Flawless Shade

Making the best of a wistful situation.

Madeline spent an hour and a half soaking in the bath. The scrub brush she had brought with her was used to abrasively scratch away every hint of dirt that had ever graced her 26 year old skin. The coals beneath the tub crackled pleasingly and she sunk up to her cheekbones and poured in some more bubble bath. The foam was pink and so were her cheeks, and steam rose from the water in lazy curls on the motionless Tuesday morning. 

She drained the tub, which in turn put out the coals and stood, carefully drying herself with her clean towel. She had done laundry the day before and had hung it on the line to use for this specific moment. She slung it over her back to dry her shoulders, but it slipped out of her hands and landed behind her in the mud that the wet coals had become.

"F**K" she screamed as the sun rose above the adjacent buildings. Luckily, she had been pretty much dry already. She had just wanted to relish the clean towel a little longer.

Instead, she stepped lightly over the tiles she ahd laid where the broken glass had been before and walked to her vanity. A month's work stood before her. A battery array attached to a commercial blowdryer and straightener were her weapons of choice this morning. She dried her hair and then straightened it after slipping into a lovely-white pair of panties and a bra. The sun made her deep tan glow orange as she put on eyeliner and eyeshadow.

Madeline blushed her cheeks after applying a base that really matched her skin. She had killed to get that base and eyeliner. She had turned that department store into a meatlocker and hadn't thought twice. She didn't think of the stacked bodies as she applied it, though. She thought of little sis. She had give her so many makeovers before all of this.

There was a sleek, black dress with plenty of slink waiting for her on a wooden hanger that dangled all by it's lonesome from a rolling clothes rack. She slipped gracefully into it and then slipped into a pair of pumps and stepped over what looked like an old oil spill to where she had set up her full-length mirror.

Madeline admired herself for just a moment before digging the disposable camera out of her backpack. She clicked a few quick pictures using the timer and then put it away to do some more self-admiration.

She had never looked like this back when it counted. She had always been that chunky girl whose friends always got the guys while she got left behind with the dregs. She got free drinks by proxy, never on purpose.

If only she had been forced to strap on combat boots and lace up some fatigues sooner, she might have garnered some attention. She sighed at her powerful thighs, her ruddy cheekbones and her tight, hard stomach and slipped back out of the dress.

She tossed the dress into a pile of old tires that someone at some point ahd tried to make a bunker out of. The pumps came off and she threw them as hard as she could through the window of the gas station whose parkinglot she was using as her spa. The pane of glass shattered satisfyingly.

The combat boots and shielded helmet went back on. The kevlar vest hid her breasts and she looked in the mirror again and sighed. She looked like a man now. She snapped another picture with her disposable camera and smiled.

She could still see her lips. 

Madeline went to her vanity again and put on some bright red lipstick. She smacked her lips to even it out and heard someone trip over a lead pipe around the corner. The m***********s wanted another shot at her.

She slung the strap of her MP5 over her shoulder and quietly ran behind the tires she had flung the dress into.

A lone bandit came around the corner. He must have seen her before and was sneaking up. He was being quite weary and squatted low near the remains of an old gas pump. She chose to bide her time, a bright red smile creeping across her lips.

The bandit stood and so did she. The last thing he noticed before being riddled with holes was her flawless selection of red.

Author's Note

I was having fun with this one, but seriously, tear it apart.