“Hey Mr,” a young boy pestered Tolbert shaking him from his sleep. He looked up into the face of a young boy of average height and with a mop of brown hair covering his eyes.

“What?” Tolbert returned, stretching. He sat up, and the boy took a back step.

The boy had a backpack over his shoulders bursting from the seams. The boy was wearing several layers of clothes.

“Didn’t you have time to get clothes?” asked the boy, gesturing toward Tolbert.

Tolbert realised that he was once again only in his boxer shorts. He chuckled going slightly red.

“I am just grateful to be alive” Tolbert commented. I have been wearing only these boxer shorts for the past couple of days. I need new clothes.

“What happened to you?” inquired the boy, his eyes widening.

“I am not sure,” Tolbert mused. “Where am I?” Better not scare the kid. That slug attack happened in a world that looked just like this Is this the real world?

“You’re in New York,” the boy stated as if that was the only place in the world.

Tolbert scrunched his face. “I am going to need a little more detail than that.” Looking around he saw a river on one side and a park on the other. He was sitting on a park bench, with tall trees and the sound of the early morning and the milling of many people around.

“Well, across the river is Manhattan Island.” the boy reported. “Just behind us is the Kennedy Ridge.”

“Well at least this time I wasn’t under a bridge,” Tolbert observed.

The boy paused and asked him, “You were under a bridge last time?”

“Yeah, last time I woke up in New York, I was under a bridge. I think it was that one.”

A loud roar shattered the morning. Everyone went quiet. The staccato of automatic gunfire countered the roar.

“We are lucky that the army came in last night and is protecting us from those monsters,” the boy observed.

“What do the monsters look like?” Tolbert queried. Am I dealing with the trolls or the slugs this time? Not that I can do anything about them. I am just as powerless as I was when living in Queens.

“I am not sure,” the boy replied. “The one I saw had two eyes and four arms and was ten feet tall,” the boy recalled, his eyes going wide from the account.

“Other people have said that some of them have no arms, and are only huge mouths; some said that they are yellow,” the boy rambled.

“That does sound strange,” Tolbert gulped, looking in the direction of the gunfire. I have to do something. I can’t keep running from this problem and letting innocents die. If I don’t solve it, I don’t think anyone else can.

“I don’t think that they are all the same,” the boy pondered.

“Would seem so.” Tolbert stood up and stretched again. “I would like to see what they look like, get a good look for myself.” Please don’t come with me, kid. I don’t want to see you die also.

“Good luck,” the boy called out as he ran back to his family.

Tolbert watched as the boy returned to his family, and then began walking along the path heading up for the bridge. Cresting the rise, he spotted an army blockade. The army had placed a barricade across the bridge. Standing behind it, facing down the bridge stood, soldiers in battle gear, looking down their rifles.

A troll. roared from across the bridge and charged the defence line.

The soldiers fired at the troll.

Those trolls–they are from Dragon Hunt…. What is going on? How can I solve this without knowing what I am dealing with?

The gunfire came out raggedly as soldiers took aim. One soldier with a sniper rifle, fired off a shot, the louder boom ringing in Tolbert’s head. The bullet hit the green monster square in the head.

The troll recoiled from the blow.

A small cheer erupted from the encamped soldiers.

Two of the troll’s arms windmilled wildly and then it regained its balance. The cheers died instantly as the beast roared, with no sign of the bullet impact on its head.

An officer with a pair of binoculars trained on the troll lowered them and muttered a small curse.

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The troll charged down the bridge, and out of the building on the opposite side of the bridge came raptors.

All the soldiers started firing at the oncoming creatures.

The raptors fell from the onslaught. More poured out from the building, stepping over their dead.

A tank parked a little back from the soldiers let off a single, high-powered shot from its main cannon.

The troll at the halfway point was hit by the large calibre shell and, then the round exploded with the full fury that it brought to bear. The concussion and subsequent explosion destroyed the troll. With pieces of the troll raining onto the bridge the raptors turned and fled.

A cheer ripped up from the soldiers on the line. A quiet calm then descended over the soldiers as they set about preparing for the next wave, checking their magazines and drinking water from the flasks on their jackets.

The officer turned and marched straight for Tolbert, still standing in his silk boxers. The officer, resplendent in his camouflage gear, had a name badge identified him as Lieutenant Briggs.

“You should move away,” Briggs instructed.

“Sorry, sir,” Tolbert responded. “I just wanted to see the monsters.” At least he has found a way to kill the monsters, but how can I use this information to my advantage?

“Well, you have now, so you better get moving. It’s not safe for you here.” His face was inscrutable. He turned and marched back to the barricade and instructed one of the men on the barricade to escort Tolbert to a safe distance.

As Tolbert turned, he heard a sound that made his face go white with terror.

