It had been a couple of days now since he'd arrived in this new world, and Eric had already run out of chainsaw fuel. He had more than enough logs for whatever he wanted to get built now, but future tree-murder would need to be done the old fashion way. That wasn't a problem, his time on the peninsula had corded his arms with thick muscle. Eric did regret losing the chainsaw, but he didn't know the first thing about making gasoline, so he shelved it inside his cabin. His bag felt significantly lighter as a result.

His new home was double the length of his original cabin, looking more like a longhouse. Four short walls held up a rising triangular roof, a single door dominating the front of the construction. It was all made of logs and planks, but Eric had been toying with the idea of thatching his roof to keep the rain from leaking between the logs in his ceiling. That would be a pain, but it'd be worth it in the long run.

He set another long sharpened log into the line of holes circling his base, finishing the wall just as the sun peaked overhead. He packed the dirt tight around the base to hold it in place, and slowly stood up, his legs and arms sore from today's effort. Despite the cool weather, he had removed his shirt halfway through the work. It lay folded inside along with his leather jacket. Eric felt sweaty and gross, but that feeling of disgust was overpowered by his pride. This was a damn good palisade!

His last walls had been built as a box around his cabin, but he liked this new circular fort better. He built the walls around ninety feet or so away from his cabin, leaving a lot of free space for additional construction. He already built a frame for his garden next to the longhouse, matching its length, and he had several other things planned. He'd need to build a couple of watchtowers over the walls to keep an eye out for goblins, but his base was mostly complete.

It was these moments of accomplishment that really pushed the madness back, and even if it was only for a moment; Eric truly felt like himself again. He looked to his modern axe, the sturdy tool's blade stuck partway in a log. The log pile was still plenty large, half as wide as Eric's house and half again the height. He whistled a tune as he wrested the blade from the log it was stuck in, holding it to the sun for inspection.

Just how many people had he killed with this thing? How many more lives would he take until he himself was killed? He went to the wide-open space in front of his longhouse, and began a few practice swings. He hadn't been trained in any form of combat involving an axe, but life or death had familiarized him with the weapons heft and length. He had familiarized himself with the other weapons he had, his second favorite being the katana he'd found.

The katana was a fine weapon, not a cheap fake katana but a real blade meant for use… but there was something about the axe that felt better to swing. The splicing of wood, the splitting of flesh and bone, the chips and brains this thing sent flying was something the katana just couldn't match. The sword would be excellent for slaughtering goblins though, especially since they barely ever wore armor. He hadn't had to kill that many more of them over the course of his construction, only around twenty had found him and tried to kill him.

The others that showed up were more cause for concern. Like the cannibals on the peninsula, these patrols seemed content just to stay back and watch. Eric had ignored these as he continued his work, he was capable of switching from labor mode to fight mode in a second if they decided to charge him. Maybe it was this confidence that kept them at bay? That wouldn't last forever, as lately they have been drawing closer and closer to his base and with bigger numbers.

Maybe they thought there were more humans around here than just him… or maybe it was the fact that he had been wearing a full-body set of goblin bones as armor when they came across him. He wasn't wearing it now of course, he didn't want the bone touching his exposed flesh, but whenever he trekked out into the wild he never went without it. Their ribs had been the easiest to bind together, and he had a kind of 'plate' shirt of interlocking gob ribs that covered his whole torso. Eric was particularly proud of the femur battle-skirt and the foot bone pauldrons. The toe bones of the shoulder guards made it look like he had shoulder spikes. He used every kind of bone to cover himself, and thanks to the small size of the goblins bones, they were easy to work with.

Another thing that could be deterring those random patrols could be the random bouquets of goblin heads hanging from the branches of uncut trees he'd been placing around the forest. He'd threaded some rope through all of their eyes to tie them all together before tying an overhand knot and hanging them. These bunches of heads weren't always near his base of course. Eric made sure that any goblins going about their business in a mile radius of his home would run into the heads eventually. Hopefully that'd keep them away for a while, but they'd eventually get the balls to try him with greater numbers.

