Awaken

[That did Not… just happen]










The crow flies high, circling overhead as you watch the scene before you. They look like men; you cannot help but think, as you watch them rise up from the oceans of perfect blue, glowing in time with the arm which you command. You cannot help it as your heart beats faster and faster each one reinforcing the last, each act making the next act stronger; each breath making the next breath sweeter.

All around you it assembles, the great power upon which you pride yourself, the oceans of you Perseverance given form.

The titans which rise up in your name, shaking themselves from an ancient slumber into the light of your path, they watch you in silent judgment and wait upon your command.

And behind you stretches an army.

Vast.

Familiar.

Awaiting your order with baited breath as you watch, you who are the focus of their march, the eternal forging point from which one ward towards the stars and beyond they would pave away all existence with your word. Awaiting both before and behind you to go beyond... for that one word, that first, that last that final command to begin it all into the endless task.

“Onward.”








Awaken.

Groggily I climbed from the hold of sleep, my mind slipping from its war of blissful sleep countered by the enemy action of strange half remembered dreams. Even now as I tried I could only barely grasp the surface of that, which had been my thoughts but a few moments ago, the only thing clear being the unsettling memory of the said same blue glow which softly encompassed my right arm and those points across my body still healing from the claw and bullet wounds.

The car had stopped. Slowly my eyes opened trying to take in the scene, nighttime and hidden away in fronds of leaves even as the back car door was wide open. A camp fire nearby.

“Oh you’re awake?” Angel’s voice assailed me from behind the car window. “Good, I was just about to come get you, it a good place out here to hide the car off the main road, we’re going to bunker down for the night.”

I merely grunted in assent, and then stumbled out of the car. Over the fire there was something cooking, it smelled particularly nice, must have been one of the more perishable thing’s we’d recovered having gotten lucky in one spot with a still running freezer. Owner had hooked it up to its own generator... just a little to clunky for us to take for our own. There hadn’t been much left in said freezer, but it had still been far better than nothing at all.

“Ugg... I still feel tired as fuck.” I moaned; a sudden twinge across my back where it had been scored by the runner’s claws leaving me pained and breathless. “Ahh... crap that stings.”

I had to wince at the thump Angel laid across my back. “Walk it off baby boy. I already checked, those wound are all skin deep, and whatever it is you got on them just boils off anything I pour on... so I’m guessing you don’t have anything to worry  about from infection.”

“I suppose that’s good...” I shift my hand beneath the shirt, a thin crust of blue flaking off of one of the scratches scored against my check.

I wasn’t at all prepared for the slap upside my head that left my ears ringing.

“Ow! The fuck was that for?” I turned; suddenly quite a bit more awake than I had been a moment ago.

“Minor punishment for being an idiot. Why the hell didn’t you come back to me? If I hadn’t decided to stretch my legs and make some extra time on the way back you might have died before I could get there.” Oh... her face was stern, and yet there was something there, softer. Her voice harsh with warring emotion.

“Angel... I couldn’t just leave her... We need all the help we can get. And... There’s not much left. We have to save whatever - whoever - we can...” Angel growled a little at that, and as I was about to continue, only for the object of our conversation to crawl out of the tent and back over to the crackling warm of the fire, looking hungrily at the food being cooked there, then guiltily turning her head only to catch our gaze.

She must have guessed from the nervous glance which was passed her way that we’d been talking about her.

“Ah... do you guys need anything else? I mean I’m grateful for the save an all, but... am I a problem? I mean I could pack up and move on, getting those things off my tail is more than enough, and I probably shouldn’t even be eating your food.” That apple red hair bobbed as she dipped her head, eyes down to the ground for a moment.

Angel and I just stopped and looked at each other, and then almost as one began to insist that she’d be no trouble at all. The relief on her face was palpable. Shortly afterward we settled down, tending the fire and waiting for the food to be properly done. Around the campfire we sat, soaking up the warmth, for the longest time just saying nothing. The silence was grating on my ears, and so I decided that I’d fill it up with something at the very least.

“So, what's your story?” I asked, slightly startling of the blue eyed redhead. It was the first time I’d really gotten a good look at her, especially now with her body armour off. Not a big chest on her, and she couldn’t be much more than twenty three by the looks of her, but she certainly moved with more confidence when she was tending to her stuff than anything else. It wasn’t an athletic body on her exactly, but it was definitely fit, and capable. And the bright red of her hair framed her face nicely.

The red glow rose slightly on my arm as I pictured her naked in my head. I wondered what colour the carpet was.

“Not really much to tell, I’m just a demolitions technician, and my unit was flying over towards the madness out Washington and got hit by one of the enemy’s anti-air creatures, we went down a ways from here, and since then I’ve spent the last two weeks trying my best to get away. About a week ago the big horned one chanced on me... he’s been persistent as all hell. I’ve barely had more than a night’s rest since.” She looks down, and I can tell at a glance that it isn’t at all the whole story. I’d have to coax the rest of it out of her myself.

