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    High Contrast: A Collection of Tales
    High Contrast: A Collection of Tales
    High Contrast: A Collection of Tales
    Ebook106 pages1 hour

    High Contrast: A Collection of Tales

    By Ian Thomas Healy

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    About this ebook

    A collection of eight tales ranging from horror to superhero, science fiction to post-apocalyptic, that examine the darker aspects of the world.
    -Bread and Circuses: This weary warrior has been fighting battles for a very long time.
    -Dental Plan: Robert's teeth are falling out left and right, sometimes only minutes apart. What is happening to him?
    -Footprints in the Butter: When the creatures showed up, it was only the beginning of Paul's waking nightmare.
    -Last Year's Hero: Battledriver Linnea is the best of the best, but now is she too old to come back for one more season?
    -Pedals: Once the gasoline ran out, the only way for the wasteland wanderers to get around was on bicycles.
    -Tracks: Being a hacker isn't so glamorous.
    -Boy Scout: When the most powerful superhero has had enough, what chance does the world stand?
    -1001001: All sentients seek something greater than themselves, even robots.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLocal Hero Press, LLC
    Release dateSep 24, 2016
    ISBN9781311834041
    High Contrast: A Collection of Tales
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    Author

    Ian Thomas Healy

    Ian Thomas Healy is a prolific writer who dabbles in many different speculative genres. He's a ten-time participant and winner of National Novel Writing Month where he's tackled such diverse subjects as sentient alien farts, competitive forklift racing, a religion-powered rabbit-themed superhero, cyberpunk mercenaries, cowboy elves, and an unlikely combination of vampires with minor league hockey. He is also the creator of the Writing Better Action Through Cinematic Techniques workshop, which helps writers to improve their action scenes. Ian also created the longest-running superhero webcomic done in LEGO, The Adventures of the S-Team, which ran from 2006-2012. When not writing, which is rare, he enjoys watching hockey, reading comic books (and serious books, too), and living in the great state of Colorado, which he shares with his wife, children, house-pets, and approximately five million other people.

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      Book preview

      High Contrast - Ian Thomas Healy

      by Ian Thomas Healy

      Copyright 2016 Ian Thomas Healy

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      This book, its contents, and its characters are the sole property of Ian Thomas Healy. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without written, express permission from the author. To do so without permission is punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

      Cover art by Local Hero Press, LLC

      Sources: 1. Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton area. Childress County, Texas Panhandle, June 1938, Dorothea Lange [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

      2. Bird images via Obsidian Dawn, www.obsidiandawn.com.

      Book design by Local Hero Press, LLC

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      Table of Contents

      Bread and Circuses

      Dental Plan

      Footprints in the Butter

      Last Year’s Hero

      Pedals

      Tracks

      Boy Scout

      1001001

      Bread and Circuses

      Tending bar is one of those jobs that’s at the same time more glamorous than movies and less exciting than watching paint dry. I’ve seen my fair share of bizarre and exciting incidents within the confines of Wilbur’s in the five years I’ve worked there. Still, it’s only a small neighborhood bar in a gentrified part of town, and the regulars are slowly dying off one by one. There have been days where not a single person walks through the door with its frosted glass and I’ve spent entire shifts playing the online trivia game that the owner installed as a hook for the younger, hipper crowd. I’m still not sure why he hasn’t shuttered the bar. I don’t know how he affords to pay his staff, but the checks always clear.

      I drew the short stick to work the unpopular closing shift on the Fourth of July, and it looked like it would be yet another shift sans customers. Nevertheless, I filled my ice cabinet and topped off the peanuts in the bar dishes, just in case. It never hurts to be professional. I had high hopes that business would pick up after the city finished lighting off its fireworks display but until then it figured to be several hours of quiet and online trivia.

      So when the door tinkled open, I was surprised enough that I forgot to answer the trivia question and the timer ticked down to zero. The customer walked in—a man in his late thirties or early forties, unshaven, wearing cargo shorts, a t-shirt, and a military fatigues jacket. He plopped himself down at the bar, never once making eye contact with me. He looked like one of the homeless guys who lurked around the park on the next block, holding up a signs that said will work for food god bless. I glanced toward the phone at the end of the counter, just to remind myself it was still there. The guy didn’t look like he was there to start any trouble, but it didn’t hurt to be sure. He looked like he’d been through hell and back, though, and with his military jacket, I wondered if he might be a veteran. I knew fireworks could be a problem for guys with PTSD, and maybe he’d come into the bar to find some peace and quiet from the noise and crowds outside.

      Nevertheless, he was a customer, and this was my job, so I set aside the trivia controller. I wrangled my face into my best smile, and stepped over to him, setting a paper napkin down before him. Evening, sir. What can I get for you?

      Beer.

      There are about a million responses to this one, most of which you learn your first week in bartending school. Most of them are designed to make the customer laugh and loosen up, but this guy didn’t carry himself like he was looking for a laugh. His very presence seemed like a soporific. I found myself speaking barely louder than a whisper. Sure. What kind do you prefer?

      Whatever’s room temperature.

      He had an odd accent, and coupled with his request for warm beer, I figured he was from out of the country.

      I opened a bottle of the Irish ale we kept in the cabinet at the vendor’s request and poured it into a mug, watching the man out of the corner of my eye. Numerous scars decorated a face that might once have been handsome before encountering whatever had done all that damage. I glanced downward and saw his hands were similarly scarred. Definitely a veteran, then. Those kinds of scars only came from shrapnel or bullets. I wondered if I should thank him for his service, but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate. He still looked homeless, and I was leery about getting close enough to accidentally smell him. The stench of some of those people was enough to kill an entire day’s worth of appetite.

      Six dollars. I set the mug on the napkin.

      He produced a ten dollar bill from a thick money clip. Keep it.

      All right, so he wasn’t homeless then. Thanks, mister. My name’s Carl. Let me know if you need anything else. Just try not to monopolize my time.

      At that, the man raised his head enough to look up and down the bar. A wry smile crossed his face at the lack of other customers. I’ll be good.

      I took out a rag and wiped down a spot on the bar that was already clean. Not going to watch the fireworks tonight?

      No, I don’t much like them. He took a long sip of his beer and then fixed his gaze on me. His eyes belonged on someone much older, someone who’d seen far more suffering and death than anyone should in a lifetime. I actually took a step backward.

      I decided to risk the question. Are you a veteran?

      The man lowered his head and chuckled into his beer. Thanks, kid. Best laugh I’ve had in a long time.

      My ears burned at the kid comment. I wasn’t that much younger than him. Boy, if that’s the best laugh you’ve had, I’d say you’re overdue for some more.

      The man took a long drink from his mug. I’m Eric, he said. Or Erik, Erich, Elrik, Uruk, Erikku, Erico, or Eirikr. Or a hundred other names. But right now I’m Eric. And yes, I’m a veteran.

      Iraq? Afghanistan? Somewhere in the Middle East?

      Yes. Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere in the Middle East. Most recently, anyway.

      Did you, uh, get those scars there? I winced as I said it. I sounded like a small-town rube, and it was a rude question to boot. If he’d have gotten up and left, I wouldn’t have blamed him, and I’d have paid

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