The City will be coming soon!

Ashtyn Foster, the writer of the S.L.U.T. series is going to have her first published short story in the cyberfunk collection The City. If you are interested check out the first official press release! The book will be available in both physical and digital copies. Check it out!

The City Press Release

Break

Due a family tragedy, all S. L. U. T. stories will be postponed for the next two weeks to allow time for grieving.

S.L.U.T. : Ambrosia pt 2

I still have only two eyes. One nose. One mouth. Two ears. However my nails have become claws and I'm green. Okay, I can handle this.

I still have my hair. It's blue but still here. Teeth look good. Better than they did before. So that's something. Oh, Lord I have a forked tongue. I don't really look like a lizard. More like I have a skin condition. It'll be fine. Maybe I could start a new trend while I wait for the doctor to fix me.

All these thoughts whirled through Ambrosia's mind right before she hurled the mirror at the wall.

I am NOT okay.

Dr. Harrison didn't flinch having expected that reaction.

"Ambrosia it will be okay. The agents at Bermuda were able to get samples of all the chemicals that were used on you. We are working to identify them."

"Who is we?"

"When you were rescued, even if you hadn't passed out, Smoque wouldn't have told you anything. She isn't very good at the people part of this job. You are under S. L. U. T. headquarters."

"My mother contacted you?"

"She asked for Smoque specifically. She wanted you back and for justice to be done."

"Justice! I'm half blind, green and only God knows what else is wrong with me? When she sees me justice will be the least of her concerns!"

Ambrosia felt a burning sensation in her chest. It hurt like nothing she'd ever felt in her life. The closet that even came to it was the burning of the chemicals as the coursed through her veins, but seemed like a mild irritant compared to what was happening to her now.

She curled into a ball on the bed knocking over the IVs and causing the machines to beep wildly. The pain only increased. Ambrosia felt as she were going to die. She nearly wanted to to make the pain stop. Rolling onto her back to lay flat she opened her mouth to scream and fire covered the ceiling.

The sprinkler system came on then immediately melted. The pipes burst and the room was half flooding half in flames. Dr. Harrison went to Ambrosia in an attempt to calm her.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"I need to make sure you're alright."

"The room is on fire and it's because of me. I am NOT alright."

"We need to leave this room. The alarms are going off a team will be here-"

What was left of the door was kicked in a five women dressed all in black stormed in.

"It's a code 6 ladies you know what to do."

"Captain, this girl has no idea what is happening to her. This is not a code 6." Dr. Harrison stepped in front of Ambrosia's bed, arms spread wide.

"Then what would you have me do? The room is on fire. The students are freaking out. And water is not putting this out."

"It's dragonfire you need magic to dispel it. Get Serafine. You two, help me with my patient. Then start evacuating this floor."

The authority in the doctor's voice got the women moving with a different purpose. The two Dr. Harrison indicated to picked up Ambrosia as the doctor grabbed her IVs to walk behind them.

Ambrosia heard the captain send one of the two women left to get Serafine, while she and the last woman started helping with the evacuation.

"Ambrosia, dear, I need you to trust me. I'm going to inject you work something That will help you sleep."

"Why...did you feel the need....to qualify that...?"

Her speech was slowed and her voice hoarse.

"Because" she walked around to face the heiress and pointed a gun at her then fired.

"It's going to hurt."

S. L. U. T. : Ambrosia pt 1

The room was bright. Far too bright for Ambrosia's eyes, even though they were closed. Her head felt foggy. The last thing she remembered...she started to panic. Too bright or not she had to escape.

She thought she heard her name. She calmed only slightly. Smoque's helmet came to mind. She remembered being rescued. But she didn't know where she was.

"What's going on?" her voice sounded strange to her ears.

"You are in a specialized facility. My name is Dr. Harrison. You have been through quite a traumatic ordeal, Ambroisa. How do you feel?"

A woman. Good. "Everything hurts. I can't open my eyes because it feels like there are floodlights in here and I sound like I've been smoking since the 1920's."

