Linda Nelson

Flash Fiction

by Linda Nelson

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Jason’s hands shook while he tried to hold the screwdriver steady against the screw. He only had a few more hours to go before the sun would be up. It had been years since he last put a bike together. The darkness made it hard to see as he assembled it by the light of a flashlight.

He had to be quiet or they would hear him. That was the last thing he wanted. If they heard him, it could be the death of him. If only he had a better place to build this thing, like a garage, shed or some type of shelter. Instead he was outside, in the open, hidden only by trees and brush. They’d come too if they saw the light.

This bike was a lucky find for him. He’d been on foot for nearly a week when his car had run out of gas. That was when he and Carrie found themselves going different ways. She was now his dearly departed, yet she still followed him from a distance that he hoped to widen by miles.

All had been going well up until they came across what had been a roadblock on the highway. Unfortunately for the officers, their tactic didn’t work in their favor. The dead had gotten them, eaten them or, just bitten them. So much for keeping the virus contained. Was there no safe haven left? Carrie had told him there had to be somewhere they could go, somewhere safe. But what if she were wrong?

He promised her he would keep looking. She opened the car door, saying how she needed to go pee. Figuring if she remained close to the car, nothing would happen to her. But she never saw the Biter two car lengths away. It grabbed onto her arm and pulled her from the car as she began to climb back inside, sinking its teeth into her arm.

There was nothing Jason could do for her. Of course, he was scared. He was scared of the Biter and now he was afraid of her. He couldn’t keep her in the car with him now that she was bitten. She would be one of them in a few hours. He couldn’t risk it. The Biter ripped her from the car and he stomped on the gas, leaving her behind. He could still hear her screams for help. That was two weeks and states ago. Since then he had to give up the car that ran out of gas and made it on foot.

He rarely slept. When he did, he tended to sleep in a tree, out of their reach.

This was the last screw he needed to tighten. A branch cracked close by. Jason stopped what he was doing, holding his breath, he waited and listened. A rasping sound would come from the Biters. He wasn’t sure if it were breathing or throat gurgles he had heard. But one could hear them coming, most times.

There was that crack of the branch again. Jason didn’t want to take any more chances. He pocketed the screwdriver and grabbed onto an overhead branch, pulling himself up. He didn’t stop there either. He kept climbing until he had some distance between himself and the ground. Here he would stay until daylight. Then he’d be able to see clearly in the distance and know if the Biters were close by.

One more crack, then the sound of a Biter coming close to the base of his tree. Maybe the Biter could smell him, but that was unlikely. Biters were walking rotting flesh. Nothing smelled as bad as them, except for the bear it stumbled across. Jason peered down from his branch and watched the showdown between the bear and the Biter. He wasn’t sure at first, but the bear did win, tearing the Biter to pieces with its claws, never once affected by Biter. Apparently a bear hide was pretty thick and effective armor.

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I hope you enjoyed my little story. Writing about zombies is out of my comfort zone. They say that people need to get out of their norm from time to time to widen their horizons. If you can’t tell, I’m a Walking Dead Fan. I also fell in love with Fear the Walking Dead that aired last Sunday night. I love the shows because it’s not all about the zombies. It’s about survival and relationships and the writers have created well rounded characters.

If you did enjoy this story and you’re looking for more to sample before trying one of my many novellas, you can find Time Pieces: A Short Story Collection free on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple. Look under my above tab for books if you need the link to your favorite store.

ROW80:

I haven’t been working much on my work in progress. I’ve been messing with my blog again. And as you can see, playing with a bit of flash fiction. I did hit my word count today of 500 words +, so I guess I’m heading in the right direction and away from my Writers’ Block.

I don’t want to call it Writers’ Block. How about empty head syndrome. Time to fill the well and think up new ideas. My character in my work in progress has been behaving like a stalker. I don’t want that. So, it’s time to stop where she is at and make her take a big swallow and step out into the light. Something big has to happen to make her realize, its now or never and your never going to be able to turn back the clock to the way things once were. Get over it sweet heart and move on with your life. I don’t know what she’s waiting for? Me? Maybe – I like the unexpected. I have to catch this character off guard. It’s the way I act.

I will continue to ponder on how to motivate my character. Until then, I’ll keep on writing some thing. It might not be the work in progress, but it is something.

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A busy day is always a good day. Today was one of them.

A friend/coworker of mine has fruit trees, peaches, pears, and crabapples. She asked me to take some of the fruit. I left her house with bags of peaches, pears and a few weeks ago crabapples. The rest of today was spent making something of them.

I started off with the crabapples. Two weeks ago, I used half the bag to make crabapple jelly. Today I turned the rest of them into applesauce. I did add one apple and a pear to the mix. I made enough for two pint jars – which is a serving for four in my house. We love applesauce, especially homemade.

Next, I started on the peaches. I had peaches left over from last year that I had sitting in the freezer. I decided to use these up first. Peaches are great keepers in the freezer. There’s no need to peel them, just pop them into a freezer bag with their skins intact and seal. The skin acts as a freezer burn barrier. These peaches are best used for cooking, of course. They keep very well.

I turned last year peaches into peach pie filling and canned two quarts worth. Each quart will fill 8 or 9-inch pie. It was very yummy. I had a bit leftover after canning and it was used for peach shortcakes. I’m thinking of making up a batch to use just for shortcake. I could can it in pint jars instead.

Next month will be apples and applesauce, probably made with Macs and Cortlands. Maybe I’ll even make some apple pie filling too.

Peach Pie Filling

6 pounds of peaches ½ teaspoon nutmeg

2 ¼ cups sugar 2 teaspoons lemon peel

½ cup flour ¼ cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel, pit and slice peaches. If you freeze them, just put the peaches in boiling water for a minute or two and then plunge them into cold water. The peels pop right off, just like when you do the same for tomatoes. Treat with stay fresh citric acid to prevent darkening. I used fruit fresh. You can buy this where pectin is sold in the grocery store. Combine sugar, flour and spices. Rinse and drain; stir into sugar mixture. Leave this to stand for 30 minutes. Stir in the lemon peel and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. I cooked mine for almost 30 minutes. My peaches were pretty juicy to start. Ladle pie filling into two-quart jars and leave 1-inch headspace. Boil in a water bath with the water being one inch above the caps for 30 minutes. Let cool in water bath for 5 minutes before removing to finish cooling. Don’t tighten the screw bands down for 24 hours. That way you will be able to see if you have a proper seal.

Don’t forget to the label before storing away. I like to put the date on my labels too. I go to avery.com and print labels out on copy paper. Cut them out to the proper size – just a bit bigger than the screw on cap. Cover the labels with a piece of clear packing tape. This helps to keep them somewhat water resistant and readable. Slip under the screw on ring and you’re all set. No worry of taking labels off the jars when your filling is gone.