The End of the World and the Copy Shop:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37493
The Burning Building and Wheels:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37533
The Signal and the Station:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37589
The Source and the Problem:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...=519781#519781
The Toystore and What They Forgot
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37744
The high noon sun beat down on the travelers as they slowly made their way down the West Side Highway towards the Holland Tunnel. The creatures were nowhere to be seen, miniature or full sized. The road was deserted. New York had turned into a ghost town in the span of hours.
They reached the mouth of the tunnel when Wheels finally spoke.
“It’s dark in there. I don’t see any lights. Do we have a light?”
They didn’t. And it was dark inside, swallowing the light from the sun but giving no hints as to what lay inside.
“Alright, let’s go back up a block or so. There was a Lowe’s back there. They should have some lights there,” Eric said.
And so the group began to move back, towards the hardware store. They reached the glass doors by 1 and had shot their way inside in a matter of seconds. The concrete floor was spartan and uninviting, but it was cool inside the building. It smelled of sawdust, wood, death, and it was completely silent as they entered. The ceiling fan display was still, hanging like ghosts in the warehouse.
Iggy walked over to the customer service phone and picked it up.
“Hi, we need to know where the flashlights are,” he said into the receiver, smiling.
There was a long pause as Iggy stood there, listening intently.
“Iggy, put the phone down. We want to make it to the other side of the tunnel by nightfall.”
But Iggy stood there, listening. He nodded and hung up the phone.
“Follow me,” he said, ducking into the bathroom appliances aisle. He briskly walked up to a shower display. Five bathtubs in a row all with showerheads and shower curtains, and stepped inside, drawing the cloth.
“Get inside a bathtub and hide, now. Do it.”
“But,” Eric began, “We ha-“
“Get inside now, don’t question this. Just go. NOW!”
Eric jumped into a shower and Gopher followed suit. Eric peeked out of the curtain and saw three hundred Mini-Creeps marched past, laughing. They were completely hidden as fifty Creeps followed.
Eric heard a door in the back slam shut and threw his curtain open. Gopher stepped out of his shower, but Iggy didn’t come out.
“Iggy, come on,” Eric whispered, sliding the veil open. Iggy was collapsed at the bottom of the basin, unmoving. Eric leaned down and began to shake him, but Iggy didn’t move. Gopher leaned down and smacked Iggy. He stirred and looked up.
“What the hell am I doing in a shower?”
“Iggy… There’s something not quite right with you, is there?”
“What are you talking about, Eric?”
“You picked up that phone and then got us to hide as our doom went marching past, none the wiser that something they were looking to kill was less than an six inches away.”
“I remember picking up the phone, and I remember someone talking to me telling me that the store still had Creeps in it, but I blacked out. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“There was someone on the other end of the line??
Iggy nodded.
“Well… Do you know where the line connected?”
“My guess is the reference desk.”
Eric held his hand out, and Iggy grabbed it, slowly rising to his feet.
“Let’s go get referenced,” Iggy said.
“We’re going to need to work on the ‘cool’ things that you’re allowed to say,” Eric said over his shoulder, taking point.
They made their way to the back of the store, keeping their eyes peeled for flashlights or the reference desk. They found the reference desk first, painted with blood and Behr acrylic.
“Hello?” Iggy tentatively called out.
Nothing.
Gopher walked behind the counter, bumping Wheels against the side of the island.
“Watch it,” he hissed.
The phone was off the hook, Gopher noted. He followed the line from the phone box to the receiver, still clutched in the hand of a corpse on the floor. The flesh was tainted green and a sick smile curved around its neck. The blood on the concrete floor had pooled and faded, staining the ground.
“Iggy, did you talk to her?” Gopher motioned?
Wheels sighed.
“No. I… She’s dead. How could I have talked to her?”
“Well, she’s the only one with the phone, now isn’t she.” Eric called from behind.
“Oh, look over there,” Iggy motioned to a display. “Flashlights. Let’s grab some and get out of here. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
Iggy began to walk to the display, eyes burning in the back of his neck. Eric stood motionless with Gopher, watching him as he grabbed four flashlights. He tested each one systematically before turning around.
“Look, I don’t know. I don’t know whom I talked to. Whoever it was had the capability of speech and wasn’t a corpse, alright?”
“Iggy, you know how you said you were going crazy? I’m beginning to take stock in that,” Eric said, grabbing a flashlight.
“I’m not really going crazy. There’s a logical answer for all of this, I know there is,” he said, laughing. “Now come on. Let’s get to the tunnel.”
As they left, the door behind the reference desk opened and the beady eyes of a Creep watched their exit with eagerness.
They hit the tunnel at 2, the sun in a move favorable position, shining more into the tunnel.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Wheels started.
