Drabble Wednesday: Frankie and Joni Continue

In a continuation of last week’s adventures Frankie and Joni return with more strange tales of virtual reality programming...

Aftermath of the Monkeys (Sea Ghouls and Zombies)

“Frankie, I can’t believe the company wants a simulation based on what happened last week.” I sighed, a headache forming. “Monster Combat. Sea ghoul vs. zombies vs. flying monkeys.”

“And don’t forget the puppets.”

Ignoring him, I continued. “At least these creatures won’t be real. I had nightmares until the last of those monkeys went home.”

“Um...”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Frankie? Did you keep one?”

“A little one. I’m training him to run errands.”

I stared, my headache pounding. Frankie looked at me with sad eyes. I capitulated. “Fine. But I’m not cleaning the monkey poo.”

~*~

Monster Combat?

Stupid Frankie and his stupid monkey.

Grumbling under my breath I tossed a large bag of monkey poo into the incinerator. If the darn thing wasn’t so good at fetching our lunch orders I’d—

“Hey! You’ll miss it!” I turned at Frankie’s shout, and raced back to see the new game boot up on the monitor.

“Let’s get ready to Ruuumble!”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop clowning and watch for glitches.”

“Hmmm. That’s odd. They’re, um, dancing.”

“What?” I started at the screen. Ghouls, monkeys, zombies and puppets danced a jig.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have programmed Riverdance into the soundtrack?”

~*~

Virtual Therapy and Love

“I can still see it. The horror... you can’t imagine the sight of a zombie waltzing with a puppet.”

“Tell me, how did it make you feel? Did— zztzzttzzz”

I looked up at the grating noise. The holographic image of Freud jumped, and then frizzed out. Frankie stood waiting by the VR chamber door.

“Why did you stop my program?!”

“Um, we may have a problem. Zippy’s in love.”

“Zippy? Oh, yeah, your flying monkey. Wait, what? It’s in love?”

“With one of the puppets. I think they’re planning on eloping.”

Shit. I’m going need more therapy after this escapade.

© A. F. Stewart 2017 All Rights Reserved

Drabble Wednesday: The Return of Frankie and Joni

Today Drabble Wednesday goes back to the virtual world with the duo of Frankie and Joni…

Hologram Horror

“The quiet lays on me like a shroud, an ominous portent of the creeping night.” My words echoed through the VR chamber.

“Okay, fine and dandy, but are we going to do with the sea ghouls?”

“I was setting up a mood here, Frankie! Sheesh.” I sighed. “I don’t know. Stick them in the sky, hovering.”

“Um, that’s not what I meant.”

Uh oh. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t mean to. But we have extra ghouls.”

“Extra ghouls?” I looked up. Red eyes looked back at me.

“Frankie?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we should run.”

Then the surplus ghouls chuckled.

~*~

Ghouls vs. Zombies

The door slammed shut just in time. I leaned against the titan-steel door listening to sea ghouls shrieking on the other side. Frankie stood next to me, wheezing.

“How did we get those things in the program?”

“Probably—wheeze—from the hidden—wheeze—file.”

With dread I asked, “Hidden file? What hidden file?”

Frankie took a deep breath. “The one marked Thursday. I opened it.”

“Why would you do that?”

Frankie shrugged. “Curiosity. But don’t worry. The zombies will take care of the ghouls.”

“Zombies? What zombies? And who will take care of the zombies?”

“The flying monkeys, I imagine.”

~*~

How to Solve Your Flying Monkey Problem

“Are they still flinging their feces?”

Frankie stared at the screen. “No. Now they’re throwing ghoul bits and zombie heads. Told you they’d take care of the zombies.”

“Yes. And the ghouls and half the VR equipment!” I resisted the urge to punch him. “They’ll destroy the whole chamber, heck the whole complex, if we can’t stop them!”

“I’d send them away first.”

“You can send them away? As in get rid of them?”

“Yes. Figured it out yesterday.”

“Then why are they still here?”

“I like them. They’re cute. We needed new equipment anyway.”

“Frankie! Send them home. Now!”

© A. F. Stewart 2017 All Rights Reserved