I can feel the creatures creeping in, It's eeen so long since we've met, But they're like old friends. Oh god, it feels so good to float and be free, To see and feel and breathe. I never want this to end.
I was always easily influenced...
What a trip, what a trip.
Mood: Liberated Music: Dog Fashion Disco- Mature Audiences Only
So I was too busy mensturating this morning to be arsed with riding my bike to work, so I had Spencer drive me instead.
The day proceeded as usual, and I decided to walk home instead of being lazy and calling a friend to come get me. When I get about half way there, I notice a man in a business suit walking towards me, with a very intent look on his face. Now, it's hot as fucking shit outside, so I already thought it was a little fishy to see him walking around in a nice suit, but whatever. And since we were next to a busy street, I didn't worry about it too much, but kinda wished I had my knife with me just to be safe. I say "Howdy" just to be nice, and he immediately stops and shakes my hand, introducing himself as Aaron. He tells me I have "absolutely lovely hair". Thinking it's a trap, I smile and thank him, then try to walk off before he stops me to ask me if I'd ever done any modeling, and proceeds to hand me his card. I ask if he's a scout for an agency or something, and he says "sort of", proceeding to tell me he saw me as he was driving, and had stopped a few blocks ahead so he could talk to me. He simply had to talk to me. Right. So we walk for a block before parting ways.
And I have to say. I have the weirdest boner right now.
The wind whipped my hair into my face, further blurring my vision in the blizzard that threatened to make me turn back for camp. I'd been following their trail for weeks, and I wasn't about to let a bunch of snow ruin all my hard work. Shivering, I brush my hair from my eyes and pull my goggles over my eyes for a second, allowing my eyes adjust to the darkened lenses before quickly surveying the landscape and slipping them back onto my forehead. What was I doing here, trudging through the snow for hardly enough coin to fill my airship, much less pay for food?
Clenching my jaw, I forced myself forward, towards the forest that lay miles still before me. Time was on my side it seemed, so long as the storm didn't worsen to slow my advance. For what felt like the thousandth time, I took a mental note of my weapons: a plasma pistol at my right hip, a decent hunting knife on the opposite, a smaller blade strapped to my right calf, and a curious sort of rifle that shot concentrated UV rays was slung over my back. My plan of action was simple, kill or be killed. But what was I killing, again? Oh yeah, trolls, two of them.
I didn't think they were real, at first, but as I followed the trail of... something, I wasn't so sure their existence was just a tale or overactive imaginations. People called me crazy, but those who has suffered losses to livestock or property felt much differently, often offering me food and shelter for my stay in whatever town I happened to be in. They shared stories of how to kill them, many agreed it was impossible, while others insisted on using baited livestock that had been poisoned, and others yet insisted they could only be killed by shooting out their one eye. Many accounts were so varied, from being pure animals, to almost human like in appearance and behavior that I wasn't sure what to expect when and if I encountered these beasts. Just to stay cautious and alert, especially at night.
One story that caught my attention was from a man who was rumored to have killed one when he was barely a man, but I was convinced he was nothing more than a spook until he'd shown me something incredible... a tail. This tail was big, too big to be from any animal that should have a fuzzy tail, and smelled horrible, despite it allegedly being fifty or so years old. The elder who had shown it to me claimed the only surefire way to kill them was with sunlight, or more specifically, direct UV rays. It would explain their lack of daytime movement, that was for sure. The lack of sightings too, now that I thought on it. But it was insisted that I take the very tool he'd used to kill the one from his youth, and without much to go on, I couldn't argue, so I took it thankfully.
Even if these things are real, I'm way unprepared. I'd thought, slinging it over my back. Chasing trolls, reports of a wyvern, dragons... what's the world come to? A deafening roar caused me to snap my head up and fix my eyes on the forest ahead, it was a roar just like I'd been told by it's victims, but certainly it wasn't from a troll. Picking up my pace, I ran the rest of the way to the forest, not caring to stop to eat or rest, and instead review my plan of attack. They only came out at night, so seeing in the dark would be a problem, and I had no way of hiding my scent from them. Assuming they were feral and could smell me. Obviously tall, taller than three men, and strong. I didn't know how strong, but strong enough to easily pick up and take a bite out of a cow. Frowning, I pulled my goggles over my eyes and ran the rest of the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Night had fallen, and I'd managed to crawl up into a tree a good ways off the ground, above the trolls heads, if they were as stupid as people told me, too stupid to look up. My stomach growled at the scent of winter fruits clinging to the tree, but I swallowed my hunger and scanned the area in the dim moonlight, thankful for the snow. Everything was so much easier to see. Clinging to the branch with my legs, I gently pulled the pistol out of it's holster, readying myself to attack if I needed to, and prepared to wait.
