02/05/21 Snippet, [Title to be determined].

I realized that the story I was writing required me to write this story first. At some point I’ll get a title for it, I guess. No rush.

Portland Emergency Community Zone
Portland, OR
2101 AD

I hate the smell of napalm in the morning, Janet Phan quoted to herself as she looked at the blackened corpse through her binoculars. Please, please, please don’t let the wind shift! She wasn’t sure Who she was praying to, or whether she even wanted Anybody to be listening. This hadn’t been a great year for people who believed in benevolent deities. Or anybody else, either.

That corpse was real dead, though. It had been caught by one of the tripwires set up to deter Devilwood tendrils, but napalm didn’t care what it burned. Especially since the people who had put in the trap didn’t care, either. There were signs. You didn’t read them, that was on you.

Besides… “How long before we can stop watching, you think?” she asked the other Councilwoman. Everybody took a turn watching the walls of the PECZ. Those were the Rules.

Elizabeth Collins shrugged, slightly enough that the utterly irreplaceable VR drone she was controlling didn’t bobble. “Five more minutes… whoops! New answer: not at all. Damned thing started moving.”