Ok sorry sorry sorry this took soooo long to get up! But I've been trying to plan it out and I have a suspicion about how Hell on Earth: #4, which will be revealed at the end in Nash's ending comments...SO READ ON!
Abe drug up several decomposing bodies from the deep lake, all bloated and slimy. Not to mention the smell.
"See, see, Abe?" Ben started, pointing at the newly surfaced body. "This is what I was afraid of. Your damn Bureaucratic approach. Didn't I make it clear? I don't want the R.C.M.P.- or anybody else- in on this."
"What have you got right now, Ben?" Abe asked. Searching the new body. "A "feeling." A feeling of "something" out there. We need a starting point and a victim's I.D. might get us that."
Ben coughed into this sleeve. "Fuck! That smell!" He complained. "You know, if we had Johann here, we wouldn't even-"
Abe's hand found what he'd been searching for. "Aha!" He pulled out a grimy Identification card.
"Tessier, Nicholas. Marekeos, B.C." He read aloud. "All right, now we need a phone. Lets head back to the car."
Ben held up his hand. "Not just yet," He said. "I want to pick us up some friends, first."
"Hey you see those towers we just passed?" Ben pointed out adjusting the holster that ran across his chest containing two hand guns. "Your cell's probably back in range."
"Battery died last night." Abe said bluntly.
As they drove back the way him and Nash had traveled before, he felt a renewed sense of worry for her. Ben hadn't found any trace of her, it was like her just disappeared. Maybe she did just up and leave, but why? Did she feel she was endangering them like all those years ago? But then why had she bothered returning at all? Nothing made scene, he just hoped she was alright.
"Well, if we're going to do this at all, guess we should do it in person." Ben said. "Gotta wonder, though- how do you think they'll take this kind of news from a strange, hairy mountain man?"
"It'll be better coming from a human being than from me, won't it?" Abe replied. "What's the nearest town after Marekeos?"
"Lynne."
I left the island, the catacombs and my past and headed back to the mainland. I had some favors I could call in that could get me back to the States. The closest contact lived in county Antrim, by the name of Jack McLagning. Back in the 40's I'd taken care of a banshee that was terrorizing his family.
I hitchhiked my way there. Good thing most of these folks were rural and had never seen all the Hollywood horror films about picking up hitchhikers.
When I was on missions I never had a time to sit back and enjoy the country side. But now, I truly realized what I'd been missing. The roving green hills, that seemed some how older and greener, more pure then the American plains. Instead of tales of old west out laws and big time cowboys there were images of ancient battles, druids, the magical races. And all the blood that had been split during the war. I turned away and looked at the dash board. It was weird being on the other side of the car.
The man that had picked me up was older maybe around fifty. His coal black hair giving way to strains of grey that some how seemed to make him look wiser. He had a charming smiled, white teeth, not perfectly straight but maybe that was the charm. I didn't feel attracted to him, though I was aware this was a strikingly handsome man.
"So what brings a lass like you all the way out here, eh?" He asked, looking over briefly. "You can't be more then sixteen can ye?"
I had to laugh, that was a good one. "Yeah sixteen," I repeated. "I actually work for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense in the States."
He raised his eyebrow. "Do ye? And they sent you all the way out here with out a pickup?"
"Well not exactly," I said slowly. "This is probably going to sound crazy but I was in British Columbia, and I woke up here." I said. Leaving the part about Astaroth out, don't want to freak him out with tales of demons.
"No kidding!" He said, looking dumbfounded. "And so your heading to Antrim."
"I know some people who may be able to help me get back."
He frowned. "Why don't you call your agency?"
"Hell, I would, but I'll be damned if I know the number and my phones in my coat pocket in a ruined catacomb." I laughed.
"Sounds like a hell of a way to make a livin."
I sighed and looked back out at the green hills, some sheep dotted them now. "It sure is."
County Antrim was a beautiful place, the giants causeway lining the coast with thousands upon thousands of basalt columns. Jacks rural home, build somewhere I reckoned in the early to late 1700's, lay just inland. The only one for miles, I envied that. Maybe when this whole apocalypse things was over, if it ever would be with out meaning the final end, I'd move out here. No one for miles, just the distant sound of the waves beating against the causeway, the birds in the sky and the gentle wind that carried the sweet smell of ancient earth. That's the life for me, I thought.
Jack's house was the same as I'd remembered it to be. Constructed of thick stone walls and a thatched roof. The small fence around it old and decaying. Looking towards the stables I saw no animals but a few chickens that pecked around the garden by the house.
I rapt gently on the hard wood door, movement inside assured me that someone had taken notice.
"Identify yur self!" A male Irish voice called from within.
"My name is Nyaida Zander, I'm a friend of Jack McLagning-"
The door opened slowly. A tall forty-ish man looked back at me, his red hair hung shaggy around his chiseled features. Five O'clock shadow shown around his chin. "Jack was me father." He said.
"Was," I said carefully. "I'm sorry, he was a good man."
