30 YEARS AGO…
17 year old Earl stormed through his front door wrestling to get the tie off his neck, formal jacket already slung over his arm as he kicked off his dress shoes. His father, Ed, stood next to his twin brother Red in his doorway with his son Jake and his own kids, all several years younger than Earl, all formally dressed and solemnly sulking.
“Jake, go check on your cousin. see that he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Sure thing, dad. Kids, stay with grandpa I might be a minute. Uncle Ed, you might wanna check on Janice, she’s still in the truck.”
By the time Jake got to Earl’s room he had already finished changing into his hunting hat and camo’s and jumped out the window, .22 rifle slung over his shoulder and a back-pack full of shells and other things. the first thing he did was raid the garage for something…painful, every thing seemed too basic or cumbersome, then he had a wicked idea. taking an old fishing pole off the wall he popped off the top half and reel then snipped of the line rings and split the shaft down the middle to the cork handle. he placed a length of razor wire between the two halves and secured it in place with barbed wire between the edges, he had now made the meanest sorry stick to probably ever exist. He was wandering the woods, and they were thick with fluffies, many still on their exodus to “Skettiland” and many had been stuck here for awhile. Smart enough to follow the sunrise east but followed it till it went down in the west, trapping them in a never ending circle. Earl spent the day using the stick on any lone or small family of fluffies he found, each swing of the stick tore and shredded off chucks of rainbow colored fluff and flesh in long full torso strips. Other times he’d pot shot the leg of a bunch of random ones in a herd with the .22 's scope or blow the brains out of a special friend in front of it’s mate and if the couple had foals, it was always the mother first. by late afternoon he stopped to take a break, sitting on a stump, eating a half smashed pop-tart in front of a herd so badly whipped many had died from the pain alone. Polishing off a bottle of gatorade he stuffed the bottle back into his bag and went to find the nearby river to rinse off the gore from the sorry stick. picking the last bits of meat from the stick he shook the water off as he walked, not paying attention to were he walked he had inadvertently wandered out of the woods and next to an old abandoned railway station. he used to come here often to raid the place for scrap metal in whatever road warrior style car he and his friends were building that year, it crawled with fluffies he never paid much mind to before, but now. During his rampage he was stomping a family of fluffies through a steel grate over the undercarriage access trench in the repair yard when the rusty metal and old concrete gave way. landing awkwardly from the sudden five foot fall he banged his head on the concrete hard enough to force him to stay down and nurse the tender spot for a minute. the trench led into one of the train repair buildings and in the darkness of that building he could hear something move over the throbbing in his skull. it simultaneously made slithering and clicking noises with sporadic brief deep humming buzzes. what the fuck was it? was Earl’s only clear thought at the moment pulling an old Zippo lighter from his pocket and flicked the wheel a few times before it ignited. what little light it provided he fumbled his free hand around his pockets for his knife when something long thin and green shot out of the darkness knocking the lighter from his hand. jumping up with a start he banged his head again on the grate and as he cussed and stomped his foot holding the back of his head with both hands. the lighter had set ablaze all the dry leaves that had collected in the trench and smoke was starting to billow through it. Something shrieked in the darkness and a giant hand reached through the grate, grabbed Earl by the shirt and lifted him out of the trench.
“Damn it, boy! I’ve been tracking your ass through the woods all damn day and the trail you left a blind man could follow! Just- (sigh) don’t run off on me like that. not right now okay.” Ed worried over his son still in his Sunday best save for some boots. “Jeez yer bleedin hold still let me see.”
“Dad I’m fine! Okay?” trying to keep his hat over his eyes. “What about the fire? I heard something in there.”
“Leave it. it’s in a concrete trench it’ll be fine and it was probably just another fucking fluffy.” Picking up his son’s rifle. “C’mon, we’ll talk about this at home. You’re sister’s ordering pizza.”
