Of Monsters and men
Chapter Two
My eyes fluttered open, and the world slowly came into focus.
Reflected in the blue toilet water was the dark outline of my face. Huh. Even in the shitter I still looked good. Despite being quite groggy, I chuckled at my own joke as I pushed myself away from the toilet, and pressed my back against the wall. A low intermittent buzzing from above caught my attention, where the small bathroom’s single light flickered uncertainly.
How did I get here?
How long had I been out?
My memory was fragmented. Large chunks of time were missing, as if I’d just woken up on the morning after a late night bender. But it didn’t feel like that. In fact, I felt good. Very good. The flu that had been sapping my strength over the past few weeks had vanished without a trace. Now, an almost intoxicating vitality was surging through my veins.
I felt strangely powerful.
As an adrenaline-junkie, I’d felt something similar to this many times before—this awesome sense of being alive. It was that exhilarating moment before leaping from a plane and going into free-fall, but magnified a thousandfold now. I almost half-expected my body to be trembling from all the pent up energy.
What the fuck happened to me?
Let’s see, I remember…
Paige. Right, my girlfriend. Her pretty green eyes and pale face flashed into my mind, though it was a bit difficult to maintain the image for some reason. My brow furrowed. We were going to a Christmas party together that was being hosted by…
By who? My eyes squeezed shut as I ran a frustrated hand through my hair, pushing auburn locks back, but beyond the fragmented snippets of memories from the drive to the party, my memory was a gaping black hole.
I pulled out my smartphone to check the time and for any messages. Maybe even a clue to help piece together a timeline. The device flickered on for an instant, but then the screen darkened as it died, its battery seemingly drained. My eye twitched, and my grip tightened around the smartphone.
Crack!
The smartphone’s screen spider-webbed with cracks and its frame warped within my hand. Fuck! I dropped the phone as if it was viper and it clattered onto the linoleum, now dead and crushed. What the fuck? I stared in shock at my hand.
My seemingly normal hand.
Then I became aware a muffled song coming through the bathroom door, its lyrics stilted at times as if the electronic stereo system was hiccuping due to a glitch.
♪ Oh, the w—weather outside is f—frightful ♪
♪ But the f—fire is so delightful ♪
My eyes lit up and I forgot about my hand.
The party!
This was Cole’s party, I suddenly remembered.
Someone might be able to tell me what had happened.
Ignoring my phone and pushing all of the other weird shit to the back of my mind for the moment, I tried to open the door. But unfortunately, it wouldn’t budge from my casual push. It was as if something heavy was blocking it. So, on my next attempt I threw my shoulder into the door and shoved it more forcefully to bust into the hallway beyond. Immediately, I slipped on something slick with a noisy squelch and pitched forward to face-plant into a blackened puddle, ruining the expensive dress-shirt that had always been Paige’s favorite on me.
What the—?
A faint coppery tang flooded my mouth from the droplets of the dark liquid that had splattered across my face. Pushing myself up, I spat out the metallic taste and wiped at my face. Then I raised the hand I cleaned myself off with for inspection. My blood-soaked hand, I realized with no small amount of shock.
My heart began to drum within my chest, a rising beat. Slowly, I raised my head from the pool of blood I knelt in, my wide-eyed gaze taking in the apartment hallway I’d just stumbled into even as the cheery music continued playing.
♪ The lights are turned w—way down low ♪
♪ Let it s—snow, let it snow, l—let it snow ♪
As if mirroring the song, the lights were flickering. Struggling. But despite the dim lighting, I had no trouble seeing the horrors in the hallway with me. Blood was everywhere. It was splattered across the hardwood floors, soaking into the fake cotton snow strewn about, and it painted the walls where Christmas wreaths hung. And the bodies…
It was like some twisted child had torn off a doll’s limbs and cast them aside, forgotten. Bile crawled up my throat but I swallowed it back down. I’ve seen a lot from my many thrill-seeking experiences over the years, from bloody wounds to broken bones. But this—this was different. It was plain-fucking-evil, and my guts twisted at the sight.
Would I find Jessica somewhere among the…pieces?
Cole?
