Brew city: Underground

Chapter 2- A run in the street

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-"