PRESENT DAY…
Earl kicked over a stack of wooden planks leaning against an old cobblestone wall, several fluffies came running out from behind, one getting pinned under the boards. this musky old basement was overly cluttered with folding chairs, tables, barrels and old hay lined boxes full of old empty, mostly, broken battles. An old preacher stood at the bottom of the steps watching while Earl poked around the cluttered mess with a flashlight with Odin sniffing around at everything in sight.
“Feel that breeze, Father Jeff? there’s a hole in here some where that keep letting the little shits in.”
“I pray you kind it, these abominations keep shitting in here and it’s stinking up the Lord’s house. this is not only a house of God but a historical landmark and I wont have these things defiling it.” Practically hissing at the sight of the fluffies in the net.
“Hey Jake! Jr! Get down here and help me clear this junk out!” Earl shouts up the stairway. “uh, sorry Father.”
“Don’t worry you’re right. most of this was due to be thrown out weeks ago. water damage and whatnot.”
“The guys with the dumpster’s here let them do it.” Jr. pointed to the guys following down the steps.
it took a few hours clearing out the moldy waterlogged junk, finding more boxes of bottles and broken barrels along with the dozens of fluffies that had nowhere to go. several ran behind a stack of plywood against the wall and after some prodding with a broom handle with no results the sheets were moved out of the way. behind the stack was an old wooden door with a hole in the corner and judging by the chipped away stones of the wall meant that it was added later and it was locked with four heavy padlocks. fairly old locks.
“Hey padre, what’s this all about?” Jake asked.
“Oh that was before any of our time. back during prohibition the mob would use that to hide their product and well…donated some fairly good bottles of communion wine for the churches troubles. heh heh. still got a bottle or two left in here probably.” Kicking one of the old crates. “But those locks I have no idea where they came from and I’ve shepherded this for twenty years but i really haven’t been down here in fifteen.”
“Earl, you got an angle grinder or bolt cutters in your van?”
after a few minutes Earl was grinding away at the locks and it took a minute to finally cut through each one. when the grinder stopped and the last lock hit the floor they finally noticed it, Stalker was sitting at the bottom of the stairs growling under his breath, eyes locked on the door."
Jake tried to call Stalker over, whistling and snapping his fingers at him and normally that would be enough but he stayed put. Getting up off his knee he attempted to grab the dog’s collar but he scrambled up the steps before he could touch him. Jake paused in confusion slowly turned to the door and drew his hunting knife from his belt then looked to Earl who was pulling a small revolver from his boot. Having sponged off some breach and search knowledge from Earl’s sister the sheriff they each took a side of the door with their backs to the wall. Jake reached over and turned the knob, pushing the door in Earl was quick to spin around and aimed his gun and phone light in all directions with nothing but empty air to point at. the only thing alive in the room were a dozen fluffies cowering under an old cot save one.
=Get lost humans, this is our turf!- Shouted an otherwise normal looking blue and yellow maned earthy.
“Earl, did that fluffy just speak plain English?”
“Yeah and I’m debatin’ on whether I should kill it or not.”
“Hold on I think I found a light.”
Pulling a string in the middle of the room dangling from the ceiling and a single dingy bulb lit up the room. it was large with a makeshift wooden bench along one wall. it was covered with beakers, tubes chemicals, loose papers and machines in what looked like a cobbled together splicing lab, many of the machines powering up when the light came on.
-Hey, are you deaf? I said get out or my big sister’s gonna kick your asses!
“Jake shut him up while I look this over.”
reading over some of the loose papers and file folders scattered over the table skimming over the details. It was definitely gene splicing formulas and research for fluffies but he didn’t know much seeing as how much he actively despised it but he knew enough to recognize it. keeping enemies close and all that.
“What the fuh-AAAH AH! AHHHH!” Jake’s screams broke Earl’s focus.
Spinning around he saw Jake down on one knee and the blue earthy next to him with a large tentacle growing out it’s back and twisting around Jake’s left arm twisting it hard. As strong as the grip was it was still a fluffy on the other end and Jake quickly overpowered it and swung it around hard, whipping it into the stone floor splattering its body.
