Happy Blog Day Everyone!
Continuing my October madness here, today is the start of the last short story of the month, though like the one before it, it may be short but it's definitely a lot longer than most others on this blog!
Before we get to that, a slight apology as last week I mistakenly thought my original calculations were wrong and that I would in fact miss the last Wednesday of the spooky season, as that would be the first of November. Looking at a calendar will tell you that it isn't the case, so as to why I believed the contrary is a mystery. Rest assured that next Wednesday will see the concluding part of the new short story and it'll happen before Halloween!
With that out of the way, let's see what's happening in the Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz!
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
I wonder if Riz has enough sweets there? We're getting close to the end of spooky season festivities here with this pair, next week's conclusion should be a lively ender! I think Brennan will be happy to see the back of this season...just in time for the season Riz hates!
Short Diversions: Dead Things and Little Girls
Below you'll find the first part of the 2nd expanded short story of the month. Unlike last week's which dealt with mostly new characters, the main character here has already graced two short stories (here and here). Her partner, he's been mentioned but this is the first short story he's in. Though to be fair, I've wrote a little bit of him in both Avalon Tales, and Daemon Soul: Avalon (naturally!). As to who they're up against...well, we'll talk more about that after you've read part 1!
Please enjoy.
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Dead Things and Little Girls
1.
“Smile for me, asshole!” Robyn said as she pulled back an arrow, before letting it fly straight through the head of the demon that was running for her.
“Hey, leave some for the rest of us!” Rick yelled out, as he lined up another demon in his sight.
“You better get quicker then, Avalon has no place for slow poke’s who struggle to hit a demon at a hundred paces!” Robyn pulled another arrow from her quiver, taking less than a second to set the shot, aiming the glowing neon blue arrow head at her next target, killing it within a heartbeat. There was five of them in that patrol, and while their speciality was long range combat, Robyn thought the situation called for a closer approach. Whilst her comrades had stuck to their firearms, switching to their modified handguns for point blank shooting, Robyn kept on using her composite bow, living up to her namesake and proving she was the best marksman that Avalon had.
As the last demon fell, its body already dissolving into nothingness, Robyn started to pick up the arrowheads that could be reused, the Saviour Technology that powered them was too valuable to leave embedded in the walls.
“Great job team,” Robyn said, examining the arrow for any flaws.
“Is it punching out time yet?” One of them said, eliciting a laugh from the others. They had to laugh, with Avalon and its mission to defend the British Isle against all threats demonic and supernatural, any battle could be their last. Robyn knew this keenly after attending many funerals for her teammates. Still, she had a job to do, and it was her pride to follow it through.
“Knight Master Gouzen, Do you copy? Over,” a voice called out from her radio. Robyn took it from her belt and replied calmly.
“This is Knight Master Gouzen. Situation is contained. You can send in the clean up team, now Jesse. Over.”
“Cleaning team has been dispatched but the Lord Knight Commander has requested that you handle a different task. Over.”
“Oh does she now? Any reason she couldn’t have told me herself? Over.” Robyn asked in a teasing voice. Jesse made a short breath as if she was going to respond when there was a sound of the radio changing hands.
“The reason I didn’t say so myself was because I’m extremely busy at the moment, and you know this…Over,” this voice sounded colder, but Robyn knew better.
“Izzy, I know, I know, I’m just joking. What do you need me to do, must be something big if you’re sending me in alone. Since it’s just us, can we drop the whole ‘over’ thing? Especially since Cade isn’t here to correct me.”
“Funny you should mention him, he’s waiting for you with the car. The pair of you are going in for the mission.”
“Fantastic…” Robyn sighed, rolling her eyes. “What is the mission exactly?”
“The Raven Institute at Dark Oak Hall. They were investigating a black liquid we obtained from a raid last month, but as of two days ago, we lost all contact.”
“No offence, but if a research facility went down, shouldn’t we be sending in more Knights?”
“Going in guns blazing might not be the best approach here. Before they stopped all transmissions, the last communication spoke of seeing a little girl wandering the grounds. At three in the morning. Get in, discover what happened, and get out. If we need to take the place by force, then we can sort that out together.”
