Drunken Hunt

Guided by a pair of flashlights and the slight buzz of inebriation, Agents Talon and Pike walked through the ankle deep water and sludge of the city’s sewer system, guns at the ready. With no sign of their target, Talon stopped to take another swig of gin and tonic from his flask. “Maybe we’re doing this all wrong,” he said, looking at the half-empty flask and hoping it wasn’t just the alcohol talking. Talon finished the flask, tossing it aside and pulling out another full one. “We know it only hunts drunks, and only drunks can see it.” He emptied the flask into his mouth, gulping down another gin and tonic in a matter of seconds. He did the same with a third and fourth flask.

“So your plan now is to become drunken bait?” Pike said, shaking his head. He looked at the empty flasks lying on the sewer floor. “Well, we can’t go back now. Just remember you still need enough motor functions to pull that trigger. This isn’t a problem you can solve just by punching it in the face.” Pike moved up the tunnel and around the corner where he could wait and still keep an eye on Talon.

After another twenty minutes of nothing, Pike headed back down the tunnel. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked, eyeing the slight wobble Talon acquired in his stance. 

"It’s weird,” Talon said, spinning in a slow circle as he spoke, “I don’t feel drunk, but I feel like I can feel something watching, but I don’t feel drunk." 

“Hey!” Pike shouted as he ducked under Talon’s raised gun before grabbing him. “Not that drunk, huh? Maybe you should give me a couple of those flasks, in case this goes sideways.” 

It was at that moment that Talon sensed it: an extra pair of eyes upon his back, the presence of another living creature, somewhere unseen but known. He spun and landed hard on his backside, flashlight and gun both flailing wildly. Bang! barked his gun as it slipped from his hand and sunk in the dark waters. “It’s here, I know it’s here, I can feel it,” Talon stammered, his hand splashing, searching for his gun. He tried to get back to his feet, and instead succeeded in flopping over and getting a mouthful of sewage. 

Still on his feet, Pike continued to turn in slow circles as his flashlight was the only thing keeping whatever hid in the darkness at bay. “Where is it? I can’t see it,” he said. 

That’s when Talon heard the sound of a third set of footsteps stalking behind them, the sloshing strides of feet moving in the water but never breaking the surface. “It’s here, it’s got to be right on top of us!” he shouted as he tried desperately to pick himself up off the ground.

            

That’s when he felt the fingers, claws, grip his coat and drag him several feet down the tunnel before tossing him into the brick wall. He blinked several times and in the dark he saw a blurred, shadowy outline looming over him. Even in his current state, he still couldn’t get a clear view of the monster. Luckily he had one last trick. He reached behind his back to grab his final flask, a gin and tonic cocktail that was basically just gin with a drop or two of tonic water. He drank as quickly as he could and almost instantly felt the alcohol go to work on his senses.

The monster appeared before him: a fat, albino creature with dark red stains of dried blood covering its skin. It was almost human-like, standing at just over four feet tall with two odd-shaped legs and elongated arms. It definitely didn’t look like a creature built for speed but with Talon almost incapacitated and against a wall, the monster didn’t need to be fast.

“My name is Agent Richard Talon from The Hunter Agency. You are under arrest and ordered to surrender,” Talon tried to say, though, the only words he was certain he said were “Agency” and “arrest.” Based on the look on the monster’s face, it also looked like those were the only words it understood as well as it reared back its right arm and punched Talon hard in the face. Talon was sure the punch was supposed to feel like a hammer coming down on his cheek, but, with the amount he’d drunk that night, it felt more like a polite knock. Talon laughed as the monster hit again, this time in his ribs.

The monster roared in frustration, but before it could attack, Talon regained the functions of his hands and arms. He reached out and grabbed the monster’s neck with one hand and delivered a vicious blow with the other. And another blow. And another blow. The creature staggered slightly, but his punches wouldn’t be enough to bring the monster down before it could kill him. Unfortunately, Pike was the only one with a gun, but even he couldn’t shoot what he couldn’t see.

He punched once more before he heard a shout come from up the tunnel, followed by a deafening bang. The monster’s head jerked once, unnatural liquid spraying from its skull as it fell to the sewer floor. The next thing Talon heard were the sloshing steps of Pike running in the darkness.

“How did you make that shot?” Talon asked, his eyes moving from Pike to the carcass lying on the floor.

Pike smiled and motioned to Talon’s fists. “I told you, you punch things in the face as if it solves all your problems. I just aimed at the empty air where you were punching.”

