It's a goo thing i decided to reduce Pine Creek Murders down to six parts, instead of the originally planned seven. The original reason is because I couldn't figure out how to make the sixth part work as planned with out being repetitive. That and the fact that I just realized that December 9th is quickly approaching. Since that is the date I planned on ending the series, the only option left really is to cut it down to six parts, which, as I said, I was planning on doing anyways. Now I just need to get to work on writing the last part.

Terror In The Night

This story is part 5 of The Pine Creek Murders, a 6 part series that started in The Girl In The House


Terror In The Night

David Webb swore to himself. They were lost. Their romantic weekend getaway ha started out bad, and it had only gotten worse. After a late start, He tried to make up some time by taking a back road through the Pine Barrens. Then his car broke down. With no cell phone signal, their only choice was to walk back to town. And the fastest way to do that was through the Barrens.

Although she complained a bit first, Ashley Morgan quietly followed him. There was no point in arguing over how he should have gotten his leaking radiator fixed before they left, or how they shouldn’t have taken a “shortcut.” They could do that later. As much as she hated being in the Barrens late at night, it made sense to walk through them instead of following the road. The shortest path between two points was a straight line, and this was the quickest way to get back to Pine Creek.

David smiled as they entered a clearing. They still had a ways to go, but at least he knew were they were. They had reached Lovers Lookout. He could tell Ashley was afraid, and he didn’t blame her. After all, it was here that two people had been brutally killed nine months ago.

Officially, the cause of death was mauling by a wild animal. Back in the day, the locals would have blamed it on the Jersey Devil, a creature that supposedly lived in the Barrens. But that was before six other people had been killed, and the rumors started spreading that Old Man Ullrich had returned from the dead to kill. Even though most of the murders had been in or near the city, the deaths of Will Tennet and Carole Piper nine months ago, as well as the death of Johnny Hendrix two and a half weeks ago were blamed on Ullrich. The fact that Ullrich’s first victims were killed near Hendrix’s house didn’t help any either.

The legend said that Ullrich had killed his family in their home, but the truth was that his oldest son, Jason, as well as his brother-in-law Lars Hetfield had been killed near Hetfield’s cabin in the Barrens. They had been spending the day hunting and were relaxing when Ullrich snapped. He grabbed his shotgun and shot Hetfield in the stomach at point blank range. Jason ran, and Ullrich chassed him through he Barrens. His first shot wounded Jason, hitting him in the leg. The second one was to the back. Jason fell, and his father stood over him before finishing off his son. After he killed Jason, he took the boy’s knife and carved the family crest, the same symbol he would later brand the rest of his family with, into their foreheads. No one knows how much time passed between their deaths and the deaths of the rest of the Ullrich family. The cabin would eventually be demolished and a house built on the sight, a house that was eventually purchased by Johny Hendrix.

David shook his head, clearing his mind. The Ulrich murders had been a source of fascination for him for years, but walking through the Barrens this late at night was a bad time to think about it. If both of them were scared, they would ever get out of here.

Ashley grabbed David’s arm as they heard a twig snap somewhere behind them. He laughed, hoping she wouldn’t realize that it scared him too. He said it was just a rabbit or something, but he wondered if it was he Jersey Devil, or Old Man Ulrich.

As they walked, pushing branches out of their way, they saw the moonlight reflecting off something metallic. He knelt down to see what it was and found a knife. A hunting knife.

Its blade was covered in rust. It was amazing that the moonlight had found some space that wasn’t covered. He picked it up and saw that etched into the blade, just above the hilt, were initials.

J.U.

David let the knife fall. Urban legend said that they had never found the knife that Old Man Ullrich had used to carve the family crest into the foreheads of his son and brother-in-law. That if this was it. What if, fifty years ago, Erik Ullrich may have been holding this knife.

He heard Ashley gasp as he stood. David turned towards her and saw an expression of shock on her face as she looked down. He followed her gaze and watched as her white shirt turned red

David caught her as she fell, his hand hitting the knife sticking out of her back. He looked into her eyes as the life slipped from her body, not noticing the black shape behind him as it knelt to pick up the knife he had found. Not feeling it when the knife, still surprisingly sharp, sliced into his neck, severing his jugular.

David fell to the ground as his blood flowed out of him. As he lay dieing, the last thing he saw before everything went black was Ashley looking back at him.

Upgrades are complete and man is there a difference. The Laptop started up faster, Firefox loaded faster. In fact I have everything that loads at start up running except for Trillian and Yahoo Messenger, and it is running better then it did before the upgrade with most of that stuff closed down.

