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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 13:48:06 GMT -8
Time: Day 2, Mid-Late Afternoon
Weather: Rainy. Very Rainy
Warnings: Wet Pastries, Atlas's inner monologue, Excessive Greenery (and possibly Redery)
Characters: Atticus "Atlas" Lasseter
For one reason or another, Atlas was driving towards the Greenvale Forest Park. He kept telling himself that he shouldn't be out in the rain again and that he'll catch pnemonia, but there was another voice in there that seemed more persuasive. "What are you scared of? Getting wet? Just take a look at some trees and plants and get out." he thought. "Like Bianca said, sometimes a little rain is no excuse. Besides, rain never killed anybody."
The rain didn't show any signs of stopping as the car Atlas drove crept up the hill towards the park. This hadn't been the first time he came to the park. On many days, he would close for a couple hours in order to walk along the many trails that made up the park. Sometimes, he would even eat up there. Today was the first day he came when it was raining.
When he finally got to the top, he pulled into the parking lot. There was not a car to be seen in the entire lot. He looked to his right and saw the pastry box still sitting in the seat next to him, like a driving companion. "Well, here we are, I'm sorry we have to go in the rain again, but this is in the name of making the office more colorful." he said to the carrot cake concealed behind cardboard. He turned the key and emerged from the car, taking the carrot cake with him. He looked up at the sign and stared a bit. It felt like a different place during the rain, but maybe it was because there would more dirt and mud around.
"Alright, let's find some good trees. Err, I meant trees to grow in the office...nevermind.
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 14:43:33 GMT -8
He looked over to the left and saw the Park Ranger's house. Behind it was a trail leading down to Velvet Falls. He pondered his options for a moment and then decided to go up through the main entrance. "It is always better to go up, then down." he thought.
A dirt path lay on the right of the pavement going up the mountain. Atlas took a look at the various trees along the sides. "As cool as they would be, many of these trees are too big to fit in the office." he thought. There wasn't much in the way of plant life along the auto road either. However, there were a few hiking trails further up and no doubt, there would be plenty of good ideas there.
The rain seemed to pour even more heavily as he walked up the trail. Even within minutes, it had already completely drenched his sweatshirt and jeans. The hat he wore barely did it's job of keeping the rain off of Atlas. "A town that rains this much, yet no one sells raincoats here." he mused. "I gotta admit, this town can be crazy at times. Gotta mail order one one of these days."
It took awhile, but he finally, found a trail that opened up and veered off to the right. However, there was police tape covering it. "Great, the first hiking trail I see, and it's covered up with police tape." he thought. He stood and thought for a moment. What would be the next course of action...
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 16:04:44 GMT -8
After careful deliberation, he decided to step through the tape anyways. "This is illegal, stop this, Atlas!" he kept telling himself. However, a voice was shouting back. "Just take a quick look at this "Tree of Anna" and leave. Just make sure not to touch the crime and no one has to know. It's not like you're taking it..." The voices telling him to go forward were louder and more persuasive, almost like a divine force. Or one from hell.
He took a look at the flora along the trail. Several smaller trees were struggling to grow among their larger brothers, and several kinds of flowers adorned the trail as well. "Interesting. Those might look nice. Once the crime scene is cleared up, I'll pick some." he thought. The trail continued circling around. He noted the footprints he was leaving in the soil. "On my way back, I should cover these up." he thought. "This is illegal, this is illegal, this is illegal, this is illegal!" his mind kept telling him. "Ohh cmon, like you never snooped around a crime scene for evidence before. It's what defense attornies do!"
After a half circle, an opening appeared into a meadow. There was a cabin to the right, and a log for sitting on to the left. However, what immediately caught Atlas's attention was the giant red tree in the middle. "Holy cow. I've never seen a tree like that since...ever..." he thought in awe. "Imagine getting something like that. I'd find a way to make it fit..."
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Shadows
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Post by Shadows on Dec 6, 2010 16:17:04 GMT -8
As Atlas strode forward towards the tree, he would notice that the air seemed to thicken around him a bit...there was a sense of wrongness in this place that one could almost cut through with a knife. The leaves crunched underfoot - crunch, crunch - CLUNK.
He had stepped on something, buried under a little pile of leaves. Something hard and strangely-shaped, easy to slip on.
There was also the faintest sense of being watched, starting to try and creep into the edges of Atlas's thoughts.
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 16:27:44 GMT -8
Atlas stepped through the leaves towards the tree. Along the way, he heard a distinct sound and almost slipped. "Whoa!" he said, catching his balance on his knee and keeping his pastry box from falling. "The hell was that?" he wondered. He reached through the leaves to pick up the object that broke his stride.
It was weird object, with a bizarre shape he had never seen before. He didn't care that he was touching evidence at a crime scene, he was perplexed by what it was. "This is...not what you find in the woods everyday."
During this, the air seemed to produced a thick, ominous fog. "Great...As soon as I enter..." he wondered. A faint feeling on the edge of his mind nudged him with a sense that he was not the only one in the woods. "Was I followed? Is that the cops. Damn, I told you this was illegal! Atlas, you freakin' idiot. Ok, you can talk your way out of this..."
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Shadows
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Post by Shadows on Dec 6, 2010 16:33:25 GMT -8
Upon closer inspection, the muddy object would reveal itself for what it actually was - something quite chilling indeed.
A human bone.
Small, but most certainly a bit of someone's spine. Was this related to the murder? Who did it belong to? Why was it here? There seemed to be tooth-marks in it...had a dog chewed it?
Before thoughts could be fully formed on the matter, there was a rustling of leaves near where he had come in, around the corner and just out of sight.
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 16:40:34 GMT -8
He brushed off the feeling of being watched, albeit reluctantly. He could not see anyone in the woods, despite the thick fog. "Probably my imagination, let's see what this is..."