In time, I’d hear all of it.

“One of those things called you a mage... and I think there was a mention of 'fissile material'? You packing nukes?” I asked almost innocently.

The redhead bore me with an incredulous look.

“You ‘Heard’, a mage? I’ve spent the last week running from those things and I never heard them do anything other than growl and chirp.” A suspicious look renewed upon me. Even Angel looked at me with a head tilted curiosity.

“It’s how I found you in the first place.” I admitted. “The big horned guy was shouting about ‘finding the mage’, and I figured if you were doing damage to his people then I needed to go see if I could save you and maybe get some help... I was not expecting some chick from the army.”

“So to get this straight, you understand what the hell these things are saying?” Angel spoke this time, taking a meaningful sidelong glance at my tattoos. “That could actually be useful.”

“Yeah, but I still wanna know why it called her a mage?” I really did, it was nagging at me.

“Well... I mean I could probably be considered a mage now too, I can stealth dash... its freaky awesome.” Angel just sounded pleased with herself.

“Yeah, but when it referred to her as a ‘mage’ it just felt like this was specific terminology being tossed out.” I spoke a bit more to myself than to the others.

“Well. It might be because of my blasting caps? I found myself being able to set them up on the fly for explosions that should be technically impossible to shape...” the red headed soldier girl admitted.

“Oh really?” Angel looked... I could only call it predatory, and maybe pleased. Apple red shrank back under her scrutiny. This wallflower was no front-liner for sure, but she certainly was a resourceful little lady if that week of being hunter actually said anything.

Hmm... time to earn a bit of future good will here.

“Hey ok Angel, don’t worry about it too hard, we’ll figure it out sooner or later.” Angel gave me an annoyed glance, probably certain that I was planning to get into our new companion’s pants.

Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong, but that was not at all my thoughts for tonight’s agenda.

I could feel the lust from before, more, stronger. Getting harder to focus though.

But for all of my nature, I knew it wouldn’t be wise to go fucking my way into the new girl on the first night we’d met her. I’d hold on. I’d... fuck me.




/|=|\




Another hour or two passed, I stopped counting after we stopped talking about anything important; the red head just making small talk about various little things, trivial. I think we all needed just that.

She was the first to doze off by the fire, and by then I was even more jittery than I could have ever expected.

“I’m surprised at you Jack.” Angel spoke as she rested a hand on my shoulder then sat right next to me. “I was sure you were going to make a pass at her.”

My breath was a bit ragged as I sat there trying to control it, trying to control me.

The red of the tattoo on my right arm growing slowly more intense.

“I’m having a bit of a hard time not heading over to that tent right now actually.” I admitted, a pained expression crossing my face. I tried to hide it as quickly as it came but Angel must have caught it.

“Are you ok Jack?” She leaned in... And I couldn’t help it any more.

Lips pressed hungrily against lips, searching need burning red beside the campsite fire.

I pushed her away almost as suddenly as I’d begun the kiss, lips still burning warm and wet. Angel’s eyes were closed as her quickened breathing began to slow, and a strange look settled upon her face as she watched me turn away in guilt.

Even now the right hand glowed with a steady red, the need for control warring with the strengthening flames of desire.

“Why?”

“... I... I felt something, this tattoo, and these tattoos. They’re something, some kind of magic... Angel...” I spoke disjointed, in need. I tried to suppress it, as it throbbed though me. “I... I really need your help.”

Every second grew more intense as I watched her, dark skin sheened with a light glow of sweat despite the cold of the night.

“You haven’t tried that since we were twelve.” She spoke almost accusingly.

“I... I don’t want you this way. I love you like a sister, I want you to be my friend beyond anything else...” I muttered, trying my best to keep a lid on the emotions which had swayed me to that kiss.

“You didn’t kiss like you just want to be friends, Jack.” She spoke with a confused sense of purpose, leaning towards me with harsh eyes.

“I didn’t want to kiss you.” I spoke bluntly... I could feel the red glow suffusing me, warm and needy. And yet across my chest, cracks of blue had begun to appear, crawling across the red, mingling, containing. I would remain in control, keep that control. This was Angel, my oldest dearest friend in the world, if I could do anything it would be for her sake. I just needed to keep control.

“... And what if Jack Daniels... what I said that I wanted to kiss you?” Her voice sounded a ravaging purr, her lips so close I could feel the heat of them sliding lightly against my own. “... You’re a lousy fucker you know that right? Always bringing home some random chick, or getting me to drag your ass back out of the fire... I never understood why you never asked for a taste.”

There was the slight tint of red glowing on her lips.

I couldn’t help but feel something MORE leap up inside me at the prospect of those lips wrapped around me...

“It may have had something to do with you punching my face in for even suggesting it when we were thirteen...” I manage to get out, even as she pushes me over, straddling my body, hand at my chest.

