"Hey chief, anyone tell ya I don't like surprises?" Duncan asked, eyeing the guy next to the camera as he kicked his feet up on a crate. The same man pulled out his phone, its screen was bright blue with bold golden numbers of 9-1-1 at the top as the guy's thumb inching toward the green call button at the bottom. Duncan inhaled. "Okay then." An intern ran up to Duncan and handed him a stack of papers with a post-it note marked 'script'. "Well, just in case I lose this." Duncan smirked as he dropped the papers into the waste bin next to his chair. "Name's Duncan. If you haven't seen my last show, Duncan asked as another intern ran up and handed him another stack of papers, its post-it note marked 'contract'. Duncan snorted as he ripped off the first page, crumbled it into a ball and tossed it at the intern. Duncan laughed as it hit the back of the guy's head. "So yeah, TD got canned. Finally!" Duncan whistled in relief. "Thank god. That show was obsessed with me. I had to blow up a building to get kicked off, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Suck it Chris...Seriously. Its probably the only way a guy like you is gonna make it in whatever hole they dumped you in." As another intern ran up to him, Duncan crumbled up another ball only to hear the guy next to the camera cough as he held up Duncan's contract, a lit match right under it. Duncan sighed, tossing the ball of paper behind him as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, geez. Dick." Duncan folded his arms. "Yuuuup, new show. New cast. New host. Don't know squat about any of it, but they agreed that if I join up for the season they shave time off my sentence. I know that sounds familiar, but I'm not worried. As long as I'm not jumping off a cliff on the first day, it'll be a step up over my last gig." Duncan eyed at the guy next to the camera again. "Low bar."
Raft Clove- Underground
Chapter 1- pilot.
"OOH-RAH!" Duncan roared, charging down the stairs, hopping over the bottom and diving at the ground. Rolling on the hard wood of the floor until he was in the center of the room and jumped to his feet. Duncan grew a fighter's grin as he scanned the dark space and found no hints of life. "Marine sound. Semper FI."
After a few empty jabs at the air, Duncan slumped off his backpack and pulled out a small fist sized camping lantern. Clicking it on, the ruby red light shined in the formerly pitch black room just enough to show the place really was as advertised. The room had no furniture, nothing but cracked and loose floorboards, the old flower wall paper was torn and ripped, showing exposed brick. The windows Duncan could spot were boarded up with only small slivers of silver light shining through. It was dark. It was dirty. It was probably crawling with all sorts of pests, but as far as Duncan could tell there were no people.
"Boom!" Duncan thundered, stomping his foot on the ground and all but snapping through a few of the floorboards. After peaking to the side to make sure, Duncan switched the light from red to green. Necessary visibility is nice and all, but once you were certain of security why not have some fun and it was Duncan's favorite color. "Alrighty leprechaun, take me to the pot of gold."
"Hiyah!" Duncan shrieked, jumping in the air, his legs spinning in a flailing kick before he landed on his feet at the window furthest from the stairs. "Karate sound."
Grabbing the top of the far right board, just under the nail, Duncan tried prying it loose only to have the part he gripped rip off. The rest of the board on the window staying in place. Putting down the lantern, Duncan squinted at the boards nailed to the window and started pulling handful after handful of the old rotted plywood until he ran out of patience and just started punching through the rest.
Looking out the now open window, Duncan saw the outside pretty much matched the room. The street was old and crumbling with cracks everywhere. The apartment building across from the one Duncan was in was little better. The bricks were just as sun torched and chipped, with some of them looking like they were barely holding on to the foundation. A large condemned sign was nailed over the front door, same as the one over Duncan's. The only real difference was that not all of the windows were boarded up.
Tilting his head at the last detail, Duncan pulled out a small camping scope from his pocket and saw no signs of life inside the windows across the street. Duncan smiled at this as he grabbed one of the handful sized pieces of wood and hurled it, crashing in the center of the window directly across from him.
"Steee-rike!" Duncan cheered, picking up another piece. "Here comes the windup."
Toss after toss, every throw hit its mark. Even after switching to other windows for fresh targets Duncan's aim never missed, his arm wasn't even feeling tired. After hitting the center square in the window in the floor above his own in the other apartment building, Duncan grinned as he reached for more lumber only to hit the deck as he saw a commercial drone flying over the building.
Crawling toward the wall, Duncan inched his head up to peak out the corner and saw the drone hovering in the street, its camera gazing at all the freshly broken windows. Duncan cursed at himself before he noticed the light from his camping lantern was still on… and how it was just in front of the window. The only window in his apartment building that wasn't boarded up anymore. Duncan kicked his lantern to the next room, with a loud rolling sound after it hit the floor and the light quickly fading.
