Chapter 1: A Hit Job Gone Wrong
The clock struck 10:35 AM, as the sound of bustling citizens went on about their daily lives on New York City streets. Every person had a purpose, a reason, or maybe even a job that they were off to take care of. 'The city that never sleeps' is what they called it, and for good reason. Now for those that didn't need to leave their homes to get to their jobs were the ones who needn't worry about the overcrowding sidewalks and traffic jams, a lot like our normal hero.
In the precinct of New York known as 'Hell's Kitchen', lived a normal, ordinary young man. He had short, sharp-looking black hair, tan skin, and hazel-brown eyes. His height, around 5'8, and his build was that of a medium-sized adult, though he was slightly scrawny. He let out a soft sigh, as he stood in front of the kitchen counter, waiting for his every-morning caramel coffee to finish brewing. The machine began to sputter slightly which caused his face to scrunch up in annoyance.
"Damn it, it's doing it again..." he pressed the button to turn it off and pulled out the coffee mug filled low-grade coffee-like water, "Looks like I better get a new coffee maker..again."
He let out a soft groan, as he took a sip from the coffee mug. He let grimaced, but continued drinking it anyway. With his mug in hand, he headed off to the back where an office resided, complete with a dark, oak-wood desk, an HP laptop, a stack of papers and notebooks, and a lamp that sat at the far left corner. His own in-home office, one where spent countless hours writing and brainstorming. His occupation, if you didn't already know, was that of an author. He wasn't famous or a big-wig, but was very successful for being only 21. His books were mostly mystery-fantasy novels, some of them even having a hint of romance. Funny, considering he never even experienced something like 'romance' before.
His footsteps rang through the room, as he walked to his swivel chair and took a seat in it, stretching himself a bit. The last thing he needed to do was finish up the ending, to which he still didn't know himself how he would tie up the final events of the mystery. He had always been good at planning a story from finish to end, but for some reason, he had a slight bit of trouble with this one.
"Hmm...maybe I should end it with a failed attempt at suicide? Nah, that's too played out. Maybe the culprit will pull out a detonator and threaten to-" he shook his head, an annoyed and disheartened look forming on his face, "Too out of the blue. It needs to make sense..."
He grunted, obviously pissed at his inability to do his job. He stood up and walked out to his balcony, as he stared out his apartment and at the people walking out on the streets. His eyes watched as the many people walked from place to place, some with families and some by themselves. He smiled softly, as he leaned against the railing, enjoying the wind against his skin. Even if these issues happened with his writing, he could always count on the relaxing view to help his writer's block.
"Hey Zack! Down here!"
Zack looked down, his eyes instantly landing on an elderly man with dark skin and grey hair, who was wearing a pair of grey slacks and a red, plaid-patterned shirt. He was probably around his 80's. Zack smiled, knowing full and well who he was.
"Morning Morris. How's the shop treating yah?" he called back, waving at him.
"A hassle, but still a great success. You havin' a bit of trouble with your book? You're out on your balcony again." Morris said, causing Zack to chuckle lightly. He knew him so well, almost like an uncle or a really close friend.
"Yeah, you got me. I can't seem to get the final act finished up. It's like the outline I wrote didn't help with the actual events of the story."
"Well, don't fret over it. You usually get done with your books ahead of time, so why not take a break?" Morris' eyes narrowed, as he stared up at him suspiciously, "I know for a fact that you haven't been sleeping as much as you should, Mr. Caramel Coffee."
Zack smiled awkwardly, as the words 'He knows' popped into his head.
"R-Right right, good idea. I'll be sure to relax. And you do so too, I know you're still fit and kicking but you're still old."
Morris let out a hearty laugh, to which Zack joined him on. This was a consistent thing with the two. Every morning and every night, they would talk to each other, check up on their daily lives, and even make small talk, most of which was just about news or articles in the paper. Morris snapped his fingers, as he stared back at Zack.
"Oh yeah, did you see CNN last night? Apparently, another person got killed. Said that it was also unexplained."
Zack blinked in surprise, as he leaned froward more on the balcony. Things like this always intrigued him, which was fitting for a mystery writer.
"Really? What was the cause of death this time? Drowning, sniper, samurai sword?"