Hours passed, it seemed like. All the signs had pointed to them bedding down in this area for the night, but perhaps they'd moved on, they didn't stay in more than one place for a few nights before moving further North, possibly to mate. If they're even real. I reminded myself.
A roar rose from the trees and into the sky, followed by a deeper yowl and the vibrations of their voices caused me to almost drop my weapon and cling to the branch like a child. Regaining composure and standing up carefully, I wrapped one arm around the tree's body and slowly scanned the area around me before spotting two large figures moving to my left. Before me stood two trolls, nearly identical in looks except one appeared to only have half of it's tail, and the intact one was slightly shorter, walking with a limp.
Cold wind blew through the air, causing the tree to sway and shake under my grip, and nearly toppling me from my perch as I struggled to keep balance and an eye on the creatures that I was being paid to kill. The snow had stopped for now, and the forest was blanketed in a soft white, an almost calming scene that gave no indication of what was about to take place.
Watching in awe, the twins made their way closer to my position, sniffing the air and growling and grunting to one another. The tension between them was not unlike that of sibling rivalry, the way one tried to compensate for it's shortcomings while the other was looking. Once directly under me, they stopped and sniffed the air before becoming violent and shoving and biting at each other. They let loose those ear splitting howls, causing me to yelp in surprise. Luckily they hadn't heard, and continued to fight as I watched on in awe. Studying their physiology I could determine they were both male, as they made no attempts at covering themselves, and was able to further conclude they were more as animals than humans. A deduction I was able to make by their form of communication and the need to fight to establish dominance.
I was so caught up in the moment of discovery that I almost decided to abort the mission and take notes instead, but then I remembered my other duties, and sighed in my head before aiming my gun at the two below me.
Carefully taking aim took only a few seconds, as I was an excellent shot, before I pulled the trigger and let loose a stream of bright green plasma, hitting the taller troll directly in the eye as he'd looked up to my position. The screech of pain that followed was worse than any sounds they'd made before, but the worst part was that he wasn't dead. Taking a quick calculation of the damage, I could determine that his eye had melted right in it's socket. Plasma was running town his bulbous nose and scarred face, giving him a more alien appearance.
Before I could react his brother was already clamoring his way up the tree, reaching and grabbing for me as he did so. Screaming (though from excitement or fear I did not know) I struggled to climb my way higher, dropping my gun and growling at the situation I'd gotten myself into. The shorter of the two made it's way up to me, too close for comfort, but there was no way down. Recalling the old man, I made a split second decision and pulled the light from my back.
"Hey ugly!" The sound must have startled the troll, because he looked up long enough for me to fumble around to find the only button on the whole freaking apparatus and press it. A blinding flash of purpleish white light flooded the whole scene, and I could clearly see everything around me. The troll directly below me, his hand reached out just a few feet from my leg, and his brother holding his head and flailing about wildly, completely blinded.
Before I could even react to pull my leg from the troll's grasp there was a terrifying sound, worse than before, and I watched as the troll before me became bloated, then exploded in a mass of blood, flesh and slime. The stench was unbearable, and I was vomiting over the side of the tree before I was even able to catch my balance, causing me to fall from my branch. Within seconds I'd caught myself on another, thicker branch; with my ribs. With an oof I sucked in a deep breath of air and pushed back my pain, gripping the tree with one hand and the light in the other.
So they can be killed with the UV light thingy. The taller of the two trolls was still flailing around, but seemed to be more concerned with the death of his brother, pausing occasionally to sniff the air and howl in confusion and rage. I blinked in realization of my mistake. In blinding the one troll, I'd also completely destroyed the chance of killing the other in the only way I knew that worked. A soft sigh escaped my lips as I quickly assessed my situation, I smelled of troll, the tree was now too slick to climb down, it was too far to jump, and even if I did make it down, there was still a pissed off troll waiting for me at the bottom. Perhaps I could kill the troll from here with my pistol, then worry about making it down.
