Category: Uncategorized

Galway Girls Part 15

I knocked on the door of the hotel and waited. A few moments later the door opened.

The valet looked at me and then at her.

“Residents?”

Fuck, he’s not going to let her in. This can’t be happening.

“I am and she needs to help me get to bed.”

There was a moment of silence, well apart from the drunks shouting at each other in the distance.

“Otherwise, someone in the hotel will have to help me.”

That did the job.

“Come on in.”

As I went down to the lift I was relieved to feel her holding onto the back of the wheelchair. I quickly pressed the button in case the valet had a change of heart.

Once safely inside the lift, we both started to laugh.

“So, I’m your carer now, am I?”

“I think assistant is the more pc term for it these days. It was quick thinking though, wasn’t it?”

“It sure was, not just a pretty face.”

The lift opened and we continued down the narrow corridor to my room. A quick turn of the keys and we were in.

Now came the challenging part, transfer onto the toilet, then back on the wheelchair, and then into the bed. All the time hoping she didn’t fall asleep waiting.

Pegasus Part 38

As we rounded the corner of the hill, we heard a loud explosive roar. It was unlike anything I had heard before visceral, primal. It stopped us dead in our tracks. Then the acrid smell hit us.

“Don’t move,” Tabitha whispered, “if we stay perfectly still, it won’t register that we’re here.”

Then the monster appeared. It was huge, with large teeth, and relatively small front claws covered in large feathers.

I don’t think that I could have moved even if I wanted to, I was frozen with fear and a sickly feeling life was coming to an end.

It slowly moved its head to the left and then to the right. Fortunately, it didn’t sense our presence.

“Come on, get moving,” Tabitha demanded, “it’s gone now. We were very lucky that we were upwind or it would have smelled us.”

Grudgingly, I put one foot after another and began to move wondering how I ended up in this crazy situation knowing I had nobody to blame but myself.

Trudging up and down hillsides, sometimes traversing small streams. It was arduous. My feet were sore from walking around my hands were getting cut.

It took another hour to reach the campsite. and it was Tabitha who saw it first.

“No,” she roared out.

It lay in a valley between three peaks and most of it lay in ruins. The tents that provided shelter lay scattered around. Many were tainted an ominous red.

Wheelchair Wars Part 3 (5)

It entranced him. The sheer scale of the human empire and all the different career opportunities in the army. So, he joined the Imperial Fleet and longed for war. At first, he thought that it would never happen, that all the battles were happening on the far edges of the Empire.

“But Trachtus five changed everything for me Timothy. Did you hear what happened there?”

“No, I didn’t,” Timothy replied, listening intently.

“A hole opened in the warp just outside the planet. The voices of chaos swayed the people and the 41st quadrant army against the Emperor. They were quickly reinforced by chaos marines. Such an abomination could not be allowed to stand.

We were sent to take back the planet. It was a very bloody experience, the resistance was fierce and durable. I lost so many good friends. I didn’t really understand war till then. Ninety percent of the population were against us.

As you will appreciate they all had to die. It was not something I had ever envisioned, killing women and children. other soldiers didn’t bother me. But it was the Emperor’s will.

I never hoped for war again because now I truly understood what it meant.”

Timothy noted the ominous tone in his voice.

Galway Girls Part 14

It’s true, I had. A drunken tendency to tell my friends I loved them. And I did. But things change. I had a woman and my reptilian brain was telling me to lose the friends and fast.

“Oh, you don’t want us now. Forgotten about for some woman,”

It was Sean and he loved it, grinning with a wide smile across his face.

“Are you even going to introduce us?”

Fuck no, I thought to myself.

But then I realized I needed help getting down the step.

She took the initiative.

“It’s Leslie.”

Remember Leslie, Leslie is her name.

“Sean.”

“Ronan.”

And with that, they shook hands.

“And what am I to do with Ronan,” Sean asked as he helped me down the step.

“He’ll be grand. Shur, he can stay on the boat.”

That’s right, Sean had a boat and would occasionally stay the night.

“Oh, thanks. The two of us in a little boat.”

With that, we went in different directions. Myself and Leslie going in one direction and them in the other.

“Nice friends.”

“Yeah.”

“No really, I can see they really care about you.”

She must still be drunk.

It took us only a few minutes to reach the hotel. It was starting to feel cold.

Pegasus Part 37

Tahir led us up a steep mountainous slope. Higher and higher we went. I looked down and wondered if I was in more danger of falling to my death or from one of those creatures munching on me.

As we carefully placed one foot in front of the other, the conversation restarted though I was minded to just concentrate on my footing.

“So, how did the dinosaurs get through? What happened to the sonar defense? Tabitha asked.

“One words – Pterodactyls. They were released into the habitat only recently. The sonar defense affected them in flight so we had to switch it off. It would be too obvious that we were here. They are the worst, a terrible menace. That’s why I have one eye on the atmosphere above us. Fortunately, their numbers are still small but that will change with time.”

Fuck. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. Now, I couldn’t decide whether to look up or down.

“That’s not good news, what are the plans now?”

“They haven’t decided yet. It will be so hard to find somewhere like this again, if not outright impossible. These are dark days for the movement.”

The talking stopped.

