Bumping to remind everyone that another 24 hours has been added before the deadline.

In addition, a day after the deadline will be allowed for bug fixes.

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Good stories are always hot on the market--as are reviews to go with them.

We look forward to seeing your additions to the community's content!

There's not much we are limited to what we can write.

But there are a few exceptions, and the bees are one of them.

There was an issue a while back involving the bees. Very bad. I'm honestly not sure if I'm allowed to say this much. Please, please don't allow the bees to return.

Okay, yeah. Just destroy my story's credibility just like that then, that's cool.

Oh, wait. I can pull a J.K. Rowlings and say the UN is canonically powerful and fully funding WHO in America's absence! Try that on for size.

I can assure you that Dr. Oswald Matthews is anything but a limpwrist.

Not to mention, the United Nations is in leagues with the World Health Organization. Talk about scary!

I am going to regret edit locking myself. Anyways, I have washed my hand 28 days ago and showered in December, but I find myself still sanitary enough to visit:

@4lPH4
@AestheticLlama

I also have a fever and a cough, but it's probably just hay fever, y'know?

Despite following all of the guidelines for avoiding infection, Zake has still managed to infect me.
Luckily, I wash my hands once a month and shower twice a year, so all I need to be cured is a little modern dystopia.

“Going live in ten seconds”

I take a deep breath. None of what I was going to say was going to be a surprise, but I couldn’t help but be anxious.

However, this had to be done—it was beyond my control.

“Three, two, one.” The intern’s voice fades from my earpiece.

Beep.

I stare into the camera. “This is an emergency broadcast issued by the World Health Organization and enforceable by the United Nations. Travel into and out of the following countries is to be canceled, including all commercial imports and exports.” I proceeded to list every nation that was within the United Nations’ power to enforce—which is to say each member country as well as those weaker than them.

I continue. “In accordance with the Global Pandemic Prevention Act of 2022, this is a reminder that leaving your house for any reason is prohibited. All food and services you need will be provided by your local government and brought to you. All citizens suspected of disobeying the GPPA will be promptly arrested and held in custody until they can be given a fair trial; upon the pandemic’s end.”

I take a shallow breath, hoping my nerves aren’t showing during this important announcement. I conclude. “For all information regarding the Crown Pandemic including publicly disclosed statistics and prevention advice, visit the World Health Organization’s dedicated page. On current events, Bob.”

Beep.

“Those sons of bitches,” I mutter to myself.

The intern approaches with a can of soda in his hand. “You did well.”

“Thanks.” I point to the can— “Is that for me, or are you being an ass?”

He shrugs, then offers me the soda. “Why not both? Anyway, what the hell was with your announcement? Johnson did not brief me on any of this.” Johnson was my immediate supervisor and was the one who would relay orders to us from the higher powers. However, this task was assigned to me directly by a higher power. More than likely, Johnson is hearing all this for the first time as well. As if to conclude my thoughts, we hear a key being aggressively inserted into a nearby door from the other side.

“Speak of the devil,” I mutter. The door flies open, and Johnson sails into the room, his face already flushed purple in unspeakable rage.

As soon as his eyes meet mine, he attempts a forced smile—which makes his expression all the more ominous. My intern, knowing well enough to escape, flees the area while engaging in an imaginary conversation in his earpiece.

“Alison,” Johnson greets me. On his forehead, his veins are not only clearly visible—but one could swear they could see the blood course through them a mile a minute.

“Good afternoon, sir.” I feign ignorance.

“Such an excellent performance,” he tells me. At this point, he is no longer attempting to conceal his rage. “I wonder who put you up to this?”

“Mr. Oswald Matthews of the United Nations and Dr. Lindiro of the World Health Organization, sir!” I knew nothing about either of them—spare for the fact that their names signed the task I was given.

“Do you realize what you have just done?”

“The task was legitimate, I assure you. I called them myself—” Halfway through my sentence, I am interrupted by him.