“It may have had something to do with you being an immature jerk that would proposition everything with a vagina. I still liked you... still hung out with you. You wouldn’t even touch me drunk asshole... I put vodka in you, and no, I put expensive wine in me... still no. You’d rather go sleep with some old pussy every night instead.” Her words had the slight lit of someone a bit... tipsy, her fingers, pulling and tugging at my shirt, I made fumbling moves to make the button’s disappear before she could destroy them.

“You’re practically my sister...” I mentioned again, heat rising at my crotch. The blue rising at my insistence to remain... the red overwhelming in its response to her claims. “... It’s just this thing, in me. These things on me. I can’t help it Angel, I don’t want to do this to you, but I... I don’t have anyone else I want to turn to.”

“Then let big sister help make things better, asshole...” She leaned in and brushed back her curly hair from between us.

The kiss was electric. A red trill running though me.

Her clothes came off... mine followed too.

It was rough, she had no sense of romance, no desire to take it slow and explore... I could do little more than gasp as she pushed down, impaling herself upon me as grunts and moans rose up beside the fire, a river of red leaking out as we slaked lust by its side, the light of my right arm adding to the intensity beside the flickering flames.

Again and again I slammed in, blue mingling with red as we pushed and groaned, hips meeting hips... loosing ourselves in the rhythm of sexual excess. My hand digging into her shapely ass even as I fucked her senseless, holding off on that final moment with nothing more than determination.

Her lips rested against my neck, scoring another bite as inside of her squeezed and milked me for all that it was worth, her bouncing ass no longer able to meet my thrusts on its own as the red glow supplanted and lubricated our continued vice.

It must have been hours later when I finally came too. Still buried inside of my best friend... leaving me to question just what the fuck I’d been thinking last night...

“You guys were at it like cats the whole night.” A voice from beside me spoke. Hair the colour of a ripe apple. “Is it like that every night?”

“...” I merely stared as she shrugged.

“It’s fine, I’m a military girl, I could tell you some stories that make your ears bust a vassal.” She smirked lightly then went back to apparently cooking breakfast.

Angel though woke up to the smell of sizzling strips of meat and pancakes from the powder mix we’d managed to secure... even a bottle of honey to help sweeten the deal.

Even as we got into the car to make our way again... Angel wouldn’t broach the subject of last night, and out of a quiet respect for her, neither did I.





















































I looked down at my makeshift weaponry, the jagged shaft of ripped off steel, the handle of something or the other that I’d pulled off from its seam. I needed to make it sharper. I’d already decided before even looking at my makeshift club, to find and protect the girl, I just needed to figure out how?

Carefully I sharpened the end of my club against nearby stone, watching like a hawk as the lanky thing led its armoured companion.

This would at best be tricky.

I kept my distance as I followed them, the other creatures converging upon the rapid clicking call of the one which led the way as finally it stopped and pointed up a building, the biggest one in the area. The trail I left for Angel in case she managed to come find me in this clusterfuck would be unmistakable... I hoped... At the very least she’d be able to get closure from finding my body.

Yeah, my thoughts were going there already, not exactly the best mindset for surviving.

|Cursed thing would choose such a stronghold... She’s likely planning to utilize the last of her fissile materials here to catch as many of our people in its wake as she can. Spread out, occupy the area in a circle, three of you inside to flush her out, if she manages to escape we can close the dragnet on her. Clever as she is, she cannot run forever.| The rumble of the leader thing gave order, its minions moving immediately and deliberately towards their new destinations.

I had a single chance at this, before the drag net was set, to slip past and slip into the building, determination already building within me despite the fact that I was obviously outnumbered and out gunned in every way. But I couldn’t just leave her to die, whoever she was. She’d already given them a run for their money by the annoyed sound of the Leader, and maybe I would be enough here to tip the balance.

It took me a moment to realize that my left arm was glowing, the tattoo lit up in an ethereal blue flame.

I didn’t have time for this, but there was something there, something which bubbled up as my stride continued, determination directing my every step, already I was feeling braver, more confident in the fact that even if it wasn’t the best idea, it HAD to be done. The blue glow only intensified further.


















































































































It wasn’t a hard choice to make.

I vastly preferred the idea of having a car to use later on rather than running out of gas at all in the wilderness even if it put more miles between us and whatever it was that was following behind. I mean sure we could have chanced it and hoped for a gas station in-between, but there was a town in front of us and all we needed to do is scout around a bit and see what we could find.

“Ok, so we don’t want to be seen if we’re going to be headed into town; at least not on wheels. I bet right now a good car’s a hot commodity. I say we find some place nice and covered just outside of town and park it there. Even if we have to spend an hour or so walking to and from it, it’s more than worth it to keep the car safe.” I pointed out as we neared. The car was just too valuable to risk, even if it cost us a bit of extra time.

“Hahah. Oh, looks like scraggly little Jack actually has a brain in ‘im.” She grinned widely, reaching over to ruffle my hair. “Now ain’t that just adorable! Seriously though I’m glad you’re using your head, need to keep it on straight when you’ve got times like these. Makes me a bit less worried about you to know you’re actually thinking things through. But then you’re probably pretty good at stealthy thinking... who was the last time I had to actually bail you out of?”

