Certified Score: 8.1/10 The battle had raged for the better part of the afternoon. Now in the failing light Jeff and his unit of warriors known as the Blood Command 6 were ready to mount one more offensive. They had not been able to make any progress and the enemy had the enviable position of the high ground. Every attack was easily repelled by the enemy. Jeff dusted the lose dirt from his hand, the last offensive was particularly brutal as their foe grew in confidence with each of their failed attempts, laughing at their misfortunes and goading them mercilessly. Jeff looked around at the faces of those that made up Blood Command 6. Each member was on the brink of exhaustion, to a member they were all breathing heavily. Jeff could see that their spirits were broken and his heart sunk, could he really ask this last mission of them all? They had already lost two members, Brian simply walked away from the fray and Benny was too injured to keep going.
Benny wasn’t the only one who had physically suffered either. Jeff touched his own face and found the tenderness on his left cheek, pulling his hand away he looked at his fingers and saw a smear of blood. It was a minor distraction he had received at the hands or more accurately from a knee during their last attempt at capturing the key plot of earth. This monster is going to pay! Jeff thought to himself. The events of today were the bloodiest of any campaign he had been involved in and it was time to exact some revenge. He felt his heart beat faster as his anger threatened to take over. No! Jeff thought. He knew better, his brother in Blood Command 6 needed a leader with a level head. He took a deep breath as he remembered a technique to calm himself. The Breathing square. Breath in 1,2,3,4. Hold 1,2,3,4. Breath out 1,2,3,4. Hold 1,2,3,4. He repeated to himself. With each inhalation, Jeff could feel his rage subsiding. However it also caused an unwanted distraction and his mind wandered. Jeff started to become acutely aware of how hungry he was now, as with each breath his nostrils were filled with the smells of cooking in the surrounding areas. He reminded himself that now wasn’t the time to be focused on anything except the battle ahead. “Tell me have you and your little friends had enough!” Boomed the deep and powerful voice from on high. Its unexpected presence took Jeff by surprise and he was quickly startled back onto the job at hand. Jeff signals for the remaining members of Blood Command 6 to gather close as he squatted down, picking up a stick to draw a plan of attack in the dirt. Everyone followed suit, huddled up close until each were shoulder to shoulder, tentatively looking towards Jeff, waiting to see how they could win the day. Jeff knew that this plan had worked in the past but back then it was a different enemy but he had to try. “Right, here is the hill.” Jeff began, scrapping a circle in the dirt. “Percy, you here. Jackson, here. Murray, there. Dan, here. Ben and Jerry, work together on this side ok?.” Jeff said as he crossed indicating the various positions each member would take up. Making eye contact with each of the group, Jeff emphasised “On my signal, everyone attacks at once alright. Hit him from every angle, we go until we win or are defeated.” All the members of Blood Command 6 nodded their heads in acknowledgement. Jeff watched as some fidgeted in their place, he could almost see the nervous energy but he was confident in every single one of their abilities. “Let’s go.” He finished. Jeff watched as the others made their way around the hill, his eyes darting from left to right. Once Ben and Jerry disappeared from view he counted up to ten, he knew that would be enough time for them to get into position. He looked up as he counted, locking eyes with the monster on the hill. He consciously made himself not blink so as to keep eye contact. Jeff studied the rough features, he watched as his enemy smirked at him, confident and condescendingly. Sturdy legs carried a heavy frame which gave him the perfect low centre of gravity. 8, 9 , 10 - “GO! NOW!” Commanded Jeff as he leapt to his feet and started the perilous journey up to the peak. He watched as the beast at the top of the hill readied himself, bending his knees and bringing himself even lower to the ground. Jeff’s feet faulted and slipped on the loose surface and he quietly cursed under his breath. He touched his hands on the hill and when he reached halfway continued up in a crawl, working his hands and feet. He saw to his right that the enemy’s attention was diverted and Dan appeared at the top of the hill first. Dan was by far the quickest of the group but was also the smallest and was grabbed by both upper arms and like a slingshot, spun around and sent tumbling past Jeff. Percy and Jackson almost arrived simultaneously. They had been stationed in a similar quarter of the hill and tried in vain to overpower the enemy as a duo, each locked onto an arm each and pushed with all their might, this caused their foe to straighten and stumble backwards a couple of steps to right himself. For a brief moment they were locked into this position. In his eagerness, Jeff extended himself too much, and without the balance of his hands his legs slid out from underneath him. He felt pain to both knees but it was the lost momentum that hurt more. He looked back up and saw that the enemy was now getting the upper hand, he was swinging his wide hips side to side, bringing both Percy and Jackson off balance, each of them perilously close to the edge. The enemy had his feet rooted on the spot like a mighty oak tree and let his upper body do the work. It was Percy that fell first, he fell to the backside of the hill and Jeff lost sight of him. Then from the far side, Jeff saw it. Ben and Jerry both appeared together, each grabbing a leg of the foe, pushing hard against the back of his knees, bringing him down onto all fours. Jeff crested the top of the hill, he knew he had to stay low, he lifted his hands from the ground and powered through his legs over the last few steps. Jeff watched as the realization crossed the face of his enemy through wide eyed astonishment that he was about to be defeated. Jeff made impact to the monster’s ribs with his shoulder and heard a satisfying exhale of breath, Jeff drove his legs deep into the top of the hill and pushed with the last of his energy. Like a switch that was flicked, in an instant, Jeff felt no resistance against his shoulder and it was like he was weightless. He watched as the enemy disappeared down the side of the hill. Jeff got to his feet, helping Jackson and Jerry to theirs. They each looked at each other and smiled, there were pats on the back and laughter. They had won the day, far below their defeated enemy picked himself up and with his head hung low, walked away. Then an all too familiar voice rang out across the battlefield. “Kids, that’s enough! Time for dinner.” Called Jeff’s mum from the patio. “Righto mum.” Jeff answered. “That was awesome fellas!” Jeff said to those that stood with him. “I can’t believe we defeated the King of the hill.”
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Writing PromptsUsing writing prompts was a great suggestion that was discussed at one of the writing groups I attended. Typically at the start of any of the meetings, everyone is given a word or phrase and they spell the next 10-15 minutes writing whatever comes to mind.
I find this exercise is awesome at firing the brain up and starting to think creatively. But I didn’t want to do all the work myself so who better then my 12 year old to provide me with the writing prompts and I attempt to write something from it. Typically I try and write a short story of about 1000-1500 words which I then share with said 12 year old for feedback and a rating, this rating is captured on each story as the Certified Score. Shh.. It’s also a sneaky way to get him reading a bit more as well. I post my writing prompts to Medium so I can get some more eyeballs on them and get feedback on anything I can improve on. Archives
June 2023
CategoriesAll Unpublished Writing Prompt © Mark Dray 2022
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