Cross Country

by Russell Ruffino

“5 men, 4 miles ahead.” Jim grunted, peering into the little display.

“So, are we gonna kill them?” Kurt asked.

I liked these two, they were blunt, but they didn't waste words."Scanners picking up weapons." I informed them.

We’d met 3 weeks ago, in a bar on the east coast, I could tell they were like me. They had the look, the look all men get from traveling between habitable cities. Traders they call us, but we don’t trade that much.

We talked over drinks and it decided it might be mutually beneficial to travel together. At first we didn’t trust each other, but I figure if you’re gonna rob or kill someone you’d do it in the first week, so we all slept easier these days.

Besides we fitted together well, Jim had his rifle and spy plane, Kurt his pistols and grenades and I had my machine gun and my scanners.

“lets vote on it.” We voted on everything, I wouldn’t come this close to The Waste normally, it’s not safe, even for men like us.

We were about to vote on whether 5 people lived or died.

Comments

Average Reader Rating: 5.0 stars out of 5

  1. Cross Country

    Russell Ruffino's Buddy Icon Russell Ruffino

    Posted 3 months ago

    Argh, it’s doing that weird thing again. Why!

  2. Cross Country

    John Perkins' Buddy Icon John Perkins

    Posted 3 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    This is definitely a cool little scene you’ve painted. Enjoyed it mucho.
    Two notes. I think you meant “over drinks and we decided it might be,” and “let’s” should be capitalized in that second to last paragraph.
    I’d try deleting some spaces around the text that’s messed up, see if that helps. Then put them back. Not sure why it happens. Never seen it on one of mine, so I haven’t been able to troubleshoot.

  3. Cross Country

    thebetweenspace's Buddy Icon thebetweenspace

    Posted 3 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I love that even a band of vigilante killers can form a democracy of sorts. I think that weird text thing happened to me once, but I can’t remember how I got rid of it. Actually, I think I remember an easy way to get rid of it. I think I retyped mine entirely and reposted.

  4. Cross Country

    RainDance's Buddy Icon RainDance

    Posted 3 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Very interesting. I’d like to know what happens next. And how it can be so easy that all it takes is a democratic vote to kill 5 people.

Want to comment on this ficlet? You need to sign in!