The walls to the former Elf gourmet coffee shop rumbled under heavy synths. A line of ravers waited outside the establishment while others burned stuff, and danced over broken glass in the street. The corporate logo of beans forming an elven currency symbol had been spray painted over with graffiti calls to anarchy. The golden walls had been scratched to pieces and covered with posters for all the hottest topics popular with the scene kids. Inside the club the Death Drag Piercers were performing their latest set under blinding crystal strobes lights.

“I’ve got nothing of substance to say, but a lot to take. Treated like a villain from birth till I snap apostate. Say I'm a royal pain in the ass, spoiled the town with a frown, well I raise the dead so you dance,” Edward slurred in the microphone with a shoe over it.

He stood gazing into the crowd before strutting behind the former frappe bar in his underwear, drunk, blitzed, and forgetting words. The rest of the band played in the dress clothing and makeup fitting of their band name. The motley crew of their harem of every gender, both living and dead danced along.

Durner took over stomping on a box to fuzz up his lead guitar, while chanting gang vocals to fill the mix. Edward continued to slap his bass with his picking hook playing nothing but the same 1/8th notes repeated. The band let off the gas leaving only Roger swinging on his drums made from human skins.

“You guys know that we aren’t usually a fan of wrapping things around here, I blame my upbringing,” said Edward, winking at the shrieking fans. “But on the other hand we do love rap music so give it up for our very special guest Drill_Mold,”.

“Freestyle a good beat to ride on gents” instructed Drill_Mold to the band somewhere offstage.

Cap began playing samples of industrial drills with his keys, as the lights went dark as turntables began to scratch.

“Check it out yo!” another sample began before skipping to another language further on.

Durner laughed.

A hulking slasher walked out wearing a slain cult leader's bloody robes, and signature jeweled hockey mask. The beat slowed to a zombie crawl before the DJ chopped and screwed in some saxophones. Roger picked up on the cymbals, while Cap started mixing in distorted demon cowbells.

“Came her to play with my freaks, two dead bitches around my arms, and two more in my trunk, take a ride with me living free on the edges of society, because there's only one life so why not try a little of everything, fuck the rest, light the fuse, blow em all, follow your own rules but always remember to treat your momma like a Queen,” free-styled Drill_Mold.

Now the DJ was really screwing with his Terp pressed vinyls on the turntable. Edward began to miss basic bass notes while remembering the ransom letter that had gone unanswered backstage. The song was soon finished, and the crowd clamored for more by throwing bras and jockstraps into the arena. As they raged for an encore Edward was nowhere to be seen. He had thrown on the nearest clothes he could find that happened to be merch from the band that was very sticky.

He slicked his hair back as he creeped out the back door into the alley. He climbed onto his parked magma cycle that roared like a lion. The bike rapidly accelerated over a dead street under full moons. His hand revved the engine up to maximum overdrive on the open road with his hook freely dangling at the side. Soon he was barreling down the highway as Elf city burned behind in the skyline. His long black mane blowing in the winds en route to the Killin Woods.

Meanwhile in the swamp the air sat still, and so did the big rig hauling a tanker full of Jungle Juice.

“We are sitting ducks stuck in the thick mud,” said Mule, pulling open the door with his teeth.

"Click,"

The donkey's hairs stood up as the doors were locked, and a weapon was aimed at him in close quarters.

“You are staying with me so the two of you don't conspire together outside, and I know I’m not about to be dumped in a bog,” cried Queen Elizabethy.

She double checked her crossbows bolt was still in place, and the passenger door behind her was locked shut.

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“Roll that window up before some kind of creature sneaks in, and under the bucket seat,” she commanded.

A tapping on the outside of the truck cut off the bickering.

“Mule I need you out here to work a shovel” yelled Jed, standing outside the window.

“Lady, we aren't going to just run off into a dark swamp and leave you here with our precious cargo, so stay in here, stay safe, and we will dig the truck out in one piece” said Mule.

He unlocked the door with his teeth, and left without any respect for the Queen’s ability to slay. All four hooves splashed into a thin layer of water before the mud sucked them in just like the truck tires.