The official amount of memory is 704 MB, plus 256 MB of virtual memory, which I can increase to just over 1 GB :) Don't know if I will increase the Virtual memory until I upgrade the RAM again, but for now I am very much enjoying this speed :)

There is still a bit of a slow down when I open the programs menu, but that is mainly because it is really full. I need to clean it up one of these days

It's upgrade day in the apartment. I got a new video card for the tower, a Radeon 9200. The old card (I forget what it was) died in early summer, so it will be nice to have the tower back at mostly full strength. the nice thing about this new card is it also has an S-Video port, which means I don't have to get a new card later on. I plan on getting a new tower and turning the current one into a Video Server, so that stuff I download can be watched on the TV with out cables running to my laptop like I do now. still have to figure out how to make my speakers work with both my T.V. and the video server, but I have time to figure that one out.

The original plan was to just install the video card today, but when I went to get some groceries for some cooking experiments I have planned, I found a small white box leaning against the door. Turns out it is the RAM i ordered for the Laptop. I ordered it Tuesday, and it was suppose to take 7-10 days, so to say I was surprised is an understatement. The Laptop has needed more memory for a long time, and with the current RAM, I will now have 640 MBs (512 new + 128 old.) I have to make some room on the hard drive, which needs to be cleaned anyways, but now I can play games like Knights Of The Old Republic, Guild wars, and World Of Warcraft! I could play KOTOR before, but had to turn pretty much all graphical stuff off or down all the way to get a playable frame rate. The same for Guild Wars in the dungeons, but in towns it was virtually unplayable, which is why I didn't even try WOW.

I plan on getting more RAM for the laptop later, bringing it to 1 GB, but for now, this will work fine.

Dragon's Return

This story is part 4 of Dragon, a 7 part series that started in Dragon's Fury.

Dragon's Return

Brick and mortar rained down and dust filled the super market as Galando burst through the wall. The shoppers scattered, screaming in terror at the sight. Their screams turned to ones of pain as Galando sprayed the room with fire.

I dove behind a refrigerated display, my hand reaching for my sword and finding it gone. Of course it was gone. I had left it in my apartment. After I left, Dragon Hunters, once a respected trade, had become hated and outlawed. Most had turned in their swords, with some going into exile. So far I was the only one that had returned, and one of the few that had been heard from. As a result, for the first time since the end of the war, I walked the streets unarmed. The scary thing was, after nearly four months, I had nearly gotten use to not carrying it.

I ignored the screams of pain around me. I couldn’t guess how many were dieing. I didn’t want to. All I knew is some how, some way, Galando had to be stopped, and I was one of the few who could do it. I heard the familiar sound of plasma rifles firing. The security force had arrived, but they would be useless against Galando. All they were going to do was make him mad, and that would result in more deaths.

Their attack distracted him, giving me time the time I needed to try to figure out how to stop him. I saw a pipe sticking out of the opening Galando had made. An idea started to form.

Running outside, the sight that greeted me was almost as horrifying as the one inside the store. Fires raged everywhere. Soldiers were crouched behind overturned cars and large pieces of debris created upon Galando’s arrival. As I watched, the beast unleashed another blast of fire, hitting the fuel cells of one of the hover cars. The men seeking shelter behind it didn’t stand a chance. I could hear their screams of pain as they were slowly burned to death. Their deaths would not be in vain. They had given me what I needed t carry out my plan. As the car exploded, an arm flew towards me, still grasping it’s rifle.

Prying the dead fingers from around the gun, I took up position and started firing at Galando’s back. He turned with a roar. I kept firing, yelling at him to get his attention. At this range he wouldn’t use his fire. It would harm him as well. He would have to lunge at me.

I continued to fire as he opened his mouth. I saw his head heading my way. The heat from his breath made the air nearly unbearable. With a smile I dove out of the way at the last second, as Galando’s head continued down.

If he saw it, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t have stopped in to prevent the pipe from tearing into the soft flesh at the back of Galando’s mouth. His speed drove it into his brain and as his snout hit the ground, the pipe burst through the top of his skull.

As soon as he hit the ground, I ran up Galando’s snout, an extension cord in hand. I threw it around the pipe and pulled, my muscles straining as I struggled to maintain my balance while the beast beneath me fought to free it’s self. Slowly the pipe bent and I rolled to the ground, kneeling, watching as Galando tried to get up, but the bent pipe kept him in place.

As I tried to wipe his yellow blood off my hands, I watched as Galando‘s breath became more and more labored, and finally he breathed his last. After a moment people came out of hiding, slowly moving closer, staring at Galando’s corpse. Someone started cheering. Applause broke out. The security force moved closer to confirm that the dragon was dead. And as people helped me to my feet, one thought was on my mind. It had been since I hit the ground. I didn’t hear the cheers. I didn’t hear the congratulatory statements of those around me. One question needed to be answered.

How had Galando gotten past the security grid?

YAY!

Reverend And The Makers have a new video out! The song, and the video, aren't quite as good as their last two, but it is still good. check it out, and while you are at it, check out their other videos. they are all good.

last Month, I mentioned the promos that have been showing up on WWE programming and that they most likely mean that Chris Jericho is coming back. well it seems the wait is finally over. Everything will be revealed tonight on Raw, and apparently last night at Survivor Series, a time was given. At one point in the promo aired last night, a count down was shown, putting the unavailing at about 9:45; just in time for the final segment of the show. Since there will be 20 minutes left in the show, that means that it won't be just a "y2j is coming back" message, but he will actually be in the ring.