He laid the pastry box he was carrying down to use both hands to remove the mud. It was like a puzzle, but with a solution he didn't want to find. "Huh" he suddenly exclaimed. "A human bone. Either Anna was picked cleaned or someone was playing fetch with the K-9 Unit." he thought, noticing the teeth marks in the bone. "Great, that's the last thing we need..."
Before he could finish his inner monologue, a rustling sound appear in the distance. He turned to face it. "Hello?" he shouted back. "Is someone there?"
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Shadows
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Post by Shadows on Dec 6, 2010 16:59:44 GMT -8
No one called out in answer - in fact, there was nothing except for the bark of a stray dog. The creature came loping around the corner, stopping a few paces away from where Atlas stood...it was a mutt, filthy and unkempt, but had the look of a Doberman somewhere in its stock.
That did not, however, explain the strange shine to its eyes, a bizarre purplish slobber tumbling from its snarling jaws.
It was ready to attack.
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 17:06:21 GMT -8
The only reply was a bark. "Just a dog. Doesn't sound like there's a police handler either." he thought. Good. Dogs he could handle...
Or so he thought. The police would be the least of his worries, as the dog turned out to be even more of a threat. It looked like a standard doberman, except with an unearthly red glare and an evil slobber. A hellhound come to earth.
"Damn, first I meet the friendliest dog today, and then I meant the most homicidal." he thought. He clutched the bone in his hand, ready for the dog to make a move. "Wait and see. Keep your guard up..."
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Shadows
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Post by Shadows on Dec 6, 2010 17:10:31 GMT -8
The dog began to circle Atlas...slowly, methodically, watching him for movement and eying the bone in his hand. That was HIS. How DARE this person take it? How DARE he?
As the dog continued to move, Atlas would begin to notice a strange, shadowy fuzz around the edges of its motions...a strange distortion to the eye, worsened by the rain. Was it just a trick of the poor light...or was the dog starting to get...a little bigger?
It barked again, the sound suddenly thunderous.
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 17:21:44 GMT -8
Turns out the dog was just as calculating. Instead of lunging, as he had expected, he began to circle Atlas. He watched the dog's every move. Both were staring directly at each other, like gunslingers in a western flik. "I'm on to you, poochy." he said towards the dog, trying not to betray his fear in the situation.
Suddenly, strange fuzz outline the motions of the dog, causing Atlas to raise an eyebrow. "Huh?" he inquired. With each movement the dog seem to grow and grow, until it was a towering behemoth above the lawyer. He howled against the rain and fog, sounding off the requiem of hell.
"What.....the......FUCK!" he yelled. "Fight or flight.....FIGHT OR FLIGHT...."
he wouldn't stand a chance against the dog now. "Fetch!" he yelled and threw the bone in the opposite direction of the dog. He then scooped up the carrot cake and ran.
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Shadows
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Post by Shadows on Dec 6, 2010 18:05:20 GMT -8
As large as the creature had become, it took only a couple of bounds before it caught up with the bone, snapping it up in snarling jaws and skidding around to face the fleeing Atlas again. It gave him a minute's head start, watching him with a furious growl rumbling deep in its barrel chest - then started to prowl after him, head down and dribbling that sickly purple substance in its wake. It was gaining on him - and fast - but its footing in the muddy fallen leaves didn't seem very good....
Perhaps if he thought quickly...but which way to go?
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 18:12:20 GMT -8
Atlas opted to run through the forest. The open road would allow the dog to catch up too easily. He didn't care where he was going, just as long as the dog was not around. "Please let the car be up ahead. Please let the car be up ahead." he thought to himself frantically, holding onto the carrot cake box for dear life. So far, it had given him the luck to evade the initial strike of the dog. Now to guide him away.
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Shadows
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Post by Shadows on Dec 6, 2010 18:50:22 GMT -8
The dog had difficulty weaving through the trees in the forest, it was true - it snarled and snapped as it stumbled into tree trunk after tree trunk, struggling to take tight turns. After a while, it was lost behind him, it's roaring the only thing left of it that Atlas could detect -
But at what cost?
In place of just one large dog, there were suddenly figures all around him, darting through the dark of the forest - loping, impossibly-bent figures, moaning in pain as they reached out to grab at the running lawyer. As he ran, he would spy the flash of red somewhere just beside one of the trees he ran past, as well as a pair of calculating, cold eyes staring where the rest of the creatures had their eyes gouged out - but before he could look back, whatever it was was gone.
Atlas had come here to look for plants...but he had just found something else entirely.
((Congrats, Atlas. You may now see the Shadows, as well as Brian in the Cemetery.))
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Post by Atlas on Dec 6, 2010 19:08:36 GMT -8
When the barking seemed to have subsided, Atlas still remained running. The trees were a godsend, allowing Atlas to easily weave through them while the larger dog would get caught on trees. He survived.
For now...
Where the dog ended it's pursuit, shadowy figures took it's place, moaning and reaching out towards Atlas.
"KIIIIIILLLLL"
"FOOOOUUNNDDD YOOOUUU"
"I SAW HIIIIMMMM"
A flash of red eyes also caught his attention, but went away just as quickly.
Atlas paused to catch his breath. At first he didn't noticed the figure attempting to attack him. He was too busy sighing in relief that the dog was but a distant memory. "Serves you right, you Cerberus reject." he thought. When he was able to stand again, he looked around. The shadows came into gaze. Bodies bent at impossible angles, deep tortured moans and flashes through the forest. "Well now." Atlas said, holding the cake. "Seems the inner forest limbo order has decided to send a welcoming committee." he added. After the dog, a few limboing zombies felt like nothing.
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