by Jim Moens
It was actually Doug Schmidt’s idea that Shirley accompany Mark on his tour of the store. They agreed that her presence might serve as a counterpoint to Brian’s. He joined them near the toy department. After exchanging pleasantries with Mark, Brian glanced at Shirley.
“And Miss Patton will be joining us?”
“Mrs. Patton,” Shirley replied brightly. “And yes… I will be joining you on your tour today.”
“That’s not a problem, is it?” Mark said.
Brian paused, then quietly, “No. I suppose not.”
After watching Kevin shrink back down to more-or-less normal human size, Laurel pressed a couple of buttons on her wrist pad. She thought for a second and pressed a third. A ghost-like vision of Damon appeared.
Laurel spoke quickly. “I recorded this hologram when--”
“Hello everyone,” the image of Damon said, cutting off Laurel. “I hope that you enjoyed the distraction I provided. Those Shadow Warriors of yours are quite useful, Doug.”
“Bite me,” Doug muttered.
“So this little adventure has been fun and all, but I thought that it was high time I finished the job and simply put an end to your family. Yours put an end to mine, after all.”
Frankie gripped Doug’s hand tightly. “Dad…”
“I imagine that by the time you see this, I will have done what I need to do. So seek me out, Doug. Then I’ll do the same to you. Porta ad domum, my friend.”
With that, a portal opened behind them.
“Porta ad domum?” Doug asked no one in particular.
“It’s Latin. Gateway to home,” Rebecca said. “Yes, I took some Latin in college.”
“Let’s go,” Megan said.
“What if it’s a trap?” Nick asked.
“He’s calling me out,” Doug said. “He wants me there. It’s a trap for me.”
They all looked at him grimly.
“When we get back, the rest of you scatter. Take Frankie somewhere safe. Somewhere far away.”
“You know I’m with you,” Megan said.
Doug’s only answer was a quick nod.
Nick stepped forward. “We’re supposed to just let you get killed?”
Tommy growled in agreement.
“We’re all basically superheroes right now,” Carl said. “We can take him.”
“Get Frankie somewhere safe,” Doug said. “That’s all that matters.”
Frankie looked up at Doug. “Dad, what are you doing?”
“I don’t know,” Doug said. “All I care about is making sure you’re okay. Understood?”
Frankie sighed and nodded slowly.
“Now let’s go.”
Doug stepped through the portal first, followed by Megan. He found his footing on a smooth cement floor. As the others came through, he saw metal shelving, painted a bright orange. Familiar.
“We’re in a warehouse?” Megan said, looking about.
Doug looked at Nick. He noticed the absence of both Nick’s stubble and the sawed-off shotgun. He then saw that Kevin was back in his nanoMan t-shirt, rather than the full hero costume. Carl was back to his regular garb. Laurel’s armor was gone, replaced by a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and a pair of jeans. And Tommy was no longer a semi-anthropomorphic lion. The swords Doug and Megan had been carrying were gone as well.
“Of course,” Doug sighed.
“Where are we?” Rebecca asked.
“We’re in the back room of Hester’s Value Mart,” Nick said.
“Why, exactly?” she said.
Doug realized. “Oh, shit… my mom comes here on her lunch break a lot.” A glance to Megan then back to the others. “Get out of here. Now.” Then to Megan. “This way.”
The two of them ran off.
“Uh… you guys aren’t supposed to be back here.”
A young man in a signature Hester’s royal blue polo stood behind them. His name tag read “Dave”.
“Hey, man,” Nick said.
“Hey. What’s up, Nick?” Dave said and took a bite of the Snickers in his hand. “You work tonight?”
“Nah. Not ‘til Saturday.”
“Cool,” Dave said.
“You know, we’ll, uh.. we’ll get out of here.”
“Yeah, cool.” Dave nodded. “Later.”
