NOVEL NEXT Into the Churn.
Chapter 1
6:05 AM and the phone goes off to get me up for work. I sit up slowly and achingly turn the phone off, kill the calming music playlist I sleep too. I yawn hoping to relax that lovely tinnitus and give myself a slow stretch. I stumble to the toilet and sit. Before I can finish anything, here comes my dog Miss Shady. Food motivated as always, every morning she's excited for it or anything you try eating yourself... I love this dog more than I love most of my family, so I tend to put up with her rushing me. So I finish and we get into the kitchen to get her morning food ready, but before that I gotta be smart and kick her outside so she doesn't get so excited she poops inside. Make her food, get it to her on the deck. I walk back to my room, wash my face, brush my teeth and start getting dressed.
Add deodorant, some beard oil and a comb. This is the constant routine every work day. I'm sick of it and I'm only in my 30s, so much more of this torture to go. Getting dressed has a few stretches involved, neck, shoulders, back and knees. Thanks to my Army life, and a VA who doesn't care. It'll only get worse as I get older. But it's not covered, and I was told at 26 " Your getting older, these things happen." Says several M.D.s at the VA. "Right so, 6.5 years of body armor, Humvees , machine guns, rifles, PT and an on duty injury are just a coincidence?" And that gets you an offer to psych, and anger management. I'll more than likely be in a wheelchair in my later life.
Almost 7 am, time to start the work van, another rundown shit box packed with install material when I should be a service tech. But who cares, I'm not the boss and it's not my money. "Figure it out and get it done fast." or "What do you mean you needed material mid job? That costs us money, you know?" Let's see which day this will be. I start driving to the job and feel distant from myself. Like I'm here, driving the van but I'm also not. I can't shake that feeling so I keep driving.. From the right side, the sky flashes black, then goes back to the morning sky. I look again, I ponder what's happened and keep going. A long black cloud appears to the right again! But they seem so close to the ground and on the shoulder. The van acts like it just hit the largest gust of wind from that side. Both Hands on the wheel keeping it on the road and I'm wondering, "what in the fuck was that?" I stare in the mirror, there is nothing there. I look ahead, and here on the right side a massive dark thing. Looks like black mass walks on fours like an overgrown gorilla, but the eyes. They slow time and look like stars, but not bright. They aren't awe inspiring, they just look like something representing darkness, something very wrong or evil. Its left arm sways toward the van! Then the whole thing vanishes again! I stand on the break but I'm still moving. I can feel the cool brisk morning air all around me, the van is gone!
I'm free falling off a hill that shouldn't be here and no road insight. I hit the ground going down hill and roll hard over and over. I curl into the fetal position hoping not to hit rocks. Instead I hit a watery ditch hard and grunt. The wind is knocked out of me, as I try to recover I hear thumping. No, I feel it on the earth too. Breathing hard I check my surrounding left, right, plain ditch. Bum, Bum, BUM rustling trees and cracking? I look back up the hill, its a steep fucking thing. It ain't 694 anymore, It's mid morning somewhere else! I'm recovering and I look over the ditch. 20 yards away I see a man break out of the tree line. It's me and some little red bearded guy? They are running hard. That me is barely in front of the little guy, but I'm in this ditch. Whose the pudgy fucker screaming like a little bitch and why does he look like me? Then breaching out of the trees, like a T-rex out of a dinosaur movie. This thing has to be 15, maybe 25 ft. tall. It looks like black smoke packed together but its impact on the earth feels big and those trees are busted up. And those black glowing eyes...
The Thing lifts its left arm across it’s body to the right and swings that tree trunk sized arm to the left hard and it bellows. Hundreds of long spikes come out of its arm almost in a string and they cut off the runners maybe 10ft in front of them, before the last spike hits earth. whoosh, the wind from his swing. I'm standing in the ditch, staring in awe. Standing in this wet grassy ditch staring at whatever this thing is. Both arms in the air it bellows again and drops its arms on the earth in front of it. THUD! 2 knuckles show, and it transitions a few steps to the right and stares at the 2 in the open. 1,2,3,4 knuckles flat on the ground, This thing hits so hard it buries 3 knuckles in the earth. I'm locked on and examining this thing hard. It seems so real, but I still can't believe it..
It raises the right hand again, it's gonna hit them! As the hammer falls, a goldish yellow flash streaks across its face. The creature makes a new bellow and stumbles hard left, the goldish thing looks like a tall man. taller than me for sure, but not taller than the big ass gorilla thing! I see the gold man point to me and I hear "Go!" The short guy and what now looks like a very pathetic, soft flabby body version of me is running at me. The thing makes a higher pitch noise, I lookback to it. It swings at the gold guy, but hits a spike that didn't go as far as the others. And as it pulls away, thick black sludge comes out of the impact point. The thick black sludge, one big drop rolls from the wound as it checks itself. But turns to a wisp of black fog then dissipates to the air...
Now the gold man is avoiding its strikes, left hand up and down to earth. THUD! Right hand out and Swings across his body. WHOSH. you hear the air moving as it wings its arms. The gold man left rolls, right rolls, jumps on its hand and jumps again off the hand and punches the thing between the eyes. And it all starts over like a dance. Right hand swing, guy drops to the ground , hand goes up and gold guy dropkicks the beast in the leg. And repeat Again, in no order. By now the 2 are approaching me... That's certainly another, fat piss pants me dressed like he's ready for a renaissance festival. Same Beard as me, same gray strip on the left chin. What in the fuck is this?
