Terror of The Hounds

Running, panicking, sweating and slightly bleeding, Byron was making his way through the forest trying to escape what could have been the end of his life. A partial cut on his elbow left small blood drops which made it easier for them to find him, catch him and eventually devour him. He had but no choice after that but to take a plunge off a nearby cliff into what looked like a deep lake. He heard them getting closer and closer. The noises, the yelps, the screams almost like they were whispering in his ear, "we got you bitch." Byron refused to give up as his legs started to drain out. One last push and he was there. BOOM, he jumped into the lake, plunged down 40 some odd feet. He hit the water and instantly a combination of relief and pain hit his body like a truck going thru tin foil. His body was in shock the water was so cold, but his adrenaline was running at full speed so basically, he was a fawkn mess. He swam up to the top of the lake and saw them staring down at him screaming, howling, yelling. At first glance it looked like they were going to jump and follow him in but they didn't, they merely looked down at him and smiled, drool, sweat and whatever the fawk else was dripping from their mouths, they ran off into the darkness. Byron then looked up and saw the moon light which hit the lake like a spotlight and gave him plenty of vision to swim to the shoreline. Shaking and holding his wound, he made his way to an open area, almost like a makeshift campsite. He found some dry branches and attempted to make a fire but continued to be unsuccessful. After 20 minutes or so, he stopped and decided to try and move around to get his body temperature up. He walked into the wooded area in his wet clothes trying to move around as much as he could, yet still shaking like a shit he started to run, he ran to and from the campsite over and over so his pulse would increase. As he made his last run to the campsite, he collapsed and fell unconscious.
"Wither away my son, you will wither away if you continue this lifestyle. Get up. Live. Be free of your convictions." Byron woke and jumped up from the campsite. The sun had started to peak through the clouds and he looked around in a crazed and confused manner. He saw nothing, nothing near him but birds, the lake, the forest and a pool of drool where his head was. He was still cold and had no way to get warm quick so he took his clothes off and hung them on a nearby tree. He was almost naked at this point when he heard something in the forest. "Was it them," he thought to himself. He stayed quiet and heard nothing. He quickly ran to a weeping willow and climbed up in, sporting only his chonies, he quickly got to a high branch and looked as far as he could. He saw what looked like a team of horses slowly walking to the lake. He looked closer and closer and saw brandings on their hind legs. He crawled slowly and quietly and could barely makeout what it said but all he could see was a symbol. It was a cursive K and at the bottom right part of the K was a tail that wrapped around the letter and up to the top where it looked like either a snakehead or the tail of a scorpion, he couldn't make it out so he tried to get even closer and yup, the branch gave way and he fell on his stupid ass. The horses ran off into the forest and Byron got up slowly. Mildly embarrassed but mostly in pain, he shrugged it off and went to the lake to get some water. As he was cupping his hands and getting something to drink, he saw a school of fish, starving and still a bit tired, he stayed quiet until they came near him to go for the berries that fell onto the top of the lake. Quietly he waited, not a movement in his body, they came closer and closer and just as they surfaced, he grabbed a handful of them, pulled them out of the water and brought them to the campsite. Not having a fire made and not really into consuming Texas sushi, Byron set out to make a fire. He found more dry wood and began to rub some sticks together. Over and over and over and finally, a break. They began to warm up, SMOKE. He grabbed some tinder and he finally got a fire going. He took the fish and put them on a small branch and cooked them over the fire. He finally began to warm up and his body had been fed and he had his clothes over the fire to dry off and warm up. He put back on his shirt, pants and shoes and ditched the campsite for a way out of the forest. Walking through he kept hearing noises but couldn't make anything out. Byron wasn't sure if it was them, the horses, someone following him or something else, so he kept his pace up but not too fast as he did not want to burn too much energy. After hours and hours he finally saw what looked like a road up ahead. It was. Finally, something. he ran to the road and started walking on it hoping to run into someone, something, anything. He saw something coming and flagged it down.
