Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
Slayer J vs The Hunger
(Part 2)
I actually wrote this short story in 2007 to feature an NPC who had recently started his Vigil. Sources Taken from the nWoD Antagonists sourcebook, it actually picks right up the story header for The Hunger from the Antagonists book and incorporates it into a larger story.
I watched in horror at Audrey’s slumped body lying on the floor, her lifeless eyes ringed in blood. Still warm, her heart still pumped and blood spurted out of the huge gaping hole taking up the entire back of her head, pooling rapidly on the linoleum. I watched her die, the only woman I will ever love. How had this happened?
At first I thought Daniel just looked like shit, like a meth head or something, standing there in jeans and a blood stained tank top. But after a few seconds I took in the impossibly wide mouth and I was certain. Not human. Reality shattered as I beheld the ex-boyfriend, changed to something else. He stalked forward as the other students screamed out in complete terror. Daniel scarcely looked like himself; his eyes black pits, his fingernails sharp and thick. He had a mix of normal and serrated pointy teeth and his hair was just a few thin patches on his pale head.
In the moments it took for the students to flee in a panic, crying out and tripping over each other as they did anything to get out of the wing, I was changed forever. Something inside me snapped. Students would later attribute Daniel’s freakish behavior on drugs and compounding mental disorder. But I wasn’t fooled, he was a monster. Monsters existed.
I have never since escaped this dark truth. They say life is but a dream, well it always feels like I am dreaming when I see things like Daniel, except it’s a nightmare, and it’s as real as you and me friend. I was filled with a simple and blind rage that I never known I contained. I ran out and stood in front of the creature, my face twisted with anger and blind determination to put an end to Daniel, to the nightmare I was seeing, and avenge Audrey. I tried to speak but my voice just came out as a low, guttural grunt.
I have never since escaped this dark truth. They say life is but a dream, well it always feels like I am dreaming when I see things like Daniel, except it’s a nightmare, and it’s as real as you and me friend. I was filled with a simple and blind rage that I never known I contained. I ran out and stood in front of the creature, my face twisted with anger and blind determination to put an end to Daniel, to the nightmare I was seeing, and avenge Audrey. I tried to speak but my voice just came out as a low, guttural grunt.
I looked in its eyes, these cold reptilian eyes, and they saw me as food or an obstacle. There was nothing understanding about it. It opened its mouth filled with those horrible misshapen and overlapping teeth as wide as a basketball and lunged at my head. I darted to the side and jabbed my elbow into one of Daniel’s eye sockets as hard as I could. He staggered under the blow but wrapped his arms around my chest digging in with those filthy coke-nails. He opened his mouth, attempting to clamp down on my chest and tear me and new one, but I brought my knee up into his chin, slamming his mouth closed with a teeth-breaking crunch.
I drove my fucking knee into his chin again and again, breaking off those shark teeth and keeping that huge mouth away from me. Then he got wise and grabbed my free leg. We fell forward breaking one of the common room’s end table, which felt groovy by the way.
I drove my fucking knee into his chin again and again, breaking off those shark teeth and keeping that huge mouth away from me. Then he got wise and grabbed my free leg. We fell forward breaking one of the common room’s end table, which felt groovy by the way.
He pretty much had me mounted and tore at my hands with his sharp nails pinning me to the ground as he leaned in to eat my face. I was a mass of tiny cuts and all blind hatred. Daniel had never been this tough, it seems whatever had changed him added some muscle to him as well, or maybe it was adrenaline.
As he came in to clamp his pack-man-from-hell face on mine, to core my brain out like Audrey, I beat him to the punch. I gambled my brains and head-butted him in the nose as hard as I could. His nose crushed in too easily but blood squirted from the small deformed nostrils. His head rocked back and he sprayed blood and teeth out of his mouth and into my face.
I had one chance… I used the fact he was off balance to get my legs up and my hands free. I grabbed the collar of his sticky shirt and pulled him forward while ramming my knee up his ass with everything I had. He soared over me as I rolled forward and his head went right into the cheapy dorm wall. I rolled out from under him and staggered to my feet, desperate to find a weapon.
As he came in to clamp his pack-man-from-hell face on mine, to core my brain out like Audrey, I beat him to the punch. I gambled my brains and head-butted him in the nose as hard as I could. His nose crushed in too easily but blood squirted from the small deformed nostrils. His head rocked back and he sprayed blood and teeth out of his mouth and into my face.
I had one chance… I used the fact he was off balance to get my legs up and my hands free. I grabbed the collar of his sticky shirt and pulled him forward while ramming my knee up his ass with everything I had. He soared over me as I rolled forward and his head went right into the cheapy dorm wall. I rolled out from under him and staggered to my feet, desperate to find a weapon.
I ran forward to grab a broken table leg from the end table I broke before I realized my mistake. Audrey had died from behind, running, and I had turned my back on the thing. Those cold sand-papery hands shot out from behind me and wrapped around my head, jerking me backwards off my feet and towards the gaping maw. I could feel hot rotten breath at my neck, sense his eager, salivating mouth. I actually saw the row of teeth chomping down on my forehead when I jabbed my stick back over my head and down Dan Dan’s throat. He croaked and I used the leverage from hitting him to rock myself back forward and out of eating range.
