Photo credit to Brad Neathery

This concept is not new and I'm not taking credit for coming up with this. However, I think we could write an interesting story together and make it really captivating.

Contest structure

Your rewards

Each time I choose a reply that I use to continue the story, the suggestion's author gets 25% of the rewards of the post they replied to. The reply can be a long one that I adapt to my style or a short idea that I can use to keep writing. If I choose a short suggestion which has been suggested multiple times, I will choose the suggestion that was posted the earliest.

The goal

The goal of this project is to reach around 5000 words at which point the story will end. With each iteration, I aim to add ~350 new words so that the challenge will last up to 15 posts.

Beyond the technical goals, I aim to improve my writing skills and expand my vocabulary by forcing myself to write and find the words or phrases I don't currently have.

InIti.aliZinG...

It was pitch black and awfully cold. The only warmth in the room was my own breath and the blood on the side of my face. In the distance, I could only hear the screams of soldiers and the horrifying, merciless rattle of the sentinels.

I tried remembering how I got into this mess, but my efforts led nowhere. I could not, for the life of me, remember a single thing about who I was or how I got here. All I could remember is that there was a massive explosion and that the artificial gravity stopped functioning. The lights went out and I was suddenly thrown against a hard surface.

I then heard a beep coming from my wrist. Slowly raising my arm, I noticed that the screen on my watch was... counting down?! There were just five minutes left! What the hell was it counting down to? I tried pressing on the screen and the countdown went to the corner. There was a button for what looked like a light, so I pressed it and flashlights on the sides of my head turned on. I could now see a mask floating around me and a lifeless body facing away from me.

I grabbed the mask and put it on. Immediately a voice came on to greet me as someone named Lucy Miller. This mask seems so high tech, where could it be from? I tried speaking but my voice was gone, probably from floating around in the cold. How long was I out?

It's time to find my way out. I tried poking my watch again a bit, but it was of no use. The timer showed that there were just four minutes left in the countdown. Looking around, I could see a hatch, which was slightly open. I pushed myself towards it and looked through it. Seemed to lead to a corridor of some sort. I heard the worrying and all so familiar rattle of the sentinels from above, so I decided to head down.

There were dead bodies floating everywhere, seemingly burned. What the hell happened?

Call to Action

Leave your suggestions in the replies below and be rewarded 25% of the post rewards if selected!