Karen was about to pull out of her parking space and head back to the office, when she realized that she had forgotten to use Doug’s employee and family discount. Again. She briefly toyed with the idea of heading back into the store and seeing if she could get the discount after the fact. Then she realized that she had precisely eleven minutes to get back to work. She promised herself that she would remember next time and headed back to the offices of Grossman, Clear, and Nash, PC.
The man was tall and well-built. He was clad entirely in black. Something about him made Shirley uneasy. Brian spoke up first, probably in an effort to show Mark his sterling customer service skills.
“Can I help you, sir?” he said with a smile that, for once, didn’t seem forced.
Damon turned to face the three of them. “No thank you,” he said. “I was just looking for someone.”
“Well, you let me know if…” Brian trailed off upon realizing that this man was staring at him with a crooked smile and what somehow felt like bad intent. “Um…”
“I simply don’t like you,” Damon said. He reached out, grabbed the top of Brian’s head and twisted his neck until his head was almost completely turned around. There was a resounding crack and Brian fell to the ground. Damon walked away.
Shirley Patton screamed.
Just as Doug and Megan emerged from the backroom of Hester’s Value Mart and into the electronics department, they heard a scream.
“I think we found him,” Megan said.
Shirley knelt down next to Brian’s still form.
“Shirley…” Mark said as he tried to pull her away. “Shirley…”
She looked up. The man in black was gone. Chaos had erupted in his place. Her scream set the store into panic. Doug Schmidt showed up at the end of the aisle, accompanied by a young woman.
“Doug, he…” Shirley started to say, but words were not quickly coming for an event she couldn’t quite process. “Doug… this man… he killed him. He killed Brian.”
Doug looked up from Brian’s body to level his gaze with Mark Hacker.
“Get everyone out of here,” Doug said to him.
“What?”
“Do it,” Doug said.
Doug didn’t wait for a discussion. He turned on his heels and began going from aisle to aisle, with Megan alongside, looking down each one for Damon.
“That guy,” Megan said. “That Brian guy… was he a friend of yours?”
“No. He was an asshole.” Doug shook his head. “But he didn’t deserve to die.”
“DOUG!”
A chill went down Doug’s spine at the voice. He and Megan stopped dead in their tracks and turned around. Damon stood at the other end of the main aisle, hands on his hips. His expression was vacant. Not a sneering grin or a vengeful glare. Just a void.
“It’s time,” Damon said. “I know that you and your sister want to fight me. I get it. And will indulge you on that, but… you do understand that there’s zero chance you’ll prevail, right?”
“Don’t care,” Megan said.
“Of course you don’t,” Damon replied. “You’re already dead.”
Mark Hacker watched as Doug and the young lady walked towards the man in black. He had known Doug for several years, but apparently not well enough. He caught Doug’s eye as they walked past.
“Get everyone out of here,” Doug reminded him.
Mark nodded. He motioned for Shirley to follow him.
“No one leaves,” Damon said.
“Why?” Doug asked.
“Because I said so.”
The Shadow grabbed the woman from behind and threw her to the ground. Mr. Roger Solomon was just next to her. His feelings vacillated from fear at this inky black c
reature, to anger at throwing the nice woman to the ground for no reason. He made a fist, thinking that the circa 1964 Midwest Golden Gloves champion shouldn’t let something like this occur. Then he noticed that there were dozens of such creatures.
Fear, then.
“Doug said we should get the kid out of here,” Kevin said.
“We are,” Nick replied. “But opening the back door would set off an alarm. I didn’t want to start a--”
A line of customers ran past them.
“Panic,” Laurel said.
“And because your mother may still be here,” Damon finished.
Megan and Doug rushed forward and began their assault. Damon capably and quickly fended them off, their blows only glancing off of him. He struck back with a spinning back that knocked Doug into, fortunately, a display of pillows. Megan responded with a kick of her own. This one found purchase on the side of Damon’s skull. He wasn’t even dazed by a kick that would have knocked another man down and probably out. Megan quickly swooped in with another kick. Damon caught her leg and tossed like a ragdoll into a rack of infant clothing.
