Paranoid: Chapter 1:
Black Smoke

As Marcus looked out yearnfully into the midday sun, his shaggy hair and short brown stubble itched, as he was scratching his chin he wondered how this week would turn out, he had always hoped for something more, but he was always stuck in his dead-end job as a deputy, protecting the small settlment of Silver Star, the small farming comunity forged from an old forgotton town, he turned around and looked down as the shade started to slowly disapear as the sun arose over the hill and covered the town, he saw a rat start to run for shade as it did, he chuckled to himself at the little animal.

Marcus looked out to the fields and saw the other members of this small community working on the fields, making sure that all of the crops were growing well, making sure that their yeild would be good, it was that time of the month again, and soon the traders would come with food and weapons, not that they ever needed that in the small town, he saw his wife out in the fields , using some pretty outdated farming tools, by old standards, but now they were some of the best in the wastes, he started walking down the winding path from his small peak at the top of the hill, it was a very steep hill that gave the small town some protection from the elements, and gave him and the Sheriff a good vantage point of the whole town, when he reached the bottom of the steps, he placed his feet on the solid ground of the cement road that ran straight down the centre of town, up to the other end of the fields, and to the gate where the sheriff stood all day long with his son Roger, Marcus put his hands in his pockets and started walking down the main street, he was very cold, even though he is normally used to the cold, today something was different, there was a chill in the air, and something was going to happen, as he walked out through the fields , he looked for his wife but he didnt see her this time, she was probably at home now with their son, Damien.

As Marcus came to the gate where the sheriff and his son were standing looking out to the barren wastes, he pulled out his pistol and looked out into the wastes, as he did the sheriff and his son did aswell, they looked out to the wastes but saw nothing other than some tumbleweed and a small dust cloud billowing around.

"Awww Shucks, Mr Vinci, why did you go and do that, i was getting excited" Roger said holstering his pistol
"Yea Mark, aint nothin out there but dust and smoke" the sheriff said sitting back in his chair awaiting the traders
"Sorry Bill, i coulda sworn i saw somethin though"
"Yea well, aint nothin comin cept the traders today"
"Yea..." marcus's voice trailed off, he wondered what he had seen it looked like black smoke whisping through the wastes
"Hey, Mark!" the sheriff said kicking marcus in the thigh
"Didnt you hear me? Your wife wants to see you in your house, she said it were urgent"
"Uuuuh, yea, sure." marcus was still baffled by what he had seen, although he snapped out of it and started walking back down the main street untill he came to his house, he walked in the small two story shambles, made from the combination of steel and clay, although it was quite humble it was still one of thie bigest houses in all of silver, marcus layed his hat on a pin he had stuck in the wall near the door.

Marcus ran his fingers through his tangled and ruffled hair, trying to straiten it out, he listened and but all he heard was a mouse or a rat scampering off in the distance, he looked around for his wife, but he saw nothing, untill his nose picked up the most beautifull of aromas, he walked his way into the kitchen where his wife was making lunch for her and his son, he slowly walked up behind her and grabbed her around her waist, he swung her around and plonked her back on her feet, smiling at her as she turned around shocked to see him.

"Marcus John Vinci, what have i told you about sneaking up on me" She said catching her breath
"Hehehe, sorry darling but i couldnt help it"
"You nearly scared me half to death, but im glad your here" she said leaning up and kissing marcus on the cheek

Marcus was a tall man, taller than most, he towered over the rest of the vilagers, this usually made him a point of intrest to any new comers to the village that may want to cause trouble, he looked down on his wife, wrapping his arm around her shoulders kissing her forehead as he would a small child, it was a small joke he had with her, he would stand over her and treat her small, he laughed to himself.

"ah, well do i have news for you, you know Marge Grantly? WELL! she was caught...." marcus's brain trailed off as it usually did when his wife was talking about the local town gossip, but since she had to stay at home most of the days becuase of her pregnancy, she had very few people to talk to, all day so when he came home she had to let out as much as she could, as much as he tried to focus on her conversation, his thoughts all came back to that moment at the entrance, he snapped back and started talking with his wife, just talking no real goal of the chat just to talk.

About half an hour later, when lunch was done marcus took his wife upstairs and lyed her down in their bed, he kissed her on the forehead and told her to get some rest to let the baby sleep, marcus started walking out and immediately he thought about the moment at the gates, he started walking with an unholy fevour, to the gates, when he reached it no-one was there not the sheriff or his son, he looked down to were they were sitting and placed his hands on their seats, they were still warm, marcus slowly drew his pistol as he walked out of the gate and looked around, again he saw the black flicker, this time it was larger, closer, he squinted and tried to find it again but it was gone.

"Hey Marcus!" The Sheriff's son yelled

Marcus flew around and squeezed his trigger, not knowing what he was doing, he let a shot out, it hit the ground just below the kids feet, he leapt up dropping his drink and food on the ground, he almost had a heart attack, although he was the sheriffs son he was a pretty weedy kid.