Big mouth didn’t like the way things were going and so with his hands still around my face he flung me into the opposite wall. I went head first into the plaster of the wall with a muffled crunch and went limp from the blow. I saw blackness and stars. I couldn’t even remember where I was anymore. Cold rough hands with needle-nails pulled me out of the wall by the hair on the back of my head and slammed me unceremonially into the floor with an explosive boom. The wind knocked out of me.
I was losing pretty bad; I could feel warm blood seeping out of my head. I was in a great deal of pain, and adrenaline was doing little to help me anymore. I was going to get eaten.
I was losing pretty bad; I could feel warm blood seeping out of my head. I was in a great deal of pain, and adrenaline was doing little to help me anymore. I was going to get eaten.
I rolled up so I was sitting and leaning against the wall, I couldn’t really see anything through the waterfall of blood in my eyes. I must have got cut on his teeth or maybe when my head went in the wall. Daniel the human mouth crawled over to me on his arms and legs like some lanky bleeding bug, face dripping saliva. Then his face split into that huge mouth and with some last reflex I threw my left arm up to protect my face. He clamped down on my arm and blood welled up as he shook and torn my flesh. I cried out and flexed my right hand to discover it still clenched the sharp wooden end-table leg.
Without a second thought I jabbed it into his neck. He spit putrid blood into my face and I had a moment to reflect and hope that whatever it was that made him like this wasn’t blood borne. I viciously pulled the wood fragment back out with a twist and blood sprayed out of the arterial wound in rhythm with his heart. I screamed at him, screamed into that bloody horrible face chomping on my arm. Its jaws loosened slightly as I drove the stake into one of its eyes sockets and I finally could reclaim my bloody arm. I kicked at the beast as I staggered to my feet; it managed to bite into my foot. I screamed again as the teeth sank in, but the boots and the fact that half it's lifeblood was on the floor made the bite not as strong. I managed to kick my foot free, the bloody boot left behind.
It was a mad thing now, bleeding out with only its anger and hunger driving it. But it was getting up again. I half-limped and half ran to the other side of the room. He was between me and the stairwell now. I had to finish this fight to the death, delay until the neck wound wore it down, I prayed that it would kill him. It slowly staggered up and clawed after me, the stake sticking out of its face like a lop-sided reddish brown unicorn horn. I picked up the nearby furniture and threw them at Daniel the monster. A chair, another chair, an end table, a small love seat. He was five feet away when I flipped the cheap dorm couch over him. A ratty hand shot out from under the couch, followed by the horrible face with an oozing wood chunk for an eye.
I was in a shitty state, and I was just a bit frustrated with this things lack of dying. In utter desperation I curb stomped the top of Daniel’s head, I did this for what seemed like forever, long after the he stopped moving, long after I couldn’t recognize a face under that bloody mess. I collapsed next to Audrey and grasped her cool hand.
The death match had lasted only a minute or two but had seemed like a half an hour. I was still in a dream world (it could have been the blood loss at this point), and I knew that students and cops would be coming soon. How to explain all this? It was time to leave… and that’s one lesson I have never regretted learning: When you live in the nightmare world of monsters, no sane person can help you. They’d lock me up and put me on death row. And just what had done this to Daniel? I don’t suppose he was a monster all along? I dragged my mangled body into his room.
His floor was covered with those little Chinese food boxes, contents empty except for a fresh batch near the bed. I looked in the box; I saw stir-fry… but now I wasn’t so sure. Was that chicken, pork, or something that makes people into the broken thing in the commons? I looked at the receipts; they were all from the Golden Dragon. He always ordered the Hunger Special.
I minded my boots, not getting in Audrey's blood trail and noticed I was dripping blood from the bite in my foot. I heard commotion on the stairwell and ran up the stairs instead of down. When a veritable crowd of people entered the floor I just left I crept down to the basement. There used to be bunks and an old restroom that no one used anymore for back when the dorms were under renovation and some of the students had to stay there. I cleaned up with a shower with my clothing on and then wrapped my deep wounds with pieces of cloth from my shirt. My head wound had already stopped bleeding, and my left arm was the worst of it. This is the first of many self-medicinal sessions I would have to have in my life. Thank goodness I had been a Boy Scout for a few years.
I pulled the fire alarm an hour later and joined the massive crowd of students shuffling out of the building, annoyed at the disturbance. I had my coat zipped up and kept my head down, I wasn’t noticed. The police and ambulances were already on scene from the deaths upstairs. Daniel and Audrey.
I went back to my dorm, luckily my roommate wasn’t in. I cleaned up more properly and dressed my wounds with a first aid kit I usually kept in my car. Then I headed out in the thickest jacket and pants I could find. My hunting coveralls and jacket made the best teeth protection.
