Kael 23/08/09

“Hands up where we can see them.” A voice barked at her and Jessie squinted at the man in the morning light.
“Easy, I don’t have any weapons,” she slowly rose to a crouch and stood, the arrows pulled back on taught bows followed her progress.
“You’re alone? A woman?” Another sneered even as he started pulling her bag apart.
“Hey, be careful with that! It’s everything I own!” Where was Kael? Had he abandoned her? “I am a soldier in the Lord Imperator’s army!” Jessie snapped glaring at the men.
The weapons menacing her suddenly lowered. “Lord Imperator? You are not one of the invader’s scouts?”
“What? No! I’m trying to find survivors… I was… injured in the last skirmish with the False Lord and have just recently made it back to find the city in ruins.”
The leader, or the speaker as far as she could tell, stared into her eyes, his black eyes assessing, even as the men circling her looked away, anguish written plainly across their faces. “There are survivors. We will take you with us. Do not be mistaken, you are still under guard, until you prove yourself or someone can vouch for you.”
Jessie nodded and grabbed hold of it as one of the men tossed her bag to her.
“Let’s move, our shift is almost over.” The leader ordered and the swordsmen fell in formation around her and archers’ faded into the woods.
As they started their march, Jessie caught a flicker of gold at the corner of her eye. Her heart eased and she let out a breath. At least he hadn’t abandoned her yet.

Kael 22/08/09

“Tomorrow we will search on foot. We will be able to see more from below.”

Jessie finally turned to him, from where she had been poking at the embers of their fire. “You hate walking.” Her voice was hollow.

Kael snorted, “I do not hate it, I find it slow and inefficient. However in this case it will be the best way to track the survivors. We will be able to see more.” He repeated, his tail flicking in annoyance.

“Blessed Gods, there will not be anyone I know in that group in all likelihood.” Jessie flopped down on her back, staring at the stars through the tree covered canopy.

“The odds are against you.” Kael agreed, shifting, a grimace on his face. “I believe I will go sleep in that tree. The ground does not agree with me.” Lithely standing, Kael paced over to a large tree and climbed up it’s length and perched on a high branch.

“You’d think you were a cat… or a bird with the way you cling to your branches.”

Kael flashed his fangs and made himself comfortable. “We will go at first light. You are a soldier you should be able to defend yourself should anything stumble across you in the night. And I am a short fall away.”

Jessie stared up into Kael’s glowing amber eyes and before she realized it sleep had enfolded her in it’s arms.



Jessie cried out as something hard kicked her in her side, awakening. What she saw was a ring of men standing around her, bows and swords drawn and at the ready.

“Well, Hells.”

Kael 17/08/09 *Reposted

“Do you think… that anyone survived this?” Kael landed on the parapet of the Church of the Gods and set Jessie down.
Scanning the remains, he flicked his tongue out and grimaced at the assault to his senses. “Most likely. They would have evacuated or run. Not everyone fights to the last. The children…” He squinted at the body pile below them. “The invaders may have taken on slaves, to carry the loot. He paced along the narrow ledge, examining the walls, the wounds on the dead and destruction of the whole city. “Whoever did this… has access to things that I thought were long lost to your kind.”
“All those books… those cars and… bombs… you mean?” Jessie reached out and clutched his arm. Staring at him, no longer able to look at all the death. She was a soldier, yes, but there were sights that scarred you in an instant.
“And the like. Come,” Kael turned, wrapping her in his arms and lifting her all in one smooth motion. “Let us see if we can locate survivors.”
Neither of them mentioned Jack. The silence between them said enough.
He bounded off and glided over the city. “We will not follow the roads. Most likely the survivors would have fled to the fields, where they can seek cover. On the road they would be cut down.”
Jessie nodded, staring forward and down.
Bodies lay scattered at the city’s gates for what seemed like miles to her. Clearly some had thought the road the best escape route, and like Kael said, had been slain on the spot. The bodies tapered off and Kael veered off and began to circle.
Jessie tried, but all her eyes saw were the thick woods beyond the fields that encircle the city.
“There.” Kael shifted his grip and brought them to lower to the ground. “You can see where the fields have been disturbed.” Nostrils flared and tongue flicked. “There is the faint taste of blood, but not much. A group fled this way. A few beats and they shot above the field and forest.
“You can see-“
“Child, I have the eyes of a hawk.”
Jessie fell silent, her eyes scanning the forest floor and much as she was able as they winged above the trees.
Kael took a moment to look at the human in his arms. Her face was paler than usual, her lips bloodless and tight. Jessie’s eyes flashed white like a spooked horse. He noticed that the hand around his shoulders was petting him in tense motions.
Returning his eyes to the forest he murmured. “That was not a recent battle. The survivors have had many days to travel and seek safety. By the decay of the bodies, the carrion eaters and still burning houses… Most like it was two weeks ago.”
Jessie’s fingers dug into his shoulder, saying nothing.
“It will soon be dark, and though my eyes are keen and night does not bother me, I rather we both rest and set out with clearer heads.” He nodded towards a clearing. “We will set down there for the night. Perhaps you will come up with ideas where you think the survivors may have fled.”
One tight, controlled nod in reply.

