Story by
Doppelgänger Shockwave
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Page 1
When
one is feeling weak and powerless, and there is not a single hero to
turn to, what else can they do? Confined within the borders of the
oil-rich state of Texas,
someone is about to answer that precise question.
In
the small industrial city of Sedosa,
there lives a scraggy boy of
12 the locals know as Travis
Cook. Travis isn't like other
kids his age. He doesn't care much for sports, 'less you count women
who ferociously pummel one another as they race around in a circle on
roller-skates, or burly men who dress in colorful tight spandex while
striking each other with metal chairs as sports. Those divine Earth
creatures known as girls
intimidate this lad, so don't bother asking him to participate in
social gatherings as he finds them to be painfully boring.
You
see, Travis is an introvert with
his
head in the clouds. If you
asked Travis, he'd tell you that his interests lie in the realm of
imagination where geeks and weirdos hide away from the rest of the
world. Travis loves adventure
books, comics,
fantasy mags,
schlocky
movies,
role-playing games,
and Heavy Metal
music. Travis uses these
diversions as his only escape from the daily torment he receives at
his school--Jones Junior High.
Typically
Travis shrugs off the dark feelings he reaps from the bullies in his
life, but today, however, he can no longer choose this path for his
problems have become far too great a burden to carry. Mere moments
ago, as Travis exited the local music shop with a brand new record,
the kid was confronted by several schoolmates. They shoved and
taunted Travis, knocking him to the ground. Travis tried to fight
back as he attempted to escape their clutches, but he only managed to
get himself a black eye, his record broken, and his favorite Pantera
t-shirt burned with freshly lit cigarettes. Travis
ran home to sulk in his room, but things quickly changed when he
spotted a magick spellbook sitting on his desk that an uncle had
given to him as a birthday gift. Revenge quickly filled his thoughts.
When
all is said and done, this day will become the most terrifying moment
in Sedosa's history. There is no turning back for Travis, for his
pride must be avenged. This...is
his
story!
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Page 2
“Lousy
rotten jerks,”
Travis spouted off as he kicked loose pebbles from the sidewalk. “So
those scuzzbags think they're gonna get away with what they've done,
do they? Ha! Damn
fools!
They'll all pay for their crimes against me! I may be a scrawny nerd,
but by no means am I a pushover. Wait 'til they see what I've got in
store for 'em tonight!”
“Hey,
I finally made it to the
other side of town,” Travis proclaimed as he stood a quarter of a
block from the corner of Dixon
and H Street.
“I can see the cemetery gates to the Corte
County
graveyard!”
“Ut-oh,”
Travis exclaimed. “Those clouds are lookin' pretty dark. I better
hurry before the rain comes down!”
Without
warning, a barrage of lightning bolts discharged from the sky. The
lightning crescendoed in the distance--lighting the dark clouds in a
fiery pinkish-orange hue. The sporadic streams of black
body radiation were immediately
followed by intense canon-esque echoes of rolling thunder. The whole
world seemed to shake in fear.
“Wow!
That is one heckuva lightnin' storm off in the distance,” Travis
remarked. “I sure hope I'm able to find my uncles' graves before
those clouds unleash their fury!”
While
standing on the street corner, Travis looked at his watch. The time
read 5:20 PM. Travis hurried across the street as the wind picked up
and the clouds darkened even more. Travis looked up towards the top
of the double-door gate as he approached them. While staring up at
the graveyard's sign Travis grabbed the right gate to open it, but
something wasn't right.
“Great!
The friggin' gate has a stupid
padlock on it,” Travis
angrily shouted as he slammed the padlock back against the gate's
rectangular-shaped iron bars. “Shoot! I guess I'll just have to
climb the fence then. It doesn't seem all that tall from here.”
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Page 3
Like
a scared squirrel being chased by a hungry cat, Travis scurried up
the left side of the gate. As he reached the top, Travis saw that he
was way in over his head as he had misjudged how tall the gates
really were.
“Jeezis,
the drop looks pretty far from here,” Travis shrieked as fear raced
through his veins. ”M-Maybe I sh-should for-forget about this
an-an-and g-g-go home...GULP!”
It
was clear that Travis' nerves were shot. His palms sweated profusely
from his quivering heart that was on panic-overdrive as he clung to
the top of the double-door gate which stood 20 feet above the ground.
An icy-chill ran up his back, but it was immediately stopped by a
warm blanket of courage which Travis put around his mind.
“NO!
I can do this,” Travis declared. “I'll just have to make the leap
for that lower tree branch there. Hopefully, I won't hurt myself...”
Travis
leaped with all his might, but fate just wasn't on his side.
“AHHH!!!
UNGH! OUCH!
Lousy
stinkin' rose bush,” Travis shouted as he held his right hand
covered in thorns from the prickly plant which surrounded the tree's
trunk.
Travis
was furious. He gave the bush some mighty kicks, but the plant was
stronger and very determined to survive the thrashing, and so his plant thrashing did not last long when Travis became stuck yet again
through his jeans and canvas sneakers.
“GAAHHH,”
Travis screamed in agonizing pain. “What
kinda idiot puts a rose bush around a tree trunk anyhow,” Travis
clamored as he hopped around on his right foot.
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Page 4
Soon,
other pains from the fall began to distract Travis' mind from the
thorns embedded in his skin.
“Unngghhh...,”
Travis moaned. “My
hip really hurts from missin' that stupid tree branch.”
Travis
pulled down the rim of his jeans on his right side. It was
immediately noticeable that a reddish-brown bruise with an outer
yellowish hue was beginning to form.
“Well
isn't this just lovely,” Travis quipped. “Just what I needed
tonight. Another sore spot on my body. Haven't I had my butt kicked
enough today? Never mind all that, I've gotta find my uncles' graves
soon, or this will all be for nothing.”
