Day 23: 2084 (40,079 Book, 157,164 total)

Russ left this morning about six. He's already in New York.

Sigh.

It's going to be a long month before I see him again. I've already found myself at the front door, checking to see if the car was in the driveway and he was next door. And even when he comes home, it will only be for a day or two, and then he'll be gone again.

I really hate this. And I don't want to go to bed tonight.

But the day went quickly anyway. If the rest go like this, I'll manage all right. If I can focus again on writing, it will help. That didn't happen today, but it might. I got most of my words today by writing out an infodump of information that I should have considered before now -- how the Assassin's Guild came into place, a bit of the history, etc. It was the most enjoyment I've had in writing in a few days, so that was good. I also worked again on the picture above. I've been toying at this one for a while. That's my current 'vision' of Zerod.

I have the DAZ newsletter to do this weekend. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write about for it. Lucky for me, it only takes a few hundred words, otherwise, I might not have the ability to do it at all.



Snippet:

Once out of the sight of the others, Zerod shoved the scanner away and moved based on what he felt. There were not many traces of his quarry, but he didn't have time to linger along the way and try to feel out more.

He found the first trap and quickly disarmed the almost paper thin sheet on the floor that would have set off a bomb in the wall. The next one was not much farther along the way.

He knelt to work on this one -- and then rolled and fired.

He caught the man in the arm. He hissed in pain and retreated so quickly, Zerod could hardly mark which way on the cross hall that he'd gone.

"There's a trap down the main corridor, nearly to the stairs. I'll leave a shoe by it. It's clear that far. Be careful."

"Let's hope you don’t find too many traps," Royce said. "You don't have that many pieces of clothing."

"Oh, now that could be interesting," Cailin added.

And it made him smile, even now. He slipped off his shoes and left one there and carrying the other one to mark the next trap. He didn't have time to waste.

This was not going to go well. He had to think in ways the other assassin was not. He had to move quickly, and he was already breathless.

He had to stop, finally, catch his breath -- he had not really been running, but the pain in his lung felt like a knife, jabbing again and again.

He saw a shadow move, and brought up his laser -- not quite quick enough, though he did move at the same time, and saved himself from being killed.