Hunters of the Infernals

Max and Mags put the last demon to rest, and already it was disintegrating. Max turned to face the state trooper still standing there with a look of shock on his face and gun drawn out, frozen.

"It's okay, officer," Max told him as he slapped a hand on his shoulder. "You can put away your cannon now."

"What the hell happened?" groaned Trooper Talso. He turned wide-eyed to Max and then over to Maggie. "I don't know what just happened?"

"It's done," replied Max. He knelt down and sifted through the ashes. He turned to Mags and asked, "Any more visitors?"

"No," Maggie replied. She was standing, her eyes closed and her head tilted off to one side as if listening to an mp3 device. "They took the hint."

Trooper Talso stared at the both of them in disbelief. He holstered his gun, but he really didn't know what he was going to do. He had been tailing these two because he had received a tip that they might be hooked up to a terrorist faction.

"Someone please explain?"

"The sooner you forget about this the better off you'll be," Max told him. He sifted through the ashes and found what he was looking for.

Hands of Fate

Max frowned and continued puffing away at the cigarette. He looked at his cards again and then glanced at the chips by his side; he fingered a blue chip and flicked it into the pot. 

"I'm in," he said. He took two cards out of his hand and threw them at the dealer. Frank shuffled two more cards at Max. 

"It took you awhile to decide," Frank said.

"Well, you can't rush unless you figure out the odds," Max replied. 

"Well, that's not what you did the other day," Goner said as he plopped down in the chair beside Max. "You went with guns blazing, before figuring out the odds."

"That's different," Max said. He looked at Goner and gave him a wink.

Hope Eternal Springs

"Can you hand me another beer, Max?" Angst said. She leaned against the counter; she wasn't sure what they were supposed to do. The three of them had been sifting through the contents of the store, looking for things to ensure that their stay here was as comfortable as possible.

Max reached behind him and pulled out a warm can of Coors from what was supposed to be a cooler. Suki looked at the counter of sodas and beers and she was deciding on what to have to quench her thirst.

"Can I have one?" Suki asked Max innocently. Her eyes were focused on the can of Coors that Angst had.

"Nope," Max replied as he handed her a soda. 

"Meanie." Suki gave him a mock snarl, then she took the soda.

Angst popped the tab and took a sip. The liquid was not too bad at all. Warm. But not too bad.

"So what's the game plan?" Angst asked Max.

"Not too sure at the moment," Max replied. He fished out the last cigarette from the pack and put it to his lips.

"Can I have one of those?" Suki asked.

"Nope," Max replied as he lit his smoke.

"You guys are no fun at all," Suki said.

Prologue: Non-Sequitor

The police cruiser pulled into the lot and flipped off the siren. Two officers got out and made their way to the library. Both of them had their hands hovering over their holstered guns. Not because it was warranted but a force of habit imbedded during police training.
 
They were responding to a 911 call that a passerby had called in. The dispatcher said that the caller thought there was a fight going on within the library.

"What's going on?" Sgt. Davis asked his partner. Davis was the younger of the two; he had been patrolling now for the past two years.

"Don't know," Officer Metcalfe answered. She was veteran, having been on the force for 10 years now. "We shall see in a few moments though."
 
The doors to the library were off hinged as if they had been blown outward. 

"This is Officer Metcalfe," she said into her shoulder as she keyed the mic. "Send back up."

The Walrus Effect

He was sitting in his apartment; well, the apartment that he had in this version of reality. He thought on the television and was changing channels with his mind; the television sensed what he was in the mood for and changed to a program suitable to his liking.

His phone rang as he reached for a cup of coffee, so he diverted his hand to the cell and he tapped the screen. His ringtone was a Beatles classic... It was good that they had existed in this version. Unlike John Lennon's Imagine, he had lived through what the singer sang. He cracked a smile.

"Hello.... Max?"

"I'm here," he replied. This time he got to his coffee cup. "What's up, Goner?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to talk, that's all. Didn't know who else I could call at this time," Goner said. "Hope I am not disturbing you?"

"No problem on that," Max said. "I've got nothing but time."

"Just that I couldn't sleep and needed someone to talk to."

"After all, it's your first shift," he said. "It's to be expected."

"This is freaking me right out," Goner stated. "I'm here, and yet things are the same but there are some differences. It also feels like there are tiny ants crawling over my brain."

"That's an after effect. You'll get used to those once your brain falls in sync with the worlds."

Faux Blog

excerpt from phased_from_reality's journal at Blog Nation:

His name is Max and he came to me in a dream.

I peeled onions like bugs on a window, roasting like a dog on a sidewalk. Falling forward into the pit of demons with tiny pitchforks dancing about like a zombie rave. Music pulsating like blood through veins, rejuvanating the likeness of youth.

Me: You are who you say you are?
He: I am who that person that I introduced you as.
Me: Why are you doing this? Why this confusion?
He: Why not.

Replied said and done like a serving of dinner. An awkward eternity before the sun rises again for the third time in this portion of the dream. Lucid dreaming, a sea of possibilities?

Me: Who is scanning the spectrum?
He: I can't answer that.
Me: Why can't you?
He: I'm afraid to.

Acts go by, with the same scenes played out over and over. A record skipping is a thing that has to be heard, unlike a cd player. Bring in the old school, learn from the new and together we shall bond as one.

