A day had passed... Since Briar had headed out in search of a lead on the disappearing punchy wolf lady. With a giggle and a swish of her hair, Briar had promised to give James a call when she found something and promptly left with a jealous rage burning in her eyes. James, having no place to stay other than wherever he happened to sleep, had texted Sam fourteen times trying to get permission to stay at his apartment. After a lengthy negotiation about how much James was gonna totally clean up the place, man, and not touch the pizza in the fridge, dude, James flopped onto a very nice white couch in Sam's apartment and had slept the night away.
James, hair a mess and in the exact same clothes as the day before, swung open the fridge door and stared at the leftover pizza again. He let out a grumbly groan and opted for the nearby coffee maker instead. He checked his phone while he waited for the delicious bean water to finish brewing and was crestfallen to discover not a single person had tried to contact him overnight. Typical. He did learn that it was 9:47 am though, and glared angrily at the happy morning light filling the small but tidy apartment. He skated in socks across the tile kitchen floor and towards the carpet that lead into the living room and returned to his couch of sanctuary. He flopped his head back down on the arm and stretched out, waiting for the ding! that meant breakfast (coffee) was finished brewing. He paused for a moment as he recalled Sam had not exactly told him he could use said coffee maker... and quickly decided he didn't' really care and that the consequences were something future James would have to deal with.
...
No ding! How long did this coffee take exactly? James' eyes wandered to the remote that was just out of reach. He blinked himself awake enough for magic, and used the otherworldly power to manipulate the space around him tap into nearly limitless mental energy-- and pushed "on" on the TV remote with a blue tendril of magic. After a second, the screen sprung to life with the news. Something about a new baby otter at the Zoo downtown. Meh. Still no ding!
He magically flipped the channel at random, trying to find anything interesting to watch and stopped on some weird animated show with a big anthropomorphic wolf. James stopped for a moment, a giddy childness springing up in him as he watched the morning cartoon. There was a huge, gruff wolf guy on screen with a metal eye-patch and a big cigar in his muzzle. He had on some kind of mix between body armor and military fatigues. The wolf was also holding a huge, smoking laser gun and a stern look.
"I'd like tuh see them space spiders try to take over mah ship again!" The wolf reloaded his gun and switched the side of his mouth the cigar was in with his jaw.
A beep came from the wolf's earpiece.
"Captain Drellan! Requesting permission to re-route Space-Force soldiers to bay two?"
The wolf gave a big grumble. "No need, Special Agent Fayru-- I can defend mah own ship!"
Captain Drellan pointed the barrel of his gun at the screen. "Let's see what ya got, ya Nazi Space Spiders! The WildStar is the sturdiest ship in the galaxy!"
James switched the channel again, already getting bored. For a moment the TV stopped on some interview with a well dressed bass player.
"So tell us again Mr. Mills, how exactly you came up with your newest single, Silence on Earth!"
The bass player nodded slowly, stroking his chin. "Well, like... basically... I played like, nothing at all.
And see that really hit me. We hear so much music every day, I mean who's out there playing silence? It's the start of the revolution, man. I mean like... what is life without silence? What is love?"
James witched the channel again with a short laugh and a roll of his eyes. This one was some kind of debt relief commercial, and he was going to switch right to the next one when the name on the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen caught his eye. James Carter. James raised a brow. He seriously had the same name as a debt relief sales guy? He faltered in his channel surfing just long enough to hear what the guy was saying.
"Do you ever feel like your alone, floating on a couch in a sea of debt?"
James chuckled, muttering to himself. "I mean, kinda..."
"Do you feel like you have no place to call your home, because the debt has taken it from you? Maybe your staying with a friend now?"
James was enthralled. The random, well dressed, clean shaven guy on TV was practically describing his life without really describing it.
"Maybe your waiting on that one phone call to practically save your life?"
James nodded slowly.
"What if I told you, I can save your life! Just listen carefully, and I'll help you stay out of the cross-hairs of debt collectors!"
James got more comfortable in the couch cushions.
"If you move now on these opportunities, you'll stay out of the line of debt fire like avoiding a sniper!"
Something prickled on the back of James' neck. It was such an odd phrase to say.
"That's right, get down here right now! Or you'll be blown away by the newest APR rates!"
James noticed something out of the corner of his eye on the building across the street, enough to cause him to glance away from the TV for half a second. A shutter on a window across from his had just gone up, but he couldn't see who had been on the other side.
"Hurry now to save your life! You only have five seconds to get this deal! Get down now, or you'll regret it!"
The TV continued to go as James watched the window across the building slowly slide up ever so slightly.
"If my name is James Carter, I should get. the. heck. down! NOW!"
In the fraction of a second, James saw the barrel of the rifle poking through the open window across the street, and rolled off the couch just as his window exploded and the cushions where he had been puffed into the air from the impact of the gunshot. A second shot pierced through the TV and turned it off, exploding the carpet where James had just dove away from. In a matter of seconds, gunfire erupted all over the apartment from the window across the street as the sniper took and missed shot after shot. All the while James yelled and dove behind the island separating the kitchen and living room. Shots shattered the glasses and vases above his head, and James knew he had to get the heck out of there. With a kamikaze scream, he rolled to the door a few feet away and pulled it open as bullet holes appeared all over it. He threw up a tendril of magic to block the shots coming from behind him as he slammed the door shut and emerged into the stairwell of the apartment building and sprinted down. From all the rooms around him he could hear screaming and yelling as chaos erupted. As he sprinted down the staircase he realized his phone was still in his hand and buzzing. With a quick glance he looked down. A text had just been received from an unknown number.
NOT DOWN
James froze in place just before he reached the bottom flight of stairs. Before he could decide if the text was real or not, someone kicked in the door to the lobby floor. A huge, masked, body armor wearing guy holding the rifle from across the street was now just below him.
"Oh shi-" James spun around and took off back up the stairs, heading for the roof as the sniper took off after him. The gun went off several more times as James yelled his way back up the stairs, ricocheting off the metal handrails beside him. "WHAT THE HECK DUDE?!"
James shouldered his way back into Sam's holy apartment, a very crazy and not at all well thought out plan in his head. He was definitely going to jump out the shattered window, six stories up.
Oh my god, I'm gonna jump out the shattered window, six stories up! James realized, hesitating on the edge. He knew he'd be okay. He'd used his magic to slow his falling before. Heck he'd even teleported short distances once or twice, but a primal fear of heights kicked in.
...Unfortunately, the apartment door also kicked in, and James had a much worse fear of guns than he did of heights. James took one look at the armored sniper, his eyes huge with shock. The sniper took aim, but the gun had run out of bullets. Instead of shooting, the guy charged at James with a roar. In response, James practically back-flipped out of the shattered apartment window. "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
....
....
ding!
Home
Latest images
Search
Register
Log in
)
)
