Chapter 2: The Situation

Around 3 in the morning, the RV pulled up into the lot of Moonflower Gas Station. The dusty old thing bleched smoke from its tailpipe as it crawled to a stop near one of the pumps. Once it was still, the door to its right side swung open and three men marched out. One was a skinny young man with black hair and glasses, a stern, calculating look upon his face. One was an older gentleman whose eyes seemed predatory, as if on the constant lookout for easy prey. Between them, another middle-aged man stood, rocking ashen-black hair and a chin that could kill.

This man was Ashely J. Williams and the other two knuckleheads were the reason he was in America's armpit in the wee hours of the morning. Groaning, he walked with the bi-speckled man while the older gentlemen stayed behind to pump the gas.

"The name's Ash. Housewares salesman. Engineer. and most of all, The Chosen One." He began his internal monologue as he gravitated toward the hot foodstuffs. Corn dogs, burritos, chicken strips, all basking under the warm glow of an intense heater. Ash could feel his mouth practically water at the sight of it all. "It's been 20 odd years, give or take, since I made that fateful trip to Knowby Cabin, listened to the worst audiobook in the world, and lost everything I ever loved to a bunch of scumfucks that call themselves Deadites. My life, my right hand, even my Linda, all taken from me that day by the Evil that rested in that cellar." Ash raised his metal gauntlet to his face, taking in the cold metal it was comprised of, taking note of every squeak and creak it made as he flexed his fingers and sighed. From behind him, the man with the glasses who was once known in another life as Dr. Herbert West, noticed Ash's meloncoloy but left him to his own devices, mostly because he didn't care.

"One could say that was also the day I met my destiny, falling from the sky through that dammed portal and becoming the Chosen One. But what no one ever tells you is that destiny is a bitch with beefy arms and a chin full of stubble. Oh, I could have stayed in that time, could have even been King, but something told me I would be needed here in the here and now. Sure, I've gotten the occasional Deadite infestation to contend with now and then but so far, it's been a quiet couple of decades." Ash turned to Hebert as the former college student carefully studied the young brunette working the register and not in the way Ash had done earlier. "And then these two jackasses just show up at my door one night and suddenly I'm on an endless road trip in search of that damned book! I still remember it as if it were yesterday...

"The Tall Man?" Ash asked. "I'm sorry but...The Tall Man?" There was a hint of amusement in his voice. "I've heard of Mothman, Bunny Man, Goatman. But Tall Man? Geez, are they running out of adjectives in the naming department or something? What's next, Man Man?"

"We understand your skepticism, Mr. Williams," Hannibal replied as he took a seat on the table where Ash was planning to enjoy his Pre-Breakfast. "But I implore you to listen to us. The entire world as we know it could be at risk."

"I've heard that one before," Ash muttered as he turned the stove off and took a seat in front of Hannibal. Hubert took a seat next to his colleague and placed the sphere on the table.

"The Tall Man has been roaming throughout the country for the past decade or so, drifting from town to town," Hubert explained. "He passes himself off as a mortician and robs the bodies from the graveyard of the towns he visits. Once he's depleted the graveyards, he starts coming for the living folks as well."

"Jesus Christ!" Ash exclaimed. "What for? I-Is he turning them into Deadites?"

Hubert shook his head. "No. The Tall Man seems to have his own power over death, similar to the Necronomicon but nowhere near as quick."

Hannibal continued from there. "It's a quite fascinating process really. You see, he scoops the brain, the mind out of his victims, whether they be alive or dead, and then crushes their bodies down into the size of a dwarf The resulting creatures are called Lurkers and while small they are strong and not usually without vast numbers."

"So basically, super strong undead dwarfs," Ash sighed. "Great. What about the brains? Does he do something with them?"

"This," Hubert picked up the sphere he had brought with him and presented it to Ash. "This is what's known as a Sentinel." He explained. "The Tall Man traps the minds of his victims inside these objects and uses them as weapons."

"Weapons?" Ash suppressed another laugh. "And pray tell, how the hell some overgrown billard ball serves as a weapon?"

"Well, you see, Mr. Williams-" As Hubert was about to explain the danger that the Sentinel possessed, the sphere began to tremble, causing the entire table to shake with it. All three men got up as the sphere rolled around on the table, Ash knocking back his chair in the process. "What the hell is this?" He asked. "What did you knuckleheads do?"

