Soulfrenzy
Chapter 1 - Birth
"Friggin' cold..."
Jimmy cursed the night's chill, rubbing his hands together in a vain attempt to warm them. The forest was silent; the pine trees seemed like black towers in the darkness, rising ominously around him as he struggled to build the campfire.
"How's that fire comin'?" Ryan asked, his deep voice emanating from the lamp-heated tent. Jimmy glanced enviously at its softly-glowing shape, where he knew his friend and the girls where comfortably snuggled. He should never have accepted that truth or dare game, he always lost.
"About as well as my body heat," he grumbled back. "Why can't we just stay in the tent? It's warmer in there anyway!"
"We're camping!" Kelly replied in her dull-witted voice. "You can't camp without a campfire!"
"Easy for you to say..." Jimmy muttered, too low for her to hear. "You've never made one..."
It was the middle of summer, but the temperature had dropped to almost forty. What had started as the perfect summer day was now one of the coldest nights Jump City had on record. Weird, unexpected, and inconvenient, but Ryan had insisted that their camping trip go as planned. Jimmy pulled his vest tighter and made another go at the pile of kindling he had meticulously arranged.
"Come on..." he whispered, lighting another match. "Give me fire..."
BOOOM!
The entire clearing suddenly blazed with blue light, as if lightning were flashing three feet away. The sound was accompanied by a concussive wave that sent Jimmy flying head over heels into a tree.
"Gyah!" he yelped, curling into a ball to combat the throbbing pain in his back and head. He thought he heard the vague, high-pitched noise of the girls screaming. There was still light everywhere, blinding him through closed lids.
"Fuck! Jim! JIM!"
He opened his eyes. The vague, towering form of Ryan was running over to him. He could only see the outline, however, because all the trees were wreathed in blue fire. The bright light made his head hurt, but he couldn't help but stare in dazed shock.
"Jim, what the hell is happening?" Ryan asked. Jimmy looked past him to see Kelly and Nikki fumbling about the flattened tent, trying to pull their jackets away from a fire. The lamp must have burst into flames, because these were red. Nikki might have been crying, but his eyes weren't adjusted enough to tell.
"Jim, look at me!" Ryan shouted. His voice was distant, muffled from the sonic boom.
"I dunno, man!" Jimmy snapped hysterically. There was no smoke anywhere; it looked like the trees were just dissolving. "We gotta get out of here! We gotta get help!"
Ryan nodded. He looked so strong, so imposing, radiating authority. Jimmy grabbed his hand and made his best attempt to get up.
Then he saw it. A shape, moving through the flaming trees.
"Holy sh-"
A roar reverberated through the air, shaking his bones. Some trees, weakened already by the flames, toppled over. A massive pine collapsed into the clearing, blocking them off from the girls.
"NIKKI! KELLY!" Ryan yelled, reaching out for them. Jimmy ignored him, looking every which way to see where it had gone.
"Ryan, we gotta get out of here!" he shouted, reaching for his friend's shoulder.
"No way! We can't leave 'em here!" Ryan shook him off. "Go wherever the hell you want, I'm saving-"
A flash of blue light passed before Jimmy's eyes, and Ryan was gone. He screamed hysterically, stumbling backward and falling. He looked everywhere, but he couldn't see where Ryan had been taken.
"Ryan!" he yelled out, voice cracking pathetically. "Ryan!"
Then it came again. Further away now, Jimmy saw a humanoid figure leap down into the center of the clearing, right in front of the girls. They both screamed. Jimmy couldn't make out the details of their attacker, but it was on fire like everything else. Kelly turned to run, but the creature raised a single claw and cut her down.
Jimmy didn't get to see what happened to Nikki; he was already sprinting into the woods. Flames were everywhere around him, but he felt no heat. He ran until he saw their edge. Blackness was all that lied beyond, but it failed to frighten him half as much as the alternative.
He'd almost made it when a sheet of blue light flew down right in front of him. He charged straight into it; his face went numb, and he felt the palms of his hands painlessly melt away. He looked up in horror at what had stopped him. A creature with the torso of a man and legs of a beast stood over him. Its face was some sort of nightmare, with white eyes and flaming horns sprouting from its head. Everything on it burned bright blue.
"NOOOOOO!" he screamed, tears streaming from his eyes. The scream was lost as the creature unhinged its toothed jaw and roared, releasing a torrent of fire upon him.