Chapter 6
As soon as he entered Roger ducked as a large log swung towards him. As the log swung back Roger rolled to his side and continued on. He didn't get far before he fell down a hole. Roger grabbed the edge of the hole and looked down to see glowing stakes at the bottom of the hole, and the tell tale ectoplasmic-goo that told him that some others had died here. Roger climbed up and then tried to fly, only to remain on the ground. I can't fly!? This is why so few have ever survived; their greatest advantage over humans was gone. But I can do this; I've lived as a human, and trained as one. I don't need to fly, I hope.
Roger walked on, ears, eyes, and nose alert for anymore traps. Roger heard a snap of a twig and turned around. A small child ghost stood there, his red eyes large and frightened as he saw Roger. Roger lowered his claw and went down on his knee to look into the child's eyes. "How did you get here, cub?" The child calmed down a little at hearing Roger speak, he probably thinks I'm some monster…and he'd be right. "Do you require assistance?" Roger couldn't leave a cub by himself, especially in this trap hole.
"I'm looking for my family, do you know where they are?" the child asked him. "You're the first intelligent thing I've seen. I only got here a few minutes ago," Roger told him. The child looked like he was starting to cry, then Roger said, "I'll help you look for them." The child nodded and Roger offered him his hand. He took it, and they walked further into the forest together. For a few minutes nothing happened then Roger smelled something coming. Roger grabbed the child and just barely avoided getting trampled by a wild rhino like ghost. It looked like a green rhino with six legs and three horns.
The child screamed and Roger said, "You have to be quiet! You're ruining my concentration!" The child was still screaming as the rhino turned around and charged again. Roger jumped away and avoided it again. Leave the brat; he's going to get us killed! No, I'm not letting you in control again! Roger held the still screaming child with his hand and got ready to use his claw. Please let me still have my strength, the rhino ghost charged a third time. Roger jumped to the side, but not as far as before, and clawed along the rhino's side. The rhino ghost roared in pain; then fell on one side. Roger went to finish it off, but changed his mind, he tried to kill us! He's no longer a threat!
The child stopped screaming and hugged Roger close. Roger went on, still holding the child. After thirty minutes the child said, "What's your name?" "Roger," Roger told him, "what's your name?" The child started to talk when Roger heard a creaking sound, and ducked down to avoid another swinging log. Roger heard something underneath him moving and rolled to the left, just in time to avoid getting impaled by a stake. Roger heard more sounds and kept on rolling, avoiding ten more stakes before he ceased hearing sounds beneath him. The child was too winded from Roger having to roll over him to scream this time.
Roger stood up, senses alert, and continued onward. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew that he had to keep moving. Roger started feeling tired, and smelled and listened all around him. He neither smelled nor heard nor saw any threats, and sat down. "Why are you stopping?" the child asked him. "I'm too tired to go any further. I don't sense any traps, we'll be safe here." The child nodded and Roger put him down. "You still haven't told me your name," Roger told the child. "My name's Richard Theodore Abraham Taylor Roosevelt Gregory VII," the child, Richard Theodore Abraham Taylor Roosevelt Gregory VII, proudly said.
"Do you mind if I call you 'Rick' instead?" Roger asked Richard Theodore Abraham Taylor Roosevelt Gregory VII. "Is that my nickname?" Richard Theodore Abraham Taylor Roosevelt Gregory VII asked. "If you want it to be," Roger told him. "What's your nickname?" Rick asked him. Roger thought about it, he never really had a nickname, just his call signs in the Foley's Fighters and his real name. "Some people used to call me 'Beast', others called me 'Slasher'. What do you want to call me?" Rick thought about it for a few minutes then said, "I'll call you Slasher." Rick yawned and started to snuggle up to Roger. He was soon asleep, and Roger sighed, I hope we get out of here, Rick. Somehow, Roger went to sleep himself.
