Category: Kingsboro Journal

After dying you appear within a hazing partial world, like a thin film between alive and whatever else is out there. Most of the time a guide is there to assist you. A relative or someone close that you lost within the years. The Avian – Human Revolutionist wars stopped that. All personnel that wanted to visit the partial world were blocked. Many portals were guarded by one side or the other. Some were burned in an attempt to prevent any more pale one, or humans, from entering but it was not within either sides power to prevent it. Eventually, both sides adopted a capture and hold methodology or slavery. Either way humans took the brunt of the anguish between the two bird-like species.

Trees lined the small ceremony on the left and right. Guests sat on large logs placed one behind the other. Six in each row with a total of two rows split in the center by satin streamers. The ceremony itself was on a small wooden deck built over a small pond. The groom stood nervously stroking his tie. The pastor of the local church stood center of the wooden deck. He smiled as the bride stepped from the small house behind the trees. She walked slowly her white dress danced as she stepped forward. A quick nudge from the pastor alerted the groom and he saw her. It was like a romantic movie. The bride walked slowly, as if slowed in time. She smiled, light spread from the small edges of her lips. The light radiated outward covering her proud father and a few wedding guest that had yet sit down. Guest turned and saw the bride stepping carefully over the long red ribbon laid on the ground between the rows of seats. The light from such a beautiful smile spread to each and every one of the guest like the spiritual Good Word. By the time the bride reached the wooden platform everyone behind her smiled and glowed. The groom stepped forward and extended a gentle hand which she took and they both joined the pastor as everyone looked over the small pond.
The pastor spoke slowly as each and every moment seemed to take hours. The bride and groom stood hand and hand when the ceremony was near the end. The pastor happily introduced Mr. Kenneth and Mrs. Jean Addison and release them into the world as married.
The reception went off without a hitch. The couple’s marriage continued on as it had begun. It was a fairy tale within a world that barely contained its distaste for so much happiness. The honeymoon stood as an exception to any rule that the couple had established as a norm. The hotel lobby was empty when Mr. and Mrs Addison walked in. So was the front desk.
“Funny,” said Mr. Ken Addison as he bent over the desk in an attempt to see if anyone was around the corner. “I just talked to the hotel ten minutes ago and it sounded super busy.”
“Are you sure you called the right hotel,” Mrs. Jean Addison asked.
“Yes, I’m sure because the person on the phone said there was a bar here named Dionysus and its sitting right there.” Ken pointed right toward a large purple sign above two swinging doors that had Dionysus written out in neon next to a flashing bunch of grapes.
“You think they are on a tea break?” Ken said, only have joking.
Ken and Jean walked toward the bar. Within the bar they saw some movement but it was too dark to tell what is could be.
“Hey, can someone help us at the front desk?” Shouted Ken into the darkness of the bar. Something crashed and broke then two men pushed through the swinging doors. The first man was terrified his eyes were wide and his mouth clamped shut. Behind him a taller, muscular man walked within inches of him. Both of this man’s hands were hidden behind the first man’s back.
“I suggest you come back in the morning…” Growled the taller man then he added, “you know what just find a room and stay here free tonight. I’m sure Henry here won’t mind.” The taller man turned his head and looked at the man in front. Henry’s eyes got bigger and his nervousness was obvious.
“How about my wife and I just leave, “Ken offered,”Listen, we just got married and this is our first day in London. I just want to survive our first week of marriage.”
The taller man laughed, “Believe me mate, it isn’t worth it. I’ve been married twice before.”  He then paused. “I think I just changed my mind.”  The tall man pointed a pistol at Ken and shoved Henry into a wall.  “I want all your American dollars… Now!”  He then looked at Henry and threatened, “If you move I will kill you,” he warned.
Jean immediately threw her purse down at the man’s feet. Ken hesitated but then tossed over his wallet.
“Don’t move,” the man shouted as he bent down to gather up the items.  The minute the man looked down, Ken pounced on him.  Jean screamed, lost in disbelief that her husband would attempt something so brash.  The taller man was larger then Ken but was caught by surprise.  He fell backward into the swinging doors and both men disappeared into the bar.  Henry stood from where he had fallen against the wall, ran over to Jean, in an effort to direct her somewhere safe, but fell after a bullet burst through his heart and chest.  A second bullet struck Jean in the neck but didn’t kill her immediately.  She fell upon her knees then her back.  She attempted to slow the bleeding with her hand and wished her new husband was at her side.