“Fucking hell is it dead?!” Pointing his gun at the bloody splatter.
when the tentacle went slack and slid off his arm he immediately drew his mace can and pointed it at the other eleven fluffies cowering under the cot. Erring on paranoid caution Earl put three rounds in its head then turned his gun to the other eleven.
“First of you freaks to move gets one in the head!”
“Uh, Earl… look left.”
“Jesus Christ, what is all this bullshit?”
on the opposite wall were dozens of pictures of Earl with notes next to them, going about his day his habits, his girlfriend and his house from up close and afar.
“This just got personal. Who the fuck is stalking me?” Looking back the the fluffies. “Well? Speak up! I’m counting to three then I start shooting! one. two…”
-Okay okay! some of us can talk like you but that other stuff only Scoots and Sara could do stuff like that.- A green pegasus mare pleaded. -And you just killed Scoots.
“Details.” Cocking back the hammer on the gun.
-Sera was trying to make us like her but the best she could do is make us talk like humans and the thing Scoots grew out his back. She hates you but she wont say why. honest!
“Like her? Care to elaborate?”
-Your gonna have to find out the hard way there, Earl Coleson.
BANG!
The mare’s head popped like a balloon as two more simply burst entirely from the following shots, the rest pleaded for their lives while Earl reloaded and shot the rest. the few survivors twitched and quivered and Earl kicked the cot out of the way then returned to the bench looking over some of the beakers full of liquids. with a quick whiff and a sample spill on the bench he turned back the the pile of fluffy mush and poured it over them all, their bodies sizzling and melting on contact. Ripping the pictures off the wall, collecting all the research notes and machinery they left nothing behind, making sure it was all loaded into Earl’s van who was keeping a justifiable paranoid eye out. Stalker wouldn’t step foot in the basement again and just kept soaking up attention from the pastor till it was time to leave and it took Jake awhile to convince him not to call the sheriff. Earl just called it “smiting the unholy” and Father Jeff just sighed and told him never to return and Jake begrudgingly waved the bill to keep from calling the sheriff.
Driving straight to Earl’s house the first thing they did was grab the biggest guns he had and did a perimeter check around the property pictures in hand to judge just how close this “Sara” had got without alerting Odin. it didn’t. One clue from those mutant fluffies really set Earl on edge, “Make them like her” and he knew only one creature that could pull shit like what Scoots did. Returning to his house he plucked watch like device from its charging stand, strapping it on he activated the holographic interface. finger controls and a forearm length keypad manifested in bright deep red and synced it to some new drones he had begun working on after his first encounter with a meta, drones that weren’t exactly… legal. his phone mag-locked to the watch becoming the monitor as the three drones came online and the garage door slowly raised up and they zipped out into the sky on eight props each. No casing, just zip ties and e-tape wrapped over bare wires and Kriss Vector SMG’s mounted under each one. taking a moment to look over the research notes it was no wonder this stalker of his was making so little progress with twenty year out of date tech and shady internet tips to work on. but one thing was for sure she was trying to make more metas. The sun was setting and the drones switched to thermal vision mode zipping around the property line one quickly honed in on a single beat up old car approaching his driveway and stopping just before it. A woman got out, plain, unassuming in jeans and jacket with waist length dark hair. Her body heat registered five degrees hotter than a humans, even her hair lit up the cams and when the drone zipped down into firing range the real show began. She whipped her hair around and it instantly grew and changed into a mass of spindly tentacles catching the drone thirty feet in the air and dragged it down then ripped the SMG free from it.
“Great now the mutant’s got a god damn gun. Happy Earl?”
“I will be when it’s dead.” Redirecting the other drones. “Where’d I put my dragon’s breath rounds?” Digging the rounds out of his safe. “Gotta surprise for this bitch. Go turn on my sprinkler system.”