‘Tap, tap, tap’ came the slow sound.

The soldier arrives at Tolbert’s back and asked him to move along.

‘Tap, tap, tap’ it came again, this time quicker and from further away. Tolbert’s head snapped around, looking into the direction of the last sound, barely audible above the sounds of the soldiers at the Kennedy Bridge. The beetles as well? It can’t be. They can’t be here at the same time. It’s not possible. How can I get out? I want out… There is no place like home… there is no place like home… there is no place like home.

The soldier grabbed Tolbert’s arm and started to move him roughly away from the barricade. As he did so he saw the look of abject fear on Tolbert’s face as the beetles swarmed out of the trees from along the road.

Tolbert raised his hand and pointed; the soldier’s eyes followed as a swarm of beetles led six huge slugs.

A roar reverberated from across the bridge.

“Lieutenant Briggs!” shouted the soldier at Tolbert’s arm.

Lieutenant Briggs turned and faced the soldier.

The soldier shouts. “We have hostiles coming in from the east.”

Briggs turned to face the east as the beetles enveloped the tank, giant slugs coming up from behind them. “No one told me about insects,” he cursed.

The crackle of gunfire from the other soldiers came as the trolls and raptors poured across the bridge and race towards the men stationed at the barricade. The tank tried to fire but a slug slithered on to the top and bit the hatch off. A troll hit the barricade first sending soldiers flying in all directions.

“Retreat,” Briggs bellowed.

The soldiers abandoned their positions and ran away from the two clashing nightmares.

Tolbert turned as a slug slithered out of the bushes and wrapped a long tongue around both Tolbert and the soldier and pulled them into the cavernous maw that was its mouth.

Oh no, not again. How can little me defeat this game?

----------------------------------------

Striker wandered around Mott Haven checking in with hotels and asked if they had seen Tolbert. Showing them a picture didn’t help him. In his wanderings, he turned down a street and instead of the teeming mass of humanity, he came upon a barricade being built by the army.

He frowned as he watched the soldiers setting up the barricade. Beyond them, he saw a tank in position pointing down the bridge.

A loud roar resonated from across the bridge, startling the soldiers. They paused looking down across the bridge. A quick command reanimated them.

A troll lumbered down the bridge.

The tank fired a round that wiped out the troll in a shower of blood and flesh.

Another roar echoed from the bridge as two hulking trolls rushed over it. Nipping at their ankles were a horde of raptors. Striker froze as he watched the contents of the Dragon Hunt game charge across the bridge.

The tank fired off a hasty round, the boom of it resounding in Striker’s ears. It missed the troll and cratered into the road. The soldiers dropped their sandbags and fired at the oncoming raptors. The gunfire brought down the raptors but bounced off the trolls.

“Keep firing,” ordered the officer, standing behind his soldiers, firing his pistol.

The tank fired again, hitting one of the trolls, smearing several of its arms on the bridge.

Roaring louder the troll continued charging towards them. Then the wave of monsters hit the soldiers. Jumping over the sandbags, they bit and ate soldiers.

The soldiers panicked and ran.

The trolls attacked the tank, beating it with their fists, each impact creating a clashing ringing sound as the trolls made fist-sized dents in the armour of the tank.

A raptor jumped up on top of the tank and noticed that the hatch was open. Chirping, it jumped inside. Screams echoed from inside the tank as the men inside were eaten alive.

Once the soldiers were routed, the raptors and trolls continued to pour onto the streets, killing and eating.

Striker turned and ran from the oncoming invasion. Searching for a place to hide, he rounded the corner. He bumped into an armoured knight and he skidded to a stop. His mouth opened in shock, he looked up and noticed that the knight was not alone. Filling the street was a large group of knight’s, with lances and pennants flying in the wind.

“Out of the way peasant!” boomed a voice from inside a visored helm.

Striker didn’t argue. He stepped into the doorway on his right, a shop called ‘Swords, Knives and Daggers,’ and watched as the knights moved forward, towards the troll and raptor army.

The knights moved forward, not breaking formation. They rounded the corner and Striker followed them along with several other people, all wide-eyed in amazement.

The knight’s leader raised a fist, and the front three ranks of lances lowered. The leader swung his arm forward and the whole regiment moved forward as a single entity. They quickly built up speed and charged straight at the teeming monsters. The lancers punched through the raptors with ease neatly eviscerating them. The knights hit the trolls the lancers puncture and split their flesh and they died from several lances ripping into them.

With the trolls all dead, the knights’ broke formation to hunt down the remaining raptors. Once the raptors were all dealt with, the knights' reformed ranks and marched over the bridge and out of sight.

A pale woman dressed in a simple shift, blended in with the crowd. Instead of watching the knights, she watched Striker, a smile forming on her lips before she faded away.