Travis
pulled back his long kinky brown hair with his left hand before
trying to carry on towards his destination. Travis didn't move
forward too far, however, before it became all too clear that trying
to walk in any direction would be entirely useless as the wind was
blowing with far too great a force.
“Frickin'
wind,” Travis bellowed. “I've wasted enough time as it is, now
let up for cryin' out loud!”
The
wind briefly slowed down, giving Travis just enough time to run
behind one of the big elm trees. In a rush, Travis shifted his left
hand in and out of every pocket of his jean jacket trying to locate
the elusive map that would lead him to his uncles' graves.
“All
right, now where'd I put that stupid map at,” Travis thought out
loud as he searched his person.
“Grrr...Where in the hell is it?!?! It should be right here in my jean jacket's inner left breast pocket! Wait a minute...Yep, there you are you pesky little devil you,” Travis proclaimed with great excitement.
“Grrr...Where in the hell is it?!?! It should be right here in my jean jacket's inner left breast pocket! Wait a minute...Yep, there you are you pesky little devil you,” Travis proclaimed with great excitement.
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Page 5
Travis
had forgotten that he'd placed the paper in his front left pant
pocket. As Travis held the folded map up in front of his face, a gust
of wind came along and ripped the paper from his hand. In a panic,
Travis bolted for the lifted paper.
“No,
wait,” Travis exclaimed. “Come back here with my map, you lousy
wind!”
In
a sweltering panic, Travis
searched for over an hour for the freed map. As day turned to night,
however, the young lad began to feel as though he was being outwitted
by the elusive piece of paper.
“Stinkin'
wind,” Travis pouted angrily. “Where have you taken my map to?”
Travis
scanned the landscape again. Just as he panned right, between a pair
of tree branches, Travis spotted the back of the map stretched
against the right arm of a giant cross-shaped tombstone made of
granite.
“Yes,”
Travis shouted with glee. “The map is trapped on the edge of that
cross there! Time to zip like the roadrunner!”
Travis
moved fast up the granite, but when he reached for the hand-drawn map
it was just out of reach for his five-two stature. That, however, did
not stop Travis from trying to reach the map.
“Hold
it...Almost there...Don't you move one...AAAHHH!!!
UNGH,”
Travis grunted as the air was stolen from his lungs when he landed
face first into a pile of leaves next to the tombstone.
“Lousy
footin',” Travis exclaimed while he dusted himself off. “Dang it!
It's gone,” Travis remarked as the map flew through the air once
again. “Where'd it go? I really need that map!”
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Page 6
Travis
scratched his head while he looked around, but the map was nowhere to
be found.
“Oh
forget it,” Travis thought out loud. “I'm sure I can find their
graves on my own.”
Travis
started looking for his uncle's grave markers, but the kid wasn't
mindful of his surroundings. Just as he passed a mulberry tree,
Travis' right shin hit the face of a heavily weathered gnome
which the groundskeeper had placed inside the graveyard many years
ago to give the place a more pleasant feeling when people came to
visit their loved ones.
“OWW!
Stinkin' gnome,” Travis hollered as he rubbed his sore shin.
“You're lucky I've got no time to waste, or I'd kick your butt
right into that pond on the other side of the fence there!”
Travis
stepped back a few feet from the gnome. Just as he was about to turn
around, Travis tripped over a grave marker and fell onto his back.
“WAAHH!
UNGH!
What
in the hell is wrong with...Hey!
There's one of the tombstones I was lookin' for,” Travis cheered.
“I wonder, are the other four nearby? Mom didn't permit any of us
to go to their funerals. She said we'd end up just like 'em if we
did. Now surely they can't be too far away. Ah, there's the other
four! Hehe! Silly me. Man, this is gonna be great,” Travis said
with a joyous lilt in his voice. “Not only will I get to see my
uncles again, but I'll have my revenge on those jerks for what
they've done to me too!”
Travis
took out the spellbook from his backpack and flipped through the
pages until he found the one with the spell he needed.
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Page 7
“And
there's the page I was lookin' for,” Travis remarked with a smile
on his face as he folded back the dog-eared corner of the page.
Travis
took out a large jar of salt he stole from his mother's pantry. He
spread the mineral out onto the ground in front of his uncles' graves
in the shape of a triangle with a circle inside and a square dot in
the center. The young lad then laid the open book on the ground below
the base of the triangle and placed four small stones on the outside
corners of each page to hold the book down while he read the
incantation aloud. Travis then sat down with his legs crossed and his
palms turned up.
“With
the elements of Earth, wind, and fire...,” Travis started the
incantation. “...and let us not forget the power of rebirth, I ask
the Gods known as Frigg,
Shu,
Lugh,
and Adonis
to grant me the power to revive the corpses of my five uncles known
as the vile, the gnarly, the repulsive Deadly
D's! This is your nephew,
Travis Cook, talking to you, dearest uncles. I implore you all to
come to my aid for I need your protection from those I cannot fend
off by myself. Oh great Gods, won't you hear my plea? Give me the
strength to rise the Deadly D's!”
A
bolt of lightning struck the ground causing the land to split open,
releasing toxic gases from the clutches of the compacted soil.
Suddenly a mighty rumble caused the planet to shake and grumble.
Birds squawked, and squirrels frantically chattered as the head of
each uncle began to crown from their grave like a baby from its
mother's womb.
“It's
workin'! It's really workin',” Travis gleefully shouted. “Rise
up, uncles! Rise up and come to your nephew's aid!”
The
uncles rose from their graves, but things began to go wrong almost
immediately.
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Page 8
“Ut-oh!
Travis, you dummy,” the kid chided himself. “I can't believe I
said the spell wrong! I was supposed to say each of their names, not
the name of the gang! I am so screwed now!”
The
cemetery quivered with gut-wrenching fright as the ground rumbled and
hissed, releasing the screams of ghosts which zipped past the
frightened lad. Before his very eyes, Travis' five uncles morphed
into a singular freakish ghoul of a hideously deformed nature with
superhuman size and equally proportionate strength.