Ken wrestled the gun from the taller man’s hands but not before two shots rang from the gun, just missing him.  Once the gun was clear Ken grabbed a broken chair leg and slammed it hard upon the man’s head knocking him unconscious.  He then grabbed the gun and stepped outside the bar.  Jean lay barely conscious upon the tile floor of the hotel lobby.  Blood covered the left side of her neck and shoulder.

“Oh, my God,” Ken leapt toward his wife and fell to his knees.  His knees swam in her blood as he took off his sweater and pressed it against the wound.  He looked around for some help and saw Henry only a foot away with a gunshot in his chest.  To the right, suddenly, the front doors of the hotel burst open and several London police officers stepped in.  A bead of hope blossomed within him till he realized that Jean had passed away.  The need to stop the bleeding was gone but Ken continued as he watched the officers walk toward him.  The next couple seconds turned into long minutes as a gun battle began.  The taller man stepped out from the bar and began to fire from his pistol.  The officers scattered and then returned fire.  The room suddenly dimmed.  It was as if someone had turned the lights down.  Ken looked up to see the battle still happening but the noise had become muted.  He looked over at the taller man and he was reloading his pistol while hiding behind the front desk.  Ken looked down to see himself, his lifeless body, lying over his wife.  A bullet had entered the back of his head and killed him.

Erik’s neck throbs as he opens his eyes to find that he is standing.  Any memories of the fall are gone, let alone the attempt to kill his wife and her boyfriend.  The only thing on his mind currently is why his neck hurts and how he managed to sleep standing up.  At least that’s what he assumed he was doing seconds ago.  The answer came quickly when his feet came into focus.  Erik’s feet were tied together to a large wooden trunk.  He looked up to see above him the green leaves and branches of a large tree.  The biggest shock through made him breathless when he looked forward into a world unfamiliar to anything he had ever seen before.

In front of him was a forest of trees.  Each tree had two sets of ropes tied to it, one above the other.  All the trees seemed to be the same circumference and they all had a body tied to it.  It was dark but light snuck through small sections of the leafy canopy.  The light seemed to highlight certain trees more then others.  Erik assumed there had to be at least a thousand trees in front of him.  The majority of the bodies tied to the trees stood with their heads down.  Sleeping… dead… Erik didn’t know.  Erik began to access how he got here because last he recalled he was standing in front of his house pissing and moaning about his marriage.  There was no forest this large in Perry, Michigan… Nothing this large in Michigan, he thought and wouldn’t it be hard to keep the cops from finding a forest of human bodies from the cops?

Someone screamed loudly from behind him after a loud slapping sound.  It sounded as if he was smacked with something.  That was followed by several others and it seemed like a train of agony was heading toward him.  He tried to look behind him to see what he could but the tree was too large.  Several more screams.  Women and men screamed with the same velocity.  The sound of crunching leaves behind him automatically tensed every muscle in his body.  Erik couldn’t even expect anything, which was terrifying.  His mind began to search for an explanation.

Erik was an alcoholic, it was a demon he fought since early in high school, but he had never passed out and found himself in a situation he could not explain.  This was similar to an extreme episode of Criminal Minds and the X-files.  The last time he passed out he found himself outside The Office, a bar off of Second Street.  Erik was lost in thought and almost missed as a taller man in a hooded red coat stepped from behind the tree and swung a leather strap.  The strap hit him hard across his bar legs causing pain to shoot up through his body.  He cursed loudly but didn’t scream.  The hooded man turned and looked up at Erik.  His face was gaunt and his eyes were red, as if he had been up all night.  The man then turned and walked forward.  He swung the strap and slapped the body in the tree ahead of him.  Erik looked to the left and found a line of similar dressed individuals doing the same thing.  Erik looked right to see the same thing.  Within minutes the screaming had passed like an ocean wave following the current.

Erik struggled with his ropes.  His feet were immobile but his arms seemed a little loose.

“It’s a pretty dire situation,” said a sorrowful voice behind him.  Erik paused for several seconds, not expecting someone to start a conversation in this situation.

“Is that your opinion,” Erik snapped.  “I don’t know why I’m here.”

“I can’t help you much answer that,” said the voice.  “My name is Gabriel.  I’ve been tied to this tree for maybe three days… I think.  Can’t really tell but I might be able to help you if you help me.”

“How are you going to help me?  I’m assuming you are tied to a tree too.”

“Correct but I can see that your knots are a bit loose.  I can walk you through loosening them.”

