Dark Legends - Part 9: Head Problems

Jane yawned, as she rested, sprawled out on a rooftop. She loved being up so high, able to look down on everyone. She wasn't on edge tonight, but she was already anticipating her next victim. She needed to be in anticipation. Her head was driving her crazy. There was too much going on. That girl... Clockwork... she really needed to die. No one bugged her as much as this stupid clock girl did.

She could wait though. She had to take care of Jeff. That bastard. The one she used to idol. Her hero turned nemesis. He probably didn't remember her, but she sure as hell remembered him. How could she forget him? He created her, after all. All she wanted was to be like him. She didn't ask for the pain... the fire... the torment... but that's what he gave her.

She shook her head quickly. She couldn't let that get to her. She just needed to find him, and end him. That's all she had to do. Then she could live in peace. Or who knows, maybe she would feel accomplished and simply end herself. That could be fun.

She wasn't sure what kind of person she was in the mood for tonight. Generally it was the twelve year old's she liked. That perfect age where they just had only begun to start defining the difference between fiction and reality. It was fun watching the fear and confusion on their faces.

She leaned forward on her hands and knees to peer over the roof, watching the street for activity. Maybe she'd be the vigilante tonight, and kill some rapist. Unfortunately, the streets were pretty empty tonight. She really hated Arcadia. This dumb city was so empty. Everyone and everything was boring.

Except for those woods on the other side of town.

She hated the woods. Never understood why, she just did. Anytime she got close to the fence on it's border, chills ran down her spine. Maybe it was a stupid fear, but hey, nobody was in the woods for her to kill, so it didn't bug her too much.

Laying back down, she rested her arms behind her head. Perhaps she would just sleep here. She shut her eyes, and smiled as the darkness of sleep took over.

Dark Legends - Part 8: Can it Wait??

He crouched behind one of the Warehouse crates, peeking around the side. There were five of them, two of them holding AK-47s. Great... he thought, this should be fun... he moved closer, hiding behind a different crate. Clicking a button in his left ear, he whispered, "Five bogies. Two armed. Engaging."

"Copy that, agent. Proceed." A female voice on the other end said.

Positioned behind them, he slowly stood halfway up, walking forward. Pulling out his pistol, he turned off the safety. He was now three yards behind them.

BZZT! His phone went off.

Shit.

One of the armed guards turned just in time to get a face full of bullet. The other one, now alerted, turned quickly and started firing. The agent dove behind a crate, bullets flying around him.

BZZT! 

The agent pressed a button in his right ear. "Kinda busy at the moment, Lana. Can it wait?" Wood chips flew, as bullets hit the top of his hiding spot.

"Hey Uncle G! I was just wondering what you knew about urban legends. It can wait I suppose, but it's super important you get back to me like, ASAP."

G barrel rolled to another crate, peering over it with his pistol, firing a few rounds. Urban legends? Why was her niece asking about that? He popped over the top again, firing at one of the un-armed, who was taking this chance to flee, while the other two dropped to the ground. He fell. "Wait, why do you care so much about urban legends?"

"Oh... well... cause... maybe there's one unfolding in the woods next to me... possibly..."

The gunman ran over to G's hiding place, pointing the gun at him. He barely had time to blink before he fell dead. G jumped over the crate, pulling one of the other men up, and whipping cuffs on him, The other one tried to run, but G simply dove on to him, slapping cuffs on him as well, and throwing him next to the other guy. He clicked the button in his left ear." Threat neutralized, Professor Ardmore in custody."

"...Oh. On the job?" Lana asked.

"Yeah but you're fine."

"You're not so bad yourself, Kornelson." A voice from his left ear said.

Kornelson blushed. "Heh... Gregory out..." he clicked his left ear.

"You sound nervous." Lana said, mischievously.

"Don't worry about it. Now then, what's this about urban legends."

"Well, I was out in the woods at my house last night, right? You know, MY house... and... I dunno. Something weird happened, and i like, froze up,and there was this tall dude... I don't know if it was all in my head or not but he was like, whispering... but in my head, right? And like, it said shit like 'I'm the shadows, I'm the darkness, I'm the nightmare, I'm Slenderman'. Creepy as eff. I did some research today on it annnnnnd like... it's an actual thing, cept it's not. You know, since it's classified as an urban legend."

