Author Rusty Nugent

                       Moonwarriors: In A Blackened Dawn Sneak Peek

This is early in chapter four. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading this and will leave a comment telling me what you think so far. 

 

    They arrived to a scene of chaos. Emergency vehicles of very description were already on the scene. The lights flashed in a never ending pattern of brilliance and color.

     A crowd had gathered on the street near the large crater-looking hole that used to be the museum and law enforcement were having a difficult time holding them back.

     As soon as they saw Walter and Mary approaching, they went wild with jubilation. They began chanting the name of the name of the television show.

     “Moonwarriors! Moonwarriors! Moonwarriors!”

     Walter approached the edge of the large hole and peered into the darkness. The others followed suit. All he could see was the top of the roof, laying haphazardly below in the dim light but not much else.

    “Can you see anything?” asked Mary.

    “Just the roof,” he replied grimly, “you?”

    “No,” she replied.

    “I can’t either,” interjected Stytentos.

    “I can’t see shit,” Jonathan told them after surveying the situation for a moment.

    They heard a series of muffled cries, desperate and terrified, asking for help.

    “We’ve gotta get those people out,” said Walter.

    Jonathan turned to his father and with a mischievous gleam in his eye, told him, “Thank you Captain Obvious, do you have any ideas?”

    He gave his son an exaggerated dour look then replied seriously, “We’ll have to dig ‘em out.”

    A loud, demonic roar rose from the opening. It shook the earth beneath their feet with its power. The crowd screamed and moved back. The heroic warriors looked at one another in consternation.

    “What the hell was that?” asked Mary.

    “I don’t know,” replied Walter nervously.

    “It was probably just the building shifting,” Stytentos told them, mostly to convince himself.

    “Doesn’t sound like any building I’ve ever heard,” Brent told him with a nervous laugh and folded his arms.

    “Well, like it or not, we’ve got to go down there,” announced Walter unconvincingly.

     “Yeah, we do, don’t we?” agreed Mary unenthusiastically.

    “Yep,” added Stytentos.

    No one moved.

    Suddenly, Jonathan yelled, “Fuck this, I’m going in!”

   He leapt into the large sinkhole, landing on the disheveled roof below.

    “Aw, hell yeah!” cried Brent and followed him.

    The others did the same, landing on the roof. It creaked ominously. The building beneath had been all but reduced to rubble. The walls had collapsed in on themselves, unable to stay upright under the stress. Pieces of concrete, and bits of debris lay scattered among broken chunks of wall.

    The voices of the trapped reached them once more, louder and more distinct.

    “Is someone there?”

    “Please help us!”

    Walter tried to calm them.

    “Relax. We’re here to get you out of there, okay?”

   “Okay,” a woman’s voice said from beneath a section of wall.

   “Please hurry, something’s in here with us!” came another reply.

    “Wouldn’t you know it,” said Walter under his breath.

    He scanned the darkness and spotted two glowing round orbs in the blackness. Off to the right, something huge moved.    

    It was just beyond the dim light of the sinkhole’s chamber.

    The eyes were similar to their own. In that they were red and glowed. But they had a tiny pupil. They reminded Walter of the eyes of a mantis.

    “Switch to night vision,” suggested Stytentos.

    They did so to discover a network of tunnels surrounded them in the darkness. It was unnervingly hive-like. Then they caught sight of what had been moving. Angel screamed in terror.

     “Holy Shit!” exclaimed Mary.

    The creature was worrying the corpse of some poor soul, gore and ichor dripping from its mouth.

    So, it had large teeth.

    It finished its grisly meal then swallowed, gulping down flesh and bone in one gulp. The demon’s eyes locked on the group and it let out a deep, bellowing roar.

    It stood, revealing its full height and unfurled a pair of huge bat-like wings. Their jaws dropped. Stytentos estimated it to be all of fifteen feet in height with a wingspan of twelve feet across. The creature stepped forward into the dim light. The face was vaguely human with an open nasal cavity, as if the nose had rotted away. Large, curved horns adorned the top of its skull on either side. The large red eyes gazed at them with evil intent.

    “Don’t let it step on the rubble, there’s people under there!,” Mary yelled.

    Jonathan, who had decided to follow his mother’s taste in weapons, drew his yari from behind his back and beneath his hoodie.

    “He won’t get that far!” he replied.

    “Jon, no!”

