Temple of Pain (Featuring Jack Primus) February 25, 2013

When Jack asked, who was still with him, a moment of silence stretched long enough that he figured he’d be on his own, until Alex said, “I have to see this through.”

“I’m down for kicking their ass,” John said and then his body shivered in the near dark.

Jerry spoke up. “I don’t want to let my friends down, but I’d rather not join them either. Could we do this without walking through their front door?”

“I was hoping there was a way I could help, without leaving the car?” Andre asked.

“That’s a good idea,” Jack said while looking around. “Does anyone know how to hotwire a truck?”

* * *

Ten minutes later, Jack and his young allies had a plan of sorts. Alex and John were loaded up with weapons and flanked him on either side as he crept toward the plate glass window that ran along the side of the beauty shop. The upscale salon was located in the center of a strip mall which mostly hosted ‘For Rent’ signs in their windows. Jack had fought Xemmoni in some strange places, but seeing the large posters of perfectly trimmed super-models was something even he would not have suspected to be associated with horror and pain.

“All right,” Jack said under his breath. “Get ready. Screw this place!” His sledge hammer arced out and slammed the window. It exploded in a rain of shards. Jack had already started moving through the window before the glass had finished its decent. Alex and John hurried in after him smashing aside stray triangles of glass as they came.

Glass crunched under their boots as they found themselves moving through a salon that appeared to be as normal as any other. A check-in desk sat between twin passages that led back into the darkened building. For Jack however, the normalcy was dispelled by the red waves of malign evil that ebbed and flowed through the establishment like the clinging oil of a ruptured tanker.

Two figures emerged from a dark hallway that led past the rows of beauty products. Jack rushed forward, but then a curse erupted from his lips when a tall, metal covered man hammered him with an Agony Bestow. “Son of a…” escaped from his lips, before the waves of pain crippled him. He tried to remain on his feet, but they gave out on him. He could just make out that the man with the Templar was the teen’s friend, Matt, before the waves of red pain fogged his vision.

He was able to hear Alex cry out, “Get him out of here, John. I’ll take care of this traitor.”

“Terrific,” John grumbled as he began to pull Jack by the collar of his leather jacket. “That leaves me taking care of this guy while the big one comes after us. Jack, that freak is coming for us. Oh man, snap out of it. Jack, I’m going to need your help! Oh no!”

To be continued next Monday…

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started… Here!