“Way
to go, dunderhead,” Travis castigated himself. “You just made
your uncles into a garish freak show! You sure are a dimwit
sometimes,” Travis said as he continued to berate himself. “They
will surely kill me for this boneheaded blunder!”
Travis
needed to act quickly if he was going to survive his misuse of the
incantation that his Uncle David had given to him shortly before they
were all killed in a police shootout almost five years ago.
“Uncles,
please, don't hurt me,” Travis pleaded. “I'm so sorry for what
I've done. I didn't mean to mess up the spell Uncle David gave me.”
The
unholy abomination held their mid-section tightly and remained silent
as they tried to deal with the pain of their resurrection.
“Man,
they must be really ticked off at me,” Travis said to himself out
loud. “They're not sayin' anything! I better make this right, or
I'm dead meat!”
The
Deadly D's stumbled forward slightly, causing the ground to shake
with a vigorous reverberation before letting out an aching bellow.
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Page 9
“UNNGGHHH,”
the rotting behemoth grumbled. “So much...UNGH...Pain!
Kid, we're...UNGH...We're
gonna...UNGH...Rip
your friggin' soul...UNNGGGHHH...apart!
ARRRGH!!!”
The
Deadly D's swung at Travis hard, but missed him and blasted through a
tree trunk instead as the kid ducked and ran to hide behind another
tombstone.
“No,
uncles,” Travis pleaded from behind the piece of granite. “I
beseech thee! Please, bless me with your tender mercies! I can fix
this, I promise! I can undo this mess if you just give me a little
time!”
The
Deadly D's continued to stumble and grumble as they held tight to
their abdomen.
“UNNGGHHH...Kid,
where are you,”
the unholy abomination moaned.
“Now,
where is that other spell,” Travis thought to himself as he
scrambled through the spellbook.
“That's just friggin' great! I forgot it at home,” Travis said out loud as he looked over the edge of the tombstone to see where his uncles were. “I think I might've used it as a bookmarker in one of my comics. This is not going to end well for me at all!”
“That's just friggin' great! I forgot it at home,” Travis said out loud as he looked over the edge of the tombstone to see where his uncles were. “I think I might've used it as a bookmarker in one of my comics. This is not going to end well for me at all!”
“The
pain...UNNGGHHH...It's
unbearable,” the garish ghoul grumbled. “ARRRGH!!!
Kid, you better find that
spell...UNNGGHH...soon,
'cause relations or not...UNNGGGHHH...you're
gonna die, boy!”
“Wait,
uncles,” Travis pleaded with his deceased relatives. “I think I
have another spell here I can use to help with the pain I've caused
if you just give me a moment to find it. Now, it is a temporary one,
but it will help until I can find the spell that will undo the mess I
put you all through.”
“Get
on with it already then,” the freak show shouted.
“I'm
hurryin', uncles! Dear God, where is it?”
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Page 10
The
kid sped through the pages like a hamster running a marathon in its
spinning wheel. Just as the Deadly D's were nearing Travis, he found
the spell he was looking for.
“Okay,
I found it, uncles,” the lad shouted. “Oh great Eir,
Norse Goddess of healin', I
plead for your assistance tonight! I need your help to ease the pain
and sufferin' of my resurrected uncles known to you as the Deadly
D's!”
Bright
and wispy star-shaped figures whisked around the Deadly D's like
stir-fried veggies swirling around in a fire-hot wok. Quickly the
figures disappeared back into the other dimension from which they had
briefly escaped.
“T-The
pain...It's gone!”
The
Deadly D's stood up straight, towering at an astounding eight feet
over their meek five-two nephew. The behemoth stretched out its seven
arms, three legs, and two heads like they had just woken from their
blissful slumber.
“All
right, kid. Talk! Why did you raise us from the dead,” the
graveyard monster growled at their nephew.
“I
need your help, uncles,” Travis replied. “I'm constantly bein'
bullied at my school. Every day I wake up in a sweat, fearin' I'll be
beaten up at school. When I roam the halls, I have to run to my next
class, praying that my feet don't fail me. I'm always havin' to watch
my back. Heck, I can't even go to the bathroom without the fear of
havin' my butt kicked! They're constantly stealin' my lunch money;
and today--just as I was leavin' the record shop--they burned my
Pantera t-shirt, beat me up, and busted my newly purchased
D.R.I.
album!”
“Wait
one blasted second...,” the freak show chimed in. “The Dirty
Rotten Imbeciles put out a new
album? What's it called, kid?”
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Page 11
“It's
called Full Speed Ahead,
and I was able to obtain an early copy of it before its official
release next month,” Travis replied. “I didn't even get the
opportunity to listen to it. Uncles, I'm sick of the mess I'm in! Can
you please help me? No one else seems to be able to, or even care to
try for that matter.”
“Not
even your parents, kid?”
“They
couldn't care less what happens to me. I'm a mistake in their eyes.
All my parents care about is their work,” Travis replied with a
sorrowful tone.
“Hmm...All
right, kid. We'll take care of the bullies for you, but you have to
find that other spell soon. Three hours from now the pain relief will
wear off, and if we're not separated before the time runs out, we
won't be able to rest in peace. If we don't get our peaceful slumber
that's gonna be very bad for you. Understand, kid?”
“Yes,
uncles, I understand,” Travis replied with fear in his voice. “Here's a picture of those who beat me up today. They're at the
fall school dance right
now.”
The
Deadly D's took the photo from Travis and studied the images in the
class school picture. Travis had taken a red marker and circled their
heads and wrote their names for his uncles to identify on the outer
edges of the photograph.
“As
for the spell,” Travis said to his garish uncles while they
observed the photo. “I'll run home and get it before the pain
relief wears off. I most likely used it as a bookmarker in one of my
comics. I just have to find which one it is.”
