Bacon
New Member
Weekend Ritual Part One
Word count 1721
It was late that evening, almost dark as the covers started to move and the big man rolled out of bed. He made a resounding thud as his body hit the floor, dragging his bed spread with him. As he stood rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he glanced over at his alarm clock. Wow, eight pm. I was supposed to get up at four o’clock! Oh, I’m so fired! He flung the blanket off scrambling to get up and out the door when he remembered that today was his day off from work. Breathing a sigh of relief, the man walked out to his kitchen and flicked on the television which he could see over in the living room. It was on a news station, he wanted it on, mostly for background noise. The man turned on his stove, got some eggs from the fridge, and made himself some breakfast.
He walked back to the bathroom and took care of the rest of his ‘morning’ routine, ending up wearing some black BDU style pants with a belt and a green pastel colored sleeveless t-shirt tucked into them. To top off the ensemble, he wore a dark and light gray checkered button up shirt, but left it unbuttoned and loose, rather than tucked in. The big man pocketed his wallet and keys, and then clicked off the TV before heading outside into the hallway and down to the street exit.
Once outside, the off duty guard walked two blocks down the street to his favorite gym. His member ship card made a satisfying sound as he swiped it at the entrance. There was a familiar beep, followed by a clicking sound. He placed his hand on the door and it opened easily for him as he entered the nearly empty gym. Ah, just the way I like it; empty, or at least a nearly empty place. No waiting in line to use a machine, or anything. The man took off his outer shirt, and began to stretch out his muscles. After he was finished with that, he hit the weights and got through his routine in just under a half an hour. The man pulled his shirt back on and hit the exit at a jog. Entering the sidewalk, the big man accelerated to a full sprint as he headed towards his favorite restaurant. I think I’ll eat a whole pizza today. Meat lovers would be awesome, and then there’s that new action flick out in theaters. Today is going to be great, all play and no work.
The man suddenly stumbled, tripped, and fell flat on his face, skidding a few feet across the concrete of the sidewalk. He looked up in amazement at the spectacle before him. He was suddenly reminded of an old style corny horror flick, where the giant insect crushes the tiny cardboard city, while people run in terror. Except that no one was running. Only about a block away, straight ahead of him, was standing a giant praying mantis looking creature with a white sort of porcelain looking face. This can’t be real! Or can it? It looks so incredibly real, but it’s just standing there, and no one’s running, or even looking at it. Am I seeing things?! Or is this some sort of blow up thing that they put here during the week while I was working? That must be it, everyone else in the neighborhood has been seeing it all week and is just used to it being there. Buck slowly got back up to his feet and began to walk cautiously towards the monstrous figure. The four back legs of the mantis came down on either side of the street with the feet planted on the sidewalk. Its torso was angling upward, with its powerful looking front legs held together in front of it, up off the ground. Cars and trucks were traveling on the street easily clearing beneath its body. Yeah that thing must be some sort of a statue. Japan can be one weird place sometimes. As he walked towards it the eyes shifted a bit towards him, Whoa, that’s weird. Very life like, and yet it can’t be a real living thing. The eyes remained focused on the big man as he approached the enormous insect. He drew nearer and nearer until he was almost up to it.
With a sudden lurching motion, the creature lunged foreword angled and towards the big man’s side of the street. The powerful front legs sweeping down towards either side of the man, everything was happening so fast the man had no time to react or even yell out of surprise. From somewhere behind him, the big man heard a voice. It was saying, "So you say I can’t kill him, and now I have to save him? You really are an ass.” Suddenly the big man felt a hand on his shoulder jerking him back. He went air born flying over the head of the man that grabbed him as he continued saying, "Why can’t you just leave me alone?! I really don’t care about your plot! Yes, yes I know what you’ll do to me if I don’t cooperate, but why must you pick on me?!”
Buck instantly recognized his savior as the red headed stranger drew his samurai sword parrying away one of the mantis’s legs. The off duty guard laid there staring on in astonishment as the red head leapt into the air swinging his sword at the enormous insect’s head. The monster swatted away its assailant, with a brushing motion from one of its front legs. The red head sailed through the air feet fist towards one of the buildings. Upon impact he bent his legs absorbing the shock of impact, and sprung away from the building, back towards the monster in a very super man looking pose. Holding his sword out in front of himself, the sharp blade impaled the side of the monster as his feet swung back up over his head and his body twisted in a partial back flip sort of motion putting his feet onto the back of the monster, while pulling the sword out and slicing downwards. The action made a wicked gash in the side of the beast, while leaving the man in a standing position on its back.
The monster let out a scream as the sword broke free of its side, releasing a gush of green goop. One of its large eyeballs pivoted to look back at the red head as it tried to spin itself around. The street being to narrow for the mantis to fit across it long ways, both ends of the monster collided with buildings on either side of the street. The front legs cut easily through the buildings towards the head of the monster while its massive tail end crushed an apartment building to its rear. As the buildings began to topple the red headed man rushed forwards across the back of the monster swinging his sword down, with both hands on the hilt, cleaving the monster’s head in two.