“I’ll do my best, afterall, I get to return to you anyway.”
“Maybe I’ll even cook for you as a reward.”
“Just don’t burn it this time, okay? Where am I meeting Cade?”
“Donington Street. He has an equipment restock for you as well. Good luck, I love you.”
“Love you too Izzy,” as Robyn responded, the radio went off, and she sighed. The job sounded serious, especially the reports of the little girl. There had been several as of late, and there was cryptic hints that she belonged to a group known as the 'Shadows'. This group was one of the highest threat levels ever identified by Avalon. It perfectly explained why Isabelle was reluctant to send any more personnel in, operations against these so called 'Shadows' never fared well, and Robyn had been stood by her lover’s side when she wrote every letter, apologising for a death in service caused by the demonic threat. Cade and herself were the most capable of getting in and out, but fighting was still not recommended.
“Hey, Knight Master! You coming back with us?” One of her team asked, but Robyn shook her head.
“Sorry, I just got another job through the radio. You all get back and enjoy some peace, you’ve earned it after killing all of them.”
The other knights of Avalon saluted, and she returned it, before heading off to the rendezvous point.
It was a brisk twenty minute walk before she saw Cade waiting by a car that was running, her colleague eager to get the mission underway.
“Knight Master Gouzen, were you taking a leisurely stroll here? Despite your promotion I see you’re still lax with rules,” Cade said, ending it with a sigh.
“And you’ve still got that stick up your ass, Master Inquisitor Anderson,” Robyn replied mockingly. Despite all it sounded, she did respect Cade, he was a capable officer and warrior, his True Saviour Blade sending many demons to their deaths. Isabelle trusted him completely, and Robyn never saw any reason not to.
“If you’re ready, we may leave and begin the mission. I’ve prepared a dossier on the location we’re heading to, including staffing rotas, a list of active experiments, and any and all communications that have been made within the last month.”
“You really leave no stone unturned do you?”
“If a job is worth doing it, it’s worth doing well.”
Robyn picked up the hefty dossier, and sat in the passenger seat.
“Let’s go then, I know Izzy will be wanting to know what’s gone on there.”
“We should be there within an hour.”
“Great, another late night for me then.”
The drive was nothing special. Robyn passed the time looking through the dossier, while Cade focused on driving as efficiently as he could, hardly a word was said between them.
“A lot of top secret stuff here, surprised my sister wasn’t involved with any of it,” Robyn stated.
“Because of her talents, your sister always got to choose where she did any of her projects, and she always tended to do them at the North East branch or main headquarters, especially when Isabelle became the Lord Knight Commander.”
“I don’t know why you felt the need to explain that to me, I am her sister after all. Whatever, if I was a betting woman, I’d say that our current issue is caused by that black liquid we recovered and handed over. The notes all point out that it looks and smells like concentrated evil. We should probably have a new rule where we just dispose of anything like that the instant we find it.”
“We can never pass up an opportunity to use the tools of the enemy against themselves. There should have been safeguards in place to stop contamination.”
“I don’t think contamination was the issue.”
“The little girl? Sadly, you’re probably right. I pointed out to the Lord Commander-”
“You can just call her Isabelle you know, there’s no need to be formal when there’s just us two in the car.” Robyn watched as Cade’s eyes rolled back, a sign of frustration. He lived and would probably die for his code of conduct, and that was professionalism at all costs.
“Fine, Isabelle,” Cade stressed her name, making it clear that he didn’t like what he was saying. “I told her that I knew instantly who that little girl was.”
“Says here there should be thirty staff on site at this point.”
“If suspicions are proved correct, I informed-” Cade looked at Robyn before he continued, noting the way she was staring at him, challenging him to finish the sentence. Which he did with a sigh: “...I informed Isabelle, that the likelihood of survivors would be sadly minimal.”
“But she told you to save who you could? Right? I know Izzy, even if there’s a chance to bring at least one of them home, then that would be enough.”
