**Prologue for Markie - The Tale of a Shield Maiden Sister**

...by cryp2nz (aided and abetted by PanddingtonRed and LilOldHead)

Markie’s parents were both from Las Vegas, Nevada.  Markie’s dad, Art, held down a Property Master job at one of the extravagant medieval shows where he was responsible for upkeep on weaponry props used during performances.  It was a modest job, lots of fun, shitty pay.  Literally, he was paid to clean up horse shit and wipe down the swords after the show.  Her mom, Virginia, cleaned hotel rooms for a living and was a cigarette waitress by night.  Less glamorous than the proverbial bar wench, she would carry around a tray of Marlboro’s and Swisher Sweet cigars to sell to patrons.  They lived in a one bedroom studio apartment above Fremont Street.  Living paycheck to paycheck, every dime over rent was inevitably gambled away at the slots and blackjack tables - always one spin away from a life changing jackpot.  They bet over their heads on several occasions, leading to multiple home evictions and run-ins with nefarious degenerates.  

Markie was born preterm, or a premie, and had spent the first few months fighting for her life in the hospital.  Without the large hospital bills footed by her uncle, Bob, Markie likely wouldn’t have survived.  But she was a fighter.  And four months later, finally untangled from all the cords and monitors, her parents were able to finally bring her home.  There was a distinctive sparkle in Markie's eyes present from day one, even in her tiniest of forms.  Even the hospital staff had noticed by the note they sent home with her along with an assortment of stuffed animals.

The closest family member was Uncle Bob who lived about a hundred miles away.  He had been trying to convince his sister to get out of Vegas for years, pressuring her even more once the pregnancy was divulged.   He wanted them to move near him in a town called Rachel.  Bob had a place for them to stay to get away from the Vegas scene.  

Art and Ginny knew nothing about Rachel, they had only recently seen the name on the swath of business cards that permeated the downtown streets.  They weren’t sure if that was the name of a person though or something else.  Even after Markie came along, they were still too consumed with gambling to realize that Vegas probably wasn’t the best place to raise a child.  

Now Markie’s childhood was by no means normal, strapped on her mother’s back most of the day, and constantly moving from one motel-style apartment home to the next.  She developed a certain fascination with the mini-bars in the hotel rooms while her mother cleaned.  The mini-bars were full of bright colored objects with shiny wrappers that fascinated her - candy.  Once she started walking, her mom would let her remove and play with them, so long as she put them back before they left.  A single item in the mini-bar cost as much as Ginny would get paid to clean a single room.

In the evenings, Ginny and Markie would take the tram back to their home-du-jour, where life got really complicated for Markie at a young age.   Her Dad would rarely be home and would roll in at all hours of the evening, usually just before Ginny headed out to her 2nd shift.  Certain nights when the two of them were alone, he would suddenly whisk her away and tuck her on the floor inside the hall closet and tell her to be very quiet.  Soon after, she’d hear strangers enter the house and a lot of shouting, usually ending with a few thumps and a door slam.  Turns out these were mostly visits from the local loan sharks coming to collect debts owed by Art.  In fact, it was one of these very occasions that led the family to leave Vegas - for good.  

On that particular night, Ginny had been working as usual.  Back at home, Markie was fast asleep on one end of the sofa with her Dad at the other watching TV and drinking a bottle of wine.  Markie was quickly snatched by her Dad and, instead of being stuffed in the closet this time, they headed out the back door and down the emergency escape with her Dad carrying two large duffle bags on his other arm.  Tossing the bags into the trunk, they hurried into the cab with her Mom inside and sped off.  

Peering out the back window at the large ferris wheel rotating against the backdrop of the city skyline, little did Markie know, but this would be her last time in Vegas (or at least for a very long time).

**Rachel, Nevada** 	*37.6447° N, 115.7428° W*

The town Markie ultimately grew up in was quiet with a population of less than a thousand, Rachel began a transformation in the late 50s, not long after the US government bought up a big tract of land engulfing a large lake outside town.  Groom Lake had been a popular weekend retreat in the area for as long as anyone could remember.  Once the government moved in, the entire area was sealed off and its perimeter patrolled 24/7, just in case anyone had ideas about a late night skinny dip.  The town used to be filled with mostly good people and consisted of a main street with a few shops and a local watering hole where the locals gathered to mingle and sip their favorite beverages.

At first, changes to the town were gradual - a few new faces, a couple enlisted types having lunch at the diner, an occasional jet fly-by.  As the weeks passed and word of this new secret government land purchase got around, that started to change.  Once the site was officially given a name, “Area 51”, it only added to the mysteriousness.  No one really knew its origin and the government provided no clear explanation being it was classified Top Secret.  

