《Searcher》Chapter 21: Tobin
Advertisement
The GPS put the address about fifteen minutes away. I spun the car around on the interstate, and headed back toward the town we just left.
“I swear, if this GPS leads us back to that goddamn motel…” I muttered as I drove. I turned off from the highway, a couple miles before reaching the city limits. The unkempt road took us further into the outskirts until we came to a secluded area overgrown with trees. An old farmhouse stood abandoned at the end of the road, weatherbeaten and faded with age.
“You’ve gotta be fucking shitting me!” I stared out the windshield in disbelief. All the place needed was a flashing neon sign that read “Bad Guy’s Hideout.”
The derelict house was a bad cliche, straight out of every B-list horror movie ever made. It was that stupidly obvious. I looked around expecting to hear fiddle music or see a guy with a chainsaw wearing a leather mask. Didn’t expect a backwoods banjo haven from Felix. He’s more of a downtown kinda guy. A warehouse loft area with industrial furnishings was more his style. This place was an amateur move. It was out of the way, isolated, and out of earshot of nosy neighbors, unless those neighbors were Billy Bob and Uncle Jim making moonshine in the back forty. At least, the distance from town would be a boon when interrogating prisoners. And we would be interrogating them, first.
“We are interrogating them, Rage.” I reminded him one last time before getting out of the car.
You’re interrogating. I’m killing.
With the car obscured by trees, I scanned the exterior of the house from the brushline.
Two trucks. Not that many inside, judging by the lack of vehicles.
“There could be more in the back.” I reasoned, thinking the obvious was a little too obvious. However, my attention was drawn to a window by the front door. “Look over there.” I pointed at a light blue curtain floating on the breeze.
Time to party.
“I got this.” I walked softly, being careful not to snap any twigs or make a sound. Falling back on my training, I scanned the area while zig-zagging from tree trunk to truck fender to the side of the house, all while bent over to shrink my target zone. No use giving them an easy shot.
I stopped by the open window, listening for voices. The garbled sound of a CB radio caught my attention. It crackled and buzzed before a man’s voice droned over the line, sounding distorted, then cut off abruptly.
Luke, it’s your father.
“Shut up.” I hissed. “This could be important.”
I had a hard time understanding the muffled gibberish coming from the CB in my human form. “It’s too far away. I’m gonna have to shift. “Get out here, you stupid gargoyle, and be useful.” I quickly undressed, and crossed my arms while waiting on Rage, my manhood swinging in the breeze. “Hurry up asshole. It's cold.”
Advertisement
No, it's not. You're just small.
“No, I’m not! I’ve never had any complaints about—”
Yeah, yeah. Hold on to your panties. Oh, wait. You don’t wear underwear.
Bzzt! The radio crackled to life, again. “Green target acquired... en route to drop off.”
“Green target?” Rage muttered. “What’s that mean?”
Let me do the thinking. You do the driving. We’ll get in there, and go all gargoyle on them.
“Agreed.” Finally working together as one, we stalked around to the front, squared up to the door, and kicked it in while yelling, “Buenos dias, mothafuckas!” It was an obnoxious, but effective, technique. The element of “Oh Shit” was on our side, and a scrawny teenager jumped up from the couch in surprise.
“No sleeping on the job!” We grabbed him by the neck, and swung him around, ramming the kid’s shoulder into the wall.
“I'm u-uh-buh-l’b-uh… I'm u-ffu-ck...” The kid blabbered while we held him aloft. He was clearly scared out of his mind. At least, he hasn’t peed yet.
“Judd? You fall through the floor again?” An older version of the kid walked through the doorway staring down at his phone. He removed an earbud before looking up to see a monster holding his friend by the scruff. We slammed Judd’s head into the wall, knocking him out before bigger Judd could pull out the pistol he had been reaching for.
“Don’t shoot, and I won't kill your brother.” I took a guess, figuring the resemblance was too close to be coincidencidence. Surely, they had to be related. All the inbreds looked alike. I’m not sure if it paid off, though, because the fucker took one look at Judd lying motionless on the floor, and ran back the way he entered.