The forest was now clean cut around his base, the clearing a graveyard of stumps. It'd be easy to find now for anyone wandering around here. Eric would start on the random placement of traps next, and then he'd-

His thought process was cut off abruptly when he heard a bestial roar from beyond his walls. This sound was unlike any goblin cry he had heard. It was deep and shook the air with its might. Eric ran up to the gate, pushing the gate open with his shoulder with minimal effort. When he was outside, he swung the gate shut, and still shirtless with no armor, he scanned the tree line.

A hulking green figure a head taller than Eric and twice as wide emerged from the trees just ahead of him, wielding a large wooden club in a massive wart-covered fist. It's long nose and yellow goat eyes indicated that this was a goblin, but good god why was it so huge? Did they get this big eventually? It wore it's hair in a long black greasy topknot, and a long bone was pierced through its nose. A loincloth barely covered it's lower body as it approached Eric on tree-trunk like legs.

It moved deliberately toward Eric with purpose, and in response, Eric shouted at the thing. It was a bestial roar, almost a screech of challenge as he brought his axe to bear. Seeing that Eric was not intimidated by it's massive frame, the goblin slowed in its tracks, looking somewhat confused. Other normal sized goblins, around fifteen or twenty in all emerged from behind the huge one, spreading out across the tree line and closing in.

"I'll wear your bones!" He screamed, the beast within him emerging.

No time to run back inside to don his armor. If only he had those watchtowers built sooner… he could just snipe them all with arrows comfortably. He saw much to his dismay that some of the goblins had brought slings and crude bows with stone heads for arrows. The rest wielded everything from short swords to small hatchets. Again, Eric was horribly outnumbered, but he did have one advantage over these freaks.

Tunes.

He quickly pulled out his cassette player, and hit a button, the tune of 'stronghold' beginning. Pumping himself up, he placed the player in his pocket, and charged forward as the drums were joined by electronic instruments. He zig-zagged to throw off the archers and slings, and remembering itself, the giant goblin charged with a roar meeting Eric's own.

Eric did not charge the giant however. He bee-lined for the gobs with ranged weaponry with a speed that seemed to startle the now charging goblins. One even turned tail and fled back into the woods at his approach, dropping its sling. That was one goblins worth less of bones dammit! He then jumped from stump to stump, quickly closing the distance between him and the small horde of goblins. Three had reached him before he could reach the four archers on this side.

One slashed at him with a short sword, which he avoided in his jumping run. He did not deliver any counterstrokes to the three as he closed on the bow-wielding goblins. They all swung for him but hit only air as he passed them. He suddenly dropped to his belly as the gobs all fired a volley at the same time, the arrows hitting the goblins Eric had avoided. He did not see how many were hit or where, but their pained cries of surprise told him that at least two of them weren't going to be coming after him right now.

That wasn't what he intended, but hey, that was less work for him. He quickly shot to his feet, the nearest archer only a few feet away from him on top a stump. The goblin fell backward off the stump as it stepped to avoid the axe swinging for its face. Eric jumped on it before it could rise, landing on both of its legs and snapping them upward at the knee. It screamed in agony and Eric laughed at it, eyes wide and mouth-frothing.

He ended it with a quick stomp to the head, crunching the skull inward and popping an eye out. Not wasting any time, he moved for the other three archers who had begun to run away. He heard the large goblin slowly running for him, but Eric was much faster, and he wanted to kill all the little guys before he got to the fun part. He ran them all down with bloody swipes of his axe, laughing as he did it.

The remaining gobs with slings then threw their stones at him, one clipping him in his thigh but the rest missing. Pain shot up his leg but Eric ignored it, charging for the sling-wielding goblins next. A dozen more goblins got in his way but he dashed into the forest to avoid them. Coming around the trees, he flanked the slingers and swung at the nearest one. They were still looking in the direction he had been, so they did not see him charging from the woods. The axe took off the entire front of the creature's face, exposing the gooey brains. It fell onto its knees and slumped forward, the brain falling out of the skull and splattering on the forest floor.

