The Ballad of BonadukeThe Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 27: Zero Rescue

by R.T. Slaywood

DETAILS:
Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #27
Format: Kindle Vella Story
Read Date: June 29, 2023

This is bad

This is really bad

…

I’m losing.

The Story So Far…

A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift (with maybe some sort of magic/magic-like “help”) to win on a scratch-off lottery ticket so he has money to buy more to drink. He pulls off whatever he did, gets his money and some booze and stumbles off into the darkness to drink himself into oblivion so he can start again the next day. He’s hit by dark memories (probably what’s driving him to the drinking) of fire, pleading, and screaming. There’s going to be a price to pay for his grift, and he’s trying to be ready.

Before then, he gets himself drunk and we get some of his tragic backstory. As he ponders this, he decides to use some of his ill-gotten-gains to buy more booze and walks into a liquor store robbery. He foils it in some sort of magical fashion, gets some more to drink, and heads off to the park to drink until he’s arrested (probably for the failed robbery). At least that’s his plan, but it gets interrupted by being hit by a car. He wakes up on some sort of short, metal bed and is unsure what’s going on. It turns out that some group is subjecting him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too). He passes—and is brought somewhere for answers, or maybe training, or maybe another test. Time will tell (or things are going to get really annoying). Answers aren’t quick to come—but the mysteries and questions keep piling up.

Things get hairy and Bonaduke leaves and finds himself back in the neighborhood he started from. Taking refuge in a homeless encampment, Bonaduke has to make some decisions. He starts to get his thoughts in order when the police begin a raid at the camp. During the raid, he’s apprehended by…well, we need to find out. But first, the interrogation kicks off—Bonaduke tries to work his grift to get him out, and while that effort starts off promisingly…it didn’t quite go the way he’d intended. He finds himself by a group of squatters who seem to have strapped a woman to a chair for reasons that can’t be good. He attempts to rescue her before he even realizes what he’s doing, and…

[I really need to tighten that up, hopefully I have time for that next week]

What’s Zero Rescue About?

That title doesn’t fill you with a bunch of hope for what’s about to happen, does it?

We left Bonaduke in a pretty precarious situation. And it gets worse this episode starts.

And then…well, I’m not precisely sure what happens (yet?), but it’s big.

I know I’m being vague, but it’ll be an episode or two before we get a real idea what happened.

So, what did I think about Zero Rescue?

I hate to complain about typos (really)–but there’s one in the final line that took away some of the impact, which is a crying shame, because it was a good one.

I think I liked the episode, but I’m a little afraid that Slaywood might be getting vague and indefinite (maybe even muddled) rather than mysterious and enigmatic. But in time, I trust we’ll get some resolution.

I don’t really have much to say about this episode–I like the directionit’ headed, but I’m going to need to see more before I have much more to say.

3 Stars