This little piece was something I tried for the same writing forum flash fiction contest a month after "A Hell of an Anticlimax." You can see that I tried a lot harder to keep the plot and action simple and minimal, to give myself more space for what I thought was really important.
Weight
The streaks hanging across the dyed-pink, sunset sky were grim proof of the situation. They stood out in sharp contrast to the gently rolling fields that splayed out in all directions from the base.
“Satisfied, Major?” The Colonel held open the door to the bunker, his hat dangling from his free hand. It looked as if none of us would have to worry about dress regulations ever again. I took one more look across the sky and stepped back inside the dimly-lit concrete building. Down the hallway, we turned left into the command center.
“Confirm the situation with me once more, if you don't mind, Colonel.” I said, trying to keep my voice low and even.
“At 1850 hours, we received a garbled transmission from the Capitol. Apparently, there had been a near-miss by a high-yield nuclear warhead. The orders went out from the Capitol to all of our silos over the next seven minutes, but the transmissions cut off before we received direct orders. All attempts to make contact with the Capitol since then have gotten nothing but static in return.”
“And the other bases?”
“We've received confirmation from eighty percent of the bases that they launched their payloads successfully. The other twenty percent went offline before we could confirm with them. We haven't heard anything from anyone in ten minutes.”
“We're the last ones,” I murmured.
“Quite possibly, yes.” The Colonel stepped over to the boxes where our launch keys were held. He turned his key in the lock and two small doors opened in the wall, each holding a single key embedded in a blood-red plastic case. I walked over and picked up mine, cracking the case open and extracting the key. The two consoles were on opposite sides of the room. We walked to our stations.
“We may only have a few minutes, or it may already be too late,” the Colonel snapped. “We should launch while we still have time.”
“We haven't received orders to do so,” I protested.
“The chain of command is broken, as far as we can tell,” he replied, a dark flash in his eyes. “Of the cities on our target list, we were unable to confirm that any other bases launched on three of them.” His eyes locked to mine, a nasty gleam across the blue of his irises. “We are the only ones who can achieve those objectives. We have to launch now.”
Achieve. Objectives. I looked at the key in my hand. A tiny little piece of stamped steel, light as a feather, yet heavy as three whole cities.
“Major, now,” repeated the Colonel.
I looked up. “I can't do it,” I said. “I... I won't.”
A vein twitched at the Colonel's temple. “Sergeant,” he ordered the man sitting next to me, “the Major is relieved of his duties as Executive Officer. Confiscate his key and insert it into the console.”
The Sergeant looked at the Colonel, then at me. He hesitated.
“You don't have authority to do that, Colonel,” I warned. “Rank aside, my duty as Executive Officer is not up to question by the base commander without a direct order from the General.”
“Do it,” commanded the Colonel. The Sergeant stood, and took a step toward me.
I dropped the key onto the floor. Was I the only one who heard the deafening thud as it hit? It was like a lead brick. I lifted my foot and ground the key into the concrete with my heel. It was like every nerve in my body was concentrated there as I felt the thin metal of the key bend and warp. Three cities.
The Sergeant stopped. The Colonel glared at me, eyes overflowing with hate. “I hope you realize what you've done,” he spat.
“I do.”
# # #
I think this one came out a lot better, but I still had a surprising result from the judges at the contest. Now that you've read it, I can spoil what they seemed to miss: the POV character expects that their silo is a target, and believes they all have only minutes to live. So that's why he expects breaking the key to be an effective stop for the attack.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little flash fiction piece! You might enjoy checking out my other flash fiction, or maybe you might like The PAEAN Project.
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