Fucking coward. Rage and I hated cowards.
We ran through the house, dodging furniture as the yellowbelly threw it. I almost laughed and reminded him that he had a fucking gun. He must’ve realized the clunky bit of iron in his hand wasn’t his phone right about when he entered the dining room, because that’s when he turned around to shoot.
We were mid-stride, crashing through a toppled chair he had thrown in our path, when the first bullet hit our chest and ricocheted off. He squeezed off several more shots before turning to run. We sneered when the bullets bounced back, hitting the guy in the back and calf, knocking him to the ground. I felt his bones crumble beneath our feet when we walked over him.
Two more hillbillies ran in from the backdoor, summoned by the sound of gunfire. The first one stood in the kitchen, quaking in his boots. By the smell of smoke on them, I figured they were either barbecuing or burning garbage outside when they heard the ruckus.
Advertisement
“W-w-wha... w-what…”
“Shoot it, Sam!” The second guy screamed before shooting wildly in a panic, and was quickly joined by his friend. They were both aiming for the head and chest. Bullets ricocheted off stone, peppering the cabinetry, and eliciting curses from the foolhardy duo.
“Pew, pew.” We taunted, returning fire with a finger gun.
After allowing them a last stand, we bellowed and lunged for them both. Rage’s immense size and large, gargoyle claws made it easy for us to grab a man in each hand, and slam them together like a pair of cymbals. Their heads cracked with an audible sound, much less impressive than crashing brass. Blood and grey matter oozed from their skulls, and their bodies went limp. It was too easy, and Rage was disappointed.
“Humph! Thought they’d have more fight in ‘em.” Rage gruffed. I thought so too.
These guys weren’t trained by The Guard. They were ordinary. Human. Kinda dumb too, to shoot at stone. And definitely not what we were expecting.
We trudged through the house, flipping over furniture, looking for more humans to crush. Content that no souls were left alive, except the knocked out teenager in the living room, Rage retreated inside, shifting back to my human form. A little bloody and sans clothing, I walked into the room where we left Judd and tied up the unconscious kid.
“Wake up, you little shit!” I shook him by the shoulders, rattling his brain in his skull. His eyes were as round as saucers when he came to. Terrified of the blood covered naked man in front of him, Judd screamed. I backhanded him with enough force to shut him up.
“Who do you work for? What are you doing here?” I demanded, my face inches from his.
He cowered in the chair, stammering. “I-I-I d-don’t know.”
I reached back to hit him again, when he found reason and started talking.
“M-my brother, we signed up with these guys... S-s-said we'd make money... easy money... All we had to do was wait here for a drop-off. W-w-we were gonna barbecue, drink beer, and get p-p-paid.”
“What kind of drop-off?” I yelled as I shook his shoulders.
“I-I dunno. S-s-some girl. I only know the codename: Green Target.”
I unsheathed my knife, and stabbed him in the thigh. “Who! Tell me who!”
“I swear I don’t know! A-a-a pretty girl.” He screamed as I twisted the knife in his leg. “H-her pictures there.” He pointed to a table by the wall.
I stalked across the room to where he pointed. Staring up at me from the worn tabletop was a picture of Jade. Rage roared in my head. His anger and mine combined into a hurricane of emotion that almost consumed me. I clamped my hands down on the edge of the table crushing the wood between my fingers, desperate to control the storm.
We need intel, Rage! We have to protect Jade.
We have to kill this motherfucker! Rage bellowed, and I agreed.
“Who pays you?” I growled at the kid while staring at Jade’s picture.
“Dunno… was our first job. S-s-sam s-said we’d split the money.” The kid blubbered, and begged. “D-d-don’t kill me. Pleease.”
I gingerly picked up the picture, and stalked into the kitchen, carefully coddling it as if it were Jade. My Jade. My sweet innocent Jade.
