A Bump in the Road. Chapter Seven.
A Bump in the Road
Chapter Seven
By Roofles
My heart was pounding loudly in my chest as I stared down at the swarm of bodies. Half of which were trying to escape, others were just watching the show and my full attention were on the Ten, possibly Fifteen bodies that had gathered around. And from the look of it more were coming. Snarling, drool dripping down their gaping maws, eyes bulging from their sockets as they growled up towards me still resting on top of the dome of the arena.
My fingers only tightened against the chain fence under me as I turned my gun from one target to the other. They stood, watching for what felt like ages. Time itself seemed to slow down before anyone made a move.
There was a loud rip at my side and a good junk of the fence was torn open, the wolfman underneath easily tearing through it as if nothing but wet toilet paper.
"Get in," he shouted already reaching out. I turned the gun on him but was too slow as my whole body was forcefully pulled inside.
I could see bodies leaping at me from below as I fell within the ring. Watching up above as this obsidian fur wolfman crushed the fence back together and dropping down neatly to join me. I figured I'd end up smacking my head on the ground but landed, somewhat comfortably, in fact in a pair of tan fur arms.
The boxing kangaroo setting me down the next second. I just blinked at him unsure what the hell was going on at this time.
"I'm out of here, Marco." The kangaroo, with a red barbed wire boxing glove, waved before retreating out the other entrance.
The ring looked far larger from the outside. Once I was in, walking on the dirt covered floor, it was far smaller than I expected. There were two entrance/exits of the ring, the kangaroo hopping/running out the far one. The fence above held even as bodies crashed against it. They were biting aimlessly, pounding on the fence like a bunch of primal apes. Thankfully or they would've descended onto us already.
The wolfman looked up eying over the group. He was large, massive in fact. Not just tall (roughly Seven Feet I'd guess) but wide. His arms hung low, his back had an almost hump to it and his hands and feet were massive. Long fingers, long nails and huge palms. His ears perked up from a tangled mess of fur, the design of it resembled that of hair that ran down his back like a mane. This fur was a bit lighter, far more fluffy and matched the patch on his chin and the side burns running down the side of his face. The end of his elbows had extra poofs of fur as well, matching the one on his bare chest.
One of those ears turned towards me and that face swung my way, an eyebrow raising up. His fangs couldn't fit into his own muzzle when it was closed and several of them jutted up and out from the top and bottom. That large black nose twitched.
"What?" Was a gruff question I found myself asked. What indeed.
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. "We need to get out of here." It was a stupid but honest statement.
"No shit." Was the crude reply I got. He motioned towards the other exit. A barred gate blocked it off. The door was shut I couldn't tell if it was locked or not. I just followed along, leading the way towards it. And sure enough, with my luck, it was locked.
"Do your thing." I motioned at it looking behind us as the first body fell down into the ring.
They were shaggy mongrels in comparison to the wolfman at my side. They looked like wolves during the spring when they lost their winter coat or straggly, starving coyotes. Or afflicted with mange. Large patches of fur were missing revealing the discolored skin of a canine underneath. While around their head and paws were furry their arms and legs were scrawny and bare, the fur thinning out. And then there was the look in their eyes.
Feral, mindless and lost in something I was all too uncomfortable with knowing. That almost intoxicating rush. They really did look like addicts, junkies hook on a quick fix. Almost foaming at the mouth as it twitched and shook, giggling to itself as it stared at us.
"Can't." It was brief and short and I wasn't sure what the hell Mr. Wolfman was talking about until I looked back. He was looking at the large lock.
"Can't what?" I asked quickly turning back around. The first that had dropped down was smarter than I gave him credit for. Waiting for his buddies to drop down from the makeshift hole they had made above. Another fell rather gracelessly on top of the first. The two began biting and snapping at each other.
"The locks silver."
"Seriously?" I spat the word. He could tear through a chain fence without a second thought but a little silver and he was down for the count.