    The young man had already ran toward the creature and bounded up its leg. He climbed its body as it tried to grab him.

    Walter ran for its enormous legs drawing his sword and with a yell of angry defiance, stabbed straight through the demon’s shin.

    It roared in agony as it stepped back in immediate reflex, carrying Walter with it. He hung on for dear life watching as both Mary and Stytentos charged at the monster.

    Derek and Josh stood transfixed, their camera and boom mic pointed  up at the carnage.

    “This’ll be the best episode of Moonwarriors yet,” Josh commented as he watched Jon climb onto the demon’s shoulders.

   Stytentos and Mary had begun climbing the beast as they were joined by Brent and Seth. The creature now looked as if it were being attacked by ants.

    It looked up, placing it’s hands on the edge of the opening above. Screams wafted down.

   “He’s trying to get out!” Stytentos informed them.

    “Oh, no he’s not! Jonathan yelled back and slammed his yari in the back of the demon’s neck, precisely where Mylar had instructed him. He began sawing through skin, muscle, tendons, nerves and bone. The blades, razor sharp and kept that way by the young werewolf constantly sharpening them against a stone, severed the nerves and the spinal chord simultaneously.

    It shuttered, froze, then fell. The wolves pushed it in the other direction as they leapt clear. It landed with a thunderous crash then lay still and lifeless.

    Everyone stood there panting heavily as Stytentos blew out a deep, cheek inflating sigh.

    “That was incredible!” Derek exclaimed in excitement.

    “I’m so pleased you’re happy,” Stytentos retorted derisively.

    “What’s your problem?” Derek inquired in an offended tone.

    “You could’ve put your camera down and helped us!” he barked.

    “But you didn’t need us! The Moonwarriors are victorious once again!”

    “Thanks in no small part to this young man,” Stytentos said and put his hand warmly on Jonathan’s shoulder.

    He turned to Derek again.

    “If it weren’t for his actions, we’d all be a bloody mess. Or worse, so shut the fuck up!” he yelled angrily.

    “I don’t know what your deal is Stytentos, but I’m just trying to do my job.”

     Seth turned to Brent and said quietly, “Awkward.”

    Walter withdrew his sword from the thing’s leg and wiped it clean on the forearm of his trench coat. He put it in its scabbard as Stytentos grabbed Derek by the shirt.

    “My deal is that this is a serious matter. My deal is that there are people trapped beneath this rubble who need our help. My deal is that you aren’t taking this seriously and my deal is that you are pissing me off.”

    Mary stepped between them before things got out of control.

    “Stytentos, this is what he does he follows us around and films us killing evil.”

    “Well, I don’t like his flippant attitude. This is serious shit, Mary.”

    She hugged him tightly.

    “I know, sweetheart, I know. But we have to concentrate on these people now. Let’s get them out before they suffocate.”

    “Yeah,” he replied.

    He looked at Derek.

    “Sorry,” he said brusquely.

    “No problem.”

     Walter walked up, looking concerned.

    “What is it?” asked Mary.

    “Has anyone seen Sandy or Angel?” he asked.

    Stytenos pulled away from Mary and turned to Seth and Brent.

    “Seth, Brent and Walter start digging the people out. Mary, Jon and I will go look for them.”

    Mary looked at Derek and Josh.

    “It’s your call,” she said.

    “We’re coming with you,” he announced.

    “Alright,” she said, “let’s go.”

 

    Walter watched them enter an enormous tunnel as Seth and Brent got straight to work lifting the sections of wall that had collapsed from the building’s sudden descent. As they moved a large portion of debris they heard a faint groan.

    “Hurry,” Seth said.

    They toiled feverishly, removing bits of rock, concrete, plaster, steel girders and marble. Walter joined them and in a few moments had cleared away enough rubble to reveal several people trapped beneath a maze of pylons and wooden support beams.

     A man looked up at them and smiled weakly.

    “Thank you,” he croaked.

    “Don’t try to speak,” Walter told him softly, “we’re going to get you outta here, okay?”

    The man simply nodded.

    “Hey!” Brent shouted to the street above.

    “Yeah?” a voice come back.

    “We need you to lower some gurneys. We found some survivors!”

    “Right away,” came the reply.

    “We’re gonna keep looking for more.”

 

    Mary and Stytentos moved through the dark tunnel apprehensively followed by Jonathan, Derek and Josh.

    They all were using their night vision to see in the pitch blackness. Things scuttled in the darkness just out of sight. Things on one wanted to think about.

