The old, beat up, metal door swung open with such force it rattled some plaster from the ceiling as Solo charged into his dressing room. Who the hell was that freak? He wondered as he scrubbed his face with water from the sink. Calming slightly, he tried to piece together the events that lead up to his escape to this small, sad excuse for a dressing room. He and his band, "Lynched", had been playing their set when he glanced into the audience. The man he saw staring at him had really creeped him out. Granted "Nexus", the club they regularly preformed at, wasn't exactly the gathering point for the blond-haired, blue-eyed, football playing, cheerleading, honor-roll achieving youth of America, but this guy was different. Insanely tall, hunched over slightly around his neck, and if he wasn't mistaken, Solo could have sworn he saw the dude's eyes glowing red.
Taking another calming breath, he'd almost gotten his heart rate back to normal, when arms lassoed around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace. Solo tensed, ready to fight off his attacker if need be when suddenly they spoke. "Dude that was fuckin' awesome, can I have your autograph!" Duo, his mind supplied as he began to calm once again. Duo, noticing that his twin wasn't responding to his teasing but was instead falling onto old street habits and preparing to fight off danger tooth and nail, leaned back. "Hey, 'Nisan, you ok?" He asked stepping back and turning his brother around to examine him.
Short, spiked, chestnut brown hair fell into light blue almost purple eyes. His face, identical in structure with Duo's own, was frowning deeply, showing his immense discomfort with his current situation. His skin was pale, throwing the black swirling tribal tattoos on his arms into stark relief. Solo worked out daily and, as a result, was much bulkier than his smaller, younger twin. This, combined with the knowledge that they'd lived their first few years of life on the street, threw Duo into a tailspin. What could have possible startled his brother this much?
"There was a guy in the audience, a real freak, kept staring at me."
"Well I hate to tell you this but have you seen the people that come here? You guys don't exactly share a fan base with Kenny G."
"This guy was different! He was this big, hulking, monster of a man!"
"Hey! That reminds me! Grab your pay we've got to visit our landlord before he decides to kick us out!"
At this, Duo grabbed his twin's arm and began to drag him from the club. Solo followed behind his younger brother, watching the circular tribal tattoo centered in his upper back as he was guided through the dingy halls of the night club. He was happy that his little brother was so proud of the design he'd drawn for him. Duo showed it off every chance he got, in fact, Solo believed Duo had more shirts with a low cut back than normal T-shirts!
"Great set man!" Some guy with a mohawk, leaning against a wall, shouted as they passed. Solo stopped momentarily to smack forearms with him before Duo was dragging him along again.
"Come on Solo hurry up! If we don't make it there soon we're going to be living in a box." At this Solo grinned and pulled his twin to a stop as he spun him around. Duo's long, thigh length braid swung around in a wide arc, almost taking off the head of an innocent bystander, before coming to rest against his back once more.
His little brother was truly a marvel. While they shared the same facial features, Duo managed to make them look delicate and feminine. His eyes, unlike Solo's which were a step away from being purple, were a true violet. "Aww…Duo, you never complained before."
At this his smaller twin scowled. "I'm nineteen now Solo, too old to be living like a bum. Besides I'm going to need the study room when I start college."
Neither Duo nor Solo noticed the strange man that had caused the latter such fright earlier, was making his way toward them during their entire conversation. Reaching out, his long fingers grasped Solo around the wrist and…were quickly knocked away by his younger brother. "Hey! No autographs!" He spat as he once again began to pull his brother to the door. "Creep." He muttered once they were a safe distance away.
Finally past the threshold of "Nexus", the twins waved good-bye to Jonsey; the bouncer stationed outside, and continued their walk toward the alley's exit. Suddenly a figure literally burst through the front doors and sent said doors crashing into the wall of the next building. Turning, Solo immediately recognized the man who'd been staring at him throughout their entire final song. "Oh God." He whispered as the behemoth turned toward Jonsey.
The bouncer shook a fist at him, though you could tell he was about two seconds from wetting himself. "N-now, don't make me have to hurt you." He stuttered, and for his efforts, the stranger pulled one massive hand back and used it to knock Jonsey's head from his body. Seeing this Duo began to pull with all his might on his brother's arm. "Solo come on!" He shouted as the figure turned back toward them. Solo began to run as well once he saw the monstrous man's cloths burst into flames.
In the strangers place stood a monster straight out of a horror movie, tall, brownish green skin, hunched over, long arms with four longer fingers attached, and a circle of spikes rising from its back. Roaring, the demon began to lope after them. The twins were nearly to the end of the alley when Duo tripped over an old bum who'd set up shop right before him. Falling to the ground he looked up to see Solo stopping and turning back. "DUO!" He yelled as he grabbed his twin's hand and pulled him forward.
Neither noticed that the demonic figure had leaped toward them until it had knocked Solo away. Duo gasped as he was crushed beneath the weight to the monster on top of him. He looked up in time to see their attacker move toward his brother. The last thing Duo saw was the thing taking Solo into its monstrous grasp and roaring before it leaped straight up into the sky. With that Duo passed into darkness, his own blood pooling around him.
TBC…
So what did you guys think? If you haven't guessed already, this story is based on the PS2 game "Primal". I love that game, and whilst I was playing it I started to get this wonderful idea for a story. Now remember this is only the Prologue, so please tell me if you'd like to see more. Ok on to the footnotes!
If any of you have played "Primal" you'll have noticed that I didn't follow the lines verbatim from the game. That's because I'm going to be changing a lot of things. You'll see them as the story progresses so please don't flame me saying I'm not being true to the game. For any of you who haven't played the game, I'll give you an example of one of these changes. In the game, the two characters that were featured in this segment were Jen and Lewis. Jen is the heroine and she spends the duration of the game attempting to get her boyfriend Lewis back. That's right I made them twins because I've got another love interest set up for Duo already. You'll just have to wait and see how they meet!
In the game, Lewis' band doesn't have a name. This kind of irked me. While I love the game to death, the writers left a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions which pissed me off. I'm going to be making up my own answers to those questions, hence the changes. Now, why did I pick the name "Lynched" for Solo's band? Well that's simple; it was for my little sister. You see a good friend of hers died in his sleep about a week or so ago. The death was sudden, meaning, even in hindsight, there was nothing leading up to it that would have made you guess he was going to pass. He was a perfectly healthy kid, who went to bed the night before his graduation and never woke up. She told me that he was in two bands but the name of the one he created was "Lynched" so a tribute to him and her, I named Solo's band after his own. I know it's asking a little much but if all you readers could offer a little prayer to him, his family, and friends, I'd really appreciate it. Dustin left too soon.