“Correct. If worst comes to worst, we’re to enact inferno protocols. We may lose the building to its ravages, but everything contained within should perish.”
“Purging things with fire, a classic.”
“We should be there soon. Now is the time to go over your equipment. I will not allow any time to do so once we’re on site, as every second will matter at the beginning. It will be likely that the lockdown procedures will be in place, so we’ll have to secure entry through unorthodox means. Your sister has provided a…” Cade trailed off as he tried to think of a suitable word. “...a ‘key’ that we can use to get access.”
“I don’t like the way you said ‘key’ there.”
“This is your sister we’re talking about here, you should be. It is a far messier approach then I would have preferred. If there’s any enemies lingering, it’ll ruin any chance of surprise we might have gained.”
“Sounds like Rei all right.”
“There is the Dark Oak Hall up ahead. Make yourself ready,” Cade announced bluntly.
Dark Oak Hall got its name from the forest of oak trees that surrounded it. Robyn vaguely remembered coming here as part of a school trip as a child, and the forest certainly got dark with how dense the trees were, making the name very appropriate. The truth behind the property wasn’t as grand as other places Avalon laid claim to. The building was actually less than half a century old, being built in the late 1950s/ early 1960s. The designer and original owner wanted something that looked like it could have been there as early as the 18th century, so styled it appropriately, even sourcing original materials where possible. Sadly for him, he died before it was ever finished. This led to Avalon stepping in at the last minute, finishing the building off and putting a hi-tech, for the time, research centre underneath. The construction of the main building hiding the construction of the new addition quite well. The research centre was one of the finest in the post-war period of Avalon, having lost many resources in the fierce non publicly known supernatural encounters of the second world war.
As Robyn and Cade exited the car, they both noted the stillness of the area, with even the bats giving it a wide berth as they flew through the sky.
“That’s never a good sign is it,” Robyn said with a sigh.
“Only serves to reinforce what we suspect. Our entry point will be over there,” Cade pointed to a small group of smaller trees near the house, beautifully positioned if you were after a reading nook of sorts, but hid it’s real, if mundane, secret underneath. The pair carefully approached it, while keeping an eye open in case there were unwanted surprises before they even gained access to the research centre. The stillness persisted. At first glance at this little group of trees, no one would be any the wiser, even Robyn was hard pushed to see anything out of place, and she knew what she was looking for. Cade however, went straight to the base of the tree, and pushed had on the bark, operating a decades old mechanism now, that sounded like it was in need of a good service. The bit of bark retreated, giving access to a ventilation shaft.
“There’s the easy part out of the way,” Robyn mused to herself as she watched Cade lower himself, and all his gear into the shaft.
“Follow me,” Cade said with no irony as to the fact that the shaft only continued in one direction, down. Robyn duly followed, noting the cramped confines of the vent. The gentle upflow of air was nice though.
“We’re at the first gate now. Wait there while I use one of your sister’s keys.” Cade announced, shuffling down the ladder a bit further.
“If that key is what I think it is, are you sure this is safe?”
“No, but we do what we must.”
Robyn braced herself for what she knew was going to come next. She felt the ladder move as Cade clambered back up as far as he could. A few moments later, she heard a beeping that quicked with each passing second, till the ‘key’ exploded, the ventilation shaft shuddering. The next sound was of gears moving as the doors that comprised the gate slid open, their locking mechanism obliterated.
“How many more of these gates are there?” Robyn asked, thinking of how they were probably going to end up surrounded by whatever demons were lurking in the centre.
“Two more, in quick succession. This shaft opens up directly next to the Security Room,” Cade replied.
“Great…Great…” Robyn trailed off. “Well, they know we’re coming now don’t they.”
“If you knew of a better and faster way in, the perfect time to share it would have been half an hour ago.”
Cade had Robyn on that one.
“Fair point, let’s just get this done.”
The pair carried on, repeating the process two more times as Cade had said. Robyn was a little relieved when she heard her partner put his feet on the ground, Then she heard the jingle of a set of keys as he unlocked the service door that gave them full access to the Security Room.