    “Stytentos, what the hell is going on?” she asked.

    “I don’t know but I don’t like it,” he told her as they cautiously rounded a bend in the tunnel.

    A faint glow was beginning to become evident far ahead. An amber, almost yellow light.

    “Go into the light,” joked Derek.

    Stytentos turned and scowled at him.

    “Don’t hurt me,” he pleaded.

    “Come on,” Mary chided as she pulled Stytentos along.

    The light continued to grow as they trekked through the huge tunnel. At the end of the cavern was a large opening that revealed a vast chamber.

    They peeked around an outcropping of stone. There, on a pedestal composed of roots and rock lay an ancient tome. It was emitting the strange glow.

    The missing women stood in front of it. They crept from the shadows as Mary told her, “Don’t ever sneak off like that again!”

    Angel whirled in surprise.

    “Sorry. Look at we found!”

    “I see that,” replied Mary as she looked it over.

    “What is it?” asked Stytentos.

    “I’m not sure,” Sandy said, “but it looks important.”

    They heard a deep rumbling growl. They looked around cautiously but saw nothing.

    “I suggest we take it and go,” suggested Jonathan and snatched the great book from its resting place, closing it. Instantly, the glow diminished.

    A guttural roar shook the chamber as another creature, similar in look but far larger in scale revealed itself.

    The group beat a hasty retreat down the passage as earth and rock rained down on them as the tunnel began to collapse. The damned thing was pursuing them.

 

    Walter watched the last gurney being lifted out of the sinkhole. It had taken them only about an hour to locate and rescue the survivors. Sadly, it had only been about ten people.

    The sound of feet sprinting up the passage caught his attention. He turned to see Stytentos sprinting into the chamber followed by Mary and the others.

    “Go, don’t ask questions, just go!” he exclaimed.

    He was about to inquire what was going on when a powerful roar of anger shook the chamber. He had never heard anything so evil in his life.

    Using their supernatural agility, the warriors began leaping to the roof of the demolished building then to the edge of the broken street above.

    Stytentos stayed below, making certain the others were out of the hole before he did so himself. He scrambled out into the pale light of dusk. He stood as Walter brandished his sword.

    “Stay back!” Walter commanded his eyes locked on the opening.

    The street beside the sinkhole suddenly erupted in an explosion of asphault and earth. Water mains sprayed huge gouts into the evening sky as the monster broke through with an angry roar.

    The crowd screamed in terror at the sight of the enormous monstrosity and fled in horror along with most of the Nashville P.D, who were not trained to deal with this kind of situation.

    It placed two gigantic hands the size of delivery vans on the street as stood straight, looking at the group eye to eye. It snarled.

    “Oh, shit,” whispered Brent.

    Walter rushed forward, his sword high overhead and brought the weapon down full force on the demon’s right hand. It let out a deep bellow of angry rage then backhanded him into a parked police unit. The vehicle’s glass shattered into millions of tiny shards as the frame bent into a warped unusable mess.

    “Walter!” cried Mary in alarm.

    It glared at the rest of them with a look of evil contempt.

    Mary grabbed her daughter by the arm.

    “Go find somewhere safe,” she instructed.

    “But-“

    “No buts young lady and no matter what, get that book far away from here,” she scolded.

    “Don’t get killed.  I love you.”

    “I love you too, now go!”

    Angel dashed off into the cold night, the book tucked under her arm.

 

    Walter Volknor shook the cobwebs off and felt anger rising in him. He knew the change was coming and it was inevitable. He got to his feet and with a demonic roar of fury of his own, began to transform.

    His expensive leather biker boots exploded open as enormous paws burst forth, claws jutting from the tips of his toes. Another pair of boots ruined. The seam in the legs in his leather pants split on either side as his legs became larger, bulkier and muscular. His body grew in bulk as well, shredding his shirt, reducing it to mere rags.

    The black leather gauntlets he wore tore at the tips as his talons ripped through. His ears ached as they became pointed and relocated to the top of his head while his canine teeth grew long and sharp. Then his skull ached as his face stretched into a muzzle. His spine elongated, adding another foot in height.

    The trench coat that usually swallowed Walter’s five foot six inch frame was filled to capacity by the now seven foot six inch werewolf. It snarled in anger, its red cat-like eyes glowing with an unearthly incandescence. He gazed intently at the demon with vengeance in his heart.