military sci-fi

Title: The World Changes Quickly
Author: Harper Kingsley

“Run!”

I woke to the sounds of shouts and screams; boots thundered in the hallway. It was with a sense of confusion that I stumbled to the apartment door and peered out the peephole.

Soldiers in full tactical gear were herding my neighbors out of their apartments. I saw Mrs. Hernandez struggling with all the strength of her aging body. She was brutally backhanded and her limp body was carried toward the elevator.

Everyone else was being rounded up and shackled into lines of five people. The first two lines were prodded until they began walking toward the stairs.

My view was abruptly blocked by a broad chest. The man had to be a giant. There was a patch across his left breast that had what looked like a shooting star stitched out of red and gold.

I backed away from the door and looked around my small apartment. I didn’t know what was going on, but I needed a weapon. Something to protect myself from these invaders.

There was a whirring sound and a low Pop!

The lock fell out of the door and the door swung wide open.

The soldier tromped in–it was like something out of a nightmare. Heavy boots thumped against carpeting worn thin by use. The red glow of optics focused on me out of the featureless round helmet.

/EXCERPT

Words from "The Cat In The Hat" by Dr. Seuss: A, About, After, All, Always, And, Another, Any, Are, As, Asked, At, Away, Back, Bad, Ball, Be, Bed, Bent, Bet, Big, Bit, Bite, Book, Books, Bow, Box, Bump, Bumps, But, Cake, Call, Came, Can, Cat, Cold, Come, Could, Cup, Day, Dear, Deep, Did, Dish, Do, Dots, Down, Fall, Fan, Fast, Fear, Fell, Find, Fish, Fly, For, Fox, From, Fun, Funny, Game, Games, Gave, Get, Give, Go, Gone, Good, Got, Gown, Had, Hall, Hand, Hands, Has, Hat, Have, He, Head, Hear, Her, Here, High, Him, His, Hit, Hold, Home, Hook, Hop, Hops, House, How, I, If, In, Into, Is, It, Jump, Jumps, Kicks, Kind, Kinds, Kite, Kites, Know, Last, Let, Like, Lit, Little, Look, Looked, Lot, Lots, Made, Make, Man, Mat, Me, Mess, Milk, Mind, Mother, Mother’s, My, Near, Net, New, No, Not, Nothing, Now, Of, Oh, On, One, Our, Out, Pack, Pat, Pick, Picked, Pink, Play, Playthings, Plop, Pot, Put, Rake, Ran, Red, Rid, Run, Sad, Said, Sally, Sank, Sat, Saw, Say, See, Shake, Shame, She, Shine, Ship, Shook, Should, Show, Shut, Sit, So, Some, Something, Stand, Step, Stop, String, Strings, Sun, Sunny, Tail, Take, Tall, Tame, Tell, That, The, Their, Them, Then, There, These, They, Thing, Things, Think, This, Those, Thump, Thumps, Tip, To, Too, Top, Toy, Trick, Tricks, Two, Up, Us, Wall, Want, Was, Way, We, Well, Went, Were, Wet, What, When, White, Who, Why, Will, Wish, With, Wood, Would, Yes, Yet, You, Your