Yanks13

Chapter 11 It took nearly three weeks to safely disengage the collars from every last child on the station. And it mostly fell to Julian since he found a way to release Jesse before I took him to meet up with that snake that used to be my friend. Things after that had settled down some for everyone on the station and mostly returned to normal. Dawson indeed became the commander of the station and there couldn’t have been a better choice in the matter. He also still was in charge of s

Chapter 10 Of all the things that he could have told me, I never even suspected that to be even in contention. I started to completely and flat-out assume that this was some sort of twisted, sick joke. How can a robot have DNA? “Wh… How…?” I couldn’t even talk, too stunned to think. I saw tears streaking his face. “Travis, please say something. Are you mad? Hurt? Happy? I-I need any kind of emotional response from you in order to proceed. You’ve blanked yourself to me. I-I… I can’t r

Chapter 9 Riley held me back as my eyes blurred with tears. He tried to tell me something, but I couldn’t make his words out. I was too consumed with grief and anger when I saw my brother. Questions raced through my head. How? When? Who? Whoever did this to him was going to pay! I struggled as Riley pulled me to him and suddenly my vision went dark. I awoke back in our quarters to see a guilty-looking Riley staring at me, wiping my forehead off with a cool, damp cloth. When he finished

Chapter 8 It didn’t take long for Riley to come back out of his inner self to give us the news – the audio was as good as it was going to get. He told us that the radiation the transmission fought through destroyed those parts of the audio and actually seemed impressed with what we did get. So we’d never fully get the story from that clip. I mentally shrugged. Until I see proof of their dead bodies, I have to keep on hoping that they’re still alive out there, struggling to get back to u

Chapter 7 I spent a half-hour at the clothing store, trying things on as I thought about what Riley told me. It wasn’t that I was wholly unopposed to the idea of having him as my boyfriend, more like it was the suddenness of the prospect coupled with what he said about being made just for me. It seemed a bit too set in stone, like I didn’t even have a choice in the matter. Maybe that is the reason I’m kind of freaking out a bit. Whatever the reason, I still needed to think on it some mo

Chapter 6 Our brief visit with Kevin confirmed that Jesse was allowed to take some clothing. He frowned hard when he heard about Zane’s involvement yet again, saying he’d handle him personally. I wasn’t sure what Kevin would do to him, but whatever it was I was just glad I wasn’t going to be on the receiving end of that look later. “So, why’d you refuse to take them even with Kevin’s reassurance?” Jesse almost whined. “By next week my pants will cut me in half!” “I’ll tell you at home

Chapter 5 I sat in his office, my hands cuffed in front of me. My feet didn’t reach the floor, the chair made for a more adult felon. The rather long walk to his office left me feeling numb. The security chief tried to ask me questions along the way, but I heard none of them. My mind blanked by fear, not for myself but for Jesse and, to a lesser extent, Riley’s well-being. Would… would they get found out without me? Would my brother get that dreaded collar wrapped around his neck? After

Chapter 1 We arrived home from the dance with relatively large smiles on our faces. The three of us opened my front door quietly, as it was a bit late – I didn’t want to disturb Mom or Dad if they both turned in early. We had agreed that we would hang out in the basement for a while before we would succumb to sleep. But our sneaky entry wasn’t warranted when I saw both of my parents in the living room – Mom had a mystery novel in hand whereas Dad busied himself with the sports section

Chapter 4 After we cleared the air of our feelings of brotherly love towards one another – even if it was a tad awkward – the two of us just stayed in for the rest of the day and crawled into bed when the time came. Riley was still charging in the corner of the room, working on repairs to himself. I couldn’t see how far his skin extended over the “wound” since the table blocked my view of him. I slept that night with my back against the wall with Jesse pressed up next to me. He still wa

Chapter 3 I should have been scared at the thought of it being attached to some kind of dysfunctional bot that could reactivate and kill me somehow but it didn’t. And I then just noticed how light the limb in my hand actually was. It felt about as heavy as Jesse’s leg when I had to tape up his ankle when he sprained in a month back. Maybe even a bit lighter. My intrigue grew and I started clearing away the trash around that limb. I didn’t really pay attention to what I was doing until

The day slowed down so much after that brief time I spent with Elliot. Since I didn’t have any classes with him, it left my heart with a dull ache not knowing what he was up to or how his classes were going. For not knowing anything about him, I sure felt like I knew enough. At least enough to have that kiss with him in the hallway. I wanted to laugh at myself – it was only a few days ago when I wouldn’t have even entertained the thought of even having a boyfriend, let alone feeling a bit excite

Chapter 2 Jesse’s elbow to my ribs woke me up in the most non-endearing way possible. The sharp spike shot through me so fast I swore it felt like a blast of lightning from the planet’s namesake the station orbited. Jesse slept on, unaware of the pain he inflicted upon me. For a few seconds I thought about doing the same to him but as the pain faded, so too did my ambitions for revenge. Now awake, I slid out of the bed and made my way to the bathroom, occasionally rubbing my eyes. Once in

