29(S3E3)- The Axis

29

(Season 3, Episode 3)

The Axis

2 Days before the Instant

Scott was having a hard time understanding what was going on.  Through the course of five minutes, all of his worst nightmares had seemed to come true.  Had someone slipped him an Ambien?  Was this all some kind of fever dream he could not wake up from?

He had walked in on his best friend, of nearly twenty years, trying to kill himself on his 28^th birthday.  Only seconds later, a midget (was that the politically correct term?  He couldn’t remember) and an Irishman covered in tattoos, holding some kind of musket, had tried to do the job for Zachariah.  Then, bugs flew out of his best friend’s skin and formed something almost human.

Scott knew that he had a reputation to be kind of dense at times.  He did not agree with this branding but for the first time, he did truly feel dense.  In his defense, he put it to anyone at all to not be confused in the current situation.

“No, we are too late.”  Mel muttered under his breath.

Its form constantly shifted and moved because the bugs that made up the being could not stand still.  It was as if the bugs were doing some kind of person impersonation.  Scott felt itchy.  It was an itchiness that spread throughout his entire body.  His insides turned and he felt physically ill.

It turned its head towards them and seemed to speak.  No mouth moved, though.  Scott just heard the words in his head as if the monster was opening his brain and putting them there.  “The first of the four is free.  In forty eight hours, death will come to everyone!”

“With the arrival of Plague, the Dahaka has now been summoned.  I have to prepare the spell.  It will take time.”  Mel clasped his hands together.  “Deal with Plague.”

“Deal with plague?”  Bevan called back.  “That’s a bloody horseman of the apocalypse!  How would you like me to deal with it?”

“Zachariah has minutes before the Dahaka finds him and I need all of them to set the spell!”  Mel called back, then began chanting.

Scott stared, dumbfounded.  “You guys are here to help Zachariah?”

Bevan shrugged.  “More or less.”

Bevan raised the old-style pistol and it glowed in his hand for a second.  It was a bright white light before suddenly, a blast of what seemed to be pure energy burst forth from the end.  The blast struck the front of the creature and washed over him like liquid.  It screamed in pain and fell backwards.  Burned husks of the red beetles fell to the ground in its wake.

Bevan smiled.  “How about that, we can hurt the damn thing.  That is a good sign, eh?”

Scott stared, confused.  “Yes?”

“You dare?!”  The creature mentally screamed before its body burst into a million of the bugs, swarming throughout the room before sucking back together into the human form in front of the tattoo-covered gunman.  It snapped out its hand to grab his face but instead of a hand the bugs seemed to swarm the man’s face and head until his features where no longer visible.

Bevan began to struggle and back up but the monster stayed on him, following him backwards into the kitchen, draining the life from him.

Kitchen.

Scott’s battered and confused brain finally began to break through the shock and confusion of the things happening around him and somewhat rational thought returned.  The first thought Scott understood was that there was something about the kitchen he needed to remember.

Scott’s eyes went to the pulled out stove and the broken gas pipe that Zachariah had been using to attempt to kill himself.  It was still letting out a steady stream of natural gas into the small kitchen.

Scott, a Cub, Boy then Eagle Scout through adolescence and young adulthood, had three things he never left home without:

1 – A knife

2 – Duct Tape

3 – A Zippo lighter (even though he rarely smoked)

All three of these things had been mocked by his unconscious self-destructive friend on the floor at one time or another.  He only wished Zachariah had been awake and fully aware for what he was about to do.  He also hoped that he was right and that the open door had vented the rest of the apartment enough or none of them would be alive to tell him it was a bad idea.

He pulled the Zippo from his pocket snapped open the lid and struck the flint.  It lit up and he tossed it forward into the stream of gas.  It lit, almost instantly, and the pipe became a flame thrower.  The white hot fire washed over the bug creature standing in front of it and the monster screamed.

