Scarlett Dominion's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Scarlett Dominion stomped through Darkvale clutching her laminated speech. She needed minions. An evil army did not build itself, and world domination had a schedule. But every person she approached took one look at the giant grey tombstone Gary had planted in the square — the one that read 'Scarlett stinks!' in fat black letters — and walked the other way. She ducked behind a lamppost and watched a teenager laugh at the stone. Her bright red eyes stung. The streets were poisoned. She needed a fortress. She found one three blocks over: an abandoned office shaped like a giant skull, with glowing yellow windows for eyes and a gaping mouth for a door. Nobody was using it. Nobody stopped her from walking inside. By sundown she had taped a flyer to the teeth and dragged a mud sculpture of herself out front, smiling and holding a slice of pizza she did not actually own. She waited on the steps with her speech. Nobody came. Nobody came. Then something came. A shape lurched up the path — rotting, hollow-eyed, dragging one foot. Scarlett raised her speech like a shield. Behind the first shape, a second figure stepped into the skull's glow. A small woman with white hair, green skin, and patient, tired eyes. "Saw your statue," Brenda Hollow said. "The pizza's a lie, isn't it." Scarlett opened her mouth. Brenda shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'm in. He's in." She tilted her head at the shambler. "Town already buried me. Can't embarrass me twice." Scarlett Dominion had two minions. Gary's tombstone suddenly felt very far away.