"Holy S**t!" Screamed roger as he started to look back at him
"Now what in the Tarnation would make you do that!?!?" he yelled back at him
"I... I dont know.." fear gripped marcus, sweat dripped eagerly down his pronounced jaw line, as it fell to the ground he could almost hear his heart beat, faster, faster, faster he stared back at roger who was still standing there dazed and confused.

"I.. I have to get some.. Sleep" Marcus said dropping his pistol and running back to his house, something was wrong with him, very wrong never had he shot at someone without reason, never had he seen these strange visions that crawled within his skull, never had he left his gun on the ground, thousands of thoughts were running through his head, he started to sweat more and more as he entered his house, he looked to the door to the kitchen, he saw the shadow again, he whipped around the corner and looked for it, but he saw nothing, more and more sweat started dripping off his face.

"mmm... Marcus.. Come to Bed.. Im so Cold" he heard his wifes reasurences from upstairs, he slowed his breathing and went up the stairs to his bedroom, always looking down to see if he could see the shadow just one more time to figure out what it was, but he quelled these thoughts as he slowly climbed into his bed, his wife turned over and slid her arm over his chest, and sighed releif that he was home in her arms.

Whatever had happened today was strange but marcus knew that this day was going to get stranger and stranger, he almost cursed himself for dreaming of a life with more variety, he had had the variety he wanted today, and then some, but for now marcus closed his eyes and dreamt of his son coming into the world in but a few short months.

Keep it coming,that was great!

That was good stuff Deadly Sin. There was a couple of mistakes grammer wise, but nothing that annoyed me to the point that I would give it a bad score.

9.9/10 FTW

Excellent stuff, I enjoyed it a lot. All the errors looked intentional for when they were talking... 10/10, really, it's that good.

Paranoid: Chapter 2:
Into The Mist

Saturday, 6th, Spring Harvest.
I woke up again today, covered in sweat, thesee dreams are starting to take hold of my life, i cant take it anymore, these visions are starting to cause me distress, i almost shot a kid yesterday, and now the black shadows are coming closer to me, i cant take this much longer, i just hope that by the time my son comes into this world i will be fine, Hope.
Marcus John Vinci

Marcus stood erect as he placed his little pocket journal in his jacket pocket, his thoughts were clouded by misery and pain, his brain hurt, his arms were slack and his legs were numb and he was sweating profusely, he walked out of his house and looked around, it was pitch black, judging by the moons position it was about 1:30 in the morning he started walking around the small town, there were no lights in the town and the gates were shut and some of the torch fires were glazing in the distance no matter what he did nothing could shake these thoughts, he decided to go look for his gun that he left at the gate.

He came to the broad Iron gates, made from melted down metal from the old settlement of Dodge City he ran his hands over the walls, they had never fallen in all the years of his fathers, raiders, enclave even mutants had tried to attack the small town, his father and his father had protected the small town from fighting for years and he had prayed that he would take the role of town sheriff, but he got it, he stole marcus's birthright from him, anger swirled around in his head as he searched the ground for his gun, he lit one of his cigars.

The dim light of his cigar illuminated the surrounding air, he looked out and his eyes widened, his fathers gun was sitting there just sitting there, marcus started reaching out through the gate, he was about one inch from picking it up but he couldnt reach all of his stregnth was going into reaching the gun but he just couldnt reach, he kept his focus on his gun as it slowly started to become more and more illuminated, he turned around and saw the sheriff standing there with a torch, marcus swiftly turned around and acknoleged the sheriff

"What are you doing Marcus?"
"My Gun" marcus replied swiftly gesturing to the gate
"Listen Marcus, my son told me what happened today"
"Yea, i have to apologise, but he startled the hell outta me'
"Listen Mark, ive known you since we were kids"
"And?"
"Well, do you think that maybe your going the way of your fath--"
"Shut it Bill"
"Alright, but dont let these visions control your li--
"Shut It Bill..."
"Alright, let me help you get your gun"

As he said that he walked over to the gate and entered in the passcode to open it, the door slowly started rising and marcus walked out, he picked up his gun and turned around, as he did he turned his head and started watching the distance, there was something different about tonight, the air was thick with a deep blue mist, like a cloud on a summers day it was just looming outside the gate, like a large bear poised to attack, marcus shook his head he was starting to compare a cloud to a bear, these thoughts were starting to get the better of him, he turned around fully and started walking back into the town when he was in Bill slowly dropped the gates and started walking back to town with Marcus.

"Its real Bill" marcus said sincerely
"Then what is it mark? How can you say its real"
"I know its real, something that... Haunting, cant be a lie"
"Listen mark you take tomorrow off, stay home and rest with Lisa"
"Ugh, Fine but i swear, there is something out there'

With that bill turned walked in front of him swung around and grabbed him by his shoulders.