By now the startled weekender had gotten back onto his feet, and started backing away from the scene before him. As the buildings began to fall, generating a huge dust cloud, he could just make out the monster’s head being split apart. It wasn’t clear through the dust filling the air if the monster was being obscured, or if the monster itself was disintegrating. But, out of the dust cloud, the red head approached him with a scowl on his face. "Get this straight big man,” he said menacingly. "I didn’t save you just now because I wanted too save you. I was coerced into it, and as soon as he lets me, I’m going to kill you myself for being so damn annoying. But until I get to kill you, you need to stay away from monsters like that one. They’ll eat you, and I’d hate to loose my chance at beating you to death.”
The big man stood there shaking uncontrollably and unsure what to say or how to respond, but before he could think of anything, the red head had disappeared in a blur of movement. The visibly shaken man walked away in a daze as emergency vehicles began to arrive with sirens blasting and lights flashing. The man continued on taking a longer route, around the decimated block, and on towards his favorite restaurant, Pizza Hut.
Having arrived at Pizza Hut, he sat down at a booth and ordered a pitcher of beer and a large meat lover’s pizza. As his mind began to process again, he though, what was that monster just now? Could that have been the sort of demon that Ryan talked about? This spirit world stuff is getting terrifyingly dangerous. The beer arrived at his table, and he grabbed the pitcher by the handle. Not bothering to pour a glass, he raised the pitcher to his lips. His shaking hands caused beer to spill over and run down his arm and his chin as he began to gulp down the beverage. The big man wouldn’t normally even finish three beers worth with a meal, but this time he downed the entire pitcher without stopping. He got a second pitcher and sipped this one until his meal arrived. He ate the entire pizza while thinking back to his high school days with his buddy Ryan.
Back in High School Buck always humored his buddy Ryan by talking with him about all the crazy things he said he could see with his mind’s eye. He never believed any of it, but it was fun to talk about cause of all the stories that his buddy told. His friend had always rambled on and on about ghosts and demons and angles. He had constantly gone on about how angles are nothing like conventional American religions taught. They wore black robes, and carried medieval Japanese weaponry. Supposedly they battled demons that looked like monsters and various things in nature from insects to animals, but the overwhelming theme of his advice on these things that he supposedly saw with his mind’s eye, was if you see them, run from them. And that was beginning to sound like really good advice.
Word count 1721
It was late that evening, almost dark as the covers started to move and the big man rolled out of bed. He made a resounding thud as his body hit the floor, dragging his bed spread with him. As he stood rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he glanced over at his alarm clock. Wow, eight pm. I was supposed to get up at four o’clock! Oh, I’m so fired! He flung the blanket off scrambling to get up and out the door when he remembered that today was his day off from work. Breathing a sigh of relief, the man walked out to his kitchen and flicked on the television which he could see over in the living room. It was on a news station, he wanted it on, mostly for background noise. The man turned on his stove, got some eggs from the fridge, and made himself some breakfast.
He walked back to the bathroom and took care of the rest of his ‘morning’ routine, ending up wearing some black BDU style pants with a belt and a green pastel colored sleeveless t-shirt tucked into them. To top off the ensemble, he wore a dark and light gray checkered button up shirt, but left it unbuttoned and loose, rather than tucked in. The big man pocketed his wallet and keys, and then clicked off the TV before heading outside into the hallway and down to the street exit.
Once outside, the off duty guard walked two blocks down the street to his favorite gym. His member ship card made a satisfying sound as he swiped it at the entrance. There was a familiar beep, followed by a clicking sound. He placed his hand on the door and it opened easily for him as he entered the nearly empty gym. Ah, just the way I like it; empty, or at least a nearly empty place. No waiting in line to use a machine, or anything. The man took off his outer shirt, and began to stretch out his muscles. After he was finished with that, he hit the weights and got through his routine in just under a half an hour. The man pulled his shirt back on and hit the exit at a jog. Entering the sidewalk, the big man accelerated to a full sprint as he headed towards his favorite restaurant. I think I’ll eat a whole pizza today. Meat lovers would be awesome, and then there’s that new action flick out in theaters. Today is going to be great, all play and no work.