"Nope. This time, it was like he was clawed and mauled to death. He wasn't eaten, but he had bite marks on his neck and claw marks on his body." he replied, causing Zack to wince.
"Fuckin' hell... That's definitely a horrible way to die. This would make the fifth death this week, right? You think they're connected somehow?" Zack asked. Morris only shrugged in thought.
"Don't think so. It'd be pretty odd for all these people to get killed. Maybe it's just an unlucky month this year."
Zack couldn't help but stare out in thought. Multiple deaths, none of the, connected, each spanning about a day or two apart from each other. It was, without a doubt, something that peaked his curiosity.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, do you know any...what's the word...cosplayers?"
Zack tilted his head in confusion, before shaking it to the side.
"No, you know I only talk to you. Why?"
"Well, some weird lookin' people were asking for you. Now I may be old, but even I could tell they were off, so I just gave them some address on the other side of New York. They were probably just door-to-door salesmen." he answered.
After a few more minutes, the two said their goodbyes and went about their business. Zack closed the sliding door to his balcony and sat at his desk again, determined to finish up his work.
Hours went by, and the sun started to set, the city glowing in the light of the orange sun. The office was filled with the sound of Zack's light snoring, his head laying on his arms that rested on his desk. His snoring, however, would soon be flooded out with the sound of a strange, fire like ring, that appeared on the left side of the room. Zack's head shot up, as the sound got louder and the room seemed to get hotter and strangely tense.
"What?! What's going on?! What's happening?!" he shouted, as he quickly got to his feet and jogged to the door of his office. He stopped just outside, as he slightly cracked the door, letting him see into his office.
"What the hell is that thing?! A portal?! Unless this is Portal 3, this should not be happening!" He thought, as his skin began to seep with a nervous and fearful sweat. His eyes darted to the portal entrance, as a set of four figures stepped out. Zack let out a silent gasp, as he stared at the intruders.
One of them was a red-skinned, strange-looking creature with large white and black striped horns, a devil-like tail, yellow eyes, and white splotches on his face. He was wearing a black suit with red buttons, with red cowboy boots.It almost looked male. Another also had red skin and a tail, this one only having 3 white freckles on his cheeks, with white hair, yellow eyes, and black and white striped horns. It was wearing a suit as well, this one wearing a red bow-tie. It also seemed to be male. The third one was, you guessed it, red-skinned, with a single mole on it's right cheek, a couple of white splotches on it's arms and tail, and was wearing some black lipstick. It had black hair, and solid black horns. It was wearing a black shirt with yellow buttons and a pair of black pants. This one, however, seemed to be female. The last one was definitely the odd one out. She seemed to be a white anthropomorphic wolf with white fur, white long hair, red eyes and sharp claws and fangs. She was wearing a pair of black shorts, and a ripped dark grey shirt that exposed her stomach, some black finger-less gloves, and black knee-socks that exposed her canine toes.
Zack's eyes widened in disbelief, as he rubbed them, trying his best to wake himself up from what he assumed was a dream. To his surprise, it was certainly real.
"What are those things?! Demons, aliens, fursuiters?!" He screamed internally. The cowboy-boots wearing creature looked around the room, as he brushed his coat with his hands.
"Here we are! 'Bout time too, we shoulda found this place hours ago." he said with an oddly optimistic bravado. The white-haired creature scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Maybe next time we can ask someone who actually knows target." it said with a very apparent annoyance. Zack gulped down a fear-filled lump in his throat, as he stared at the intruders, his heart beating a mile a minute.
"Target? What do they mean by target...?" He whispered to himself. The four intruders began to really take in the room, each one touching and inspecting the miscellaneous objects that littered his desk. The female demon sat at the desk, her eyes glancing at the computer screen.
"Oooh, what do we have here?" she said, as her eyes traveled down the screen. Zack huffed, as he stared her down, praying that she didn't hit any buttons. The leader of the group walked to her side and began to read with her. After a few seconds, he let out a chuckle.
"Huh, must be a writer. We don't get many of those types of targets. Shame he won't finish this."