A vile stench assaulted my nose then. It was a mix of raw sewage and rotting meat that nearly made me gag, and it was emanating from down the hall, where the main room was situated. That was also where the only door out was, unless I was willing to take a fifteen story plunge out the window for an early concrete nap.
Left with no choice but forward, I pulled out my trusty folding knife from my pants’ pocket. The four-inch, stainless steel blade wasn’t designed for combat, but it’d certainly poke a nasty hole in someone. Maybe those self-defense courses I’d taken a few years back will finally be worth the money I paid.
Shit, I hope not.
I really, really, really didn’t want to meet whatever could tear apart a full-grown man.
Quietly, I scampered down the hallway, ignoring all the bodies I had to step over. The stench grew stronger with each step, masking the heavy aroma of the carnage around me, and the closer I got, the more pronounced a new sound became over the stilted music. A fleshy crunching with the occasional slurp.
Someone was eating.
Someone was eating in the midst of all this carnage, I amended.
My palms felt sweaty as I held the knife.
Just when I neared the threshold to the main room, the floorboards beneath my feet creaked loudly, as if to announce my arrival. My shoulders bunched up and I cringed at the sound, all while silently cursing the traitorous floorboards.
Please don’t hear me.
Please don’t hear me.
Please don’t-fucking-hear me.
The crunching stopped. Then in the far corner of the main room, across the bloody war-zone of what was once a party, a hulking thing turned to glance over its shoulder, waves of that sickening stench rolling off it with each movement. Its large nose was squashed into its face, where warts and pustules dotted its putrid-green hide. The creature’s wide mouth was stained with blood, and bits of viscera clung from between its rotting teeth. In one of its massive clawed hands was a half-eaten human leg.
It was a troll.
A fucking troll. It looked like it had jumped straight out of an old fairy tale, all big and burly and ready to exact its bridge toll. Suddenly, my knife didn’t feel like such a reassuring weight in my hand. Not when pitted against the troll’s knotted hide.
But, what really threw me off was what it was wearing.
Stretched taut across its massive torso and fraying at the edges was a hideous Christmas sweater. Cole’s sweater. Blood drenched the woolen sweater, adding a grim dash of red to the Christmas green.
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The troll’s blank gaze fell upon me standing in the hallway, and as if struggling through a haze, I saw the faint spark of recognition appear in its beady eyes. Then a chillingly deep growl rumbled from deep within its chest. “F—itz?”
No.
No, no, no, no, no…
This has got to be a nightmare.
“Cole?” I asked then, uncertain, as I carefully stepped into the main room, the knife hidden behind my back so as not to antagonize the monster. Because I’m sure it’d be really frightened at what it could’ve considered as a toothpick.
I sneaked a glance towards the apartment door—my only exit—that stood ajar. It was surrounded by the unlucky remains of those that hadn’t escaped. And of course, it was dead-smack in between me and the troll, a good thirty feet away.
“C—ole?” the troll asked, as if testing out the unfamiliar name. Its face scrunched up in confusion. A face that bore a disturbing resemblance to my best friend.
“That’s you,” I said slowly, edging closer to the door. But, my eyes remained glued to the troll, watchful for any sudden movement. “You live here now, Cole, remember? You and Jessica.”
The troll’s eyes fell to the human haunch within its hand. “Jess—ica?”
My eyes widened even more. “What happened to—”
“Y—ou smell good,” the troll interrupted suddenly. Its wide nostrils flared as it breathed in deeply, somehow ignoring its own stench, before exhaling with a satisfied sigh. A hungry gaze eyed me up and down, smothering whatever spark of recognition was once there. I could already see the troll beginning to salivate. “Why you smell so good, F—itz?”
Then, as if some cosmic joke, I noticed the new song playing in the background.
♪ Make my w—wish come tr—true, Oh ♪
♪ All I want for Christmas is y—you ♪
Not good.
I broke into a sprint for the door.
Cole the Troll roared and lunged forward, his lumbering pace more than compensated for by his inhumanly long stride, each of his steps worth five of my own. Bodies were kicked away or flattened beneath his thundering charge. Just as I reached the door, my hand outstretched for the handle, Cole clubbed me away with a brutal sweep of the haunch still in his hand.