Reaching down for my pistol, I was surprised to not find it at my waist. Then remembered I'd dropped it in the excitement earlier. Fuming, and holding back a slue of curse words, I immediately began working on a new plan of action, running out of ideas at an uncomfortable pace. Then, an idea struck me, and I estimated the distance from my position to the troll's. It would be a long shot, but it was the only shot I got... And it was better than no shot. Standing, accidentally placed my hand on the slime covered tree, and gagged at the thought of what my hand was in.
With a shudder I ignored the thought, and whistled, catching his attention. Wincing at what I did next, I jumped toward the troll's face, wielding my knife as I did so, and landed squarely on the troll's face, punching his eye socket and causing him to howl and reach for his face again. He'd grabbed me and begun to fling me into the air before I stabbed his hand. It was thick and tough as stone, and I wasn't sure I'd actually be able to break the skin as another howl escaped his lips, and the sound made my entire body vibrate. Sliding my way onto his shoulder, I crouched and dug my knife into where I imagined his artery in his neck to be.
Instantly my arm was covered in a thick maroon liquid, blood. Digging my knife deeper into his neck, I had to time my next movement just right to save my own life. The troll howled and reached for me again, and I allowed myself to fall off his shoulder and down his back, dragging the knife with me before it stuck in his shoulder blade, leaving a crippling gash in his back. Holding my breath, I pulled the knife out and allowed myself to fall, feeling the arterial spray of blood covering me, mixing with what was left of his brother. The troll turned and kicked wildly in my direction, howling and holding it's neck, then head, then neck again, too frenzied to even think clearly enough to attack me.
Within just a minute, he'd grown too weak to stand, and fell to the ground with a thump, taking out a small tree in the process as he'd tried to hold himself upright. Cautious, I crept up on him as he growled weakly, the life literally draining out of him right in front of me. His breathing was weak, and for a second I felt remorse for killing a creature I didn't even know existed. But sacrifices had to be made, and my pockets were too light for me to back down. A man's length from the troll's head, I held my knife firmly in my hand, trying to hard to ignore the stench of whatever it was that covered me from head to toe. I bit my bottom lip and waited for the death rattle that nearly all creatures I'd encountered sounded off as they left this world.
"You, human," I blinked. What? The troll just spoke to me. It just fucking talked. Maybe I was hallucinating from whatever fumes I was inhaling. I was convinced that was what it was, until it spoke to me again. "You, human, you," I blinked again and clutched my knife so hard my hand hurt, unbelieving of what had just happened, and still was, happening. His body jerked, and the final breath escaped his lips. "You," The troll died before me, saying something I wasn't even sure was real. Leaving me confused and baffled.
For a long time I simply stood there, staring down at it's corpse, watching as the blood seeped into the snow, turning it that sick deep maroon and melting it in other parts. My entire body shook, either from the cold or the fight I didn't know, but it must have shaken me back into reality, because I finally was able to regain what little composure I had left and snap out of my trance. Returning my knife to it's sheath, I turn from the troll and take only a few steps before stepping directly on my pistol, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin when the trigger clicked softly. I picked it up and checked the ammo cartridge. Empty. I only had the one shot. "Oh." I said to myself, dropping it back onto the ground.
The wind blew, and it began to snow.
Mood: Excited Music: Abney Park- The Secret Life of Dr. Calgori
And there were a bunch of yahoos holding up signs of 8 week old fetuses saying abortion was murder and all that jazz. No big deal, I shout "DELICIOUS!" just to be an asshat, and some guy goes on a rant about how they force women to abort their babies in China, and then eat them or some shit. I kinda looked at him and told him they aborted babies in America too, and he should be worrying about American problems first (again, to be an asshat.)
Then as we're driving further, there are actually more signs of, graphic, fully colored and fully detailed, aborted fetuses. Now, that didn't disturb me as much as the fact there were KIDS holding the signs, and obviously kids who drove by would see the pictures as well.
So like... Who in their right mind would allow their children to see such gory and violent images?? I mean, I remember being 8 and gagging when I watched my brother's lizards eat live mice... Seeing a bloody, gross, cut up fetus would probably have made me faint.
Now, I'm not into politics or anything like that, but what are your thoughts on all this? Sure, they probably eat babies in China, but like, that's there, and this is here. There are bad things going on right in our own back yard, so why worry about something thousands of miles away that in no direct way affects us?