“I see you at least brought a normal key then,” Robyn noted.
“It’s the skeleton key that’s standard issue for Knight Inquisitors and above. We can’t carry out proper inspections if there’s locked doors in the way.”
“I did not know that, wait, any locked door?”
“Yes, I know when to, and when not to use it.”
“That’s a relief then…” Robyn stepped off the ladder, and was pleasantly surprised to see there weren't any demons waiting in the room for them. There was a lot of blood though, and one of the security guards was slumped in the chair by the cameras, his face completely missing, and, possibly smeared on some of the screens. Robyn had seen too much death to be fazed by it, but at the same time, she went and grabbed the security badge that lay limpy around his neck.
“Robert Jonas, you won’t be forgotten, Izzy won’t let it,” she let go of it, but pulled out a small notebook from one of the many pockets on her armoured jacket, and quickly jotted down the name. It was standard practice for her, as Isabelle had hoped it would be for any of the Knights of Avalon. These were all men and women who put themselves in harm's way to protect the country. Any time one of them fell, their loss should always be remembered. Isabelle had to hold the contradictory views that they were all expendable, but at the same time, they really weren’t, each person was an individual with their own hopes and dreams. Dreams that could be as easily taken along with their lives, which had happened to Robert here.
While Robyn was taking his name, and musing on his life, Cade was busy checking the security equipment. Of about twenty screens, only a handful were still working, and even they were creaking under the conditions as screens would sporadically burst into static. Then, he motioned for Robyn to come over to where he was, pointing at the screen.
“Found something?”
“Sadly yes.”
On the screen where he was pointing, a black shape lumbered around aimlessly. It was humanoid, but with a human sticking out of it in a decayed state. Following it was another, and another. One of the bodies looked like a pair of people had been crudely fused together, staring at their heads, a pair of disjointed drooling mouths, caught in an expression of agony for all time.
“So that’s what we’re dealing with then, black goo zombies,” Robyn said sadly. “Any chance of survivors?”
“Unknown currently. I’d say slim to none. I’m sorry,” Cade replied, trying to console her, but it was the one part of the job that he wasn’t very good at.
“It is what it is…At least we have a list of who was on staff at the time. But, we need to deal with these threats.”
“Agreed, I can cycle through the remaining security cameras to find them. I suspect those ‘black goo zombies’ are acting as guards. They probably have their little route to patrol as I can’t see them being intelligent enough for anything else.” Cade started typing away at the keyboard, and the feeds of the working cameras started changing. The first few screens showed just desolate hallways, some of which were smeared in blood. The next screen however, showed a room, where a medical table and an array of tools were scattered around. Just to the right of the bed, stood a girl in a dirty lab coat, gleefully ticking things off a list on a clipboard. She was chatting away to someone off screen.
“Can we get audio?” Robyn asked. Cade nodded, already in the process of enabling it.
“...Swell. Can you believe how easy this is going? We’ve been here two days and I’ve still got a lot of experimentation ideas!” the little girl said excitedly.
“I’ve only allowed this to continue as long as it has because our master told me that you have to test the fluid. I feel like you’ve already achieved this. Especially since we know that Avalon's retrieval team is here.”
“You are such a kill joy. Do you want to try the next experiment? It might bring a smile to your dull face.”
“Viola, I have no desire to kill the way you, and the others do.”
“Suit yourself. SAM!” Viola yelled. From the other side of the screen, a hulking figure emerged, with the head of a little boy. There were scars and stitches all over his body, making more of a monster than a child.
“Be a dear and go and drag me one of our specimens please?” Viola asked. ‘Sam’ just stood there, unmoving.
“What do you mean there’s only one left! I can’t have killed everyone else!”
Again, there was no reply from ‘Sam’ just a pained silence.
“Fine! I’ll do it myself! Then, I guess we’ve got no choice but to leave this place empty handed!” Viola moaned, till she looked straight at the camera, it’s little movements capturing her attention. “Well, well, well! Looks like they finally found us! Sam, new orders, bring whoever our guests are to me! Take the other experiments with you! Also, you! Don’t just stand there, trying to look cool! You’re supposed to be my bodyguard! Find them and do the bodyguard thing!” Viola yelled at the other off camera person, as ‘Sam’ reached for the camera, a crunch later, and the camera went dead.
