A Scaled Tribulation – Just a Taste

Posted On September 25, 2022

Prologue

Jerry Clarkson entered the parking garage as the daylight faded. Usually, the streets of Chicago were well lit around dusk, but the city had been experiencing rolling blackouts for the better part of a week. No one from the power company had been able to find the source of the problem. Jerry clicked on his flashlight as the last bit of light ebbed into darkness and began making his way towards the roof access.

As he ventured to the staircase, he caught the faint scent of cigarette smoke and sulfur. Jerry looked up to see the glowing embers of a cigarette end moving through the darkness. Lifting the flashlight, the beam revealed a man around his mid-40s. He was clean cut and well dressed. The only thing that looked out of place was a tattoo of a goat on the side of his neck. Jerry’s voice quivered as he asked, “Who are you ?”

The stranger took another drag of his cigarette. A wide grin slowly stretched ear to ear as smoke escaped his mouth. The man responded with a smooth baritone voice. “I believe, you’ll have plenty of time to figure that out .”

Knowing the type of business associates he kept, away from the office, he was not one to trust other freely. Jerry pulled a .357 Magnum Revolver from under his suit coat and lowered it to his side. “What do you want?”

The man raised the hand holding the cigarette to his face. He scratched his cheek with his thumb. He extended his arm towards Jerry, his index and middle fingers pinching the smoking butt. “And now we’ve arrived at the real reason I am here.” He took a few steps closer to Jerry. He stood tall portraying total confidence.  “You’re going to wire all of the money that you’ve been laundering for the last 20 years to numerous accounts of my choosing.”

Jerry laughed and raised the gun towards the man. The man lifted an eyebrow and sneered. Jerry fired a few rounds into the stranger. The man paused and, with a furrowed brow, looked down at his shirt. He reached into one of the oozing holes and pulled out a mushroomed bullet. The stranger held his hand in front of his face inspecting the fragment. “It’s strange that even the heat of a freshly expended bullet still feels like ice.” Crimson drops dripped from his fingers, splattering onto the floor. The man looked from his hand to Jerry, a frown marring his serious face. “This was my favorite suit.”

Everything in Jerry, froze. It felt as if his heart had stopped beating and he lost the ability to breathe. The  stranger carelessly dropped the bullet fragment, then lowered his arm to his side. Jerry’s mouth hung agape in shock. He felt the control of his body slipping, almost like something else was taking over. Through no control if his own , Jerry’s hand raised and pressed the searing barrel to his temple. “Let’s weigh your options, shall we?”

A bead of sweat rolled down Jerry’s face and spattered onto his collar. “You could wire the money from your phone and live a little longer,” Jerry’s eyes shifted towards his raised hand, then back to the man.

 “Or, you could pull the trigger.” He felt is index finger tighten on the trigger slightly at the stranger’s words.

“Either way, I’ll still have your money before midnight.”

Jerry’s voice quivered in fear as he struggled to move his finger against the force controlling him. “Alright, alright I’ll transfer the money, just release me and let me lower the gun.”

The man grinned. “Fair enough.” Jerry felt control return to his hand, once again, and placed his gun back into its holster. The Stranger took another drag off of his cigarette. “Go ahead then.” He pointed at Jerry. “Transfer it.”

“What accounts do I need to transfer the money to?”

The man took a slow drag off his cigarette. “That information will fill itself in as it is needed.”

After a few minutes of typing and working on his phone, Jerry lowered his hands. “There, you have your money. Now, who are you?”

The stranger grinned. The blood drained from Jerry’s face as he watched the man’s mouth start emitting smoke without taking a drag from the cigarette in his hand. “You’ll have that answered soon enough.” He said with a smirk. “Thank you for doing business with us. We greatly appreciate it.” He turned towards the corner and walked a few steps before stopping and turning to the shadows. “Make it quick and quiet.” He said before walking away with a confident stride and vanishing into thin air.

Jerry suddenly was aware of the strange clicks and raspy breathing coming from the dark void to which the stranger had just spoken.

. Out of the shadows Jerry saw a faint glow appear, which quickly formed into an umbrella like shape. As he watched, the glow grew more defined to the point, he could make out what appeared to him to be lava-colored veins. The creature’s mouth took shape as an orange throaty glow framed with sharp, silhouetted teeth. It’s magma-colored veins shook as a bony rattle petrified Jerry to his core. From the beast’s open maw, a glob of molten goo unexpectedly flew out onto Jerry’s face, covering his mouth and neck. He tried to scream, but nothing came from his melted flesh through the molten slime covering what was once his mouth. His death came within seconds as the skin and bones of his neck melted; separating his head and torso. The mass that was once Jerry’s head fell to the ground and rolled towards the monster. The creature folded the bony flaps back along its neck and stopped the rolling mass of melted flesh with its foot. The beast lowered its head and sniffed the ball of gore underfoot. With an eerie, almost laughing like sound, the creature raised its head and kicked the half liquefied skull across the parking garage.

If you’re wanting to read more of the story, be sure to get your copy of A Scaled Tribulation on Amazon today, or read it free on Kindle Unlimited! It is listed as Superhero Fantasy. If you pick up a copy, please, be sure to leave a review to let me know your thoughts. https://amzn.to/3BLD2po