“There they are!”
Nick had rounded a corner by the toy department. The others gathered behind Nick as Doug stood.
“Megan!” Doug shouted.
Megan stood, throwing a pink onsie off to the side.
“Fight or die.” Doug said.
Megan smiled. “Fight or die, little brother.”
Doug ran at Damon and vaulted into a superman punch that connected across Damon’s jaw. Megan went to the ground and swept Damon’s legs out from under him. She followed up with a kick to his midsection as he landed. Megan quickly rolled away and stood up next to her brother.
“Get him, dad!” Frankie shouted.
Doug turned to see Frankie standing among the others. He had hoped to get her away, but somehow he knew that wouldn’t be the case.
“For my daughter,” Doug said to Megan.
“For my niece,” Megan said back to him.
They ran at the now standing Damon and both drove flying sidekicks at him that knocked him back and end over end. Damon immediately kipped back up.
“Fine,” he said evenly.
Damon’s body began to shake. His eyes took on a yellowish cast. Megan noticed that he had suddenly sprouted--
“Fangs?”
Doug drew a deep breath. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Dragon Lord. I should have known.”
“Let me guess,” Megan said. “Straight from your imagination?”
“Mm-hm.”
Damon was rapidly becoming beefier and taller.
“Dude’s hulking out,” Carl said to the others as they all looked on in fear and awe.
“We rush him now,” Megan said.
She ran at Damon. With a roar, he swung an arm and knocked her back into infants. Doug tried another flying sidekick, but Damon brushed him aside as if he was a piece of lint and knocked him into the infants section next to Megan.
“Dad!” Frankie gasped.
A phalanx of Shadows appeared from out of the floor. Some headed towards Doug and Megan, but most of them went for Frankie, Rebecca, and the others.
“We gotta fight,” Carl said, as much to himself as to the others.
“With you,” Tommy said. He looked to the others. Kevin and Nick nodded back. Laurel smiled.
Doug briefly tussled with a Shadow and then dove for Damon, who turned just in time to strike him with a knee to the head. Doug tumbled to the ground, unconscious.
Megan grabbed the arm of a Shadow and joint-lock tossed it to the floor. She took out another with a sharp spinning hook kick.
“Damon!” she screamed.
Damon turned to face her. He was now in excess of eight feet tall. His skin was starting to transform into steely dragon scales. He grinned at Megan with his row of fangs. Megan stepped forward and began to circle Damon.
“I like this, Megan,” he growled. “I may just stay this way.”
Megan jumped at him with a kick and Damon slammed his elbow into her shin. Megan scrambled away. She stood and raised her fists.
“Come on!” she cried. “You and me.”
Damon reached forward, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her off the ground.
“We should help her,” Nick said.
Carl swung at a Shadow, knocking it back. Nick picked up a Settlers of Catan box from the shelf and swung at the same Shadow.
Frankie peered around her new friends and the incoming Shadows to see that man holding up Aunt Megan by her throat. Only that man didn’t exactly look like a man anymore. And she couldn’t see her dad.
Enough.
She glanced at Rebecca, who had just grabbed a wooden toy box from the shelf and was hefting it like a weapon. She saw the others fighting with the Shadow monsters.
Enough of this.
Frankie darted forward as fast as she could, past Rebecca and through her friends fighting the Shadow monsters. Laurel made a furtive grab for her, but Frankie was simply moving too fast.
“Frankie!” she heard Rebecca scream.
She ignored her and ran forward, towards that man. Towards that man that was transforming into the Dragon Lord.
“Hey!” Frankie yelled, as loudly as she possibly could.
Damon turned to see the source of the shout.
“Leave my Aunt Megan alone,” she said, pointing at the man.
Frankie fished through her pocket and pulled out a Transform card.
“I said--”
The card began to shimmer and glow.
“Frankie!” Rebecca shouted again.