Zack's heart stopped. What did he mean by 'he won't finish this'? What was he after. The only thing he could think of, was that they were here to-
Zack let out a silent gasp, as he slowly backed up and away from the door. He had to get away, had to run as quick and as far as he possibly could. In his shock and fear, he soon backed up to far and bumped into his ugly vase. His face turned while with horror, as the glass decoration crashed into the ground breaking into pieces. He let out an audible gulp, as the door to his office opened, his eyes staring directly into the eyes of the white canine. She smirked evilly and stepped closer to him, her claws almost shining in the house's light.
"Blitzo, I think I found the lucky guy." she growled out, her body slowly following Zack's.
"Great, mind holding him down for us?" said the leader demon, now known as Blitzo. Zack started to sweat, as he backed up further until he was against the kitchen counter. He started to pant, his heart was beating a mile a minute. He had to get out, but first, he had to deal with her.
"W-Wait, wait, hold on. Can I just ask you something?" He sputtered, as his hands gripped the counter. The wolf tilted her head, as she let out a slightly annoyed huff.
"Sure, fine, what is it?"
"You like coffee?" Zack asked, as he reached behind him, grabbing the semi-warm coffee cup and swiftly threw the contents on to the canine, blinding her for a second. Using the opportunity, he slammed the cup against her head, knocking her down to the floor with a solid thud. "It's caramel!"
With that taunt shouted, he grabbed his skateboard and bolted out of the apartment and down the stairs on to the streets of New York. The three demons ran out of his office and over to the canine, a bit of worry spread on most of their faces.
"Loonie, are you okay sweetie!?" Blitzo asked the canine known as Loona, as he helped her to her feet. Within seconds, Loona's face grew red with rage, as she punched a hole into the counter with all of her might.
"That. fucking. human. HE'S FUCKING DEAD!" she screamed, as she bolted out of the apartment after him, leaving the three demons standing in Zack's kitchen. The three stood in silence, most likely not seeing this job going down this way.
"Should we...go after her?" the white-haired demon asked.
"Nah, she's got it. Not many can get away from her when she's angry. Let's raid this guy's fridge instead." Blitzo answered, as he walked to his fridge.
"Ooh, dibs on the ice cream!!" the female demon called out.
*
As Zack rolled down the street on his trust skateboard, his mind was working on overtime. His thoughts filled his mind, each one spawning questions upon questions upon questions.
"How is this happening?! What were those things, demons?!"he rubbed his chin, as he passed by the shops and homes of the area, "And that portal.. it seemed like a pentagram, right? That usually shows up when demons and hellish stuff is in the mix. They were out to get me though, but why? Were they hired?"
Zack shook his head, as he took a phew deep breaths. Stressing about it wouldn't do him any good. In fact, it'd only distract him from the task at hand, which was getting the hell out of danger and away from those creeps.
"No use thinking about it now. I should head to Central Park, I can hide there for a whil-"
"YOU FUCKING BIIIIIIIIITCH!!!" Zack's eyes widened, as he looked over his shoulder. His heart stopped for a whole second, as he gazed upon the crazy, white-furred monster that was already barreling towards him at full speed.
"Oh shit, she's going Sonic 2 speedrunner!!"
"GET BACK HER YOU MOTHER FUCKER!! I'LL FLOSS MY FUCKING TEETH WITH YOUR SPINE!!"
Zack let out an comically girlish scream, as he pushed himself off faster, his hair flowing in the wind from the speed of his board.
"Listen we can talk this out! If this is about hitting you in the head then that was my mistake, I'm sooooo sorry!!"
"OH DON'T WORRY, I FORGIVE YOU!! THAT'S WHY I'M ONLY GONNA KICK YOUR ASS FOR 5 HOURS INSTEAD OF 50!!" Loona screamed with rage. Zack shrieked, as he turned left into an alley, hopping that he could at least get to somewhere more populated to lose here.
Big.
Fucking.
Mistake.
Zack skidded to a halt, as his sight was filled with the image of a brick wall. He ran into a dead in, and there was no fire escape or open door that he could go into.
"Fuck..."
He tensed when he heard the sound of footsteps followed by heavy breathing and snarling. He slowly turned around, his eyes growing as big as saucers from the fear of his impending demise. Loona only seemed to get big with each slow step, she had to be at least a foot taller than him, and that alone was enough to put Zack on edge. He didn't even realize that he was moving back until his back hit the brick wall behind him.
