Part 1 of 1
Read the full text, as well as the show notes, at http://flashpulp.com
Tonight, Ruby meets her end.
The Skinner Co. Network
FP200 - The Death of Ruby, Part 1 of 1
(light music) (gentle music) ♪ Sunday's gloomy, my hours are slumberless ♪ ♪ Dear is the shadows I live with by nonetheless ♪ ♪ Little white flowers will never awaken you ♪ ♪ Not where the bright culture saw us taking you ♪ ♪ Angels have no fire ever returning you ♪ ♪ Would they be angry if I sort of join in you ♪ ♪ Ooh, Sunday ♪ ♪ Ooh, me and Sunday, my shadows ♪ ♪ I spend it all night and night ♪ ♪ I've decided to end it all ♪ ♪ Soon every candle is in praise ♪ ♪ And as sad I know ♪ ♪ Ever my weak, ever know that I'm gonna go ♪ ♪ Death is no dream for ♪ ♪ Death I'm caressing you ♪ ♪ Death is the birth of my soul ♪ ♪ And I'll be blessing you ♪ ♪ Ooh, me and Sunday ♪ (light music) (light music) - Welcome to FlashPulp, episode 200. This evening, we present the death of Ruby departed, part one of one. This week's episodes are brought to you by our deeply held love of the mom and everyone who lends an ear to Skinner Co. Thanks guys. FlashPulp is an experiment in broadcasting fresh pulp stories in the modern age, three to 10 minutes of fiction brought to you Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. Tonight, Ruby meets her end. The death of Ruby departed, part one of one. Written by JRD Skinner, narration by Peter Church, with additional voices provided by Opoponix, Dancing Ella, and JRD, an audio produced by Jessica Met. (light music) - The party was a quiet affair. Just her son, his new fiancé, her parents, and a few friends from town. They'd all parked along the double-rudded lane before entering the yard of her home, one of the last to be able to claim to be truly rural in New York State, and were now seated in the plastic white lawn chair she'd scattered around the fire pit. Her knee had ached as she mounted the trio of steps that led to her patio and pushed aside the sliding screen door she used to enter the kitchen. She'd been seeking the double stack of red plastic cups that she'd picked up for the occasion in preparation for dispensing the rummy punch Maggie had constructed. Turning back to the party with cups in hand, she had paused at the exit, watching Maggie, the server, stiffly trundling around the group with the cheese and cracker plate. It was while tearing open the transparent wrapper that Ruby spotted the intruder, moving into the half circle of chatting well-wishers. - No, no, damn you. - No! - She'd heard the story only two nights before, a former lover of her son's chosen, unrelenting in his refusal to accept her spurning. The girl had told the tale with tears in her eyes. The newcomer ratcheted the shotgun in his hands and all talk ceased, dropping the cups, the aging woman sprinted to her living room. Outside the home, the gatecrasher made his intentions clear. Without breaking for explanation, he leveled his weapon at Mr. McReardon and fired. The proud father's lawn chair toppled backwards and the dying man's brown trouser legs twitched briefly before halting all movement. "Eggie!" said the gunman, turning on the freshly engaged woman. "This is a York barefoot!" Ruby made no effort to check her momentum as she plunged through the screen door. For a moment, she almost seemed to shift in time. There was no more bad knee. There was no sleeping in on high thread count sheets. There was no escape. There was only Bethany snatched down from her place on the mantle and a threat. Always a threat with no answer but the blade. Somewhere, she thought she might have heard the old general howl. It was only as the mad woman cleared the end of the deck in a single bound and came pounding the turf in his direction that the intruder managed to convince himself of the reality of the situation. He pulled the trigger, finally sending burning buckshot into her rib cage, but she briefly shrugged off the effect. Then she did what she'd always done and cleaved his skull. Ruby's last living sight was of the wind ruffling the alms she'd planted 35 years earlier. (birds chirping) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) She woke with Bethany in her hands. There was a thin-faced woman leaning over her whose eyes moved continuously between her own and the door of the small, fatched hut in which they were seated. To Ruby, it seemed not as if she'd woken from a dream, but more as if she'd been distracted during a conversation and could no longer remember what the topic had been before a sudden interruption. - What? - She asked, her custodian smiled. - Valhalla, the those who've died gloriously are taken. I, her? - Ruby was surprised to see she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt she'd lost in the early days of the zombie plague and she wondered briefly what her reflection would reveal should she encounter a mirror. There were more pressing questions, however. - Who are you? - Most call me (speaks in foreign language) Although I was once known simply as the butcher. - The butcher? - Yes, that was a night upon which I laid to rest 20 men. - 20? How? - Very quietly. - Replied her thin-faced companion. The conversation's lull allowed Ruby to note the gunfire in the distance. - I've seen Jacob's ladder. - She said. - Is this just some crazy, last-her-all roller coaster ride my brain is giving me while I bleed out on the lawn? Am I about to die hallucinating? - Is this world just built on adrenaline and shock? - Before her companion could answer, the cloth blocking her view to the exterior shifted aside and a man in a slightly vintage US Marine uniform stepped into the room. - No, the world's real enough. - He replied. - It's a bit like a quilt. Stretch out of all the notable battlefields. It loops though, or maybe it's just round. I once convinced a guy to give me a ride in his saber jet and we went the day doing laps. Took about eight hours to fly across if my watch is to be trusted. On the other hand, the landscape tends to move every now and then, so don't get too comfortable with any mental maps you might build. As to the rest, well, you're a dead, so you ain't likely to get much deader. You're also late, which is sort of weird, but sometimes the Valkyries like to date the long way home. Name's Jenkins, by the way. Cutter or Leroy, whichever you prefer. - Despite her ghostly status, Rubing found his handshake reassuringly solid. - Time to go meet the boss. - Said Cutter. - Boss? - She asked. She'd never been a fan of being told what to do. Jenkins caught the tone in her voice. - Oh, he's nice enough. Some of the old timers have a problem with him. Apparently, he's only been in management of the place for the last couple of hundred years. The black hole's a solid guy. - The words made little sense to Ruby. But as the trio strolled through the smoking remains of a formerly grassy field, it seemed that there would be plenty of time for explanations. (explosion) (roaring) (classical music) - FlashPulp is presented by flashpulp.com and is released under the Canadian Creative Commons attribution non-commercial 2.5 license. Text and audio commentaries can be sent to comments at flashpulp.com. But be aware that they may appear in a future flash cast. We'd also like to thank the FreeSound project, found at freesound.org. For a full listing of effects used during the show, as well as credits for the users who provided them, please check this episode's notes at flashpulp.com. And thanks to you for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please tell your friends. (classical music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]