Persistence

"Who let all the kids in here, Max!" The grizzled man growled at the bartender. The noise was deafening.

"They're all celebrating.  Just got diplomas and jobs.  Not gonna turn away business, Lu.",  Max replied.

"Hey, I need a screwdriver, a kamikaze, and a zombie." a kid elbowed up to the bar jostling Lu and barking rudely.

While Max set about mixing the trendy concoctions the boy turned back to his friends elbowing Lu, oblivious.

"Easy there, Lu.  If you fume any harder there'll be smoke."  An old man with a white beard took the stool on the other side of Lu.

Northwest

The black rubber of the mask dug into her face, the weight of it making her head heavy and slow. By now she was used to the effort required to breath, the constant feeling of being out of breath and the hiss of air sucked through the filters. Looking through the glass of the door, she could see the fog glowing orange with the last rays of the moon's reflected light. It swirled and coiled around the ground as if looking for prey.

Free Fall

The catwalk crumbled beneath him dropping him to his death through jungle canopy below.  His scream was all he could hear as he plummeted tearing through leaves and ripping at small branches.

Below him the sky opened up as the jungle receded to the edges of the world, the ground, still a distant circle of brown was rapidly growing.  This time, it was the end.  This time they would not be able to fix the damage.  Touching the sky once before cost him his leg, this time touching the ground would cost him everything.  He had escaped one world full of hidebound, petty tyrants to plunge to his death in the next.

Three

Her heart pounded fiercely under her ribs.  She clutched the rope in desperation knowing that the black maw waited below to consume her again.

"Carmen!" James voice rang out above in panic.

"Still here!" she shouted.  "The harness broke."  She tried to remain calm.

"What!?  You're OK?" he sounded incredulous and hopeful.

It Only Takes One

The nanos had healed his fractured skull and ribs but had left the searing brand on his back untouched. The burn was the last thing they did to him before he lost consciousness. He was wide awake during his brutal beating. The guards took turns trying to one up each other. They knew the rehab-stick would not allow them to kill him, but they swung it like they were trying. Somehow their poison laughter was louder than his agony. “Gotta teach you citizens a lesson” they jeered, “It only takes one bad apple to spoil the lot.” they taunted.