Sleep was no rest for Roger, he dreamed about what he had done to Chloe. He felt her body, it was so soft. He felt it as his claws cut her, like a hot knife through butter. Her blood was warm; he had licked it off his claws. Grabbing her and pinning her to a wall, he had wanted to cut her again, but then he wouldn't know the satisfaction of having her. How weak and ripe for the plucking Chloe had looked as she passed out with just her skirt and underwear on in the Park…
"NNNNOOOOOOOOO!" Roger screamed as he awoke. Rick got up and screamed as loud as Roger. Roger stopped screaming and held the child like he could make the nightmare go away. Rick held him back. They sat that way, holding each other for a few minutes before they got up and left. They weren't walking for five minutes before Roger heard something whistling through the wind, Roger grabbed Rick and just barely saved him from getting skewered with a spear. Roger heard the whistling again and ducked a spear that almost went through his head.
Roger picked up Rick and ran as fast as he could, barely avoiding the spears that were flying from all directions. One of them almost got the Achilles tendon on his right leg, another whistled by his ear, and a third grazed his right cheek, but Roger never stopped or slowed down. The spears nicked him or got too close for comfort the whole way, but Roger somehow managed to keep Rick safe, dodging and running with all his strength. Three spears came at him at the same time from the right, left, and front. Roger bent at the waist as far as he could, then bend at the knees to keep Rick safe as well. (Think Neo from The Matrix)
The spears clanged together and were deflected to other directions by each other's force. Roger grabbed one that got deflected into the ground and kept on running. Roger heard a spear coming from behind him and barely deflected it with the one he had grabbed then they stopped. Roger kept his senses alert, but slowed down to a jog. After ten minutes of jogging it was apparent, the spears had stopped…for now. Roger put Rick down, the child ghost held on to his hand tightly as they walked on. Roger saw smoke coming from somewhere, someone else here, maybe Rick's family. Roger pointed and said, "Do you see that, that might be your family."
Rick's eyes got bigger with happiness, and he practically dragged Roger with him, heading in the direction of the smoke. Roger started smelling the smoke, it got stronger they went on. Roger started smelling something else as well, and it nagged at him. He thought about it, then realized, that wasn't wood smoke… a loud roar shook the trees, and Rick stopped in his tracks. "DRAGON!" Roger yelled, then grabbed Rick and ran off in the other direction. Shit! If only I could fly! He heard a louder roar and Rick screamed as he saw what was chasing them.
Roger ran as fast as he ever ran before then realized that he was heading back to the spears. It's getting skewered or cooked alive! Throw the child, save us! NO! Roger looked over his shoulder and saw the massive dragon suck in a breath to breathe fire at him. Roger ran left at the last minute and dodged the firestorm, then turned left again and for a whole minute was under the dragon. How big is this thing?! Roger looked around and spotted a stone cave and ran into it just as the dragon turned around. Roger put his claw over Rick's mouth and put his finger to his lips. Rick's eyes were as big as saucers, but he nodded and stopped trying to scream.
They stayed like that for God only knows how long, both of them so scared their heartbeats actually stopped. Rick can't keep his heart from beating too long; he doesn't have as much control over his body as I do. And my control isn't all that great either. They heard the dragon make a loud roar then fly off. Roger took his claw off of Rick's mouth, but Rick didn't make a sound. A thought occurred to Roger just then, "Rick," he whispered. Rick turned to him, "Yeah," he fearfully whispered back. "Are you Native?" There were two types of ghosts, Natives, those like Roger and the Pack who were born, and Newcomers, those like the Box Ghost who used to be human, but somehow became ghosts after they died.
Natives in general were less human and intelligent, the Pack, Frostbite's tribe, the Far Frozen, and others were the exception rather than the rule. Newcomers were smarter, and more human in shape generally, like Technus once was, or Poindexter. Some ghosts were so old, they couldn't remember if they were Native or Newcomer, like Walker. Rick looked at him and said, "My parents are Newcomers." Natives could control their bodies' better, stretch and make holes to avoid damage, and survive greater damage. Newcomers, and most of the time their offspring, were weaker in this area. That Rick had any control on his heart at all showed that he was one of the few Newcomers who were equal to a Native, physically.
