Writing Prompt Wednesday: An excerpt from "The Good Thing", the NaNo novel.

An itsy bitsy third piece for all of you lovely people!  Thanks so much for reading and commenting and liking things around here!  I really appreciate it!  November’s almost over, and then I’ll have more interesting (and varied) things to say, promise!  😉  In the meantime, enjoy this snippet from Chapter 14… unedited and raw, hopefully not terrible… although I admit I feel kinda cruel for leaving you hanging on this one but, hey, I gotta make you want to read the book, right?? Mehehehe…  – JRF

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Vince shoved past him in turn and with one final look at Rutt, opened the third and final door.  He held his breath as he stepped through and to one side, putting his back up against the wall and letting the five Registry officials pour through after him, leading with their rifles and flashlights.

The thin beams of harsh white light strobed the room, raking over the banks of computers, the old couch in the back of the room, the coils of cables, but there was no startled cry of discovery, no shout of terror, no buzz of a hastily ignited stunner as per usual.  The room remained quiet save for the muffled footfalls of the searching officers, the status lights of the many monitors blinking lazily, unperturbed by the group of intruders.

Vince’s chest tightened as he watched the points of light roam the room and come up empty.

Flea was… gone?

Flea was gone.

Had to be.  The room wasn’t that big.

You brilliant sonuvabitch, I take back everything I said –

“Room’s  empty,” Murphy reported curtly, her features morphing out of the deep darkness on the tail of her flashlight beam, and Rutt immediately rounded on Vince.

“Where is he?”

Vince’s mouth opened, but then he just shook his head and shrugged.  “I… I don’t know.  He hasn’t left this room in years -”

The prod landed in his stomach and Vince cried out as the electricity zapped through his system, dropping him to his knees.  Mitzi yelped, her shrill voice echoing in the close confines of the underground chamber.

“Damnit, Dannel, I’m not fucking around,” Rutt snapped.

“Neither am I!  I’m telling you, if he’s not here then I don’t know where he is!”

There was a pause in which no one moved.  Even the other officers stopped what they were doing and looked to their boss.  Vince held the man’s stare, listening to his own harsh breathing, the rock digging painfully into his knees.

Rutt finally straightened, brushing futilely again at the blood on his face with one hand and then wiping it on his uniformed pant-leg.  “Well, that’s a shame.”  He turned to the man who held Mitzi.  “Kill her.”

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