The wolfman turned back towards the others, cracking his knuckles and rocking his head back and forth. "Pick the lock, I'll handle these guys."
"Pick the lock." I said nearly dropping my jaw. "Not sure how you know that," I mumbled opening the faded gray overcoat I wore and began fishing out the lock picking set I carried with me. It came in handy, more than you'd think, in my line of work.
I'm not an expert on the matter by any means. But a crude lock like this wouldn't be too much of a challenge. I even managed to look over my shoulder to watch as my furry friend was swarmed.
At first they kept their distance, circling around him as if they were indeed a coordinated pack. But finally something snapped in one of them, it twitched before lunging violently at him. It triggered something in the others who in turned tried to attack him, as if each were going for that first bite.
A black fur hand grasped tightly around the first, crushing it's windpipe and like a large club was used to smack a few over the other ones away. They swarmed from behind leaping onto his back. A loud snarl followed as teeth sunk into its hide. The free hand reached behind to grab at the scruff of one of their necks. And in a spin the wolf knocked everyone away using the two bodies to smack their comrades with. Each one at this point looked like limp rags in those large hands.
There was a loud click and the lock popped opened. Pulling and twisting it loose I began to undo the chains. There was some kind of mineral substance on them, and in the light from the center room I could tell it was silver. Or assumed anyways. Wasn't this the entrance he had come in from though? Not like he'd be able to do this.
"It's open." I shouted back unwinding the last bit of chain and giving a grunting push to open the door up. Had to weigh fifty pounds or something.
I pulled out my gun again, stashing the lock picks and aimed behind me.
The wolfman was stuck underneath a dog pile of them. With a loud roar bodies flew everywhere as the black fur object leapt over the mass and on all four began running towards me. I nearly shit myself to be honest. Massive creature, snarling, covered in scars and bite marks charging you? Yeah. Scary shit.
I moved behind the gate allowing him to pass through before pushing the door shut. A large hand pressed above me and with one final lurch we shut the door. I grabbed the chain and began crudely wrapping it around the two, locking it once more on our side this time. Just in case one of those retards could actually pick a lock.
"Shit," I muttered as bodies slammed, hard, into the wall. Their was howling yelps of pain and I could see smoke, or smell burned flesh and fur from the other side. It made me gag and back away. Back away into the large wolf right behind me.
Blood drained from my face as I stood there. If I could I would've been shaking.
A large paw landed, heavily, on my shoulder nearly buckling my knees. "Come on," he said gruffily before letting go and moving down the hall.
Behind us I could hear more yelping as the mongrels kept running face first into the silver covered door. Even hamsters learn not to eat the electrified pellets. I could only look back over my shoulder at the bodies snarling and piling against the door and shudder. What kind of sickness did they have to do something like that? And it made me wonder if my own companion, this wolf man suffered from the same thing.
The walk was silent other than our own heavy footsteps. Neither of us spoke, I spent most my time trying to navigate through the nearly pitch black hallway. I felt that hand trying to help, guide me but I refused. I wasn't some helpless lamb for fuck sake. There was a moistness though on those fingers and as we broke free, entering some kind of locker room, I could see what it was.
The hand he used to help close the door was bleeding as if he had laid it on a stove top. The edges were burned and the skin on those gray paw pads were peeled back revealing the muscle underneath.
"Shit, dude." I said stopping. He stopped and looked at me, one ear swiveling over to look at me. "Your hand." I said motioning to it.
He lifted it up to look. Frowned and then almost licked it before stopping himself. "It's fine." He just said and left it at that.
His back, shoulders and arms were bloody as well. The bite marks were healing but far slower than the bullet through the skull I had given to one of those things back there. Was he able to regenerate? Did have something to due with the fact he was different than those things? Or was there some kind of chemical or enzyme in their saliva that prevented it? Heh, this world didn't have to make sense and yet here I was still trying to figure it out.