“Maria...” I answered almost as if ritual, she never let me live it down really. “... Bitch actually CALLED her husband to tell him while I was waist deep in her, then handed me the phone to arrange my way out.”

“He got there with a shotgun before I got there to haul your ass out.” Her grin remained, bouncing curls of her hair framing her mirthful expression.

“She wouldn’t let go that dammed leg lock until I finished inside of her... and it was either that or knock her out.” I whined.

“Horndog.” She teased affectionately. And as always I frowned I her direction, though inside I was smiling... deep, deep down inside. It was typical of our hanging out together, bonding over old stories. Familiar and safe.

The world had turned confusion and that familiarity was all we had for the moment.

Which is why hadn’t at all expected was her to pull the car over and then practical smother me in a hug.

My body reacted to her like hadn’t since first we met all those years ago, me an idiot kid in school, her willing to kick my ass for stepping out of line. I was stunned, my arms still at my sides, no words to express what that hug was doing to me, no words to express the very deep seated shock of such an emotional display from the most cool headed person I knew.

“Fuck it Jack, two fucking weeks... I was starting to think you wouldn’t wake up at all... and I just don’t know what I would have done once the car wasn’t an option any more. Don’t do that shit to me again ok?” There were... tears in her voice. What had been a long nap for me, had been two weeks of struggle and hell for her.

Most of all in keeping me alive.

My arms finally responded like they should have ages ago. Closing about her I pulled my best friend close, unwilling to look at her crying face, knowing that I would remember it, just like I would remember the light sobs which racked her voice in a way that would haunt me.

“You’re pretty much the only thing I have right now, Jack. Mom and dad, Alan, I couldn’t get through to them, haven’t been able to at all.” There’s a distinct frustration in her voice at this.

“... let’s just concentrate on surviving for now. We can worry about everyone else once we’re in a better position.” I couldn’t bear to continue the line of thought which she was running along, my own mother, my sister. I didn’t know what was happening with them either, and even with the reality of the situation starting to catch up to me, I found myself not particularly wanting to dwell on the darker possibilities inherent in the situation.

Besides that, the hug was getting quite awkward for me, inside me desire boiled up in ways that I normally associated with having a lady in my arms, over her kitchen counter. The touch of lust which bubbled with in. I leashed it down for now, unwilling to face both it AND the crisis before me... and then have to go out searching for means of survival.

Oddly I noted that the red glow upon my right arm subsided slightly, though it began a low but nearly imperceptible pulsation, then all at once the desire which had been flooding me uncomfortably receded.

I’d have to think on that later.

We got out of the car and began our trek.

Foraging was... hard going. Most everything in the area seemed to have been stripped by other groups doing the same as we had, and while we did manage to score some food and other supplies, they were meager... barely enough for a week at best. And the Gas Station had been even worse. While we managed to get some gas from the pump, again there had been little enough for our efforts.

At the very least it would make sure we could get comfortably into the next town.

At the very least though we found a bit of water, a bit tepid but the place had had its own supply tank and filtration system. We grabbed as many empty bottles of that as we could carry as well.

“Ok, this should be the last of it all. I’ll go take everything we gathered up to the car, you can stick around, look for any place that might have stashed some food or anything else useful you can find. And be careful.” Angel spoke, her back loaded down with our spoils of food, water, and gas.

“Yes mother!” I replied flippantly, turning away to pry loose a bar of iron. We hadn’t found anything that would make a good weapon otherwise and was not at all keen on meeting up with anything or anyone barehanded. A lifetime of videogames and TV had warned me of the grave danger of other people in the event of the Apocalypse. “So are you going to...”

My question was lost to the breeze as I turned around, finding nothing where my friend had been standing mere moments ago, not even footprints in the dirt remaining.

“... I guess you get to be batman this time... again.” I always hated when she did that, and now I had to wonder how she managed to do it with what had to be at least 100 pounds of stuff.

I shook my head and got to work, weaving my way through the places which we’d missed or marked for later, working my way away from our agreed upon landmark of the gas station as I searched for anything of worth. Junk, junk, junk, and unusable stuff dominated the scenery, as I searched through the scattered remains of someone’s apartment.

*BOOM*

The sound shook the air, leaving me to turn and swear.

Trouble.

I rushed out of the house, keeping to cover as I tried to figure out the direction from which the sound had come. The cloud of dust nearby was a bit of a giveaway.

And in the distance I saw them, long and lanky, humanoid in shape, but human in nothing else as the cackled and cavorted, pulling a few dead specimens akin to themselves from the rubble, feeling like dim shivers rising up though my left arm as I watched. None of them were bigger than a man, but there were at least eight of them and behind them another figure walked.

Imposing beyond all reason.