Erik followed Gabriel’s instructions and managed to free one hand then the other.  His feet sat on a small platform.  With some work Erik untied the rope around his ankles.  Once free, he was only about 3 feet off the ground so he leapt.

“Brilliant idea, Gabriel,” Erik said as he turned to help his new friend.  That’s when he noticed that his friend was not human, at least not as he understood human characteristics.  Gabriel was at least seven-foot tall and a pair of wings were tucked behind him.  The corners of the wings made him maybe 10 feet tall.

“Holy crap.”

“Yes, I’m sorry I did not tell you,” apologized Gabriel.

“Did not tell me doesn’t even cover have the crap I’m seeing right now but at least now I know I must be dreaming.”

Erik untied his new friend who quickly leapt off the small ledge.  Erik stepped back as the large man shook his wings behind him.  Several feathers fell to the ground.  Erik looked to find that many feathers covered the ground.

“How long have you been tied to the tree?” He asked.

“Excuse me, step back,” Gabriel said as he exercised his wings.  “I think I’ve been tied to this tree for years.  Lost count after a couple months.  We better move on before the forest guards catch us.”

Gabriel began to walk forward when Erik stopped him.  “Can’t you fly us out of here?”

“My wings have been tied behind me for several years.  Not at the moment.”

Erik and Gabriel stepped forward toward the North end of the forest.  Erik noticed that most of the other bodies within the trees were asleep.  Some moved slightly but a few others were wide awake and screamed when the two men passed.

“Don’t leave me here!” they pleaded but Erik ignored them the best he could.

“You have to tell me two things, Gabriel,” said Erik.  “Where am I and where do I get a pair of those?”

Gabriel laughed which shook the leaves above them.  He then quickly stopped.  “This is the Forest of the Damned.  It is an entry point for creatures coming into this world.  It is also one of two prisons designed for creatures that refuse to follow the rules.  I am Gabriel, as I have said; my wings were grown upon my back at birth so you cannot receive a pair.  I am a harpie, we are native to this land.  We need to move…my laughter may bring trouble.”

 

Chapter 1

-Introduce the Character– Introduce the Event

Erik stood in the darkness, his Ford Escort sat idling beside him.  A storm was brewing in the East which Erik thought was completely appropriate.  The thunder was quiet but would soon crash over the small house he stood in front of.  It helped to motivate him but dread still slowed him a great deal.  This dread was encased on small optimistic hopes that everything will be Ok.  It’s just a dream he would often think but… it wasn’t a dream. His wife of ten years, Erin, was cheating on him with some part-time cop.  Erik knew whatever was happening, was happening right now.  In front of him, within his driveway a strange car sat.  It was a dark color, as dark as the evil that was its driver.  The light in the second-story window, her bedroom, illuminated the shadows that moved within it.

Erik stood, as rain began to fall lightly, and rehearsed his plan.  It was a simple plan really.  Rush into the house and stab everyone within it.  He knew it was first degree murder and God would frown upon him till the day he died but the anger he felt could not be contained.  He had to act before the rage went away.  A crack of thunder struck him into action and he moved toward the house.  The garage would be unlock so he entered slowly.  Her car sat in the garage.  The car Erik bought her.  The red paint on the outside with the dark maroon interior that she wanted.  Erik spent years paying that off.  She took it from him, like she took everything else.  Erik carried a large carving knife in his right hand.  He put the tip of the blade against the red paint and walked along it.  It didn’t make a loud scrapping sound but it was loud enough to contain the rage for moments.

“Ok, you wrecked her car.  Isn’t that good enough,” said a small voice inside his head the dread had creeped back within his mind.  Erik still had some remnants of a soul within him.  Something that she had not ripped from him.. but unfortunately it was only a small remnant.  The rage was too great.  The wrong that had been thrust upon him was too great.  He would see this done no matter the consequences. The inside door to the kitchen was open slightly.  Erik opened the screen door slowly, to minimize the noise.  He pushed in the door to the kitchen.  Through the dark, he could make out the tall shape of the refrigerator and cabinets.  The bar, stood waist high, stretched from his right across half of the room.  Erin liked to keep all her important dishes in the cabinets above that bar.  Erik grinned as he imagined trashing this kitchen but then stopped when he recalled all the work that he had put into this kitchen.  The rage within him throttled him and he tightened the grip on the knife.  He pressed forward passed the kitchen bar and toward the stairs to the upstairs room.  This is where she was.  This is where, Mr. Right was.  The man that help to destroy his life one date at a time.  Erik wanted to run up the stairs screaming but didn’t.  “Everything had to be done perfectly,” he thought.