Roger looked outside the cave's mouth and looked around for signs of the dragon. The only signs were the green flames that were eating a few trees, and other trees that were broken. No signs showed the dragon was nearby. "We gotta go." "What about the dragon?" Rick fearfully asked. Roger smiled and said, "He's gone, we can leave." Rick nodded and followed Roger out of the cave. After another hour Roger started to feel hungry, the events of the past few days had burned all the energy he had gained eating the moose days ago. Roger looked around, and put his face to the ground, sniffing.
"What are you doing?" Rick asked him. "I'm starving; I burned up too much energy to keep this up for much longer. I need to hunt, or I won't be able to find what I came here for, or your family," Roger told him as he continued sniffing the ground. He soon found what he was looking for and told Rick, "Get on my back." The child ghost got on him piggy-back style and Roger ran off on all fours. He ran and ran, following the scent. He soon found ghostly wildlife, it was less satisfying than Human World wildlife, but it would have to do. In this case, he found a giant rabbit, as tall as he was on two legs at the shoulder. Rick looked at it, "Are we gonna eat that?!" Roger found a safe spot and put Rick down on it.
"That's the idea. Close your eyes, this will be ugly," Rick pouted like little kids who don't think they're so little do when they're told they're too little, but turned around anyway. Roger shook his limbs a little, food! The Beast took a hold of Roger's body and he jumped at the giant rabbit. The rabbit turned and swatted him back with its forepaw, then roared like a lion and tried to jump on top of him. The Beast in Roger's body rolled out of the way and clawed the rabbit along its left hind leg. The rabbit screamed, and the Beast took this opportunity to go for its throat. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that while he had fangs, his mouth was human, and the bite was too shallow.
The rabbit swatted him off with a forepaw and tried to jump on him. The Beast just barely avoided the rabbit's teeth and got on its back. Roger held on tight with his legs and stabbed the ghost's spine with his claw. The rabbit screamed then went limp. Roger walked over and clawed out its throat, and sucked up what blood he could, he needed a lot of sustenance from it if he was going to feed Rick too. After this he started tearing into the rabbit, eating it raw as he was accustomed to. After feeding for thirty minutes he stopped, not sure how much food Rick would need.
He then took some fallen wood and the spear he had taken along with a rock and built a small fire by putting the sticks in a pile and making a spark by striking the spear's head against the rock. The fire was well and Roger cut off a chunk of meat from the rabbit's corpse and speared it. "Rick, it'll be awhile, but your food is cooking." Rick came up and saw Roger turning his spear above the fire, trying to spit roast the meat for his companion. It took a while, and Roger started to feel guilty about eating before feeding the younger ghost, but faster than expected the ghost meat was ready to be eaten.
Rick dug into the meat, eating as much as he could in large gulps. He was soon done with the meat on the spear, and turned to Roger expectantly. Roger got more meat on the spear and put more wood on the fire and cooked more meat for him. Rick ate this food as well then looked at Roger again. Roger repeated the procedure a third time and this time Rick was filled. Roger finished off what meat was left; he would need all the energy he could get from his food to survive. After all the meat was gone, Roger and Rick walked off.
Roger heard gears turning and grabbed Rick and jumped back just in time to avoid a giant hammer. "Where the fuck did that come from?!" Roger yelled, spears, sure, stakes, all right, swinging logs, okay, but giant hammers?! Roger saw the fallen hammer start to come back up and got an idea. He held on to Rick with his hand and with his claw grabbed the hammer's handle as it started to come back up. "What are you doing?" Rick asked him. Roger remained silent as he waited for the hammer to rise to its highest. Roger looked down then told Rick, "Get on my back again." Rick got back into the piggyback position and Roger started to climb down the hammer. It took a while, it was a ridiculously large hammer, but Roger made it to the ground eventually. Rick looked exhausted from the day's events and went to sleep. Roger stayed up longer, watching over the child.