He nodded slowly. "Aye, that he was." He confirmed. "Please come in, make yeh self a seat."
I bowed my head in thanks and entered his home. Not much had changed from the last timed I'd been here.
The same old copper cooking pots hung from a rack in the small kitchenette area that contained a small dark wood table were a middle aged woman sat. Her short black hair tousled just right.
The living area consisted of a suitable sofa and chair, a fire place with dying embers was laid into the wall across from it. There was no TV from where I could see.
"Nothing really changed since my last visit." I said softly.
"If yeh don't mind me askin," The man said once I'd taken a seat across from his wife. "How did yeh know my father? I mean yeh don't look but twenty years old."
I laughed lightly. "Well, thank you. But well, in the 40's a banshee had been terrorizing this place. Wailing to high Heavens." I said moving my hands to dramatize the event. "The organization I work for was called in and I was dispatched to get rid of it."
The woman's eyebrows shot up. "The forty's? You certainly don't look like-"
"I'm a hybrid, Half Elf and Half Vampire." I explained. Though the thought did cross my mind that maybe that wasn't exactly accurate. More like half elf and half demon. "I'm sure you've heard legends of the fairy folk that lived, and some that still do live in these isles."
"Your from that B.P.N.D, yeah?" The man asked.
"B.P.R.D, yes."
He nodded. "I heard about what's going on in the world. The fellas at the pub talk yeh know." He touched his wife's hand. "Can you stop it?" He asked. "The Apocalypse?"
"We'll try our damnedest." I said in dead seriousness. "But I need to ask you for a favor."
He nodded signaling me to continue.
"I need to get back to the states."
He smiled slightly. "Well you came to the right place! Florence's brother is a pilot."
"Small world..." I half laughed.
"He flies from the airport only a short drive away." She said. "I'll phone ahead an we'll take yeh there."
"Go raibh maith agat." I said in thanks. The woman smiled and bowed her head.
"Looks pretty dead." I said driving up towards a diner.
Next to me Ben scanned the area. "Nope. We're good. See?" He gestured over to a couple heading out of the diner. A woman with long red hair tied back in a plait who was holding a baby wrapped in blue cloth. The dark haired man next to her wearing a green flannel shirt and jeans.
"Hey, folks. Can you tell me there the sheriff's office is?" Ben asked getting out of the Humvee.
They ignored him and the man pulled the woman way back into the diner. "Hey? Oh, fuck no..."
I cocked my head to try and see around Ben's form, but he turned and rushed back towards the truck. "START THE ENGINE! START THE ENGINE NOW!"
The diner exploded. A huge grotesque tentacled monster in its place. Rows of deadly teeth replaced where a face should have been. Ben leapt in.
"That couple! We should check-"
"Their the last ones needing help here."
I floored it, the jeep lurching forward as we began speeding down the road. The tires screeched horridly before the Humvee was knocked from behind, sending it flipping out of control. I barely noticed Ben flying out the open door onto the hard pavement below.
Ben fired, one, two, three shotgun shells into the monsters gnashing jaws. "That's right fuck face! I don't die easy!"
Out for ammo, he through the gun to the side and sprinted off towards a deserted house.
He bust through the door, knocking it off its hinges. "HEY! anybody still alive in this house better get out now!"
The giant beast crashed through the wall behind him. Debris flew everywhere showering Ben in wood, plaster, and glass.
"Ah, crap!" He took off towards the back of the home, heading for the exit as the tentacled behemoth tore into the house bit by bit.
"What the fuck!" Ben yelled. "For Christ's sake!What kinda country builds houses without back doors?"
Looking around the laundry room he sighed. "Ok. Good enough."
He whipped out the dual hand guns he had stored in his chest holster.
"Let's see if you can kill ME, mother fucker!" He challenged.
The monster grew nearer still, bullets doing little to no damage.
Suddenly the wall blew in. A blue truck sat in the gap.
"Get in the back!" Abe yelled over the roaring monster and falling debris. "I brought some of your 'friends'."
Ben jumped in the bed of the truck, greeted by a box of M67 grenades. "You sure did!"
Grabbing one he pulled the pin and whipped in into the monstrous creature's mouth as the sped away.
Abe gunned it around the corner as the gigantic beast exploded, nearly showering them in guts and slimy black blood. "What would I do without friends?"
What the hell would I do without friends? I though as I exited the plane onto American soil. We landed in Washington D.C. the B.P.R.D. Office wasn't far, a couple mile walk but I was just glad to be back. I may have walked out before, and with good reason, but I'm needed now more then ever.
And Hellboy?...Well were ever you are, we need you back here too.
The Bureau office was a good sized building, measuring out at about eight-ten stories, I was to lazy to count. People walked in and out, official looking business men and women in expensive looking suits and coffee carrying assistants eager to please the higher ups. Then there was me, muddy black cargo pants with matching boots and a blood sprayed grey tank top. My holster hung around my waist at an angle, hand gun fully loaded. Excalibur heavy in my hand.
