Melsborow, a quaint town where everyone knows everyone and everyone's business. That's always how stories like this start though right? Same old town, same old undisturbed peace until one foul night happens that spawns dozens of sequels. I'm getting ahead of myself though, let's start at the beginning of one such night in Melsborow...
Gretchen's Groceries, July 1st 199X
Everyone always says the best place to be when the apocalypse breaks out is the grocery store. Full of food, enough room to fortify against raiders and anything else trying to kick you off this mortal coil. What most people don't think about is just how hard it is to keep things from coming through those massive windows. You thought all this as you swept up the glass from the store floor while your manager did his best to yank the tree branch culprit back out through the now destroyed window. The chill of the cool summer air was nice at first but now you began wishing there was something to keep that cold at bay.
This minor discomfort was just the icing on the cake for a miserable job you now found yourself in. There wasn't much summer work left in Melsborow and you'd be damned if you got yourself roped into anything that might turn into a career in this dead end town before you went off to college in the Fall. School had been difficult for you (really when is it easy) but more so due to the crowd you were lumped into.
You were admittedly a {Nerd/Jock/Outcast}
Make your vote in this thread along with a suggestion for the name of our protagonist and we can get this show on the road!
An outcast is what you were though that wasn't too hard to pull off in Melsborow. Most of the people here played into their role to keep the quaint little town just that; quaint. You didn't though. It hadn't always been that way, when you were little you used to be just another one of the mindless drones that called Melsborow home but your first year in highschool changed that. When your interests didn't align with what was being taught you just didn't engage in class. Your grades slipped and it seemed everyone was angry about this. A stain on an otherwise decent school district. That's not to say things were all bad though, you got along well enough with other students when push came to shove though most you wouldn't count among your friends.
Another boon of your high school career was finding your passions; paint and pistons. When you weren't skipping class and being a general delinquent most of your time in school was spent learning the art involved in the combustion engine and the science of sketching. You have some well earned marks in those two classes to thank for your admission into a trade school out of town, the one life line that keeps you from quitting your job right now on the spot... well, one of two. Reason number two sat just outside the carnage of the fallen tree branch in the parking lot outside of the store.
Your modded Aprilia Tuareg 600 Wind. A mouthful for sure so you've taken to calling her Christine after a movie you watched when you were probably too little. You managed to save some enough money to buy it in pretty poor shape from a man originating from across the pond a year or two ago and have been fixing, breaking and, modding it ever since.
"Castor, can you go grab the big garbage can from the back?"
The sound of your manager's voice snapped you out of your daydream. You gave a quick nod, leaning your broom against one of the shelves and heading off towards the back of the store. Not many people did their grocery shopping at night which made it an ideal shift to pull for you. Less rude customer meant more time to fantasize about the newest paint scheme to try out on Christine. Right now she was painted jet black with some gold accenting but maybe next you'd try something closer to her namesa-
The door to the back room was ajar which in of itself wouldn't be all too interesting if it weren't for just how easily management handed out warnings for such a small infraction. It was probably just one of your coworkers quickly running into the back for something, intending to pop back out just as quickly. On the other hand it might be something more malicious. Perhaps that tree branch was the distraction?
Approaching the door you...
-Continue into the back. -Look for something to defend yourself with.
You've seen more than enough movies to know where this is going. This mundane occurrence gave you the heebie jeebies and you weren't about to go ignoring your gut, not on a cool summer night like this. A quick glance of the area revealed very little in the way of actual weapons but there was a large can of peaches that you decided to scoop up. Sure it wasn't a fire poker or chainsaw but it was better than nothing and you knew it would do some serious damage with the amount of heft to it.
You slowly approached the door as you strained to listen for any sounds coming from within, your trusty can of peaches perched firmly above your shoulder. It was hard to make out anything over the buzzing machinery coming from the frozen isle section. It was funny to think how you could just tune out a sound like that, something so deafening when it was the only thing around. It made you wonder what else people ignored everyday due to familiarity...
Suddenly the door swung open! Your body tensed up as you got ready to smash whatever was now lurching from the doorway! It was only at the last second your brain managed to call off the command to your body as you realized it was your co-worker Lola sporting a leaning tower of toilet paper, probably just grabbing some to restock the shelves. Her view was blocked so you managed to save yourself the embarrassment of almost doming your co-worker with a can of peaches. After shutting the door behind her she acknowledged your presence with a small panicked jump, dropping some of the toilet paper.
"Jesus Castor, you almost made me jump out of my skin there! What're you doing looming with a can of peaches?" she asked, blood pumping but quickly regaining her nerves. "Never mind that, you mind giving me a hand with this?"