The kid wailed, desperately pleading from the living room.
Oblivious to his pleas, I turned on all the burners and blew out the flames, releasing the propane and letting it fill the kitchen before walking out the backdoor. Smoke and the smell of charred meat poured from the barbecue pit only a couple feet from the door. I grabbed a drumstick off the grill, and kicked it over, scattering the flames and coals towards the wooden building.
The gas ignited in a fiery explosion that consumed most of the structure. The rest caught fire quickly, no doubt from the dry, brittle wood. Judd wailed and screamed in pain as the house burnt around him until, finally, he too was consumed. I walked towards the car, munching on the charred chicken leg, the burning farmhouse a fitting backdrop to our rage.
I didn’t care about the filth covering me, or the car’s damn upholstery. I slid into the seat, muttering over and over. “Jade is safe. The safe house is secure.” I said it out loud as a declaration, a prayer. Like saying it outloud would somehow make it true.
Anxious for proof that she was safe, I grabbed my cell phone from the console to call Owen. A flashing SOS on the screen confirmed my worst fear. Jade’s been taken.
“JAAAAADDEE!” We roared as the shift ripped through me, displacing bone and blood with rage and rock. Enraged, we demolished everything within reach, including the car. My only regrets were that I left Jade’s side, and that we killed the hillbillies too fast.
“I’m coming for you, Felix.” We growled.
Advertisement
Penance's Pursuit
This future sci-fi fantasy follows the progression of a few main characters as they navigate their unique spheres of life in the year 2242. The story focuses heavily on themes of guilt, personal failing, and penance. The conflict revolves around two main concepts: Man vs. Himself (Internal conflict) and Man vs Man (External conflict). The internal conflicts focus on many of the characters' inner demons and how each of them deal with the scars of the past. The external conflict centers around a mysterious criminal organization called Nexus that conducts human trafficking. There are three groups of main characters. The first group belong to a vigilante mercenary organization called Ab Aeterno. Titus, Venna, and Benjamin are Achilles team. This team is a part of Ab Aeterno's special forces branch which is designated Demon Stalkers. Their goal and mission is to perform assassinations, abductions, and destabilization operations on criminal organizations throughout the solar system. Their current mission places them directly in the path of Nexus. Titus interacted with them in his past and they seem to have unlimited reach, resources, and power. As the team faces this threat, old wounds will surface and dangerous connections to the past will emerge. The second group of characters are on the Mars colony. Randal Page is an analyst for a talent scout company on Mars. He is faced with the reality that the company he thought he was working for is in fact Nexus. His story centers around his coming to realize the duplicity of the company he works for and then his response to the startling realization of his own ignorant involvement. Also on Mars is a woman named FaRarra Njokko. She is a Nexus sex slave in a brothel on Mars and is known by the stage name of Stardust. She is striving to escape when her path crosses with Randal. The final main character is Preston Coretel. He is a monk with a mysterious and shady past. He is on the run from Nexus in more ways than one. He is seeking sanctuary on an abandoned monastery space station in order to avoid agents of Nexus and to atone for his previous involvement with Nexus.
8 198The Core And The Wardens of Eternity
What is the Core, they asked me... It's the light that pushes the darkness away, a bastion of justice, a safe keeper of life. It grooms love and tolerance, embraces science, fights ignorance, sentences it to die a slow and tragic death. The Core... it's something that can't be destroyed for destroying it is to terminate the time and space itself. When the stuck-in-a-dark-age world of Zanria goes offline, the Core sends one of its experienced agents to find out what is going on and to try to reestablish a mysteriously severed connection. However, all his training and experience might come way short as the world sinks in war and chaos with different races and clans fighting for the Star of Bardan, the ward rumored to possess enough supernatural power to create and destroy entire worlds. *** I just changed the name of the series, from 'the Nexus' to 'the Core'. Somehow it just sounds more right to me. This is the first story, and it has a medieval fantasy setting. But, eventually, this is going to turn into Isekai series with elements of LitRPG. So, my future books might include worlds with advanced technologies that might be more in SciFi, including Steampunk, genre. The first book might start slow, but after a few chapters, it should all be properly set up, and by then you should get the feel of how it will all flow. Also, I plan to introduce different story threats that should spread out and criss-cross in the future. Hopefully, I will not complicate it too much, and that it will all read good. I am planning to continue to add chapters to the main storyline here, but I'm also starting a new story threat in the Core series called The Recordings of Raan. There is also a side story The Memoires of Eisen that's exclusive on Patreon for those who would like to support me.
