Even her eyes were gray, and she ripped the knife out, blood splattered across the wood near my bare feet.

She waited for me to fall, but I stood. I dropped the gun, and it went off. The bullet missed her, but it hit someone else. Their crash echoed around us, but she was unfazed. She wanted me to fall, and so did my body. But I forced myself to stand as the blood rained down, over the bridge and into the water as cries filled the air, and fires claimed the last of the green.

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Fiction © Copyright Melissa R. Mendelson
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

About Author Melissa R. Mendelson:

Melissa R. Mendelson is a Horror, Science-Fiction, and Dystopian Author. Her short stories have been published by Sirens Call Publications, Dark Helix Press, and Transmundane Press. She also has a variety of short stories and poetry available on Medium.