Title: Night of Knights (3/?)
Author: Lord Maedhros
Rating: R (just to be safe)
Fandom: Gargoyles/ Batman Crossover
Summary: Batman/Gargoyles crossover. Goliath will do anything for Elisa's safety, but strengths become liabilities when one loses control. . . something the Joker is adept at exploiting.
Feedback: Any you are willing to provide would be very much appreciated
Archive: Anywhere, just tell me first
Genre: Action/Adventure
Disclaimer: All related characters are the property of Disney/ DC Comics. They are NOT my characters (as cool as that would be), nor are they being used for profit of any kind. As always, hats off to Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the immortal creators of Batman.
Warnings: Violence; maybe some spoilers but just in the general sense, nothing particular
Author's notes: I am a confirmed Batman freak, and reading Gargoyles fan fiction (which I started doing last year) got me to thinking of how cool it might be to see the two together. A good deal of my Gargoyles background is fanfic based, but any relevant Batman history or character background is based on the comics, not TV or movie-verse.
* * = thoughts
Chapter 3: Strangers in a Strange Land
Goliath alighted on a broad ledge, eighty stories above the streets of Gotham City. His massive jaw set in determination; he looked down at the activity below. *So like New York,* he thought. *And yet it is still so alien to me*. He growled to himself. *Where in the name of Oberon do I start?* Goliath was worried about Elisa, and frustrated at his lack of familiarity with the city. He had the presence of mind, however, to at least try to stay calm. Goliath knew he would probably never find Elisa by a random search of the city.
Goliath paced the ledge, thinking and trying to calm his mind. The claws on his toes left deep puncture marks in the surface of the roof as he did so. If only he could find some way of tracking Elisa, he would feel better about his chances of success. Loose threads from clothing could come off on sharp branches, but they were far from any forest. Goliath thought of attempting to scent-track her, but considered that to be a last resort. His olfactory senses were keen, but he doubted they would be sharp enough for such a task. *But what else could I do?* He mused. *Humans don't leave footprints in the roads here*.
With little else in the way of a viable option, Goliath decided that any chance was better than none. He checked the street map Lexington had provided him, on which was marked the hotel Elisa had been staying in. Memorizing the location relative to the building he was on, Goliath folded the paper carefully back into his belt. The powerful Gargoyle let out a deep, rumbling roar of frustration, spread his wings, and took off.
As he'd feared, Goliath found that Elisa's room had been thoroughly searched by Gotham's police detectives. The Joker had taken her, then. The room was dark, and all the objects in the room had been left as they were, for the purpose of evidence preservation.
*That means Elisa's clothing is still here*.
Goliath found Elisa's suitcase. He leaned close, and inhaled deeply, saturating his nostrils with her scent. He tested his senses before leaving the room, unknowingly searching out her pattern of movement during her struggle with the Joker. He followed the trail to the door, but hesitated before opening it. Goliath was not accustomed to allowing humans to see him in such a place. However, he had to know which exit they used, and he had to keep Elisa's scent fresh in his nostrils. Once he lost the scent, he knew he would not be able to find it again.
Goliath opened the door, and caught a new scent. Faint, but distinctively chemical, and strangely familiar. He tried to place the odor . . . and the answer hit him.
*Chloroform*.
Not that the name mattered, especially to a Gargoyle, but Elisa had taught him what it was, and what it was used for. With a much stronger scent to search for, and bolstered confidence, Goliath set off down the hall, following Elisa's scent.
The chloroform scent trail went cold a block and a half away from the hotel. This in itself was frustrating, but he'd lost Elisa's scent at the end of the hall, and at least the stronger scent of the chloroform had given him a general direction in which to take his search.
*Bronx would be useful here,* he thought, regretting his decision to refuse the support of his clan. He'd made the same mistake before, with nearly unspeakable results. As this thought crossed the warrior's mind, another building suffered under his stone-rending claws.
The large Gargoyle climbed the building in front of him for a better view of the area. He used the roof as a launching point, spreading his wings and gliding low along the street. Goliath used his new position to scan the buildings as he passed, looking for clues. The street held little of any interest to most honest people, with just a few struggling businesses, some low-income housing, and several abandoned buildings, most of them unmarked except for the spray painted gang logos on them. He gained altitude, and was beginning to angle away when he heard the sounds of a struggle in one of the nearby alleyways. As agitated as he was, Goliath was still unwilling to let innocent people suffer. He dove back towards the street.
