Jared Joseph
Jared Joseph
Jared Joseph draws inspiration from a diverse array of artists, including the visceral blood-stained storytelling of Quentin Tarantino, the expansive universes of the gaming industry, and the iconic illustrations of Akira Toriyama. His writing demonstrates the potential to stand alongside some of the best contemporary voices. A recent graduate of Fresno State, Jared resides in California's Central Valley, where he is committed to providing a platform for writers to shine in their unique brilliance, encouraging them to take pride in their identities and creative expressions.
WMD
A black van rushes through red lights and honking cars. Sacramento’s beauty shines with the sunlight gracing its tall buildings and historic district. The Black van screeches around a tight corner, trying to escape a large reptilian creature on its trail.
“THEY’RE ROUNDING BACK TOWARDS THE HIGHWAY, YOU GUYS COULD INTERCEPT IF YOU'RE FAST ENOUGH.” The large creature yells.
The black van gains distance from the creature, inching away at high speeds. Suddenly, after regaining his composure, the driver is met with another, this time, caped figure that appears in front of the van. The driver swerves clear of this figure and looks back in fear.
“Is that him?” The driver yelps in a concerned tone.
“Honestly, I didn’t think he was real,” his partner replies.
A red cape flaps behind the figure that now appears to be flying alongside them. “If you’d like less jailtime, I’d suggest just stopping.” The driver pulls his gun out and aims it at the figure’s head, pulling the trigger. The force of the bullet pushes the caped figure away from the van allowing them to regain some distance.
“That outta stop em”
Another vehicle joins the chase. “Coming up on a t-intersection, Captain, good a time as any to stop ‘em,” the driver says.
The caped figure suddenly reappears ahead of the van as he yet again stops in front of the van.
The van’s speed increases as the figure refuses to move. The van crashes into him, stopping faster than it hit. The figure absorbs all force from the crash, not moving a single inch from his grounded position. The car thuds with an acute force.
The caped figure now walks to the driver side of the car. The driver and his buddy’s face looked like they’d been through a couple of rounds with prime Mike Tyson with how battered they’d become.
“I thought I told you to stop. Just remember you didn’t have to look like that.” He grabs the keys from the ignition to open the back of the van.
“Package secured. Let’s find out why they ran.”
The men inside, now unconscious from their injuries, are pulled from the vehicle by paramedics as the figure approaches the vehicle and pulls out a steel briefcase. Inside are a few files of black goo with a soy sauce-like consistency..
“Captian Graves, come in. what’s the status?” his earpiece rings.
With a confused look the Captain answers. “Package secured, I think. I’m honestly not sure what the hell I’m looking at.”
Captain Graves takes the package to an arriving helicopter filled with a couple of Earth Defense Corp. (EDC) soliders.
“All good here, Anti?” The pilot asks. The captain nods and hands the solider the case. “Uuuhh, Good. Munoz wants you back at HQ for a report.” an awkward pause fills in the choppers propeller hum. “Anyways. Good job today, see ya ‘round.”
Paparazzi shows up faster than the news vans to the scene.
Later the media gets ready to ask questions and hear about the incident. Anti treks forward toward an “EARTH DEFENSE CORP.” podium that’s been set up in front of the state capitol building.
Anti, through nervous breath, begins to speak. “The SmokeBombs had been compromised, but their leader remains at large. We caught them transporting dangerous materials that our experts will confirm at a later time. For now, we stay vigilant and will remain alert in case anything like this happens again. Thank you for your time.”
Anti begins to walk away from the podium when a reporter calls out a question, “WILL YOU EVER ADDRESS YOUR ACTIVITY IN THE WAR?”
Anti hesitates to walk forward and looks back slightly at the crowd.
More obnoxious questions come through, “WHY WON'T YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR TIME THERE AND ARE YOU BEING THREATENED FOR YOUR SILENCE?”
Nano, co-captain of Delta 5-9, grabs and starts to walk Anti away from the crowd while whispering, “Ignore ‘em, they can’t make you talk about it if you don’t want to. Plus it’s none of their business anyway.”
This appears live on a TV that a young boy named Kai is watching as it quickly changes to ‘something else’. He looks back with a shocked gasp. The orphanage Kai lived in wasn’t necessarily a lovely place, but some children were friendlier than others. However, there were definitely “bad apples” in the bunch. Aaron definitely fits into the ‘juvi’ crowd, complete with pyromania and “misunderstood” vibes. He happens to be one of the older kids in the orphanage and can get away with picking on the smaller, less fortunate kids to defend themselves.
“It's my time on the TV anyways, you can watch your boy band propaganda later!”
