New Explosions and Old Friends

So I was driving a black van that I’d never been inside and was racing away from the roaring fire that Ethan had been forced to start in order to remain in the land of the breathing.

Cops and sirens seemed to be appearing from everywhere and is was all I could do to stay a block ahead of them. Left, left, right, left. The back streets of Cortez were quickly becoming a maze, but the sirens were falling into the back ground. Perhaps we were going to make it through-

“Jack,” Ellis called out. My recently acquired friend had finished binding the unconscious Darcarre and was working to insure that Ethan didn’t bleed to death in the back of the van. “We have another van following us. It looks like the one we are in!”

“Damn it! More Darcarre,” escaped from my lips, which was followed by curses that I won’t bother to repeat here. Those curses redoubled in ferocity when our van engine suddenly died. “They must have a Gloom in there! Crap.”

The sounds of cackling reached our ears as the van started to slow. Panic was written all over Kimberly’s face and her words erupted quickly. “Jack, what’re we going to do? We can’t fight all these people and Ethan is too injured to move. And there is no way we can take our hostage now. And we will-”

There was a titanic crash behind us and suddenly our engine’s power returned. Even though we could move again, I slammed on the breaks. “What the hell just happened?”

“A big tow truck just smashed into them. Someone is getting out. It looks like a chick with long blonde hair.”

Hannah!

And it was. I remained frozen in shock as she paused only long enough to toss some dynamite into the ruined van, before jogging up to us.

“We have to go,” she said, “that bundle has a short fuse.”

With one arm, I hauled her slim form into the van and we made it eighty feet before Cortez was rocked with a second explosion.

Smoke spiraled into the sky behind us, as I turned towards Hannah. “What is going on? How did you escape?”

“Who said I escaped.”

“What, then how-”

“We’ll take care of that later. For now I suggest you drive.” I was so confused, but then she flashed her smile that I had grown to love. “I hear Durango is nice this time of year.”

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Flames, Blades, and Blood

I healed myself without thinking, using the majority of my refueled Ki. Two Darcarre came racing into the room before Ellis was even able to push the half naked Kimberly back into the bathroom. Ethan tried to scramble out of his bed, but only succeeded in becoming tangled in the blankets and falling to the floor.

“Whelp of Yig!” one cried. “You think the Darcarre can’t track you?” The talker was rushing me and besides his two foot machete, the rest of him was covered in a flowing black robe. The second hacked down at the entangled Ethan and my ally screamed as an arc of crimson sprayed the bed.

“Take them alive!” I bellowed.

“Take us alive, you are bigger fool that I expected. I-”

His statement was cut short when I rammed him with the hotel table. The Darcarre made to slice at me, but I was using the table as a shield and the blade only splintered its edge. Next the Darcarre was smashed between the table and the wall with a snapping of ribs. When the Xemmoni crashed to the floor, I kicked him in the jaw.

“Oh damn, that hurts without my boots on.”

“Jack help!” Ethan was crying. I watched helplessly as the freak hacked Ethan again and the Stalwart panicked. That was when the Darcarre as well as half the room became engulfed in flame.

“Oh Crap” I cursed and then heaved the table at the pillar of flame that the Darcarre had become. He tumbled over with a howl.

“You dare to turn your back on me,” the other Darcarre hissed. “We are the masters of healing and will-” For the second time his diatribe was disrupted by furniture, when Ellis shattered a chair against the back of his head. Meanwhile, Ethan had snatched up the flaming Darcarre’s fallen machete and was hacking his burning body to pieces with it.

“I guess will be questioning this one,” I said, as flame and smoke assaulted me.

“This is bad Jack,” Ellis said, looking through the window. “They stole our car.”

“Then hopefully this was the guy with the keys.” The Darcarre was starting to heal himself, so I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and his belt and then rammed his forehead into the doorframe. The was a loud crack and the man went limp. “Ellis, get your girl and as many weapons as you can. Ethan are you with us?”

“I can walk, but I’m hurting real bad.”

“Then make for that black van. Psss and they call us predictable.” I was the first to get to the van I flung open the sidedoor and tossed the Darcarre inside. Ethan was wearing only a pair of jeans and his upper body was covered in blood. “Get in and here,” I tore the robe off the unconscious Darcarre. “Use this to bind those damn wounds.”

Kimberly was already climbing into the front seat by the time I found the keys. Thank Yig for small blessings. Ellis jumped into the back with an armful of gear. Just as the first sirens were nearing.

“Cities suck,” I grumbled and then started the van.

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New Beginning, Same Story

The cold surrounded me as I slowly sunk into the Deloris River. Even its frigid depths couldn’t insure my consciousness and the current pulled me down.

Darkness, it claimed me.

I had a vague feeling. A vision perhaps.

Movement. Embracing a light. Was this it? Had I joined Yig?

I jerked upright–it felt like my body tore in half. Falling back with a gasp of pain, I struggled just to breath. Everything hurt. “I guess I’m not dead then.”

I managed to look around. It looked like I was A: In a hotel room. B: Alone. The sheets felt clean, other than the blood stains. Threads of agony moved through my arm, but I was able to lift an ashtray. Tomahawk Motel. “Okay.”

Looking around, I saw a few weapons leaning against the wall, which included my monster axe. Part of me figured this was a good sign, but another part of me wanted to drag my sorry ass over to the pile. Then I heard Ethan snoring. Oh man, gross, he was laying right beside me.

If anything he looked worse than I felt. I spotted a second bed. It looked like it had been slept in. “What the…”

Then Kimberly walked out of the bathroom. She wasn’t wearing very much.

“Holy shit, Kim!”