A group of four young men were harassing a middle-aged shopkeeper, apparently just after he had closed his store. Two of the men had wooden bats, the third had a knife; and the fourth was armed with a gun. Under any normal circumstances, Goliath would have simply scared the street punks off, no physical contact required.
Goliath's present state of mind left him in no condition to react normally.
"Hey, geezer, c'mon! Just let us in for a few minutes, and we won't hurt you, 'kay? Please?" One of the four men said mockingly. He menaced the shopkeeper with his bat. The other three laughed, advancing on the older man.
A low, inarticulate growl, louder and deeper than that of even the biggest dog, caused the four to stop in their tracks. The shopkeeper broke and ran; too terrified to wonder why his tormentors weren't pursuing him. The four young men turned, slowly, to see what had made the noise.
Blank white eyes burned from the deepest part of the shadows, and the faint backdrop of light from outside the alleyway silhouetted Goliath's enormous frame. His sharp teeth were bared in a savage snarl, and his wings curved forward to fit in the narrow alleyway, slightly more visible than the rest of him. Goliath formed a truly terrifying image, one that would haunt the four men's nightmares for weeks to come. Panicked, the man with the gun fired, but his fear caused the bullet to go too high, missing over the right shoulder of the lunging Gargoyle.
The shooter never got a second chance. Goliath's clawed hand shot out, grabbing the gun and crushing it in an instant, along with the hand that held it. The man screamed as the bones in his right hand were reduced to splinters, and Goliath let him go, throwing him forwards into one of his friends. The gang's leader dropped to the ground in pain, shrieking and clutching at his mangled hand, unable even to let go of the now useless gun. The second attacker took a wild swing at Goliath's head with a baseball bat. The Gargoyle caught it easily in his right hand, splintering the weapon with his claws. Goliath snarled at him, roaring and spitting like a fighting-mad bear. He pulled the bat to his left and downwards across his body, then returned it upwards in a powerful backhanded blow that lifted the young man clear off his feet, sending him into the brick wall of the building. He did not get up. Without waiting for the knife-wielder to attack him, Goliath stepped forward, bringing his left hand around and smashing the man's face with one solid blow from his sledgehammer fist. The fourth member of the defeated team chose discretion over valor, dropping his bat and taking off down the alleyway at full speed. He skidded around a corner, and disappeared from view.
Goliath let him go. The bare brick walls, a small door with a light, and large piles of trash were all that adorned the small space. The apparent leader of the small group was now motionless on the ground, propped up on one elbow and bent over his injured hand. Cautiously, Goliath approached with the intent of checking the man's vital signs. As the warrior neared the object of his investigation, a subtle whispering from the most primal part of his mind made him stop.
The man with the mangled hand was laughing.
Goliath backed away involuntarily. The man was giggling to himself, almost inaudibly, as though Goliath's abuse of his hand was the butt of some twisted, private joke. He started to stand; not appearing to feel the pain that such a wound should have been causing him. Suspicious, Goliath made a show of leaving; all the while keeping his senses trained on the odd little man. He scaled the side of the building with ease, reached the roof, and looked down into the alleyway again. The man was moving now, shuffling deeper into the darkness of the alley, laughing in low tones and continually glancing at his useless hand. The laugh was hollow, detached, as though the man was severely inebriated of alcohol and watching something amusing on television. Goliath followed him, sticking to the shadows. The man staggered on, for almost the length of the block, before turning to the back door of a decrepit old joke and novelty shop, long since out of business and closed down. He entered, disappearing into the darkness of the room beyond. A faint_click_, followed by the thumping noise of a soft object striking the ground reached the Gargoyle's sensitive ears. Goliath doubted that the noises would have been audible to a human at all. He clung tightly to the shadows, certain now that the door was rigged with a trap of some sort, possibly the windows as well. In part for this reason, the building merited further investigation. His mind made up, Goliath took off from his perch, gliding gracefully for the target rooftop. He intended to enter by a method that would have been highly impractical for the defense of the building. Impractical, that is, the intruder in question was merely human, lacking the strength and sharp talons of a Gargoyle warrior.
Goliath reached the roof. Choosing a spot near the center, he prepared to strike at the tarred surface.
