Failure Frame Light Novels & Stories

Franklin shouted back, the lie sounding thin and desperate in the quiet hallway. The progress bar reached the three-quarter mark and then shuddered. It stopped. A red warning light flickered on the interface. The signal was fading. They were turning on the portable jammers, preparing the "dead zone" for our transit to the airfield. "Come on," I breathed, my fingers gripping the edge of the desk so hard my knuckles turned white. "Just a little further."

“Can’t be apart for even one night, can you?” A small smile tugged at my mouth before I could stop it. I looked down. No. Not really. The driver shifted in his seat, his brow creasing. “Sir, the dash lights just flickered.” I glanced at the instrument panel—the speedometer, navigation screen—all flashing once, then again. “Why’s it doing that? Short circuit?” “Could be the battery, or just a glitch,” he said, easing off the accelerator. “I’ll slow down and pull over.”

"That is what I am doing. They are not the same thing, but they are not mutually exclusive either." Something impacted the structure overhead. The sound came down through the concrete in the specific way that impacts do when they are large enough to move the material they travel through, and with it came the dry fall of dust from the ceiling, particles catching the emergency lighting and falling slowly through the red-tinged air. The lights flickered. More violently this time, the flickering of a system that has taken damage it was not designed to absorb. "They are breaching the outer level," the younger man said.

he said. The lights flickered once and went totally black.

He fell backwards against the wall behind him, a picture frame clattered to the floor, the sound of breaking glass loud in the hush. “Who is that?” the voice undulated with fear. Elmo almost shouted with relief but instead he stumbled forward, just as Tamsin hit the torch on her Smartphone. “Elmo,” she declared. “You scared me to death. Are you okay? Why are all the lights out?” “Power cut,” Elmo said. “I just walked back from work. The lights were on in the street all the way, though it’s getting pretty foggy.” Tamsin said. “Fuses must’ve blown in here.”

“Just believing them is not enough. You must to have concrete evidence.” Mark nodded. At that time the lights of the entire station began to fail, flashing on. The blinds on the window-mirror in the interrogation room where Thomas was in were closed and suddenly everything went dark. The emergency lights came on, but they were also failing. “What the hell is going on?” Mulligan was surprised. “I don’t know”, Mark answered. “But I have the impression it isn’t a good thing.” In the adjoining interrogation room, everyone was also puzzled. Joseph watched the ceiling lights fail, and took several steps in the direction of the opposite wall, which overlooked the adjoining room, where Thomas was, a

The stadium lights feel too bright. The crowd noise turns to underwater static. I’m over the railing and on the field before anyone can stop me. I drop to my knees beside him. His left leg is bent wrong (tibia snapped clean, bone pressing against skin, blood already soaking through the white pants). The HUD flickers, soft and calm. Veinweave available Target: Remy Tsatoke-Calder Severity: Compound fracture + internal bleeding Estimated time to full repair: 43 seconds Consent detected I don’t think.

Trigger Warnings: Abuse of power, law enforcement fetishism, rough sexual play, choking, spanking, and explicit language. The red and blue lights flashing in my rearview mirror felt like a strobe light on my own funeral. I pulled over to the shoulder of the empty interstate, the gravel crunching under my tires like bone. My heart was a frantic hammer in my chest. I knew what was in the trunk-two kilos of uncut product and a brick of cash that wasn't mine. I was dead. Or worse, I was going to spend the rest of my life in a cage.

Three frames. The engine never turned over. They just watched and waited. And disappeared into the dark.