Chains from the past.



Through his bedroom wall he can hear her muffled whimpers, the stern male voice he can faintly hear yelling over the blare of the country music playing in the next room. The sounds of shattering glass, a lamp thrown up against the wall, a hollow thumping noise shakes the room, more whimpers.. More yelling.. He crawls into the corner and curls his little body up into a protective ball, and begins to claw at his ears to silence the noise. He is six years old. And for his entire life Ethan john Klinger has known the nature of violence in all of its forms.. His father would kick in the door and turn loose his rage on him. “Boy!! Don’t you ever cower from nothing! I ain’t raisin no coward! Don’t you ever let the likes of fear or love take hold of your soul boy! Love is for the weak!.. Through all of it, he made his choices early, never strike a woman, hold his child near his heart and learn the ways of such things as fear and love. You became a man early. With your own wife, your own child, both taken from you.. In an instant life changed for you. Threshold called soon after, and you quickly became their favorite trigger, one shot. One life taken then another, after that it becomes easy doesn’t it?, and then a few short weeks ago, it changed yet again, you met her and slowly you began to care more about life than the ways of fear and death. Now here you are at the very edge, you close your eyes, and through the big black empty you can faintly hear a soft beautiful voice as it whispers to you, as soft and slight as a heartbeat, it pulls at you, taking you through the black, something stirs.. Ashes to ashes?.. No... not ready for that yet are you? Then slowly you begin to see a faint light coming from above you, your eyes slowly open, and you are in the Threshold infirmary, you are in a bed, you remember slowly the attack, your fingers begin to move and you can for the first time feel your entire body, you turn you eyes to the chair by the bed and there curled up and sleeping quietly is the female you know as Priss. Something is different about her now though, she has a bandage or a bandana around her forehead, you cannot clearly determine which, and her eyes open she sees you, and rises from the chair and comes to the side of the bed, your hand touches her Face and her skin seems as though it were made of silk. You feel the tear from her eyes roll over you fingers and for the first time in what seems a lifetime it feels good to be alive.
“Welcome back handsome.”
“H.. How long Priss?”
“You’ve been out for ten days Baby.”
“Tell me.. Please.. How many?”
“Twitch.. Thump.. Both…”
Her eyes begin to water.
“Both dead?”
“Yes.”
“Samantha?”
“Milo Tripper.. Samantha and the little one known as Thed.. all missing.. Since the attack.”

Begin Again.



Cowboy hangs on by a thread, mortally wounded, Threshold meanwhile has launched a round the clock search for the two missing agents and the little red man known as Thed. Klinger slowly becomes more aware of his surroundings and Priss hasn’t left his side since he woke up. It is Christmas morning at 2:00 am. Someone set up a tree, But Klinger’s mind is in the desert. The doctor enters the room and tells him that someone has been waiting to see him, and when Roxanne Johns walks into the room he feels his own tears forming. The two embrace and share a bit of a moment, before Roxx pulls away, to give the doctor one of those “Give us a minute” looks.
“Kling, we’re working on putting a new team together to go get Sam and Milo, so Far its gonna be Priss and me, and we got a wild card with this Sil chick that Alpha brought back from Mordes Keep with them.”
He slowly sits up and looks Roxanne Johns square in the eye.
“I’m comin too Roxx.”
“Yeah, I know better than try to argue with that, but we still got work to do, we need at least three more bodies before they’ll let us back in the field, and you have to show them that you’re ready.”
He rises up out of the bed.
“I was ready the second that I opened my eyes Roxx. You get us some bodies, I‘ll be ready.”
She kisses him on the forehead, and smiles that cute Roxx smile.
“You get some rest tough guy.. You leave the bodies to me. Those things that you tangled with haven’t seen the last of Team Alpha. You watch over him Priss, don‘t let him con you.”
It is when Roxx leaves the room that he notices that there something missing from Priss’s forehead.
“What happened to them Honey?”
She lowers her head.
“When I was fighting with the Wrath’s, the were cut off, Threshold doctors removed what was left.”
He grabs her by the hand, and looks at her.
“Priss.. Don’t you worry about Samantha now, remember she has that kook Milo Tripper with her, I wouldn’t want to tangle with those two at the same time..”
She lays down beside him and he puts his arm around her.
“Don’t worry sweets.. We’ll bring Sammy home.. Where she belongs.