“Looks like we have a survivor after all!” Robyn said, her hopes raised.
“Yes, but getting to them won’t be easy. We also don’t know the identity of the other individual along with Viola and her flesh golem, ‘Sam’. That could be troublesome for us. It would be safe to say that the facility and all its secrets have been compromised by Viola. We’ll have to commence Immolation Protocols once we have secured the survivor.” Cade said, straightening his glasses.
“Now, you’re talking my language,” Robyn pulled her bow off her back, setting it up with an arrow. Cade stood and opened his coat, revealing the majestic form of his True Saviour Blade standing proudly within it’s magnetic sheath. He withdrew it, and held the lightly glowing blue blade to his face, saying a prayer to himself.
“Are you ready? Knight Master Gouzen?”
“Back to ranks already?”
“We are in a combat situation, rules must be followed.”
“Of course…” Robyn rolled her eyes again, but with a smile this time. Cade gave a little hint of a smile, showing he wasn’t beyond the act. He opened the door to the hallway and the pair exited the safety of the room.
Through the corridors they walked calmly, their weapons at the ready. Cade was always just in front of Robyn, his sword drawn, while she had eyes scanning every far away corridor, her hand on an arrow, the string of the bow taut. Aside from their own careful footsteps, they heard movement far off, a stampede of feet. It was getting closer, whatever crude senses these monsters had, they’d found them, and were closing in. All the better for the pair, especially as it saved them a job of tracking them down. The complex it self wasn’t that twisting With a few central corridors that connected everything together, it was in one of these wide spaces that they would see the monsters in the flesh, like shambling zombies, covered in black ooze that seemed slightly corrosive to the touch. Ahead of Robyn and Cade was at least six, if not seven of these things, and the way the bodies were contorted, and grasping for any sort of life, they may have been twelve people originally. One of them, instead of having a normal arm, had the torso of another person, almost skeletal now, as though something had been eating away at them from the middle outward. Another crawled around on four sets of arms, as it headed towards the Knights of Avalon.
Cade was keen to give these foul creatures the mercy that only death could bring, while Robyn, ostensibly doing the same, felt some sympathy for their plight. They had been humans once after all, and still should have been humans if not for someone’s sick games. There was someone else with these zombies though, and a lone figure at the far end of the corridor that was unmoving from the spot as the other creatures surged past him. He cut a lean figure and stood in stoic silence, a stark contrast compared to the others. Short spiky black hair, one eye staring forward with cold resolve, the other covered machinery looking like a series of lenses. The uniform was dark looking, a cross between decorated armour and an officers uniform. In his hands was a large halberd with a wicked looking blade at one end that twisted into a curved edge. He had it resting at his side. The difference between him and the pitiful zombies were clear. Seeing the Knights of Avalon coming towards him, he spoke a few words.
“Hear me, I am sworn to do my duty, and that duty is to protect my charge. You will enter this area behind me. Stay where you are, we will not have to exchange blows. My name is Malakai, and I have no desire to shed unnecessary blood. I wish I could say the same as my erstwhile allies.” his words made his distaste for the situation clear.
“Do we know anything on this one?” Robyn asked, turning to Cade, who was as much in the dark with it as her.
“No, but regardless, he is in our way. We have but one choice. We have to kill these demons in front of us, and go through him…” Cade replied, gripping the handle of his sword.
“This isn’t going to be easy, is it?” Robyn said, taking aim.
“It never is.”
With that, the pair braced for combat…
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So those villains, neither are new here! Viola was the subject of her own Malarkey's Imaginomnibus story in Hubble Bubble (check quick links below for how to read that one, and I talk about writing the story here) and Malakai, he got his own short story on this here blog, dealing with Void, the star of the last story! (Check that here, you'd almost think I planned this!)
We'll wrap up this little tale next week.
Till then,
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
Quick Links
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1
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