Chapter 1 The promenade looked particularly busy today. Not that it wasn’t always but since it was a Saturday most people on this level didn’t have anything else to do but shop along the strip. Most weekends allowed the workers to switch on the maintenance bots for the two days before having to turn them off for their own version of maintenance. The bots kept Jupiter Station’s most crucial systems at peak performance – otherwise we’d all die. I could see several toiling silenty away from

An uneasy truce between two different space-faring colonies leaves Jupiter Station under a wary peace. Travis Hartwell and his brother Jesse are caught up in brewing tension in inner-station politics when all they want to do is survive. And Travis's discovery of a damaged bot adds more spice to an already volatile mix. Will Travis survive long enough for his missing parents to come home to both he and Jesse, if they do at all?

Dustin wished me, with a bit of nervousness, a good day before he ran towards his school. Now staring at the doors to mine, I felt glad he said that – I almost couldn’t even walk through the Quad! As Dex half-dragged, half-pushed me towards my doom, I saw Elliot once again sitting in the same spot, drawing away. But this time, he looked up as I neared. A very small smile crossed his face and I thought I saw his eyes twinkling a bit before he clouded over once more. He sort of waved at me as I pa

I had it set up so that the online magazine I submitted it to would release before it published here but due to things going on with the magazine, it now publishes here first xD. So I'm all sorts of confused about things lol. But thanks as always for all the reviews!

The rest of Thursday and all of Friday blurred together. I didn’t even attempt to go to school. Dustin tried to get me up on Friday but I yelled at him to leave me alone, that I wasn’t feeling very good. Since Dad left early and with Mom out of town, I decided to call myself in sick. I’ve done it once or twice for Dustin when the need came up, so the school didn’t question it when I called myself in. I even forged a note in my Dad’s horribly illegible handwriting to hand in come Monday. I just…

“See? I mean, my list is narrowed down considerably!” I said as I waved the printout in Dexter’s face. We were both in my room after school a couple of days after I discovered the document. Unfortunately, I had to wait for his counsel until today due to him getting sick. As much as I wanted to figure this out, I wanted him to be as non-contagious as possible when I spoke with him face to face. He’s my friend and all but I don’t want or need him getting me sick. He coughed a bit before he snatch

My favorite games/series are as follows (in no particular order): - Mario (3 and World were particular fun for me ) - Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess are my faves there; I have Skyward Sword but I have yet to really play it) - Elder Scroll games (3 to 5) - Tales of Symphonia - Mass Effect (I have yet to play 3 ) - Chrono Trigger/Cross - Final Fantasy (only ever played a bit of 6, all of 7 and 8, and didn't beat 9. I tried 10 but I got bored watching the bazillion 10 sec cutscenes xD) - Perfect Dark - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (great game if you're in the mood for a mindfreak lol) - Goldeneye 007 for the N64 (had so much fun with the multiplayer with my friends heh) - Super Smash Bros. And I have to mention this game separately only because it's unique and a cult classic that didn't get a fair chance in the US in my opinion heh. That would be EarthBound (Mother 2 for those that might know it by its Japanese title). I LOVED that game - I can't tell you all how many times I played that game over and over and over and over again. I might have to dust my SNES off and take it for another spin (i haven't played it in years only to see if I can "forget" things about it so it might almost be like playing it brand new). A very good and quirky RPG .

Thanks again for the review Lisa! I know once a month seems kinda long but before you know it, the story will be over! I don't know GA's policy on external links to other sites like this one, but if you or anyone else wants to, PM me and I'll share the link so you can read it earlier in the month!

Tomorrow shouldn’t exist. Any semblance of calmness I took from the previous night after Dustin and I talked went straight out the window and I was back deeply entrenched into my previous position. I had peeked outside the closet for the briefest of moments and during that time I kind of liked what I saw. But then during the night, I had horrible nightmares dealing with Dad’s story but each time it was me and some other boy. I can’t even bring to voice some of the things that happened to me in

I don't know if I stated it in this chapter or in one of the upcoming ones, but I don't think that it's too breaking if I say that he's 14 in my mind. Hope that helps. And thanks for the words of support .

Thanks for the review . Now, as for posting it faster, well I probably COULD but I feel honor-bound to not since I have it being published in Imagine Magazine first. You know, that obligatory exclusionary clause or whatever .

I sat at the dinner table, unable to even look at the Chinese food sitting on my plate. But I didn’t have a choice. If I ignored my favorite foods, Dad would ask questions. Questions that I didn’t have the answers to. Questions I wanted to avoid facing. Things about what my best friend said today at school got to me, even if they weren’t negative in the slightest. Those words he spoke… they forced me to look at myself again – from the outside in. I hated looking at myself from the outside in.

Chance is struggling with himself and his best friend isn't helping matters. But when Chance gets a rose for Valetine's Day, will he be willing to give love a shot?