Uncanny Tales of Crush and Pound 2 Read online

  A holy anger of self-righteousness, which burned greater than any pangs of hunger, wailed up inside of Bat. Unable to contain himself, Bat forced his way through the crowd to face the evil one. Just before he could lay hands on the situation, a light appeared ahead in the darkness. It was a dim white light, but the first real light of hope that he could remember since he had arrived. All of the creatures around him noticed the aura as well. Some were repulsed and fled, while others were mesmerized by the display. Instinctively, Bat pushed ahead to where Sherry knelt in the darkness, and before he could reach and defend her, she leaped to her feet and ran headlong into the glow. Sherry and the white light had merged to become one. In an instant she was gone while the white light remained.

  “She found a way out, I hope,” he thought to himself.

  But Sherry would not be alone.

  **********

  Sherry guzzled down the bottle of water and wiped her chapped lips as she kept her eyes focused on the bizarre dimensional portal in the room. Without warning, a hand reached from beneath the desk and a man crawled out, dazed and bewildered.

  “Senator Fromage?!” Sherry called out in surprise.

  “What’s going on? I don’t understand,” the perplexed politician replied as he rubbed his head. Apparently Sherry had collided with the Senator before slamming into the wall.

  “I’m not sure myself,” she replied as she hobbled over to help Richard Fromage to his feet. As they stood there facing each other, the Senator pointed a finger at Sherry as if something important had just come to mind.

  “You’re the girl, the detective who disappeared a few months back! Where have you been hiding and why have you assaulted me in my own office!” he exclaimed, still not having noticed the hole in space behind his desk. Before he could answer several creatures of green vapor-like substance flew through the portal into the office and through the walls to the outside world. Surprised, the Senator then realized what was happening and howled in anger. “Not yet! I haven’t even finished my term, Drakthos!”

  “Oh, promises, promises,” said Drakthos as he strutted through the portal and onto earth. “Don’t we all make promises, but in the end, find them such a struggle to keep. You can finish your term, just in absentia.”

  “I kept my word, and you took my daughter!” Richard screamed.

  “My services come at a price, or have your forgotten,” replied Drakthos, then he snapped his fingers and two grotesque ant-like creatures crawled through the portal and snatched the Senator and dragged the politician into the abyss kicking and screaming. Appalled, Sherry cringed against the wall and closed her eyes to pray once again for help from above.

  “Child, your prayers allowed me through, and for that I thank you. Now, I really must bring this issue to a close,” the demon said as he changed form into a perfect imitation of Senator Fromage. He then picked up the desk phone and dialed ‘0’. “Yes, operator, this is Senator Fromage. Could you please send security up to my office immediately? A young lady has broken into my office and is threatening me with violence. You’re sending someone? Good, and thank you,” he said as he hung up.

  Driven more now by anger than fear, Sherry slammed the Staff of Helios to the floor, igniting the solar brilliance of the Staff and saturating the room in white light. Thrown backward by the sudden wave of photons, Drakthos’ body returned to its former shape as he shielded his eyes from the glare.

  “Really, do you think you can stop me that easily!” he shouted at her. With outstretched hands he supernaturally formed a murderous grip of darkness that expanded outward from his body, and using the newly fashioned appendage, he slapped the young detective against the wall. With a rush of adrenaline Sherry rose up and ran across the room to within just feet of the demon, and once again she bravely ignited the Staff in his face with significantly improved results. Drakthos was shoved backward into the edge of the portal, and the portal’s edges were now fading. Without hesitation the demon made yet another solid force of darkness in the shape of a hand and swung it out at her; but this time it faded into a shadow and passed across Sherry’s body with no effect. The power of the Staff was negating his magic, and more importantly, the portal between realms was folding inward from the brilliance of the light. With one last effort, the demon lunged at her and raked her arm with his claws, drawing blood and toppling her over in pain. The protective light from the Staff faded to a faint glow, though the damage to the portal appeared to be permanent. The edges were shrinking and shriveling away by the second as Drakthos stood over Sherry with a deadly purpose.

  “I’ve had enough of your insolence. Back into the darkness you will go,” he declared as he reached down with open claws to shovel her into the fading chasm. Before he could lay his hands on her, two arms wrapped around the demon from behind and flung him back into the portal just as it closed, permanently sealing him inside his realm. There before Sherry stood Bat Jackson, dark and frail, and yet behind his gaze was a bloodthirsty madness that brought fear to her heart.

  “Bat,” she murmured caught in his gaze. Then the door to the office burst open and two uniformed guards surged in, clubs in hand and ready for mischief. There was nowhere for Bat to hid, so he ran headlong between the two guards and passed into the hallway and out of the building to the city beyond. One guard followed him out to the street to no avail, while the other remained in the room with Sherry who had collapsed from exhaustion. The guard then called for more help and within minutes the crime scene perimeter was set up, and Sherry Lance was loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. The last thing she could remember seeing as she closed her eyes was the pair of handcuffs shackling her to the stretcher.

  **********

  “Has she been able to communicate?”

