The Strip / Driving Angry / Winter 18 years ago

Driving Angry

The motorcycle weaved furiously through the traffic like it was sitting still, at 120 miles per hour the images of the passing cars blurred. The engine roared, like a beast that had been caged too long.
Winter didn't even seem to notice the traffic as he maneuvered through it, his mind was elsewhere, and caught in a scenario he couldn't seem to shake.

In his mind's eye he saw a raging lake of fire, a narrow cliff face over the inferno. Ellis was hanging by one hand from the cliff. She was scared, pleading for Simons help while he just stood there, looking down at her with a blank expression. His foot stepped down on her fingers and slowly started grinding, "I should have done this long ago" he said as the digits finally broke and she fell. Into the inferno, her fear turned to rage as she fell, and then she was gone.

'I can't believe she's dead... she was one of us, one of the greatest of us.. and now, she's gone'

His mind snapped into the here and now, he was parked next to the ruins of the Hillman compound. It was a silent ruin now, like a forgotten graveyard. A charnel house covered in crime scene tape and road cones. He surveyed the damage; he knew there would be no sifting through this ruin as he had hoped. A defeated sigh escaped him, "Hardly a fitting Tomb for you Ellie" he said, to no one but himself.

He climbed off of the now silent motorcycle and picked his way through to the center of the ruin. Reaching into his pockets he pulled out the supplies, a fifth of Vodka and a bag of chocolate M&M's, which in turn he opened. "For tha Homie's" he said and poured the vodka and M&M's out onto the ground.

Winter 18 years ago
Winter stared down at the brightly colored candies he'd spilled out.. he expected this to be some sort of noble gesture to ellis, but instead, it was just meaningless litter.. his smile faded, and his eyes welled up..

[What purpose did that serve?] the inner voice said with its usual mocking tone.
'I had to do something..anything.. Ellie was alot of things, but she was my friend..'
he thought in responce.
[this is what you call doing something? ..you are worthless] it sneered.

The tears fell from his eyes, his grief transforming to anger.
[Why didn't you attack Simon..he admitted to murdering her]
'Simon is...was.. my friend too... I thought' he sank down to his knees..
[You think those people like you? your an idiot, a fool.. a monkey to dance for their amusement]
'...not everyone thinks that...' he stared unblinking at the M&M's..
[your deluding yourself, weak deluded fool... how does it feel to be worthless?]
'what would you have me do? kill simon? he's my friend! he was there.. right along with her when she took me in.. she opened her home to..' "TO ME! ME OF ALL PEOPLE! WHY? IF SHE WAS SUCH A MONSTER WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT? ANSWER ME" he was yelling now..

[hahahahaha..] the sickening voice laughed, mocking his anger..
[she took in a wounded deranged animal, for Entertainment.. that's why.. Your good for nothing else..]
he collapsed, falling over into the ashes.
[your weak, worthless and alone] it was becoming a mantra in his head.
[useless, a burden and unloved] it kept whispering to him. He stared up at the night sky, it made him feel even smaller.. in his head the mantra continued.

the torture continued for several minutes, which felt like days to winter, he could feel himself slipping away, giving into the darkness. If he fell now, would he ever get up again? he wondered.
[I'll take away the pain, just give it to me, I'll protect you.. I'll right the wrongs, just let go] the demon whispered, intimate like a mother, or a lover..

[just free me, then we will teach them to mock us.. we will bathe in rivers of blood]

he retreated from the malice, he had been so close to giving in, letting the darkness wash over him..
[NO! YOU WILL GIVE IN TO ME! WHO ELSE WILL SAVE YOU? I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES! RELEASE ME!! ]
'I...can't' it took all of his strength to resist..
[YOU ARE MINE! I AM YOU! WHY DO YOU RESIST YOURSELF! LET ME OUT, YOU WON'T EVEN REMEBER] the voice asailed him..
he wanted to give in, just so it would stop, so it would leave him alone..
he was retreating deeper into himself, the demon was rising..

Then he found it.

He hadn't been looking for one.

He found the beautiful memory.

