Well this hasn’t happened in a while, and it didn’t involve Jeff Pfaller this time, oddly, but we have tie! So congrats to both and with their very different but both very excellent entries in this week’s contest. Here are their winning entries for you to enjoy.

And don’t forget to be here tomorrow when our guest judge, Jamie Craig, @jamiecraig stops by here on the Novel Publicity blog tour for A Line in the Ice.

See you next week, everyone!

Winning entries:

DL Thurston, @DL_Thurston

“You point it at a group of people and it’ll obliterate everything in its path.”

Karl was certain this was a put on. He looked at the kitten, a slightly wall-eyed tabby, as it started cleaning its face. “This thing?”

“Research and development has been at work for years on ‘this thing,’ Karl. It’s the latest in crow control technology.”

“Control?” Karl asked, horrified. “Obliteration isn’t control. It’s…it’s…it’s god damned obliteration. And anyway, this is a kitten!” Karl picked up the furball, which started purring from the moment he made contact. It snuggled into his arms and fell blissfully asleep. “How are people supposed to be afraid of this?”

Mitch recoiled. “For gods sake, don’t point that thing at me!”

Karl repositioned the kitten so his hands were under its front legs, and lifted it to eye level. “He’s a cute little guy. Does he have a name?”

The kitten mewled, and opened its eyes. They were yellow with thin black slits. Except. Karl looked deeper into them, and saw within the slits little pinpricks of light, light the stars in the night sky. He could feel a heat come from the kitten’s gaze, but couldn’t look away.

“Karl!”

The kitten’s pupils dilated, and more of the abyss flooded Karl’s mind and vision. “It’s beautiful Mitch. I can see it all. It just goes on forever. It just goes on…”

Karl felt a small click in his mind, and was no longer aware of what he was. The kitten fell to the ground with a squeaky grunt, and immediately curled back up and fell asleep. Mitch could only watch, transfixed by what he’d just seen.

Those boys in R&D had outdone themselves this time.

Nicole, @nicolewolverton

“You point it at a group of people and it’ll obliterate everything in its path.” Cal Heddinger laughed maniacally for effect, twitching as he threw his arm out, laser pointer gripped in his bony fingers.

The boys jumped and screamed. The copper bell above the door mimicked their panic when they shoved out onto the sidewalk, jumbling over each other in their haste to escape Cal’s sonic death ray. Well, the FAA certainly considered them so, but they were really just a tool for suits giving boring Powerpoint presentations.

“Scaring more little kids?” his wife asked, her hips sashaying side to side to like a great galleon. She’d been watching her soaps, probably, but she couldn’t resist checking out any loud noises in the showroom.

He grinned and nodded before setting the pointer back in the box. “I’m not sure what it says about rugrats these days that they’re so willing to believe that I can kill ‘em dead with a big of plastic and red light.”

“Count your blessings.” She shoehorned herself behind the counter, huffing out a soft sigh the second her ample buttocks hit the stool. “The day kids don’t believe is the day it all goes straight to hell.”

His shoulders rose and fell, just like his wife’s bosom as she breathed around her fat. Despite it all, he loved her still. Thirty years seemed like nothing and everything.

“Too bad we couldn’t have any of our own,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

She smiled across the register and absently scratched at her neck. “Yeah, too bad.”