Haunted Angel Part 2

I shot three quick bursts at the creature. After taking nine bullets to the head, it simply laughed at me. The lights suddenly flickered and the creature was not alone. Demonic versions of my entire team now surrounding me. ” Oh… fuck , ” I muttered, as a sense of utter dread overcame me.

Panicking, I began firing at the entire room, not really aiming at anything specific. About the only thing I accomplished is shooting out the light. I quickly flipped on my night – vision goggles. Unfortunately, they were still there , but it seemed like they couldn’t see me, because they were all standing around looking confused. One of them swiped at air. Crouching down, I slowly started to back away as quitly as I could. Apparently, I wasn’t quiet enough.

They began stalking me. Moving ever closer, they took random swings in hopes of finding me. ” Ahh,” Lead said. “He’s figured out that we are blind to him. Does it feel good knowing that you have a tactical advantage over us? It doesn’t matter. You’re still not going to make it out of this room alive.”

He’s trying to scare me into giving away my position. Silently, I took off my headset and threw it across the room. Four of them stopped and started to move in that direction. Lead looked right at me. ” Did you really think that would work, Angel?” he asked.

The door was not far. I needed to make a distraction. Pulling out a grenade, I pulled the pin and threw it in front of Lead. I took off running. The grenade went off and I was momentarily blinded. Dammit! It was a flashbang. The demons groaned in frustration and I ran right into the door. I felt the blood start running out of my nose. After feeling around for the knob, I found it and got my ass out of there.

Locking it behind me, I took off running again. I heard the door shatter behind me, but I didn’t turn around. I kept running. Taking many twists and turns as possible, I began to think I had lost them. It seemed as though my problems were over, but unfortunately, I had forgot one critical element in my mad dash. There were still soldiers in this place. That thought had escaped my mind until I ran into a whole squadron of them.

One of them yelled for me to stop. Instead, I shot him in the throat as I dove for cover. Bullets whizzed by me. A few even managed to nick me, but none were even close to serious. Kneeling behind a large box, I chucked a grenade off to my right. Pivoting left, I used the ensuing explossion to cover my gunfire. Three down, about 30 more to go. At this rate those monsters won’t have to kill me. These soldiers will do that for them.

While I was trying to think of a way out of this impossible mess. Shouts of terror came from the soldiers behind me. I dared a look. The three soldiers I had just killed had turned into demons and started killing the others. The entire courtyard filled with the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Shit! Not only do I have to get out of this place in the middle of a war, I have to do it without killing anyone else or they’ll turn into one of those monsters.

“There he is!”

Turning, I saw my team coming after me. There was no way out. I was dead.

Haunted Angel- Part 1

Here is the start of my Dead Set spinoff series entitled Haunted Angel. Like the last story I put up with the handwriting to text app, I feel obligated to inform you that the app likes to put in extra spaces and doesn’t always get the punctuation correct (mistaking commas for periods, etc.). I probably should go through and fix those things before I publish these chapters, but I’m feeling lazy right now. Maybe I will on the later ones.

What do you see when you’re in the dark and the demons come for you? I see all the pain and suffering that I’ve caused in my life. It’s come back to haunt me, and I’m not sure that I will live through it.

My name is Eric Brazelton. Right now, I’m in the top ten of the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. I’m not in the top five yet. If they knew how many people I’ve actually killed, I’d probably be higher on the list. Not that I’m complaining. I don’t want to be the most hunted man in the world.

After being dishonorably discharged from the Army (apparently they don’t like it when you beat the crap out of your commanders), I stuck with what I knew best. I became a sniper for a mercenary outfit. The pay was much better, plus my first target was the bastard that got me kicked out. He’s longer with us. All in all, it’s a pretty nice job. I get paid to kill people. At least, that’s what I thought.

Our final mission was coming up. Once completed, we’d all have enough money to retire to some island country. The six of us met to discuss the battle plan. We were breaking into a government weapon depot and setting our “findings” to the highest bidder. while the plan had some flaws, it easily doable. Now, it’s time for action.

***** ***** *****

Two silenced shots went out and two men fell dead. ” Two down,” I crackled into the headset.

“Confirmed,” came the reply from our leader. “Group B, excecute. Angel, position shift.”

I, being Angel, replied, “Affirmative.” Grabbing my gear, I ran to my secondary location and quickly set up for my next shot. For the next few minutes, it was deathly quiet. Something was wrong, I thought to myself. Sure enough, about two seconds later I heard the call on my headset.

“Granger is down. I need cover, Angel.”