The sky began to glow a deep red, strongest in the east, heralding the oncoming dawn. Goliath cursed to himself. He would be no use to Elisa if he suddenly turned to stone only minutes into his rescue attempt. With no alternative but to sit and wait for dusk to come, the mighty Gargoyle growled low in his throat, and prepared for his stone sleep. He settled low on the rooftop, out of sight of anyone on the streets or in the alley below. The dawning sun crept over the edge of the horizon, and Goliath froze, his body locked in stone to await the return of night.
* * * * *
Elisa crouched low behind a pool table, keeping as quiet as possible. She had escaped her bonds, cutting her wrists and hands several times in doing so. She had searched the basement, and made her way upstairs to the ground floor undetected. Even so, she was still trapped in the Joker's latest hideout. It was just after dawn, and most of his gang's members were asleep. There were two guards, both in the room she needed to cross in order to leave. Her only weapon was the knife she had used to free herself.
*Shit,* she thought. *I gotta get out of here!* The two men guarding the front entrance were both armed, and both were significantly larger than Elisa. The bearded man spoke to his watch partner, and Elisa held her breath, listening closely.
"You want some coffee?" He asked, yawning.
"Sure. Lots of sugar, other than that, I don't care," the other replied. The first man who had spoken left the room, disappearing from Elisa's view. The other man seemed to remember something, because he perked up, and followed the first man through the doorway.
"Hey, Bones! Wait a minute! I gotta tell ya what happened . . ."
That was all the opportunity Elisa needed. Moving as quickly and quietly as she could, she moved to the door, and tried it.
*Locked!*
Her mind racing, she looked at the large picture windows, which were boarded up. *No, wait!* The window on the door wasn't boarded up, only shaded. She could try to break it, and climb out that way, but she'd definitely injure herself in doing so. If Elisa hurt herself badly enough that she couldn't run at full speed, she knew she'd be caught again. Elisa desperately looked around the room for anything she could use.
*Pool table*.
The implication of the pool table took a moment to sink in, but then Elisa realized why it was significant. Quickly, she used the knife to cut out a large piece of the table's green felt covering.
Seconds later, Elisa heard the men returning. She frantically finished her final cut, dropped the knife, and threw the roughly cut piece of fabric over her head. Just as the two men re-entered the room, but before either one could register what they were seeing, Elisa took a running dive through the window in the upper half of the door. The glass shattered it with a dramatic crash as she went through it. Elisa rolled, bruising her shoulders and buttocks on the concrete steps. The awkwardness of the maneuver was compounded by the presence of the improvised shield, though it served her well and protected her from most of the breaking glass. She tipped to the side, hitting her head on a fire hydrant. Elisa, cursing away the pain, shook herself free from the fabric, got to her feet, and ran for her life as fast as her legs would carry her.
"Boss ain't gonna be happy about this," Bones commented, watching the dark haired woman as she raced off down the street.
"C'mon, let's get her!" His partner exclaimed, trying to push past Bones to go through the door.
"Can you run that fast?" Bones asked simply. When the other man stayed silent, he continued. "Didn't think so. Me neither. She's not gonna get far, not in her condition. Anyway, Mister J has a little something waitin' for her. He always does."
The two men started cleaning up the mess, both thinking about what they would tell their boss. Joker might have a contingency plan. It was also entirely possible that he was simply not going to be happy about this.
Elisa ran, and ran, and ran. Her legs felt like they were on fire, but she kept pushing, urging her protesting muscles to keep going faster, keep taking her further from the Joker's reach. Everywhere she went, Elisa heard or imagined she could hear the sound of running feet behind her. She kept running for several blocks, until her fear began to subside. Exhausted, her bloodstream saturated with adrenaline, Elisa stopped on the sidewalk just outside another alleyway, breathing heavily. Her lungs burned, and her legs echoed the sentiment, adding to it the feeling that her knees had suddenly and inexplicably turned from bone and cartilage to a substance very much like jelly.
Elisa heard voices, and she held her breath again, as painful as it was to do so. She could not determine to whom the voices belonged or what they were saying, only that they were getting closer. Panicked, Elisa climbed into a nearby dumpster to hide and see who was approaching before revealing her position. As she climbed in, Elisa was greeted by a blast of rancid stench. She hesitated for a second, balanced on the edge of the acrid pit. Her already exhausted muscles betrayed her, and she slipped, cracking her head on the edge of the dumpster and tumbling in, landing on her back with her head propped up in the corner of the receptacle. She was sitting in a puddle of unspeakable stench that almost completely covered her legs. Strangely, Elisa didn't mind it so much, as she drifted away into blissful unconsciousness.
tbc . . .