Monday morning came around and Byron was in his office going through his projected numbers for the end of the month. His boss, Larry, was a man in his 50's, always wearing and out of style suit, sporting a nice balding head, weird mustache and always reeked of PFunks. They analyzed what they had done this past month and what the following month looked like and potentially the entire quarter. After his brief discussion with Larry, Byron got up and slowly walked to the water cooler. Not wanting any water but getting irritable, he went into the lunch room which was completely filled with cackling women talking about their weekend with their husbands and how amazing and awesome and blessed it was. Byron went to the coffee pot, grabbed the largest cup, poured the coffee in, black and walked away. Not being addressed or addressing anyone, he went back to his desk to finalize his reports. Lunchtime was approaching, yet he never went out or even ate in the office or at his desk, he just drank his coffee and continued to work. He actually refused to take lunches as he would use that as his way of getting out of work early, especially on the weekends. Everyone finally left the office for lunch and he had the entire place to himself, not even the receptionist was there. This was the time when he sat at his desk and stretched while making calls. He would stand up, sit down and do movements the entire time, keeping his body loose and warm, he knew he needed too. As he was on the floor in an insane lunge stretch, with his headset on talking to a client, an office employee came back in to get something. She saw him in what looked like some martial arts stance, doing movements with his arms, while still talking to the client like he was kicked back in his chair. Lynn wasn't sure if she should go in and ask him what he was doing or just watch him, so he just left quietly.
5:30 was approaching and you could see the office clock-watching at this point and, "organizing their desks," for the next day. Byron's desk was flawless and always in perfect condition at all times of the day. He was the only one still making calls and continuing to work even though he worked through lunch and was the first person in the office. He looked over and saw Larry leaving, exactly at 5:30. This was the signal that the office could leave. Everyone got up almost in sync and walked to the elevator. Byron still on the phone with a client, he smirked to himself and shook his head at his desk. Once the entire office was empty, he began to do his stretching again, his movements, still on the phone, he went back and forth, moving his body in almost acrobatic ways. Before he knew it, 7 o'clock showed up and he felt like his day was over. He grabbed his jacket and went to the stairs and jogged down them and made it to the first floor in less than a minute. He walked out of the stairwell, said good bye to the desk security guard and walked outside. A beautiful evening it was, he decided to walk home, about 2.5 miles away, he strutted through the loud busy city. He got about a block away from his condo and heard something come from a side street, he recognized the noise and quickly darted to the door of the complex and ran up the stairs. In his place and safe, he locked the door, dead-bolted it and slid a flat steel iron rod against the door, where two braces supported it while being bolted into the wall. He went to his stereo and turned on some music. Went to his fridge and grabbed a half pound of chicken, bowl of vegetables, bowl of fruit and a 20oz glass of water and began to devour the food in the kitchen.
Byron woke up bright and early Friday morning, showered, got dressed and walked to work. He was always the first one in the office, but today he wasn't. When he got there, there were a group of policemen talking with Larry. The conversation didn't look pleasant and Larry began to scuffle with the police. They eventually subdued him and cuffed him. Byron being the only one in the office was casual and didn't intervene but he asked the police what was happening as this was his boss and wanted to know what the issue was. The police told Byron they would contact the office later to give more information but at this time it wasn't any of his concern. Byron looked at the officer square in the eyes without flinching, not saying a word, not moving, the officer's face sank and became white, he slowly moved his hand towards his side piece and Byron walked away and went to his desk. He got his desk together and walked to the coffee maker to brew a pot. It was about 7:15 when the receptionist usually gets there and does it, but Byron is usually the first in so he already had it going. Most people stroll in around 8 ISH but the receptionist is always in before that. Byron rarely speaks with her other than your standard hello, hi, see you tomorrow comments. She walked in and ran over to Byron crying. She had seen Larry outside in cuffs in the back of a squad car while the police were standing outside talking and writing reports. Byron told her he knew nothing and they wouldn't divulge any information to him. She kept crying, almost weeping like a child, frantically she walked into his office and began going through his stuff trying to find something. Byron went back to his desk un-phased by the entire situation and began his day. Call backs, returning emails and the usually routine, by the time the office was full and at it, Byron was already on his 3rd call to close his deal for the month. He hung up his phone with no reaction and went to call Larry. He looked over and the VP was in his office running his desk. The VP Charles answered and Byron just said, "closed, ring it." Charles looked over at him shrugging his shoulders and Byron got up and went in the office. He set down the paperwork for the 3rd deal closed that week and said, "ring it." Charles still confused, said, "huh?" Byron went behind him, grabbed a HUGE bell and banged it three times, harder and louder than ever, he said, "rung it," and walked out of the room. The entire office was startled and stopped what they were doing as no one had heard the bell all week expect for the three rings that Byron got. He strutted to his desk with a lil ego, up right, chugged his coffee and went to get more. When he was in the breakroom, the same women were in there talking about what they had planned for the weekend. Mini vacas, kids parties, going to their parents houses in the suburbs, Byron just went about his business and poured himself another large cup of black coffee but this time he dropped in a slice of grass fed butter. One of the women asked him what that was for and he replied, "to maintain," and he walked out. The women thought nothing of it and he went back to his desk, continuing to make sales calls and close in on another deal.
