Day One

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the line: Why is it so dark?

Day One

Where am I?

He experienced the thought, not quite aware that it was his own.

You are here, came the not-so-helpful reply.

Where is here? Why can’t I feel anything? Why is it so dark? He “thought” back.

Silence…

The screaming claxons shocked Josh into consciousness. He sat up abruptly, gasping for air. His mind raced to comprehend what was going on. The entire room shook as equipment fell from sterile-looking shelves and shattered on the too-white floor.

Do something! His mind screamed.

He could smell the ozone and thought “laser strike”; while having no idea what that actually meant.

He climbed out of the shallow coffin-like box and staggered towards what looked to be a door; thick slime dripped from his body, leaving a slippery trail on the floor behind him.

A small metallic ball with legs scampered out from somewhere and began to clean up.

He made his way down a white passageway; barely able to keep his feet as his entire world jerked every-which-way. There was no sound.

A doorway appeared in a wall and he lurched through, somehow knowing he must.

The room was small, and of course, white; a recliner was the only furniture.

With a WTF shrug, he sat down and laid his head on the surprisingly comfortable headrest.

The clamping was fast. He barely understood that he was trapped before he heard and then felt the drill entering the base of his skull. There was no pain; only a slight tickling sensation.

A complete understanding was instantaneous.

The room - gone; replaced by an expansive star field littered with debris, warships and the near constant flashes of lasers and globe-buster explosions.

Sir, welcome to the front, said a slightly digitized voice.

Thanks, ship, he replied.

With a thought, he leaped into the fray.

Word count 300