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    The Pull
    The Pull
    The Pull
    Ebook39 pages31 minutes

    The Pull

    By Nicholas Stillman

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    About this ebook

    Documentary filmmakers Ned and Alan race from their vane, attention-whoring society...into one that might kill them. Fleeing the bombardment of social pressure, the two can only cool off in a humble desert town called Mallawah, a place so blistering hot the women alone might push them to fever and insanity.

    One curvaceous, irresistible nymph dubbed "the siren" gained a reputation both for her beautifying medical enhancements and her supernatural entrancement. She also gained a desert-wide graveyard of followers who quested to death for the ultimate temptress. But does the medical siren exist only in myth, or will Ned and Alan dig their own graves in the sand while seeking the real thing?

    "The Pull" will drive you deeper and hotter into the blazes of the male mind. Knowledge, escapism, lust, and the call of the siren will force you along on this science fiction mystery adventure.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStillman Sci-Fi
    Release dateNov 25, 2015
    ISBN9781519918192
    The Pull
    Author

    Nicholas Stillman

    Nicholas Stillman writes dark but entertaining science fiction. His weekly short stories and collections aim for variety and novelty with fun and thought-provoking twists. They often branch into dystopia, crime, horror, medical fiction, black comedy, romance, adventure, adult, and the completely new. Some of Stillman’s themes include civilizational collapse, addictions of the future, medicine in space, dark psychology, and the terrifying fate of our healthcare. Stillman offers monthly free short stories at StillmanSciFi.com. Get yourself free, easily accessible short stories for life--the perfect way for any science fiction fan to spend time on commutes or at home.

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      Book preview

      The Pull - Nicholas Stillman

      Table of Contents

      The Pull | By Nicholas Stillman

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      The Pull

      By Nicholas Stillman

      © 2015 Nicholas Stillman

      Get free science fiction short stories at stillmanscifi.com

      THE SUN FINISHED BAKING the town of Mallawah, taking its daily handful of dust from the bricks grain by grain. The white buildings and dark people could endure, though, probably for centuries or until Mallawah’s river dried. Ned and Alan waited in the riverside drinking lounge below the inn where they had stayed the past three nights. Later, when the blue sky turned a little bluer, they’d embark for the ruins in the surrounding desert. For a while yet, though, the sand and dusk needed to cool to something survivable. Their rented horses boarded up next door had to drink a little extra themselves.

      Ned took the dinged, grubby glass and sipped the sour wine. His tongue wrestled with it. He still wanted to order another for loitering here, to respect the wiry old barkeep. But too much liquor on the desert would make the night rougher than those ancient cots upstairs. One drink. And only for celebration.

      He and Alan had gathered enough footage here and interviewed plenty of townsfolk, prominent and humble alike. Humbleness. This place rained it if it rained nothing else. Even the deepest-lined faces chatted candidly about the siren’s call. Mallawah people treated their urban myth about the siren like a sad kind of war story.

      Nice wine cellar they’ve got down here, Ned said, glancing at the soleras. The walls hid behind casks. And I mean it. The coolness feels like a normal sunny day compared to that oven.

      He glanced roofward. Alan just said, Hm.  Someone had made their little etched table out of four planks and a barrel lid. Rectangular nailheads stuck out.

      Jeez, Ned mumbled, they must have built this before World War One, whatever happened before that.

      Alan’s face sweated out the things he ate months ago. It probably did him good. The weight loss would help, even if their documentary turned out bad, or worse, boring. Alan needed a few months of Mallawah life and its gritty river water to really slim down, though.

      Alan picked up his full glass and swiveled it, futility stirring the bits of dead grapes. Bad idea. Moving caused more heat. Down here, that meant more stickiness for everyone.

      Did those women laborers add anything new to the story? Alan asked. He usually said more, but only at 5 am when

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