“All
right, kid,” the ghoulish freak show replied. “What's the name of
the school, and what street is it on?”
“Jones
Junior High,” Travis replied. “It's over on H
Avenue and
10th Street.”
“Thanks,
kid.”
“It's
Travis,” the boy replied.
“Huh?
Who's Travis, kid?”
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Page 12
“I'm
Travis,” the boy responded. “You guys never did call me by my
name, you know.”
“Oh...Sorry
about that, kid,” the Deadly D's replied.
“Grrr...It's
Travis,”
the boy shouted with great frustration. “I know I'm a kid, but it's
Travis! T-R-A-V-I-S! TRA-VIS!”
“Sorry,
TRA-VIS...Jeez,” the unholy abomination said in a snide tone. “Now
calm down. There's no need to get your Underoos
in a bunch. Say, do you happen to know where we can get a motorcycle
by chance?”
“How
in the heck should I know,” Travis sniped at his uncles. “I'm
only twelve for cryin' out loud!”
“Fine.
Look, if you're gonna get an attitude with us, we'll just stomp your
guts out, and then ground you under our heals until all that's left
of you is a pound of dust!”
Travis
got nervous and started apologizing profusely. He wasn't afraid for
his life so much as he was worried his uncles would no longer help
him if he continued his rough tone with them.
“Okay,
kid! Jeez, stop apologizing already,” the ghoulish apparition
shouted. “Look, if you want our help, we're here, but you have to
relax.”
“All
right, uncles. I'm sorry. I'll try to calm down,” Travis replied.
“Good,
now don't you worry about a thing. We'll just create a
motorcycle ourselves from that junkyard over there by the tire shop. Now go
find that spell. We have no time to waste.”
The
Deadly D's lurched towards the junkyard just as the storm opened over
the city. The rain came down fast and heavy, drenching the land and
its inhabitants.
The
Deadly D's dug through the scrap metal, gathering the parts they
needed to assemble their equally freakish chopper. They
grabbed
a nearby canister of used oil and drew a large pentagram. The Deadly
D's then placed the parts inside the pentagram and cast their spell.
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Page 13
“To
the great motorcycle Gods above--William
Harley, Arthur
Davidson, George
Hendee and Oscar
Hedstrom--we ask you to grant
us this favor. Use your powers to construct these parts into one
mighty chopper!”
The
soiled ground shook and opened below the parts, consuming the pieces
of metal and rubber. Suddenly a bright light shot through the dark
clouds, lighting the ground ablaze. The once cold steel was now
red-hot as the parts rose up through the pentagram. Metal and rubber
began to mutate into something that resembled a fully functional
motorcycle before the Deadly D's very eyes.
The
garish freak show quickly hopped onto their chopper and sped through
the heavy rain and traffic on their way towards Travis' school. The
town's people looked on in abject terror as they watched the decaying
body of the unholy abomination zip past them with breakneck speed.
Even the local police were apprehensive towards the Deadly D's as
they zipped past a couple of squad cars scanning the street for
speeders.
“What
in the hell was that, Carlos,” one officer said to their partner.
“I-I don't know, Bill, and I don't think I wanna know,” their
partner replied.
Arriving
at the school, the Deadly D's could not even hear their bike's engine
roaring because the pop music being played from inside the gymnasium
was so incredibly loud.
The
zombified freak show parked their chopper under a tree on the east
side of the school and took out the picture Travis had given them to
study it once more. Darryl McVee
was the first on Travis' list. Darryl was your typical jock. A whole
lot of brawn, and very little brain. Last fall Darryl thought it
would be a gas to trip Travis up while walking down a flight of
stairs. That little incident broke Travis' right arm. Darryl was also
the one who busted his new record today. That was the final insult
for Travis.
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Page 14
The
Deadly D's placed the picture back inside their tattered jacket and
entered the side door on the west end of the school.
The
school's halls were dark as coal and cold as ice. A stale odor of
mildew from a previous flash flood permeated the air. The halls
reminded the monstrosity of their time in prison on the island of
Puerto
Rico
when they were busted for slinging dope in the early eighties for a
Columbian drug-lord.
Just
as they turned a corner, the Deadly D's could see a glimmering light
gleaming against the cement floor at the far end of the hall from a
door's small window. The gruesome freak show grimaced at the sight
before them.
As
they drew closer towards the light, loud pop music echoed against the
walls, digging its sound waves deep into the rotting brains of the
ghastly abomination with sonic ferocity. The Deadly D's ignored the
throbbing pain as they crept closer and closer towards the door.
Quietly,
the two-headed behemoth stood in the dark hall just outside of the
door's window. One of their heads surveyed the room while the other
stood guard for anyone else who might be coming down the hall. They
quickly spotted Darryl dancing on the floor with Travis' second
target on his list--Maria
Jiménez.
Maria
loves the color purple and proudly wears it on every inch of her
petite body. Purple is known as the color of royalty, which fits very
well with Maria's reputation for being a stuck-up beauty queen with a
repugnant personality. Maria's the type who would steal her sister's
boyfriend. That's how low-down Maria really is.
At
the beginning of the school year, Maria tempted Travis. She tried to
coax him into a date at the local skating rink by stroking the lad's
ego. She crooned to Travis about how she thought he was so handsome,
mature, and smart, and that she longed to be with a boy like him
because he was the only real man in the bunch. Travis, however, was
too smart to ever fall for her ploy. He fiercely rejected Maria, and
would live to regret his decision for Maria is not the kind of girl
who stands being turned down by anyone, especially not by someone
like Travis.
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Page 15
Maria
immediately retaliated against Travis by stealing his clothes while
he showered after playing dodgeball in the school auditorium. When
Travis went looking for his clothes, Maria grabbed him by his
genitals and squeezed them as hard as she could until they turned red
like ripe tomatoes. Travis' voice went silent while Maria forced him
to walk with her. With his genitals still in her right hand, Travis
was ejected into the school's swimming pool where the girls' swim
team was practicing their breaststrokes before an upcoming meet.