Erik approached the first step when the phone rang.  It’s noise drilled through his head like a surgeon.  Suddenly, within seconds he was struck with several emotions at once.  He thought of running through the house and out the door.  His car was still running.  He could leave and no one would know or he could hide in the house till she answered the phone and then pounce.  Finally, he could run up the stairs and finish the job quickly and be done with it… but

“Honey, is that the phone,” she said.  When Erin spoke Erik’s heart sank, his rage cooled.  Her sweet melodic tone soothed him.  That was until he realized what she said.  She called him “honey”!  The rage screamed back through him.  He stepped forward and missed the first step.  The knife fell from his hand and hit the stairs with a clang.  It then spun from the steps toward him and he leapt away from it.  It fell loudly upon the wooded floor of a small dining room.

“That was the phone, Where is it?  What was that?” a voice, heavy in testosterone spoke from the stairs above.  It felt like Erik’s heart was beating outside his chest.  The rage dictated that he grab the knife and rush forward.  Her boyfriend, or “Honey” will have a standard issue hand gun and know how to use it.  The element of surprise will be his best option.  Erik grabbed the knife from the floor and rushed up the stairs.  He met the boyfriend at the top of the stairs and sank the kitchen knife into his left shoulder.  The boyfriend fell backward taking the knife with him.  Erik tried to pull it from the man’s shoulder as he fell but it wouldn’t budge.  Erik stood over him as he screamed.  The words from the injured boyfriend were not understandable and Erik’s original purpose was lost.  Erik watched as blood filled the wound around the knife.  Tears traced rivers of saline down his face.  It was almost like he got what he wanted but now he didn’t want it anymore.  Was this man his target or was it Erin?

“Where was Erin?”  Erik caught sight of the small thin woman seconds before she hit him hard, like a college offensive lineman, and forced him to trip over the top of the stairs.  He swung his arms wildly as he fell downward.

Goal as of Today.. Find the old copy of my original story and publish it. Change my goal for this year to publish a new novel instead of using my old idea. The idea is not working so realize this and move on.. I want to create a whole new world of beasts and humans. I am just going to have to build it from scratch.

I have struggled a great deal to outline this monster book.  It has become a monster book because I have so much material.   Today, thanks to the help of my awesome friends I am going to start my journey again into Kingsboro.  The big part of this that I kept ignoring is the Intro.  I wanted so much to just tell the best part of the story.  I ignored the basic principles of storytelling.  There is no way someone is just going to jump on in without knowing who these characters are.

Intro: The world has changed.  God has sent a message to Earth in the form of two fist-sized black stones nicknamed Creator stones.  These stones last saw Earth when a young man named Adam walked the Earth.  A curious by-pedal creature with round gentle eyes and a curious tenacity for everything around him.  These stones helped shape the known world into what it is as of two years ago.

The stones shown them-self, one then the other.  The first was found in RockAway, New York.  The stone was found tucked away under a bench on the beach after a storm.  It was found by a New York cop.  The second stone was unburied from its ancestral home under a long dead tree in Iraq.

Outline starts now…lol

1. Cop finds stone.  Tries to revive wife.  Wife is undead and thristy.  Cop is devastated and runs.  Outside New York city he cries and enbraces the stone.  He creates a daughter but she is not human.

2. Create an Iraq story

3. The cop lets go off the stone and moves to Michigan.  Him and his daughter live normal lives in an increasing abnormal time.  The stones create chaos throughout the world but its outside of there sphere of concern

4. Monsters begin to become collected and housed in former prisons.  Cop becomes a prison guard.

5. Someone with a grudge gets Cops daughter thrown into prison for being a monster.

6. Cop saves her.

7. I want a second story about someone in Iraq.

 

Ok going to try to finish my novel again.  One year 1000 words a month. Less then 300 a week.

… Last time Kyle kicked a new zombie and pissed it off. 

A pissed off zombie is similar to a train charging toward a station, but a zombie that has a hemorrhage from a swift kick to the temple is like a train off the track.  The zombie rushed Kyle.  It jumped from the lying position to its toes in seconds but it then veered off into a stone wall on the right.  Mitch and Kyle watched as the zombie stood again, its face bloodied.  It didn’t seem to have to energy to charge again and it fell forward and its face bounced off the dirt floor of the cave. 

“Let’s go, asshole, ” Mitch said as he stood slowly.  His face looked like it had been in a dirt grinder.

“What happened to your face?” Kyle asked with a smile. 

“Shut up, asshole.”