The first proper freeze of the year came the night after the mysterious attacks, with overnight temperatures dropping twenty four degrees in a like number of hours.
If the cold weather had arrived a single day earlier, it would have been devastating to the tribe members caught outside, but no natural disaster could have had the same cumulative effect as the supernatural assault which had decimated their numbers.
Winter took its toll, no matter what precautions they took, and that was simply a fact of life. This had been something different, and everybody who called the streets their home could feel it in their bones, even if their minds denied that anything had happened.
War had come to Jericho.
Like a thief in the night, it had come undeclared and unannounced, and left the survivors to fight a battle against an enemy they didn’t even know.
To somebody like Ivan, this state of ignorance was embarrassing. Worse, he knew, it was potentially lethal. The witches were making their own inquiries, but Ivan could not be Ivan if he depended on others to solve the problems which vexed him so.
He went to a small bodega on the street corner and bought an apple. He’d never been inside it before, and would never go inside it again if he could help it. He was out of place in this neighborhood and he knew it. It would be best for him to do his business quickly and then melt away, like the ice he so resembled.
He walked around the block to a small and narrow side street that was almost an alleyway, where weeds thrived in cracks in the sidewalk despite the pronounced dearth of sunlight at street level. He tossed and caught the apple idly with one hand as he strolled, sending it higher with each throw and catching it without looking or breaking stride.
“Hello, John,” he said after the apple finally failed to return. “I have a small job for you.”
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YAY!!! So, will John end up a spy or an assassin?
More importantly, is John a flying monkey?
I can’t help it. I’m already visualizing Ryuuk from Death Note.
The timing of that freeze suggests either pathetic fallacy (I’ve never liked that particular term) or some sort of sorcerous involvement. Actually, given the world of Tribe, there’s no particular reason it can’t be both, and one or two reasons it can’t be only one of the two.
my untrained eye thought this was a typo “dropping twenty four degrees in a like number of hours.”, but after a couple reads the “like” doesn’t seem so “wallflowerish”
But it might be clearer in the form of “in an equal number of hours”
Well, we already met the west and east . lets go for other literature. johnny apple seed anyone?
I had exactly the same reaction as Stormcaller.
And as aieon.
Oh my.
Don’t give in, that’s a perfectly good use of the word ‘like’, and we need more of those in the world.
Tribe doesn’t get enough twisted love
aieon:
If you replace “Like” with “an equal number”? What are the other two word in the rest of the chapter are you going to get rid of?? ‘Cause remember each chapter of Tribe is limited to 333 words.
And I think this limit which gives us these turns of phases the make Tribe such an interesting story to read.
@TheGeek
Actually, it would go from:
a like number of hours
to
an equal number of hours
There’s exactly the same number of words in each phrase. However, I like the ‘turn of phrase’ as it is. Feels better somehow, equal seems more scientific which gives off a different vibe than tribe.
Aye, the word like is perfectly placed there and should be utilized mre often in such interesting fashion.
SOS! My car was broken on road. Should I clal to repairs or police?
and what do you think about energetic prolblem in Ukraine?
Where I may to find blogs on this topic?
Nice post =)