He reared the axe back and swung with the poll of the head, colliding with another goblin's throat and crushing it with ease. The gob went flying back, choking on its own broken windpipe. Only one slinger remained and it was running back behind its friends that were chasing him. Eric laughed madly as he charged, cutting a bloody path through the goblins that stood in his way. Limbs and gore were sent flying, spattering his shirtless form with crimson.

How many had he killed now? He'd stopped counting, lost in his blood lust. Eric finally buried his axe into the final goblins head, the blade sinking halfway down the skull. Eric pulled once, twice, and was sent flying by a powerful blow. He landed on his back with a thud onto wet leafy earth. His head spun and his left shoulder ached. It was like he'd gotten knocked away by a damned armsy.

He quickly got up, well used to being flung around like a doll by the massive mutants of the peninsula. He shook his head as the giant goblin began its approach, wielding its club with clear intent. The bastard hit hard, but not hard enough. Eric cackled, running through the trees in a zig-zag to throw off any pursuit and eventually finding his way back to the clearing of stumps. A dozen goblins were looking in the direction Eric had been knocked away in, not seeing him at all. Eric held in his mad laugh as he silently charged them fingers curled in on themselves like claws.

He could kill these things with his bare hands, he'd get the axe for the big fella afterward if he could. They finally turned at hearing his approach, seeing his dripping bloody form at last. They screamed in surprise and fear as he brained the first one with a powerful overhand strike. The skull cracked like an eggshell from the force of it, the goblin collapsing as he kicked another one in the face with a roundhouse.

That one was sent spinning end over end in a cartwheel toward his base, landing in a heap between two stumps. One slashed at him with a dagger, which he avoided narrowly with a small back-step. The goblin's momentum carried it forward, and Eric caught the thing's wrist. With a grunt of effort, he swung the whole goblin over his head and smashed its skull against a nearby stump. It flattened the scalp of the creature, and Eric quickly let go as another closed in to stab him with a sword.

He dodged to the left, and delivered a hook to the gob's jaw, knocking it to its hands and knees. Eric then kicked it in the ribs, sending it flying away and crushing its rib cage. He quickly picked up the sword it dropped, the blade as long as his axe and double-ended. He parried two goblins that slashed at him with shorter blades and jumped away as a third charged him with a crude spear.

The large goblin emerged from the wood again, roaring as it spotted Eric and the carnage he had caused. Eric sidestepped another spear thrust, and slashed the blade across the gobs bloated belly. Its ropy guts spilled out onto the ground and it dropped the spear as it collapsed to its knees, trying to stuff the organs back where they belonged.

Eric got slashed at again, but he parried the second blade after dodging the first and stabbed the goblin in the throat. He let the blade go as the little bastard fell forward, the blade driven all the way to its hilt as the goblin completed its fall. Eric laughed again and the last goblin fled. Eric grabbed up the spear from the ground, a simple stick with a sharp rock at the end, and hurled it with expert precision at the fleeing gob.

The spear point hit the goblin right in the back, and it fell with a gurgling cry. Then the big guy came upon him. Eric barely avoided an overhand smash that would have mashed his skull into paste. The massive club collided hard with the ground, kicking up leaves and dirt. Eric adopted a low crouch, letting what he now dubbed the 'hobgoblin' swing again. He easily avoided the overhand by ducking back. Eric then darted forward, running up the club and gripping the bone piercing the hobgoblin's nose with both hands, each on opposite sides.

He wrenched the bone to the side, breaking the hobgoblin's nose sideways and causing it to scream in pain. Eric laughed and wrenched it the other way before finally pulling it toward himself, ripping out the bone with a spray of crimson and reducing the long nose to a pitiful flap that hung limply against the giant's lips. Eric backed out of reach again as the hobgoblin screamed further, narrowly avoiding a punch as he did so.