Scratch. ABT Copyright © 2007.

Blood Of the Desert.



Sunday December 15th 2069.
It is 3:00 pm, and the members of team Alpha have followed the trail of the Wrath Riders all of the way to the very end of the Canns Landing Corridor. They now stand at the edge of the Malti Desert, a virtual Wasteland that extends itself for endless miles away from the fringes of civilization. In places, the ground is black, and there are rocky hills, and precious few trees, it is for the most part barren. Samantha Bliss knows that they cannot continue to follow the trail without first returning to Threshold to replenish their supplies, there is special equipment to consider to cross such a place, without first properly outfitting her team with the right gear, such a field excursion would be unthinkable, she calls Lifeguard to arrange for a transport to come and pick them up. As the call is finishing, the unthinkable happens, the Wrath Riders appear from seemingly out of nowhere, only there isn’t five, now Samantha counts a force of ten riders, that cut down three members of team alpha almost immediately, she begins to open fire on the riders with no results. From his vantage point Klinger can see Priss with the first riders sword she is swinging it wildly and takes down two of them, but they are everywhere at once and Klinger himself sustains a vicious attack, he knows that he has been seriously cut open by one of the Wraths, and he falls backwards but is still conscious, there is no sound only blurred visions of the Riders brutal attack, it seems to go on forever there in the dust kicked up by their animals. He can no longer see Samantha Bliss or any of the others, And then as suddenly as they appear the Wrath Riders disappear back into the dust clouds. He slowly turns his head to the left and the vision there is not a pleasant one as he sees his team mate Twitch lying dead a mere ten feet away, it is his own bloody hand that he sees trying to reach out to him, his eyes roll skyward, and Ethan John Klinger sees the Threshold Medical Transport hovering above him, it lands and dispenses a medical team who scan out to search for surviving members of team Alpha, but Klinger only sees the four meds that load him into the transport, his body goes numb and it feels for a time as though he’s floating. He struggles to keep his eyes open, and then he sees nothing.

Inverted Reflection.



Hear what I say, It is a time when even the best men must face what life they have chosen for themselves, all deeds, good and bad are now looked upon with equal and impartial prejudices, why are you here? What did you pray tell do to deserve such a fate?
He can hear the voice, but his body still cannot move, it all seems too familiar to Klinger surreal and familiar, he knows that voice but he cannot outwardly place it, as it is safely locked away inside of that brilliant white light that is all around him.
“Did you tempt fate Klinger?.. The question has changed a bit, but it still stands.. Why are you here?”
“Because I let my guard down, I didn’t move fast enough.. I… don’t know.”
“But you drew your weapon Kling.. I saw you man.. You never hesitated like that before. Why then?”
“She was in my line of fire.. I couldn’t risk hitting her.”
“Ah.. there it is then.. Sweet Priss.. Tell me Klinger, what about Sammy? What do you suppose happened to her?”
Then it comes to him, he knows that voice, it is the voice of his dead comrade Maxwell Creed.
“Max? .. man is that really you?”
“Ever since the beginning Kling, I always thought that you were the toughest s.o.b. that I ever laid eyes on, not an ounce of quit in you.”
“Max.. man I can’t fix this shit, Not with Sam.. Not with Priss, I don’t know what to do.”
“So quitting on Sam is the answer? Leaving Priss behind to face that ugly world all by her pretty self?.. that’s the Answer?”
He does not answer , he tries to close his eyes but the beautiful white light will not allow it.
“Max.. tell me. Please.”
“How many men have you killed brother?.. How many Reds?”
“Max.. I- ”
“Say it Klinger.”
“Say it?”
“Just say it Kling.. Then go make it so.”
“I want to live.”
“You want to live?”
“Yes.”
“Then open you’re eyes you ornery ol bastard! Grab that woman of yours and go make them bastards pay the ferryman!”
“ For Sammy.. For Priss. For Alpha.”
“Yeah Bro.. For Alpha.. Wake up man.. Its payback time.”

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2007

Dark Corridor.