A figure much like its cohorts, it was like a man in armour, if that man were to have claws instead of swords and a tail that is. Its horned helm with the single eye scanned the area as the armoured segments of its chitinus armour clattered together, making noises like something out of a nightmare.

|Search. Spread out. I want the magi captured alive... but she doesn’t need to be whole.











































































































































[This is Not… the end…]












Weakly I groaned.

Last night had been a rough one; I still could feel the after effects of the party echoing in my bones. The bouncer had done a number on me and everything was sore, it had been a night to remember.

Thank goodness that I’d already forgotten it all.



[X] My name... I shouldn’t forget my name... Jack Daniels...



Still my head pounded like something was playing baseball between my ears, and my mouth felt dry and fuzzy. I didn’t even want to question what the OTHER taste that sat beside the alcohol on my tongue was, like an old fat cat on a breaking branch. I think the less about last night I knew the happier with life I’d be. And the less said about what the first filtering peeps of sunlight did to my eyes, the better. Every indication said that it had been a bloody wild night, though somehow I’d managed to get home safe and sound.

If needing to head off to the bathroom...



[X] The fuck I’m still a (man/woman) right?



Fuck my life... the other sex probably had it easier.

Fuck... I needed to use my eyes now. The process of opening up my peepers was painful, but I endured, bit by bit. Slow going when your head feels like someone’s playing the bongos on them and every bit of light just makes it louder.

Success!

...pain...

I looked at the clock, still groaning. Nine fifty am, November sixteenth.

Great... I couldn’t help but sigh to myself. I was already late for work, and I seriously doubted my tightass boss would accept ‘but last night was my birthday and I got stinking drunk trying to drown my loneliness and sorrows. Fucking things learned how to swim anyway. I hated the way my mind swam after a night like this, resolved every time to never do this again, a lie every time and I knew it.

My life was just too pathetic to endure without the good nights. Even if they made the mornings even worse, it really didn’t matter much anyway. Dead end job in the local Bestbuy, no prospects, couldn’t afford college, couldn’t afford to even try to for something like a scholarship. Fuck I didn’t even belong to this godforsaken place out in the middle nowhere: American version; shipped out her to live with a local aunt who couldn’t even begin to give a crap about me.

All in all, a typical day in the life of a typical deadbeat with typically below average prospects for ever making something of themselves. I was worthless, I knew it, my neighbors knew it, and the whole bloody world knew it. But for all that, it was still going to be another typical day of me apologizing to my boss like crazy, and promising to do over time without pay to make up. Already in my head I knew the words I’d use to sweet talk the self-important bitch into letting me keep my pathetic job...

Already in my head I knew how my day was supposed to go...

Which was why when I turned on the TV, I couldn’t even begin to fathom what the news was telling me.

“... believe my eyes. Ann... In... This is still live right? Just film it. Just... This scene is where only hours ago New York City suffered a fatal blow, hours ago a series of shining lights opened up above the skies and creatures began to pour out. What’s more reports have been confirmed in every major city as military response has been heavily mobilized. But these brutal and unexpected attacks have already devastated half the country…” There was an odd pause and a whistling sound, even as I went about my morning business I couldn’t help but wonder at the tone of her voice; the gasps of breath, the sounds of scrabbling and scuffling which seemed to suddenly dominate the microphone.

The next bit would grip me; her voice suddenly shrill, breath heavy as if she’d been running. Shaky as if something had spooked her terribly.

“Fuck... Look if there’s ANYONE still out there unaffected by this I’m telling you now, bunker down, find someplace safe. We’re being invaded by fucking Demons. I don’t know what else to call them, but that’s all I can say.” Another sound in the distance behind her, loud... like a scream, a roar. Primal in quality a and twisted. Her voice filled up with the essence of flight or fight, I could hear it as clearly as if she’d been standing right next to me, the image of wild eyes flash as I turned left the  bathroom, concerned at what I would find.

“...Just, I want to call this a fantasy but I’m not joking. This is as real as it gets and if it was CG, then that shot there was an entire movie budget. And they’re fucking murdering everyone in the street they meet, everyone. This is not a fake this is not a show…”

Wait what?

I’d been reaching into the fridge idly, just returned from the morning business, listening only as was my routine. For a moment I wondered why the new channel had been acting out a radio drama... then I glanced at the screen, a chill settling though me as the image of the reporter’s desperate face stared back, partially blocking a scene straight from out of some kind of nightmare.

Her eyes were shocked and haunted, almost as if everything she was doing now was just way to cope.

In the background... things... raged, their bodies sinuous, sleek and yet, utterly alien in ways that I could only begin to quantify and atop them rode beings akin but not quite like men, clawed hands holding devilish looking blades as the charged.

The military were there, fighting.

Dying. And beyond them those things filtered down against a familiar yet broken sky

Men and women fought with tactics custom made for fighting men against men, but these were monsters, and even under heavy spray fire, they were not going down. Some of the creatures actually deflecting the bullets as they charged, others outright ignoring the spray of fire except for a few times I’d noticed them twitch, flinch or act injured. Twice I saw the screen flash back to parts of the fight where one of the creatures which had flinched would go straight for the one which had injured it.

