Jaycee Woods

I am working on formatting a draft teaser story for Boudica and The Butcher. The purpose of such teaser short stories is to introduce elements of the story world to build interest in the novel.

Bowie in this story would be one of Tak’s men. Early in the siege of Pilgerruh, a Union raid knocked out a power plant to destabilize the city’s power grid. The mission successful, Bowie decided to take a souvenir for himself.

Note as a formatted draft, I have barely started editing with the story being dialogue, minimal actions, and a little bit of context.

** Snip from beginning of a draft **

Alyssa was a rebel soldier in a future second American Civil War. Bowie found her immobilized on the rooftop of an abandoned building in the middle of the city of Pilgerruh, her leg was injured. She leaned against a wall, resigned to the condition of her badly injured leg before she glanced at him, then she raised her handgun firmly, ignoring the pain in her leg. “Nghh…don’t move…or I’ll shoot you!”

Bowie asked, “Do you even have any bullets, little rebel? Besides if you shoot me, then who is going to save your life?”

Alyssa continued to glare at him, hesitating to lower the weapon. “How do I know that I can trust you? How do I know that you’re not going to capture me or send me to the firing squad when I lower my guard?”

Bowie said, “As of yet, you have no reason to trust me. Regarding a firing squad, the battle is a bit too busy for such formalities.”

Alyssa looked around, the sound of gunshots, explosions and soldiers shouting in the distance was heard, confirming the words of the man in front of her. The air carried that smell of gunpowder, dirt and blood that was beginning to saturate her nostrils. She looked at his uniform, recognizing the faction he belonged to. “You’re a…Union soldier?”

Bowie said, “Yes, a patriot. And you are a murderous backstabbing traitor. Kill any babies today?”

Alyssa frowned in disgust, lowering her weapon slightly, she was surprised by the accusation. “Of course, not…how could you even suggest that I…that kind of thing is…it’s horrible!”

Bowie said, “Rebel terrorist bombs killed many children in the beginning. What did you all call it…an attention getter. Now you draft child soldiers into your army in addition to women. Now your commander Cleaver kills your own children and calls it war.”

Alyssa’s face paled, her expression changed, she went from being offended by the accusation to looking like a wounded puppy, a mixture of despair and sadness spreading across her face. “That is…a heinous accusation…Cleaver isn’t…he…,” she fell silent for a few seconds, as if she had just doubted the ideals she fought for, then her expression hardened, the girl raised her weapon again. “You’re spreading lies…it’s an attempt to break our morale!”

Bowie said, “Little rebel girl, we aren’t here to break your morale. We are here to break this city. This city will die so the other rebel cities will surrender. See we don’t have to break your morale.”

Alyssa’s expression turned horrified, her eyes widened but she did not lower her weapon; however, her hand was shaking slightly, a sign of her nervousness at his words. She still could not believe his words. “That’s…that’s impossible…y-you don’t understand…the cities are not going to surrender, the people are with us!”

Bowie said, “Will they still be with you when Pilgerruh is no more. After you have died out from famine, disease, and fire. This little raid tonight isn’t an invasion but simply to destroy the power plant, so you can’t run your hospitals, preserve your medicines, preserve your food. If you make it to the hospital with your wounds, maybe they can treat you or maybe their blood supply is about to go bad for lack of refrigeration.”

As she heard the man speak, the fear and doubt in her eyes increased, she did not know what to believe anymore. The world she thought she knew started crumbling around her, and she began to look vulnerable and afraid. “Stop…stopped it…shut…shut up, you can’t…no…I-I don’t believe it.”

Bowie said, “You don’t have to believe it, but your disbelief won’t save your life or fill your belly.”

Again, she fell silent. She did not know how to respond to that. She wanted to shout that they would hold out, that they had the upper hand, that they could win, but the voice of that stranger was so convincing that she no longer knew what to believe. She closed her eyes as tears began to roll down her cheeks. The girl began to hate herself, because she was doubting her own ideals.

Bowie said, “See the darkness? The power plant has failed.”
A look of despair crossed her face as she heard those words, she knew he was right. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She lowered the weapon, her shoulders slumped. She looked more like a tired, injured and scared girl than a soldier.

Bowie said, “It was nice to meet you, but our raiding party will be pulling out. It is good that you might die tonight because as food disappears you rebels will resort to cannibalism to survive. See that is one of the things that will demoralize those other rebel cities, the fear of turning cannibal like Pilgerruh will.”

Alyssa’s face was still expressionless. She did not respond to any of the words spoken and simply closed her eyes. Until finally she was able to say, her voice trembling with uncertainty and doubt, “Why didn’t you kill me? And…why tell me all of this?”

Bowie said, “You didn’t ask me to give you a merciful death. I don’t know if you are worth a bullet. I don’t even know if you want to live or decided to just bleed out here, alone.”