12/27/49

ALEXANDER GALDUR

“We don’t have to do this, Lukas.” I attempted to convince my friend, placing my hand on his shoulder.

Shaking his head, he continued being a dumbass, “It’s your birthday, and it was Christmas two days ago. You’re getting something!”

“My birthday was yesterday! Look, let’s just stop here before we go any further.” I insisted.

Sighing in a way unbefitting of a ten year old, he ignored me and threw himself against the wire gate. After what felt like the fiftieth time, though, probably only the sixth, the gate flew open with Lukas landing heavily on the ground. Dust billowed away from him, his enhanced weight from his magic making the impact much stronger than it had any right to be.

Cautiously, we crept our way to the grocery store. Picking the lock while Lukas kept watch, I proceeded to swing the door open as we walked inside. The grocery store had its lights off with all of the aisles being dark and formidable to Lukas, but the darkness felt like open arms to me because of my magic. However, that was its own kind of discomfort from all the things I’ve heard about how cursed and evil it was.

I forced my focus back on the matter at hand as I again asked Lukas to just turn around now. He simply turned to me and scoffed. I groaned and just gave in, going along with his strange altruism. We passed by a couple alleys before we wound up in front of the back area where only employees were let in. Turning to him, I asked, “What are we doing here?”

Before he could answer, a cylindrical object rolled into view. He ran back through the tassel-like curtains right as a white gas blasted from the object I came to realize was a grenade. I immediately felt drowsy and lightheaded while I saw men in all black come rushing from everywhere.

Grabbing me by the arms, they batoned me in the stomach and dragged me from the room. In my stupor, I forced past the blurriness of my vision, only to see a member of the DME patting Lukas on the back and saying something about payment.

The puzzle pieces fell into place in my mind, and before I knew what happened, everything went black with only a single voice screeching through my head in a mindless fit of rage.

My mind faded the unceasing rage and anger as I, unlike the presence in my mind, wasn’t angry, just hallow-feeling inside. I only realized that no one could be that nice and I felt a coldness wash over me, contrasting the warm liquid that splashed across my face.

3/22/54

The squirrel’s blood and whatever other liquid that was inside its eye burst forth onto my face. Nearly drowning me, the waterfall of liquid rapidly reduced, and I could get some gasping breaths. I quickly looked up to see this new threat.

Oh.

It’s Deimos.

Deimos stood there, one baton dripping with fluid while the other twisted in his hand to come flying at the squirrel’s chin. The loud cracking—whether from the rodent’s chin or the baton breaking, I didn’t know—was followed by the thud of the squirrel hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Its pained and enraged squeaking ripped through the air, almost as quickly as the giant ink tentacles that came from an unseen rune on the ground.

The monster was quickly immobilized with the tentacles wrapping around the beast’s maw and limbs. For a moment, all I could do was watch the creature struggle against its binds, but a firm hand on my shoulder quite literally shook me from my daze. Before I could even turn around all the way, Deimos’s voice pierced through the roaring cries of the squirrel, “Lucas, are you okay!?”

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My mind, buffering to catch up, eventually responded, “Y-yeah, yeah, I’m alright.” Deimos most certainly didn’t hear all of what I said, being the monster’s roars were far too loud for anyone to perfectly hear me when I was so soft spoken, but he seemed to pick up enough to figure out the rest of what I said.

Pulling me to my feet with ease, he started pulling me along, “Then let’s move; those tentacles can’t hold it for much longer.” As if on cue, a little after he said that while I had turned to look at it, the tentacle holding down its bark-covered tail was ripped from the ground.

That seemed to disperse the rest of my haze as the fear returned back to my mind. A sharp breath of air entered my lungs as I pulled myself into a sprint as quickly as I could. Just as my third step hit the ground, I stumbled and fell, arms landing on the ground while being pinned by my body.

The pain hit me instantly, the adrenaline in my system waning just enough for me to feel the tooth marks covering my body from my encounter with the toad. Of course, that wasn’t all: damaged nerves, loss of feeling in parts of the body, burns, bruised bones, and any other assortment of electrical or physical injuries plaguing my body.

Suddenly, my body felt slow, like I was swimming in tar, but my impending doom scared me back to my feet when another sloshing-tearing-fusion sound came from behind me. Deimos immediately saw my plight and came back to put his arm under me for support. It only worked somewhat as he was quite a bit taller than me, forcing him to lean down in a way I could only think looked uncomfortable.

We hobbled further away, making it to about where we had regrouped before, but then, we heard the thumping from behind us.

Deimos risked a look back, and his face paled from its normal almond-color, “Shit, prepare to fight; the squirrel broke free.”

“I’m out of magic, I’m hurt, what do I prepare with?” I questioned, irritated at my helplessness.

Deimos glanced at me and grimaced, “I don’t know! If you don’t think you can help, then stand on the sidelines.”

I only angered further but kept it from bursting out, understanding that in the end it was just a knee jerk reaction to lash out. Taking heavy breaths to calm myself down, I ran over to a nearby car. Ducking behind it, I poked my head just high enough to see the passenger side mirror from my position on the sidewalk on the driver’s side.

Looking through the tinted glass, I saw a giant, fuzz and wood-covered creature barreling at the car.

Ah fuck me.

Sprinting from my hiding position, I heard the crash of the squirrel into the car behind me, and I dared not look back while it screeched in frustration.

Foot fall after foot fall, I forced myself a little further with every push, but it wasn’t enough. I could feel the monster coming from behind quickly, and without my magic, I didn’t see any way for some skinny teenager to fight off a couple tons of fur and wood.

Sliding over a car, my eyes darted around, looking for any way to keep me from dying. Max’s wildly flailing arms caught my attention as he shouted over to me, “Lucas! Over here!” Below his feet, I could see an assortment of runes inked onto the ground.

Changing directions to start heading towards Max, I saw my way out and my body kicked into overdrive with a final pump of adrenaline into my veins. The pounding of my own feet against the ground grew harder and harder to hear as the squirrel approached faster than I could run, and just as it neared me, I leapt forward.

Bracing my arms around my head, I roughly rolled against the ground, scrapes, scratches, and bruises being added to my fucked up physical condition. Looking up while my ears ringed and darkness crept at the edges of my vision, I saw the squirrel land right on top of the runes, activating them all.

Ink flew up from the ground, some forming tentacles, some creating bear traps, others just trying to spear through the wooden armor covering the beast. The squirrel cried out again, a harsh noise against my ears, both because of how loud and high-pitched it was as well as how cruel and slow this death would be for it.

It’s just an animal, it was just following its instincts. It never asked for this fate.

My vision tunneled as that thought pounded through my head, but sadness never came and afflicted me. I felt hollow, empty, pained, and tired. Darkness filled up the rest of my vision while I heard the ongoing sounds of battle, lightheadedness, a foggy mind, and exhaustion all catching up to me now that my blood wasn’t equal parts blood cells and adrenaline.

My body’s final ounces of strength left as my head hit the ground, a solid thunk being the final nail in the coffin. My brain managed to just realize that there seemed to be a pattern of me falling unconscious in shitty situations. I wonder if I’ll wake up in the medical bay?