*Knock Knock Knock*

My door... I let out the breath which I had not even known that I’d been holding. My heart thudding within my chest at the way in which my world had suddenly changed, hangover forgotten as a strange rush of adrenaline clarity washed over me. Somehow I could feel it; in my gut, in blood, in the very air.

Questioning what I’d just seen hadn’t even occurred to me as I started to move.

“Come on, open up the door.” Angel? “Open up the door you idiot. They’re fucking coming!”

Wait what?

I hurried to let her in, fumbling slightly with the latches as she burst impatiently into the room, dark skin and darker eyes ablaze with... something. I couldn’t tell just what, only that there was something imperceptibly different about her, my best friend technically.

What was she even doing here? Normally she wouldn’t even visit for months; her commute was completely out of my way for a normal week day. Then why was she barging into my doorway?

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck... Fuck it with sledge hammer. Fucking Sideways.” She was pacing, nervous and her face betrayed just how spooked she was. This bitch had been the toughest person I’d known for years. Her being worried, made ME worried. “Grab your stuff; we gotta get out of here, Fuck it. We have to move now. I only barely fought my way out. There’s a portal out there; close, too bloody close, need to get moving before they start spreading into this part of the city too. Before they come and find the car and total it to keep us from getting away.”

“Wait... what portal what?” So sue me my brain was still sluggish from last night I didn’t know what the hell, and it took me a few moments to connect what she was saying to what I’d just seen and heard on the TV.

“Invasion force, it was all over the fucking news... Don’t tell me you... dammit look, just... We’re under attack. Don’t doubt me, listen and move. Pretend that I'm right and don’t talk back.”

My head throbbed once more in sequence with her words; something feeling like it was pushing into my brain. Still I’d heard the news, and if it was a prank better safe than sorry. And Angel wasn’t the pranking type.

“Ok.” I accepted, only to have her fingers curl around one of my arms, then spin me around grabbing the other. “Hell, I though you wanted me to go get ready to leave?”

“When did you get inked, and why is it glowing?”

I frowned in confusion. “Inked? I told you already I wasn’t ever going to get a tattoo... no matter how much you...”

Then for a moment more I stopped... and looked down upon my bared arms.

What the fuck did I do to myself while I was drunk?

All along my arms they ran, across the inside of my forearms following the veins and back around to the back of my palms. On my left hand glowed blue, something like Celtic knots, twisting, churning, intertwining... beautiful. On my right glowed red, it was jagged, Gothic in look and just as intertwining as the other, but there was something... an almost imperceptible ugliness inherent in its beauty.

Equal and Opposing forces.

I hadn’t seen them before... but now that I had, I could feel them, there was something intricate to these patterns, something utterly and unnervingly powerful.

The glowing intensified as I brought them into proper view, examining them... entranced by them.

I could still hear Angel speaking, her voice distant, getting farther by the second.

My eyes suffused with a brilliant glow... her cries lost amid the noise of limitless light.



I Awakened.
~/|{*}|\~









Your eyes open and before you a vision appears... a memory...

Of you at your worst.
[] Blood in my eyes... red and sweet. The crunch of my knuckles Visceral against his smug teeth. Wrath
[X] Writhing, moaning, the taste of other; penetrate, pierce. Slipped in as the world slips away. We shouldn’t... but it felt so good.Lust
[] A moment of Triumph, accolade won, however small. I was BETTER than they had been. Pride
[] Why couldn’t it have been me, why do these fat fucks get to have everything? Envy
[] Fuck it, I didn’t care anymore my stomach ached, I’d probably be fired for eating it all... but it tasted so good. Gluttony
[] ... No work. Not to day. A hassle. Not like they needed me there anyway. Sloth
[] No one would notice when I took it. That I took some every day. No one would notice, and if they didn't then it was MINE. Greed






Of you at your best.
[] I could take her abuse. I could take it all day. I wouldn't flinch and she couldn't make me. I was bigger than that. Patience
[] No... I walked away, the sex... it could have been hot as hell, but it wasn't right. Prudence
[] I preferred not to take the limelight, I may have been the one who made it work... but this was her night. Humility
[] People seemed to not look at him, walk by as the old man struggled. How could I not help take up his burden? Kindness
[] I wouldn’t have anymore, save it for later, we could make this stretch. Temperance
[X] I was tired, hungry... but I had to keep going. They were depending on me, and I had to keep going. Not to stop until I was done, sore and hurting, but I kept on going. Perseverance
[] The last of my money. Rent day was tomorrow... but she needed it more. I’d survive, I’d figure something out, but without this she would not. I’ve been cold before. I could endure. Charity






And In your Eyes a beast shines darkly, its shrouded form revealed...
[] What was it? Totem



































[This is Not... insane]





Today was her birthday, her boyfriend was out of town. It hadn’t been hard to get her to want you, to put her down on her knees and treat her like a whore. She was the one who’d come to you first. So what if your friends called you a slut an a whore? It wasn’t like you ever slept with the unwilling. But you’d always had a way with women... especially the ones you shouldn’t have been having any ways with at all.

