This weekend we held our second edition of BOD’s Writing Prompt contest. We posted an image with a writing prompt asking for a story in 300 words or less. Here was the original image and prompt. Again, we had many great stories but one stood out from the pack and Bridget Nash was our winner! Here’s her story:

“We got another one!” I yelled over my shoulder as I took a step back and shut the door firmly. What was on the front step would have to wait a minute.

“You’re kiddin’ me,” Ray said, shaking his head.

I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t even shake my head. It was a miracle we’d pulled this off for this long. Everything was packed up and the truck was loaded, waiting in the alley. I was sure this last act would be our demise. They were going to find us.

“Hurry up!” Ray barked. He wasn’t wasting any time. He already had on his scrub coat and surgical hat. He was pulling the 3M N100 respirator over his mouth. It was our disguise.

Somehow (Providence? Dumb luck?) we had convinced the Authority we were scientists. Ray’s sheer genius and my knowledge garnered from researching natural healing allowed for us to talk like scientists in the interview, but how we passed any of the background checks is beyond me. Sure, we made some fake stuff for the internet and printed some fake diplomas, but someone must have been sleeping on the job for us to get approved.

And yet, we were approved. And they were shipping the live test subjects to our residence.

Some didn’t have a chance of surviving transport. The Authority thought we were testing vaccines on these people. Vaccines to halt the horrific disease that had swept the nation.

We pulled the delivery into the house and locked the door. Ray pulled out his knife and cut the dripping plastic wrap. Like all the others, this young man was bound and packaged like he was nothing more than a grocery store piece of meat. The small breathing hole wasn’t enough for some.

But it had been enough for this guy.