Kael 16/08/09

“No wonder you don’t go out often.” Jessie clung to Kael’s back as he scaled the rock wall.
“Usually I do not have a human hanging on my back like a monkey nattering in my ear!”
“What’s a monkey?”
Hissing, Kael decided to ignore her, human’s had lost much and he felt no need to return it to them. Despite the climb he was not weary or out of breath, having scaled it countless times. His claws had carved out hand halls from his frequent excursions. If not for Jessie, he would be bounding up the wall as cat would a tree.
“I think Jack is going to adore you. He’s a scholar you know. Always shuffling through papers or bending over dusty tomes.”
“I have no intention of meeting you ‘Jack’, nor another human, it was a moment of madness I took you at all.” His hand landed flat on the cave floor above. Smoothly he lifted his and Jessie’s weight to the stone floor. “We are here.”
“Oh my blessed Gods! I didn’t think I’d ever have firm ground beneath me again.” She heard a snort as Kael shrugged her off.
“Come, it is dawn and if you wish to reach your city before dark you need to stop rolling around like a pig in mud.”
“Hey!” She scrambled up and followed the sound of his voice and the glow of his eyes as he led her out of what she had started to think of as her home.
Despite his growls and snarls, she no longer thought Kael was a demon. Not human clearly, but he was not evil. She wondered if they could be considered friends. She frowned and skipped a few steps to keep pace with his long strides. He had shown her things that she thought were legend and spoken of peoples and places that she could not wrap her mind around. Even Jack, for all his learning could not scratch the surface of the knowledge within Kael’s mind.
And he hid in the depths of the earth, hording it all. She did not resent him. She was beginning to understand something of her own race’s history and knew from her own reaction to him that he would not be accepted with open arms. Most likely, instead, with sword and cannon.
“I brought the large cape with me. And if it’s dark no one will know –“ Jessie gasped as suddenly light stroked across her eyes. Squinting she saw it was the cave mouth. “Oh Gods! Finally!” She ran past him, with a slight limp. “To feel the wind on my skin and hear the birds, you have no idea Kael-“ Jessie called back to him.
“It loses a little something over time, child.” He finally reached her and stood at her side, his wings unfolding and flexing as a breeze skimmed over them. “What is this about a cloak?”
Jessie turn to face him straight on. Squaring her shoulders. “I know you don’t like humans, but I think it’s because you don’t know us so well. I want to show you how we are now. Instead of just the ones in your books.” Jessie fought not to step back or look away from his direct gaze. His eyes seemed to burn into her.
“It is not just books, human.” Nostrils flaring, he was the first to turn away. “But I will accompany you. If I do not you will manage to break both legs.”
He stooped down and scooped her into his arms.
“Hey I was thinking of walkin-“
Her words cut off in a scream as he jumped and his wings beat the air, lifting them easily.
“This will be faster, stop your shrieking.”
Jessie buried her head in his chest, refusing to look down. “Tell me when we get there.”

