Wry Ramblings From A Hot Wing

[Lee Wilson]

Not exactly, but quite a few parallels with ‘The Last Boys in Clinton.’ I can’t wait to read the rest.

Edited March 29 by Lee Wilson
Typo

[Davide]

10 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

 

Caleb Murphy sat up in bed with a start. He grabbed his phone and stared at the screen. 8:15 AM.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Caleb muttered as he jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. This was the fifth time he had overslept this month. The fifth and final time before mandatory two week after school detention kicked in. 

His mother had already taken away his drivers license and threatened to cut off his trip to DisneyWorld for his birthday later that year. He was really looking forward to seeing his father after almost an entire year. 

But if he couldn’t convince Mr. Blackford to overlook this tardy, he’d never be able to see his father or his new half brother. His mother did not make idle threats. 

He quickly brushed his teeth and ran back to the bedroom. He pulled on the pants he wore the day before and grabbed a clean shirt. He shoved his lucky ball cap over his messy hair and ran out of the room. 

A quick run through the house proved his mother had already left for work. That meant she knew he was going to be late. If she thought he had been an asshole after she took away his license, she hadn’t seen anything yet if he missed out on his trip. 

He ran out the back door and jumped on his bike. As he took off towards school ten blocks away, he hoped that he could make it before the bell sounded at the end of first period. He still might be able to talk his way out of detention.  

It wasn’t until he went through his third red light that it registered there was no traffic, Then up ahead he saw smoke rising up into the clear sky. The breeze brought the smell of fire and something putrid that caused him to gag while he was riding. 

As he turned the corner, he stopped in the middle of the street. At first he was dumbfounded, how there was a car on fire in the middle of his neighborhood and not a single soul to be found anywhere. 

He dropped his bike and ran over to the car. The closer he approached the smell intensified. It grew so bad he had to cover his mouth and nose with his hat to try to block it out. 

The car was smoldering, it looked like it had been burning for a while and once he peered inside, he was horrified to see two shapes in the front seat, burnt beyond all recognition. 

The smell was that of burning flesh and he turned and emptied his stomach onto the ground. What the fuck was going on? Why wasn’t anyone coming to help? 

He wiped his mouth and looked around the neighborhood. In his haste to get to school, he had rode past several bodies lying on the ground. One near the front door of a house, one next to an open car door, another one sitting in a chair on his front porch, a beer still clutched in his hands. 

“What the absolute fuck?” He said as he ran to the nearest house.  

He pounded on the door but no one answered. He tried the door and stepped inside. The smell he was quickly associating with death filled his nostrils. This time he found an entire family sitting at the dining room table. Husband, wife, and three kids along with the family dog dead. 

He ran out of the house and grabbed his phone. He dialed 911 and got a message that said if it was an emergency hold on the line and someone would be with him shortly. He waited for what seemed like forever before he hung up. 

“Hello, is there anyone there?” He screamed at the top of his lungs. But all he heard was the wind rustling the trees. 

He called his mom and waited breathlessly as the phone rang, “Come on, pick up.” 

Two rings, three rings, on the fourth ring it went to voicemail, “Mom, it’s me, please call me back. I need to know you’re alright.” 

He collapsed on the grass and broke down. He had never seen a dead body before and in the span of a few minutes he had seen ten. Ten people dead, all on the same street. 

He jumped to his feet, maybe whatever was happening was just on this block. He grabbed his bike and went to the next street. This street had a few coffee shops, some take out restaurants, and a post office. 

All he found there was more dead bodies and a post office that was locked up with a sign that said open at 8am. He rode around frantically for about twenty minutes, street after street, bodies everywhere and in every conceivable position. It was like everyone had dropped dead whatever they were doing. 

It didn’t seem to matter, young, old, man, woman, children, and animals. It was like he was the last person alive in Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

He had ridden to the top of Chambers Hill where he could get a decent view of the city. There pockets of smoke rising as far as he could see. To the left he could see the tops of the roller coasters at Hershey Park, a place he had spent many summers enjoying the thrills of the park. 

“This can’t be happening, this isn’t real, I’m fucking dreaming, I’m gonna wake up any moment now,” Caleb chanted to himself as he rocked back and forth. 

Suddenly his phone buzzed and he pressed the button and said excitedly, “Mom, thank god…” 

“Caleb, I’m so glad to have gotten you.” 