“—THAT is the issue, Alison, you spoke to them, and them chiefly. Hell, it seems you have briefed everyone but me here, Alison, you know, your boss? The one who pays your checks?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” I apologize, having worked under him long enough to know verbalizing my frustration would only serve to hurt me. “But it was on the task that you—and the other management of the newscast, for that matter—were not to be shown the assignment until it was carried out. I can scan and send you the portion that says that—”

“—And you would sooner obey the whims of some foreigner scumbags? Over your own boss? Do they fill out your checks, do they give a damn about you?” He clenches his fists in his pocket—he must have been far angrier than I have previously thought. He continues. “You fucking fool, do you realize what you have just done?”

As though just realizing his own anger, he backs away. He turns to leave the room. “You’re fucking done. Pack your bags and go home.” For a moment, I  just stare in shock as he leaves the room, muttering incoherent expletives under his breath.

“What the hell just happened?” I quietly ask myself. The assignment was legitimate—the United Nations has the power to override the orders of even the highest managers within most companies, which included this one.

I feel a hand lower onto my shoulder; I turn my head to find that the intern has returned. “Don’t worry about him,” he attempts to reassure me, “he can’t fire you for following UN-sanctioned orders.” He says it with a bitter tone, as though he was disgusted by the thought of a foreign power having so much control over our lives—I certainly was.

“I think I might understand why Johnson was so angry,” I tell him.

“Are you it sure it isn’t because you wouldn’t let Johnson get into your knickers?”

I deliver a punch to his gut, bringing him to his knees. “You have read too many corporate dystopians.” I pause. “Though, I wonder if this hasn’t become one.”

The intern looks at the screen that displayed I words I’ve read to millions of viewers not ten minutes prior. It’s final words, a reminder to check the official page for the Crown Pandemic, remains. “Perhaps it’s much more than that.”

A pandemic that brought the world to its knees, a power that has seized control of the lives of most. Hell if we weren’t working for them indirectly, we too would be forced to remain at home, where we could not solve our problems; and instead, rely on them all the more. The few rights I did have, as did the intern and even Johnson, came at the cost of supporting the powers that actively seized more from us. It was a disgusting reality, made even worse by the futility of our actions. The worst part, however, was not even that all this was unfolding before our eyes, but the fact that we are actively assisting the wrong side—because we know, deep down, that they have won.

“Yeah,” I agree, “perhaps.”

The quotation punctuation rules are solid, but there's a couple of questions that could never be answered back in class 101.
In the case of attributing a sentence in the middle of it, for example.

"And may the odds," says Effie Trinket in her iconic cheerful trill, "be ever in your favor!"

The two quotations are part of the same sentence; not to mention that neither of them are independent clauses. Much like the debate of beginning sentences with conjunctions, most people seem to have conflicting opinions on whether or not the second quotation should also be capitalized.

"That fence supposedly serves to keep intruders out," Bill states, "though it only seems to be keeping us in."

In this case, both quotations are independent clauses. While it could work like this:

"That fence supposedly serves to keep intruders out," Bill states. "Though it only seems to be keeping us in."

It doesn't feel right--or rather, it feels grammatically correct, but not as pleasant to read. In this case, which would be correct? Is the practice of not capitalizing the other quotation legitimate, or would I flunk third grade English by making such a rookie mistake?

Another aspect that confuses me is the use of em dashes in quotations. When interrupting a quotation with an action, I would write something like:

"I think I've found something in the bookshelf. Perhaps--" Julia tugs at an odd book, pulling it out of the shelf-- "nevermind. False alarm."

Does that constitute an acceptable use of the em dash? Would commas be used in this case instead--as clunky as it would look? Would I use ellipsis?

e/ Okay, the previous image was so large it broke the page, so here is a much smaller, crappier image.

Looks nice! For a second, I thought the arm was doing something of a flea leg.

Actually, hang on, I might have a draft of exactly that on hand.