It felt like hours before his voice rumbled beneath her ear, waking her.
“Jessie…”
She blinked, smelling smoke, her mind suddenly wide awake. He never called her by her name. She looked up at him.
“I believe… that you will not be going home today.”
“What-?” Jessie turned her head and looked down.
A city burned beneath her. The streets were red. The walls were in ruins and the buildings burning. Jessie knew, just looking that there were no survivors.
“The False Lord-“ Her voice choked in rage.
“No,” Kael’s voice was considering as he tilted his wings to make another loop around the fallen city. “This is not his work. Your two lords know better than to destroy the inhabitants of a whole city and the city along with them. This is someone new.” Another wing beat brought them lower and suddenly Jessie could smell the smell of decay. Her eyes widened, even as her stomach lurched when she saw the piles of bodies in the cities centre.
“There are too few humans, let alone cities to make this destruction worthwhile.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means child… that you have a new enemy. One that makes your False Lord seem a kitten.”

Kael 14/08/09

“Are you going to keep me here forever? It’s already been a fortnight.” Jessie paced the room, glaring at Kael’s back. She found herself staring, caught by the graceful arch of wings, the lazy sway of his tail and the unconscious strength and dexterity of his position. He perched on the tip of a stalagmite.

He ignored her.

“You could at least look at me when I am talking to you!”

“If I did that I would never get any work done.”

Jessie let out a huff, gave him her back and plucked a text from a shelf. Thumbing through the pages she paused on the sight of a strange contraption and the unnaturally straight lines of what looked to be a map beside it. “Well, I still want out, I am going crazy! And what is this!” She jabbed the book in front of his face.

“That, little human, is a car. A method of transportation you humans once used. The drawing beside it are a set of blue prints on an engine. An engine, you can close your mouth, is what powers the car. Much as your heart pumps blood through your veins and allows your mouth to keep chattering on.” He pushed the book aside and went back to writing.

“Oh, so we once had these cars? What happened?”

“Humanity happened. You went to war, and destroyed your world. And you are still warring. And you will not stop bothering me until we go to the surface, will you?”

Heat rose to her cheeks, “I don’t want you to think me ungrateful! You saved my life, you have opened a whole new world to me and you haven’t eaten me… yet. But I need the sun, I don’t even know that it has been a fortnight. And your healing has made me nearly as before! See I just use this crutch now!”

Golden eyes skimmed over her and she heard him let out a puff of air, even as he closed the book, she knew she had won.

“Very well, gather your things. It’s time I hunted again.”

Squealing in glee, Jessie flung herself in his arms, toppling Kael into a pile of books with her on top.

“Oh my!” scrambling back, she quickly began gathering and stacking the books strewn across the cave floor. “I’m so sorry! Please don’t change your mind, I’ll have this room set to writes real quick.”

Flicking his tail, Kael stood, gathering his work and putting it safely out of harm’s way.

Kael Cont'd 12/08/09

Kael stared at the unconscious girl and sighed. What had motivated him to act? He picked up a lock of her brown hair, twisting it around one talon. He cleared more space on the table and stretched her out across it. Shifting books and papers he found a dusty faded coat which he rolled up and placed under her head.

He did not use a bed to sleep, nor did he have much use for cloth coverings. His claws tapped a dance on the table top as his thoughts skimmed over the contents of his home. Cook pot, stools, tables, shelves, pool and well. Candles and books, books that contained the history of the world. At least his view of the history. He was always very sure of putting in that caveat at the start of the texts. Only a fool thought that could see it all. His claws started scratching out circles.

There should be another cloak. He had used it to travel among the humans?

Ah, he walked over to a towering bookshelf and nimbly climbed it over a two dozen shelves passed before he reached the top and the box that was stored there.

Picking it up, he leapt off the shelf, careful not to disturb the books and landed in a crouch in the empty center of the room.

Digging through the box he found the voluminous and faded cloak, he snapped it open and covered the female with it. The box did not just contain a cloak, it also contained an assortment of potions he had experimented with. They were the successes. He clicked through the vials and finally withdrew one that gleamed red.

The viscous liquid within promised to dull pain, fight infection and speed healing.

Nothing like the present to test out if it worked as claimed.

He went back to the woman, tilted her head back, popped her mouth open and slowly poured the fluid into her mouth, while gently massaging her throat, causing her to swallow.

Once the vial was empty he placed it into a drawer in a nearby cabinet, perched on it?s desk, picked up some papers and set himself to recording the past few days as he waited for the human to awaken again.