The scream reverberated in Scott’s head and almost made him wish he hadn’t done anything.  The smell of burning garbage filled the room as burning beetles went in all directions as the creature burst again.

This time it did not re-form, at least not right away.  Instead, the thousands of bugs seemed to just fly around confused, as if stunned by the attack.

Scott had no time to revel in his apparent success.  He turned back to the midget and Zachariah and the ninjas seemed to appear out of thin air.  One grabbed him and spoke three words he did not understand and then….

…Smoke?

****

10 Years after the Instant

The Amulet stopped working ten feet from the ground but the killer was ready.  He landed and rolled without problems.  He came up, his hand on his blade as he stood in the Canadian wilderness on the chill fall morning.

“Did you get it?”  The voice was deep and guttural.  It came from the forest, just ahead of the killer.

The killer relaxed his hand but never took it from the blade.  Though they had come he did not, and would not trust them.  “Of course.”

The voice stepped into the morning sunlight.  He was tall and wide, standing almost seven feet tall and he had muscles on his muscles.  He wore leather pants and a leather biker’s vest with no shirt, even though it was only forty degrees.  He had red complexion and mohawked black hair that denoted his Native American heritage.

The killer knew him as Dire Wolf, the head of the werewolves and the Axis.

The Axis were the dark side of the magical world.  The races that had been exiled from Avalon and the enemies of those in the floating castle.  The killer did not trust them but he knew he could not undertake his mission alone.  Not any longer.

“I think the better question,” a voice spoke.  “Is can he make good on his promises?”  A small dwarf-like man walked out of the trees to the killer’s right.  He was dressed head-to-toe in a green suit and had almost bleach blonde hair and a beard.  He was called Big Green and he was the leprechaun king.

The killer gave him a hard eye.  “My word is all I have left.”

“Come now, Greeny.  Scott always comes through on his promises.”  To the killer’s left, from the trees stepped a woman.  She was in a complicated outfit that you would only see in a gothic club.  She had at least ten necklaces of different sizes and shapes around her neck and at least the same number of bracelets around each wrist and two rings on each finger.  Her hair was done in long braids from all sides and she wore too much make-up.  She was a witch and her name was Leesa.

The killer frowned.  “Don’t call me that.”

The witch grinned at the killer.  The look reminded him of a cat watching a caged bird.  “Aw come on, sweetie.  I thought we were on a first name basis.  After all, my Feather Fall amulet worked, didn’t it?”

The killer ignored her and looked back to Dire Wolf.  “We don’t have much time.  I had to kill Mel on my way out.  Kahn and the ninja will be coming.”

“You killed Mel?  The council member?  Master Nex?  I do not believe it.”  Big Green scoffed at him.

The killer bowed his head slightly.  “I had no choice.  It was the only way.”

Leesa ran over and leapt on him, kissing him hard on the mouth.  The killer shoved her off of him then gave her a hard, forceful backhand to the face and she staggered.  “Never touch me!”

Leesa turned back and smiled.  “Oh, baby…  How did you now I like it rough?”

“Enough, Leesa.”  Big Green scowled at the show.  “Must you continue to be a walking cliché whore?”

Leesa snorted at him. “Aw, is the little guy jealous?  Sorry Greeny, I like full sized men.”

Big Green’s face contorted into rage.  “Why, you insufferable-”

Dire Wolf cut them off.  “Enough!”

His shout silenced them both, the tower of a man walked to The Killer.  “Mel deserved to die, just like the rest of them.  You have proven yourself to be one of us.  We will uphold our side of the bargain.  We will take you to the spiral and the door to Time.  Let the traitorous Kahn and her ninjas come.  We do not fear them.”

The killer nodded.  “Good, then I will do what I promised.  Avalon will fall.”

Heavy stuff!  Has the Future Scott really sided with the bad guys to bring down the floating city?  What happened to make him this way?  Will Scott use all three of his favorite ‘be prepared’ items for the first time ever?

Find out next time on…

Stranger Things!

TO BE CONTINUED!