11:45 hit and Byron rang Charles at Larry's desk and said, "ring it." Charles put the speaker phone on and rang the bell once. Byron's 4th deal closed. The runner came over to his desk, grabbed the paper work and walked over to give it to Charles. Before it was in his hand Byron called Charles and said, "ring it." Byron closed his 5th deal of the day, 5th of the week and now has 7 more deals that month than anyone else in the office. Charles turned on the speaker phone and rang the bell once. At that point the entire office started to look over at Byron as he was on the phone again. Not even breaking stride or pace, he kept plugging away like a machine. He was relentless, he was always in that office pushing but today, something was different. An unstoppable force and an immovable object became one and it was Byron. 12 rolled around and the entire office got ready for lunch. Byron was going through his numbers and Charles came over and asked to take him to lunch. Byron politely declined and said he doesn't do lunch. Charles said to him, "I am not asking you to lunch, I am telling you we are going to lunch together." Byron stopped what he was doing and his skin began to boil, Charles could actually see his hair stand up on the back of his neck and he took a step back and Byron said, "OK, where?" Charles told him it was on him and they needed to get there soon. Byron was still in the midst of getting through his paperwork and just dropped his pen and got up and said, "let's go." They went to the elevator and Byron said, "see you downstairs." He went to the stairwell and got downstairs and waited, for 5 minutes. Charles walked out and Byron was outside waiting for him. The two walked down to a local diner, not the typical place that the office would go, but a small corner New York style place. They walked in and sat at the bar-like area which was the only place to sit as the entire space was filled with blue collar workers and college students. Charles grabbed the menu and immediately knew what he wanted while Byron sat there not sure what to eat. He's never gone out to lunch, he always stays at his desk, so he was completely unsure on what to do. He ordered a cup of coffee, bowl of fruits, bowl of vegetables and two steaks. Charles looked at him as if he was insane and Byron didn't flinch. Charles shook it off and said to him, "Byron, I wanted to take you out to lunch not only to congratulate you on your sales this week and month but to also offer you Larry's job. He is going away for a long time and I think you are the only person in that office that can fill his shoes." Byron looked at him with what looked like a cat looking at a human and said to him, "I am not a boss, I am no one's boss and I will never be any one's boss. I sell, I close. It's what I do." Charles responded, "I understand that, but you are the most effective and valued salesperson we have and this would be a big jump in salary and percentage on all commissions of the entire team." Byron said, "You are asking me to stop selling and start leading?" Charles responds quickly, "Yes, exactly." Byron turned away, sucked down all of his coffee and said to him, "Give me the weekend." Charles smiled and said, "Sounds good." Their food came out and once again, Byron devoured it instantly. Charles was almost disgusted by it but at the same time, mesmerized by it. He went to ask Byron a question and he got up and went to the washroom. While Byron was in there, Charles looked at his plate and absolutely nothing was left on it. Byron came out and said, "are we done here?" Charles said,"if you'd like, or you can take the day off." Byron looked at him square in the eyes, not moving or flinching, almost through him and said, "No." Charles has instantly started sweating but stopped once Byron walked away. They both went outside and walked back to the building. Charles took the elevator and Byron took the stairs, once again, getting there first. He went to the breakroom, poured himself another large cup off coffee and went back to his desk. 1:11 "Ring it."