A Moment Out of Sink...

The summer sun was waxing across the sky, as Max's eyes flickered open. He was lying on the ground and had no inkling on how he got here and what he was doing. Vague images played through his mind like a 1940's newsreel.

His cellphone chimed.

"Hello," he said after answering on the fourth ring. He noticed several cuts on his hand and marvelled at that.

"Well?" the voice on the other end was feminine and impatient.

"Well what?" he inquired.

"Where the hell are you?"

"At this point in time, I really don't know," he answered truthfully. He got up from the ground and saw that his shirt was torn and there were blood specks. "But wherever I was last doesn't look too good at all!"

Bring Two

Dexter sat at his desk, looking out the window. The keyboard was in front of him and he really hated this part of the job; crossing the i's and dotting the t's. He had been riding the desk ever since "The Hyatt Incident".  His fingers danced over the keyboard like Olympic figure skaters and he was not reading the words he was typing at all. It felt like his brain was on auto-pilot.

His cellphone chimed. The theme from Shaft kicking in.

"Yo," he said as he brought it to his ear.

"Busy?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Not really," he lied. He needed the distraction to clear his head.

"I'll be over in a bit," the voice said. "I'm stopping by Kelly's. You want anything from there?"

"I could use a Bostom Creme donut," he replied. "On second thought, make that two."

Retrospectionary

Max sat at a booth by the window, a cold cup of coffee in front of him. He hadn't touched it when the waitress had placed it before him. The ashtray was clean and sparkling and it wasn't violated with a butt or two yet. 

A pack of smokes sat on the table, the wrapper still around them. His lighter was stationary like a sentinel waiting for orders. He had a lot of thinking to do; changes were coming and he didn't know what he should do.

Could I prevent them if I wanted to?

It was one of the fleeting thoughts going through his mind. He didn't know what he was going to do.

It was 2:34am and the 24 hour diner was empty save for a waitress sitting down at the counter reading an entertainment magazine. She glanced at Max and noticed that he wasn't doing anything at all except for staring out the window.

An Elvis tune played dimly over the noise of the air conditioner and the hum of the freezer. But the words and music could still be heard.

Max reached down and took a sip from the coffee, then he looked at the waitress.

"Isabel," he called to her. 

"Warm up?" she asked with a wink.

"You read my mind."

Incident at Moot Point

There was a horrible sound of ripping as if flesh was being torn apart. Frank and Angst, who were waiting by the car, looked up. Upon hearing the sound Angst keyed the two-way on the cellphone.

"Looks like the Professor was right," Angst said into the phone. "There's the anomaly as planned."

"It's about time," Mags said on the other end. "Does he have it?"

"Not sure," Angst said. She had been sitting on the hood of the car, soaking in some rays but she was sliding off now to go to the spot where the portal was opening.

Frank walked back to the the trunk and brought out a suitcase.

"Looks like he's got company," Angst said after witnessing the fabric of space and time open and deposit two forms like trash from a car window. "It's not an item. It's another person!"

"That can't be," an astonished Mags said from her end.

"Welcome back, Max," Frank greeted as he walked over to the bodies on the pavement. Frank did a double take at the body beside Max.

"How long?" Max asked.

"About two days," Frank told him. "Who's your friend there?"

"It's a long story," was the answer. "But that's the package."

Beside him was a formless being with no facial features or any other distinguishable body part.

"Well that's just freaky," Frank told him. 

Max reached inside his pocket and took out a sheet and gave it to Frank. After looking at the sheet Frank looked up at Max.

"You sure?" Frank asked Max.

"Yes," Max replied. "I couldn't be more serious."

Forgotten as Lyrics to an Unwritten Song

"The moon is blue and hangs low in the heavens," he said.

"And this means what to me?" questioned Suki.

"It's a song lyric," Max replied. He continued to stare out the window.

"What song?" Suki wanted to know.

"Sure beats the hell out of me," he replied. He glanced over at her and smiled.

"That's Maggie's job," Suki said with a wink.

Focus on Aspects

Max's fist slammed into the wall leaving a hole. He was really upset about this and he knew that there was only one option out of their current predicament.

"Are you sure?" Maggie asked. She held the picture up to see it again. "It's not a glitch or anything like that?"

"Yeah," Max replied. He plopped down on the sofa. Dejected.

"Damn," Maggie said. She put the picture down on the table, and shook her head.

"Copyrighted," Max whispered.

Clothes Make the Man...

Suki could hear the changing in the rumble of the car. It sang to her that the car was going to be stopping shortly. 

"Time to earn our keep," she replied with Godhammer glowing. Max looked up from the paper he was reading and glanced out the window of the car. Still seeing only the darkness of the tunnel.

"Ak-Ak," Suki called to the back. The huge norseman glanced up from the book of poetry he was reading.

"You joining in or sitting this one out?"

The subway began to slow down; Max folded up the paper he was reading and set it on the seat. He picked up his two pistols and placed them into his back holsters as he stood. 

"Are we set?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she replied.

Akimoto stood up and joined them at the door. He was wearing a gaudy Hawaiian shirt and dark sunglasses.

"Next reality I am taking you shopping," Suki told Aki. 

"Oh really?" Aki replied. "What is the matter with the attire that I have on now?"

"That's so Magnum," she told him.