“Well, you don’t have much of a choice considering you’re riding on his back,” Eric said.
“Riding on my back,” Gopher repeated.
“Yeah, man up Wheels! It’s just a tunnel.”
Eric took point, raising his gun and resting it on his flashlight arm. The walls were still teal, slick. There were a few cars jammed up in the entrance. He inhaled sharply and stepped up and over a Buick and into the darkness.
His beam of light cut across the infinity, revealing almost nothing. The ceiling was high; there were a few scattered cars with the windows busted, and the regulation door every twenty feet. Three other beams turned on behind him and he began to walk quickly.
They all could hear the water outside of the tunnel around them. The downward slope made them feel as if they were descending into the depths of some great pit. Wheels broke out into a cold sweat, unnerving Gopher. Wheels swung his flashlight erratically, trying to scan everything at once.
“I’m afraid of the dark, I’m afraid of the dark, oh… I’m so afraid of the dark,” he said, his voice quivering.
“Gopher, try and keep him quiet.”
“Keep me quiet? I’m afraid!”
“Keep quiet or I’ll shoot you, I guess.”
Wheels shut up.
There was a cross draft through the tunnel ruffling their clothes. It wasn’t carrying sound for there was no sound to carry on the Jersey side. All the breeze did was send chills through the party. Eric quickened the pace, walking quickly, dodging cars and the occasional debris. He could see the other end of the tunnel, the light at the end of the dark when the Creeps came.
They were laughing and screeching, crying out and dragging their swords of the tile walls creating a hideous noise reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. They were behind them and closing the gap.
“RUN!” Eric cried out.
Iggy screamed, his legs pumping, past Eric. He chucked a fireball behind him, casting shadows over the walls. The ball rolled down the tunnel, the Creeps shadows becoming more defined, dancing towards the source.
Gopher was carrying weight for two, and mis-stepped. He fell to the ground, the creatures almost on them. Eric fired blindly into the tunnel, hitting nothing, but scaring the group back a little. Gopher rose to his feet and began to run.
He could feel the hands on his back.
“RUN FASTER, GOPHER! OH GOD! RUN FASTER!” Wheels cried. “OH PLEASE RUN FASTER!”
He tried, but the things grabbed hold of Wheels.
“OH GOD!”
The tennis ball fire died out.
Wheels slipped out of the harness and into the arms of the Creeps.
“COME BACK! PLEASE!”
Gopher ran ahead, free of the weight.
“YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER LEAVE! PLEASE! NO!”
At the mouth of the tunnel, Eric and Iggy stood, watching Gophers flashlight bounce towards them, and watching Wheels’ bounce away. Wheels’ light bounced towards the back. They watched the light spin as it hit the ground in circles, and they watched the things drag him into a service door.
“We have to keep moving. We have to keep moving or they’ll be on us.”
They ran. They ran out of the tunnel and into the daylight, they ran onto the bridge and they kept running until they were on the New Jersey highway. But the things were still behind them. Ten or fifteen, the group motive restored, ready to kill anything.
Again the Creeps were closing the gap, when Eric stopped running and turned around. He pulled his gun up and fired into the group, scoring three hits. Twelve remained. Gopher turned and tried to fire his Glock, but to no avail. Iggy prepared a Fireball, which bounced into the group taking out two.
There were still ten. Eric’s clip ran dry, and he unloaded the gun.
The three stood in a row, across two lanes of highway, the mass of evil moving towards them.
“Gopher, hit the clip release on your gun. I have three shots left in there…”
“Where is it, Eric?”
Eric motioned on his own gun, and Gopher hit the release, dropping the clip to the ground. Iggy tossed another fireball, but this one flew wide. A Creep swung at it with its sword, knocking the ball back at Iggy, setting his shirt on fire.
He screamed, pulling it off and batting at the flames on his chest. The group closed the distance.
“What is that noise,” Eric asked. “It sounds so familiar…”
It grew louder and louder, until Eric recognized it.
The car plowed into the group of Creeps, slamming on the breaks and sending the car into a huge skid. It took almost all of them out. The man in the car leaned out, shooting the three remaining that were trying to crawl away. Smoke rose from Iggy’s chest and Eric stood with his mouth open. Gopher didn’t move.
“You guys need a ride anywhere?” The man in the car called.
“Uh… Yeah, we’re heading to a radio station.”
“LRPS, right? I’m from there. Hop in.”
The three made their way to the car, opening the back door and sitting down in the leather-clad interior. Eric rode shotgun.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. My name is David Fichter, but my friends call me Fichter,” he said, hitting the gas, peeling out and driving into the heart of Jersey City.