Shifting my sight, I saw my troubled teammate. He was pinned down by gunfire. In rapid succession, I took down three of them. The rest of them dove for cover. ” You have a window. ” Get clear now. ”

As he ran away, gunfire erupted on the other side of the complex. Without being ordered, I shifted position again, heading for the source of the fire. ” Lead,” I asked. “Status report?” No answer came.

I should help them get out of there, I thought. Wait a minute, to hell with them. I should get myself out of there. They’re probably all dead anyways, ” Team, ” I said through the headset, ” if you’re still alive, abort. Fall back to site B. If you’re not there in the next few minutes, you’ll be left behind. I turned around and ran. A voice in my ear stopped me in my tracks. It was Lead.” Angel, execute Swoop.”

Swoop was the order to go down there and rescue them, I quickly turned around, switched from my sniper rifle to my assault rifle, and ran down to the fence. Pulling out a canister of liquid nitrogen, I made myself entrance. After avoiding a few patrols, I found two of my dead teammates. Quickly putting them out of my mind, I kept going to where Lead was supposed to be.

Finally, I made it to the vault. Dead bodies were all over the place. Nobody was left alive, not even the remainder of my team. I knelt down over the body of my fallen commander. ” I failed you, Lead,” I said, ” I should’ve gotten here sooner.”

“You’ve failed everyone who ever trusted you, ‘Angel’,” I heard from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Lead standing there. How the hell was that possible? I was still touching his dead body. “What the …, ” I stuttered.

“Surprised to see me? Not as surprised as I am seeing my corpse, I bet.”

I stood up and backed away. This was the freakiest thing I had ever witnessed.

“I bet you’re wondering how I’m standing here even though I’m dead,” it said to me.

“The thought had crossed my mind, ‘ I replied, after regaining some measure of composure.

“It’s quite simple, really. In death, I have joined a new army. Unlike the one we were in, I’m no longer in charge. I’m a simple recruiter.”

“What are you talkin about?”

“I recruit people into Death’s army and the next target is you.”

With that, his body began to change shape. His appearance was now quite frightening, almost demonic. Horns grew on his head, talons on his hands, ” Now,” it hissed with its forked tongue, “it’s time for you to get what you deserve.”

Song Lyric Stories – Spin

This episode of SLS is based on the suggestion of my brother Twindaddy. The lyrics he gave me come from the song Spin by my namesake, the band Revis. Spin is one of my favorite songs of theirs, so I want to do this story justice. Hopefully, I succeed.

“I’m a space god in the rain.” Spin – Revis

“This is not the warmest welcome I have ever received,” I remarked.

A fist came flying at me. It’s been a long time since someone tried to punch me. Back then, it didn’t go too well for the being who tried it. The being who tried it this time met with equal failure. His fist hit the chin of my physical manifestation and shattered. Not just his fist, but all the way up to his shoulder too. He cradled his ruined arm with his other and backed slowly away.

“I am impressed that you were able to hide this place for as long as you did,” I said as if nothing happened. “But did you really think that you could create an entire planet within my space and I would never find out about it?”

“I’ll kill you,” he raged, his eyes burning with hatred and anger.

I laughed. “That threat would scare the pitiful creatures who worship you here, but I remain unafraid. You created a planet. You also created life on it, so you do have some power to you. Next to me, however, your power is nothing.” Gesturing up to the night sky, I continued, “Look at it all. Every star, every heavenly body, even every speck of dust floating in my beautiful vast blackness is doing so because that is how I want it.”

Just then, the sky overhead filled with dark clouds. Lightning and thunder filled the area as rain began to fall. “I don’t see any of that,” the puny godling laughed at me.

“You know, I was going to let your creatures continue to live and worship me. It has been a long time, after all, since I have let anything live long enough to do so.” My mood suddenly shifted from lighthearted to something a little more menacing. “Because you wanted to be difficult, however, I think that I will now destroy every living thing on this planet in front of your eyes. Then, when I have finished with that, I will destroy you.”

“No!”

With nothing more than a thought, I pinned the godling to the ground and proceeded to do as I told him I would. Every living thing on his planet floated before his eyes only to be unmade in a grisly, painful fashion. As it happened, more rain began to fall. I reveled in it, basking in the tears of a lesser god.

It ended far too quickly for my taste, so I made him replay it in his mind a few times. I do not know how long it took. It could have been mere moments. It could have been many centuries. Either way, his torture eventually stopped being fun. I took one last pause to bathe in the drops falling upon my physical manifestation before putting him out of his misery. With a few well placed blows I destroyed his body. Then I used my powers to erase the rest of him from reality.