“Dad,” Caleb exclaimed as a wave of relief washed over him. He wasn’t alone after all. His father was alive. “Everyone is dead.” 

“Whoa, whoa, calm down, what do you mean everyone is dead?” His father asked with a concerned tone of voice.

“I found a car that hit a tree, they were dead, and then I saw a family eating dinner, everyone was dead, even the dog and I can’t get in touch with mom and I don’t know what to do,” Caleb blurted out as he gave into the fear and anxiety of what he had experienced that morning. 

“Son, son, calm down, just breath, deep breaths,” His father said calmly. “Remember bad things happen when we lose our head.” 

Caleb took a moment to calm himself down and once his father heard the boy’s breathing return to normal, he said, “Start at the beginning.” 

“So I woke up late for school, I was on my way when I saw the car accident, they were on fire dad, it was the most awful smell you can imagine.” 

“Okay, then what happened.” 

“I saw bodies all over the street, some looked like they were walking, one looked like he was getting out of his car, like they all just dropped dead at the same time,” Caleb informed him slowly, somehow managing to keep his emotions in check. 

“Is it isolated to one street, one neighborhood?” 

“I’ve been riding my bike around, people dead in coffee shops, entire bars filled with dead people, I think it’s the entire town. There are fires burning everywhere, some from accidents maybe, I’m not sure about the others.” 

“Have you found anyone else?” His father asked urgently. 

“What part of everyone is dead don’t you understand? Even the fucking dogs are dead.” 

“Calm down son, you need to be brave. Where are you right now?” 

“I’m on top of Chambers Hill.” 

“Okay, do you see any signs of animals, birds, insects, squirrels?” 

Caleb looked around and then up at the sky. “No, I don’t see anything.” 

“There are no birds circling, like over the dead bodies?” 

“No dad, I’m really scared,” Caleb admitted softly. 

“Okay, remember what I taught you. You can’t panic, we take things one step at a time,” His father said encouragingly. “Have you passed a police station?” 

“No, I didn’t think to check there,” Calab said with a bit more confidence in his voice. 

“First thing, go to the nearest police station, there’s one close to the house.” 

“What if they’re all dead too?” 

“If they are, then you’ll need to do the following. First, find shelter, second, gather food supplies, third, provisions and medicine, fourth, you’ll need to arm yourself, fifth, survive until we find each other.” 

“No, no, no,” Caleb whispered into the phone. “Can’t you just come here?” 

“Remember what I taught you, you have all the skills to get to me,” His father said evenly. “We’ve been preparing for this your whole life.” 

“Okay,” Caleb said in a resigned tone. 

“Get to the police station, gather as much information as you can regarding your situation, and then call me back.” 

“Gotcha.” 

“Caleb.”

“Yes dad?”

“I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

“I’ll never stop looking.” 

“I know.”

Interesting and sad premise with two big mysteries. First, what killed every living thing in that neighborhood? Second, why did Caleb not die along with everyone else?

[Ron]

On 3/28/2026 at 2:14 PM, Jason Rimbaud said:

I once broke my foot jumping down the stairs trying to catch the Muni train. I jumped like twelve steps or something, and boy did I wish I didn't do that. 

Though I made my train, because at the time, my boyfriend forced me to keep going. 

I broke my little toe by ramming it into a door jamb just before my first trip overseas (to London, no less, which can be a very walkable city — depending).

My then ‘newish’ partner was not happy with me, even though I broke my toe in his apartment. There was this undertone of him being pissed-off at my lack of speed toward getting around, although you wouldn’t know it on a surface level.

[Jason Rimbaud]

24 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

Not exactly, but quite a few parallels with ‘The Last Boys in Clinton.’ I can’t wait to read the rest.

You don't remember. . 

 I read the same prompt you did, and when I read your first chapter, I told you I had an idea, and I was going to stop reading your story so as not to overlap ideas.  I think it was in the comments of Last Boys in Clinton, after the discussion about wind patterns and such. . 

Either way, I hope I took the prompt in a different direction than you. When I finish Book One, I am going to read your story as I've been chomping on the bit to find out what happened in your story. It's been over a year or nearly a year since I started this story and stopped reading yours. 

 

[Jason Rimbaud]

35 minutes ago, Davide said:

Interesting and sad premise with two big mysteries. First, what killed every living thing in that neighborhood? Second, why did Caleb not die along with everyone else?

