draliman on life

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly photo prompt-inspired flash fiction challenge hosted by the talented Rochelle. This week’s photo was supplied by Marie Gail Stratford, and close to 100 of us write somewhere around 100 words on a weekly basis!

To read the other stories for this week, click on the blue froggie fellow below. Why not give it a go yourself?

My first thought when I saw this week’s photo was “nuclear rods in a reactor”.

Copyright Marie Gail Stratford

Jed trembled as he approached the reactor, the words of the resistance leader echoing in his mind.

“Pull the pink rods. The reactor will reset and drop the security grid. We don’t have a radiation suit for you. I’m sorry.”

He carefully slid the rods from the reactor core. The nuclear glare, brighter than the sun, melted his eyeballs. His insides liquefied as the radiation bombarded his body, the remains of his organs dribbling through every orifice, his brain trickling…

“Jed, where’s that bloody wine, we’re gasping!”

His imaginings interrupted, Jed returned to the dinner party, a bottle of Pinot Grigio Rosé in each hand.