"Nothing!" Hubert shouted. "W-We thought the Sentinel was dead, inactive!"

"It would seem we were wrong," Hannibal said calmly. "Dead wrong."

All of a sudden, the sphere came to life and shot up into the air, producing a horrid buzzing noise that made Ash cover his ears. Or rather, only his left ear as his gatulet was off, leaving no protection for his right ear. Upon realizing this, Ash grunted and marched to the corner of the living room, grabbing the broom that happened to lay there.

"Wait! What are you doing!?" Hubert cried.

Ash ignored his late-night guest as he whacked at the Sentinel again and again with the broom. The humming sphere moved side to side to avoid his improvised weapon and Ash became more manic, swinging his broom all over the place. Hannibal and Hubert had to duck underneath the table to avoid getting hit.

"Come on, you stupid ball! Come here!" Ash hissed. Finally, after several swipes and a broken ceiling fan, Ash landed a hit on the sphere and sent it flying into the corner where he had picked up the broom. "Ha! Got you now, sucker!"

"Ash, be careful!" Hannibal warned. "You have no idea what you're dealing with!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ash replied in a mocking voice. "So what's next? Is a Pokeman supposed to come out or something?"

The Sentinel rolled on the ground for a few seconds, displaying a light dent on its surface from where Ash's broom had stuck. Then it shot up into the air again, the buzzing louder and, somehow, angrier than before. It launched itself at Ash who took a defensive stance with the broom before him. "Alright, sucker! Show me what you got!"

As if to answer the Chosen One's taunt, The Sentinel suddenly produced two oddly shaped blades. Within the middle of these blades was a moving screw, all speeding toward Ash faster than it took him to change his haughty expression into a fearful one.

"Oh no." Ash threw himself back just as the Sentinel smashed through his broom, sending shards of plastic and metal everywhere. He watched as it flew to the end of the RV and circled back toward him. "Dear God, it's coming!" Ash screamed as he scrambled to his feet and ran toward the other side of the trailer. "The trunk! I got to get to the trunk!" Ash's thoughts were interrupted by the soft humming of the rapidly approaching Sentinel and, left with very little choice, threw himself on the ground again, this landing on his stomach.

The Sentinel flew over him, nearly taking out some of his hair in the process. Ash looked up as it started to circle back to him. By this point in time, Hubert and Hannibal had both gotten out from behind the table and tried to get the murder ball's attention.

"Over here!" Hubert cried.

The Sentinel seemed to fall for the taunt as it raced toward Hubert's stomach, intending to gut him. Before it could make it to the mad scientist, however, Hannibal suddenly caught it in his left hand. The Sentinel's drill right to work burrowing through the man's hand, a fine spray of wood shavings erupting from the back of it. Hannibal grunted as he felt himself pushed back by the force of the Sentinel. Hubery grabbed Hannibal's arm and tried to pry the sphere away, only to pull it back with a yelp of pain as it produced two more blades from the back that cut into his palm.

As this was happening, Ash had crawled toward his trunk and flipped it open. He reached inside and after a few seconds of frantic rummaging found what he was looking for. "Hey, Dunderhead!" He called to the Sentinel. "Come and get me!"

The Sentinel yanked itself free from Hannibal's hand, completely destroying the thing in the process, and flew toward Ash, buzzing like an angry hornet. Rather than freak out this time, Ash simply offered a cocky smile as he pulled his sawed-off shotgun out of the trunk, fully loaded and ready to party. "Eat this." He said as he pulled the trigger, blasting the Sentinel into tiny, charred pieces of metal. Hubert and Hannibal watched in amazement as the resulting cloud dissipated and Ash blew off the remaining smoke from his barrel. "Bullseye!"

"Incredible. Simply incredible." Hubert said. "I can see how you were able to fend off the Deadites so easily."

"Trust me, pal, Deadites are a hell of a lot nastier than that softball from hell." Ash got to his feet. "What I wanna know is how why that Tall Asshole is turning people's minds into those things?"

"For lack of a less cliched reason, to take over the world," Hubert said as he fixed up his glasses.

"He's been at this for years now," Hannibal said. "And now we have reason to believe that soon enough, he will make the first major move against humanity. Lately, he's been gathering allies. Some normal humans, such as us, others of more...exotic origins."

"Ok, ok. I think I'm starting to get the picture." Ash said. "But where does the Necronomicon fit into all this?"