I was working at a hardware store downtown as a part time job to supplement my college expenses. It was 8:00pm and they were still open long enough for my purposes. It was no Cabela’s but it didn’t leave me wanting. And hey, employee discount. I convinced the guy working that night that I was actually going to close and convinced him he should have himself a nice time. He said a few boxes had come in that day and he hadn’t had time to put the stuff away or even receive the shipment in the computer. I would make it so that a few of the boxes wouldn’t ever arrive.
I walked out at 10 with a Remington M870 and more shells then I could possibly need. I also used some cannon fuses and black powder to make me half a dozen pipe bombs. I sawed off the barrel of the Shotgun so I could hide it in my coat… just like the movies. I was going to pay the Golden Dragon a little visit and see how good their Hunger Special really was.
Without a second thought I jabbed it into his neck. He spit putrid blood into my face and I had a moment to reflect and hope that whatever it was that made him like this wasn’t blood borne. I viciously pulled the wood fragment back out with a twist and blood sprayed out of the arterial wound in rhythm with his heart. I screamed at him, screamed into that bloody horrible face chomping on my arm. Its jaws loosened slightly as I drove the stake into one of its eyes sockets and I finally could reclaim my bloody arm. I kicked at the beast as I staggered to my feet; it managed to bite into my foot. I screamed again as the teeth sank in, but the boots and the fact that half it's lifeblood was on the floor made the bite not as strong. I managed to kick my foot free, the bloody boot left behind.
It was a mad thing now, bleeding out with only its anger and hunger driving it. But it was getting up again. I half-limped and half ran to the other side of the room. He was between me and the stairwell now. I had to finish this fight to the death, delay until the neck wound wore it down, I prayed that it would kill him. It slowly staggered up and clawed after me, the stake sticking out of its face like a lop-sided reddish brown unicorn horn. I picked up the nearby furniture and threw them at Daniel the monster. A chair, another chair, an end table, a small love seat. He was five feet away when I flipped the cheap dorm couch over him. A ratty hand shot out from under the couch, followed by the horrible face with an oozing wood chunk for an eye.
I was in a shitty state, and I was just a bit frustrated with this things lack of dying. In utter desperation I curb stomped the top of Daniel’s head, I did this for what seemed like forever, long after the he stopped moving, long after I couldn’t recognize a face under that bloody mess. I collapsed next to Audrey and grasped her cool hand.
The death match had lasted only a minute or two but had seemed like a half an hour. I was still in a dream world (it could have been the blood loss at this point), and I knew that students and cops would be coming soon. How to explain all this? It was time to leave… and that’s one lesson I have never regretted learning: When you live in the nightmare world of monsters, no sane person can help you. They’d lock me up and put me on death row. And just what had done this to Daniel? I don’t suppose he was a monster all along? I dragged my mangled body into his room.
His floor was covered with those little Chinese food boxes, contents empty except for a fresh batch near the bed. I looked in the box; I saw stir-fry… but now I wasn’t so sure. Was that chicken, pork, or something that makes people into the broken thing in the commons? I looked at the receipts; they were all from the Golden Dragon. He always ordered the Hunger Special.
I minded my boots, not getting in Audrey's blood trail and noticed I was dripping blood from the bite in my foot. I heard commotion on the stairwell and ran up the stairs instead of down. When a veritable crowd of people entered the floor I just left I crept down to the basement. There used to be bunks and an old restroom that no one used anymore for back when the dorms were under renovation and some of the students had to stay there. I cleaned up with a shower with my clothing on and then wrapped my deep wounds with pieces of cloth from my shirt. My head wound had already stopped bleeding, and my left arm was the worst of it. This is the first of many self-medicinal sessions I would have to have in my life. Thank goodness I had been a Boy Scout for a few years.
I pulled the fire alarm an hour later and joined the massive crowd of students shuffling out of the building, annoyed at the disturbance. I had my coat zipped up and kept my head down, I wasn’t noticed. The police and ambulances were already on scene from the deaths upstairs. Daniel and Audrey.
I went back to my dorm, luckily my roommate wasn’t in. I cleaned up more properly and dressed my wounds with a first aid kit I usually kept in my car. Then I headed out in the thickest jacket and pants I could find. My hunting coveralls and jacket made the best teeth protection.
I was working at a hardware store downtown as a part time job to supplement my college expenses. It was 8:00pm and they were still open long enough for my purposes. It was no Cabela’s but it didn’t leave me wanting. And hey, employee discount. I convinced the guy working that night that I was actually going to close and convinced him he should have himself a nice time. He said a few boxes had come in that day and he hadn’t had time to put the stuff away or even receive the shipment in the computer. I would make it so that a few of the boxes wouldn’t ever arrive.
I walked out at 10 with a Remington M870 and more shells then I could possibly need. I also used some cannon fuses and black powder to make me half a dozen pipe bombs. I sawed off the barrel of the Shotgun so I could hide it in my coat… just like the movies. I was going to pay the Golden Dragon a little visit and see how good their Hunger Special really was.
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