Maria's sharp nails lacerated the boy's genitals, causing blood to
spill out and stain the chlorine water. Travis jumped out of the
pool, screaming in agonizing pain as he ran to the principal's
office. Travis was suspended for a week for indecent exposure.
Later
Travis would discover that Maria was setting him up for a trap with
her boyfriend Darryl that would have been even more humiliating, and
would have possibly ended with a deadly outcome.
Maria
and Darryl scare the other kids. They're both three years older than
the others, and rumor has it they were both held back a couple of
grades as punishment for having sex in the vice principal's office
while they were in the middle of being reprimanded for skipping
school. Another rumor has it that they were not expelled from school
altogether because they have photographs of the vice principal at the
local S&M
bar having an affair with the head coach of the school's football
team. Aren't rumors so deliciously vile and repugnant?
Anyway, out
on the dance floor, Maria
and Darryl's hormones were getting out of control as they performed
the pelvic shuffle with the pop music that was being pumped through
the DJ's thunderous speakers. The music quickly changed, and Maria
hastily turned around to shake her nimble derriere like a washing
machine on spin cycle against her boyfriend's pelvis as he
overwhelmingly perspired with excitement. The school's principal, a
well-educated short and feisty woman of sixty-seven named Joanne
Weaver, tried to break the
couple up, but her efforts went unheeded 'til a cup of water was
thrown into Darryl's hot and sweaty face.
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Page 16
“You
stinkin' wench,” Darryl shouted. “What in the hell
did you do that for?”
“I
told you two,” Mrs. Weaver replied. “Dirty dancing will not be
tolerated at this dance. Now go home!”
“We
were not dirty dancin', Mrs. Weaver,” Maria chimed in. “We had
our clothes on the entire time!”
In
absolute disgust, the principal shook her head at the idiotic remark
which had escaped Maria's mouth.
“Dear
Lord, please help these two unfortunate youths,” Mrs. Weaver
thought to herself.
“I
said get out,” Mrs. Weaver shouted at the teens. “Move it, or so
help me I will suspend the both of you and call your parents!”
“Fine,”
Maria pouted as she slammed her right heel into the floor. “We
didn't wanna be at this lousy dance anyhow! Come, Darryl. Let's go
someplace else where this bloated hag can't ruin all our fun!”
Darryl
and Maria exited the dance floor on the opposite side of the
gymnasium from where the Deadly D's stood. The ghastly creep show
glooped their way down the hall to meet the despicable couple on the
other side of the room. Just as the couple turned a corner, the teens
clumsily slammed into the dangling third leg of the rotting behemoth.
Darryl and Maria looked up with an uncontrollable tremble. A
blood-curdling scream rang out from Maria's mouth while Darryl
fumbled to even get his jaw to open and release the terror within.
Darryl tried to grab Maria's right hand and run, but his feet were
cemented to the floor.
Maria
pulled away from Darryl and ran as fast as she could down the hall in
the opposite direction. Making a hard right turn, Maria swiftly ran
into the girl's bathroom and hid inside the last stall. She did her
best to control herself as she quivered on the floor, but it was no
good. Maria's nerves were completely shot.
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Page 17
Back
in the hall, the Deadly D's stood before a petrified Darryl. A surge
of energy suddenly overcame the teen. He tried to run, but the kid
didn't get far from the rotting behemoth before he was picked up by
the collar of his dress shirt.
“L-Let
me go, man,” Darryl stuttered as he struggled to break free. “UNGH!
UNGH! Let!
UNGH!
Me! UNGH!
UNGH! UNGH!
G-Get offa me, ya stinkin' freak show!”
“Stop
yer strugglin',” the Deadly D's belted at the terrified teen. “You
seem to enjoy terrorizin' those who cannot defend themselves. We're
here to end your reign of terror. Darryl McVee, prepare to meet your
maker!”
Like
a demolition crane, the raging behemoth slammed Darryl's head into
a nearby locker with tremendous force. Darryl's skull cracked open
and widened like a coconut being struck with a hammer. Gore oozed
from Darryl's head wound as the light in his eyes dwindled. After
four or five blows, the unholy freak show twisted Darryl's already
mangled body up like a pretzel before shoving his defiled
carcass into the twisted locker. The Deadly D's slammed the locker's
door tight, causing blood and other bodily fluids to ooze from the
cracks of the teen's tin tomb.
In
the girl's bathroom, Maria continued to shake and shiver. Slowly the
bathroom door opened, and the hinges screeched like a cat whose tail
had been held under the heavy foot of their merciless master. The
sound of dry and swollen hinges echoed against the white tiles,
filling the room with its haunting sound, penetrating deeply into the
pores of Maria's bones with a profoundly paralyzing paranoia. Maria
screamed at the top of her lungs as she clawed at her face in an
attempt to escape her own skin. Maria covered her mouth with her left
hand to silence the fear that was overpowering her. Tears ran from
the corners of her eyes, mixing with the blood flowing from her fresh
flesh-wounds, staining her skin as the mix flowed over her hand like
a river that was flooded from a recent storm.
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Page 18
The
hinges went silent as the door closed behind the Deadly D's. Maria
frantically wiped the tears away from her eyes so she could get a
better visual while she looked through the crack between the stall's
door and frame.
The
hideous mutation sloshed down the corridor between the stalls and the
sinks with their grotty boots staining the cement floor.
The
stench from the re-animated corpse was unbearable. Maria held her
breath as best she could, but as the living corpse inched closer with
each step, she couldn't bear the rancid smell anymore. Maria's eyes
bulged, her nostrils flared, and as her stomach tightened, she
violently spewed her last meal into the stall's toilet.