So….speculation ensued - wild speculation ... and conspiracies - lots of ‘em.  Nothing was off limits, you had some claiming 51 was being used to build a secret society, others saying Noah’s ark had been found and raised from the bottom of the lake, and finally, the largest group of theorists were firm believers that some sort of alien life had been discovered.  Of course, all the locals had their own theories.  On any given night at the main street bar, you could get an earful of colorful opinions from just about any of them.  The Rabbit’s Foot, or as the locals called it, The Foot, was where a lot of the suspicion and conspiracy theories about 51 were born.   And it wasn’t just the locals, people came from all over the country.  Campers would line the roadsides along Highway 375 entering and leaving town.  The town had transformed into some kind of UFO hotbed filled with degenerates and wild conspiracy advocates from all walks of life.

**Bob’s Place and Ginny’s Troubled Past**

“Art, you and Ginny look terrible.  What the hell is going on?”  Said her brother after being awakened by the sounds of screeching car tires and a loud banging on his front door.

“Bob, we’re in trouble.  Is that place you’ve been talking about still around?”  Ginny sobbed, clutching the bump that was protruding from her midriff.  Then before Bob could answer, she fell into a hysterical fit seemingly trying to describe what had happened.

“Ginny, Ginny,....Ginny”, Bob interrupted.  “Just get some rest right now, it's very late.  We’ll talk in the morning.  Come inside.”   

Bob grabbed a couple air mattresses, blankets, pillows from the closet and settled them in for the night.  The frightful memory of the night played back through Ginny’s mind until she was finally able to settle down and go to sleep.

The next morning when Art and Ginny finally woke, they found Bob and Markie sitting and playing together in a big pile of what looked like candy wrappers.  Bob’s living room was full of boxes - filled with candy he used to stock his ice cream truck.  Markie was fascinated by the vast assortment of colors, shapes, and sizes her uncle had.  The mini-bar hadn’t contained any of these types!  

Markie had never actually eaten candy before.  She kept picking up all the different ones and asking, “What’s that one taste like Uncle Bob?” 

So Uncle Bob kept opening each of them up and handing them to Markie to try.

“Too Sweet!”   “Yummy!!!”   “Too Chewy!”   “Too Sour!”   “Even Yummier”   “So Crunchy”

With Markie content, the three of them went into the dining room where Ginny started explaining the night before.  She started by telling Bob how she had arrived back outside their Fremont apartment after work.  Before paying the cab driver, she noticed two strange men lurking outside their apartment door - and that usually it was only one.  Bob looked confused.  Art sat quietly, eyes looking at the table.  As Ginny continued about how the two of them had a signal in place in case things got out of hand, Bob looked even more puzzled and interjected, “Strange men outside, Usually one? A Signal?  What the hell is going on Ginny!?!”  Ginny stopped him and proceeded to dump the whole story about their troubled past: Gambling, Drinking, Loan Sharks, Art Not Working, Their Emergency Escape Plan, etc.  

As Ginny’s recount was coming to an end, Bob stood up, turned towards Art and yelled, “How dare you!”  He then connected his right fist with Art’s jaw.   Art staggered up off the floor and calmly stated, “I deserved that Bob.”  After a while, Bob settled down and began to get some breakfast started.

**Cooler Heads Prevail and the Family’s New Place**

With all of them sitting down at the table, Bob told them about a place he was fixing up over in Aurora Gardens.  Aurora Gardens was a trailer park on the outskirts of Rachel.  No longer the only one in town, Aurora was the original and Bob had bought a lot there years ago.  

“I had these old trucks that I no longer used,” Bob went on.  “and I decided to convert them into a makeshift double-wide trailer for some extra income after all these years”.  

“Ice cream trucks?” exclaimed an excited Markie.

“Ice cream trucks, Markie!”  Uncle Bob revealed with a smile.

“I was just getting ready to rent it out.  Ginny, your timing couldn’t have been better in light of your circumstances.”

Ginny, looking down at her belly, “Markie, I think you and your little sister are going to love it.”

“Mom…Mom….I’m going to be a big sister?!?,” Markie shrieked.

“You are sweetheart, you are,” replied her Mom. 

After breakfast, the family gathered their few belongings and set off for their new home.  Markie glanced over at Ginny as they were loading up the truck.  With a small nod of approval, Markie hopped up in her uncle’s truck riding shotgun over to Aurora as her parents followed behind.