Saturday December 14th, 2069.
It is 1:00 am in the Canns Landing Corridor, Samantha Bliss and the other members of team Alpha have in the past ten hours,recovered all three bodies of the missing Threshold agents, and after close inspection they had reached the conclusion that they had all three met with the same fate as Cuji and his soldiers. Just before dusk they had acquired the trail of the so called Wrath Riders from hell, that neither Priss nor Thed seemed to know anything about, Nor do either of them recognize the name “Forge.” they have been following the bloody path of the Wrath for five hours, but what disturbs Samantha Bliss even more, is the fact that for the last three hours, she has seen Threshold surveillance crafts flying for the first time in four years over the Canns Landing Corridor, suggesting to her that Threshold is presently aware of a greater problem than the reds themselves. She has asked that Lifeguard keep with an medium to long range thermo scans in front of Alpha and behind to safeguard against any sudden attacks. They are moving east along Sullivan avenue, the moon is full and clearly illuminates everything in their path, something has caught the eye of Ethan John Klinger and he slowly and cautiously moves in for a closer look. He sees in the distance what appears to be a four legged animal, closely resembling a horse, a very large Horse, it has sleek black hair with the ribs partially exposed, the hooves are shiny, almost as though metallic like steel, on its back there sits a odd shaped saddle, that has spikes on both ends and appears to be made from a material like black leather. It smells of rotting flesh, but what bothers him more than the animal itself is the fact that there is no rider sitting on it. and Klinger knows, there is a Wrath rider in his presence, and before he can move it strikes him. The first blow sends him flying twenty five feet backwards, and as he lands he feels all of the air leave his body, the rider stands in front of him, all adorned, in a hooded cloak, in what looks like black leather armor, a yellowish colored hand slowly pulls the broad sword from its sheath and begins to walk towards him.

First Encounter.



The Wrath Rider slowly walks towards a stunned Klinger with its weapon drawn, it is the most disturbing thing he has ever seen, but before it can draw near behind it, Klinger sees something moving through the darkness towards it, it is then that little Thed throws his entire body into the knees of the unsuspecting Wrath Rider knocking it off of its feet, he yells for help from the other members of team Alpha and soon Twitch, Thump and Cowboy all come running, though the rider loses its sword in the process, it quickly regains its composure and throws Thed into the brick wall hard, Cowboy fires a round into it , but it closes on him without even slowing down, Twitch and Thump draw fire on it as well with little or no effect and it closes on them quickly battering all three men into unconsciousness. It then turns once again in the direction of a still dazed Klinger, and slowly lumbers towards him, it reaches down and takes hold of his shirt, that is when a very angry Priss shows up and buries the Riders own sword into its back.
“Let go of my man you ugly Prick!!” she yells.
Soon Samantha Bliss and Milo Tripper come running as well, and they arrive just in time to see it fall to the ground, its own sword still in its back. It doesn’t move, Priss is tending to Klinger while Samantha and Milo check the condition of Twitch, Thump, Thed and Cowboy, they are all battered and bruised but without serious injury. She slowly approaches the downed Wrath Rider with her own weapon drawn. She looks at Priss quizzically .
“So.. What do you suppose happens when you take the sword out?” Samantha asks.
Priss studies the fallen Wrath Rider.
“I don’t know Samantha, lets find out, if it moves we can always put the sword back in ay?”
She walks over to the Wrath and removes the sword, startled they all jump back when it rears its head and lets out a slow hissing gurgling sound, its yellow flesh slowly sinks into its bones and it lay still on the ground. Klinger Slowly walks up behind Priss, and silently studies the fallen Rider.
“We fired six rounds into this bastard and we didn’t even slow it down, she nails it with its own sword and Poof!… dust.”
he pauses momentarily before posing a question to Samantha Bliss.
“Boss lady?”
“Yes Mr. Klinger?.”
“Do you think I could Talk to miss Priss in private for a coupla minutes?”
She Smiles.
“Well Kling.. She DID save your hide.. I think that you owe her THAT much.”
They walk together to the far end of the alley, and once he is comfortable that they are out of ear shot he turns to face her.
“Priss.. Look here. Little Miss. I know what you really are.. And I also know what other people THINK that you are. You showed me a lot lady. Lots that a lot of other people couldn’t or wouldn’t. you are more human that most people I know I shouldn’t be thinking-”
Down the alley Samantha watches them embrace, and turns away pretending not to see. There are bigger more dangerous problems to consider. Where there is one there could be many.. The Wrath Riders aren’t far from them. She can feel it.