The day was coming to a close and the office was uneasy at this point. No one knew what had happened to Larry and Byron had singly closed more deals in the office alone that day than all of the sales people combined for the entire week. Most people left around 430 and Byron would sometimes leave the same time, earlier or later depending on his week, but he stayed this time. Charles was about to get up and go when he saw everyone shuffling papers around and basically waiting for him to leave as that was always the signal they could leave. Charles looked at Byron at his desk, pounding away, not even acknowledging a clock or anyone around him, so Charles sat back down. He looked around and saw every one's face get annoyed, so he got up and walked over to grab his jacket and kept an eye on everyone, they began to gather their things, yet Byron was still on the phone. Charles put his jacket on the back of his chair and picked up the phone, the minute he did that and went to dial out, Byron had called him and said, "ring it." Charles put the speaker phone on and rang the bell once. The office was now starting to get up and talk to each other. No one was actually working, people were just waiting to leave while Byron was working and Charles was observing everything. 5:15 hits and the entire office is packing up for the 3 day weekend. Charles is closing down his desk and before he can get up to leave he gets a call from Byron, "ring it." Charles asks him, "is this legit? You know most offices are closed." Byron said, "ring it." The runner came over to Byron's desk, picked up the file and waved it at Charles. He got on the speaker phone and rang the bell. The entire office stood up in shock, like something went wrong, like a fire alarm went off. Byron stood up from his chair and stretched. Taking his hands and putting them over his head, locking his fingers, and arching his back he looked like he was going to attempt a flip off a diving board. He took off his headset drank the last of his coffee and said to himself, "60k in commish this week." Someone that was walking by overheard him and said, "WHAT? wait. WHAT?" Byron looked at Marlene and said, "SIX. T. THOU. SAND DOLL. EEEERS. IN. CO. MISH." She looked at him in disgust but at the same time amazed. She said, "congrats," and she walked away. Byron shut down his desk and walked towards the door. The entire office stood around their desks and waited for him to leave and when he did, they did, even Charles. Byron B-lined for the stairs and hurried down them avoiding any small talk with anyone. He walked out of the building and walked quickly to his condo 2.5 miles away. He ran up the stairs, inside and went into his bedroom. He tore his clothes off as fast as he could and took a cold shower. He came out in his towel and went to turn on his music. It was close to 7 and he was walking around looking for his t shirt and jeans. He didn't have plans but usually walked around the downtown area in bookstores, bars, clubs, etc observing people. He clothed up and went down into his parking garage. He had two spaces for his vehicles. His usual car and his car that was covered under a cloth. He stopped and looked at the clothed car and smiled. A 1974 Trans Am, in tip top condition, he walked over and undressed her. Started on the first try and he revved her up. Louder than a train going through a tunnel, he drove out of the garage and piped down the street. While at a stop light he looked over and saw a group of twentysomehing girls hollering at him. "Nice car boy." He smiled and slowed down and looked over at them. They were screaming and catcalling at him so he revved it up and spun off. He didn't mind the attention he always got in the car, he was confident and proud of it, not some pussy ass bitch. So he spun off and got to the next light. He looked and saw down the street, it was them. He looked straight ahead and punched it. Ripping down the street he was doing about 70mph in the downtown area, weaving in and out of car lanes, he took a wicked turn, and almost lost control, but his driving skills allowed up to sway the rear end and straighten out and he headed out of the city.
Knowing where he was going to wind up he began to get excited in an archaic way. His body temp rose, his veins were pulsating and his eyes were lit up like a Christmas tree, he was doing 110mph and didn't even realize it. The TA purring like a cat, wanting more and more, he kept giving it the juice and pushed it harder. 130mph, practically flying at this point, his arms began to fill with blood, growing bigger and bigger, his entire body doubled in size within seconds of the car hitting 150mph. He got out of city limits and was crossing into the next town and began to slow down, slower and slower he was now at the speed limit and was slowly strolling around and parked his car on the street. He felt normal but never normal. He got out of his car and walked into a small night club where he could hear SHM playing. Byron walked to the bartender, ordered a drink and stood by the bar. Within seconds he was approached by two women whom were friends. They started a conversation with him and he smiled and said, "Is this going to happen or should I leave?" The two women, about 23, looked at each other and then at him and the shorter one said, "I don't know what you mean?" Byron smiled and took them by the shoulder and said, "I am you both want to fuck me, I don't know which one is going to have the balls to say it first, so we are going to spend all night talking about things we don't care about. Ya'll are going to hit the shitter and gameplan on who is going to fuck me and the other one is going to back off and find someone else. So is this going to happen or should I leave?" The women were disgusted by his behavior, typical suburban snob looks, "O my GODS," were said and he looked at the taller one and said, "You need it more than she does, but she wants it more than you do. Let's be fair and all leave together now and do this." She went to slap his face and he stopped her with his hand and said, "That's assault and not a good thing to have on your record." She shook his hand off and replied, "You are disgusting, get away from me." Byron said, "You walked up to me, both of you, this is a club on a Friday night. This ain't my first rodeo." The shorter girl said, "You are a fucking pig." Byron replied, "I may be a pig for being honest, but that's what you are looking for. And you." He pointed at both of them and they were both in shock, but they wouldn't leave him alone. By this time they were yelling but not at him, at each other. the bouncer came over and asked what the problem was. Byron said, "I don't want any trouble. I just want to get laid." The bouncer laughed and asked if the girls if they were OK, they responded that they were and he walked away. But the girls stood there, continuing to complain to each other about Byron, who was standing there watching them. While the taller one was yelling at the shorter one, she looked at him for a split second, their eyes connected and she took a step back from her friend. Byron just looked at her and smirked and he walked away. Byron walked outside and over to his car. But he slowed down for a second and then yup, "HEY! What is your fucking deal man?" Byron said, "In or out?" "She looked at him and said, "IN." He opened the car door for her, she got in and said, "Umm, this is yours?" He said, "Yup." She smiled at him and said, "I'm Drea." Byron said, "Nice to meet you Drea, I'm Byron." Just as that happened, the shorter friend came running out and said, "hey, you aren't leaving with him are you?" Drea said, "Yea, you drove, you can get home, I'm good." She took a step back and looked at his car and said, "move over, I'm coming with." She hopped in and said, "Hi, I'm Sammy," and just as she said that, Byron lit up the tires and took off.
