The Charge of the Steam Brigade – A 100 Word Story

storytime.pngYup, it’s flash fiction time again!

As always, this is based around Laurence Simon’s weekly challenge for the 100 word-stories podcast. It’s a great exercise for writers – writing a good drabble is a lot harder than it appears, but is still a "small" task so you can get around that idea of it being too much work. And then you get a random (and often bizarre) writing prompt to shoehorn you out of writer’s block! Go read the rules for the Weekly Challenge and participate! Heck, Chris the Nuclear Kid does when he remembers to (and I can drag him away from video games)!

The player below should have the audio for this week; if it doesn’t, you can find the audio here to download. You can also read and hear the rest of the entries at the 100 Word Stories podcast site!

The valley lies before me.  Sounds of muskets and dying men echo, bringing the scents of gunpower and blood.  I close my eyes on the carnage and wonder if I shall see home and Elizabeth again.

My sergeant’s hand rests upon my shoulder.  "Captain, look."

But I do not need to look.  I do not need intelligence from the balloon scouts.  I do not need to strain to hear the sound over the din of battle.

I can feel the gargantuan footfalls as the enemy’s steam walkers come over the ridge.

"Goodbye, Elizabeth," I say, and rejoin the Light Brigade.