“Somebody get the kid,” Nick said.
Bolts of purple energy began to emanate from the card and a bright glow surrounded Frankie. The glow dissipated, revealing none other than Xen the Warrior.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“--leave my Aunt Megan alone!”
Rebecca saw the sleek, black ninja-style armor and the twin katanas. She knew that Frankie had transformed into Xen the Warrior. Despite everything else, she grinned from ear-to-ear.
“That kid’s a Power Ranger,” Kevin said, as he hit a Shadow across the head with a bike helmet.
Xen strode towards Damon. Damon dropped Megan to the floor. She landed with a resounding thud and she laid there, coughing and trying to catch her breath.
Xen and Damon circled each other. Xen drew both of the swords strapped to her back.
“Leave my family alone,” Xen said.
Damon growled in response. Xen launched herself at Damon and a furious battle was joined.
Another group of Shadows advanced on Rebecca, Nick, Kevin, Tommy, Carl, and Laurel. This time they were significantly outnumbered, the six of them against twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen.
“Another round,” Carl said.
The front Shadow leapt straight for Carl and he braced for impact. Instead, it was suddenly struck by, of all things, a golf club. Carl nodded to the wielder of the nine-iron.
“Thanks, lady,” he said.
A breathless Shirley Patton grinned and nodded in return. A group of customers, with Mark Hacker in the lead, came at the remaining Shadows. The customers were armed with whatever they could from throughout the store, anything from a stick vacuum cleaner to a set of knives from housewares. In the case of Mr. Roger Solomon, he intended to use only his fists. That was all he needed.
Megan finally managed to stand. She went to Doug, who appeared to be stirring.
“Hey…” she said.
Doug’s eyes fluttered open.
“My niece is a superhero,” she said. She pointed towards Xen and Damon engaged in a furious battle. Neither seemed able to seize the advantage.
“What…” Doug said, still foggy.
“That’s Frankie!”
“Xen?” Doug started to stand. Megan helped him up. “Frankie is…?”
Megan nodded. “Now let’s go finish this fucker.”
Mr. Solomon got the
creature with a right cross, then jabbed it in the face several times (or what he presumed was its face). It staggered back, then he hit it right on the button. It fell to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
“Xen!” Doug cried. “Leave some for the rest of us!”
Xen peeled away from the battle and took her place beside Doug and Megan. Damon, while now fully Dragon Lord, was somewhat the worse for wear.
“Hi Daddy!” Xen said brightly.
“Hi honey,” Doug replied. “Doing okay?”
Xen nodded back. Damon advanced towards them.
Doug snapped into his best fighting position. “Alright you guys, this is it. We gotta take him out. For mom. For dad. For us. We use everything we’ve got.”
“Warriors forever,” Megan whispered.
“Warriors forever,” Doug and Xen whispered back.
“Now let’s get him,” Megan said.
The three of them advanced on Damon. He tried to spin a kick, but his reflexes had apparently slowed. They were all able to jump out of the way. The trio spun around Damon, using every manner of kick, punch, and block at their disposal.
They all stepped back and stood in a circle around Damon. Xen tossed Megan both of her swords.
“Finish him,” Xen said.
“Thanks,” Megan said with a nod.
A low growl issued from Damon, one that quickly became a roar. He leaped at Megan. She stepped aside, into the ready position. She thrust both swords deep into his chest just as he reached her. He dropped to his knees and stared down at the twin katanas sticking out of the middle of his chest. Megan withdrew the swords. Damon fell forward and expelled his last breath.
The remaining Shadows began to disappear even as they fought.
Doug, Megan, and Xen stood for a moment over Damon’s still form.
“We did it,” Doug said quietly.
Damon’s body began to crackle with energy. The trio backed away, until Damon’s body began to shake. A shaft of light shot up from his chest to the ceiling. Part of it collapsed over the bedding department.
“Everybody out,” Doug shouted as loudly as he could. “NOW!”