It's a prompt that Lee found last year. I really loved the prompt so it took me a year to write it, cause I'm slower than Lee is.  

[Jason Rimbaud]

35 minutes ago, Ron said:

I broke my little toe by ramming it into a door jamb just before my first trip overseas (to London, no less, which can be a very walkable city — depending).

My then ‘newish’ partner was not happy with me, even though I broke my toe in his apartment. There was this undertone of him being pissed-off at my lack of speed toward getting around, although you wouldn’t know it on a surface level.

Sometimes our partners can be so passive aggressive they don't realize it oozes out of them. 

[Lee Wilson]

4 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

You don't remember. . 

 I read the same prompt you did, and when I read your first chapter, I told you I had an idea, and I was going to stop reading your story so as not to overlap ideas.  I think it was in the comments of Last Boys in Clinton, after the discussion about wind patterns and such. . 

Either way, I hope I took the prompt in a different direction than you. When I finish Book One, I am going to read your story as I've been chomping on the bit to find out what happened in your story. It's been over a year or nearly a year since I started this story and stopped reading yours. 

 

Cool. Yeah, I do vaguely remember that. It’ll be good to see where you took it beyond the premise presented with the prompt.

[Jason Rimbaud]

Just now, Lee Wilson said:

Cool. Yeah, I do vaguely remember that. It’ll be good to see where you took it beyond the premise presented with the prompt.

 I didn't include the prompt because it was almost as simple as a kid walks into an empty school, what happened, and where is everyone?  Not a direct quote, but as an homage, I stole your opening few paragraphs,   But instead of going to school, I started mine on the way. After that, I think they are different as could be.  I hope.  

PS: This is my first foray into fantasy. I always wanted to write a fantasy story, but never saw my way in. Who would have known it was as easy as beginning in the present?  

[CassieQ]

2 hours ago, Davide said:

Thank you for the reply, I'm glad it will be this week if things go according to plan. Oh, I've been wanting to read Tyler's Dilemma, but I didn't know it will have a part two. That pushes it up in my priority list because now I have an incentive to catch up at some point, so that I can eventually start commenting on it live.

I'm reading Tyler's Dilemma right now and it's a lot of fun.  

[ReaderPaul]

@Jason Rimbaud, do you have any idea when you might start posting your new fantasy story?  I look forward to reading it.

[Jason Rimbaud]

19 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

I'm reading Tyler's Dilemma right now and it's a lot of fun.  

Thank you, it was a fun story to write/right.

[Jason Rimbaud]

8 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

@Jason Rimbaud, do you have any idea when you might start posting your new fantasy story?  I look forward to reading it.

I have at least 12 weeks of Gabriel's Gambit, and then I should start posting it shortly afterwards.  Give or take. 

[CassieQ]

16 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

@Jason Rimbaud, do you have any idea when you might start posting your new fantasy story?  I look forward to reading it.

Same here

[Jason Rimbaud]

Wow, my overactive imagination was working overtime last night, and I had one of the weirdest dreams I've experienced in a long time. 

And I am going to have to censor this dream heavily, or I would get kicked off GA by every single member, including the one person who actually likes me. 

Let's hit the premise, and I promise you this is my dream to the best of my ability. 

I get offered a job to work for a famous, aging TV Star, who is putting in tens of thousands of dollars of her own money per month into her restaurant. Here is the thing: her restaurant has a very unique theme. It's located on the top floor of a sex club, where everything is legal and fair game as long as it is carried on inside the four walls of the building. 

Staff members are having sex with customers, and drugs are rampant and given out like candy. And the restaurant has this world-famous chef who creates dishes that facilitate sexual encounters by being served on living humans. 

But this chef, who is steeped deep into drugs and just having sex, hasn't really contributed to the menu for a long time; the Sous Chef has been the one creating all the dishes while the Chef is taking credit. 

The restaurant is losing money by the millions a year, but she is so heavily invested in the business that she realizes she needs someone to run it who won't get trapped in the drugs and sex that are everywhere.

So she offers me the job, and before I accept, I decide to show up the night before to see where the business is going wrong. Lots of silliness ensues as I make my way from the first floor all the way to the fourth floor, where the restaurant is actually located. The entire dream takes place in a single night, and there is lots of crazy sex, jilted lovers, drug dealers, robberies, and a Chef who carries a gun and is coked out of his mind. 

By the time the sun comes up, I decide to take the job, but I have a few demands along with a business plan to turn it around and work towards making it profitable. 