Not the best idea to walk through D.C. packing heat and carrying a medieval mythical sword, but with all that is going I was the last of these peoples worries.
I walked through the glass doors, head held high, and scanned the perimeter. The guard at the door, upon seeing me whipped out his sidearm. "Drop the weapons!"
I looked from the sword in my hand and back to him. "I should have expected this," I half whispered. "Look I work..."
"Drop the weapons!" He shouted again. By now everyone had either hit the ground or stood back curious as to what would happen next.
Ok this was getting ridiculous. "Look pal, shoot me, go ahead but your the one who'll get fired..." Man I sounded almost like H.B.
He seemed to waiver and so I strode forward ready to go on with my day, when the first bulled tore into my right arm.
"Son of a bitch!" I hissed. Ok this guy was a moron. "I work here dumbass!"
He blanched. "Show your identification!" He demanded. Not ready to let his guard down yet. And not ready to accept that he'd just shot someone who had every right to be here.
"Look I was on a mission in Bellingham, Washington, I got kidnapped or something by Astaroth, woke up in England, hitched a ride here and I need to see Director Manning!"
"Where's your identification?"
I sighed. "You really don't know when to quit do you?" I frowned. "Look you want I.D? Go get it its in an underground catacomb in my jacket, probably has a dead guy missing an arm next to it."
Commotion to my left made me turn. Tom Manning exited one of the lifts, looking tired and overworked.
"Agent Zander," He said, then turned to the guard holding up his hand. "Its alright she's one of mine."
The guard looked paler then before, almost like he was close to vomiting. I could hear is quickened heart beat, the fear that he was in big trouble. I smiled wickedly.
"He shot me." I said pointed accusingly at him.
Manning's eyes widened before he hissed, "I new he never should have been giving a firearm..."
While the trigger happy, overly stupid security guard was being interrogated by some higher ups about what had happened, Tom led me to his office.
"Are you sure you don't want that looked at?" He gestured to my arm.
I waved him off. "Nah, bullet when through, I'll heal." I rolled my shoulder in its socket. "Still, hurt like a bitch-"
"I'm sure. Anyway, what happened in Bellingham?" He said cutting to the chase. "Kate called in and said you and Abe left the case and went up North."
I thought about telling him about what we'd been doing, but only for a second. Ben didn't want to be brought back, and I wasn't going to give up Abe's secrets.
"Look, Sir, we knew that case was a bust, Giarocco could handle it," He slightly nodded. "It was my idea anyway Sir, I thought if we just went off looking for something we'd find something-"
"Like what?" He questioned.
"Trouble," I replied bluntly. "I guess since I haven't been in the field for so long I was just looking for some big bad nasty-"
"How did you end up here though?"
"Long, long story, Sir, and we really don't have the time." I said. "If we get time I'll fill you in, pinky swear or whatever, but now I need a flight to Washington and a Humvee."
He sighed. "I'm only obliging you because, even though you jumped the gun, you are the most experienced agent we have," He said. "You'll leave in fifteen-"
"Thanks, Tom," I said. "You know despite everything... your not that bad...I guess."
He frowned as I turned and headed out the door. Destination?...Darkness.
Abe parked the truck and they'd exited into the dark silenced forest. "You're gonna have to tell me something right now." Ben said bluntly. "Where the hell'd you learn how to hot-wire a truck?"
"Interesting way to phrase that question." Abe mused. "Hellboy taught me. It's not S.O.P., but he thought it was important to know."
Ben smiled as the made their way up a hill. "Hellboy, eh?" He said. "I gotta meet that guy."
They entered a clearing, Abe's flashlight that was pinned to his jacket and tiny slivers of moon the only light. "Right, so we load you up with ammo and gear and then no more screwing around. You head straight for the border." Ben said.
"My offer's still open." Abe offered. But, Ben shook his head. "No. B.P.R.D. is your deal now. Not mine. 'S what I've been trying to tell you." He looked around frowning slightly.
"Okay, but what did you mean about that couple-"
"Shhh!" Ben urged. Putting his arm out to halt Abe.
He cocked his head. "What? What is it?"
Ben had his rifle out. "You don't smell that?" Abe started to shake his head. Ben continued. "Someone else is out here. A man." He said slowly. "Right up ahead."
Abe could see the fire now. Built in a clearing close to the one they had just been in. For a split second his heart leapt. Maybe it was Nash, she'd gotten lost, built a fire and hunkered down waiting for one of us to find her. But this was short lived.
"Please stop whispering." A male voice said. "And you don't have to worry. I'm not here for you."
Ben lowered his rifle and Abe stopped. Noticing the small white coffin next to the man.
"I'm here for my son."
OOOOOooooOOOoooo! So I think that Daryl killed the child and now its soul is in the wendigo :| Sooooo Imma wait till numero 4 to update this story BUT Imma working on another one that kinda mixes comic and movieverse sooooo when I'm satisfied with that plot line ILL POST IT!
RATE AND COMMENT! and Cookies 4 U! ...haters will be burned in a fire that will be used to make said cookies.