Post by ceredwyn on Jan 17, 2010 12:28:05 GMT -9
Our free release is nearing completion, and as a lil preview, here's the introduction story written by Kioma Winterwolf and a royal salamander!
The Beasts Stir...
It started out like any other day.
That's what Becca Roberts couldn't get, the bit she couldn't understand. No warning, no sign, even the crazy street prophet on the corner who kept ranting about Armageddon had no idea that the end wasn't nigh, it was now. The world had gone to ruin without the slightest hint that anything was wrong.
She was walking home from the grocery store, carrying home a few things for her family, when it happened. It was a hot day and she was cursing her decision to wear long woollen socks when out of nowhere a huge explosion rocked the street. People dropped to the ground, shrieking, as a car become a burning wreckage, its entire chassis wreathed in flames, crashing to the road from where its ignited fuel tank had flung it. The sound of shattering glass from store fronts all around echoed across the suburban street like the wind chimes of Hell.
Becca let out a squeal as the shock wave knocked her back, falling hard, her head hitting the concrete with a thump that left her dizzy for a moment. She scrambled to her feet to the sound of a baby crying, her mothering instincts going haywire, until she spotted the source. A doll lay on the ground in front of a ruined toy store, bawling its electronic heart out, and Becca took a step towards it.
She froze as a shape emerged from the flames surrounding the stinking inferno that used to be a car. It was a shape that triggered primitive fears in the instinctual core of her brain but she was so scared she couldn't even move.
It was a lizard. A giant lizard.
Not a crocodile or alligator, no way, not even one of those huge Komodo dragon things she'd seen on the Discovery Channel. It looked more like a damn iguana but it was massive. And there was something wrong with its eyes. They were too smart. Way too smart. The thing looked around, blinking in that slow, remorseless way that reptiles have.
It had seen the doll, too.
Claws scraped against the ground as it padded forward, gaze fixed on the toy, and it stared at the little crying thing in puzzlement. Then it carefully, delicately, placed a talon-armed forepaw on its body, bit its head and pulled.
Becca screamed. She knew it was just a doll but the sight of it, this... monster wrenching the little thing's head off, horrified her. The sound was out before she knew it and the lizard, which hadn't noticed her before, certainly did now. It turned its head and let out a threatening hiss, a scaled frill lifting around its neck in a display of intimidation.
It worked. Becca ran. This thing was no overgrown iguana. It was intelligent, hostile and deadly.
It was also very fast. She could hear its claws scraping the road as it dashed after her making that horrible hissing noise. Becca got the most terrifying feeling that it was laughing at her. She moaned in fear as she ran, blinded by her need to get away, almost smacking into a small crowd of equally scared people running down a different street, fleeing something that the young mother didn't give herself a chance to look at.
Behind her the lizard stopped, perhaps startled by this new prey, debating which to chase. When she risked a look back it became clear that it didn't need to chase anyone. It opened its mouth wide, some sac or organ in its throat expanding, and the beast spat a ball of flame at the fleeing crowd. One victim, a woman Becca knew, collapsed in screaming agony, burning alive in seconds. A moment later a businessman was burnt to a cinder by a second fireball.
What the hell?
She couldn't think anything else, had no time, just had to run and find time to weep for the fallen later. Rounding a corner she saw the shop front of an intact store and dashed through the automatic doors even as they slowly eased open. She squeezed through and waited just under the sensor, praying the lizards wouldn't find her, snapping the lock closed as soon as the ponderous mechanism had closed them again. Then she ran towards the back of the store.
It was silent in the shop and Becca started looking around as her heart hammered in her chest. Rows of baseball bats, golf clubs and fishing rods stood around her – a sporting goods store. She shivered reflexively as she stood, her frantic brain trying to take in what she saw.
Weapons.
With shaking hands she went down the aisles. One hand closed around a hefty baseball bat, a beautiful hardwood thing, and she swung it experimentally. She nodded after a moment; it'd have to do. She cast about, looking for something else to use, and then her eyes settled on something that made her heart jump.
A beautiful compound bow, complete with a quiver of high-quality aluminium arrows, hung from a display nearby. She ran for it. She hadn't used a bow in years, not since she was in school, but even as she selected an arrow she could feel it all coming back. The bow's draw was strong but she could manage it. She hooked the end of the baseball bat into her belt and practised pulling it out to ready it a few times, taking savage swings each time. Slinging the quiver over one shoulder she lifted the bow and nodded firmly, turning towards the door.
Someone had to fight these monsters, to protect the people – especially the children. And right now that someone was her. A new resolve gripped her and she growled under her breath, a kittenish but determined sound.
Those damn lizards had just better watch out.