Bored, I surveyed the rest of my quadrant of the galaxy, looking for something to do.

Song Lyric Stories- Fade In/Fade Out

This episode of SLS is a little different than the previous ones. This time, I picked the lyrics myself instead of being prompted by one of my awesome readers. I’ll get back to the prompts next time, but I had a month’s worth of posts to write, so I changed it up a little bit with some lyrics from a Nothing More song.

“I have watched you fade in, you will watch me fade out. When the grip leaves my hand, I know you won’t let me down.” Nothing More – Fade In/Fade Out

“I’ve done it, Father,” he announced as he strolled into the throne room triumphantly. “I have led our army to victory against the Awntish.”

He knew that runners had already beaten him back to the castle with the news, but he enjoyed making a grand entrance because it embarrassed his dad. Despite being mid-day, however, his father’s throne was empty. Surprised, he looked around for someone to ask what was going on. His father’s steward entered the room, saw who had made the noise, ran up to him, and bowed. “Prince Wellton,” the steward began.

“Where is he?” Wellton interrupted.

“Your Highness, you may want to prepare yourself…”

“Where is he?” Wellton yelled.

“In his bedchamber.”

Wellton rushed out of the room and ran to his father’s bedchamber. When he got there, his father was in his bed, surrounded by healers. They scrambled to get out of his way as he approached. His heart broke when he was finally close enough to see his father’s condition. The king was rail thin, pale, and appeared to be incredibly weak. Wellton wrapped his hand around his father’s, but made sure to be careful. He was afraid that if he squeezed at all, he may break bones.

“Father,” he said with tears running down his cheeks. “What’s wrong with you?”

The king opened his eyes, saw his son by his bedside, and smiled, revealing wrinkles that Wellton hadn’t seen before. “I got old,” the king chuckled before having a coughing fit.

“I wasn’t gone that long.”

“I’ve been old for a long time now. You just never noticed it before. When you’re with someone every day, you don’t see how they change over time. It wasn’t until you were away from me that you saw it.”

Wellton shook his head in denial. “Why haven’t the healers cured you yet?”

“There is no cure, magical or otherwise, for time. It’s a foe none of us can defeat.”

More tears flowed. Wellton knew his father had given up and was just waiting on death to claim him. “What will I do without you?”

“You will do what you’ve always done,” the king responded in a voice continuously growing weaker. “You will protect our kingdom from invaders, just like you did against the Awntish. You will be a fair and just king, just as you were a fair and just prince. You will be a good husband to your wife and a good father to my granddaughter, and any other child you may have after I’m gone.”

“I don’t know if I can do all that without you here to guide me.”

With a squeeze of his hand, the king whispered, “I know you can.”

Wellton felt his father’s hand go limp. He looked into the king’s eyes, but there was no life left in them. His father, the king, was gone. He began sobbing uncontrollably. The healers hurried to get out of the room, leaving the prince to his grief. Once they were gone, Wellton brought his father’s hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I won’t let you down, Father. I promise.”

Uhh… Fire

“Uhh, dude, your hand’s on fire.”

The man with the burning fingers did nothing to quell the flames. Instead, he grinned. “That’s nothing,” he said. “Watch this.”

The flames suddenly expanded. They rose up and began dancing around his arm. Suddenly, they covered the man’s entire body. Then, the fire just disappeared. The man grabbed the bottle of water and his change off the counter. “Thanks, buddy.”

The gas station attendant didn’t respond, just watched him leave in a stupor. When he turned back around, he was even more perplexed. His cash drawer was still open…and empty.

Space Battle

He put full power to his engines, but the missile was still gaining on him. His fighter juked left and right, up and down. The missile stayed with him. He was running out of time. If he didn’t do something soon, he was dead. Out of desperation, he killed his engine and steered the fighter straight down. The missile passed him by, but began to turn to reacquire his ship.

The maneuver may have worked against the missile, but it also put him right in the path of an enemy fighter. Could he pull up in time?

Batter Up

I don’t know if you knew this, but a hundred miles per hour is fast. His first pitch hit that on the radar gun. The next two didn’t. It was entirely possible that he was throwing another offspeed pitch, but I didn’t think so. The count was one ball and two strikes. He usually threw his curveball as his strikeout pitch, but he wouldn’t this time. A fastball was coming. I felt it in my gut.

The wind-up. The pitch. I swung. The crack of the bat. The ball was sailing to deep centerfield. Would it have the distance?