“Here you go buddy time to start digging” said Jed, approaching with a shovel and placing it in his mouth.

Jed grabbed a hoe and walked back towards the bright lights made by the headlights. In the ditch he had knocked loose many dead limbs beside the grill. The water and mud began to fling away from the front most tire as the pair got to work. It appeared no visible progress was happening when it came to freeing the truck. Unsatisfied with this strategy he stuck his tool into the mud, and put his body weight onto it.

“Mule I think we need to come up with something else here, how about we try putting some of the dead wood around us under the wheels as leverage, I also think it’s time to cut off my race car like the tumor it has become in working to kill us” said Jed before running out of breath.

"Alright I think I've got some chains in my cabin we can wrap around these wheels," responded Mule, climbing back inside with the Queen.

"Peewee you smell like one of my sewage treatment plants," she said, holding her nose.

"I thought you wanted me in here with you," teased Mule, as he got mud all over the place in the process of climbing into the back.

Elizabethy had murder on her mind as she set down the weapon, and the sun visor. She began to clean the dark circles off her face, while Mule shook around looking for supplies in the back.

A floating light approached the rear. The donkey revealed itself carrying the crystal light in his mouth before setting it on the ground in order to speak.

“Alright man, I hope your stonesaw is still in the cabin, because we are going to need it to cut some big sticks,” said Mule.

“Yeah it is unless our traveling companion threw it out, in that case we will be screwed” said Jed.

He labored through the mud past 18 wheels, and to the passenger door where he politely knocked. Mule picked up his light and followed easily due to his weight being balanced on four hooves. Elizabethy rolled her window down just a hair to let out a huff, and a puff.

"What do you want now, I'm not getting out there, and I'm not letting you touch me and go around to the other door," she cried.

"Very well madam there's a saw around your feet there that I need.. Do you mind handing it to me through the window?" he asked, politely.

"Hmmmf,"...

The driver's side door swung open. Jed raised an eyebrow, as he heard her handling the saw.

"Splash!"

“Here we are,” said Jed, pulling his stonesaw out of the ditch and dusting it off.

The device was powered by electro crystals that rotated a belt of razor sharp cutting crystals. This was a deadly, but very loud combination.

“Now we just need to find ourselves some victim wood,” said Jed, looking off into the fog filled swamp waters.

“Well you can't kill what's already dead, but I'd say that specimen is perfect,” observed Mule, pointing a hoof to the hulking shadow of a waterlogged oak.

Jed slowly waddled into the murky waters lifting his saw overhead. He could feel some real squishy stuff underneath his boots, and rationalized that If a predator was lurking underneath his fancy armor would hopefully be enough to stop teeth. The water was a pitch black void, and the sediment he was kicking up was more rancid than any skunk. All the bubbles, and splashes of probably only Jed were the only sounds nearby. He finally made the crossing to the other side and pulled himself onto a giant mound of soggy moss where the tree sat. It was the closest tree to being in the center of the headlights, but now he realized that he needed to cut at certain angles to avoid becoming blinded by the lights, and making a fetal mistake.

"Alright here goes nothing," said Jed assuring himself

He began yanking up and down on the device's pull cord. The saw came alive spitting sparks into the water, moss, and onto Jed's metal armored legs. He quickly made his first incision into the tree while the smoke mixed with the mist on the water. He cut in 90 degrees, pulled the saw out, and then completed cutting an acute angle into the wood that he knocked out. Now he would cut from the other side so as to fall the knotted monstrosity without crushing him or their ride.

Jed turned, and gave mule the thumbs up. The saw screamed as it cut deep into the wood, and it reverberated throughout Jed's arms as he held on tight. If he made a mistake and pinched the blade there was no getting it out. A guttural growling began growing louder and louder until it had overpowering the sound of the machine. The sound of a predatory animal that made even the most hardened man freeze with goosebumps. There was no timber called as the tree began to slowly fall. Its dead limbs splintered apart, and stuck into the ground like spears on the way down. The trunk hit the water causing a giant splash, while a massive roar filled the air of the entire swamp.