10 feet, 8 feet, 6 feet; closer and closer she got, until she was mere inches away from him. His heart pounded against his rib-cage and his breathing grew heavy. He smiled nervously, as he stared up into her eyes.
"U-Um, listen, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Hi, I'm Zack, I'm an author. N-Nice to meet you, um, Ms.-"
"You're. Dead."
"N-Nice name, I think my mother had a c-cousin with the same one."
She gripped his neck and pinned him to the wall, her claws poking into his throat. His eyes landed on her sharp teeth, each one coated in her drool. His thoughts soon drifted to the sight of his blood coating them instead, as his knees trembled. Loona smirked, as she watched her prey cower in her clawed hand.
"Got to admit, you caught me off guard, but you're not gonna get away this ti-" her taunt was cut short, as the sound of an M9 Pistol rung through the area, the bullet hitting wall behind Zack. They're eyes widened with shock, as the looked out the alley to see who fired at them. As if things couldn't get any worse, it was actually multiple people, all of them human, who flooded the alley, each one carrying a firearm of some sort. Zack glanced at Loona, his face now showing more annoyance than fear.
"Seriously? You brought more people just for me? Over-dramatic much?"
Loona grunted, as she let his neck go and pulled a large trash can in front of them, shielding the two from the spray of bullets that the unexpected guests fired.
"Now they're shooting at both of us!? Great, just great! All I wanted was to finish up my mystery, but no, I had to deal with a bunch of freaks trying to kill me, and now another bunch of freaks is joining in on the fun! It's as if I-" before Zack could even finish, Loona game him a swift punch to the back of his head, shutting him up. She growled in anger, as she quickly ran out into the fray, shocking him. All that he could hear was the sounds of scream, ripping, tearing, and gunshots, before silence was ultimately heard. With an audible gulp, Zack peeked his head from behind the trash bin, seeing the alley littered with blood, body parts, and torn clothes.
"Holy shit...Doom Eternal 2 just came early..."
His thoughts were cut short, as Loona looked back at him, her body and clothes covered in the poor human's blood. She huffed in annoyance, as she stared at him.
"Now, back to yo-" One last shot was heard, this one coming from the street. This shot however, met its mark, grazing Loona's left should. She yelped in pain, as she fell on to her rear and gripped her wound. Zack gasped as he stood to his feet, feeling both relieved and worried for the wounded canine. The sound of steps and shouts could be heard, as more of the human gunmen approached the alley and, in turn, Loona.
Zack needed a plan. If he could just slip away, he could get to Central Park and hide out there for awhile until things blew over. He would need a way to get past them though. He searched the area, hopping for something to get him the distraction he needed. He then spotted a dead human, his hand gripping a cylindrical object with a pin in it.
"A flash grenade! That's perfect!" he whisper-shouted, as he quickly took his opportunity to grab the grenade. With it, he could get out of there no problem. It would be tight, but he'd have just the right amount of time to run and get into another alley not far from there to escape and ditch the assailants. He nodded his head in agreement to his own plan and curled his finger around the pin. He started to pull, but stopped. His eyes slowly drifted to Loona, who was leaning against the wall behind a trash can, the men coming closer to her hiding spot.
"Oh no... No no no, you are not doing that. She tired to kill you remember?! She'll try it again!" He screamed to himself. He bit his lip, as doubt and worry gnawed at his judgement. Would he help, or just leave her? Would she kill him if he did? He groaned, as he pulled the pin and threw the grenade out toward the group. Without any time to react, the grenade went off in the men's faces, blinding and deafening them, their shouts and curses filling the small alley. Without a second thought, he ran towards Loona and grabbed her left wrist, pulling her on to her feet and out of the alley.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Getting us out of here! Now come on, Central Park isn't far, we can hide there!"
Without giving a second thought, the two bolted down the streets of New York, hiding in large crowds of people and taking shortcuts through side-streets and alleys, even some backyards. All the while, Zack's mind only filled with him making out a certain list...
"I leave all my Dragonball Z Cards to Morris's Grandson, and my Nintendo Switch to the mailman-"
*Yes's Roundabout Plays*
To Be Continued...