The things my mind created are so depraved, I was actually a bit horrified that they were inside my subconscious mind for the dream to be created. 

And yes, before you ask, I wrote down the major details in my notes on the off chance I ever decide to try and bring this dream to paper. But I'm not sure GA would even allow me to post it, as the dream indulged in all sorts of fetishes in a building that seemed to be so massive it could never make a profit by the sheer size of it. There'd have to be a billion people a day to pay for the services to break even. 

But what a dream. Silly things that are in my brain.  

 

[Lee Wilson]

5 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

But I'm not sure GA would even allow me to post it, as the dream indulged in all sorts of fetishes

There’s always nifty!

[Davide]

9 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

There’s always nifty!

Yes, Jason should resurrect the Nifty account where he posted old stories he doesn't want to tell us about and put this one there. And this is totally not a ploy for me to learn what that account was and read what his young self wrote.

[Jason Rimbaud]

11 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

There’s always nifty!

I have enough things on my plate I can't finish now. Stop trying to drive the rest of the way crazy!

[Jason Rimbaud]

2 minutes ago, Davide said:

Yes, Jason should resurrect the Nifty account where he posted old stories he doesn't want to tell us about and put this one there. And this is totally not a ploy for me to learn what that account was and read what his young self wrote.

Oh my god!  Why would you want to put yourself through that madness?  

But just for you, I'm going to find an old story, change the title, and the main characters names but keep the everything the same and share it with you. . And when you come back and demand my head, we can leave that in the past where it belongs!  . 

[Lee Wilson]

9 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I have enough things on my plate I can't finish now. Stop trying to drive the rest of the way crazy!

But it’s so much fun!

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, Lee Wilson said:

But it’s so much fun!

And not that hard to do frankly

[Davide]

17 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

Oh my god!  Why would you want to put yourself through that madness?  

But just for you, I'm going to find an old story, change the title, and the main characters names but keep the everything the same and share it with you. . And when you come back and demand my head, we can leave that in the past where it belongs!  . 

I would read it, even if just for curiosity. But I was only mentioning that as a joke, please don't share something you'd rather keep in the past.

[Jason Rimbaud]

6 minutes ago, Davide said:

I would read it, even if just for curiosity. But I was only mentioning that as a joke, please don't share something you'd rather keep in the past.

Challenge Accepted!   

[wildone]

I see @Jason Rimbaud, you have changed your status to 'Probing' 😮 What or who are you probing? Is your husband aware if it it is him?

Enquiring minds need to know 

 

[Jason Rimbaud]

4 minutes ago, wildone said:

I see @Jason Rimbaud, you have changed your status to 'Probing' 😮 What or who are you probing? Is your husband aware if it it is him?

Enquiring minds need to know 

 

Number one, I thought it said pouting. So fuck those little ass mood icons that I can't see.  

Number two, with my blessing from genetics, I'm not sure if my husband has ever been aware of any such behavior. 

Number three, and maybe most important, why the driveby?  . Are you bored because the FO has been MIA the last few weeks.  

 

[Jason Rimbaud]

Just putting this out in the world. If you wear a backpack, depending on how much stuff you think you need for an eight-hour shift, you could stick out another two feet, taking up more space than you usually inhabit. 

When standing in a crowded train, you should be aware. And if you're not, don't complain to me when I shove you after you hit me with said protrusion nine times. 

Bonus Public Service Announcement: I know that nowadays, you feel like you must stare at your phone every free moment you have. But if you are going to be glued to the phone whilst walking, train yourself to walk in a fucking straight line. There are people behind you who aren't trying to read a small screen and have places to be. Quit weaving too and also fro like a drunken sailor on liberty. If you do, I will grab you by your oversized backpack and move you out of the way so I can get by on the narrow sidewalks of San Francisco.

Bonus Bonus Public Service Announcement: If there is a big sign blocking entry to a restaurant, don't struggle to move it so you can walk in and ask if we're open. 

We are, but we've made it as difficult as possible for you to come inside and give us money. And excuse all the chairs that are on top of the table, and the person mopping the floor, he was only there to try and get you to fall on the wet floor. And congratulations, you managed to do all that whilst staring at your tiny screen, the viewpoint you must have for your entire pointless existence. 

I'm surprised she didn't take a picture of me so she could stare at her screen instead of interacting with a person face-to-face.