"..."

"G?"

"Why don't I come over? Come visit with ya, we could spend a night at your house?"

"OMG I would LOVE that!"

"Sweet. I'll call your mother and prolly be over tonight."

"Oh shit, okay! Cya soon!" She hung up.

Gregory sat on a small crate. This sounded all too familiar to him. The Slenderman?

Would he be facing him again?

Dark Legends - Part 7: A Real Challenge

Something came over Jeff. He mind went completely blank. No thoughts, no emotions... except for one thing:

Blood.

Jeff quickly leaped and grabbed the knife from Kieth, thrusting it into the back of Randy's shoulder. Randy shrieked, falling to his knees. Jeff dropped the knife and crashed his foot onto Randy's wrist. A loud crunch erupted, and Randy screamed.

"Whoa..." Liu said, stunned by what his brother had just done. He was shocked, but grateful to have a brother like Jeff to look out for him. Then he saw the buss. He tugged at his brother. "Jeff... we should get outa here..."

Jeff shook his head, and entered reality. He looked up to see the bus. "Shit." He grabbed Liu's arm and they ran off.

The next day, Jeff and Liu were chilling at home, when a knock sounded at the door. Then came their mother's voice. "Jeff!" she called.

Jeff ran down the stairs to see an officer standing in the doorway.

"Son..." the officer said. "I need you to answer me honestly. We got a report of a couple kids stabbing and beating up some kids on this street. The victim gave us YOUR name. Is this true?"

Jeff's head fell. "You gotta be kidding me..." he looked back up at the officer. "Yeah... I'm the one who-"

"Jeff!"

Jeff looked up the stairs to see his brother. "Liu? What...?"

Liu came down the stairs, clicking his tongue. "Jeff..." he shook his head. "My big bro. Always gotta be the hero." he faced the officer. "It was me, Officer. I'm the one who beat up those kids. I stabbed Randy."

Jeff's eyes widened. "Liu... what are you... Liu!?"

The officer cuffed Liu.

"NO!" Jeff yelled. "It was me! I beat up those kids! Officer, please, it was me!"

Liu chuckled. "Bro... you can't cover for me all the time, man." He gave Jeff a knowing look.

Jeff saw it, but he didn't care. He couldn't have his brother to to Juvenile. "Liu! Tell him it was me, Liu! Tell him! Liu!!" he tried to follow the officer outside, but he tripped on doorway. He fell on his hands, and looked up, tears flooding his eyes. "LIU!!!" He let his head drop. His voice lowered to a whisper, his throat hurting to much to yell. "It... was... me..."

Jeff woke up yelling. Standing up he flipped the nightstand next to him in rage. Grabbing the lamp that fell, he threw it across the room. It crashed into the china on a shelf, scattering pieces of it everywhere. Jeff took a few deep breaths, then looked over at the bodies in the corner. He needed a place to stay for the night and... well... they were kinda in the house he liked.

He sat up against the pile of bodies. Who was coming to town? Who was so important, that one of Slendy's personal henchman was asking for help? Maybe he should just focus on one thing at a time... like getting rid of these damn dreams...

A cellphone beeped. Jeff turned towards it, realizing that it was coming from one of the bodies. He dug until he found the source of the beep. He liked being snoopy, so whenever he was bored he would go through peoples phones. Opening the phone, he viewed the screen to find out why it had beeped. As he suspected, it was a text message. He opened it.

Hello Jeff.

Jeff dropped the phone as he read the first line of text. Then, after picking it back up, he read the rest of the text. It contained the name of who he needed to 'take care of' for Ticci Toby. He dropped the phone and got on a laptop, typing in the name. ...oh... well shit. He knew what he was dealing with now. He smiled.

This was going to be a real challenge... one that he looked forward to.

Playing With Death - Part 21: The R.Y.S.

Jeremiah led Cody, Trevor, and Jordan through the woods. They had already been travelling for a good solid hour. Eventually, they came to a small clearing, where Jeremiah had set up a small camp. He gathered a few water bottles and his backpack. "So," he said, as they continued on, "it's called the R.Y.S. which stands for Refuge for Young Survivors. The whole place is locked up like a space shuttle. Filtered air is the only thing that's breathed in. It allows for the children to go about life, and never get infected. Like I said, we're hoping that pure, uninfected blood, can help us find a cure. An immunity if you will, to the virus."

