The Last Magician (Book) http://www.Writing.Com/main/books.php/item_id/1259274-The-Last-Magician He tentatively opened his eyes to the light. For a moment that was all he could see; a dim but dominant light that blinded his vision. He blinked away the pain in his head, feeling like a man waking in the middle of the night to the glare of an overhead lamp. His mind seemed strangely devoid of thought, empty like the sight before his eyes. Then s...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:25:46 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/506799 He rubbed his rheumy eyes, attempting to shift the yellow glaze that coated his vision. Only when he glanced down at his ruddy pink hands did he realise he was mistaken; there was nothing wrong with his vision. There was something in the air. He was sitting on what could have been the village green. Images ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:26:02 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/507053 He was walking through Tombstone. A lone ranger carried onwards by weary legs. Above him burned the blazing desert sun, signifying the arrival of High Noon. It was a queer notion, but neither unjustified or in any way inappropriate. Jack limped down Front Street, once the main road that ran through the ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:26:24 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/507475 Ashbrooke Road gave way to Rushton Lane. A familiarity crept into Jack’s head, the occasional snapshots, as unlike his surroundings as they were, came more and more frequently. He began to recognise places, buildings, roads. Rushton Lane lay as just another line of dead grass and devastated houses. D...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:26:54 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/508028 The heat of the sun was rising. Jack felt his final reserve of energy being evaporated through his open pores by the ferocious eye of the blazing ball. Soon he would lose the strength from his legs, the feeling from his skin and he would hit the dirt with the thud of a carcass. Another lost soul in a land of damnation. His eyes were pl...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:28:06 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/509447 Jack awakened suddenly. There was no transition through the various layers of subconscious, just a sudden alertness. His vision was not so quick to focus. A layer of mucus, straying from his nasal passage, blurred his sight, clouding the dimness before him. He blinked, a strangely familiar routine. The ...[Read Full Post] Thu, 31 May 2007 07:12:51 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/512031 “What do we do now?” Amanda regretted having to break the tranquillity, but they had lain together for a long time. Her head rested on his chest, rising and falling with his heavy breaths. There was a bliss in her head and her heart that had been missing for (months?years?) so long. I...[Read Full Post] Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:53:26 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/518070 Amanda gazed around the room for a logical starting point. The bedroom had little furniture and much of what remained seemed to have been eaten away by something she preferred not to dwell on. The parasites, it seemed, had been unaffected by whatever force of devastation had wiped out all other life. In fact, they seemed to be thri...[Read Full Post] Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:59:31 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/518071 Jack looked around the second bedroom, one that he felt should have been familiar. It was furnished with nothing more than two dilapidated wardrobes and a small foldable bed. He tried to conjure a memory of the room, the image of how it should have been, but failed. Something seemed wrong, something more than the obvious discomfort which slowly coiled...[Read Full Post] Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:40:16 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/524216 ”Is that the last one?” Jack asked as Amanda closed the sink drawer. Searching the house seemed to have taken hours, but neither of them could be certain. Most of the clocks they found had stopped and those working had taken on a life of their own, turning and counterturning at their leisure. Jack found himself frequently glancing at his w...[Read Full Post] Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:24:22 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/527597 The village was no less despairing or unnerving than the first time Jack had walked through it. Jack stood on the street outside the ruined shell of his house. Amanda stood beside him, her eyes straying down the street. The sun watched over them with its naked eye, bathing them in an odd and terrible heat that seemed to crawl on their skin. The ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:20:37 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/529227 The grinding of the hinges vibrated through Jack’s teeth. Pushing the door open should have been an easy task, but even with his shoulder against the warm surface it was as though he was forcing back a wall. When a gap large enough for both of them to squeeze through had opened, Jack allowed Amanda to enter before following her. The door se...[Read Full Post] Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:24:06 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/529228 “It looked much better from the outside,” Jack said beside her, his eyes moving around the front office. His first sight of the station had given Jack hope that there could still be some small part of humanity to be discovered, but on the other side of the door the same sad sight awaited them. The walls were bare of paint or paper, and onl...