Talon pulled out another flask and took a swig. He felt his head tilt back against the cool brick wall and his eyes close. “Just another day at the office,” he heard himself say as he thought about the massive hangover awaiting him the next morning.

This was actually an entry into a writing contest I entered earlier this year. A short, short fiction contest, all the contestants are split into groups and each group is assigned certain parameters to follow in addition to a limit of 1000 words. For my group, it was just 3 things: 1. Theme: Thriller; 2. Setting: A sewer; and 3. An object: a gin and tonic cocktail. When the results came in, I got zero points within my grouping (meaning I won't be moving on to round two) but I did get some interesting feed back. The judges really liked the idea of needing to be drunk to hunt a monster. They also suggested that something more should go wrong (to increase tension). I think if I had a higher word count (or better editing skills) I probably would've done more with the idea, perhaps prolonging the hunt in some way, maybe a chase rather than the monster just appearing. Surprisingly, they also liked the interaction between Talon and Pike, even wanting more of it. This is surprising mostly because, to me, my weakness is in writing character. I've always thought I was better at writing scenes than dialogue and character development. Not that I'm better at writing action, just that I suck at those other things. My only guess is that it's been from all the practice at writing these short stories and these different characters, trying to make them appealing for a one-shot story rather than building them up through multiple entries. This story though may be one of the first ones that I liked enough that I think I may actually use the advice and try to get around to making longer and sending it off somewhere for publishing (and hopefully money).

Books of 2017: Quarters 2 and 3

So, I kinda forgot to post a book review back in June/July so I figure I'll just throw the last 6 months of reading material into one post. Hopefully you can find something in here worth reading  *umm, spoilers.


Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This book is literally the reason I didn't post a Quarter 2 update (okay, one of the reasons as I'm pretty sure I got back into Monster Hunter at this time too). I'm not going to lie, it naturally takes me longer to get through anything considered "High Fantasy/Epic Fantasy" (Dungeons and Dragons type stuff). It's not as if the books are any longer, it just does. Anyways, I was listening to a podcast interview with Robin Hobb, a name with enough books to consume a good chunk of shelf space at Barnes and Nobles to get my attention. So, I was listening to the interview and she seemed like a interesting person and she had some good advice so I figured I'd give one of her books a try. "Assassin's Apprentice" was a recommended starting point into her fantasy world and, after reading, I felt like that was a good choice as well. The main character, Fitz, is the bastard son of an heir-apparent prince. His arrival into the kingdom, however heralds a change as his father, shamed, relinquishes his claim on the throne and departs, leaving Fitz to be raised by the stablemaster. The king, however, sees potential in having a royal bastard in the kingdom and decides to have him trained as the royal poisoner/assassin. This book follows Fitz from his childhood into early adulthood (sorry, I also lost track of the timeline). The story itself does move a bit slowly for my taste, as a lot of time is spent in setting up the story, introducing characters, establishing milestones in Fitz's life, etc. He only begins his training almost midway through the book (which was the entire appeal in buying the book, so that was a little disappointing). I also don't care for frame stories as the story was essentially Fitz giving a report on his own life, most (maybe all, I don't really remember) of the chapters opening with present-Fitz filling in the time between the events he is writing about before getting back into the story. All in all, I'll still eventually get around to finishing the trilogy as it's not as if the story was completely terrible and there were some unanswered questions that I need answered.


Running Blind by Lee Child

THIS was the Jack Reacher novel I was looking forward to reading. After watching the first movie, I've slowly been making my way through the novels. Of the 4 I've read so far, I think this one would translate best into a movie. I'm assuming you've at least seen the first, if not both, movies so I'm not going to go into the character of Jack Reacher. In this novel, Reacher is blackmailed by the FBI into assisting them in hunting down a serial killer targeting ex-military women, 2 of which have a direct connection to Reacher from his time as a Military Police Officer. As with all of the novels so far, the pacing is good, a good mix of action scenes and detective work. If you're going to start into this series, I'd recommend starting with book one, but if you want to jump into this one, I'd at least recommend reading book 3 first as there's some essential information that serves as part of the backstory for this one (though the book does do a good job of explaining everything you may need to know from the previous books that you may be able to read it as a stand alone). One thing I did dislike about this one was several sections seemed to serve no other purpose than to deliberately mislead the reader on the identity of the killer. With as many detective stories I've read and watched (paranormal detectives count too, right?) I did guess the outcome of this one faster than the other 3 books but that didn't make the ending any less satisfying. I'd recommend these books if you're looking for a crime/detective novel to read. If not, at least keep an eye out for Lee Child, the author, in the movies: the desk cop in "Jack Reacher" and the TSA agent in "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back."