I spied a med kit in the corner and figured it was the least I could do. "Here," I motioned towards the bench. He stopped once more and stood there, defiant. "Sit." I ordered voice harsh before taking the white box, red symbol med kit down. At least some things didn't change no matter where you went. I popped it open and was already pulling out the needed materials inside. "It only take a second. It will also sting like a bitch." I said only as I tabbed the hand he turned up towards me.
He scowled, looking away and folding his ears back, grinding his teeth and over all pouting like a child as I cleaned the wound. It was interesting. Not only was silver still on the wound, it was like it had burned into it as if the metal didn't want to come out. As I used my nail I could see why.
His own regenerative ability was working against him. While it burned clean through flesh and fur his body was trying to heal itself and, evidently, only made the matters worse. Like when your body heals over a splinter. The splinter is still stuck inside but the body is trying to heal itself. An interesting disadvantage to being able to regenerate from any wound.
"There." I said pressing a cotton pad against it and wrapping his hand up. He frowned at it but didn't say anything. "Your Marco right? As in..." I finally asked the question that had been plaguing the back of my mind. It wasn't a common name and when I heard it from the announcer I didn't want to believe it to be true.
He stood up suddenly, turning his back on me. "We'll talk about it later." And with that he began heading out. I shook my head and followed. Fuck. That really is Marco.
"So about those things back there." I asked as we headed out and up the stairs coming out in some kind of back office way. It was an elongated room that stretched all the way from the stairs to the elevator. There were a few cubicles on the side with various...things behind it.
A female turned towards us. "How was the match, Marco?" She asked the snake on her head hissing at me. She was almost beautiful even looking past the hair of snakes. Flakes of scales could be seen on her cheeks and around the edges of her eyes, something that I was almost about to look into before I was pulled aside by the wolf.
"The usual." He said and left it at that keeping a firm hand on my shoulder as he guided us down the walk way.
He got the usual reaction from the others. All of which were female, most far too ugly to ever work in public. Old hags and crones and other things you'd hear about in fairy tales. Their voices were sweet, enticing like the (mermaid?) at the very end. Almost bewitching in fact but something deep in my gut told me to never be alone with any of them.
We got into the elevator and with a simple push of, the single, button began to ascend.
"Quite the ladies man." I chuckled getting a grumble in reply. I looked from the corner of my eye and was sure the large canine was in fact blushing. "I knew it."
He raised an eyebrow and looked down at me as I rested against the back.
"That it was fake." Once more he just looked at me waiting for me to elaborate. "Wrestling." I motioned as if back down the walk way and towards the ring. "Everything was planned out. Reason why that," I laughed. I was exhausted but even so I still found it amusing. "The boxing kangaroo didn't punch my face off."
Marco grumbled, once more feel bashful over the subject matter. He rubbed his chest a bit. "It still feels real!" He said as if defending himself.
"Is that, this where the money comes from?" Every once in a while, once a month in fact, my brother would toss me 'rent money.' I never asked where it came from and hoped it wasn't anything illegal.
He didn't nod but the silence that followed was proof enough.
"Your a horrible lier." I said shaking my head before sitting down on my rear. He rested my head back and let out a low groan as the adrenaline wore off and the fatigue hit me then like a hammer. And it hurt, I won't lie. My body was already aching all over and my strength was drained. I just closed my eyes unable but to wait for sleep this night.
The body next to me crouched down and I felt hot breath wash over my face before there was a couple of sniffs.
"What?" I groaned swiping blindly out at him with a hand. I touched his shoulder, that large fur shoulder and shivered as he snorted again against my face. Fuck. It was intimidating. I don't care if he was my brother or not, when a Seven foot monster sniffs at your face, standing practically above you. Its scary shit. One quick snap of those jaws and I'd be gone.
A hand touched my leg making my eyes open up. His head was nosing at my chest and arms.
"Dude, fuck! Personal space!" I said pushing back. He submitted, even though we both knew I hadn't the strength to stop him.
"You weren't bit were you?"
