Topic: A Musical Nightmare

Aric Delevingne

Date: 2016-06-12 14:06 EST
Well, shake it up, baby, now (Shake it up, baby)

The streets were empty. Cars were abandoned while their engines idled, the doors opened while their radios continued to play. Music spilled out into the streets, the sound of the instruments and singing echoed throughout the lifeless area of town. There was no sign of any disturbance, and the only remnants of life were the songs heard in the air.

Twist and shout (Twist and shout)

The town was small, barely a blip on the map; it was one of those one-streetlight places that annoyed people who had to slow down from 75 MPH to 35 MPH while passing through it on the highway. It had one major fast food chain restaurant and a bowling alley for entertainment, and a population that was estimated to be one hundred, but likely lower as the older residents passed away and the younger ones moved. Yet even a town this barren shouldn't have appeared as dead as it was, with pets left alone and neglected while television sets and radios played to empty rooms, and showers ran without any occupants. C"mon c"mon, c"mon, c"mon, baby, now (Come on baby) Aric navigated the empty streets with his axe in hand. Dusk was turning to night, and the town had only a few streetlights, so his investigation would have to be quick. Aric was drawn to disturbances in reality, something that was innately wrong in the world, and this is what led him to the small town of Roanoke. He came upon more and more signs that the people had been drawn out of their cars and homes, that they were called to someplace" As he came upon the bowling alley, Aric deduced that it would be the only place large enough to hold the populace, and his question turned more to why they all had gathered here, and who called them. Come on and work it on out (Work it on out)

Aric stepped to the entrance of the bowling alley; the door was unlocked but no lights were on, so he would be walking in blind. He took up the horseman's axe in his left hand, fingers tightened around the grip before he pushed open the door and took a tentative step inside. He heard the music playing an old song, but it sounded off " as if something was piggybacking each note and lyric. Aric felt a sense of dread, and something sinister in the air that engaged the flight or fight center of his brain.

Well shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now (Shake it up baby) Well shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now (Shake it up baby) Well shake it, shake it, shake it, baby, now (Shake it up baby)

The eyes of the townspeople radiated a violent red, and their sharp whit e teeth littered the darkness like stars in the sky. The sixty-plus people all turned toward the outsider with snarls and growls rumbling through the crowd. Whatever they once had been, they were no longer human. Moving like one shapeless mass in the shadows, they collectively sprung at Aric, who gave a hearty yell and lifted his axe before he was swallowed up whole by the darkness. The sounds of his struggle against the horde lasted for a short while, until the music ended and there were no sounds left but the snap-hiss and pops of the spinning record on the turntable.

Archer

Date: 2016-06-13 18:36 EST
"Excuse me! Would you all mind" That's a friend of mine you're all trying to tear to shreds!"

The sea of red eyes turned toward the sound of the voice just as the lights to the bowling alley flickered to life, illuminating the scene. The townspeople appeared as gaunt, ghastly figures of themselves with reddened eyes and sharpened teeth. A thick, inky substance poured from their ears " it looked like they were bleeding, except that it was entirely the wrong color. Their attention was on the young man at the main desk.

"Thanks!" shouted the man. He looked to be in his mid-twenties with just barely-tamed curly hair and a scruffy face. He wore dirty, ill-fitting clothes without shoes or socks. "Now if you all don't mind (which I'm sure you do) I'm going to take him out of here so he can get better, then we'll be back to help you all!" A graceful leap over the counter brought him closer to the horde, and they all took a tentative step backwards.

Aric stumbled out through the group, barreling through a few that did not clear a path. They looked confused and nearly timid now. The man threw Aric's arm over his shoulders, helping to guide his injured friend toward a side exit. They had just reached the door when the speakers in the bowling alley crackled with life, and the first notes of a song began to play. The red-eyed horde snapped from their near-reverie, almost immediately infused with purpose, and they rushed for the two men who had just made it out the door.