In a
panic, Maria shoved over one of the ceiling tiles by the back wall
and started climbing up into the crawlspace. Before getting halfway
through, however, the Deadly D's ripped down the entire stall and
yanked Maria face-down into the puke-filled toilet. Maria reached for
the toilet lever, causing the rancid water to rise up over her head
before it flowed away from her face. The Deadly D's pulled Maria's
head back by her wet and messy ponytail and slung her towards the
large mirror just above the row of sinks.
Maria
spun through the air. As she shattered the mirror with her backside,
Maria left three divots in the plate behind the broken glass. Deep
cuts covered her backside as shattered pieces of glass fell onto
Maria while she lay there on top of the sinks feeling disoriented.
The
Deadly D's picked Maria up from the sink by her ankles and slung her
face-first into the wall above the toilets. Maria's once pretty face
was now a mangled mess. Teeth were busted at the gum line, her bottom
jaw was shattered beyond repair, and her nose was smashed flat like a
button. Maria could not talk, but her eyes pleaded with the
monstrosity for her torture to end while she sat on the floor her in
a pool of her own blood.
The
Deadly D's picked Maria up once again, but this time Maria's
instincts kicked in. She quickly clawed at the unholy abomination
as she tried to get away. Maria attempted to scream,
but only blood oozed from her mouth and nostrils.
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Page 19
The
Deadly D's held Maria up by
her right ankle and shoved her head into another toilet like she was
a human plunger. The toilet was filled to the brim with soiled toilet
paper, feces, and urine. Again and again, the Deadly D's plunged
Maria deep into the dirty water. She thrashed about, trying to pull
her head out of the backed-up toilet, but it was too late for Maria.
A stool had lodged its way into her mouth, causing her to suffocate
as water and urine filled her lungs through her nostrils. Suddenly
Maria stopped moving.
Now
that two of Travis' tormentors were disposed of, the living corpse
moved back towards the gymnasium to look for their next target.
Samuel
Weil,
Sammy to his friends, and Sammy
The Whale
to his enemies because the kid was quite hefty, was a
fourteen-year-old street punk who peddled drugs to the kids at
school. Three days ago Sammy set Travis up by planting a packet of
meth inside one of his comic books. When Travis went to sell a stack
of his comics to the local shop, the owner discovered the drugs and
immediately called the police.
Travis
spent eight agonizing hours in a police interrogation room. He sobbed
uncontrollably and pleaded with the police that the drug wasn't his,
but the detectives in charge of the case wouldn't listen. Neither a
lawyer, nor his parents, were ever called on his behalf. The only thing
that cleared Travis of all charges was the fact that none of the
fingerprints found on the bag matched his. Travis knew it was Sammy
who planted the drugs inside his comic because he spotted Sammy
snooping around his backpack during lunch the day Travis went to the
comic shop. Travis didn't say anything, however, because he feared
retaliation from the thug.
It
didn't take long for the Deadly D's to find Sammy. He was supposed to
be at the school dance with his girlfriend, a really hot dish named
Wanda Babtist,
but they'd gotten into another lover's spat.
________________________________________________________________
Page 20
The
Deadly D's spotted Sammy with his friends as they hung out in a dark
corner of the gymnasium on the far end of the room near the ladder
which led to the rooftop. Sammy and his friends were getting bored,
so they went up the ladder to smoke a joint. Travis' freakish
creation staggered down the hall towards the other door. By the time
the Deadly D's reached the ladder, Sammy and his friends were
entering the rooftop. The boys were careless, and left the rooftop's
door wide-open, giving the clunky re-animated corpse the upper hand.
The
Deadly D's slowly poked their heads through the rooftop entrance,
surveying the area to see where Sammy and his friends had gone to. At
the other end of the roof, Sammy and his friends stood by the ledge,
toking away with their backs turned towards the rooftop's only
entrance. With the loud pop music emanating from the gymnasium
through the roof's opening, the gravel shifting under the heavy feet
of the Deadly D's was silenced by the gyrating tune, giving the living
corpse the upper hand for a sneak attack.
“Say,
Sammy,” Charlie said with a cool swagger in his voice. “When are
ya gonna hook us up with some more of that sweet crystal persuasion, buddy?
I've been dyin' for some more, dude!”
“Shut
your stupid mouth, Charlie,” Sammy angrily replied. “You don't
know who's around listening! Are you trying to put me in jail asking
a stupid question like that?”
“Whoa!
Calm down, man,” Charlie exclaimed. “I didn't mean anythin' by
it. I was just curious if ya had some, 'cause that stuff was blazin'
good, bro!”
“Yeah,
Sammy,” Johnny interjected. “We could really use a bump, so hand
it over if you got some.”
“Is
that so,” Sammy replied. “What about you two,” Sammy said as he
looked at Joey and Billy. “Are you two just hanging around to flip
your tops too?”
________________________________________________________________
Page 21
“Well,
now that you mention it...,” Joey and Billy replied in a snarky
tone.
“Sweet
baby Jesus,” Sammy replied with great disdain. “I swear you guys
are nothing but a bunch of leeches! Do any of you even consider me a
real friend?”
“Of
course we do,” Billy said with all the sincerity he could muster.
“Sure
we're your friends, dude,” Charlie chimed in. “Even if ya never
gave us another ounce of crystal again we'd still be your friends.
I'd swear to that on a stacka bibles, bro!”
“Precisely
what they said, Sammy,” Joey blurted out while trying to look like
he cared about his friendship with Sammy.
Sammy
looked suspiciously at his friends like he wasn't sure whether or not
he should beat the snot out of them just for the fun of it.
Sammy
took another puff from his cigarette as his smile turned crooked. He
lightly chuckled a bit as he took another puff. Before Sammy could
say anything, however, a horrendous stench permeated the air. None of
them, however, were wise to the fact that they were no longer alone.
“Cripes,
man,” Sammy exclaimed. “Where is that horrendous smell coming
from? Did one of you mess your shorts or something?”
