Story #175 - A Quicker Trip

A Quicker Trip

It was a safe bet that there were no satellites focused on him; so far as he knew, all of the high-powered military gadgetry was pointed toward the re-erupting Middle East conflict. Though they let genetically-modified monsters run free in the wilds of the northern part of the state, the military did little to alleviate the situation.

Rumors of the creatures' existence were roundly denied every time the subject was brought up at a defense meeting, but everyone in the area knew full well that going outside at night was a bad idea if you lived anywhere near the national park. Most of the time, the things kept to the woods, feeding on deer and coyotes and staying out of the way of humans. Hunters had learned that a rifle shot or three could take one of the things down, but collecting its body was an impossibility; they disappeared as soon as their vital functions stopped working.

Tim knew there was a slim chance anyone was watching him being menaced by the pack below, but still he hesitated. The monsters the government had made weren't the only things in the park that were dangerous, and weren't the only things in the state that had undergone a transformation. Unlike those down below, however, Tim had no easy explanation for what had happened to him.

As near as he could tell, he had simply woken up one day with a very different set of abilities than he had gone to bed with. During his early twenties, he'd done his best to figure out just what had happened to him, but with no luck. Medical testing revealed nothing, and there was no one in the world that he trusted enough to tell that he could tap into the latent energy surrounding him, double his size, and increase his strength an almost infinite amount.

He'd never tested the absolute limits of what he could do. His size seemed fairly fixed – he could swell only so much and only so quickly, but the amount of strength he could feed into his body felt limitless. When he'd tried to draw as much as he could from the air around him, he began to feel a buzzing, a trembling sensation as if he were a balloon near to bursting. Though he knew he could easily pour more strength into himself, he wasn't sure what would happen if he did, and decided he liked his body in once piece, and he preferred living to knowing the maximum amount of energy he could draw.

“Little one,” the lead creature called from below. It had been doing that every hour, hoping to force Tim down out of the tree. It had promised not to kill him, not to maim him, and finally not to hurt him, but Tim didn't believe a word of it. As soon as his feet hit the forest floor, the leader and his four companions would swarm him, and he would die in seconds.

Or so they thought.

Taking a deep breath, Tim focused on what he wanted to do. Timing wasn't crucial, but it would give more of an impact to his actions, one that he hoped even the things down below would have to acknowledge.

Without a word, Tim let himself fall from the branch he was perched on, opened himself up to the energy that surrounded all things, and began to drink it in. By the time he was halfway down the tree's height, he had reached his doubled size, and strength began flooding in. Extending his legs, he locked them as he reached the forest floor, driving deeply into the loamy earth.

The closest creature screamed as Tim reached out and tore its head off, then threw its dissolving corpse at a second member of the group. Teeth and claws came gnashing and slashing at him, but his improved physique met every one easily, quickly, and three more died in rapid succession.

That left only the leader, the smallest of the pack.

Tim felt a stab of guilt as he advanced on the thing; not for it, but for Christie and Todd. He hadn't been expecting the attack, and was too slow to react when the monsters came crashing through the forest. He had considered for a moment if using his abilities was worth the risk, and in that moment Christie died, with Todd torn to shreds moments later. He had fled into the woods, cursing himself for his lack of action, and hoping he could simply outrun the things behind him, but they had refused to give up.

“What isss thisss?” The leader hissed, real fear showing on its face for just a moment.

“Your end, fool,” he grated as he reach out to take grab the thing's long arm. It didn't struggle, but instead drove toward him with all its strength. Tim grunted, but simply drew on what was around him to increase his ability to endure punishment. A menacing grin slid across his face as he tried something he'd never thought of before: drawing energy from another being.

The creature in his grip screamed as he took its strength, crumpling into the dirt at his feet. Tim let the strength burn off, and then looked down at the pitiful wretch underneath him.

“Now,” he said, “you know how my companions felt. Now,” he reached down and placed a hand on top of the thing's chest, “you will know their pain.”

A single, massive downward blow from his enhanced hand was enough to tear the creature nearly in half, and leave it writhing in the dirt in agony.

Letting his strength go, Tim stumbled forward as the weight of real world came crashing back down. His hand hurt, and both legs throbbed from their landing impact. He would be sore for days.

Bright light flared up all around him, and he stood frozen as he heard the unmistakable sound of guns being drawn and made ready to fire.

“Tim Carlyle!” A voice boomed in the darkness. “This is the US Military. You will surrender. Now!”

He had known this trip was a bad idea.