As he sat, leaning against the brick wall, Dunk rolled his eyes as he heard the drone hovering next to the window. From the sound of it, just outside. If the window was any bigger it probably would have tried getting in. After a while the sound of the drone's tiny propellers faded. Peaking out the corner, Duncan saw the drone cruising down the empty road.
"Finally. Who buy's those things?" Duncan spat, jumping to his feet. "Time to get to work."
Duncan took one last look around the decrepit place, the light from the open window was barely enough for just the room he was in, let alone the rest of the apartment. Turning to the left, it was like a wall of blackness where the door was removed. The lantern either broken or rolled behind something. Duncan smiled at the darkness.
"Eh, one more. Cowabunga!" Duncan laughed. He jumped headfirst into the air, arms extended into the darkness and ready, landing on his hands and using his momentum Duncan pushed off the ground, twisting his legs and stomping as he landed. Swinging his scope by its lanyard Duncan smiled. "Ninja turtles."
Peaking around in the dark room for his lantern, only to find no signs to its emerald light, just the weak gray overcast sunbeam from the window, which his eyes were slowly adjusting too.
"Come on. One little kick and you break? No wonder you were so easy to shoplif- Holy hell!" Duncan yelled as he flickered on the mini-flashlight of his scope, finding that he was indeed not alone. The man was taller than Duncan, but not much. His face was horribly deformed with a slashed, crooked scowl as his eyes glowed silvery green back at the intruder in his home. Duncan Jumped back, his fists up and ready only to discover that the disfigured squatter was just his reflection in a broken mirror nailed over a cabinet bolted into the wall. He disfigured face and gray web design in his black hoody was just the cracks in the glass of the mirror. "J-jesus. Dude, should'ah seen that coming."
Duncan shook his head, shining his mini-flashlight around his room, finding that it was even more decrepit than the rest of the apartment. Finally, Duncan found his tiny plastique lantern tipped over next to the cabinet, just a few feet from his foot. Its light indeed went out. Picking it up, Duncan flipped its switch a few times but it stayed dark, rolling his eyes, Duncan swatted it with his scope, its mini-flashlight still on, and his last source of light in the darkness. After a few hits it flickered back to life, bathing the room in emerald light.
Pulling out his knife Duncan jammed its blade into the drywall before pulling out a large chunk. Looking inside with the mini-flashlight while his lantern lit up the room, Duncan soon found what he was looking for and started pulling out the wires.
"Okay." Duncan said, rolling up the wires and putting them in his pack. Zipping it up, Duncan pointed at the other walls. "Eeny. Miney-"
Duncan stopped as he heard movement from inside the cabinet under the broken mirror. Looking over he could see it wasn't very big, but if he really wanted to, Duncan could squeeze himself inside. It made sense, a number of buildings in the neighborhood were abandoned and condemned. Perfect place for squatters. If Duncan heard someone screaming bloody murder gunning down the stairs like a storm trooper, he'd hide wherever he could too.
"Come on out. Not gonna hurt ya." Duncan said, inching closer to the cabinet. After a few moments of silence Duncan pulled out the last piece of wood from his hoody and tossed it at the cabinet and heard more movement inside. Gritting his teeth, Duncan crabbed the handle. "Its oka-"
Like a bat out of hell a huge fur covered beast the size of Duncan's knee shot out of the cabinet. Jumping back on his ass in surprise as the beast darted past his legs, Duncan pulled out his knife and stabbed hard into the ground, barely missing the beast's tail. Before the animal ran off into the darkness, Duncan saw the stripes in its fur.
"R-racoon, nature's ninja." Duncan breathed, his heart thumping in his chest. Taking a deep breath, Duncan wiped the sweat off his brow only to notice his hand was surprisingly wet. "Damn it."
Duncan cursed while he shined his light around him, as not only did he break his switch blade, having snapped off at the handle, but he cut himself doing it. Rolling his eyes, Duncan got up and pulled out a small first aid kit from his bag. Using the light from his lantern, Duncan bit down on his broken knife's handle and held in a scream as he splashed the open cut with rubbing alcohol. Duncan let out a grimace as he wrapped medical tape around his hand.
"I'm bleeding. Pest infested. Mold covered shit hole." Duncan muffled, the knife's handle still in his mouth. Duncan sighed as he noticed blood still on his his face in the broken mirror's reflection and wiped it off. "Yeah, I think I'm done for the day."