“Nah,
man, wasn't me,” Johnny replied.
“No
way, Sammy! I didn't do it,” Billy quipped back.
“Only brainless twits shit themselves, dude,” Charlie spouted.
“Don't
look at me, man,” Joey said as everyone looked at him.
“Bullshit,”
Sammy charged back at the others. “One of you stink bags cut loose
your sphincter, and that--well that's just not cool in my book, man!”
“It
wasn't us, I swear,” all three quipped back at Sammy.
“Oh
jeez, the smell's gettin' stronger,” Joey blurted out.
“Dude,
where in the hell
is
that smell comin' from,” Charlie inquired.
________________________________________________________________
Page 22
Before
they knew it, the Deadly D's had Sammy by the back of his jean
jacket. Sammy was sent screaming like a kamikaze pilot, plunging 45
feet before slamming face-first into the hood of Mrs. Weaver's white Cadilac
that she had owned since 1972.
Sammy's
body twitched uncontrollably for a few seconds before his heart
finally stopped pumping blood through his mangled body.
Back
on the rooftop Billy and Charlie tried to fight back against the
monster, but their efforts proved to be fruitless. Growing tired of
their assault, the ghastly behemoth smashed both of their heads
together and threw them down onto Mrs. Weaver's car with Sammy.
Johnny and Joey were long gone. They had run back down the ladder
before Sammy had even hit the car.
The
Deadly D's were beginning to grow tired of the hunt. Anxiety had set
in, and the pain of their mutation was starting to make a return. All
they wanted was an end to their torment, and to go back to their
graves to rest in peace as they had done so before the incantation
was cast. Forgoing Travis' two final targets, the Deadly D's went in
search of their nephew, hoping that he had finally found the spell
that would undo their torment.
Like
a cat pouncing on a mouse, the Deadly D's jumped from the rooftop
onto a nearby tree branch. Their immense weight, however, snapped the
hefty branch and dropped them through the canopy to the ground below.
The
Deadly D's quickly hopped on their motorcycle and revved the engine.
It growled ferociously like a mother tiger warning off a predator
after one of their babies. The ghastly apparition tore up the grassy
mud-soft ground underneath the chopper's wheels and took off down the
street to find Travis.
Zipping
through traffic at 90-miles-per-hour, the Deadly D's hurdled
themselves towards Travis' home. As they arrived, the living corpse
parked their bike in the alleyway next to a large steel dumpster
behind the house.
Travis
was still in his bedroom, frantically sifting through his comics in
search of the spell that would undo his uncles' torment.
________________________________________________________________
Page 23
The
Deadly D's slowly made their way towards Travis' bedroom. The freak
show stood there silently as the horrendous smell from its rotting
flesh began to fill the room.
“What
in the heck is that smell,” Travis shouted. “Did someone step in
the dog's poop again?”
The
stench was almost unbearable for Travis. He grabbed a nearby wooden
clothespin from a bag of potato chips and slid it over his nostrils.
Travis soon returned to sifting through his comics to find the spell
that would undo his uncles' torment, but he was interrupted by the
thunderous voice of the Deadly D's.
“Where's
the spell, kid,” the ghastly behemoth barreled at Travis.
“Uhh...H-Hey
uncles--hehe,” Travis replied nervously. “W-Well... That was
quick! So...uhh...Did it all go as planned?”
“Stop
stallin', kid,” the Deadly D's chimed back. “Where's that spell?
We're starting to feel the pain, and we want to go back to our
graves.”
“Well...See...That's
the thing--hehe,” Travis said as he kept pausing and searching for
the right words to say.
“Kid,
don't tell me you lost the spell,” the Deadly D's shouted.
“I
didn't lose it, I swear, uncles,” Travis fearfully replied. “I
simply...uhh...misplaced it. Yeah, that's it. Now where could it
be...,” Travis said as his voice trailed off.
Travis
quickly rummaged through his last stack of comics, shaking them
vigorously--hoping the paper would fall onto the floor below. Travis
was sure he had the spell but finding it was like trying to find a
single needle inside of a mountain-sized haystack.
When
his Uncle David gave him the spellbook, Travis didn't understand the
power of the gift that he had received, and so he greatly misused it.
He tore pages out of it, used the book as a level for an uneven desk,
and even swatted a few spiders with it.
________________________________________________________________
Page 24
Travis
frantically scrambled through his comics to find the page, but he
couldn't move fast enough. It was all too apparent that his uncles
were becoming very perturbed.
“Misplaced
it,” the Deadly D's questioned the lad in a thunderous tone. “We're
sick of your melee-mouthed responses, boy! Now, where is that damn
spell? You better find it fast before we rain our wrath upon your
head!”
“Hold
on, uncles,” Travis frantically replied. “I think I just found
it!”
Travis
opened issue number 32 of Ghost
Rider to reveal a folded piece
of paper inside. He hurriedly unfolded the paper only to realize it
was just an advertisement for a Fourth
of July comic sale, and on the
back was the map he thought he'd lost. That was Travis' last comic.
It was all too real to Travis that his life was in serious jeopardy.
“Oh
great! My uncles are gonna kill me now,” Travis thought to himself.
“Think, man, think!
Where's that stupid spell at?”
It
was time for Travis to face his uncles' wrath. It was time for Travis
to pay his dues to the Gods he called upon to bring Dennis, Daniel,
David, Dale, and Douglas Carpenter back from the dead. But it wasn't
all over for Travis just yet.
“Oh
no...I think I know where it is,” Travis whispered allowed as his
eyes rapidly scanned the air. “Uncles, don't be mad at me, please,”
Travis rambled allowed as his uncles walked towards him.
As
Travis slowly walked back from his ghastly creation, he tried to
break the bad news to them, hoping they would spare his meager life
instead of stomping it out.