My Fiction: Kael the Drake Part 1

He bounded up the tree, thick curved claws catching on flaking bark. His body swerved and swung, dodging branches and his tail brushed along their lengths. Kael reached the peak and twisted his body around the slender and swaying truck. Solid amber eyes focused towards the sunrise, a dark fire seeming to flicker in their depths. The sun’s rays stroked over Kael’s dark scaled flesh bringing flickering gold and red edges to light.

In the horizon an army marched, a rippling shadow that shook the earth and Kael could feel trembling up the redwood’s body.

Kael swiveled his head to other side of the field. Banners snapped in the morning wind and another army stood waiting on the hill rise. They held on to their one advantage of a fortified high ground.

The drake impatiently flicked his tail as he watched the approaching army. Always fighting, years turned to decades and decades to centuries. No one ever won. This war would bring about the end of the world. Or maybe it already had.

Kael’s tongue darted out, tasting the wind and he shivered at the taste of blood and death. Soon.

Once the armies had marched with great weapons of war, machines with cannons on their backs that shook and scarred the earth they had tread, even the infantry had carried cannons and weapons that could cut men to pieces from miles away.

Now they beat each other with spear, sword and club. Kael looked at the shattered remnants that had once been the moon drift in the sky.

The human’s had forgotten. Forgotten so much. It seemed to Kael that he was the only one the remembered. But even was not sure what was memory and was dream. Things blurred together and little mattered now aside from a bloody meal and fresh water.

The sun fully broke over the horizon and the marching army roared and charged as the defenders tried to keep the glare of the sun from their eyes as they beat their weapons on the ground and against their shields.

The drake settled himself more firmly atop the redwood and began his watch. It was his duty, to watch and remember.


The battle was over. The defenders holding on by their ripped up and bloody nail-less hands as the limping invaders limped off, the few that had survived the catapults hurling the flaming balls filled with jagged rocks and broken metal.

The defenders hid within their walls, not even leaving it to finish off and loot the invaders. Soon Kael knew, they would march off and leave their walled hill, to regroup with another army and attempt to hold off the next volley of attacks.

Kael waited for nightfall, for no human ventured alone at night, to go and claim his meal.

The drake paced to the end of the branch and leapt. His wings snapped open catching the rising air as he skimmed through the forest. A few wing beats soon took him over the trees and into the field, the smell of blood and death perfumed the air and he circled before alighting on the body of dead horse. Kael stood on two legs, picking his way through the bodies of the fallen of Lord Imperator’s men.

A soft sound made him turn back to the fallen horse. A movement. He leapt over it’s body and saw a human lying beneath it’s weight. Eyes showing white stared up at Kael.

“Wah-what are you?” The human gasped, feebly trying to drag her body from beneath the bulk of the horse’s corpse.

Kael took a look at the blood matted hair of the horse and grabbed it by it’s neck, claws sank easily into the cooling flesh. He inhaled, perhaps the horse would make a better meal than a human, they seemed much rarer anyway. He tossed the horse aside, it’s weight as if nothing as it arced a distance in the air before landing with a weighted and wet thump a distance away.

The human’s eyes had tracked the horse’s flight and now shot back to Kael. “D-d-d-demon!”

Kael let out a hiss of amusement and crouched beside the trembling female and ran his hands along the length of her legs, down her arms, sides and neck. One leg broken, cracked ribs, but surprising not much as was wrong. The human had stilled beneath his clawed hands.

“Are..” she gasped as his hand traced her ribs, “are you going to eat me?”

Kael cocked his head to the side, thinking. What was he doing? He was meant to watch, but even that task seemed a dead withered thing. “No,” he sighed, “I think I am going to keep you instead.”

“Keep?” her eyes widened, seeming to swallow her face.

Ignoring her, the drake picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, and continued to ignore her cries as he walked up to where the horse lay. He bent slight and grabbed the horse by it’s skull and dragged it behind him as he left the battlefield.



Jessie groaned as the creature jostled her as he set her down in the cave. It continued to drag the body of her horse deeper into the cave. Just hours before she was giving her life for her Lord and the next she seemed to have become a meal for this demon creature.

She pushed herself up on her arms and started dragging herself for the cave mouth.

Dirt and stone worked it’s way into her cuts. Biting her lip she kept going, hoping that whatever the creature wanted to do with horse would keep him occupied long enough that she could make it out of the cave and hide somewhere.

The light of the moon finally reached her, as she gasped for air, her ribs sending waves of agony coursing through her sides.