Packing up his gear, Duncan found his way to the bottom stairs of the apartment, spotting the raccoon crawl into a hole in the drywall as he went down. Jumping over the last few caved in steps, Duncan discovered that the bottom floor was actually worse than the second. The emerald light of his lantern showing not just the same decrepit failings of above, but also that parts of the ceiling had actually collapsed. Leaving holes that lead to piles of broken wood, nails, and wires. Taking a closer look, Duncan was very glad he rolled into the left pitch black room instead of the right.
RITZ. RITZ.
Duncan turned hard to the front door, its frame boarded shut like the windows above, its knob twisting. Looking around, fast, Duncan found no exits in the dark ruin, or even other sources of light.
RITZ. RITZ.
The only windows Duncan could see were right next to the door, and they were boarded up too, and much better than above.
GREEECH
Duncan looked away from the tugging sound, looking for a place to hide, only to find that the first floor was emptier than the second. Not even a tiny cabinet to crawl in.
BANG.
"Great, he's hitting the door now." Duncan whispered, shaking his head, a creeping feeling crawl up his spine at the sound. Suddenly the noise of a ticking clock appeared in his head. "What's he even doing her- the drone."
The realization hit Duncan like a freight train. Duncan had scouted the place out for days. The only activity the abandoned area had was at night. Even then it was nothing more than drug deals, squatters, and occasional stray dog. It was too much of a coincidence that a commercial drone flies by, peeps on Duncan's fun, and not an hour later someone shows up banging at the door. Whoever was out there, was there for him.
BANG. BANG.
Duncan sneered at the door. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run. Not in a rotting empty ruin. Even going back up the way he came would take too long with only the lantern for light. The only weapon Duncan had he broke, and he was already bleeding.
KREEEK.
Soddenly a crowbar was jammed between the door and its frame. The creaking sound of the wood bending under the strain filled the room. Biting his lip, Duncan instantly remembered the fresh image of the raccoon darting through his legs and sliding by the much larger, better armed threat.
"Why not?" Duncan shrugged, only to feel the weight of his pack fall back on his shoulders. With the element of surprise and a head start Duncan was sure he could outrun anyone, but with added weight slowing him down it cut his chances. Another image of the raccoon hit Duncan, this time was of natures ninja crawling into a hole in the wall as Duncan walked buy. "Yeah, why not?"
SNAP.
Duncan cursed as part of one of the boards broke right off before the crowbar was swapped out to the other side of the door's frame. Dropping the lantern, Duncan shrugged off his pack, ran to the nearest non-brick wall, outright punching a hole into the drywall and pulling out a chunk of it. Duncan stashed his pack none too soon, as a few whole boards snapped off the door.
"CHARGE!" Duncan roared, dashing toward the door in the emerald lit room. Ramming it shoulder first just as the crowbar was pulled out. The door snapped off its hinges and what was left of the boards, slamming back into the guy with the crowbar, knocking them both to the ground with Duncan on top. "R-reference."
The door wobbled under Duncan, as two giant work glove cloaked hands grabbed its sides, fallowed by pained grumbling. Seeing the crowbar in the left glove, Duncan jumped off the door and the man under it. Before running down the small parking lot, a black windowless van being the only thing in it.
Duncan didn't know why he was laughing as he ran down the small parking lot, its dusty gravel shifting under his feet, his best guess was nerves but he didn't know. When he made it across and about to turn the corner Duncan was almost knocked off his feet when some loud deafening sound blasted near his shoulder, hard small shards shooting into him. Turning toward the sound, Duncan saw a knuckle sized hole in the old brick wall next to him, the same crowbar from before under it. If the toss had been just a few more inches to the side…
Turning back to the door, the guy he left under it just finished standing up, pushing the decrepit door to his side next to a garbage can. The guy was a head taller than Duncan, about twice as wide if not more, and wore a dark orange hoody with some worn jeans. His dark complexion only adding to the cold look he gave to the man that just knocked him down and ran over him.
"Ya missed." Duncan didn't know why he said that, or why he was grinning like a loon at the guy, with just a bit more luck, would've put Duncan on the ground, hard. Shaking the feeling off, Duncan reached down for the crowbar. Only to feel biting pain snap into his face, right between the eyes going down his left cheek and right eyebrow. His bandaged hand covering his eye, Duncan turned from the still spinning trash can lid on the ground back to the guy at the door. His gaze even colder as he took off his gloves. "Gah."
Duncan grumbled as he turned the corner, leaving the crowbar behind. He heard a loud screeching whistle, dazed from the lid, Duncan had a hard time keeping his eyes focused. Duncan thought about how hard the throw felt as he dashed down the alley, everything blurry. So much so that Duncan couldn't see that the empty alley wasn't so empty and ran knee first into a group of trash cans.