  “Just mumbling, really. She was dehydrated and severely burned, but she appears to be recovering since the fever subsided.”

  Sherry could hear the voices discussing her, but her eyelids were so heavy that she could not open them for longer than an instant.

  “Is she waking?”

  “It’s doubtful. Come back in a couple of days, and you may have a chance to talk.”

  **********

  Sherry’s eyelids were still heavy, but she managed to open both enough to see the I.V. tubes in her arm and the blood pressure and pulse monitor beside her bed. The lights in the room were dim, and she figured it must be night time in the hospital, but there were no windows in the room, so she could not be certain. As she sat up in the bed, pain shot through her left arm, and she remembered standing her ground in the fight with the demon, Drakthos. The arm was mobile yet covered in wrappings which were loose on the skin, allowing less painful dressing changes. Leaning on her good arm, she swung her legs off the side of the bed, and she stood on her feet for the first time in what must have been many days. Then she dragged the monitors and I.V. stand to the restroom in the corner of the room.

  When she finished and came out of the restroom, she turned the handle of the door to go out into the hallway, but the hall door was locked and refused to open. Then Sherry remembered fragments of memories from the ambulance ride, how there were handcuffs on her, and for the first time since she had escaped the dark void, she realized that she had fled one prison only to enter another.

  “At least I’m on earth,” she thought to herself.

  **********

  The next morning the nurse and a uniformed guard entered the room, and once Sherry was handcuffed to the bed, the nurse was allowed to perform her duties. Her name tag read “Tabitha”, and upon finishing the dressing changes, Sherry spoke.

  “Thank you. How long have I been here?”

  “Six days, but you’re on the mend.”

  “Why am I handcuffed?”

  There was no reply from Tabitha or the guard. She repeated the question to both of them, and this time the guard answered.

  “Ma’am, the chief will be in here later today. He’s anxio
us to find out why you’re here, too.”

  “Smart ass,” Sherry thought to herself. She supposed the reason for being locked up had something to do with the disappearance of the Senator, which the authorities must have pinned on her and Bat since the real culprit was nowhere to be found.

  “Have I had any visitors?” she asked doubtfully.

  “A lady came a few days ago,” replied Tabitha. “Your boss, right? There was a pale skinned guy with her that had tattoos on his arms.”

  Theresa and Pound, she thought as a small bit of hope began to rise within her.

  “What hospital is this?” she dared to ask.

  “University Hospital in Durham,” Tabitha replied. “They’re keeping you here until you’re better. At first we thought that you were going to lose that arm, but the infection cleared up and the chaplain’s taking credit for that.”

  “Things must have been bad if the chaplain was visiting me.”

  “Don’t you worry. You’re in good hands.” Then Tabitha grasped her hand and slid something metallic into her grip with a wink, and then gently closed Sherry’s fist and motioned for her to put it away. Then she turned and grasped the guard by the arm and pulled his sleeve. “Let’s leave her alone so she can get some rest, okay?” The guard unlocked and removed the handcuffs, and then they both left the room, locking the door from the outside.

  Sherry examined the key and wondered what it was intended for. The handcuff key had been much smaller. “Was it for the hospital room?” she wondered. As her mind began to clear from the many days of sleep and recovery, the cogs began to turn in her mind, and some of the sparks of brilliance she had shown to the DAM began to surface. A plan of escape was forming.

  **********

  “How’s it going, Cedric?” the janitor asked as he mopped the floor along the hallway.

  “Couldn’t be better,” Cedric replied. He lowered his newspaper and pointed at the mop. “Hey, they gave you new tools, huh.”

  “Yeah, three inches wider. I can cover more floor and mop this hall five minutes faster. Gives me more time to read the paper like you.”

  “The job ain’t as easy as you think. Got a real high profile one in here.”

  “I read about that earlier,” George replied and made his way down the hall, swiping the floor back and forth, back and forth. Before he reached the end of the hall, Cedric motioned with his hand for George to walk back down to where he was. When George arrived, Cedric stood up and whispered in his ear.

  “Sure, I can wait right here for you. Nothing will happen while you’re gone,” he answered out loud. Cedric quickly put his finger to his lips to indicate silence. “Sorry,” George responded, and then Cedric walked down the hall to the men’s room and entered. George turned with his back to the room door and looked both ways down the hall. No one was coming either way. Then without turning he knocked on the door and waited. There was no answer so he knocked again and said, “Sherry Lance.” Then he knocked a third time, and this time there was an answer.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “Never mind that. The door will unlock with a key from either side. Unlock the door, and knock me down with it,” George instructed. “The cameras out here will catch everything so you have to make it look like you had no help. Got it?” He listened, and he heard the key unlocking the door, then the door slammed into his back, knocking him forward. For good measure he tripped himself and landed with hands and knees down on the floor. Sherry appeared bewildered, so he mumbled to her, “Up the stairs to the roof.”