Author: Lord Maedhros
Rating: R (just to be safe)
Fandom: Gargoyles/ Batman Crossover
Summary: Batman/Gargoyles crossover. Goliath will do anything for Elisa's safety, but strengths become liabilities when one loses control. . . something the Joker is adept at exploiting.
Feedback: Any you are willing to provide would be very much appreciated
Archive: Anywhere, just tell me first
Genre: Action/Adventure
Disclaimer: All related characters are the property of Disney/ DC Comics. They are NOT my characters (as cool as that would be), nor are they being used for profit of any kind. As always, hats off to Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the immortal creators of Batman.
Warnings: Violence; maybe some spoilers but just in the general sense, nothing particular
Author's notes: I am a confirmed Batman freak, and reading Gargoyles fan fiction (which I started doing last year) got me to thinking of how cool it might be to see the two together. A good deal of my Gargoyles background is fanfic based, but any relevant Batman history or character background is based on the comics, not TV or movie-verse.
* * = thoughts
Chapter 3: Strangers in a Strange Land
Goliath alighted on a broad ledge, eighty stories above the streets of Gotham City. His massive jaw set in determination; he looked down at the activity below. *So like New York,* he thought. *And yet it is still so alien to me*. He growled to himself. *Where in the name of Oberon do I start?* Goliath was worried about Elisa, and frustrated at his lack of familiarity with the city. He had the presence of mind, however, to at least try to stay calm. Goliath knew he would probably never find Elisa by a random search of the city.
Goliath paced the ledge, thinking and trying to calm his mind. The claws on his toes left deep puncture marks in the surface of the roof as he did so. If only he could find some way of tracking Elisa, he would feel better about his chances of success. Loose threads from clothing could come off on sharp branches, but they were far from any forest. Goliath thought of attempting to scent-track her, but considered that to be a last resort. His olfactory senses were keen, but he doubted they would be sharp enough for such a task. *But what else could I do?* He mused. *Humans don't leave footprints in the roads here*.
With little else in the way of a viable option, Goliath decided that any chance was better than none. He checked the street map Lexington had provided him, on which was marked the hotel Elisa had been staying in. Memorizing the location relative to the building he was on, Goliath folded the paper carefully back into his belt. The powerful Gargoyle let out a deep, rumbling roar of frustration, spread his wings, and took off.
As he'd feared, Goliath found that Elisa's room had been thoroughly searched by Gotham's police detectives. The Joker had taken her, then. The room was dark, and all the objects in the room had been left as they were, for the purpose of evidence preservation.
*That means Elisa's clothing is still here*.
Goliath found Elisa's suitcase. He leaned close, and inhaled deeply, saturating his nostrils with her scent. He tested his senses before leaving the room, unknowingly searching out her pattern of movement during her struggle with the Joker. He followed the trail to the door, but hesitated before opening it. Goliath was not accustomed to allowing humans to see him in such a place. However, he had to know which exit they used, and he had to keep Elisa's scent fresh in his nostrils. Once he lost the scent, he knew he would not be able to find it again.
Goliath opened the door, and caught a new scent. Faint, but distinctively chemical, and strangely familiar. He tried to place the odor . . . and the answer hit him.
*Chloroform*.
Not that the name mattered, especially to a Gargoyle, but Elisa had taught him what it was, and what it was used for. With a much stronger scent to search for, and bolstered confidence, Goliath set off down the hall, following Elisa's scent.
The chloroform scent trail went cold a block and a half away from the hotel. This in itself was frustrating, but he'd lost Elisa's scent at the end of the hall, and at least the stronger scent of the chloroform had given him a general direction in which to take his search.
*Bronx would be useful here,* he thought, regretting his decision to refuse the support of his clan. He'd made the same mistake before, with nearly unspeakable results. As this thought crossed the warrior's mind, another building suffered under his stone-rending claws.
The large Gargoyle climbed the building in front of him for a better view of the area. He used the roof as a launching point, spreading his wings and gliding low along the street. Goliath used his new position to scan the buildings as he passed, looking for clues. The street held little of any interest to most honest people, with just a few struggling businesses, some low-income housing, and several abandoned buildings, most of them unmarked except for the spray painted gang logos on them. He gained altitude, and was beginning to angle away when he heard the sounds of a struggle in one of the nearby alleyways. As agitated as he was, Goliath was still unwilling to let innocent people suffer. He dove back towards the street.