Kai had never really had a problem with Aaron picking on him. The size difference was clear, and the other two friends would end up instigating him to ‘do something’ about small, petty things that occur. Kai noticed he cried alone at night when most people would be fast asleep, so he understood what the bullying meant to him. However, Kai’s new obsession with “superheroes” was enough to get him to stand up for it.
The new era for SHOT began just 2 years ago after the team was introduced to the world. Kai heard all about it on the news, and kids began talking about it more and more as the months went by. By the time 2nd grade was over, every kid wanted merchandise relating to Delta 5-9. Some kids (like Kai) couldn’t wait or afford such merchandise, so they began making their own. Inside of Kai's closet were t-shirts with scribbled-on designs to resemble each member of Delta’s attires.
Kai switches to a computer and begin watching a quick video package that promotes Delta. It shows news highlights of the crew’s greatest ‘busts’ with them already locking away members of the Smokebombs and other factions that dwell around in the city.
A voiceover can be heard narrating over the footage,“The heroes before have shown the public a great dedication to you and your safety. These young men bravely dedicate their lives each day to make life safe from the mutant threats.”
The members of Delta stand saluting and in unison they sound off.
“For the common defense!!”
A teen walks into a liquor store and waves at the man behind the counter. He’s been coming to this store for as long as he can remember. The many different scents that fill the small aisles and the older-looking MDU cooler that displays everything from energy drinks to ice-cold beers. He loves it here. But he’s only here for a quick stop. He grabs a bag of chips and an energy drink, hands the cashier exact change, and walks out faster than he walked in.
“Thanks, Smoke! See ya’ tomorrow!” Smoke was just a nickname given to him through his mutation. With said mutation, he had gained a name for himself in his neighborhood. A ‘modern-day Robin Hood,’ the nice old ladies would call him. He did right by those that lived around him. He loved his neighbors like he would his own family. The community he began to help rebuild may have been made through shady circumstances but the legit cash hauls would serve the community that needed it the most. What was once one of the most shady parts of town was now beautiful to everyone who hadn’t seen it that way before.
On his way out, he grabs a newspaper from a box outside of the store, the headliner catching his eye.
‘Self-Refurbishing Neighborhood Set To Be Seized By City: Locals of Neighborhood UNCONCERNED’
Smoke scoffs: ‘I worked too hard for this land to be taken by the city. They’ll have take it when I’m dead. And I’d go as far as to say, I got a hell of a lot left in the tank!”
He walks down the street to his gang’s clubhouse, an old arcade complete with cabinets, snacks in hand. A meeting is being set up– chairs, podium and all. Smoke walks up to the podium at the center of the room and set ups his snacks atop of it. Other members of the Smokebombs gather around to begin the meeting.
“So, we’ve all heard about Tom and Austin. They’ve got a pretty high bail but should only be getting charged with reckless driving.”
The rest of the gang remains silent while giving awkward looks to one another.
“What exactly were they moving?”
Smoke’s brow narrows with slight rage and focus. “Not much, a special package deal. Not drugs but special nonetheless. We don’t really know what it was, neither do authorities.”
A brave soul speaks up in concern. “Um… shouldn’t that be a little concerning? I mean, they did send Delta after it this time. Shouldn’t we-“
“ What “we” need, is to understand that we aren’t concerned with what we move as long as it isn’t people; beyond that, it’s not our problem. What people want us to move isn’t my main problem; it's how we're supposed to fix our credibility as movers. We need to regain sellers’ trust. And I’m starting to feel like people who aren’t concerned with the right things shouldn’t be talking right now.” He stares into the eyes of the dude willing to speak against him. Staring at the sweat hat is now dripping down his cheek.
Releasing the tension in the air, he calms himself. “We should be alright for the meantime; we still have shipments going everywhere all across this city. Delta isn’t going to catch us doing a damn thing. They’ll understand to let us by. They’ll need to realize we fend for ourselves out here. The city does nothing for our needs and concerns to the point where we had to take it for ourselves. I’m coming up with a plan with Shift to see what we can do to make sure they won’t bother us anymore. I doubt any of ‘em will take a bribe, so maybe the old-fashioned way will work.”
“Could you two even be enough to do any sort of damage to them?” a fool chimes.
“Get out.”
“Huh?”
Smoke begins to suffocate the member. “Smoking is bad for you, you know? It affects your lungs over time in a slow, dissatisfying death. But I could let you experience it all at once. Is this strong enough for you?”
He lets go. The member gasps for air as he coughs roughly into the next room, the others shocked with fear.
“I’m trying to be a nice guy; I can't do that with doubt. Doubt leads to uncertainty; we need to be certain about these types of things. Let me be certain for you, and I will lead us to a bigger vision. I’ve got the best runner there is in the city holding us down while I use the rest of you to scout out more buyers. Start establishing that this was a one-time bust!”
“Meeting’s over. ”