The fact that Jericho is returning has been one of the worse kept secrets since these promos started airing, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. Raw need someone good at in ring promos. Guys like Triple H and HBK are good, but the usually are better (in my opinion at least) back stage, but Jericho, like Edge (who returned last night and will most likely be feuding with Undertaker), is good on the mic pretty much anywhere and can give a good match no matter who he is against. Most likely Jericho will end up in a feud with WWE Champion Randy Orton. Should give us some good matches.

I had a doctors appointment today. It was scheduled for 9:45. I got there and had to wait in line at the registration desk. this is where thing started going wrong.

The first problem was the fact that there were five of us in line, and just one person working the registration desk. A second person showed up about 15 minutes later, but she should have been there as soon as it looked like they needed someone else. in other words around the time I got there. Problem #2 was the fact that at the front of the line was a lady with her two kids. they had never been there before, so they had to create an entire file for all three of them. So of course that is going to take a while. In fact as soon as they got done, the second person showed up to check people in.

Got through registration and was told to sit in the waiting area. I was waiting there for 30 freaking minutes!!!! 30 minutes with nothing to do since all there was to read was stupid magazines, since all the half way decent ones were already being read. I should have taken my Gameboy or DS, but I figured it wouldn't be that long of a wait. Not to self. take at least one of those with any time there might be a wait.

Finally got called to an exam room, got through my exam, and left. No problem there. Actually I take that back. The nurse wasn't sure why I was there (because obviously it didn't say on the paper that also had my name and all other info she needed.) so there was a five minute wait while she had to find that out! Apparently me saying why I was there wasn't good enough.

So finally, after an hour for a 15 minute appointment, I'm home and typing this. Why am I typing this? Probably just to rant a bit. and who better to vent to then my Non-Existent Readers.

I had to post this. If you are a regular at the Fiend, you can probably figure out why. If not, you should be! or you can ask. In the mean time, watch Multiplicity and read the comic.

Ridar a Deo

This story is part 3 of Battle At Sea, a 4 part series that started in Red Sky In Morning

Ridar a Deo

I drove my sword into a pirate’s stomach before knocking another one down. I spun around, running him through as well. The deck was filled with the sound of swords clashing and men dieing. The boards beneath our feet were becoming slick with blood.

Killing a third pirate, I looked and saw who we were dealing with. My heart stopped for a moment when I saw the flag on their mast.
Corazón Negro.

Tales of his bloodthirsty rampages through out the Caribbean were well known. Most surrendered as soon as they saw his flag waving. The act that the battle had lasted as long as it has was a testament to the courage of the crew.

I knew that courage would only last so long, and if the tide of battle didn’t turn decisively in our favor soon, it would fail.

I blocked an attack and impaled my attacker as I heard a battle cry sound. Running up from below decks was the Ridar a Deo. I couldn’t help but smile. My brothers were here, and the battle would be ours.

Recently my city has beens truck by an out break of Norovirus, a nasty little food borne bug that has some not so pleasant side effects. So far there have been several cases linked to Burger King, as well as some linked to McDonald's. There have also been rumors cases from Pizza Hut and Subway, but as of this writing, I have yet to hear confirmation of those.

Yesterday we were talking about this at work, and one of my co-workers, even after getting information from the department of health and actually talking to someone who was at the meeting about what to do about it, where experts on this sort of thing spoke, refuses to believe that it is Norovirus. in her opinion, it is simply the flu, or food poisoning. I suppose it could be considered a form of food poisoning, but I know the truth behind this outbreak. The truth They don't want you to know.

The truth it that this is all a terrorist attack, the work of a "Special" cell of Al Qaeda. They got the idea from the Mexican Water Cartel, who have been contaminating the tap water of Mexico with various this for years, forcing people to but bottled water at highly inflated prices. At much as 10,000 Pesos per bottle. Granted that works out to only about 50 cents US, but when they can get it for far cheaper, it is an inflated price.

This "Special" branch of Al Qaeda has a much more dastardly plot in mind. They seek to spread terror by forcing us to eat healthier and better foods. Can't grab a Big Mac, so might as well go home and make something from scratch. The Whopper you've been craving all day is out of the question, so go home and make a salad instead. instead of some what bland French Fries, you have to go home and make your own,seasoning them with stuff such as garlic, parsley, or Greek and Cajun seasonings. The inhuman monsters.

They may not be competent enough to cause the widespread terror if some cells. Maybe the best they can do is mildly annoy a small town in south west Minnesota, but that doesn't change the fact that this is obviously a terrorist attack.

Slight change of plans to the National Novel Writing Month projects. I realized over the weekend that there was too much research to do, and not enough time for me to do it properly, so I am changing the second project to "The Call" a short story I came up with during my first night at work. it should be pretty good.