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This Apocalypse Ain't Kind by Lise (PG13)
Fandom: CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
Pairing: Nick Stokes/Greg Sanders
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
goldatamera
Author Website: none
Why this must be read:
The A Thousand Whispers: The CSI T.S. Eliot Challenge produced a number of good stories, and this is one of them. Continuing with the whole 'dark and disturbing' theme I seem to be setting up here, as the title suggests this story is set in a post apocalyptic nightmare. Society has broken down, not with a bang but a whimper, and Greg and Nick are caught up in the aftermath, simply trying to survive.
The author handles this scenario well, with angst and drama aplenty but thankfully no melodrama. From the very first paragraph, the imagery used is stark and intense, and it draws you in, holding you there to the bitter end. The characterisation well balanced and the way the author cuts between the past and the present, showing how Nick and Greg get to where they are, is done extremely well. It successfully builds up the sense of claustrophobia, which is no mean feat when the present is set in the desert.
The city is burning.
The flames reach high into the air, hungry, devouring the city that twists and melts in the heat. Smoke hangs heavy and thick above it, spreading out across the desert and covering the stars like a veil. Warm wind curling across the desert, bringing the smell of soot and blood and burning, strong even from so far away, and the smell of it makes Greg want to retch, to fall to his knees and tear the thickness from the back of his throat until it doesn’t feel like he is choking anymore. A hand on his arm, clenching briefly, and he turns to look at Nick, wild-eyed and dirt-smudged, hefting his backpack onto his shoulders.
‘We have to keep moving.’
Numb jerk of his head, and Greg moves off down through the rocks, through the desert, feeling the stares of unseen eyes at his back, and beside him Nick grips the handle of his gun a little tighter. He doesn’t ask where they’re moving to.
This Apocalyse Ain't Kind
Pairing: Nick Stokes/Greg Sanders
Author on LJ:
goldatameraAuthor Website: none
Why this must be read:
The A Thousand Whispers: The CSI T.S. Eliot Challenge produced a number of good stories, and this is one of them. Continuing with the whole 'dark and disturbing' theme I seem to be setting up here, as the title suggests this story is set in a post apocalyptic nightmare. Society has broken down, not with a bang but a whimper, and Greg and Nick are caught up in the aftermath, simply trying to survive.
The author handles this scenario well, with angst and drama aplenty but thankfully no melodrama. From the very first paragraph, the imagery used is stark and intense, and it draws you in, holding you there to the bitter end. The characterisation well balanced and the way the author cuts between the past and the present, showing how Nick and Greg get to where they are, is done extremely well. It successfully builds up the sense of claustrophobia, which is no mean feat when the present is set in the desert.
The city is burning.
The flames reach high into the air, hungry, devouring the city that twists and melts in the heat. Smoke hangs heavy and thick above it, spreading out across the desert and covering the stars like a veil. Warm wind curling across the desert, bringing the smell of soot and blood and burning, strong even from so far away, and the smell of it makes Greg want to retch, to fall to his knees and tear the thickness from the back of his throat until it doesn’t feel like he is choking anymore. A hand on his arm, clenching briefly, and he turns to look at Nick, wild-eyed and dirt-smudged, hefting his backpack onto his shoulders.
‘We have to keep moving.’
Numb jerk of his head, and Greg moves off down through the rocks, through the desert, feeling the stares of unseen eyes at his back, and beside him Nick grips the handle of his gun a little tighter. He doesn’t ask where they’re moving to.
This Apocalyse Ain't Kind