Extract from A Matter of Degree - I may have to change the title, as it is a quote from one episode and I wanted it to be an alternative title for A Question of Priorities .
I wrote this last night and thought it would be an interesting blog entry - the story is listed under Stories behind the UFO Stories.
The story itself is a long way from being completed, although it is very intricately planned! I hope to get it up to about 15,000 words before I seriously start to re-draft it. Currently on target!
He ran frantically towards the remains of the main block. John had been waiting there for him, there in the entrance. But there was no longer any entrance, no longer any main block. He screamed as he ran, calling out his son’s name over and over. But there was no response.
And then he saw the small figure, half-buried under some rubble. He could see the pale head, crimsoned with blood and still. In agony he knelt beside the small body. He could hear the alarms in the distance, and someone shouting. Someone calling for help. He could hear people running, running towards him. The pain in his side was almost unbearable now, but he had to get John out, and he did.
He held him closely, wrapped safely in his arms, his hands softly stroking John’s blonde, bloodied hair, whispering to him quietly, as if to comfort him in his dreams.
He was still holding him when they arrived.
Gently, they pulled him away from his son, and laid him down on the floor, ripping open his jacket, and he could see, through his blurred tears of anguish and agony, their faces peering down at him, examining him. Then they started to cut him open with their fingers, and he screamed once and died.