"Damn it!"
Good news was that there was no actual garbage in the cans. The bad news was that there was nothing to break Duncan's fall into a bunch of decades old metal that probably never been cleaned, and with how loud the cans were Duncan might as well have beat a drum over a loudspeaker.
Before Duncan could even get up he heard a strange stomping sound quickly coming his way. Shaking his head to focus, Duncan peaked toward the noise, and while his vision was still a little hazy, Duncan could see a red clad figure running right at him. Strangely though, the guy's running stance was all over the place in his dash.
When the red clad figure got close enough, Duncan jumped to his feet and using his momentum, hurled one of the trash cans as hard as he could. Now, Duncan didn't expect to knock him out or anything, but he didn't think the hip tall can would just bounce off the guy's head like a rubber ball without even slowing him down.
Caught off guard by this, Duncan was in no mind to take the red clad figure head on, so he darted to the side just in time. Rolling shoulder first on the ground, Duncan jumped back on his feet, only to be met with his own trash can hurled at his face. Duncan barely managed to catch it before it hit, holding the can sideways, his hands gripping the top and bottom. But it wasn't enough, before Duncan knew it he was knocked back and rolling on the ground again. Duncan's face felt like he was smacked like a metal sheet. Though it didn't hurt nearly as bad as the trash can lid, if that made any sense.
Looking up at his red clad attacker, Duncan discovered it was actually a bright tracksuit. The guy was still on his feet… and they weren't feet. They were some kind of animal hooves covered in brown fur. What more his legs were backward, or at least his knees, judging by the way they bent and how red tracksuit did his victory in front of him.
Going further up, Duncan saw it wasn't dancing, but panicked stammering as the trash can was wrapped around his head, and he was he couldn't shake it off. Duncan guessed that when track suit tossed the can, he didn't expect Duncan to catch it as he rammed head first. Duncan couldn't make out the muffled words through the crumpled metal, only a garbled 'bahhh' sound.
Seeing red tracksuit reach up to pull of the bent trash can, Duncan acted fast and slammed his fist hard into the guy's gut. Track suit guy let out a pained breathless sigh as he toppled over, crumpling up into a little ball, the trash can lid falling off in the landing.
Red track suit guy had a more tanned complexion than Duncan, longer brown hair, and bright red sweatband that matched his suit. But that wasn't what got Duncan's attention. The guy had horns. Honest to god horns on his head, coming out under the sweat band. They were large enough Duncan could wrap his hands around them, like handles.. They were the same color as his hair, and curved backwards.
Duncan reached down to touch the horns of the wheezing half animal man, but when he did he heard the same screeching whistle again. The big guy with the crowbar was eyeballing Duncan down from the corner he ran out of, crowbar in hand.
'W-what?' Duncan asked himself, eyeballing the guy back. 'Was the fight really that short? A walk to the end of a parking lot.'
"B-bahh." The half animal man grunted.
Duncan turned his gaze from the big guy to the one in the tracksuit, who gazed up at Duncan and back down the alley. A pensive look on both their faces. That's when it hit Duncan, like that trash can lid to the face. The both of them were there together and they were both looking at Duncan, hard. Duncan felt something crawling up his spine at the thought, and he didn't like it.
Duncan smiled at the guy with the crow bar, he didn't know why he did it. As he stood up Duncan pressed the horned man's head down into the dirt, he didn't know why he did it. Duncan also didn't know why his first instinct to an armed man's icy glare was to flip him off before he ran down the alley. Duncan did understand the running part just fine.
He was scared.
He was more afraid than he'd ever been in his life. And he had every right to be. Sure, Duncan knew he could get in trouble for the wires. But cops were one thing. Giant weirdos in bizarre black vans showing up just for him? And with a half animal man in a red track suit for a side-kick. Duncan could not get the horns and hooves out of his head.
As he ran Duncan didn't know when he felt his heart racing, or when he started breathing hard with each stride. Not even when his cocky dash turned into a desperate sprint. It was all capped off when Duncan heard that same screeching whistle, and just like that the same sound of a stop watch started clicking in his head. None of that mattered. Because Duncan could see his exit. He could see where he came in. He could see his way out and away from his madness. As Duncan turned a corner to go out into the street and his way to open safety... Duncan stopped in his tracks. His racing and deafening heartbeat was silent and frozen.