A group of four young men were harassing a middle-aged shopkeeper, apparently just after he had closed his store. Two of the men had wooden bats, the third had a knife; and the fourth was armed with a gun. Under any normal circumstances, Goliath would have simply scared the street punks off, no physical contact required.
Goliath's present state of mind left him in no condition to react normally.
"Hey, geezer, c'mon! Just let us in for a few minutes, and we won't hurt you, 'kay? Please?" One of the four men said mockingly. He menaced the shopkeeper with his bat. The other three laughed, advancing on the older man.
A low, inarticulate growl, louder and deeper than that of even the biggest dog, caused the four to stop in their tracks. The shopkeeper broke and ran; too terrified to wonder why his tormentors weren't pursuing him. The four young men turned, slowly, to see what had made the noise.
Blank white eyes burned from the deepest part of the shadows, and the faint backdrop of light from outside the alleyway silhouetted Goliath's enormous frame. His sharp teeth were bared in a savage snarl, and his wings curved forward to fit in the narrow alleyway, slightly more visible than the rest of him. Goliath formed a truly terrifying image, one that would haunt the four men's nightmares for weeks to come. Panicked, the man with the gun fired, but his fear caused the bullet to go too high, missing over the right shoulder of the lunging Gargoyle.
The shooter never got a second chance. Goliath's clawed hand shot out, grabbing the gun and crushing it in an instant, along with the hand that held it. The man screamed as the bones in his right hand were reduced to splinters, and Goliath let him go, throwing him forwards into one of his friends. The gang's leader dropped to the ground in pain, shrieking and clutching at his mangled hand, unable even to let go of the now useless gun. The second attacker took a wild swing at Goliath's head with a baseball bat. The Gargoyle caught it easily in his right hand, splintering the weapon with his claws. Goliath snarled at him, roaring and spitting like a fighting-mad bear. He pulled the bat to his left and downwards across his body, then returned it upwards in a powerful backhanded blow that lifted the young man clear off his feet, sending him into the brick wall of the building. He did not get up. Without waiting for the knife-wielder to attack him, Goliath stepped forward, bringing his left hand around and smashing the man's face with one solid blow from his sledgehammer fist. The fourth member of the defeated team chose discretion over valor, dropping his bat and taking off down the alleyway at full speed. He skidded around a corner, and disappeared from view.
Goliath let him go. The bare brick walls, a small door with a light, and large piles of trash were all that adorned the small space. The apparent leader of the small group was now motionless on the ground, propped up on one elbow and bent over his injured hand. Cautiously, Goliath approached with the intent of checking the man's vital signs. As the warrior neared the object of his investigation, a subtle whispering from the most primal part of his mind made him stop.
The man with the mangled hand was laughing.
Goliath backed away involuntarily. The man was giggling to himself, almost inaudibly, as though Goliath's abuse of his hand was the butt of some twisted, private joke. He started to stand; not appearing to feel the pain that such a wound should have been causing him. Suspicious, Goliath made a show of leaving; all the while keeping his senses trained on the odd little man. He scaled the side of the building with ease, reached the roof, and looked down into the alleyway again. The man was moving now, shuffling deeper into the darkness of the alley, laughing in low tones and continually glancing at his useless hand. The laugh was hollow, detached, as though the man was severely inebriated of alcohol and watching something amusing on television. Goliath followed him, sticking to the shadows. The man staggered on, for almost the length of the block, before turning to the back door of a decrepit old joke and novelty shop, long since out of business and closed down. He entered, disappearing into the darkness of the room beyond. A faint_click_, followed by the thumping noise of a soft object striking the ground reached the Gargoyle's sensitive ears. Goliath doubted that the noises would have been audible to a human at all. He clung tightly to the shadows, certain now that the door was rigged with a trap of some sort, possibly the windows as well. In part for this reason, the building merited further investigation. His mind made up, Goliath took off from his perch, gliding gracefully for the target rooftop. He intended to enter by a method that would have been highly impractical for the defense of the building. Impractical, that is, the intruder in question was merely human, lacking the strength and sharp talons of a Gargoyle warrior.
Goliath reached the roof. Choosing a spot near the center, he prepared to strike at the tarred surface.