8 119Only You♥️
COMPLETED✅#1 on indian on 23/3/21#1 on care on 25/5/21#1 on india#1 on together on 10/10/21#1 on apart Veer Singhania.A self made billionaire. In a span of 4 years he is started ruling the business world.He has his business spread in every part of the country.He lost his warm, caring and loving nature all through this journey. For people he is just another arrogant, cold, heartless, workaholic boss.Behaves totally opposite with family & friends. He lives for them. What happens when one certain night he comes face to face to Avni again? The girl who supported him and motivated him to reach where he is today. But he lost her 4 years ago because of his stupidity. No, she is not an ex-girlfriend. She was his best friend. Will they get another chance?-----------------------------"So you were ready to give up on us? Without trying?" I asked him as I turned around and now was face to face with him."No- he started saying but I interrupted him."No, you were. You could have done anything! But getting married to her ? That too when you knew that maybe you have something for me and I definitely feel alot for you!" I said raising my voice a bit."Avni! I didn't have a choice. You know that!" He said irritated."We had a deal! And you know it now. Why are you throwing a fit about it?" He asked still irritated.And I sat up straight from the bed and said "Because it is always that our choices that matter in the end.""And I was never your choice. Even now I am not here because you chose me. I am here because I chose you. I've been chosing you since forever! But I don't know if it is the same with you." I added frustrated.
8 160Murder of Crow
An American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos, wakes up one day to find itself in a plastic maze inside a strange, abandoned lab. With nowhere to go but forward, the bird will have to make its way through numerous puzzles in order to escape, if what lies ahead even is an escape. The crow has no idea what awaits it, why it’s here, or even what its life was prior to waking up.
8 200Torin Hood (Toruka)english Version
Everyone knows the stories about the heroic good works of this man and his unique talent to make music together with his loyal friends. You don't know who I am talking about? Don't you know Torin Hood? Then be curious like a bow, hanging from the shoulder of this famous man to prove his accuracy at all times.
8 63The Hunt
Cecily's blade swung, hitting its mark as always. The man's arm fell to the cold grass of the prison with a familiar thud. He let out a blood curdling scream. A warning to the rest. Stay away, the Hunter is here. That's the name they'd given her, the Hunter. After she cut off the man who tried to rape hers masculinity, they stayed away. She'd made it clear anyone who tried to touch her would be hunted and slaughtered. Cecily kneeled down, pushing the man's face into the dirt so she could use his back as a seat while she trifled through his belongings. "You're hurting my ears," she told him, no remorse in her voice. "Quiet down before I really do kill you."The man but his lip, well aware that she wasn't lying. Sobs shook him, making for an uncomfortable seat. She, however, didn't particularly feel the beed to kill him. It happened, not often, but it did. "Oh, hush up," she hissed, taking out a bag of rations with her metal hand, "it doesn't hurt that bad."With her good, human hand, she dropped the plastic bag of food into her own bag. She pushed up, off the man back. As she was about to walk away, bag slung over her shoulder, brushing against her autumn colored braid, she turned back to him. "Consider yourself lucky," she said, no hatred in her voice, there never was. "Consider yourself lucky that you didn't do anything stupid. And even luckier if one of the scum bagged criminals in here feel a little light in their hearts and help you. Consider yourself luckier if you die there."With that, her old black and white Nike sneakers carried her off into the brush of the huge prison.
8 148