Still gripping the sharpened bone in his hand, Eric waited for his opportunity. The hobber was clutching its ruined nose with one hand, but still held onto its club. It glared at him with pure hate, and Eric winked at it, flashing a toothy smile as he did so. It roared at him, and Eric returned the shout, both charging toward each other at the same time as they screamed. The hobgoblin swung its giant club horizontally, and Eric ducked under it, feeling the wind of the mighty strike pass over his head. At the same time, Eric drove the bone right through the thing's left foot, the sharpened bone biting into the earth beneath. He quickly let it go and rolled forward, twisting as he finished the roll and leaping up onto the goblin's wide back. Eric wrapped one arm around the goblin's thick neck, and grabbed his own bicep, yanking back and choking the hob. It thrashed violently to remove Eric, but he had already wrapped his legs around the hobgoblins torso, locking the thing in a standing rear-naked choke.

Eric was so lost in his battle-rage that he found himself biting into the hob's pointed ear, ripping off a chunk and spitting it out with a spew of blood. The blood was sticky, almost sap-like in texture. He'd have to remember that for later. The hob roared and bucked harder, and Eric took another bite, ripping out a chunk of its cheek and spitting it out. The gobs rotting teeth were now exposed to open air and it bucked again, but Eric didn't move an inch. Eric then took more and more bites out of the hob's face, inciting more deep bellowing cries of pain.

Suddenly the hobgoblin lurched toward a stump, and turned his back to face it. Realizing what was happening, Eric took another quick bite out of its ear, removing the rest of it. He leaped off it's back as it fell backward onto the stump, keeping the chunk of ear in his mouth as he landed on his feet. It hit the stump and gave a small grunt of pain, but seeing that Eric had escaped, it began to stand back up.

Before it could fully rise, Eric ran up, and punched it in its right eye socket. His fist sunk deep into the soft organ, ruining it and causing the hob to screech in agony once more. A hand gripped his elbow and Eric was again sent flying as the hob threw him away like a toy. Eric landed on his back, but unfortunately, it wasn't the soft earth this time he collided with. The edge of a stump broke his fall and his back exploded with agony.

He grunted and rolled on the ground away from the stump, not staying still but trying to get a handle on his pain. Eric was lucky that hadn't broken his spine, but damn he'd be feeling that for a while yet. He knew that this bruise was going to be blacker than the deepest cave. Good thing he was still stocked up on pills.

Eric finally stood, teeth still biting into the chunk of ear he had ripped free as he glared the hobgoblin down. It had also risen to its feet, it's face a bloody unrecognizable mass of twisted green flesh. It gripped its club in both hands, standing still as it observed Eric. Looks like it was gonna be more careful from now on… He looked around him, seeing that he had landed next to one of the dead goblins he had mangled. Taking up the dagger from it's dead grip, he readied himself to tear the hob apart.

As he approached the big goblin, he gave it a wide-open smile, its ear still clenched between his teeth. He spit it out and licked his lips, ignoring the awful taste of the goblin's blood. It looked a little wobbly on its feet, either from the pain or blood loss. Eric himself was a little unsteady, his sore back and shoulder really starting to ache. His leg didn't even hurt now, but maybe that was because of the overpowering pain he felt elsewhere. He halted his approach as he saw something shift in the tree line. More goblins?

No…

A single near-invisible shape, the branches under it's weight indicating something was there. The way the light bent around it… the specter! Had it come to help out the hobgoblin? If so, why was it sitting there in the tree, not doing anything? Hadn't it learned it's lesson the last time it spied on him? He'd deal with it after he finished off his friend here. The giant goblin seemed to have adopted an almost batter-like stance. Meaning that if Eric charged him again, then the hob would smack him right out of the park. There was one advantage that Eric had right now over the big goblin though…

He wasn't bleeding.