Thankful for a quick retreat from the situation at hand, you put the peaches back and quickly began scooping up the discarded TP Lola had dropped as she began to head for the toiletries isle. The spike of adrenaline was good for you; sweeping glass had really tired you out mentally but now you felt wide awake and ready to finish off the rest of you shift. What was substantially less good, as you'd come to find out, was the loud squelching and thud sound that came from the front of the store. You immediately stood up, looking to Lola for confirmation that what you heard wasn't just in your head. Her eyes met yours in silent acknowledgment as she too put her items down and began heading for where the sound originated. You made your way over as well, only picking up the pace when you heard a scream let loose from Lola.
You knew something bad had happened as you saw the blood dribbling into the isle right next to where your manager had been excavating the tree branch. His job was now much worse as not only was the broken branch somehow staked into the tile ground of the store, but also through his own chest. There was no movement from your boss and Lola's now pale complexion made her look almost as dead as your boss.
The adrenaline was back and you needed to make it count. Quickly you and Lola... - Hop on your motorcycle and take off! - Rush back to the store's back rooms! - Run for the security room!
It takes your feet a moment to get the memo but once you start moving you don't stop. Rushing past Lola, you grab her arm and snap her back to reality though her eyes stay locked on the traumatizing scene. You don't see anything else amiss as you make your way quickly through the door of the security room with Lola. With shaky hands you proceed to lock the deadbolt, hoping it would be enough to stop whatever is out there.
The security room isn't the Fort Knox your panic stricken mind made it out to be. It's wooden door and singular lock looked a lot more flimsy now that you knew whatever or whoever had killed your manager had been able to drive a hunk of wood straight through him in less than a minute. Still, it was better than standing our on the open floor of the store, at least here you knew which way your would be assailant would be coming. The sound of the security room's phone dialling snaps you out of your stupor, you turn around to see Lola being proactive and giving the police a call. Deciding to do something useful yourself, you go to the camera feeds and begin to look for a camera that would have seen the gruesome act take place.
It takes you a minute but you realize none of the cameras were positioned to catch the murder in action. You sigh a bit in relief; as tough as you think you are you didn't think you had the stomach to watch a murder.
"What the FUCK! What the fuck!" Lola all but screamed as she clutch the phone to her head. "I got the fucking answering machine! Why do the police have an answering machine?!" Lola slammed down the phone. This room was looking to be a worse choice by the second. As you just stared at the phone, trying to think of what to do next, something caught your attention in the security camera's recording. In one of the feeds from a camera one isle away from the grisly scene a figure made their way into shot, looking through the small gap in the shelving. The figure was dressed in tattered clothing, like the kind you'd see a shipwreck survivor wearing, and their gaze moved very little as they continued to watch something on the other side. That's when you finally noticed the time stamp. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put together that he had been watching you and Lola.
He'd been there the entire time.
The camera feed showed him walk out of the picture once more and a now more thorough glance at the recordings showed your mystery murderer all but disappear from the store. There were a lot of blindspots in the camera's view but you still would have figured you'd see something. The fear of the unknown was really beginning to get to you and you began to think it would be better just to walk out of the room, at least then you would know what's coming for you and possibly find your can of peaches again.
Unsure of what to do, you decide to take action by...
-Staying put and phoning your parents. -Making a mad dash for your bike and driving you and Lola to safety. -Sneak back over to the backroom and try to arm yourself for whoever's out there.
You and Lola might not be all that fast but with the amount of money you've thrown at Christine you can be damn sure she is. Getting out of there doesn't seem like such a bad idea right now.]Making a mad dash for your bike and driving you and Lola to safety
Frig, sorry this is a long one. Hope ya'll are enjoying this!
Time, effort and, every paycheque you could justify had went into making sure Christine could make tracks against anything on two wheels, let alone two legs. All you had to do was get to her. You did a quick last look at the cameras, ending your gaze on the camera outside watching your dear Christine. Seeming to pick up what you were thinking, Lola's eyes went wide.
"You're not actually thinking about going out there are you? Whoever-whatever that thing is jammed a log straight through a man and into tile! No way in hell can you-" suddenly the door was swung open, not by any monster but by yourself, not wanting to be talked out of action. Sitting here was only prolonging the inevitable and it was only a matter of time till that 'man' would tear his way into their small barricade. Your hand wrapped around Lola's wrist who fought momentarily as you yanked her out of the room. This resistance was soon forgone as she realized she didn't want to be alone in a grocery store with a killer and decided to run along with you.
You lead the way, having the route ingrained into your fear riddled mind. The quickest way out of the store and to Christine would be through the broken window. The thought of the corpse hadn't even crossed your mind until you got to it, or rather where it should have been. A hole in the ground and a puddle of blood was the only sign of anything out of the ordinary now as your managers body was nowhere to be seen. If not for your determination to get out of there you may have stopped to wonder where the body had gone but luckily you were on auto pilot on the fastest route out of there. Approaching the window, you let go of Lola's arm and leapt outside, managing a few scrapes but nothing debilitating as you raced to your bike. You quickly began kick starting it as Lola got on behind you.