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37493
The Burning Building and Wheels:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37533
The Signal and the Station:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37589
The Source and the Problem:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...=519781#519781
The Toystore and What They Forgot
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...wtopic&t=37744
The high noon sun beat down on the travelers as they slowly made their way down the West Side Highway towards the Holland Tunnel. The creatures were nowhere to be seen, miniature or full sized. The road was deserted. New York had turned into a ghost town in the span of hours.
They reached the mouth of the tunnel when Wheels finally spoke.
“It’s dark in there. I don’t see any lights. Do we have a light?”
They didn’t. And it was dark inside, swallowing the light from the sun but giving no hints as to what lay inside.
“Alright, let’s go back up a block or so. There was a Lowe’s back there. They should have some lights there,” Eric said.
And so the group began to move back, towards the hardware store. They reached the glass doors by 1 and had shot their way inside in a matter of seconds. The concrete floor was spartan and uninviting, but it was cool inside the building. It smelled of sawdust, wood, death, and it was completely silent as they entered. The ceiling fan display was still, hanging like ghosts in the warehouse.
Iggy walked over to the customer service phone and picked it up.
“Hi, we need to know where the flashlights are,” he said into the receiver, smiling.
There was a long pause as Iggy stood there, listening intently.
“Iggy, put the phone down. We want to make it to the other side of the tunnel by nightfall.”
But Iggy stood there, listening. He nodded and hung up the phone.
“Follow me,” he said, ducking into the bathroom appliances aisle. He briskly walked up to a shower display. Five bathtubs in a row all with showerheads and shower curtains, and stepped inside, drawing the cloth.
“Get inside a bathtub and hide, now. Do it.”
“But,” Eric began, “We ha-“
“Get inside now, don’t question this. Just go. NOW!”
Eric jumped into a shower and Gopher followed suit. Eric peeked out of the curtain and saw three hundred Mini-Creeps marched past, laughing. They were completely hidden as fifty Creeps followed.
Eric heard a door in the back slam shut and threw his curtain open. Gopher stepped out of his shower, but Iggy didn’t come out.
“Iggy, come on,” Eric whispered, sliding the veil open. Iggy was collapsed at the bottom of the basin, unmoving. Eric leaned down and began to shake him, but Iggy didn’t move. Gopher leaned down and smacked Iggy. He stirred and looked up.
“What the hell am I doing in a shower?”
“Iggy… There’s something not quite right with you, is there?”
“What are you talking about, Eric?”
“You picked up that phone and then got us to hide as our doom went marching past, none the wiser that something they were looking to kill was less than an six inches away.”
“I remember picking up the phone, and I remember someone talking to me telling me that the store still had Creeps in it, but I blacked out. I don’t remember anything after that.”
“There was someone on the other end of the line??
Iggy nodded.
“Well… Do you know where the line connected?”
“My guess is the reference desk.”
Eric held his hand out, and Iggy grabbed it, slowly rising to his feet.
“Let’s go get referenced,” Iggy said.
“We’re going to need to work on the ‘cool’ things that you’re allowed to say,” Eric said over his shoulder, taking point.
They made their way to the back of the store, keeping their eyes peeled for flashlights or the reference desk. They found the reference desk first, painted with blood and Behr acrylic.
“Hello?” Iggy tentatively called out.
Nothing.
Gopher walked behind the counter, bumping Wheels against the side of the island.
“Watch it,” he hissed.
The phone was off the hook, Gopher noted. He followed the line from the phone box to the receiver, still clutched in the hand of a corpse on the floor. The flesh was tainted green and a sick smile curved around its neck. The blood on the concrete floor had pooled and faded, staining the ground.
“Iggy, did you talk to her?” Gopher motioned?
Wheels sighed.
“No. I… She’s dead. How could I have talked to her?”
“Well, she’s the only one with the phone, now isn’t she.” Eric called from behind.
“Oh, look over there,” Iggy motioned to a display. “Flashlights. Let’s grab some and get out of here. It’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
Iggy began to walk to the display, eyes burning in the back of his neck. Eric stood motionless with Gopher, watching him as he grabbed four flashlights. He tested each one systematically before turning around.
“Look, I don’t know. I don’t know whom I talked to. Whoever it was had the capability of speech and wasn’t a corpse, alright?”
“Iggy, you know how you said you were going crazy? I’m beginning to take stock in that,” Eric said, grabbing a flashlight.
“I’m not really going crazy. There’s a logical answer for all of this, I know there is,” he said, laughing. “Now come on. Let’s get to the tunnel.”
As they left, the door behind the reference desk opened and the beady eyes of a Creep watched their exit with eagerness.