That slinky dress came down, and you made sure the silken panties followed.

Fingers probe soft inner walls wet, hot, and tight.

Tongue and lips do more than just probe.

You’d never had much luck with single girls, things usually ending in less than week. Hell the only girl you’ve known and haven’t tried to sleep with in the last ten years is Angel. But that’s because Angel was special, and scary as fuck. You haven had much in the way of scruples however about invading other relationships, about insinuating yourself into the good graces of women who should have known better than to let a scoundrel like you into their lives.

You were well practiced in the art of dodging angry lovers.

Though on a few occasions it hadn’t been a wife that you’d found your way into...

All it really took, you’d found, was some perseverance and persistence to get them where you wanted them... in-between the sheets. Your manager at the Bestbuy always seemed to appreciate that perseverance even if she worked you like a dog.

It had always been your best attribute. That stubborn will to never give up on anything that you’d gotten into. To continue on long after everyone else had given in. Your best moments had all come from that need to keep at it even as the world around you faded into the quaking’s of physical need.

It was the one thing people loved about you. For all that you were a bit... ok... a lot of a slut, and a lush to boot, you never let anyone who depended on you down. You kept going, even in those times when you should have just quit.

Your coworkers respected you for it...

Which was likely the reason no one called you on sleeping with the manager despite everyone knowing. You were they one they came to when things needed to get DONE. And you’d worked more hours of unpaid overtime than anyone there could count.

Good ol Jack Daniels.

God dammit everyone loved that consulting joke too...



Across the stars in the dead of night a shape flew by, its wings stretched out against the sky, vast and dark in their iridescent sparkle, eyes bright with the outpouring sprinkling of star-lights. Beautiful. And in a thunderous cawing voice it spoke but a single word; as if in that one word its entire being did outpour.




“Awaken”





The black light in my eyes began to clear...

Jack.

It was a joke really, my mother had still been high on whatever they pumped a preggo full of when there’s a C-section to be done and presto, my mom high as a kite stares down at the ugly ball of flesh in her arms and wonders out loud where they put her kid. My mom named me her little Jack Daniels, while stoned to the gills on morphine. And I haven’t lived it down since.

Hell it’s the entire reason I’d really started drinking, friends pushing my namesake in my hand with a laugh, and me too stupid to do anything else but go along with it. And just like that it was bring him along to the party.

...

I didn’t even know why I was thinking about that.

I reached up for my forehead, remembering that it should have still been throbbing, that there should have been more than just than just the flashes of whatever on the back of my eyes.

But we were moving. The light bumps and noise of the motor giving it away.

I groaned from my place in the back seat... it smelled like I hadn’t had a proper bath in days, the cold the only thing keeping me from smelling worse.

“Angel?” I muttered, covered in a coat and something else.

“Holy shit, Jack? You’re up?” She sounded elated, even as she continued to drive.

“... ugg... what? What happened?” we were just talking and... I remembered blacking out now.

“You blacked out... I don’t even know what the fuck was up with the lightshow, but you scared the crap out of me. AND I had to haul your heavy ass into the car, then grab all the supplies myself. You’re an inconsiderate lout you know that?” She sounded way happier to say that than I’d have expected... dragged me all the way to her car?

I couldn’t really say I was that surprised. The girl was a former Marine, served a few terms in Afghanistan. And one of the most talented tattoo artists that I knew to boot.

“How long was I out?” I asked, Geez I smelled like it’s been a few days.

“Jack... It’s been almost two weeks. I don’t even fucking know how you’re still alive. You wouldn’t even take any water... but you didn’t get any weaker either. I’ve been driving hard trying to keep ahead of invasion spots, raiding, foraging, and trading my way across the fucking country. You owe me big-time idiot.” I bit my lip a bit as her voice wavered, I wasn’t at all accustomed to having the trademark Tough Girl get emotional for my sake.

Tentatively I tried to sit up, surprised at just how strong I still was. Two weeks?

I wanted to call it unreal. But visions of a giant crow, god, thing... telling me to wake up after my arms and eyes started to glow tended to shift what unreal meant.

Two weeks, and I felt as strong as ever... stronger actually.

“Now that I don’t have to drag your deadweight around we can start looking into finding other people. The last two weeks have been rough as fuck.” That made sense, I finally got a glimpse of her face in the mirror, a few more scars littered her arms and legs, but she remained as I ever remembered her. Not once did she check back on me though, she was never one to take her eyes off the road for anything short of attempted murder, inside the car.

“What the fuck’s been happening while I was down and out?” Morbid curiosity maybe... maybe I just wanted to get the bad news out of the way. Two weeks and I hadn’t even seen any of the invaders. Not that I particularly wanted to.