It soon became clear why they were so downbeat.

Wheelchair Wars Part 3 (4)

“Tell me of your battles with the Tyranids Timothy. I want to hear it from you.”

Timothy who was already feeling the effects after he downed a second shot replied, “Even from the first defeat.”

“Oh yes, it was the Emperor’s will that you would survive that battle. Tell me everything.”

Timothy then regaled the Emperor with the tales of battle, how he cheated death and discovered their weakness. The General was an avid listener, silently taking in every word he ushered. His mouth was ajar as Timothy came close to death.

“Thanks, Timothy, you’ve confirmed what I had already thought.”

“Where are they from?” Timothy asked unsure if he was over-stepping?”

“Only the Emperor knows. It is speculated that it’s outside this galaxy but why now..”

The General shook his head from side to side.

The conversation then shifted to other lighter topics. The General had been born into a military family on Sirius XXIII. A wild world with dense rainforest and mountain ranges, its human population is very small; an ideal training ground for a young boy. There were countless trees for him to climb and brothers to fight. Then as an adolescent, he was taught all about the Emperor and his mission for humanity.

Galway Girls Part 13

She looked at me and grinned. She leaned towards me, putting her arms around my back, and kissed me on the lips. It was gentle at first but quickly escalated to her moving around my mouth.

I felt like heaven and never wanted it to end. It was like there was nobody else on the dance floor – just me and her. All thoughts of my two friends quickly went out of my head.

Then the background music stopped. This was not good news. A few moments later all the lights were on. The nightclub was over. Just like that and all too soon.

We broke off our kiss. She had such beautiful blue eyes.

“So, where to now?” she whispered.

“My hotel room is close by,” I replied trying to feign conference.

“Oh, you are sure of yourself. Come on so, let’s go.”

Everything was going to plan except, of course, I hadn’t planned for this event whatsoever. For, a second I even had to think about whether or not I had the key to the room. Phew, I had. Time to just run with the flow and hope for the best.

So, off we went.

“Hey horse, where are ya going? Running off without your mates. You were tell us you loved us only an hour ago.”

Pegasus Part 36

Running furiously was not enough. I could hear its steps getting closer and closer and turned my head in despair.

Its mouth was opened wide and I thought its large teeth would be the last thing I’d ever see as it pounced on me. Then I heard what sounded like a gunshot. Blood splattered all over my face and body as its heavy body fell onto me.

Then I heard Tabitha screaming, “Are you okay Ciarán?”

Concern was etched into her voice.

She clasped my hand and between the two of us, I managed to get out from under the body.

“What happened?” I asked half dazed.

“I don’t know, they never gotten into this part before.

“Tabitha, is that you?”

A black man, not quite six tall holding a heavy machine gun was now standing just a few metres from us.

“Tahir?” Tabitha said under her breath.

Tabitha ran towards him and they embraced warmly.

This was the man that had saved my life but I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“Tahir, this is Ciarán. He saved me and helped get me here. He wants to join us.”

“Any friend of Tabitha is a friend of mine.”

He shook my hands firmly.

Then he said, “Come this way. It’s dangerous out here.”

Wheelchair Wars Part 3 (3)

His personal quarters were large, with his own sleeping and dining area. Timothy could see a luxurious double bed out of his peripheral vision to the right and a small round table at the center on a marble floor.

“Please park yourself up here,” General Ham said pointing to the table.

Timothy did so and General Ham took a seat beside him before he continued.

“I always wanted to meet a participant of Wheelchair Wars. It made your planet Uisneach legendary in vast tracts of the quadrant. I’m from the planet Herodtus and the latest recordings of the battles of Uisneach were always eagerly anticipated.

And now to have probably the most famous of all the warriors in front of me. It is a special day. But not that you have now twice faced the Tyranid menace and lived to tell the tale.”

“Thanks, General you are too kind,” Timothy replied taken aback by the praise.

“You’re own record precedes you General and it is an honor to be on your ship.

“Would you have a Dworfian whiskey with me, soldier?”

“Indeed, I would.”

The General went and poured himself a glass and left one on the table for Timothy.

The robotic arm reached out from the right side of his wheelchair and brought it to his lips.

It was ghoulish and tasted of strong vinegar but he smiled and said, “Splendid.”

Galway Girls Part 12

This was somewhat of a novelty. Heading back to somewhere I had already been and it was right back into the same room too. In fairness, they made a good effort to transform the place. All the chairs had been removed leaving a good-sized dance floor. It was now dark with strobe lighting. By this time I had enough drink and instead just enjoyed the music, which was a mix of modern songs and some classics. The loud songs vibrated through me.

We took up a position beside one of the walls and I took in the atmosphere. It felt alive like anything in the world was possible. As I watched the elegant dancing, part of me wished I could just stand up and join them.

It was getting towards the end of the night now and I had run out of things to say to my friends. Then there she was. The woman whose eyes I met during the comedy gig and they were meeting again. She was staring right at me from across the dance floor. Then she started to walk towards me. Suddenly, my heart started to race and I felt wide awake once again.

She leaned down and said something to me but it was too hard to make out. She smelled of perfume and Guinness. I remember thinking – you only live once and I kissed her cheek.