The Midnighter
 

This is basically a collection of stories of some of the solo Midnighter comic stories. The Midnighter is the coolest character from The Authority comic series. If I'm comparing The Authority to The Justice League, then The Midnighter would be Batman, just a more badass version. He's got a super computer in his brain that allows him to analyze every fight scenario and outcome even before his opponent makes a move. He is also physically enhanced and expertly trained in all types of fighting styles. As far as the stories in this collection, the only reason I bought it was because... well, as I said, it's The Midnighter. The individual stories were kind of lack luster, none of them really stood out and most of them were just "okay," not really good nor bad.


The Ultimates by Mark Millar

I think I got the urge to reread this after "Avengers 2" was playing over and over on TV awhile back. I'm pretty sure I originally bought this around the time when the first "Avengers" movie was announced, or maybe after I'd already watched it, I don't really remember. In this storyline, SHIELD is still a department with the US government and they work to put together a task force to deal with the growing mutant and superhuman threats that the world is facing. The public team is made up of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man, Wasp, Bruce Banner (in a mostly research capacity), as well as Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver who are more like their Black-ops division and kept out of public view (the first two as they are trained assassins and the latter two as they are former members of The Brotherhood). Backed by the military and SHIELD operators, they'll face an alien threat as well as internal struggles within their own, flawed characters (Bruce Banner's inferiority complex resulting in everyone vs. The Hulk, Captain America's old school values resulting in Giant Man vs. Captain America). I've loved everything ever written by Mark Millar since I read "Wanted" and this one didn't disappoint either.


The Ultimates vol. 2 by Mark Millar

Continuing from the first book, this one opens with SHIELD, and thus the US, using one of their superhumans (now considered "Persons of Mass Destruction") to rescue Americans held hostage within the sovereign borders of another country. Considered an act of aggression by other nations, the UN condemns the act. As with most sequels in which the team is formed in the first, the team is tested and beginning to break down as SHIELD is reporting that their is a traitor within their midst. Loki's arrival brings even more chaos as they try to find out who is the traitor. At the same time, alarmed by the speed in which the US is developing its superhuman programs as well as robotics, the international community prepares itself for a war with the West. Combining superhumans and today's modern times to look at the issues we will face politically and internationally, this comic goes into those questions we rarely think about as well as delivers on the action scenes you'd expect from an Avengers comic. Plus, it has one of the coolest battle scenes I've ever unfolded (I've contemplated buying a second copy just to tear out the pages to put up as a poster).


Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

"Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits" was one of the craziest books I've ever read. I was just wandering around Barnes and Nobles one day when the title caught my eye. The basic premise is a "sins of the father" type story where Zoey Ashe, the main character, finds out she is the sole heir to her father's fortune. In this future, a city has been built where there are no rules, no government regulations. It is here that Zoey's father was working to develop a new type of human augmentation weapon, stolen in his final days. Ashe isn't you're stereotypical heroine, she doesn't describer herself in anyway that would make her stand out in a crowd, she logically tries to run as she knows she is in way over her head. The supervillains are motivated not by money or power, but by attention and fame as everyone in this future now wears glasses which constantly broadcast everything they see, everyone competing for viewers and views. And when I said crazy, I wasn't joking as the first antagonist introduced is a serial killer with a mechanical jaw seeking to devour Ashe as his viewers watch and cheer him on. Even James Bond had Jaws as a primary villain, this story uses him almost as a throwaway character. From there, the augmentations, the settings, the people, only get further and further out from what you'd expect. And, just when you think the story's plateaued and there's no where else to go, the story just keeps going up.


The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman

When I heard that Gaiman was working on a prequel to his Sandman comic series, I checked almost every month for an expected date when the collection would be released. The original series opened with Dream, one of The Endless and an embodiment of the aspect of Dream, being weakened and captured by humans to be exploited for his power (though they had originally hoped to capture his sister, Death). This volume is a prequel and provides the story on how Dream was weakened enough to be captured in the first place. In this story, he must set out to find the source of a madness that is causing all races throughout the universe to go to war with each other, a madness eventually traced to an insane star, and a decision he failed to make years ago. One of my favorite things about this story is the art - even the dialogue of the characters is written in a font which reveals personality and feeling of the character speaking. As the comic is much less action-y than other comics, dialogue and plot are very important and the artwork helps to convey that as well. If this is interesting to you, I'd recommend at least reading the first volume of the original Sandman series and maybe even "The Endless," a collection of stories revolving around Dream and his siblings, Destiny, Death, Desire, Delirium, Destruction, and Despair, just for the background information.