The baby arrived not long after moving in - Starry, Markie’s little sister, was born.  Ginny had found a job stocking shelves at the local library and Art took on whatever odd jobs came along in town.  With the boom, work wasn’t hard to find.  Things seemed pretty normal for once, Markie had found a few neighborhood friends to pal around with and her parents had started to become involved in the community.  Money was still tight, but along with the free rent for a year Uncle Bob had given them, they got by.  Speaking of Uncle Bob, he would often drive over on Saturdays in his newest truck to visit the girls before he went off on his route.  Painted in flamboyant green and orange colors, Markie sat atop the sofa looking anxiously outside the trailer window.  She could always hear him before he arrived with that familiar music blaring out the loud speaker.  Once she heard the jingle, she would grab little Starry and prop her up so she could see too.

One Saturday morning as Uncle Bob was preparing to leave, he whispered something in Markie’s ear.  A huge grin from ear to ear fell across her face.  Uncle Bob had been speaking with Ginny about letting Markie ride along in the truck once.  Her Mom had finally agreed, so she got to ride along that next weekend.

A couple years went by, the girls were growing up.  Starry crawled, walked, and was now talking and in daycare during the week.  Markie was riding shotgun in Uncle Bob’s truck three days a week and becoming quite a candy connoisseur.  On the evening of October 1st, the sense of normalcy took a turn for the worse.  That day after school, Markie had placed the mail like she always did on the counter.  Grabbing it when he came home, her Dad leafed through it only to be stopped in his tracks when a mailer from one of the Las Vegas casinos was tucked in the middle.  

A special promotion was going on with free room and entry into their annual blackjack tournament that upcoming weekend.  First place, one million dollars and a vacation to Hawaii for up to four guests.  Art hadn’t relapsed since they left Vegas, but something about this mailer struck him.  The family sure could use a trip to Hawaii - they couldn’t afford one on their own.  Knowing full well that Ginny would never allow it, he crafted a story about an out-of-town job instead, meanwhile he would plan and drive down to Vegas that weekend and enter the tourney.

Art packed up and left for Vegas that weekend and when he came back from that “job”, he was never quite the same.  He had won a little bit of money in the tournament, but blew it all later with some of his old buddies.  His drinking problem that had vanished years ago along with the Vegas skyline was back - in fact, it was probably worse.  After the tourney, he completely stopped doing odd jobs entirely and instead, became a regular down at that Rachel watering hole, The Foot, along with all the crazies.  There were weekly meetings down there with various conspiracy groups and before long, Art belonged to all of them.

It wasn’t long after before Markie and Starry started being awakened regularly by the sounds of yelling and screaming a few nights a week.  Their Dad was still off in outer space, disappearing here and there for a few days at a time leaving them simply with a hug and no explanation.  Whenever he was home, he was either sleeping or tilting the bottle. 

One particular weekend stood out as Markie cleared 14 empty wine bottles of Chianti, Dad’s favorite, off the coffee table and tossed them into the trash.  Her Dad was super pissed about the extra shift her mom had picked up down at the local courier to try and help make ends meet.  Ginny couldn’t bear to tell her brother *AGAIN* about their marital and income problems, getting another job would help her keep it from him. 

*OMJ Couriers* had recently expanded their hours until midnight to accommodate all the new shops cropping up in town as well as Area 51 deliveries.  Ginny had learned of the new job directly from Old Man Jenkins himself one day at the library.  The hours weren’t great, but the job paid decently and came with a vehicle - something Ginny needed when Art was off doing Art things.

Poor Starry got even less attention than Markie did.  With their mom adding an extra shift, caring for her mostly fell on Markie’s lap.  Since they shared the same bed, they also shared the same pillows to cover their ears when mom and dad were having another shouting match.  

Growing up, Markie and Starry weren’t your stereotypical girls that played dress-up and played with Barbie dolls.  They liked boy things, including clothes, and were especially fond of swords and medieval things.  Markie had found an old sword tucked away in the crawl space of their new home years ago.  Inscribed down the side were the words, “Medieval Times”.  She had asked her father about it and he told her the story of his job back at the casino before she was born.   It was the only keepsake that left Vegas along with them.  

Science Fiction

"Discover the life of Markie, a young girl born in the bustling city of Las Vegas. Her parents, Art and Virginia, struggle to make ends meet and provide for their newborn while dealing with the challenges and temptations that the city has to offer. As Markie grows up among the bright lights and extravagant shows, her fascination with the hotels' mini-bars and candy develops. However, her childhood takes a darker turn as loan sharks come to call, forcing the family to confront their past and decide whether Las Vegas is the right place for their daughter to grow up. Dive into Markie's early days and witness the beginnings of a fighter who would become a shield maiden."

MARKIE: THE EARLY LIFE OF A SHIELD MAIDEN

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