They hit the tunnel at 2, the sun in a move favorable position, shining more into the tunnel.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Wheels started.
“Well, you don’t have much of a choice considering you’re riding on his back,” Eric said.
“Riding on my back,” Gopher repeated.
“Yeah, man up Wheels! It’s just a tunnel.”
Eric took point, raising his gun and resting it on his flashlight arm. The walls were still teal, slick. There were a few cars jammed up in the entrance. He inhaled sharply and stepped up and over a Buick and into the darkness.
His beam of light cut across the infinity, revealing almost nothing. The ceiling was high; there were a few scattered cars with the windows busted, and the regulation door every twenty feet. Three other beams turned on behind him and he began to walk quickly.
They all could hear the water outside of the tunnel around them. The downward slope made them feel as if they were descending into the depths of some great pit. Wheels broke out into a cold sweat, unnerving Gopher. Wheels swung his flashlight erratically, trying to scan everything at once.
“I’m afraid of the dark, I’m afraid of the dark, oh… I’m so afraid of the dark,” he said, his voice quivering.
“Gopher, try and keep him quiet.”
“Keep me quiet? I’m afraid!”
“Keep quiet or I’ll shoot you, I guess.”
Wheels shut up.
There was a cross draft through the tunnel ruffling their clothes. It wasn’t carrying sound for there was no sound to carry on the Jersey side. All the breeze did was send chills through the party. Eric quickened the pace, walking quickly, dodging cars and the occasional debris. He could see the other end of the tunnel, the light at the end of the dark when the Creeps came.
They were laughing and screeching, crying out and dragging their swords of the tile walls creating a hideous noise reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. They were behind them and closing the gap.
“RUN!” Eric cried out.
Iggy screamed, his legs pumping, past Eric. He chucked a fireball behind him, casting shadows over the walls. The ball rolled down the tunnel, the Creeps shadows becoming more defined, dancing towards the source.
Gopher was carrying weight for two, and mis-stepped. He fell to the ground, the creatures almost on them. Eric fired blindly into the tunnel, hitting nothing, but scaring the group back a little. Gopher rose to his feet and began to run.
He could feel the hands on his back.
“RUN FASTER, GOPHER! OH GOD! RUN FASTER!” Wheels cried. “OH PLEASE RUN FASTER!”
He tried, but the things grabbed hold of Wheels.
“OH GOD!”
The tennis ball fire died out.
Wheels slipped out of the harness and into the arms of the Creeps.
“COME BACK! PLEASE!”
Gopher ran ahead, free of the weight.
“YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER LEAVE! PLEASE! NO!”
At the mouth of the tunnel, Eric and Iggy stood, watching Gophers flashlight bounce towards them, and watching Wheels’ bounce away. Wheels’ light bounced towards the back. They watched the light spin as it hit the ground in circles, and they watched the things drag him into a service door.
“We have to keep moving. We have to keep moving or they’ll be on us.”
They ran. They ran out of the tunnel and into the daylight, they ran onto the bridge and they kept running until they were on the New Jersey highway. But the things were still behind them. Ten or fifteen, the group motive restored, ready to kill anything.
Again the Creeps were closing the gap, when Eric stopped running and turned around. He pulled his gun up and fired into the group, scoring three hits. Twelve remained. Gopher turned and tried to fire his Glock, but to no avail. Iggy prepared a Fireball, which bounced into the group taking out two.
There were still ten. Eric’s clip ran dry, and he unloaded the gun.
The three stood in a row, across two lanes of highway, the mass of evil moving towards them.
“Gopher, hit the clip release on your gun. I have three shots left in there…”
“Where is it, Eric?”
Eric motioned on his own gun, and Gopher hit the release, dropping the clip to the ground. Iggy tossed another fireball, but this one flew wide. A Creep swung at it with its sword, knocking the ball back at Iggy, setting his shirt on fire.
He screamed, pulling it off and batting at the flames on his chest. The group closed the distance.
“What is that noise,” Eric asked. “It sounds so familiar…”
It grew louder and louder, until Eric recognized it.
The car plowed into the group of Creeps, slamming on the breaks and sending the car into a huge skid. It took almost all of them out. The man in the car leaned out, shooting the three remaining that were trying to crawl away. Smoke rose from Iggy’s chest and Eric stood with his mouth open. Gopher didn’t move.
“You guys need a ride anywhere?” The man in the car called.
“Uh… Yeah, we’re heading to a radio station.”
“LRPS, right? I’m from there. Hop in.”
The three made their way to the car, opening the back door and sitting down in the leather-clad interior. Eric rode shotgun.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. My name is David Fichter, but my friends call me Fichter,” he said, hitting the gas, peeling out and driving into the heart of Jersey City.
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