"Come on, get in!" the young man shouted as he ungracefully shoved Aric into the passenger side of a running car. After slamming the door, he then leapt over the hood to the driver's side, scrambling inside and flooring the gas pedal just as the horde spilled through the exit. They made chase, but only for a moment as the car sped off into the distance.

"Didn't lose you back there, yeah?" the man asked with a quick glance from the road to Aric. "Still remember me?"

"Archer," Aric groaned the name out. His tattered shirt told the tale: he was covered in bite and claw marks, with one particularly large gash on the side of his head, from his ear down to his neck.

"Hey! You even called me the name I asked you to call me this time! Glad to see I got you before they killed you! I mean " it wouldn't really be a big deal if they did because you're you and you got the whole thing with dying not really bugging you but I bet it's nice to avoid, yeah?" Archer made a turn down a side-road that led toward a wooded area. "Let's compare notes.?

Aric Delevingne

Date: 2016-06-21 22:46 EST
Aric sat on the trunk of the car, his feet placed on the bumper to keep his legs from dangling. Archer was sitting upright on the hood, his legs crossed and tucked underneath him while his arms were extended and his hands near his knees in a picture-perfect lotus pose. They were in the middle of a large clearing in what was likely a state park or campground. The only sounds of life were the crickets chirping and the distant horn of a train, miles and miles away.

"What was that back there" And how did you find me?" Aric questioned Archer, but didn't bother to look over his shoulder to find eye contact. Instead his gaze swept from side to side over the empty, moonlit field. He was wary of any shadows that danced in the dim illumination.

"You didn't hear it, did you?" Archer answered a question with a question. And before Aric could ask the obvious, Archer continued. "There was something in the music. All of it. The more people, the louder it was. Like some faint static in the back of my mind. I could lock it away, but it didn't seem to bother you."

Aric ran a hand through his beard, lips pulled tight as he tried to recall any sound. "I didn't hear anything, no," he responded with a shake of his head. "I just felt it. You know that I can feel when something is wrong with the world. Something from the other side of reality that's breaking in, causing damage. This wasn't what I thought it would be, but dangerous regardless. All those people" They were transformed or corrupted."

Archer kept his eyes closed. "Something in the music, Aric. When I wasn't aware of it, I could feel something trying to change me. But, you know, because of all my training and?"

"Right right. And the fact you're incorruptible and free of sin and all that. Why Archer, anyway' You barely ever carry a bow and arrow. Your real name fits you much better, Ga?"

"Hey hey hey! You know I hate that name. It's not a normal name! Nobody walks around with an old one like that. Nobody even knows who he was, but they sure know all the other guys from that tale! And Archer just sounds cool!" Archer huffed and gesticulated wildly while ranting. When he finished his small tantrum, Archer then muttered something unintelligible under his breath before he sighed and went back to his meditation. "Anyway, do you have any ideas or thoughts" Because all I know is the music is causing something to happen."

Aric grinned as Archer went on; he enjoyed teasing the young man. Then his expression turned serious, and after a few moments he gave a tilt of his head as a theory crossed his mind. "Mark Twain. You know, I'm a reader and Mark Twain" he wrote a story about getting a song or tune stuck in his head, and it basically crippled him. He couldn't do anything until he passed it on, and then the person who he passed the song to had the same experience. Twain eventually helped him pass it on to others. An earworm."

"I've studied about parasites and viruses," Archer said. "Ones incorporeal and of the mind, too. This does sound like it might be the case. So assuming you're right, they're infected and we don't know the cure. They're also violent and have been changed, but only seemed to be that way when music was playing. So we need to cut off the music and make them pass the virus along somehow. But both you and I are immune, we think, and we are not going to get another person to sacrifice to this thing. So you're the big strategist, Aric. What do we do?"

"What if I'm not immune?" Aric asked, to both himself and Archer. "What if I'm actually a carrier, but it doesn't affect me like the others" Or that I'm just resistant to it' I think I have an idea.?