She heard the doctor walk away then the sound of the blinds being closed, then a button clicked.

"Try opening your eyes now."

"That is a lot better. What did you do?"

"I removed the light. It would appear that you have night vision."

"And what happened to my regular vision?"

"For now, it would appear that it is nonexistent. But don't fret, if Madeline Morrison can see during the day, then you should be able to as well. You just need to practice. My thoughts would be that in a few short months you'll be back to normal in no time."

"Madeline Morrison?"

"Big Mama Marsh's real name. We find find it best to not acknowledge the criminal as their ailis here. It only feeds into their criminal persona. And it helps survivors such as yourself forgive if you see them as people who are sick rather than megalomaniacs."

"I was snatched from my car, that thing killed three of my guards and then she injected God knows what into my dna, and you expect me to forgive them?"

"For your own good. Not theirs."

"Never.

"What else did she do to me?"

"I think one shock a day is---"

"Doctor. I need to know."

Dr. Harrison sighed, "If you insist."

She walked across the room and grabbed a mirror. Then handed it to her patient.

"Now please understand we are working very hard to ensure that whatever was done to you will be reversed."

Ambrosia took a deep breath and turned the mirror towards her face.

Modern Day Lynchings

They call them routine traffic stops

They say they are doing their jobs

They call it protecting the streets

They say it was self-defense

They call us a menace

They say we bring it upon ourselves

Tell me why children are left without fathers

Tell me why mothers are left without sons

Tell me why sisters are left without brothers

Tell me why our women are forgotten

Tell me why lives are reduced to a hashtag

Tell me why we are still feared and hated

I tried to write down the names of the dead

I began to weep

How can so many people be stolen

How can so many lives be exterminated

Without so much as a second thought

By some trigger-happy child with a badge and gun

If my ancestors looked down at the world now

What would they say

Would they be proud

Or would they weep at the lack of progress

We are no longer slaves

But we are still not free

We are not free to name our children without ridicule

We are not to basic education

We are not free to safety

We are not free work and earn equal pay

We are not free to walk the streets

We are not free to live without fear

Fear for our lives

Fear for our children

Fear for our homes

Fear of those who swore to protect

Fear of the law that is to be upheld

Fear that one day they win

Imagine

Imagine with me a world where it’s safe to walk the streets at night,

 Instead of filled with fear and paranoia

Imagine with me a world where people bring each other up,

 Instead of holding them down.

Imagine with me a world where our elderly are exalted and cared for,

 Instead of treated with disdain and pity

Imagine a world with me a world where we went to war to save people,

 Instead of to save oil

Imagine with me a world where the standard of beauty is one that raises all women,

 Instead of demeaning and stolen

Imagine with me a world where a black president is the norm,

 Instead of making history

Imagine with me a world where the police protected and served,

 Instead of hid behind their badges and guns.

Imagine with me a world where a single mother could raise her children to be able to stand on there own,

 Instead of being shamed and looked down upon

Imagine with me a world where our prisons, weren’t filled passed capacity,

 Allowing real criminals to wander free and young kids are left to rot because an example needed to be made

Imagine with me a world where all teachers cared for there students,

 Instead of making tenure

Imagine with me a world where we didn’t need to create awareness,

 Because people are already aware and want to do better

Imagine with me a world where obesity isn’t an epidemic,

 Because our children are given actual food

Imagine with me a world where children can play outside unsupervised,

 Instead of monitored online

Imagine with me a world where education and hard work are rewarded

Imagine with me a world where whom I marry is my choice,

 Instead of a right that needed to be fought for

Imagine with me a world where rape isn’t a culture

Imagine with me a world where religion isn’t known for promoting hatred,

 Instead of offering love

Imagine with me a world where our churches didn’t burn, or sons didn’t die in the streets by the people who were meant to protect them

Imagine with me a world where our children didn’t grow up with fear of being killed for no reason other than being black

Imagine with me a world where I didn’t need to write this poem,

 Because everyone already knew.