A clawed foot appeared in the corner of her vision and Jessie didn’t have time to cry out as the creature picked her up once again and carried her back with far too few strides. It sat her against the wall and crouched in front of her. She stared into fiery eyes. It’s lips drew back revealing sharp teeth, “Cause me too much problems and I will eat you.”

“What do you want with me?” Jessie flinched back, ignoring the pain in her leg. “Are you a servant of the False Lord?”

Kael’s eyes widened and he let out a coughing bark. “Servant, child I do not associate with either party. Both are fools and war over something that neither can recall.” Kael grabbed her by her ankle of her broken leg and jerked her forward.

Jessie shrieked, writhing under the pain.

“Cease!” he hissed, gripping her leg tightly, he slowly began to pull until he felt the broken bone align. Reaching behind his he drew two wooden slates and used them to brace her leg as he bound it.

The girl stared, “You do seem to treat your food well.”

Kael’s eyes flicked up at her and then stood, lifting her in the same motion.

“I am not a babe! I can walk-“

Kael snorted. “You did not walk your way out, clearly by your words you are a babe, to be hauled around.”

Soon they walked in darkness, the drake did not stumble, each step was sure and oddly silent. Jessie thought that those wickedly curved claws would scrape the cave floor.

She looked to where his head was and gasped, twin amber eyes stared back at her.

Glowing, and not reflecting light, for there was none, but glowing as if two flames were lit in his skull. Jessie looked away into darkness but was unable to ignore how the creature’s eyes lit the walls with its light.

“Ah here we are.” Suddenly the floor disappeared and they were falling. Jessie screamed, her hair flying into her face and her arms wrapped around the creature’s neck. Then with a snap their descent slowed and they touched the ground.

“Open your eyes, human.”

Cracking an open, Jessie gasped again, the chamber was lit in a pale green glow. The very rocks lit up the room. Jessie saw stacks of books, on shelves, floors and tables. The body of her horse rested in a far corner. The creature set her on a clear table.

“Stay there or I will eat you.” Kael did not look at her, instead made his way to the horse and dragged it into another chamber, where Jessie soon hear the sound of flesh being cut and bone being cracked.

***

She wrapped an arm around her ribs and studied her surroundings. She had expected piles of bones and grinning skulls, the rank smell of death and decay. Instead she was surrounded by a veritable library that probably could challenge the Lord Imperator’s own. Why had he spared her? It seemed that he would not eat her, after all he had her horse and that had a lot more flesh on it than her own spare and worn frame did.

“Maybe it’s lonely,” she murmured and leaned back on one arm, wishing that she could explore the libraries more thoroughly. Her friend and mentor Jack would have loved this place. He was a scholar, closeting himself away with books while she ran about playing with sticks pretending they were swords.

Maybe she should have done as he. Grimacing she shifted, if she had she would not have had to watch her comrades all fall around her and hear the cries every time she closed her eyes.

Tears burst from her eyes, leaving clear trails on her dirty face.
A snort caused her eyes to snap open and she abruptly found herself eye to eye with the creature. Gasping she flinched back. The amber eyes seemed to laugh at her reaction and then his hand was in front of her face.

“Eat this.” The clawed hand opened and the dried meat and a mix of herbs landed in her lap.

“What is this?” She picked it up and sniffed at them.

“Garnishes, I can’t stand a flavorless meal.”

Jessie looked at him but he had already turned, picking up a book and hopping on a stool, perching like some great bird of prey. He reached to the side, picking up a quill pen as he opened the volume and then started quickly scratching something into it.

Deciding it was better not to poke at a growling bear, Jessie started chewing on the food he had given her. The dried meat filled her stomach even as the herbs seemed to make the pain drift further and further away, even as her mind seemed to fly away in the opposite direction. “You drugged me” Jessie slurred as she slumped back on the table.

“I needed some way to shut you up.

FW: Lost

Fictional Writings aka Story (start of one)

He was lost. Jack stared at the large map in front of him and stared at the little dot. "You are here."

Jack was pretty sure he wasn't there at all. He didn't see the MacDonald's that was supposed to be right next to him, if he in fact was where the blasted dot said he was.

Clearly, some jerk who thought it would be make great laugh moved that little dot sticker into the middle of nowhere just so Jack would stand here, his stomach growling, nosing running and getting his ass soaked in the rain.