"No." I said flatly. "I did have their brownies though. I taste colors now." He just frowned unamused at our inside joke. "All the colors of the rainbow taste like skittles. I even know the mystery flavors." Still playing off the crude inside joke. He didn't laugh at all or show any reaction. I sat up a bit, groaning with a wince. A hand steadied me.
"I'm fine really." I chuckled a bit. "Just feel...exhausted." Shacking my head. "I'm too old for this shit."
That got a crooked smile from him, those dark color lips pulling up at the end of that snout.
"Must be coming down with something." I just muttered standing back up as the elevator slowed down and the doors opened.
I took a step forward planning on leaving when someone came in and a large hand pressed me back against the wall.
"Next stop." Marco muttered and left it at that, though he moved me into the corner and stood between us.
This other creature, I was sure was a male, had deep brown fur reminding me of a lion in the savannah. A huge mane covered his head and the human like face had characteristics of a cat. Large bat wings sat on its back and a serpent scaled, scorpion tipped tail raised up behind him.
We stood there. The three of us. Not moving, talking and barely breathing.
The door opened up at the next stop and the three of us got out. Heading into a place I was a little too familiar with. The very pub Marco loved to go too.
The behemoth sized man behind the counter eyed us but didn't say anything as he watched the three of us. He was still polishing, I was sure, the same mug he had last time.
"Two specials." Marco said holding up two fingers and taking a seat at the table we always did. It looked...comical? If he wasn't a blood thirsty monster, still bleeding all over that was. The massive wolf could barely fit into the seat and was resting back, I could hear the legs protesting at his weight and was waiting for any second now for the chair to give way. It held. Too bad.
"And coffee." I said taking a seat across from him. I eyed the man we had taken the elevator with. He headed over to join the same overly gothic dressed female I had seen before. She was sipping from a goblet and was all but ignoring the large man that sat next to her. I wasn't sure when he had turned back to a man but the world around him was still shifting as if it were a disturbed pond of water.
"So your a werewolf." I began looking back at Marco. He nodded. A single head nod. He might've bowed his head actually, was hard to tell.
"And she's a...vampire?" I said half assed motioning towards the female.
"Countess Guinevere." Marco nodded. A countess? Seriously?
"And the dude with her?"
"Manticore." He said. Simple gruff replies each time.
"And the dude behind the counter?" I said and as I did was sure the bartender was looking at me. Staring in fact. Creep.
"Gatekeeper."
I took a second on that one. "And you are the...Key master?"
He frowned before laughing, a barking sound and shook his head. "Your a dumbass as usual."
"And your still a dick." I added. "What's a gatekeepr."
"He keeps the gate." Yup. Still a dick.
"Gates?"
Marco frowned as if just remembering something. "How the hell did you get inside anyways?"
"I walked in." Ok. I could be a bit of a dick too. It must run in the family. Even if we weren't blood related...
"Humans shouldn't be able to pass through. You can only enter through a gate."
I just left it at that. He did too.
Our food arrived and at least then we both had an excuse not to talk to one another. Even before I took the first bite I felt bloated. I rubbed my goat remember those lamb chops I had earlier that day. I mainly just picked at the fries. I never questioned where the burger or fries came from as I couldn't see, nor smell, a kitchen in the place. That and the bartender never really moved around much. I first thought he was a very well done statue, just standing still as he does.
"How'd you find out?" Marco finally asked. "About the gates. Getting inside. Everything." He clarified looking up at me.
"The hell spawn told me." I chuckled and Marco frowned.
"You still hang out with that she-devil?"
"Why?" I asked wearily. "She isn't...you know..." I swallowed at the thought. We had a date...OK it was more of a hook up this weekend.
"Worse." I swallowed at that eyes going wide. "She's a man eater." I laughed, a bit too loud at that.
"Yeah. She's a hell of a woman." I chuckled shaking my head and I was sure Marco chuckled along with me.
"But no. Seriously. She isn't, is she?"