The cool summer night wasn't doing Christine's carbureted engine any favours as you tried and failed to start her. Your biggest concern though was what you saw when you looked back up through the window of the store. Lola had seen him first, your bike being perfectly parked to see to the other end of the store gave the girl a prime view of the disheveled and blood covered man. It seemed like he had just left the back room, a barely visible streak of blood heading back there was now the only clue you had as to your managers where abouts. Lola had been speechless and the man didn't seem to react to her gaze but once his eyes met yours the man broke out into a sprint. He was going stupid fast and you had next to no time to react before he was nearly upon you. As a knee-jerk reaction your foot gave one last half hearted kick to the starter, an act you figured would be your last.
Much to your surprise the machine started up, it's sticky throttle being a godsend as without your intervention jolted the bike forward. With one of your legs still firmly planted on the ground, this sudden motion resulted in Christine, Lola and, you lurching forwards and to the side and eventually toppling to the ground, narrowly missing the man's animalistic lunge through a pane of still intact glass. The man soared over you, taking swipes as he did so but your mind was beginning to pick up the pace again and you quickly got yourself, Lola and the bike up again. Just as the man regained his footing, your hand curled back on the throttle and sent you and Lola flying towards the main road.
Grechen's Groceries was one of the only places open in the relatively small business centre of Melsborow, maybe aside from the Liquor store but even then you weren't sure if it was open tonight. Despite it's bustling nature during the day, right now your immediate area didn't hold another soul aside from yourself, Lola and, (debatably) the man who now ran to catch up. The man!
As you finally got your balance on your bike, your neck shot back to look at your pursuer whom you saw such dazzling speed from earlier. Now that you were driving away at full speed you could really appreciate and fear the power of the man. It wasn't gaining on you, that was more than a relief, but it was really moving and nearly keeping pace. If not for all the work done to Christine you know it would have caught up to you. Seemingly picking up on the same deescalation of danger itself, the man stopped running and simply watched as you and Lola drove away. The last you saw of him he had turned around and was headed back for the store.
It didn't take long for you to crash, adrenaline-wise. You had to pull off to the side of the road and take a break to collect your thoughts. You'd made it into a residential area that was rightfully quiet for the time of night aside from the sound of a radio playing some classical music in one of the houses. After parking Christine you hopped off and took a seat on the curb, head in your hands.
A man died tonight and you were nearly victim number two. Maybe if you'd done something different your manager could have lived as well. You quickly dashed that thought from your mind. You did everything you could just to survive and if not for your manager's sacrifice, you likely would have never been tipped off to the beast you had seen here tonight. You and Lola were lucky to be alive.
Having almost forgotten you weren't alone in this, you brought your head up to look at Lola who still sat pale as a ghost on the back of your bike. Long streak of blood dripped from her torn up pants and arms, likely cuts from the broken glass. She seemed a bit more worse for wear than you but overall alrighty physically speaking. Your mouth opened, ready to ask how she was doing when her hand shot up, holding her index finger to you.
"Do not say a word." She said, slightly out of breath. There wasn't an immediate fear to her voice, more likely she was just wrestling with her own thoughts for the moment. Respecting her wishes, the two of you sat in silence, the only noise being the hum of music wrapping up from one of the homes.
"Hey hey light night listeners of Melsborow. I appreciate you listening in to our late late show. Been getting a lot of crank calls tonight, more than normal. I'd appreciate if you'd pump the brakes a little on that and lay off the light night horror movies. Hopefully those'll wind down as the kiddies go to sleep. Coming up is another piece that is sure to- hey man, you can't be in here. Get on-" the radio DJ's speech was cut short by a blood curdling scream and then nothing.
"Oh my god. What's going on? Did that man get to the radio station?" Lola asked but you were pretty sure you both knew the answer. The Mels-Burrow 95.9 radio station was in the direction you headed away from the grocery store. Unless that man- no, thing- could teleport, you were going to need to accept this wasn't an isolated incident.
"We've got to go to the Police Station, hell we should get out of town! This town's going to hell in a hand basket and now we're stuck in the damned middle of it!" Lola exclaimed, panicking once more on the bike. Before she could continue though, a new, smoother-than-silk voice spouted from the radio.
"Good evening listeners. The name's a long one but for tonight you can just call me Max. I'm sure if you're litsenin' to my sweet, soothin' voice right now than you're still among the living. If you'd like to stay that way I'd suggest coming on up to the radio station. You know the way. Until then I'll be spinnin' tunes like there's no tomorrow 'cause frankly; there might not be." with that the voice was soon replaced by a new song that definitely wouldn't be considered classical.
Aside from staying put, you figured you and Lola had three options now...
-Get out of town. -Get to the police station. -Go to the radio station.