The sky began to glow a deep red, strongest in the east, heralding the oncoming dawn. Goliath cursed to himself. He would be no use to Elisa if he suddenly turned to stone only minutes into his rescue attempt. With no alternative but to sit and wait for dusk to come, the mighty Gargoyle growled low in his throat, and prepared for his stone sleep. He settled low on the rooftop, out of sight of anyone on the streets or in the alley below. The dawning sun crept over the edge of the horizon, and Goliath froze, his body locked in stone to await the return of night.
* * * * *
Elisa crouched low behind a pool table, keeping as quiet as possible. She had escaped her bonds, cutting her wrists and hands several times in doing so. She had searched the basement, and made her way upstairs to the ground floor undetected. Even so, she was still trapped in the Joker's latest hideout. It was just after dawn, and most of his gang's members were asleep. There were two guards, both in the room she needed to cross in order to leave. Her only weapon was the knife she had used to free herself.
*Shit,* she thought. *I gotta get out of here!* The two men guarding the front entrance were both armed, and both were significantly larger than Elisa. The bearded man spoke to his watch partner, and Elisa held her breath, listening closely.
"You want some coffee?" He asked, yawning.
"Sure. Lots of sugar, other than that, I don't care," the other replied. The first man who had spoken left the room, disappearing from Elisa's view. The other man seemed to remember something, because he perked up, and followed the first man through the doorway.
"Hey, Bones! Wait a minute! I gotta tell ya what happened . . ."
That was all the opportunity Elisa needed. Moving as quickly and quietly as she could, she moved to the door, and tried it.
*Locked!*
Her mind racing, she looked at the large picture windows, which were boarded up. *No, wait!* The window on the door wasn't boarded up, only shaded. She could try to break it, and climb out that way, but she'd definitely injure herself in doing so. If Elisa hurt herself badly enough that she couldn't run at full speed, she knew she'd be caught again. Elisa desperately looked around the room for anything she could use.
*Pool table*.
The implication of the pool table took a moment to sink in, but then Elisa realized why it was significant. Quickly, she used the knife to cut out a large piece of the table's green felt covering.
Seconds later, Elisa heard the men returning. She frantically finished her final cut, dropped the knife, and threw the roughly cut piece of fabric over her head. Just as the two men re-entered the room, but before either one could register what they were seeing, Elisa took a running dive through the window in the upper half of the door. The glass shattered it with a dramatic crash as she went through it. Elisa rolled, bruising her shoulders and buttocks on the concrete steps. The awkwardness of the maneuver was compounded by the presence of the improvised shield, though it served her well and protected her from most of the breaking glass. She tipped to the side, hitting her head on a fire hydrant. Elisa, cursing away the pain, shook herself free from the fabric, got to her feet, and ran for her life as fast as her legs would carry her.
"Boss ain't gonna be happy about this," Bones commented, watching the dark haired woman as she raced off down the street.
"C'mon, let's get her!" His partner exclaimed, trying to push past Bones to go through the door.
"Can you run that fast?" Bones asked simply. When the other man stayed silent, he continued. "Didn't think so. Me neither. She's not gonna get far, not in her condition. Anyway, Mister J has a little something waitin' for her. He always does."
The two men started cleaning up the mess, both thinking about what they would tell their boss. Joker might have a contingency plan. It was also entirely possible that he was simply not going to be happy about this.
Elisa ran, and ran, and ran. Her legs felt like they were on fire, but she kept pushing, urging her protesting muscles to keep going faster, keep taking her further from the Joker's reach. Everywhere she went, Elisa heard or imagined she could hear the sound of running feet behind her. She kept running for several blocks, until her fear began to subside. Exhausted, her bloodstream saturated with adrenaline, Elisa stopped on the sidewalk just outside another alleyway, breathing heavily. Her lungs burned, and her legs echoed the sentiment, adding to it the feeling that her knees had suddenly and inexplicably turned from bone and cartilage to a substance very much like jelly.
Elisa heard voices, and she held her breath again, as painful as it was to do so. She could not determine to whom the voices belonged or what they were saying, only that they were getting closer. Panicked, Elisa climbed into a nearby dumpster to hide and see who was approaching before revealing her position. As she climbed in, Elisa was greeted by a blast of rancid stench. She hesitated for a second, balanced on the edge of the acrid pit. Her already exhausted muscles betrayed her, and she slipped, cracking her head on the edge of the dumpster and tumbling in, landing on her back with her head propped up in the corner of the receptacle. She was sitting in a puddle of unspeakable stench that almost completely covered her legs. Strangely, Elisa didn't mind it so much, as she drifted away into blissful unconsciousness.
tbc . . .