Jack shoved his fingers into his hair, and pulls on it. 

"Okay, stay calm, all I have to do is figure out what street I am and even this stupid ma-" He breaks off, squinting at the map. 

"Effing hell!" The map didn't have any street names. And now that he focused on it he saw that the streets were slowly shifting. So the map was useless. Who would put an animated map in the middle of the city?

Jack looks around, tugging his small coat to cover himself as much as possible. He'd already outgrown the damn thing. He had just gotten it last month.

His mother had been so proud to get him a new coat...

Sharply shaking his head he turns his back to the stupid map that was even worse than useless.

"Okay, so I just need to backtrack a little..." 

He stumbles back against the map as a large dog jumps out of the alley snapping at him before darting away.

"Goddamnit. This is the shittiest day..."

All the streets were empty. Since when is Toronto so dead? Just where the hell was he?

He pulls his hand from his hair and looks down at it. He stops breathing.

His hand is dark, rain isn't that dark. He raises his hand to his lips, cautiously sticks his tongue out to taste.

The bittersweet tang of blood causes him to recoil. Shaking now he moves his hand back to his head.

"It's just a small cut, probably from hitting the map so hard just now." 

His fingers pause as they catch on torn flesh. His finger slips in. The scrape of bone and then the soft press of brain matter.

He jerks his hand away, collapsing to the ground as he starts heaving up his insides.

To be continued...

Story: In the Blood

Blood streaked down the crumbling brick wall. “Shut up, shut up, shut up. SHUT UP!” Dark blood smeared down his face, streaming down from his forehead. The sound of his head hitting the alley wall echoed. “Shut up, shut up.” Dark eyes stared blindly, as his head knocked endlessly against the wall.

Blood tints his vision red, washes his mouth with the taste of copper and fills his nose with the scent of wet rust. “Shut up shutup, shuddup.” A rat snuffles at the growing pool of blood at the base of the wall. Flashes of red and blue light reveal the wasted form of the man. Thin pale skin pulled tight over sharp bones, weeping sores and abrasions cover this visible skin. Lips pulled back in a grimace, and his hissing breath whispers, “shut up, shut up, shuddup!”

“God, the smell,” Stanley coughs and pulls his collar over his nose and mouth. “Another gift from our man?”

“Looks like it Detective, same signature, same method, he even poured the bloody bits from his last victim in a circle around this one.” Collins shrugged, and sneezed into his handkerchief.

“Want me to take a look around and see if I can round up come witnesses?”

“Yeah, doubt there will be anyone; I bet parts of this wonderful piece of work are “witnesses” from the last kill.”

“Can’t hurt.” Collins shrugs, pivots and stalks out of the motel room. He takes a breath, filling his lungs with the clean scent of the street.

“That bad, sir?” An officer asks, holding back the reporters.

Collins shakes his head, runs a hand over his balding head, “You know it is. I’m too old for this shit, why can’t the crazies wait till after I retire, huh?”

The officer shrugs weakly, and Collins yanks up the yellow tape and walks under, storming past the reporters.

“Is it the Mercy Killer?” “Is this different from the other killings?” “Who is the victim?” “What are you doing to catch this murderor?”

“No comment, bug Detective Stanley when he gets his ass out, I got work to do.” The reporters fall back and then turn as once as the Detective steps out.

Collin ignores them and flicks on his flashlight. A drop of water hits him in the middle of his forehead. “Damnit just what I needed rain!”

He starts knocking on doors, “This what I get for moving out of the Big City, having to do all the legwork myself.” He grumbles, pulling the hood of his coat up he starts knocking on doors.

“Ma’am…”

“I didn’t see anything! Leave me alone!” The door slams in his face.

“Fuck.” This is what happens when there is a leak in the department and the public learns that the police think the witnesses are being slaughtered alongside the other victims.

“Shut up,” THUNK, “Shut up,” Thunk.

Collins shines his light down an alley. “What the hell,” the light flashes over a dumpster and the voice and noise get louder.

“Someone back here?” Probably some crazy bum, but he may have been a witness. God I thought moving out of the city got me away from these addicts.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up.”

Collins walks around and shines the light on a huddled figure, soaked through in the rain, knocking his head again and again on the wall.

