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FF – Resources

Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Anne Higa.

Copyright Anne Higa

Maddens shone his multi-phasic light across the alleyway. There – tripolycarbo-urethic fuel, leaking from an overflow. Someone had been careless.

Nasty stuff, usually invisible, cuts straight through flesh.

He turned to the proprietor.

“You! Thank the System your negligence dismembered/killed 17 passers-by or we would never have found this! You are arrested, tried and convicted of resource waste (Resources Act 2057). The sentence is death.”

Bang!

As always post-execution, a queue was forming. He turned to the first.

“Yes, madam?”

“A nice bit of thigh and a kidney, please.”

Police Officer Butcher-Judge Mike Maddens grabbed his cleaver.

Waste not, want not.

  1. April 14, 2021 at 2:43 pm

    Rarely does street justice and roadside cuisine dovetail so exquisitely. Nice bit of futuristic fiction, Alistair. “Cleaver-carrying Cops” or “Chefs in Uniform”: I can see it on the big screen now. 🙂

    Like

    • April 15, 2021 at 6:49 am

      I like those titles! I reckon there’s a TV series there. A tongue in cheek semi-dystopian Big Brother style comedy 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  2. April 14, 2021 at 2:55 pm

    Very efficient in the future with public services – good to see the improvement! 😉

    Like

    • April 15, 2021 at 6:51 am

      Yes! I also took on board the comments from my “Beacon” story where people were blasted to ashes, and how wasteful that was 🙂 Maybe this is the same society and they have taken on board notes in the suggestion box!

      Liked by 1 person

      • April 15, 2021 at 3:19 pm

        Yes, the ‘You Asked For It’ defence is always a handy fall back!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. April 14, 2021 at 2:55 pm

    Now that’s what I call fusion genre!

    Like

    • April 15, 2021 at 6:54 am

      Judge Dredd meets Soylent Green!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Lyn
        April 16, 2021 at 10:49 am

        or perhaps, Judge John Deed. He tends to do what he wants – for the good of good of course 😀

        Liked by 1 person

  4. April 14, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    That was a confusing series of horrendous events! Interesting story.

    Like

    • April 15, 2021 at 6:56 am

      Lots of people sadly lost their lives during the writing of this story!

      Liked by 1 person

      • April 15, 2021 at 8:41 am

        No kidding! You covered a lot of horrendous events in a small amount of words there.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. April 14, 2021 at 3:59 pm

    If there’s any sweetmeats left I’m game. Perhaps I’ll rephrase that!

    Like

    • April 15, 2021 at 6:58 am

      No worries, I’ve told Maddens to save them for you. Oddly, no-one else wanted them…

      Liked by 1 person

  6. April 14, 2021 at 6:40 pm

    So Sweeney Todd’s great-great-great-great grandson is Officer Butcher-Judge Madden?

    Like

    • April 15, 2021 at 6:59 am

      It’s a family business, passed down through the generations… 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  7. April 14, 2021 at 11:17 pm

    Wow! That is efficiency.

    Like

  8. April 15, 2021 at 2:54 am

    Sheesh! And I thought my story was dystopic!

    Like

  9. April 15, 2021 at 7:48 am

    At least there was no waste. The Greens should be happy. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • April 16, 2021 at 2:20 pm

      I think they were the ones who ushered the policy in… 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. April 15, 2021 at 11:00 am

    Sounds great, I’m wishing I wasn’t a vegetarian now!

    Like

  11. GHLearner
    April 15, 2021 at 11:15 am

    Gulp. Strictly by the rules… waste not, want not. All precious protein and fat.

    Like

  12. April 15, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    At least there was no waste, except for the 17 people who were incinerated. But, at least he got his guy. Grisly piece of dystopian, cleverly done! =)

    Like

    • April 16, 2021 at 2:22 pm

      Thanks! No-one seems to care about the inadvertent killings, just the waste of resources 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  13. April 15, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    This is funny, especially since you wrote this without reading my Random Image Inspiration post yesterday! We were on the same wavelength yesterday. I’ll take the spleen, please…

    Like

    • April 16, 2021 at 2:28 pm

      One spleen coming up! I look forward to reading your like-minded post…

      Like

  14. April 15, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    Dear Ali,

    Guess who’s coming to dinner? But is he Kosher? Pass the ketchup, please.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Like

    • April 16, 2021 at 2:29 pm

      Dear Rochelle,
      A lot of ketchup I think. Though I’m sure he tastes like chicken… 🙂
      Ali

      Like

  15. April 15, 2021 at 7:13 pm

    Laughing and horrified at the same time! Nicely done.

    Like

  16. April 15, 2021 at 8:26 pm

    Yucky! Good one.

    Like

  17. April 16, 2021 at 12:19 am

    must be nice acting judge, jury and executioner. 🙂

    Like

  18. April 16, 2021 at 12:35 am

    Whoa! Pretty macabre. And talk about justice swiftly meted out!

    Like

  19. April 16, 2021 at 2:31 am

    Well… there’s no wasting taxpayers’ money on prisons…

    Like

    • April 16, 2021 at 2:32 pm

      I know! Strangely the money saved didn’t find its way back into the wallets of the common man, though…

      Liked by 1 person

  20. April 16, 2021 at 9:01 am

    OMC…I’m out of here, have to save my thigh and kidney…MOL…Pawkisses for a Happy Weekend🐾😽💞

    Like

  21. Lyn
    April 16, 2021 at 10:51 am

    Oh my… you really outdid yourself with this one Ali 😱

    Like

  22. April 16, 2021 at 4:10 pm

    The waste hierarchy is reduce – reuse – recycle – recover. I suppose this is recycling. I wonder how they implement reduce? Better not to know, I guess. Inventive story, Ali.

    Like

    • April 17, 2021 at 4:38 am

      It’s definitely best not to look too closely into the whole system, I reckon.

      Like

  23. April 17, 2021 at 3:34 pm

    Gah! It’s a cold, cold world!

    Like

  24. April 17, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    Delightfully horrific!

    Like

    • April 18, 2021 at 4:31 am

      Thanks! I love seeing those two words together 🙂

      Like

  25. April 18, 2021 at 1:37 pm

    Wow! I didn’t expect that ending.
    Urp! I think I just threw up. Can I get some men toes to freshen up?

    Like

    • April 18, 2021 at 4:26 pm

      Ha, “men toes”. I had to say it out loud to get it 🙂

      Like

  26. April 18, 2021 at 5:16 pm

    I do appreciate it when justice is swiftly executed! 😉

    Like

    • April 19, 2021 at 5:03 am

      It’s a shame to waste all that time when the accused is always clearly guilty. And there’s hungry people waiting 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  27. April 18, 2021 at 7:22 pm

    Grisly last line Ali – yuck ! I think your lively story fitted the photo prompt really well.

    Like

    • April 19, 2021 at 5:04 am

      Thanks! It’s the future of justice/cuisine… 😮

      Like

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