Hell's Invasion Prologue (Renata Hodges) [IC]

Shayuri · Dec 12, 2015

When Renata rushed the monster, there was fear sizzling in her blood...but it was a thin surface atop a rising wave of something else. Something that played in her veins, plucking them as if they were the strings of a metal guitar hooked up to some killer amp. She felt like a Viking, or a Scottish berserker, running naked into an unwinnable fight and laughing all the way.

"Hey, Chuckles," she said on reaching the spot where the agent and monster tussled on the well-manicured lawns of Dalton Academy. As the creature started to look up, the time was RIPE for an action-movie one-liner. But her brain went totally, tragically blank...and into the awkward silence, all she could supply was the sudden hollow WHOOSH of a fire extinguisher discharging into a flamey demon face!

perrinmiller · Dec 14, 2015

The discharge of CO2 into the creature’s face elicited an unholy scream that was a mixture of pain and rage. There was a sizzling pop as the unnatural heat of the creature was instantly causing the white substance to evaporate. The creature did not appear to be harmed very much though.

However, the creature’s grip on the agent’s hand with the gun was loosened enough for the man to break free. He jabbed the muzzle of his Glock into the side of the creature’s head, just below the ear and pulled the trigger as fast as he could.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

After the third round, the opposite side of the creature’s skull blew out in a splatter of gore, bone, and perhaps brains. The demonic creature collapsed, no longer showing life. The agent shoved the unearthly corpse off of him.

Even wounded and flat on his back, the agent was more concerned about his Primary’s safety. “Miss Renata… put that… down and… get to the… limo.”

Shayuri · Dec 17, 2015

Renata grinned as she pulled the man back to his feet, letting the fire extinguisher clatter to the ground. Maybe it was just the buzz, just the adrenalin, but he seemed absurdly light to her, like a kid would weigh. He gasped in pain, and she quickly let him lean on her shoulder as they headed to the waiting limousine.

It was a little hard to focus. She kept thinking of the moment when the agent had shot the monster in the head. The only way that could have been better was if she'd been the one holding the gun. Crazy images of taking it from him spun around in her head. Taking it and running back into the school and taking down as many of those things as she could before...

Well. Before she ran out of ammo. Or several rushed her at once and tore her apart.

Yeah, that wasn't sane. Renata was pretty sure she wasn't ready to die yet. Even so, it was weird how the thought of it just didn't...scare her...the way it should. It just made her want to kill them even more.

Once inside the limo, scrunched up against Mari and the other girls, she demanded, "What the hell IS all this?"

Hoping that the adults knew? Probably not sane either.

perrinmiller · Dec 21, 2015

With the back of the limo crammed with co-eds it was very crowded. Most them did not really want to know what was going on, just as long as they go out there before more of the creatures came.

Mari said, "That was very brave, Renata. How could you do that? What if..." she could not finish that thought.

The rescued agent was in the front seat and rolled down the window, ready to fire his weapon out if more of the creatures showed. He had no more clue what was going on than Renata. He glanced over at Agent Falcone but she was busy. He turned his attention to looking out for threats and answered Renata's question with, "Exactly. Hell is going on."

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Alexi was talking on her blue tooth earpiece as she started the big car moving again, stomping the accelerator to the floor. "Yes sir... we have her and a few others..."

"Understood... one agent down, sir. Unfortunately, no. His throat was ripped out and we could not have stopped the bleeding in time... Yes sir. But what-..."

"Yes sir."

She was focused on driving and her expression was a tight mask from what Renata could see in the rear view mirror.

Shayuri · Dec 25, 2015

Renata grinned at Mari foolishly, her head still spinning from sheer adrenalin.

"I dunno. I just couldn't...stand there and let it kill him. I mean these guys are here because of me. And I thought, flaming monster, fire extinguisher."

She pushed in alongside Mari and sighed. For a second at least, and utterly paradoxically given what was going on, she felt kind of...contented.

"Guess that means you were worried about me though."

perrinmiller · Dec 30, 2015

Mari nearly blinked at the nonchalance of Renata's cavalier inference that she would not care for her friend. "Of course I care. We are more than just roommates stuck together, aren't we? I thought we were friends."

"Besides, I would not want to see anyone hurt... but that doesn't mean I could have done what you did. I... I could not even have thought to try... I guess I was too afraid," she admitted without shame.

The other girls in the back seat appeared to share the sentiments in varying degrees. After witnessing the carnage, none of them were will to display false bravado that they could have done better. They all were just too damned relieved to be alive!

Shayuri · Dec 30, 2015

Renata deflated at that, and shrugged awkwardly.

"I didn't mean to...I mean, I know you care," she said. "I just thought I'd try to...I dunno, lighten things up a little."

She sighed and shook her head. "It wasn't like that. I mean, when I saw it there...it's not that I wasn't scared. I felt..."

...like here was something I finally didn't have to hold back on. I could hit it, smash it, kill it, and it was all right. Nothing I could do to it was as bad as what it deserved.

"...angry, I guess. Too angry to really feel how scared I was."

Renata shrugged again. It was...sort of true. She didn't really want to try to explain the exhilaration of it. The mad glee that had animated her. How could she explain what she didn't understand herself?

Again reaching for some kind of gallows humor, she tried for a weak smile and said, "Guess that's not too heroic, huh?"