“Hey son, you’ll hurt yourself… aw shit!” Collins jumps forward and pulls the man away from the wall, his light having caught on the bloody flesh of his forehead. “Shh, shh, it’s ok. Shit!” Collin stares into a wasted face, that should have looked older, but looked like that of a boy, even for its wasted state. Dark eyes, glinted and stared blankly into his own, the head still swaying as if hitting the wall.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” chanting under his breath.

“Hey, shh, shh, kid, I’ll take care of you, ok? We get whatever it is to shut up alright? You’re
going to be ok.” The dark eyes focused briefly and Collins felt as if he had been stabbed through the eyes and into his soul with a razor. They eyes unfocused and the policeman started to breathe again. “Shit, some stare you got there kid.” Juggling the flashlight and finally clipping it to his belt, he carefully pick the man up. “Oh man, you don’t way a thing kid, when was the last time you ate? I got some good food at home, and if you don’t like that stuff, my girl, my daughter

Kara can make you up something real nice.

The boy kept chanting “shut up” but Collins kept talking calmly over him. “Don’t you worry about anything you have seen kid, I’ll take care of you, get some meet on those bones and figure out what you think is so noisy that needs to shut up and all.”

“Hey Vicki, operator lady, you there?” He pressed his radio on.

“Right here, Vinny, what you got for me?” The sound of gum crackled over the radio.

“Vicki, I covered the area, damn those reporters, people are too scared to say anything at all.”

“Uh huh, what’s that noise?”

“Just static,” Collins reaches his marked car and props the man against it, holding him pressed against it as he opens the passenger door. “I’m heading home now. Picked up a stray.”

“You and your strays, one day you’ll get bitten, Vinny.”

“Yea, yeah, I’ve heard it, but rather be bitten than have something gauged out.”

The radio static is his response.

“Ok kid, I’m gonna get you in this car and we’ll go for a ride home, k? Nothing going to hurt you.”

He grabs hold of the man’s chin and tilts it up, dark glazed eyes stare up at him. “I know someone is home in here kid, all we gotta do is show you that this world ain’t that bad, huh?”

Carefully organizing the man’s limbs he buckles him in. Shuts door and paces around the car.

With a groan he settles into his own seat, “I must be getting old, you don’t weigh more than a couple sacks of potatoes and here I’m panting and groaning like some old man.”

The wasted man head sways to the side, unfocused eyes gaze in Collins’ direction.

“Yeah, I know someone was in there, see? You aren’t hitting any walls or telling the world to shut up.”

Glazed eyes stare and slowly long lashes sweep up and down as a light flickers in their depths.

Collins twists the keys in the ignition. The car jerks and starts purring, “Ah, hear that? That’s a well-tuned machine, kid. You have to take care of your partner, especially if it’s a car.” He reaches back placing his hand on the worn passenger seat, twisting back as he reverses the car out of the driveway. “Well we are on our way home now kid, you should like it. And Kara will take good care of you she will, my girl, she’s studying to be a doctor.”


The man listens to the other’s speech, not understanding, soothing the jagged edges of the voices the rant, weep and scream in his ears. He forces himself to see, lights dart past as their vehicle zips down the quiet town streets. There is a stink of other blood, death and fear. Breath hisses from between his teeth, he sways his head away from the soothing voice and attempts to see out.

But only lights and dancing shadows press against his eyes.

The voice continues to speak, the sound lulls him, and his eyes grow heavy until there is no smell, no sight, just the soothing rambling of the other.


The sounds of locks being opened caught Collins' attention just in time to turn and face Kara as she opened the door.

"Oh my god! You are soaked thro- who is that?" Kara asked after her eyes had traced her father's arm to the man he was holding up.

"Another lost puppy, found him beating his head on a brickwall. I didn't find any needle marks, but his eyes are dilated like all hell so I think he's on something. He looked so pitiful crouched in that alley... oh and he might also be a witness to a murder."

Kara blinked, "Wow, that's the most words you've strung together in the past month. Well, bring him in and we'll get you both dried up and I'll take a look at him. All my med studies have to be good for something!" She stepped onto the door step and slung the young mans arm over her shoulder and Collins' shook his head shooed her away.

"With the amount it's costing me I sure hope so. He doesn't weigh much I'll take him up to the guest room and you run the bath."