Earl’s phone suddenly rang with the business ringtone and he declined the call but it started ringing again with the same number on the caller ID. He answered it on the third call back.
“Skettiland elimination and con-”
“Fluffy-cide in the sprinkler system. nice try, Coleson. It’ll hurt like hell but it wont kill me.” The woman’s voice cut him off.
“So, “Sera”, what’s your beef with me anyway? I’ve killed tons of fluffs and more than my fair share of mutants. What’s so special bout me that warrants so much attention?”
“Let’s start with my mother, then my brother and almost all my friends! Granted Fred was an ass but he was still my brother. You owe me a pound of flesh and I intend to collect.” Hanging up before he could finish.
Fred…Fred… where had he heard that name? then it hit him. the blue meta that tried to kill him last year and the PETETA pricks that tried to destroy Conners’ farm. great a whole family of monsters looking to wring his neck, well, not if he could help it. Odin and Stalker started barking wildly in fearful whiny yelps then started growling out the front window of the living room.
The remaining drones swooped in on Sera in the front yard standing just out the range of the poisoned sprinklers splash zone. The second drone came zooming in weapon blazing and like some glob of human shaped water her body contorted and bent around the bullets as she returned fire downing it quick. When the third caught up it was met with flying wreckage it barely dodged in time and Sera managed to somehow vanish. The loud shattering of wood and glass alerted Jake and Earl to the intruder upstairs.
“Earl I’m calling the sheriff for back up!” Jake yelled as Earl ran upstairs.
“No we got this! She’ll just arrest me afterwards!”
running to his bedroom he saw the crushed remains of the drone flung through the window and barely ducked in time to dodge the hail of bullets blazing through it.
“Never mind! call my sister!”
“My phones not working!”
“My remotes jammed too!” returning fire with his AA-12.
“Where’s your stupid jammer!?” breaking the front window to give cover fire.
“The fuck!? It’s missing!” Checking his electronics room and strapping a chest cam on and a gopro clipped to his hat. “Bitch’s already been in my house! What else did she fucking take?!”
the answer came flying through the window into the living room in the form of a flash bang grenade, lethal to fluffies and allowed to civilian contractors with the proper license. Jake and the dogs staggered blindly it a stupor their ears ringing drowning out Earl’s screams as the meta crawled in through his bedroom window. The dragons breath rounds lit up the dark room with pure sparks and flame hitting Sera in the chest staggering her enough to fall back out the window but Earl kept shooting.
“Jake! Jake! get up here! Snap out of it.”
Not paying attention to his ammo count the shot gun went click and in that instant a razor sharp green tendril shot in whipping in a wide arch. It cut clean through his shot gun and left arm at the elbow, staggering back in shock his back hit the hallway wall taking a moment for it to set in and then he finally screamed. Frantically prying off his belt he tied it around his stump with an old handkerchief under it. the tendril camp darting in this time and he barely managed to duck out of the way and ended up falling down the stairs landing in the living room. by now Jake was starting to come to, his vision clearing enough to see Sera come downstairs, big as a small bear, all green, on spider-like legs, insect wings and several tendrils for a tail, her head on a long neck and razor sharp teeth.
“Fucking Christ, yer ugly.” Keeping his eyes on her while pawing around for his shotgun just out of his peripheral vision.
Sera lunged at him slamming his back against the wall, he shoved back like a linebacker ramming Sera into the opposing wall with his left forearm pinning her throat in place as he reached for his Bowie knife. before it could clear the sheath she bit down on his arm then wrapped a tendril around his leg tripping him up and she shoved him through the bathroom door landing in the bath tub. Groggy, dizzy, head throbbing and thought fuzzy he shook it off the best he could climbing off the bifurcated door in the tub he staggered to the hall Knife in hand. He saw Sera rip the front door off as Earl was wrapped up in all five of her tendrils as he screamed for help and she flew off into the night sky with him running in vain to catch her.
“EARL!” He roared from the door way. “EARRRRRRRLLLL!!”