The little guy, with red hair and a thinning beard, thick and deep lines in the forehead that look odd. Round small glasses, pointed eyes to the back of his head...He's barely bigger than a kid... Maybe 3-4 ft. tall. I'm officially lost in this moment, and the beast makes a startling high pitched "Buhhh". I look up and it's staring dead at me. The gold guy pops up, and upper cuts its jaw line. Its jaw opens as it staggers. there is no tongue... just deep dark black. Its jaw closes so hard it's like an alligator snapping shut.
I've gotta take a knee, my heart is pounding! I feel like I just breached the water's surface for the first time in minutes, and my heart is racing. The little guy and I lock eyes, He looks at the other me who is now curled saying "Someone save me!" The little guy and I look eye to eye again as I gain some of my senses back. His bright blue eyes, thick red eye lashes. I ask " Are you..." He jumps in, "A leprechaun yes and we need to stop that conjure from harming the Djinn!"
Me lost completely lost "what? who?"
Him "The gold one is my friend, the bigger thing is the conjure. We were to find and stop it!"
"Stop it, how?"
Him " I don't know!"
I stop and examine the situation. Gold dude good, Big thing bad. And I look at the spikes and back at the beast I now know to be a conjure. " It bleeds! It can die." I run to the wall of spikes nearest me, and the Leprechaun calls "What do you mean?" I grab one and pull with both arms, both legs engaged. I just can't pull it. I force it to move left then right then wiggle it in circles, it comes out. A 5 foot long spike with sharp points on both ends. It’s cold like stone, smooth like volcanic glass. I look back at the conjure, and grab another. I do the same thing, left, right, then circles, out it pops. I grab the other one, and charge ahead to the two fighting, The gold guy, a Djinn I from what I’m told, is taking steps back from the conjure. I shout "Hey, Here!" I toss the spike in my left hand at him, he reaches out. To me though. As if he wants me to stop. maybe? No time to stop, big boy is another 6 feet to my front. Its left hand comes my way, I sprint harder. Spike in my hands. I overhead drop the thing in it toeless left foot. The Conjure bellows again. You feel it around you like bass at a concert. It sinks into the foot well. I keep running back and look back at the golden djinn. The Djinn looks at me, and the foot, and back to me. I point to the spike he didn't grab. He looks, he rolls to it, and starts stabbing and slashing.
I run back to get another spike, to the same place I got the others. I dig more spikes out and stack them up next to my right foot.The leprechaun joins me. "Good job boy! Pull out some more!" I look back to get pissed off at him. "Like I'm not trying here?" And I see him, manipulating the spikes. The little fucker mimics grabing a spike with his hands...But one moves as he moves. He is actually picking it up and pulling it back like he's throwing a spear without touching it. But the spike follows his gestures. He tosses, The spike flies fast and hard with no delay or hesitation. Right into the right thigh of the Conjure. It bellows, pulls it out. More black sludge oozes from its wound "A bit higher!" I call out. He tosses another spike, again and again they sail through the air. Hip, stomach and it blocks one with its forearm! The Djinn was pretty close to that one. Still poking at the thing and maneuvering in any direction he can with his back to us.
I pull one more spike and feel an invisible force manipulating it before I let go. He sends it sailing so hard it hiss’ through the air! The Djinn jumps on its lame right leg, then jumps straight up! He sticks his spear in its dark star like right eye! The spike we threw, impacts the Djinn. Just to the right of his spine through the back, and into the Conjured’s neck. The leprechaun shriek's "Ahhh!" The Djinn drops limp, the conjure falls back "THUD." The two of us hall ass to the Djinn, The leprechaun is on my heel right side the whole way.
We get to him, the spike is disintegrating to black mist, his wound oozes thick, gold sludge. It turns to mist, like Conjure blood but gold, almost shimmering. "Timous?" The Djinn says. Looking at the leprechaun with giant tears in his eyes and rolling down his face... "Djinn, I'm Sorry." Timous chokes on his words. "This is meant to be..." He looks at me, grabs my arm and stares at my Army tattoos. His fingers are cold. His palm is clammy, but the feel, like an elephant hide, no. Smoother, thicker, denser. It's so odd I can't think of what I'm touching. "Timous, The are going after the other human world again. This one is from there." "That's not important now, how do I help you?" Timous sounds irrational, these two must have been like brothers. I rip off my shirt and press it to his wound, still oozing thick golden sludge. The Djinn Flexes "Oh!" he grabs my arms, left hand, left arm. Right hand right arm.
I feel tingling, in my arms. my spine, now my eyes? My vision goes white, then whiter. Even Whiter. No horizon, no floor and no grass. No sky, I just see white. Only white. I'm here. I see my arms, torso and legs. I am here and whole. Am I in the abyss? Did I just die? Then I see him, standing in front of me. Holding unscathed but standing somewhat hunched over. again maybe 6.5 feet tall now that he's so close, he dwarfs myself at 5 '9. "Mark, I don't have long. we need to talk…"