It struck me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me as my body folded over it, and sent me flying across the room. I crashed into the Christmas tree, slamming the nine-foot evergreen into the wall as it cushioned my impact, its branches snapping beneath my weight.
Ugh…
That fucking hurt.
Even worse, some of the ceramic ornaments had shattered, their thin shards having easily sliced through my shirt and embedding themselves into my back’s tender flesh. The stinging pain drew a grimace from me. But I quickly forgot about the pain when I saw Cole hurtling towards me, the knuckles of his lanky arms pounding into the ground as if he were a charging gorilla.
That was around half a ton of NOPE barreling right in my direction.
Thankfully, I still have my—
—My hand was empty.
The knife was gone. Fuck! Scrabbling, I frantically began sifting through and tossing aside the presents scattered around me, but my knife was nowhere to be found. So I grabbed the closest present and lobbed it at Cole, hoping to slow him down at least. He tore through the present with a swipe of his clawed hand, shredding the plaid socks within.
Plaid socks?
Really?
Maybe I can throw a bag of feathers at him next.
Focus Fitz! Feeling the mounting pressure, I shook away my distracting thoughts and cast my gaze around once more, searching. Something shined among the nearby presents, and a devilish smile split my face. Because within the clutter of gifts, I spotted a familiar oaken case, its lid knocked open from my earlier impact. The silvery sword within almost beckoned me. Cole must’ve placed it under the tree with the other gifts after he’d opened.
With a wordless roar, Cole raised an arm as he pounded closer, and using the human leg as a makeshift club, he brought it down in a powerful overhead swung. Instinct took over. I dove towards the sword in a roll, drawing upon my natural athleticism. The leg-turned-club smacked into the spot I once occupied with a sickening crunch. Cole’s glare turned to follow me as he snarled. “No more run, F—itz.”
“Forgive me if I ignore the advice of the monster trying to eat me,” I quipped, my roll ending with me in a crouch, the sword now in hand. Beside me was the Santa hat-clad suit of armor, and the kite shield held before it, affixed to its crossed arms.
Might as well complete the set, Sword & Board style.
As Cole began to rush me once more, I jumped toward the knight, and with a surprising surge of strength, I tore the shield from its grasp. Or from its arms, really, since I accidentally tore the gauntlets off along with the shield.
In my hands, the shield itself felt surprisingly light. Dangerously light, even. But before I could worry if it was a genuine tool designed for combat, Cole swung at me again.
I had just enough time to raise the shield.
The monstrous strength behind Cole’s blow sent me tumbling backwards, my curled up body bouncing and rolling across the room as if I were a human pinball. My dizzying roll ended abruptly as my back smacked into a clawed up and overturned couch. A rumbling chortle came from Cole as my world continued to spin. “Got F—itz now.”
I growled then.
I actually growled.
Planting the sword into the ground, I hauled myself to my feet, swaying slightly. The shield hung loosely in my other hand, a bloody smear on its otherwise smooth surface. Cole grinned at me, his rotten smile slathered with drool and blood.
No.
Not Cole.
I don't know how this could've happened, but this thing wasn’t my best friend, not anymore. It was a monster, pure and simple. An unrepentant monster that had murdered and eaten people. A monster that I needed to put out of its own misery for the person it had once been. My pounding heartbeat began to slow.
Ba-Bum. Ba-Bum. Ba-Bum.
Ba-Bum. Ba-Bum.
Ba-Bum…
A familiar calmness settled over me. It was the same the same calmness I felt just before I did something stupid and dangerous and exhilarating, often all at the same time. My fears just fell away then. For now, I focused entirely on this moment. On the now.
I’d worry about the consequences later.
I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders, the mysterious sense of strength flooding through my limbs. My hand tightened around my sword’s bone grip, and I only now realized how strangely right it felt in my hand. Then I pointed the tip of my blade at the troll. “Get ready, bitch. I’m about to go full on medieval on your ugly green ass.”
♪ Oh, b—baby, all I want for Christmas is y—you ♪