Chapter 11 – The Rockers

Chapter 11 – The Rockers

A large group of leather clad thugs poured into the hallway. They were, in every sense, the stereotypical display of a biker gang. Rough faces, leather jackets, torn yet sturdy pants and heavy boots were the default. Their hair was a bit more diverse, ranging from mohawks to complete baldness. A guy with short, spikey hair led the group. Annoyed, he clicked his tongue when he saw the four of them standing there.

“Hey, Hey, Hey. You mean the Wall Shadow still didn’t take you out? And we even paid our guy extra to rent that thing.” He scratched the side of his head with a wand that ended in a crystal ball. John looked over their heads. Their levels ranged from 8 to 10, not a threat to the three people currently with him, would it not have been for their sheer number and the Wall Shadow still hiding somewhere.nÊw stories at no/vel/b/i/n(.)com

“Who are you?” Moira demanded to know.

“Ja, out with it.” Rave added and started tapping her foot to some rhythm.

“Just a Bunch of Rockers.” The spikey haired leader said. “Who need some money to tune their bikes. See, flying tires aren’t cheap. And there’s only one step up from feeling the wind in your hair on the road, you know?” He said and giggled. Then he pointed at John with the wand he was holding. “But a little birdy at this school sang us a song that there’s a valuable asset to steal here. You’ll get us good money if we sell you to a Mana Factory, John Newman.”

Rave wrinkled her eyebrows. “There is an information broker at our school? For real’zies?”

“Rave, you useless piece of garbage, why don’t you notice such things?!” Travolta cursed at her.

“Stop yelling at me, Baldy.”

“Will you both shut up and deal with the situation at hand?” Moira intervened, in response Travolta punched in her general direction. Dodging aptly, the Warden followed the fist as it sailed past where her head had been and into that of the Wall Shadow. The monster screaked and pulled back into the wall.

“Seems like ‘Baldy’ has the situation covered.” The spikey haired leader said.

“Oy, that’s my way to tease him, get your own!” Rave complained and shook her fist. More curses were exchanged until the biker finally stopped and said. “Enough of this, give us the Gamer or we’ll take him.” He raised the wand and the Wall Shadow peeked from the ceiling and hissed at the smaller group menacingly.

“I found the interesting thing first!” Rave declared.

“I will never let the innocent be tortured in one of those factories!” Moira stated at the same time. The two got into their respective battle stances.

Travolta on the other hand turned to John. “Yo, Gamer. Can you confirm that the wand is what I think it is?”

Then four arms ripped out of the wall. Vengeful claws gripped the spikey haired leader. They sunk through leather, pressed crimson out of holes punched through the jacket. The thug screamed, screamed louder than John had heard any man, woman, or child scream ever before. It was a terrible sound and it was still more pleasant than the silence that followed.

After pulling his target against the wall, the Wall Shadow wrapped its arms tightly around his former master. The biker struggled to breathe. His bones popped and broke. His ribcage became thinner and thinner, his face first red, then a disgusting shade of purple. Blood spurted from his mouth. John could see, in every vivid detail, how a man died when his organs were slowly squeezed and ruptured.

A sound like a spider’s giggle escaped and the gang leader was released. He collapsed, no life left inside him. The clothes prevented the true extent of his mangled state from showing but John knew. The sounds still bounced inside his mind. Blood pooled underneath the body.

The Wall Shadow turned to the other Rockers and made a hissing sound. Menacingly, it disappeared back into the wall.

One of the rockers screamed and finally broke the silence. He ran away, others closely following him. They realized that they were now stuck between three stronger opponents and a monster that could strike from anywhere at any second. What they forgot in their panic was that a shattered retreat made it so much easier to pick them off one by one.

“Good job, kid,” Travolta complimented calmly over the screams of the fleeing gang.

“Thanks...?” John mumbled, eyes glued to the corpse.

“’Course we still have to deal with that thing,” the large man said and rolled his shoulders. “Seems like it got control over the barrier.”

“It will thin the numbers for us,” Moira stated, as the shouts of terror grew fewer. “Fitting for a bunch of sinners. Undone by their hubris. A life lived beyond the Lady’s grace is a life ended gracelessly.

John swallowed. ‘Abyss,’ the word was stuck in his mind as he looked at the deep crimson staining the clean hallway of his school.

“Ya fine, Latebloomer?” The question caught him unprepared. “Ya gonna see a whole lot more corpses now that your name is out there.”

“Yes... my name is out there now, isn’t it?” John realized. There was no choice anymore. He was part of this world now. Either they got him or someone else would. As the realization kicked in and the last screams died away, he focused his mind on the present. It was... surprisingly easy. Wisdom advised to deal with these facts after he was safe. “We should relocate.”

He turned to find Rave’s hand near his shoulder. The pink haired woman raised an eyebrow, then smiled.

“Good idea,” Travolta stated. “Too many fucking walls here. Where to?”

“The roof,” John answered immediately. “It needs shadows and walls. The roof has the least of both.”