Eric stood there, simply watching the goblin as time passed. He took the time to catch his breath, and it seemed the hob did the same, but it's green flesh was slowly turning a sickly pale cast as it bled from the wounds Eric had inflicted upon it. No need to rush this. He'd wait. More time passed, and his cassette finished the song. He pondered playing it again, but he didn't feel like smearing his bloody fingers all over it. The specter remained perched in the trees, not moving. The hob's stance then began to grow shaky, and it grudgingly began approaching him with slow steps.

Eric then began walking away casually as it approached him. The thing shouted some intelligible slur at him and then broke into a run. That was what Eric had wanted. He then jogged, just a bit slower in pace than the hobgoblin, letting it close the distance. When its footsteps were close enough, Eric shifted, ducking under another horizontal swing and stabbing his dagger into the hob's wrist. The blade emerged from the other end and Eric withdrew it as he rolled away.

The hob clutched its wrist, dropping the massive club as it wailed. Eric charged again, delivering three quick stabs to its side and rolling away again as it swung a massive fist at him. The blade wasn't long enough to reach any organs, but goblins had a lot of veins like humans did. Eric then systematically began carving and stabbing at the hob, filling it up with holes and lacerations before it finally fell over from blood loss.

It was still breathing though, and that was a problem. It wasn't going to fight anymore, but Eric wasn't satisfied with just ending it right there. Those teeth looked like they would make a good necklace, and he didn't feel like ripping them out one by one. Dropping his dagger, he approached the near-unconscious goblin, knuckling his back as he went.

Lifting its head, he placed its open mouth on a short stump. The flat teeth of its upper jaw dug into the wood and kept the skull stationary. He then hopped up onto the stump, and noticed other shapes emerging from the forest. Another party of goblins, this one with twice the number of last time and complete with another massive hob. They couldn't be more than fifty paces away. Eric silently cursed as they saw him, but he had an idea to scare them off.

He was going to do it anyway, but the added bonus of his bloody form and the field of bodies before them would aid in this. As they hesitantly drew closer, cautious as they moved through the twisted corpses Eric had made, he stomped down on the hob's skull. The bone cracked, and the teeth were broken right out of its mouth. It then stopped breathing finally, and Eric rose both of his arms in challenge, his shirtless bloody form a horrifying sight. He then drew his lips back in a mad smile, bloody teeth showing as he maintained his posture.

They all stopped in their tracks, the hob being the first to still. The hobgoblin's eyes found it's kin and stared dumbly. The other goblins seemed to be scanning the tree line and his fortress. They seemed to be looking for something. Other people maybe. Eric then began casually approaching them with deliberate steps, and when the hobgoblin saw this, it took a step back. That was the exact opening he needed. Eric gave a blood-curdling roar, and began charging, fingers curled like the claws of a savage beast. The hobgoblin then turned tail and ran. On seeing this, the other smaller goblins followed after it, running back into the trees.

He needed to make sure they wouldn't notice that he gave up the chase. Eric ran one down, tackling it and breaking its arm to make it scream. That sent them running even faster, and satisfied that his psychological warfare had paid off, he twisted the goblin's neck, ceasing its screams. He stood again, looking down at his bloodied form.

He had become the red man again…

Eric shook his head, dragging the fresh corpse back to base as he went. As he emerged from the trees, he dropped the goblin. Finding his axe, he placed a foot on the goblins back and wrenched it free, brain matter still stuck to it. He then glared right at the specter, a deep frown on his face.

"Yeah, I see you." Eric said, pointing his axe at the thing "Go away!"

Surprisingly, it did what he said, vanishing into the vast canopy of trees. He was too tired to give chase, and way too sore. Those pills were sounding better and better with each passing moment as his back and shoulder throbbed. He approached his longhouse, passing the twisted green corpses with barely a second glance.

Well, at least he could show off some more artwork to his next visitors with all this new material.