A Band of Hope
“Well, sir, we were walking through the Corridor, me, Sugar and Brutus, doing our rounds like usual. Sugar was peekin' in different windows, just seein' what was doin' behind each door, when we came to this one that someone had painted a red and black sigil on. Inside the red circle there was this symbol, curled up in a circle, spinnin' in the direction of your watch, with four arms, each arm bent at the tip.”
“Nazis,” John Wayne said, a grimmer than usual look about him. Duke set his jaw, “Go on.”
“So, Sugar looks in the window, 'cept it's all blacked out. I'm getting pretty freaked out right about now, I haven't never seen no symbols on any of the doors before, let alone some world where the windows was blacked out. Sugar and I start discussin' what we should do, neither of us really wantin' to go through this hell-gate. Of course, Brutus had to get the stupid idea in his big, dumb, lunk head to go through this evil thing, but when he tries the door it's locked. So he does his big, dumb, lunk thing and starts bashing away at the door with one of his many notched axes. Next thing you know, there's a big whole in the door and Brutus has stepped through to the other side.
“Sugar and I chase after him, me makin' sure not to cut my suit on the shards of the door. On the other side of the door is an alleyway, near to pitch black but there's some light from the street up ahead. When we get out there, it looks like the street's mostly empty, 'cept for a few piles of rags with shoes stickin' out of'em. Brutus's standin' out there, the damn lamp above him reflectin' off his back like a disco porcupine. Every time the lug moves, all his knives and scabbards and chains and rings jingle through the night like he's some demented caroler, so when he starts walkin' up the street he sounds like the silence of the lambs.
“We haven't taken two steps when one of the rag piles leans forward and starts sniffin' the air. Brutus walks over to it and kicks the damn thing and out rolls the palest son of a bitch I've ever seen. It (and I mean it, even with my senses I couldn't tell whether the thing was male or female), it's got these great big pointed ears, thin, patchy, white hair, and beady yellow eyes. The damn thing is pathetic. It's so weak it looks like it might whither away in front of us. Brutus gives it another kick for good measure, when all of sudden it lunges at his leg and takes a bite out of him.
“Brutus snaps in to action, whips the creature off his leg, draws a sword and cuts the thing's head clean off its shoulders. Sugar knows when enough is enough and grabs Brutus, trying to get his attention. It's too late though, and Brutus has got his dander up (If you know what I mean. You should see the size of that man's orgone), ready to kill everything in his sight. Which is when they appeared, three 'its' like the one lying on the street, dressed entirely in leather. Now I figured, this is a great time to have a homicidal maniac on your side, as these guys are carrying gear that would put some serious holes in a person.
“Brutus sees them and starts to charge the trio, when five steps in he topples over, skiddin' chin-first on the ground. The three of them start laughin' at this turn of events, which is when I get a real dark feelin' in my boots. They're givin' off some crazy strong sexual vibes, but it's all mixed with this terrible dark feelin' like something stronger than sex. Their urges are so strong that I can see these lines in the air, pullin' at these pouches around their waist, when one of them bends over and starts danglin' it in the air in front of them. Brutus is still on the ground, moanin' and writhin', but he reaches out for this thing like it's the cure all for what ails him.
“They're danglin' the stuff in front of him, when one begins talkin' in this hideous whisper, sayin',
'Would you like some of this, young one? I'm sure you would, the urges are always strongest when you first turn. Tell you what, you bring us the body of your bald friend over there and we'll give you a taste.'
“Heavin' himself up on one leg, Brutus looks around him all dizzy like, before settlin' his eyes on Sugar and makin' a wobbly bee-line for the woman. She throws her hands out in front of her quickly enough to see'em floppin' on the ground before she faints, her blood spurtin' all over the ground like a waterin' hose. I'm inching away towards the gate we just came through, when I see Brutus grab Sugar by the neck and carry her over to his three amigos. They pour some sort of powder out of the bag and watch Brutus start sniffin' it off the ground and I'm seein' the same kind of dark impulses rising off him with every puff. By now I'm halfway through the door back in to the corridor but I heard'em say something , like, 'that tar'll gum you up good' or 'black tar' or something.
“Once I was in the Hall, I made a beeline for the bar.”
“They didn't follow you out?”
“Not that I saw. Shit, I don't think those guys even knew I was there.”
the bar was silent when Haz-Matt finished his story. Everyone wore somber faces, mourning the loss of our toughest rookie and favorite slice of heaven, Sugar. Breaking the silence, I said, “Duke, what do you think of all this?”
“Sometimes a man ain't got nothin' to say.”
“Jesus Christ, Nazi vampires addicted to heroin? What kind of idiot thinks of this stuff.”