Jordan. "That makes sense,"

"As long as it's all what you say it is..." Trevor added.

"You will see soon enough, that I'm telling the truth. It's just over the next hill."

As they reached the top of the hill, Cody recognized where he was... he had been here before, and named the area 'Lightening Fork Path', because the trail forked and wound around large transformers. But now, in place of some of those towers, was a large, simply squared, building. No windows, no holes, nothing. Only large, blue letters, spray painted on the side, saying 'R.Y.S.' "It doesn't look like much," Jeremiah said. "But looks weren't really what they were going for."

They made their way down the hill and approached the refuge. A large, metal door was visible on the opposite end. Jeremiah banged on it. A small slit in the door slid open, revealing a set of eyes behind glass. It opened, and a tall, lean man greeted them with an AK-47. "Jerry, who are they?" he said.

Jeremiah gestured to Cody and the rest. "It's cool, Terry, they just wanted to make sure I was telling the truth about this place. They have kids."

Terry nodded. "Okay, this way." He led them down a long hallway, and into what looked like some form of a control room. The wall directly to the right upon entering the room was made of thick glass.

"As you can see," Jeremiah said, gesturing to the glass wall, "the children are watched and observed by men and women in hazmat suits, so as to not potentially spread disease. We also have people teaching basic education. This is to ensure that the children are educated and well underway for when and if this whole mess of un-dead freaks ends."

Cody peered through the glass. On the other side was a room with about 25 children, all of which were scattered about the floor, playing with toys, reading books, or just laying down. "And they're fine? Like, they don't mind being caged up?"

"Well..." Terry said slowly, "I mean, they don't really wanna go outside where all the walkers are..."

Trevor nodded. "Fair point."

Jordan spoke up. "How does the process of getting their blood work?"

Jeremiah waved his hand toward the door on the opposite end of the room. "Follow me." The group complied, and they continued to follow him through more doors and hallways, till they came to a solid, metal door. "Behind this door is where it happens. We sit them down, take some blood, and send the kid right back to his quarters." He grabbed two hazmat suits. "Here," he said, giving one to Cody. "The doctor is about to do one right now actually."

Cody put the suit on, and Jeremiah opened the door. As soon as the door closed behind them, steam filled the room.

"That's the air being purified." Jeremiah explained.

Inside the room, the doctor, also in a hazmat suit, was sterilizing the syringe and making sure everything was ready. He then walked to a different door, which opened up to the sleeping quarters. "Hey, Jackson, it's time to take some blood."

"Whaaaaat?" the child whined. "I thought Kayli was going next..."

"Come on."

Jackson sighed and entered the room. The doctor stepped him through what was going to happen, and went through the whole process of sticking the I.V. in the child's arm. After they finished, Jackson was ordered to have bed rest for the next hour or so. Jackson slowly complied.

After exiting the medical room, Cody nodded to Trevor and Jordan. "Everything looks really good. Kid's got a good attitude about all this, and the process of blood taking is professional and safe."

A few minutes later, they all were standing right outside the building.

"So." Trevor piped. "What do you think Cody?"

Cody bit his bottom lip. He glanced at Jeremiah, then at the R.Y.S. then back to Trev. "I think..." Cody stopped, and gave a long sigh. "I think I should do it."

Jordan nodded. "Alright then. Let'd go grab the kiddos."

Jeremiah put a hand on Cody's shoulder. "Trust me, they'll be in good hands till this is all over."

Cody nodded, and thought to himself. You had better be right, Jeremiah. You had better be right.

Lion Heart Part 1 - Hunting

Eowin tore through the underbrush, sweat and tears streaming down her face. She wished she could take it back, take it all back. She cringed as her sweat made contact with the cuts on her legs made by the sharp vines that covered the forest floor. Gigori was twenty paces ahead of her, and Steven just to her right. She could only assume Malcar was following close behind. She saw Gigori stop and lean against a tree, out of breath. He slid to the ground as Eowin and the others came to a stop and rested beside him. They had been running for at least twenty minutes, so Gigori assumed they were safe for the time being. As Eowin caught her breath, the depth of their situation set in and she was met with tears once more. Steven placed his arm around her shoulders, and looked towards Gigori. 