The man suddenly stumbled, tripped, and fell flat on his face, skidding a few feet across the concrete of the sidewalk. He looked up in amazement at the spectacle before him. He was suddenly reminded of an old style corny horror flick, where the giant insect crushes the tiny cardboard city, while people run in terror. Except that no one was running. Only about a block away, straight ahead of him, was standing a giant praying mantis looking creature with a white sort of porcelain looking face. This can’t be real! Or can it? It looks so incredibly real, but it’s just standing there, and no one’s running, or even looking at it. Am I seeing things?! Or is this some sort of blow up thing that they put here during the week while I was working? That must be it, everyone else in the neighborhood has been seeing it all week and is just used to it being there. Buck slowly got back up to his feet and began to walk cautiously towards the monstrous figure. The four back legs of the mantis came down on either side of the street with the feet planted on the sidewalk. Its torso was angling upward, with its powerful looking front legs held together in front of it, up off the ground. Cars and trucks were traveling on the street easily clearing beneath its body. Yeah that thing must be some sort of a statue. Japan can be one weird place sometimes. As he walked towards it the eyes shifted a bit towards him, Whoa, that’s weird. Very life like, and yet it can’t be a real living thing. The eyes remained focused on the big man as he approached the enormous insect. He drew nearer and nearer until he was almost up to it.
With a sudden lurching motion, the creature lunged foreword angled and towards the big man’s side of the street. The powerful front legs sweeping down towards either side of the man, everything was happening so fast the man had no time to react or even yell out of surprise. From somewhere behind him, the big man heard a voice. It was saying, "So you say I can’t kill him, and now I have to save him? You really are an ass.” Suddenly the big man felt a hand on his shoulder jerking him back. He went air born flying over the head of the man that grabbed him as he continued saying, "Why can’t you just leave me alone?! I really don’t care about your plot! Yes, yes I know what you’ll do to me if I don’t cooperate, but why must you pick on me?!”
Buck instantly recognized his savior as the red headed stranger drew his samurai sword parrying away one of the mantis’s legs. The off duty guard laid there staring on in astonishment as the red head leapt into the air swinging his sword at the enormous insect’s head. The monster swatted away its assailant, with a brushing motion from one of its front legs. The red head sailed through the air feet fist towards one of the buildings. Upon impact he bent his legs absorbing the shock of impact, and sprung away from the building, back towards the monster in a very super man looking pose. Holding his sword out in front of himself, the sharp blade impaled the side of the monster as his feet swung back up over his head and his body twisted in a partial back flip sort of motion putting his feet onto the back of the monster, while pulling the sword out and slicing downwards. The action made a wicked gash in the side of the beast, while leaving the man in a standing position on its back.
The monster let out a scream as the sword broke free of its side, releasing a gush of green goop. One of its large eyeballs pivoted to look back at the red head as it tried to spin itself around. The street being to narrow for the mantis to fit across it long ways, both ends of the monster collided with buildings on either side of the street. The front legs cut easily through the buildings towards the head of the monster while its massive tail end crushed an apartment building to its rear. As the buildings began to topple the red headed man rushed forwards across the back of the monster swinging his sword down, with both hands on the hilt, cleaving the monster’s head in two.
By now the startled weekender had gotten back onto his feet, and started backing away from the scene before him. As the buildings began to fall, generating a huge dust cloud, he could just make out the monster’s head being split apart. It wasn’t clear through the dust filling the air if the monster was being obscured, or if the monster itself was disintegrating. But, out of the dust cloud, the red head approached him with a scowl on his face. "Get this straight big man,” he said menacingly. "I didn’t save you just now because I wanted too save you. I was coerced into it, and as soon as he lets me, I’m going to kill you myself for being so damn annoying. But until I get to kill you, you need to stay away from monsters like that one. They’ll eat you, and I’d hate to loose my chance at beating you to death.”
The big man stood there shaking uncontrollably and unsure what to say or how to respond, but before he could think of anything, the red head had disappeared in a blur of movement. The visibly shaken man walked away in a daze as emergency vehicles began to arrive with sirens blasting and lights flashing. The man continued on taking a longer route, around the decimated block, and on towards his favorite restaurant, Pizza Hut.
Having arrived at Pizza Hut, he sat down at a booth and ordered a pitcher of beer and a large meat lover’s pizza. As his mind began to process again, he though, what was that monster just now? Could that have been the sort of demon that Ryan talked about? This spirit world stuff is getting terrifyingly dangerous. The beer arrived at his table, and he grabbed the pitcher by the handle. Not bothering to pour a glass, he raised the pitcher to his lips. His shaking hands caused beer to spill over and run down his arm and his chin as he began to gulp down the beverage. The big man wouldn’t normally even finish three beers worth with a meal, but this time he downed the entire pitcher without stopping. He got a second pitcher and sipped this one until his meal arrived. He ate the entire pizza while thinking back to his high school days with his buddy Ryan.
Back in High School Buck always humored his buddy Ryan by talking with him about all the crazy things he said he could see with his mind’s eye. He never believed any of it, but it was fun to talk about cause of all the stories that his buddy told. His friend had always rambled on and on about ghosts and demons and angles. He had constantly gone on about how angles are nothing like conventional American religions taught. They wore black robes, and carried medieval Japanese weaponry. Supposedly they battled demons that looked like monsters and various things in nature from insects to animals, but the overwhelming theme of his advice on these things that he supposedly saw with his mind’s eye, was if you see them, run from them. And that was beginning to sound like really good advice.