<>

he snapped back, he was lying on the ground, looking up at the stars.. the voice was...silent? he sat up, slowly looked around.. everything seemed so...normal.
there were no voices, no strange thought popping up unbidden from his memory.. nothing, which scared him more than anything..
'hello...?' he proded, the voices were either gone, or had fallen silent.. it occured to him then, that perhaps in the memory, he had found a talisman to ward off the madness..
Winter 18 years ago
he sat quietly, enjoying the sound of the city around him.. it was nice to be free of the impulse's, the voice's, the fuge's.. 'but am I really free? or is this a temporary respite?' he wondered.. only time would tell.

standing up, he looked down at the mess of his clothes, they were coeverdd with dirt and ashes, the attempts to brush them off only seemed to make it worse, so he gave up and walked slowly back to where he'd parked his bike.

when he saw the two men crouched over his motorcycle, he pulled up the hood on his coat. 'this should be entertaining' he thought to himself.
"Come on man, you said you knew how to hotwire a bike!" one said to the other accusingly in a voice just above a whisper."I do, on a fuckin american bike, not this foreign shit" the other one said directly into the side of the fuel tank, hands busy inside the frame.

Winter silently walked up to them, making a game of seeing how close he could get before they noticed.
He was leaning over the bike with them when he finally spoke "It has a kill-switch, thats why you can't get it to start"
the two men jumped back away from the bike, startled..
"Whaa.." said the first one, oviously a skilled Debater
"Piss off! we saw it first!" the second one added.
"Yeah!" the debate champion, possibly George W. Bush added

The kick came before either had a chance to full appraise the situation, but the sound of tearing knee cartlidge and the accompaining scream of pain from the one closest to him, seemed to jar the other man into action. The debater crumpled to the ground holding his shattered knee and wailing in pain, the other stared for a moment at him in disbelief then looked at Winter, whom at the moment seemed to be..smiling? this triggered his fight or flight reflex and he chose the latter, turing started to run away as fast as he could, well that was the plan anyway.

Winter dove, arms outstrtched over the bike and onto the back of the retreating man. His strong legs wrapped around the mans waist from behind one arm pinned dow his left arm, while winters right hand reached and grabbed the mans jaw and pulled his head to the right, exposing the sensitive flesh of his neck. The Fangs sunk in and out like tiny stilettos, the hot ambrosia flooded his mouth. He drank greedily savoring the adrenaline filled blood, he drank and drank.. until the human stopped squirming and the pumping slowed to a slight dribble.

The spent husk crumpled into a pile at his feet.. he stood still for a few moments, stretching, letting the heat fill his entire being, it was a sweet bliss.. 'that is so what I needed' he thought to himself. slowly he turned to see his new friend, whom he decided he would call George franticly crawling away.

"Now George, don't be a bad Bunny!" he said crossly, walking after the crawling hobbled form. "OK mister, but if you make me come after you it'll just be that much worse" he reprimanded the crawling figure, in his best 'motherly' tone warned. the terrified man swung his head around to look at Winter, his face terrified, his eyes glazed with fear "p-p-please...let me go..I didn't see an-anything..nothing...I.I swear!" he stammered at the approaching monster..

"Of course you did, Bunnies have good eyesight.. what with all the carrots and such"
he stated, barely unable to contain his laughter.. he was standing over the figure now, "Sorry Bunny, but the Fox has to eat too" and he yanked the man up and sank his teeth into his neck, once again the Liquid Ambrosia flooded his mouth and he drank deeply, once again until he could drink no more.. by the time he was sated the blood had become a faint dribble again.

He drug the two bodies over to the ruins of the Hillman compund, and tossed them down into the maze of ruined sub levels, he doubted anyone would find them in there.

'what to do now?' he thought, there were somany things that needed doing, he was going to have to talk to Simon...eventually, but he was still too unsure of his feelings to do that.. 'maybe just some rest, let this blood soak into my pores'

<'good idea and maybe little female companionship?'>

'I don't know, haven't been exactly a Casanova these last few....well...ever' he thought in responce to himself. maybe the idea had some merit, but he doubted it...it was, after all.. his idea.

with a shrug he mounted the bike and fired up the powerful engine and Tore off, back twords the lights of the Strip.

((OOC - Winter out))