Malcar broke his gaze from the ground which he was staring at and asked to no one in particular, "What do we do now?"
"I don't know," Gigori replied, "But we can never go back."



                                                                               * * *

He was close enough to hear the breathing of the animal. As quietly as possible, Gerald placed his arrow on the string of his bow and drew it back. The buck raised it's head, and scanned the forest. As the buck looked in his direction, the arrow was let loose and pierced the animal through it's eye. A smile of amusement crept across Gerald's face as the buck instantly collapsed. That's at least 100 pounds, he thought. He left his position behind the bushes, strapped his bow onto his back, and started dragging the animal to the trail.

Gerald exited the tree line, and arrived on a relatively old looking property. The windows were covered with wood and the roof looked rebuilt in many areas. It was one of the few buildings to remain intact through
the bombings. Malcar, Eowin, Steven, Gigori and him had found this place some years ago, and eventually came up with an efficient way of living. Gerald put the deer in the shed and headed to the house. Malcar was sitting out front making more arrows. He was well built and had thick, black hair, and looked up in expectation as Gerald neared.

"Anything good?" Malcar inquired.

"A buck, at least a hundred pounds," Gerald replied.

"Nice. By the way, Gigori and Steven are in town trying to sell your last catch, maybe you can take that to the market tomorrow."

"Sounds good," Gerald said as he entered the house. He hung his bow and quiver on a rack that stood by the door. The kitchen was to his left, and living quarters at his right. Eowin was rinsing dishes in the kitchen while humming some old tune. She was eighteen, and had brown curly hair that fell to the middle of her back. She glanced up at him and smiled before presuming her work. "I shot a nice one,"  Gerald told her. "I was thinking you could come to town with me tomorrow to sell it."

"Sure," she said. "And I made biscuits earlier if your hungry." Gerald followed his nose to the plate of biscuits, then grabbed two.

"Your the best." He said as he walked to his room.

Dark Legends - Part 6: Slender

It was Saturday, and Lana was chilling at her desk in her room, her desktop fired up. She was doing research, but it wasn't for school.

She was still bugged from Thursday night, and she just had to get to the bottom of whoever, or whatever, that was in the woods, this... Slenderman...

She was surprised she had never heard of Slenderman... the whole internet seemed crazy about him/it. She spent two hours reading and watching anything and everything, trying to learn all she could. He was an urban legend, started on a forum called Something Awful in 2009, and grew quickly from there. There were many theory's on how and why he existed. Some references said someone made an exact replica, and then took a picture or filmed that replica, forcing Slenderman into existence. Another theory said he was from a whole other dimension. No one seemed to be 100% sure of how he came about.

It was unclear as well exactly what he did with the people he stalked (stalking includes standing and staring from a distance, dreams or visions, or staticy sounds and videos.) Some say he stabs his victims, take out their organs and impaling the person on a tree. Others say he sends his 'Proxy's' to do the dirty work. Others say he simply freaks the hell out of people, and nothing more.

Lana continued looking through search results, until she stumbled upon a news article. On May 31st, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, there were reports of a stabbing in the woods, involving three 12-year-old girls. The three of them were classmates, and had a sleepover together. Two of them had brought the the other out to the woods, and stabbed her with a long kitchen knife 19 times in the legs, arms, and abdomen. The victim then dragged herself out of the woods, and made it to the side of the road, where a cyclist found her and called 911. She was rushed to the hospital, where they performed surgery on her for six hours. The attackers had barely missed her heart, but had stabbed two major arteries. She barely made it, and is now going about life normally.

The two attackers claimed that they had good reason to try and kill their friend. They were scared Slenderman would hurt them and their families. In order to prove themselves, and hopefully become Slenderman's 'Proxy's', they had to kill someone as a sacrifice to him.

Well then... that's intense... Lana thought. She sat back and thought for a moment. She spun in her chair to face her window, which faced the woods. She didn't see anything, which comforted her. She spun back towards her desktop, and started playing with her brown hair, draped over her shoulder. Obviously, there was a Slenderman. She glanced down at her cellphone, sitting on the desk. She quickly grabbed it and punched in some numbers. She had no idea what to do with any of this new information.

But she knew someone who might.