________________________________________________________________
Page 25
“Uncles...hehe...You
won't believe it when I tell you this,” Travis said nervously with the advertisement still in his right hand. “As you can plainly see, this is definitely not the spell that will return you to your original states. This? Well, this right here you see is nothing more than a mere advertisement from the local comic shop with the map I thought I had lost when I was lookin' for your graves...wooo boy! Uhh...ehh...I'm really up a creek without a paddle, aren't I?”
“Kid, you're gonna pay with yer life,” the Deadly D's angrily shouted. “We told you to find that spell. We told you what the consequences were, and now that you've lost it, you'll suffer the greatest pain you ever felt in yer sad pathetic little life!”
“Wait, uncles,” Travis said as tears ran from his eyes. “Please, don't kill me! I know where it is now! It's back at the cemetery! It has to be. Just let me go there to get it, and I'll make it right, I swear!”
The Deadly D's lunged at Travis in an attempt to grab him by his t-shirt, but Travis was too quick as he ducked and ran past them like a wild coyote evading traffic across a Texas desert highway. The clothespin quickly fell off as Travis tried to hide in the shadows of his closet. Hiding there, however, wasn't going to save the young lad.
The Deadly D's tore his room asunder. Travis shook underneath the pile of clothes, praying they would never find him. The closet door was ripped from its hinges, and Travis was yanked from underneath his pile of dirty clothes and thrown onto his bed. Travis screamed at the top of his lungs, but no one came to his rescue. His parents and sisters were off at the bowling alley, and his neighbors could not have cared less if someone was dying in their neighborhood.
Sick of hearing Travis scream, the Deadly D's launched their nephew into the air and straight through the opening of his second-floor bedroom window. Luckily for Travis, there was a nearby tree for him to cling to. The Deadly D's busted through the window frame with their hulk-ish fists and leaped for the tree as Travis climbed down through the branches with lightning fast speed.
________________________________________________________________
Page 26
Seeing that his time was running out, Travis leaped from the final branch 10 feet above the ground and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.
Within minutes Travis arrived at the cemetery. He grabbed a long steel pipe from a nearby construction site and pole-vaulted over the brick wall attached to the cemetery's gates. Unfortunately for Travis, the Deadly D's were not far behind. Just as Travis jetted across the cemetery's driveway, the rotting behemoth smashed through the double-door gate with their chopper. As the doors hit the ground, they made a loud boom which scared all of the woodland creatures into a frenzy. Travis barely escaped being crushed by the heavy iron frame as it narrowly clipped the edge of his sneaker's left heel, rolling him over a few times as he went flying through the air. Travis quickly got back up and continued to run for his life.
“Wow, that was close,” Travis said allowed. “I gotta hurry and find that spell before they turn me into mincemeat!”
Travis stopped for a brief moment at a grave marker to catch his breath. He knew it wasn't wise with his uncles hot on his trail, but he was running out of energy from all the huffing and puffing he was doing.
The wind was picking up again, and the storm was beginning to roar and howl once more. Off in the distance, Travis could see a piece of paper plastered against a small rectangular-shaped tombstone. Precisely at that moment, a bolt of lightning zapped the paper. The current burned a hole through its center and charred the edges where the hole was made.
“Nooo,” Travis screeched as tears ran from his eyes in frustration. “For cryin' out loud, don't do this to me now!”
Travis quickly ran to retrieve the paper. As he peeled it from the tombstone, he could see the spell was on it with several lines missing where the lightning bolt had torched the paper.
________________________________________________________________
Page 27
“Oh man, I'm so done for,” Travis mournfully said allowed.
Out of pure desperation, Travis started spouting off the spell--hoping his memory would not fail him.
“Spirits of the afterlife, this is your humble servant, Travis Cook,” the lad began the spell. “Ah, man! Get unstuck, you stupid brain! Uhh...umm...Dang it! I can't remember. I really can't remember their names!”
The Deadly D's had finally caught up to Travis as he broke down and cried knowing that things were not going to turn out well for him.
“Uncles! I've found the spell,” Travis said as he fought to speak through his tears. “I beg of you. Please, don't kill me! I can fix this now!”
The Deadly D's said nothing. They just stood there and breathed heavily while squeezing their fists tightly as they menacingly stared Travis down.
“Uncles, do you remember what the God's names were,” Travis asked of his silent creation.
The Deadly D's continued to say nothing. They knew who to call upon, but they were far more enjoying watching their melee-mouthed nephew squirm.
“Remorseful Gods, I beseech thee,” Travis pleaded with the afterworld. “I really need your help. Give me the memory to remember the spell so that I may undo this snafu which created this monstrosity which stands before me!”
________________________________________________________________
Page 28
Rain began to pour heavily again. The remaining ink on the paper ran like butter sizzling on a red-hot skillet. Travis let out a terrifying scream as his uncles picked him up by the front of his t-shirt.
“We've had it, kid,” Travis' ghastly creation shouted. “You've played with things you don't understand, and while that may partly be our fault for not explaining things when the spellbook was handed down to you, that is not a good enough excuse to stop us from tearing you apart! We're outlaws, criminals, bad guys who get off on hurting others. What? You thought those cops had no right to kill us? I guess you were never told. We raped their wives, and killed their children because they stole our drug money when they busted us with our crank in Puerto Rico! Now we're going to do the same to you!”
Just then the Deadly D's reached out to backhand their nephew, rolling Travis across the cemetery's grass. The Deadly D's picked Travis up by the throat and squeezed him hard--crushing his larynx and blood vessels.
Travis was fading fast as blood filled his lungs from the many busted blood vessels in his throat.
Without warning a gigawatt-sized bolt of lightning simultaneously struck the Deadly D's and Travis, causing them all to explode into human confetti.
~ End
UPDATE - 10-10-2017:
One of my all-time favorite movie directors, Lloyd Kaufman, actually read my story, and this is what he said to me on Twitter.
By the way, one of the characters is named after Mr. Kaufman. Can you guess which one that is?