Because not only was the way from the alley out into the street blocked by two giant dumpsters, but between Duncan and them were two huge behemoths at opposite ends of the alley. The giant on the left side lived up to its name, because it was big. It had similar legs and hoofed feet as the guy in the track suit, but instead of tiny curling horns it had an entire bulls head with the horns and muscles to match, though under a few layers of blubber, especially at the gut. All of which its outfit of sleeveless teal maple leaf on white shirt, green cargo shorts, and tuff of human like blond hair did nothing to hide.
The other giant wasn't any shorter, and if he was only because of the lack of horns. It didn't have hooves like the other two. It had feet and toes, as like the other two it didn't wear shoes. It just wore a giant faded pair of blue overalls. The giant on the right had rubbery green skin, a mane of bright red hair, a pug nose, pointed tusks that shot out where the bottom canines should've been. All of that was underscored by the sheer amount of muscles the green giant had that matched if not exceeded the bull headed one. Both giants towered over Duncan himself, maybe twice as tall if not more.
Luckily for Duncan, neither giant seemed to have noticed him. They just continued to stare at the other, each with an eager, determined look on their faces. Duncan taking the tiniest of breaths was all it took and the giants were off. Horns and tusks interlocked. Huge rubbery meat hands were gripped against thick beefy ones. The two muscle bound giants shoving against each other as they wrestled for dominance. Neither giving an inch.
Slowly and as silently as he could Duncan backed away. He wanted no part of that. Looking down the back alley he just ran from, he saw the big guy helping the track suit dude up to his feet before the both of them turned their gazes to Duncan. The big guy in the orange hoody gave his familiar glare while the track suit guy gave a half-assed squint, still hunched over and holding the spot Duncan slugged him, his face half covered in grime. Suddenly the track suit guy's horns didn't look so huge, not compared to the bull headed monster not ten feet away.
Duncan didn't bother with bravado this time, just giving each pair of monsters a final once over before running away again. Shooting past the alleyway to the open street and Duncan's hope for a quick escape. It didn't matter. The clock was back on. Ticking away in Duncan's head as he turned into another alley, back into the abandoned and condemned neighborhood full of monsters and god knew what else.
"S-screw i-it." Duncan panted through his strides, sprinting even faster than before. Remembering the times he'd scoped the neighborhood out and the number of exits he mapped out the last few days, some of which Duncan could see right were he was at that moment. They weren't as quick or safe as the street, but they were close enough. But before he could do anything Duncan tripped over something just as he turned a corner to the far side of another apartment building. Falling face first on the hard grimy asphalt of the back alley, it hurt. After wiping off the grime from his face, Duncan looked down and saw a long, slender and clammy green hand vice gripped around his right ankle. "Holey hell!"
"Gotcha." A voice hissed. Looking up the arm Duncan saw it stretching out from the storm drain of the sidewalk next to two glowing red orbs in the darkness. Anger and fear swelled in Duncan's chest as he gripped the edge of a pot hole behind him and with all his strength Duncan yanked his leg away. The green monster refused to let go and was instead pulled through the old and crumbling concrete of the sidewalk. "Gah."
"Yeah." Duncan snarled, ripping the monster's hand off before hoisting the green creature up in front of him. Even through the small cloud of dust, Duncan could see that while the green monster was disorientated it had a look of fear and confusion on its face. "Ya got me."
"Oh cra-"
Duncan didn't let the red eyed creature finish as he kneed it hard in the crotch. Monster or no, its still gotta hurt down there. As the creature bent over gasping in pain, it took a wide open handed swing at Duncan. After catching the arm at the wrist, Duncan took a few well placed jabs at the red eyed monster's now unguarded side. The creature didn't even get a chance to cry out in pain as Duncan pulled the monster around by its wrist, kick the back of its right knee while grabbing the back of the monster's head and slamming it face first into the ground, hard.
Duncan stared at the creature for a moment before hearing a low pained grumble and kicking the red eyed monster hard to its ribs, same side too, knocking it over. As the defeated creature wheezed on, Duncan finally got a good look at it. The creature was the smallest of the bunch, a good bit shorter than Duncan, at least by a head with a much thinner frame. It had green skin like the tusked giant but with a darker shade. The distinct oval shape of its head reminded Duncan of a bird instead of a human, the bald head and now broken beak like nose only added to the image. The monster's eyes were indeed red though not glowing like before. Its face was a broken mess of red dripping scratches and gray grime on a green canvas. As one eye started to swell, it's gaze upon Duncan was one of pain, confusion and fear for its life... Until its eyes twitched to Duncan's side.
"Oh cra-"
XXXXXXXXX
"Oh crap...what did I just jump into?"