Scratch.. ABT Copyright © 2007.

Signs.



Friday December 13th, 2069.
The fellowship of Florence street has agreed to show Samantha Bliss and the other members of team Alpha the back way to get to Cuji’s outpost. They silently make their way down the alleys until they reach Monarch street, it is now sunrise, and Samantha Bliss as well as Derek Conner and all else present begin to get an odd feeling that something is very wrong, and as they all step from the alleyway the smell of fresh spilled blood intoxicates the air around them. There is a layer of mist on the ground and protruding through the top Samantha can clearly see the bodies of several dead Red soldiers, as they draw near them she instructs the members of team Alpha to cover the other existing alleys leading onto Monarch street. Her and Priss and Klinger all move in to inspect the bodies, while the Fellowship stays back.
“I count seven males Samantha.” Priss tells her.
“Two more over here.” Klinger answers.
Closer inspection offers them the grim details of the deed itself, there are nine dead male reds, all horribly mutilated, Samantha eyes Derek Conner suspiciously, he slowly shakes his head no.
“We didn’t do this.” he tells her.
Priss calls out to her teammates and Samantha and Klinger both move to her side, she is bending down to the sidewalk inspecting something outlined in the blood of the dead reds.
“They are some kind of hoof prints I think.” She tells them.
Samantha follows the prints to where she can clearly see them on the street.
“they’re heading towards Cuji’s outpost, five animals from what I can gather. Not horses though, no.. clearly, these are something else, something big.”
She stands slowly, and studies the path of the hoof prints headed down Monarch street.
“Lifeguard?”
“Not picking anything up Samantha. Just Alpha members and the human signatures with you.”
“No Animals of any kind?”
“No, not a thing.”
She returns to inspect one of the bodies. He has been sliced open the entire length of his torso, from his chin to his privates, the rib cage is fully exposed, each cut made with a very sharp metal blade. She rises yet again.
“What now Samantha?”
“Now Priss, we follow the trail.”

A New Breed.



She instructs lifeguard to maintain a constant surveillance along the length of Monarch street in front of them, as they make their way towards Vanover street where they will turn eastward heading towards Cuji’s outpost. They press on for several hours in the morning until the reach the Vanover turn off where Samantha Bliss and Priss make yet another grim discovery, three more bodies laying in the street. These appeared to be running towards them when they were cut down. Samantha inspects the wounds.. The same as before, and the hoof prints heading down Vanover street, tells her that whatever it is its heading strait towards Cuji. Priss moves up behind her.
“What are you thinking Samantha?”
She studies Priss for a second before answering.
“I think that whatever did this isn’t human, isn’t animal and isn’t a red.”
She stares down Vanover street in the distance.
“I think General Cuji could be in some very deep Ca Ca. alright lets move out.”
A mere two hours later they find themselves moving silently through Cuji’s compound with weapons drawn, there are bodies of Cuji’s dead soldiers everywhere. As they begin to search for survivors the male reds Thed sees a former comrade that he recognizes, he approaches him slowly.
“Hey! This one is still alive! Sabo? What has happened here?”
Klinger and Milo Tripper come to Thed’s aid, followed by Samantha Bliss and then Agent Priss. The dying red soldier has been cut open badly, and is slowly but surely dying.
“T.. Thed? It was.. Wrath Riders. From beyond where we come from, beyond what we know as hell, the one called Forge leads them, they.. Took Cuji’s stone. ”
Immediately Samantha Bliss and Priss move into Cuji’s chamber, where they find the body of the red general, horribly mutilated, and as the dying red soldier stated the stone and necklace has been ripped from his neck.
Team Alpha and the fellowship spend the next twenty five minutes searching the remainder of the compound for more survivors,
They resign back to Vanover Street, where Derek Conner has decided that the fellowship would be safer back on Florence street, Samantha Bliss knows that the mystery surrounding Derek Conner and his minions,
Must wait for another time as she stands watching them walk down Vanover street towards Florence. She instructs the members of team Alpha to begin searching for the bodies of the three Threshold agents.
Something or someone waded through an entire reds outpost with seemingly casual ease, and that something or someone now has the stone. Something else now roams the Canns Landing Corridor, something far more dangerous than anything the red army or Threshold themselves could ever dream up.

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2007.