"As I mentioned before, The Tall Man has his own powers over death but they pale in comparison to those of the Necronomicon. If he were to combine his existing powers with those from the Book of the Dead,"

"We would essentially have a walking God of Death on our hands." Hannibal finished. "Who would usher in the end of the world as we know it."

"You're one of the only humans who've ever taken on the forces of the Necronomicon and won," Hubert said. "You're the best chance we have against this threat."

"Alright, poindexter. Let's clear a few things up!" Ash shouted. "First of all, I didn't win against the Necronomicon. Yeah, I stopped the Army of Darkness from taking over the world and all but I lost everything the day I first heard that damned book. My car, my girl, even my hand! I didn't win against the Necronomicon! I survived it! And another thing, something doesn't add up here! How come you knuckleheads know so much about me? Because I'm telling you right now, I don't remember getting any kind of book deal!"

Hubert and Hannibal looked at each other for a moment before the former continued. "In truth, we don't exactly know."

"Huh?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"It's like this." Hubert began. "Before long, me and my acquaintance hardly even knew each other. Then we both got a call from someone calling themselves R."

"We still do not know who they are or where they currently reside," Hannibal spoke up. "Only that they knew plenty about us. One could say too much."

"We were both led to individual towns where the Tall Man had invaded and got to experience the carnage firsthand. We barely escaped."

"Once his otherwise outrageous claims about the Tall Man became undeniable, R asked us to meet in the same town over. He himself never showed up but he did leave behind a message, one concerning you, Mr. Willaims." Hannibal said

"He told us everything. About the Necronomicon, the Deadites, and even the time travel. Both of us were skeptical but given what we saw in those towns, what the Tall Man was capable of, we had no choice but to look into it."

"We understand the burden and inconvenience we are placing on you but we ask you on behalf of all mankind, will you aid us, Mr. Willaims?" Hannibal asked.

Ash grew still, pondering all that had happened tonight, all that could happen once they confronted this Tall Man the others were on about. "Just riddle me this," He spoke, "How do I know you assholes aren't just after the book yourselves? How do I know you won't just stab me in the back once this is all over."

"Technically speaking, you don't know," Hannibal confessed. "But the fact remains you are better equipped to handle this situation than either of us. If it comforts you, you are more than free to kill us if you grow even the least bit suspect."

Hubert nodded in agreement. It was clear they had been talking about this and expected this outcome. Whoever these guys were, they were smart. Too smart for Ash's liking.

With a heavy sigh, Ash finally relented, "Ok, Let's cut this Tall Man down to size."

"That was a year ago," Ash thought. "And since then, we've been on a wild goose chase. That R asshole hasn't made contact since I joined and we've been following false lead after leading, looking for him. It's enough to make a guy's head spin." Ash sighed as he brought up his snacks to the counter and took out his wallet, paying the clerk an extra few dollars for the gas. "And keep the change, sugar." He said with a wink, causing the girl to blush and giggle as she placed the money in the register. Ash snickered as he grabbed the snacks and headed outside.

"Yep! Still got it!"

Hannibal was just about finished putting gas in the RV when Ash and Hubert entered the vehicle. After a few minutes, Hannibal followed them inside and the behemoth took off into the lonely roads. Ash was behind the wheel, a corndog in his mouth while Hubert and Hannibal rested on the sofas, Ash popped the snack out of his mouth and pondered if he should bring it up now, that he was starting to get just a little tired of searching for a guy who could very well be dead by now. Just as he turned to speak up to his partners in crime, the CB radio before him suddenly blared to life, startling him and causing the corndog to fall out of his hand and onto the floor. He spent a few seconds looking mournfully at the ruined treat before angrily picking up the CB. "Yeah, who the hell is this?"

"Forgive me if this is a bad time. I've been meaning to reach you for a while now."

Hannibal and Hubert exchanged amazed glances at each other as they approached Ash. "R?" Hubert asked. "Is that you?"

Ash gave Hubert a shocked look, which only grew more shocked when the stranger on the radio confirmed his suspicion.

"That's right. It's R."

"Hold on!" Ash shouted. "You're R?" He gritted his teeth. "And just where the hell have you been for all this time!? We've only been combing the entire countryside looking for you!"

"Ash, calm yourself!" Hannibal said.

"I promise to explain everything but not here, not over the radio," R said. "We need to meet in person."

"In person?" Hubert asked. "Where?"

"At the nearest motel to your current location," R said. "The Bates Motel."