Written on Wednesday, May 28, 2014.
PROMPT: Write a story in first person that starts with the following line: A sudden jerk of the supposedly solid Earth beneath me knocks me to the ground.
A sudden jerk of the supposedly solid Earth beneath me knocks me to the ground. The sidewalk, already bloodied from the 20 years of the Combine- created apocalyptic environment, comes up to meet my face, but my quick, bandaged hands manage to prevent the interaction. I'm hesitant to rise, worried that it will accomplish nothing but another fall if I don't even know what was the cause of the first. I look around, trying to ascertain the exact nature of the momentary quake, but the atrophied residential buildings block my view of any streets but my own. I'm on my hands and knees now, glancing up and down the small avenue, hoping for even a glimpse of something that will quell my inquiry. Just as I'm thinking this, another jerk rattles my surroundings, all the way to my bones. Another. All is revealed when a Strider rounds the corner about a block down. 'Oh no,' is all I can think as I scramble to my feet and run for the nearest door in my futile search for safety.