[Read Full Post] Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:51:06 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/535996 Jack pushed open the door. The hinges resisted only for a brief moment then with a low groan turned inwards. The door opened into a short hallway, lit only with the dim light from a small window on the far wall. A closed custody cell door stood on either side, once painted grey-green but now flaked and faded to just a dull metallic grey, yet both doo...[Read Full Post] Fri, 21 Sep 2007 07:15:44 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/536644 The sound of settling dust and debris hissed in the dark air. Jack’s ears were full of his own pounding heartbeat and ragged breath. Amanda’s body pulsed against him Jack opened his eyes and blinked against the dry dust drifting around him. He groaned as he tried to turn. Amanda’s weight was on him and his side ached from...[Read Full Post] Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:24:05 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/537414 The strength of the sun seemed to have waned by the time the trio stepped through the door of the Police Station. Inside, only the cell room had remained standing following the quake. The main office on both sides of the arched divide had all but collapsed, rendering the station as unstable as everything around it. Jack felt a little refreshed aft...[Read Full Post] Sat, 29 Sep 2007 17:40:17 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/538533 For a few seconds time froze. The Dweller stared at the newcomers, his eyes wide and shocked at the intrusion, at being caught. Jack and Amanda mirrored his look of disbelief. Coming face to face with the Dweller so unexpectedly caught them off guard and all they could do was take in the sight. Kurt had a clear view of the wretched figure pawi...[Read Full Post] Sun, 07 Oct 2007 10:12:47 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/540106 Time had passed since the moment in the hallway; how much no one could exactly say. The sky had become dim, suggesting night was coming but that was as close as it could be gauged. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking only seconds had gone by inside the old house on Rushton Lane. Kurt rested on the wall of the staircase; Jack stood by their belongin...[Read Full Post] Sun, 07 Oct 2007 10:13:53 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/540107 “He’s asleep,” Amanda said, closing the door of the sitting room behind her. ”I made him lie on the sofa. It’s not great but it’s better than where he wanted to sleep.” “The floor,” Jack said. The words fell as a statement but Amanda answered as though they were a question. “Yes. He really...[Read Full Post] Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:13:48 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/544860 The flare of the match sounded thunderous in the still of the small room. The walls were briefly illuminated, their bare stone appearance howling of the desolation the outside world thrived in, then the match took on a mellow yellow hue and only the hand holding it gained any benefit from the poor light. The hand dropped slowly to the waiting wick of...[Read Full Post] Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:14:33 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/544861 The body propped against the wall of what had been a supermarket twitched. The sun faded overhead, but the heat remained just the right side of bearable. Flies circled the body, large ugly flies. Mutants compared to their former selves, with teeth to bite and talons to hook into their feeding ground. The man’s exposed flesh burned angri...[Read Full Post] Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:15:16 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/544863 The eye of the sun glared red and angry over the land, finally heading into the horizon as Jack and his new-found family walked towards their uncertain future. The air occasionally buzzed with a distant hum that could neither be identified nor located, while the burning heat that had dogged the day retreated with the approach of night. Walking do...[Read Full Post] Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:04:01 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/562213 Kurt waited for Jack to ease through into the collapsed room on the other side of the wall. Torn and broken masonry littered the floor and all around pale shafts of light peeked through the wounds in the structure. A number of cracks and fissures lay in crazy patterns across the grey stone floor, signs of the numerous earth shakes that had played at ...[Read Full Post] Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:55:05 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/570598 Amanda looked at the ruins of the store. Would they ever discover what had caused the devastation? It was becoming less likely the more they extended their search and found nothing except more vacant buildings and dead earth. She glanced into the darkness of the store, unable to make out anything of significance. She listened for signs of Jack an...[Read Full Post] Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:54:58 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/580491 Kurt retraced his steps along the aisle, his eyes intent on the gloom he backed away from. The sounds continued unabated. He didn't know how many there were, he didn't want to know what they were, but it seemed they had not detected his or Jack's presences. His foot struck a rock and for a moment he staggered before regaining his bala...[Read Full Post] Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:27:13 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/597794