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Glass and Steel: Pt. 5
Posted By: Random 14-Year-Old<i-rule-2008@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 28 August 2005, 8:04 pm
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Part 5: Nightmare Intro
"Wort, wort, wort!"
Ren stared in horror at the creature that stood on the balcony at the top of the stairs. It was no human being, nor was it a friend of the human race at all. In the darkness Ren could make out its bulky arms and legs, its huge chest, and the ugly, elongated head.
"There it is!" Ariana's brother shrieked hysterically, squirming in Ren's arms. "No...! There it is! Run!"
But there wasn't any time to escape, because before Ren knew it, the creature had jumped from the balcony and landed smoothly on its giant hooves. It wore segments of light blue armor across its body, leaving gaps of grayish skin in some areas. Two small, beady eyes were barely visible through the helmet on its head, and its mouth was divided into four jaws, which stretched outward when the monster roared.
"Graarr!"
"Run!"
Ren stood in a daze, paralyzed by the fear of this monster's unstoppable might. He felt something clench around his neck, and then a loud thud on the ground, and suddenly Ren found himself crashed on the porch in front of the house. Pain shot through his spine, and it felt like every muscle in his back was being brutally torn apart. Ren looked up into the doorway, and saw Ariana's brother lying on the ground, clutching his chest again, taking rapid breaths of air into his lungs. Above him, the figure of the alien monster disappeared into nothing, and in its place were ripples of distorted light—active camouflage.
"Aghh..." Ren groaned, trying to pull himself to his feet. But out of nowhere he felt the invisible monster wrapping its fingers around his throat again, and instantly Ren went flying over the porch and into the street. He landed on his arm and skidded to a halt before feeling the newfound pain. Ren's arm was severely scraped, and blood dripped across his shirt as he hissed with agony.
"Graarr!" The creature roared again. Ren looked up, and now he saw a glowing weapon floating in the air, accompanied by the ripples of distorted light. The weapon looked like some sort of sword, but it pulsated with energy and strings of electricity skipped across its surface.
Ren suddenly heard a car coming, and he was right in the middle of the street. But maybe, if he was lucky, the car would run over the alien—
To his disappointment, however, Ren heard a loud crash behind him, and strained his neck to turn and see that the car had spun off the road and into a lamp post.
"No...no..." Ren said mindlessly as he turned to face the alien again. The ripples in the air drew closer, as did the weapon the monster was holding. "No..." Now he could almost feel the breath of the creature as it loomed above him, raised the sword, and—
Gunshots exploded in the air, and suddenly the alien was visible again, its energy shields pulsing across its body. More gunshots, and the shields were gone, with just faint flickers of energy around the monster. Ren heard one last gunshot cut through the air, and purple blood gushed from the alien's ugly head. Ren watched in amazement as the monster collapsed onto the pavement—once an unstoppable fiend, now dead and lifeless.
"Shit—better get outta here, kid. There might be more." The voice seemed distant as Ren stared in disbelief at the horrible alien lying at his feet. "Hello? I said get outta here! Where are your parents?"
"What?" Ren mumbled. The alien's gray hand twitched on the pavement.
"I said, get your ass out of the street and go home!"
Ren turned his head in the direction of the voice, and saw a man standing on the side of the road, in front of a crashed car, with a gun stuffed hastily into his pocket. The face seemed familiar to Ren somehow...
"Damn it, come here!" The man stormed over to Ren, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and pulled him over to the crashed car. "Get in."
The car door was jammed, and it took Ren several seconds to open it and take the passenger seat. He looked over the man, whose attempts to start up the car only resulted in grunts and whistles from the engine.
"Piece of crap...thing won't turn on..." The man continued to turn the key until finally the car began to rumble. The fact that it could do anything at all was amazing; not only was the front of the car smashed by the lamppost, but it was a really old car in the first place.
"Wait!" Ren said. He had nearly forgotten—
"What is it?" the man grumbled with annoyance. "Damn it, I just got the car started—what do you want?"
"Just wait a sec," Ren assured, and pushed the jammed door open. He ran across the street to Ariana's house and looked down onto the foot of the doorway.
There, lying unconscious on the threshold, was Ariana's brother. His short breaths were scratchy and unpleasant, and Ren felt his heart do a back flip at the thought of the kid dying in his arms. Ren gingerly scooped up the boy and carried him out of the house. He passed the dead alien, and got a sudden click of inspiration.
"What the hell—" the man said with bewilderment as Ren laid Ariana's brother across the back seat. "Is that—that's Mr. Jiles's kid!"
But Ren ignored the remark and walked away from the car toward the dead alien in the middle of the street. It was lying peacefully in the morning sun, with glints of light sparkling on its armor. The alien's jaws slacked towards the ground, but the rest of its head was an ugly mess of gore and purple blood. Ren turned his eyes to the monster's right hand, which lightly held onto a handle-like object.
He reached down and picked up the object. It had strange curves and grooves in the shiny metal surface, fitted especially for the alien that wields it. Ren realized it was clearly related the energy sword that had almost killed him. The object would the prize of this victory.
Ariana would love it.
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