Into the Madness (Part 1)

Date: 05/30/2001
From: SL4ever

Prelude

“There’s a dog loose in the woods.” Lisa muttered softly, as he had told her to talk. He had also said to only talk when absolutely necessary, and she had no doubt that he had heard the dog as well as she had. So her words were not really necessary. But such was her fear at hearing the first howl that she needed to counter it with her voice and hopefully his if he deemed to reply.

Fortunately for her current state of mind, he did. “Not loose.” He whispered back as he lead her through another groove of bushes. “Hunting us.”

Lisa had been afraid of that. “Swell.”

Her tone of voice must have indicated how close to despair she was, because he glanced back at her. They couldn’t stop, but he slowed a little and took her hand. “Are you regretting escaping with me?”

“No.” She lied. “But I will if they catch us because I have no doubt they will kill us.” That part, at least, was the truth.

“Listen to me,” he whispered urgently. “Fear is normal. In fact, in a situation like this, it is necessary. What you have to do is twofold. First, let go of the fear of being afraid. That is an additional and unnecessary burden. Second, never lose hope. Despair will kill you before they reach you. It will sap your strength, cloud your mind, and it will kill you as surely as a hunter’s bullet.”

“We’re miles from safety, the terrain is rough, we have no food or water, and we’re being hunted passionately. They can’t let us get back to the Sliders domain with what we know. And now they have dogs. What is there to be hopeful about?” Lisa demanded tiredly.

“Don’t worry,” Sliding_Skull comforted. “I’ve taken care of everything.”

****

SpaceTime was being nice.

“I loved your Story Game segment, Spacey.” Tigs beamed, pausing on her way by to hug him. “You followed what the other people wrote, you didn’t kill anyone, and you were actually amusing! Good job!”

“Tweren’t nuttin.” He scoffed. “I respect the time and energy the other writers before me put into the story, and I didn’t want to ruin it for the writers after me. I’m intelligent and creative enough to do a good story segment without pulling any outlandish attention getting stunts.”

Blinker and Britslider were playing Whist at a nearby picnic table. They glanced at each other and raised their eyebrows.

“I love your latest fan fiction, by the way.” SpaceTime continued sincerely. “So how are you doing? I’ve never seen you like this before. You look ... happy.”

“I am!” Tigs gushed. “And you ... have you lost weight? You look fabulous.”

Blinker leaned forward and whispered to Britslider, “did you, by chance, notice any alien spores descending from space last night?”

“The old Pod People ploy, eh? The Dominion will try anything to get this territory.” Britslider quiped, studying his hand.

Tigs and SpaceTime parted company with a friendly wave. The card players watched him as he helped an old lady cross the busy intersection off the park. Then he paused again to help SouthernSlider carry her groceries to her bike.

“Has he lost his mind?” Blinker muttered, eyes narrowing.

SL4ever rushed up. “Hey Blinker! Do you remember that post 3 years ago where Mortica14 came out of the closet? I want to make an obscure, pretentious reference to it in my El Sid MSTing. Can you give me the link to it?”

“I remember the post.” Blinker replied easily. “The link is ... um ... it’s ... I. Can’t. Remember.”

The other two looked at him in surprised horror.

“Take it easy!” Blinker soothed, trying to quell his own mounting inner horror. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind. Why don’t you get something to eat while I look it up and I’ll email the link to you.”

SL4ever shrugged. “No problem. But I’m not hungry so I think I’ll go watch ‘Friends’ or something.”

Blinker and Britslider were frozen in shock, their voice boxes paralyzed.

Dellyone had been passing by. She stopped in shock. “Did I hear you right, SL4ever??? Did you say that you’re not hungry???????????”

“Yeah. So?”

Dellyone waved the pizzabox she had been carrying under his nose. “Would you like a slice?”

“Nah. I’m not hungry. Haven’t been all day.” He replied causally.

Dellyone’s face hardened. “And what do you think of Sabrina Lloyd?”

“She’s okay, for a tiny, shrill, annoying >:-#. Now, Kari Wuher on the other hand! Ooo La La!!!! :-P~~~~~~”

Dellyone drew her 9mm and pressed the barrel against SL4ever’s forehead. “Who are you and what have you done with SL4ever???”

Britslider tossed aside his cards. “Hold on, Delly, something has happened to more than just him! We need to go around and see how many people are affected.”

Blinker, thinking of all the Sliders board personalities and the various ways in which those personalities could have mutated, sighed. “We had better brace ourselves. This could be very, very, ugly.”

To be continued...

Hee hee

Date: 05/30/2001
From: Recall317

Delicious! Absolutely delicious!

I have high hopes for this one, SL4ever!

R317

HHH!

Date: 05/30/2001
From: SpaceTime

Imagine... me... polite...

It could happen!

- ST

Awesome!

Date: 05/30/2001
From: ThomasMalthus

I want to see more of this. Woohoo!

ThomasMalthus

Yeah!

Date: 05/30/2001
From: CoolSlider

It's like Sliders: Darkest Hour meets the Dominion.

Me like!

CoolSlider

Lolly x 2

Date: 05/30/2001
From: Tigs

"I’ve never seen you like this before. You look ... happy.”

Amazing what 18 months can do. <g>

Woo Hoo!! Pleasure overload!!! 7:-P ~~~~

Date: 05/30/2001
From: Blinker

Ooh, here's that post you wanted... or at least its alibi.

http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/9622/16

At least we still have *some* stuff from Kolitar, NoMaggs, SlideshowBob and Osmosis...

- Blinker 7:'-O
http://slidersweb.net/blinker

Nice

Date: 05/30/2001
From: Inquisitive

We can dream can't we?

so it begins again.

Date: 05/30/2001
From: DieselMickeyDolenz

It it's even close to the original, it'll be great.

DMD

WhoooHooo!!!!

Date: 05/31/2001
From: dellyone

SL4,

Are you *sure* this isn't what you meant? ;-)

Dellyone drew her 9mm and pressed the barrel against SL4ever’s forehead, pulled the trigger then asked “Who are you and what have you done with SL4ever???”

Awaiting the next part of your fic. :-D

dellyone

Original URL http://bboard.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/25957
Nominated by DMD