"Marcus, There hasnt been an actual attack on this settlement in over 20 years, listen the harvest is coming up in a few days, when all of the hubub is over you and I will go out into the wastes and search for whatever this Thing is, i promise you that. But I am Sure THERE IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT"

His voice was as clear as it could be, but still marcus had the thoughts nothin anyone could say would quell the whispers of the night, of the mist, it was strange that the night he starts seeing things a thick mist covers the landscape for miles, as they came back to marcus's house, bill laid his hand on his shoulder and wished him goodnight and a good rest.

Marcus slowly walked back into his house, he sat down in his favourite chair and pulled out his notebook and a pen and he started writing about all of the things that had happened today.

Yeah, I quite enjoyed that .......... so far. A couple of points though, I don't like reading it with the center aligned text, it would be easier with it all left aligned - and watch the forum censored words, just type the word and let the autocensor do it's job.

I like it so far, and I'm going to have to agree with Rohugh on the center alignment.

Paranoid: Chapter 3:
New Arrivals

Monday, 8th, Spring Harvest.
The visions are slowly subsiding, i only saw it once yesterday but it was so close i could almost touch it, it looked like a large mishapen man, with arms growing in strange places, but when i walked closer it dissapeared, I have to put these thoughts out of my head, I need to be totally focussed today, i need to watch over the final hours of the harvest and then make sure the trade goes down alright, then there are the end of harvest celebrations. I just hope im fine by the end of this.
Marcus John Vinci

Marcus as usual stood up stretched his arms out and placed his notebook in his jacket pocket, he walked out of the house silently, he gave his wife a kiss and continued on his way, he left his house and looked out it was still dark early mornings happened like that in Silver Star, the fog was still around, but it was thicker today than it was the past two days, it was slowly becoming more and more Opaque, you could hardly see two meters in front of you.

Marcus continued down the main path, before coming to the gate where the Sheriff was sitting with his hand on a torch, slowly waiting for the traders to arrive to take away all of their crops and give them some well needed supplies untill the next harvest. They sat there for about an hour without talking before the Traders arrived.

"Well, well, if it isnt the old settlement of Silver Star, Its good to see you again, Bill, Marcus" The old trader said nodding his head towads them.

"Damn straight, Dave, Damn straight" Bill said standing up going over to hug his old friend, it had been about 3 months since the last harvest so they hadn't seen eachother in a while.

"Well theres someone i would like you both to meet" Dave said
"Uuuuh, Hello there Sheriff!" a quiet young voice whispered
"Why if it isnt little Mary" the sheriff said as a young woman came out of the mist, she was very young and very beautifull
"Yea, this is my daughter, shes finally old enough for the journey so i decided to show her some other settlements." Dave pronounced proudly wrapping his arm around her.
"Daaaad!" She said pushing his arm off her shoulders.
"hehehe, Anyway, Lets get these crops loaded up so we can get your payment out of the way"
"Sure thing Dave, lets get this stuff done" he repeated with a smirk placing his hand on a brahmins head leading into town

As Bill and Dave walked off with the brahmins the young girl started walking up next to marcus, she was quite tall, a rarity in the wastes, she was almost as tall as marcus, so she towered over most of the people in the town, she was very good looking, probably one of the reasons her father didnt leave her at home. They kept walking as the final touces to the harvest bundles was being done, some small light started to peak over the mountains over in the distance, and the mist stated to lose its thickness and you could see most of the village now. She slowly moved closer him and started talking to him.

"So, you just a deputy?"
"So, You just a brahmin cleaner" marcus said snappily, he didnt like the fact that he was a deputy being thrown in his face
"Sorry, so, how long have you lived here?"
"All my life, cept for about two weeks when accompanied your father back to your town"
"Ok, this is my first time leaving my town"
"Ok then, so do you know how long your gonna be here for?"
"I think dad wants to settle down here, its a beautifull town by the way"
"Yea, but theres something that isnt right, or atleast i see something that isnt right"
"You see things too? Well aleast im not alone"
"Really? What do you see?"
"I dont know i see my mother i see spots and creatures, ive seen quite alot in the mist on the way here"
"Were they black??"
"Yea ho.. How did you know?"

Marcus's heart started to race, someone else was seeing the smoke, he wondered how he would approach this, all he knew was that he had to act somehow, or tis opportunity might leave, he thought about the many ways he could talk to her about this, he decided to try to coax her to stay here when her father left for their old town.

"I see them too, but please let us talk about this another time"
"Sure, We can talk later..."

With that she dissapeared into the fog, it was midday, and there was still many duties to be done but marcus felt that he had to have a rest to reasses the situation and to figure out what he was going to do next, he entered his house and sat down in his favorite chair pulled out his notebook and pen ndstarted writing about what was happening and what he should do next....