- D

Story #174 - A Quick Trip

A Quick Trip

Running wasn't doing anything except keeping him just ahead of them, but Tim Carlyle didn't really have the time to come up with a better plan.

Images flashed through his head: the car being swarmed by the things, their long, clawed hands screeching along the metal door panels, and Christie's face as the biggest one rammed a fist through her chest. It had been brutal, awful, soul-crushing, but Tim didn't have time to dwell on it.

Thoughts of the past few hours caused him to miss a step and sent him almost tumbling to the forest floor below. Behind him, he could hear the hooting catcalls of the leader of the pack, a smaller beast that had stayed at the edges of the fight at the car.

Though slaughter might be a better term for what had happened, Tim wanted to believe he had at least a chance of escape.

It was only the way the bodies of the things chasing him were put together that saved him from a quick death. Up close, they were incredibly powerful, with massive jaws, spike-tipped claws and stunted, almost grotesquely thick leg muscles. As soon as their prey managed to gain some distance on them, however, the best they could do was follow. Though Tim was no athlete, a solid run kept him ahead of him, and prevented them from trying a sprint to catch up. He had hoped they would tire as quickly as he was after pounding their large legs into the loam underfoot, but none of the five monstrosities behind him showed any signs of stopping.

“Why?” He screamed into the dim dawn-light as he scrambled over a large rock, a claw-swipe just missing his heels. He knew no answer would come – they had been foolish to drive into the back country, knowing what had been set loose out here, but believed that if they just drove fast enough, everything would be alright. Thrill-seekers who had made it through the woods unscathed several times, Christie and Todd had insisted he try it out, and were sure that he would love the rush he got from avoiding what was almost certain death.

“Becaussssse...” came a hissing answer from behind him, and he stumbled at the top of the rock, managing to catch himself with his hands on the pitted stone at the very last moment. What he had heard was impossible.

“Because why?” He screamed as he ran on. It was ridiculous to enter into a war of words with a creature that was trying to maim and eat him, and shouldn't have been able to speak in the first place, not in the least because such words lessened his ability to run quickly by taking up his air supply.

“Becausssse we can!” The words were clear enough this time, and managed to make an already terrifying situation worse. Not only was he being pursued by pack of ravening monstrosities, but they had an actual, thought-out scent for blood, a real desire to not simply eat him for food, but to maim him because they had the capacity to do so.

Despite his creeping exhaustion, Tim forced his feet to move more quickly, forced the pace of his stride to increase.

“Why little one – why do you run from us?” There was a mocking tone to the broken voice, one that said he had no chance of escape, and was simply making things worse.

“Is that some kind of joke?”

There was a pause in the forest, a silence broken only by his footfalls and the thump of his pursuers.

“Yessss,” said the leader, “issss funny.”

“It isn't!” Tim screamed. “This is my life you're talking about!”

There was no reply, and Tim considered climbing a tree again. He had done it once, at the beginning of the chase, and had almost forced the beasts to leave. Their heavy lower bodies prevented climbing, despite their large claws, as they were unable to heave their massive forms up the trunk, even when they had an excellent point to begin their ascent.

The trouble was that they could use those same claws to tear the tree down, and had begun to make short work of the tall pine he was in almost as soon as he had made it out of their reach. If he could find a large redwood...

He moved quickly as he spotted one off to his left, hope giving his feet a speed he was surprised he had left in him. Up the tree he went, leaving bits of skin and drops of blood behind, but he didn't care for the state of his arms or legs – he simply needed to get away.

The monsters down below could pound away at the tree for the better part of the next few days and not make a dent, and he hoped that from somewhere near the top he might be able to find cell service.

Below, the pack had come to a halt and was circling the tree, their leader squinting up at him from the ground. Their faces were almost human, save for eyes that were too large and a nose that was almost non-existent, and it was that human likeness that made them all them more frightening.

“Little creature!” The leader called from below. “I have sssomthing you want!” Extending a clawed hand, the thing waved something at him. His new cell phone. “Come down here and we will...disssscusss...itsss return.”

“Screw off!” Tim yelled. He needed time to think. The tree would provide protection, but only for so long.

“I don't think sssooo, little creature. We will wait, and you will get hungry. You will get tired. You will come down to ssseee ussss, and we will be ready.” The leader gestured to those around him, and all five of them stopped moving, each taking up a position at the base of the tree, eyes looking upwards.

Tim grit his teeth. He hadn't wanted to, but he was going to have to destroy them all.

- D