  “Whoever he is, I hope he isn’t getting me in worse trouble,” she thought to herself as she ran by the empty nurse station to the stairwell at the end of the hall. The stairs wound up five more floors, so she broke into a run, taking the stairs two at a time occasionally until she made it three floors and gazed back down the center of the stairwell. Just then a door burst open and the sound of booted footsteps pounded up the stairs below. Sherry sprinted up the last two floors as quickly as she could go barefoot, and then she shoved the door open to the outside in the sunlight where there was nowhere to hide.

  “Why did he say to go up here?!” she screamed anxiously to herself, doubting now whether she should have even left the room. She only had a few seconds to act before Cedric would arrive, but she was clueless about where she could hide, or even if she could hide.

  “Sherry!” a voice called. “Behind you!” Over the ledge a head popped up with large, fuzzy ears. “It’s me!”

  “Crush! What are you doing?!”

  “Saving you! Hurry!”

  Sherry quickly ran over to grab the hand that he was holding out from over the ledge, and when she gripped it, Crush yanked her over the ledge and held her by one hand below his waist. Sherry was now suspended with one hand over her head as she dangled several stories over the first floor rooftop situated below. As she swayed in fear, Crush urged her to remain quiet until they were clear of danger. Something about the combination of hanging by one hand and being connected to a man whose other claw held both of them to the side of a building was disconcerting to Sherry to say the least.

  Ten long minutes that seemed like an eternity passed, and Sherry’s arm started to lose feeling, so much so that she could not feel her grip on Crush’s hand any longer. She whispered her concerns frantically to him, and with a frown he said, “We can’t wait any longer. I’ll throw you over the top.” Then he did just as he said, and an instant later Sherry landed on her behind, where she was returned to the roof and solid footing. Without hesitation she scanned the rooftop, and there was no sign of Cedric anywhere. In the meantime, Crush had scaled over the top and was crouched on the ledge.

  “We’ve got to get over to that building,” he said pointing to a skyscraper three buildings over. Sherry peered over the ledge again to see a four lane street between them and the next building. Crush started pulling out pieces of metal from a backpack that he was carrying, and within a few seconds he had assembled a crossbow, which he then quickly loaded with an arrow and a thin line. He aimed the weapon at the building and fired. The arrow arced through the air and struck the side of the building between two windows. He pulled the line to test the strength, placed his tools in the backpack, and grabbed Sherry with his free arm. They swung across the street, and he braced his shoulder for the impact which subsequently knocked Sherry’s breath out.

  On the side of the next building, Crush began scaling up the side with his one free hand and both clawed feet. Sherry protested with grunts and moans of fright, but they slowly clambered up the building as shouts came from the rooftop of the hospital as people were now pointing at them from the hospital and the street.

  “Great!” Crush growled.

  When they reached the top of this building, Sherry broke away from Crush and walked away from him.

  “Where are you going?”

  “This is crazy! My arm’s killing me, and you nearly broke my ribs with that last stunt!”

  “Hey, hey, easy. I’m sorry I don’t want to hurt you, but you do know that the Department’s been shut down, and you’re the main suspect in Senator Fromage’s disappearance.

  “Me? I didn’t do anything to him. Some demon called Drakthos took him prisoner in the Senator’s own office. And then Bat threw Drakthos into the portal as it closed . . . leaving Bat and myself to deal with security. Oh,” she said as she comprehended her predicament.

  “Look, we can talk this over later, but Pound and the gang are on the way over with a ‘copter to pick us up on that roof,” he said pointing to the destination two buildings over.

  “I can’t do it! It’s killing me,” she said holding her arm to her side. “Have them drop a ladder down to us here.”

  “Are you crazy?! Look up,” he replied pointing to the massive antenna extending from the rooftop to the sky. The roof was rectangular with stretched cabling extending from every corner and center which then attached to the an
tenna for support. A helicopter could easily be blown into the antenna or cabling by a gust of wind, and the crosswinds were strong that day. “The only way they could snatch us here is with a ladder that’s longer than the antenna, which we don’t have.”

  “Do they have a drop down ladder at all?”

  “Sure, we always carry a twenty-foot rope ladder.”

  “Then have them drop the ladder out here,” she said and gestured out into free space between buildings. “You can anchor us with that line and arrow, and we can swing out there.”

  “You have to have something solid for an arrow to hit and submerge in for it to be considered an anchor.” The arrow had nothing to target in this case. Leaving this issue aside, Crush concentrated on guiding his friends to their location. The helicopter approached from a distance, and Crush called Pound on his cellphone. “We’re two buildings over, at the antenna,” he said and waved his arm. The helicopter slowly trekked over to their location, and Crush yelled above the noise into the phone. “Drop the ladder.” Then Dr. Tatum appeared at the door of the chopper that hovered out between the buildings but slightly higher in altitude. She rolled the rope ladder out the door and down, and it swayed in the wind. Again, Crush grabbed Sherry in one arm and ran out to the middle of the roof. Then he turned and sprinted for the ledge. Sherry screamed in shock when she realized what he was doing, but it was too late for her to do anything about it. They were hurtling out over the ledge in midair.

  “You jerk!!” she screamed while flying out over the city with her eyes closed in terror.

  ###

  Next Issue

  On the run from the authorities, join our heroes as they take their journey on the road as fugitives!!