Maybe I should break this down. Not all of you have heard, but I meet Ellis and Kimberly on an ill fated evening in Western Texas. We fought more than our share of the Xemmoni race know as the Rezanni. These things were like Lovecraft’s Deep Ones on crack and they had… well, I might tell you the whole story sometime.

“Jack, are you alright?” She said, while lifting the towel she had wrapped around her tight body a little higher.

“Why are you here? Is Ellis here too?” He was going to ask more questions, but she held up her hand.

“Of course Ellis is here. We saved you.” She smiled and Jack was happy to at least have a few friends in this world. “And we found you because of the posts, silly. I mean your posting the damn things every week, scaring the hell out of me most of the time. But this last battle with The Creeper… We weren’t sure you were going to make it. Ellis said we had to come here.”

She moved closer. “But I wanted to come, Jack. We are so worried about you. Do you ever stop?”

Just then Ellis walked in carrying a few bags of food. “Buddy,” he yelled and rushed forward. The food was left on the other bed and he quickly shook my hand. A broad smile covered his face when he said. “I’m so glad to see you made it okay. You are okay, right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think you had better fill me in on what happened.”

The Ellis rubbed his goatee for a moment and then opened a beer before sitting on his bed. “Not much to tell. After we got here, and I saw what you were facing. I just said screw it and rammed that Xemmoni full speed. Lost my car. We’re driving yours by way. Ethan here, yeah he woke up once, is pretty bad off too. We brought you back to Cortez. We didn’t know what to do.”

Kimberly elbowed her husband. “Oh yeah, it was Kimberly that pulled you out of the river.” She was beaming.

“Could you guys keep it down. And why am I stuck sharing a bed with this guy?” Ethan’s voice interrupted.

And that was when the door was kicked in!!!

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Jack Primus Versus The Creeper… The Conclusion!!!

With a ear scratching tear, the Creeper ripped out a section of the guard rail that had to have been forty feet long.  I looked down at my doubled sided axe. It had seemed so big before.

Ethan fired a giant jet of flame into The Creeper’s chest. He screamed as he jerked away and his 40 fifty foot arm started a small avalanche on the cliff face to the west. “I’m spent,” Ethan said, almost looking serious for once. “And my Loki’s Fast Feet are almost played out. If we are doing something, we need to do it now!”

That was when we saw some headlights coming up at us from the south.

The Creeper didn’t give a shit.

“PRIMUS, I’M DONE PLAYING WITH YOU. YOU SERPENTINE CURSE! I’LL EAT YOU SLOWLY AND THEN HAVE THE DARCARRE KEEP YOU ALIVE FOR WEEKS!”

While his voice created more rock slides, he was making a weird spidery dance with his fingers. A moment later, the air exploded with a Cell Disrupting blast. The molecules of air melted in it path. It quickly became a churning cone of burning death, which was hurled at Ethan.

My ally screamed and cursed as his flesh began to peel and bubble away. Soon his wailing was overpowering, I feared for his life. Seconds later, he stumbled back falling into a fit of jerking screams.

Whatever battle I was to face would be without his aid.

Screw it. I was going in.  Getting a better grip on my battle axe, I rushed at the foul Caradon. I watched as the jagged tangle of guard rail slammed toward me. I put everything I had into a leap to the west. Chunks of asphalt arced from the blow, but I was able to escape the massive weapon.

One more lunge forward and I was in range. I never heard a scream louder than when I severed The Creeper’s left hand at the wrist. Blood bathed me like a fire hose. Flailing arms, the size of tree trunks battered me off my feet. I landed hard, but still had a hold on the oversized battle axe.

The Creeper was still in a manic thrashing rage and I when in. He bellowed again when my axe took a chunk out of his chest.

But then he stopped. The screaming stopped, and as I pulled my axe back to strike again, The Creeper drew himself up to his full height and looked down at me with his glowing red eyes. “I’ll live to regenerate all these wounds, “ he said in a harsh whisper, “BUT YOU WON’T!”

He emphasized his last words with a massive kick that sent the air. Under my broken ribs air gushing from my lungs, while my body went swirling. The world circled me. Grey, green, gray, green, then suddenly black as my broken body crashed against the rocky cliff.

Angry red spots appeared before my eyes. I had heard a loud crack, but couldn’t even be sure which part of me was worse off. My whole body felt like a garbage bag full of hamburger.

And then The Creeper came at me.

He wasn’t looking to good either, but still good enough to finish me off. My face was battered and swollen and I could only see through one eye.  I searched for my axe, but I don’t think I was going to find it in time. I grabbed a hunting knife out of my jacket, but it tumbled from my fingers before I could close my fist and clattered onto the pavement with a metal clang.

The Creeper was before me and reached down with a grin, so twisted that would have killed babies. His arm was outstretched and he almost had me when an SUV hit its lower forearm going at least sixty. The resulting snap was so loud, it left my ears ringing.

I saw the car for a moment before it began rolling wildly and I thought I recognized it, but right then I had other worries. The giant Caradon was now on his knees and I rushed forward. While The Creeper wailed like his soul was already being eaten in Hell, I spied my fallen axe. I picked it up just long enough to heave it at the bastard’s face. The meaty thunk I heard was most satisfying.

Then while The Creeper was still distracted. I leapt up grabbing his broken arm. His cries increased in volume, but were ignored, while I began to thrust the splintered end of the monster’s forearm towards his face. Creeper screamed out as the jagged end cut into his neck, but I just kept pushing and pushing until it burst through the far side with a spray of congealed blood.

The Creeper began to go into his death thrashes. When this happened, I was once again flung madly. This time I hit the water. The cold river jarred me awake, but then I began to lose my battle with consciousness. As I sunk slowly into the deep river, I only hoped that my death hadn’t been in vain and I had at least been able to take The Creeper with me. And that was my last thought as the cold wet darkness claimed me.

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