“All the major cities are down, infrastructure broken. They hit pretty much everywhere important across the globe. And any smaller cities they could find... they kinda stopped trying to exterminate us after the first few waves and settled into occupation. From what I’ve heard they’ve been setting up concentration camps and forcing people in.” She sounded angry, that was good. An angry Angel was a focused Angel, she’d always been good at channeling her emotions productively.

“They couldn’t have gotten everyone? Could they?” The invasion, what little of it I’d seen on the TV had been sudden and overwhelming... but to take out all or even most of us, I could hardly imagine that having happened even with multiple nukes or anything like that.

“No not everyone. Government and other organizations have fallen back, but its two weeks and things have been frantic at best. I haven’t run into anyone with good news on the organizational front. These things, they probably didn’t really get how our communications are distributed, so in the first week or so people were able to keep in touch. But they seem to have figured it out, now only things that are running are the satellite stuff. Ground based communications have been cut, and deep sea cables too... for the most part we’re blind. And I haven’t been able to get any of my old buddies.” She sounded particularly bummed by that last one. “So in short, everything screwed, we’ve got no direction, the enemy is a big ole UNKNOWN, and everyone left’s magic now.”

Yeah, a grim conclusion, even out here in the highway, it felt... desolate. It really was...

... hold a sec...

“Wait WHAT? Stop... What the fuck was that last bit?” Bitch dropped that line knowing I’d choke on it...

“Yeah... I don’t know how to break it to you but... I can pretty much jump rooftops, stab though brick walls without dulling the knife and sneak around like I was practically invisible now. One of the survivors I met had been a track star before; he can run faster than the car can move now.” She deadpanned her expression even as she spoke the fantastic. “Everyone seems a little stronger, a little faster, and a little tougher than they were before the invasion, and things we were good at... seemed to be even better. Fuck it, my ink that I did myself has been running around on my body… I found the tiger I’d painted on my arm playing around my pussy...”

... I couldn’t help it. Laughter...

It was all still so fucking unreal to me. Still so… I didn’t know what to make of it all, but the laughter poured out. Angel joined in, her hair starting to fray out as her head shook in mirth. Black-Guyanese ancestry had given her a combination of long hair which had a tendency to curl.

Eventually though, the laughter stopped, leaving way for more serious topics.

“There’s something else.” Her voice suddenly more grave. “It wasn’t just one invasion Jack.”

“Huhh?” I grunted every so wisely.

“There are two groups that came though. Both different enough that you could tell them apart at a glance, both fighting each other as much as they had been fighting us. More actually, they’d fight and we’d get ignored until one side won the area, before they set back to sweeping us up. This war that wiped us out... it’s in the middle of another war, and they seemed to be racing to knock us down so we don’t join in.” Her teeth clenched as she delivered the news, not even their major enemy, we were incidentals to another war. “This was preemptive shit... and from the way the conflicts are shaping, I got to guess that its cause they figured we’d actually be a big player in whatever game’s they got going. Good news is that depending on how badly they kicked us, we might still be able to get back up. They can’t occupy everywhere, and don’t seem intent on genociding us outright. They probably had the momentum to pull that off in the first few days; they mostly just hunted down anyone who looked like they could actually be threatening.”

“Ok. So we’ve got some options right Angelface?” Twenty six year old, male store-clerk asks of the badass female ex-marine.

“Well, right now is survival. We’re low on gas, low on food... and fuck it I’m fucking tired of driving. But the nearest town is about fifteen minutes east I think... need to check the map again. But that’s fucking close to an invasion gate. Next closest place is about 130 miles down the highway... and I’m not sure the old gas guzzler can make it all the way there. I was going to risk the one close by maybe find some supplies and what not, but with you awake again I figure if we break down I we can rough it a bit. Less need to take the risks. I’m still undecided, so it’s up to you on that one. I figure we can make it either way, and I’d rather not risk you now that I’ve got you back in the land of the living... but having the car functional is a fucking godsend.” She always was the type that would rather follow orders than give them; typical of the bitch to leave something like this up to me. “And hey, we can always turn back if you’re feeling a bit suicidal... I left a small town back about three hours ago, couldn’t stop to scavenge though, I saw an invader scouting party sniffing around, pulled out of town quick fast and in a hurry. They usually take a day or so turning the places upside down before they move on, so we have a little time.”

Smartass. I loved her for it anyway. Like a sister...

I really didn’t like how I’d been feeling strangely horny the entire time since I’d woken up.

But then... there wasn’t much about any of this to like.

I opened my mouth to direct her.






~/|[*]|\~



A choice...

Where do you go?
[] Close town: Hasting
-[] If you go there what is your game plan, what do you do, what do you look for, how long do you want to spend.

[] Father town: Pelington
-[] if you go there what do you do about the car? What do you need  and what will you be looking to do?

[]Turn back: Hailaway
-[] Game plan in and arguments for going...

[]Something else? You have another idea? Sure she’d love to hear it.


Lust wells up with…
[] Restrain it.
[] Explore it.