Byron woke up in hotel room. The place was a mess. Bottle of booze, champagne, condoms and two naked girls on the bed. He went in the bathroom and pissed and pissed and pissed. He came out in his chonies and the girls started to wake up. They were a mess, hair everywhere, tired and sloppy, stumbling over each other they asked what happened. Byron stood in the door way with a cup of coffee and said, "I gave you both what you wanted." They were confused and desperately looking for their clothes. Byron then said to them, "Now you must give me what I want." The girls were starting to come to. Drea said to him, "OK, enough man. We all fucked, it was fun, can you help me find my shit?" Byron said to them, "Your shit is gone. Everything is gone. I need you to give me what I want." He turned around and locked the door. Sammy was sitting on the edge of the bed trying to get her phone to work and said, "Dude. You are getting weird. Just help us find our shit and we'll leave. But o yea, we need a ride back to my car." Byron said, "That's not going to happen. It's time I get what I want. Fair is fair ladies." Drea looked at Sammy and then to Byron and said, "Dude, you are kind of scaring me." Byron said, "Just pray that scared you is the only feeling you will have." Drea looked confused and said, "OK man, I'm calling downstairs." Byron looked over at the phone and whipped his coffee cup at it, shattering both things. He then said, "It's time." He walked in the bathroom for less than a minute. The girls tried to grab a blanket and leave and Byron came out, "Not so fast." He was sporting just bright orange chonies and had doubled in size. The girls started to cry and he said to them, "Don't cry. This is what I want." The girls held each other on the bed and he reached behind his back and pulled an axe like bone from his skin. The girls screamed in horror. Byron said, "shhhhhhh, yelling only angers me, you must be quiet." The girls were weeping and sobbing uncontrollably, but were no longer yelling. Then there was a noise outside the door. Not a knock, but noises. The girls thought they were safe but a loud, "BANG...BANG...BANG," as something was being thrown against their door. Again and again they head this. The girls kept crying and Byron said, "Keep crying, this is what I want. This is what I need." They were horrified by him, they were trembling, scared out of their minds, a man doubled in size, sporting orange chonies, holding a bone that looks like an axe that was torn from his skin and something at the door, they began to get light headed, but before they could pass out, the door ripped open. A pack of mutated doglike wolves, slobbering, drooling, blood everywhere on them, ran in after Byron. He slashed one instantly beheading it, one ran over to t he carcass and Byron slashed that one in half. "Four more of you fawkers left?" Let's dance BITCHES!" He spun and kicked one against the window, bouncing off it fell near the girls and its screamed at them, the girls were completely frozen, they were beyond panicking, just standing there. Byron grabbed his bone-axe with two hands, raised it over his head and slashed the beast in two spraying blood all over the girls. "Three left and I get to take these skanks out for breakfast." Byron whips a lamp at one beast knocking it off balance while two others jump at him. SNAP. SNAP. He swings the axe twice in opposite directions without a slight movement. They drop, headless. The last lil pup eyes the door and makes a run for it. "No no no fucko, there ain't no ties in this." He lunges towards the final beast and misses, but hits its back paw. The beast falls against the wall and he whips his axe at it, hitting it directly in the skull, slashing it in two. Byron walks over to the beast, picks up his axe and says, "You were a good warrior, but I am the best." Byron walks over to the girls, bone-axe in hand and says, "Ya'll wana grab some grub, Im starvin marvin." They are shaking like crazy, not even attempting to move, Byron looks at them square in the eyes and slowly puts his bone-axe back into his skin, then instantly sizes down to normal. Drea says to him, "Who, what, I, I, I..." Byron says, "Don't ask. But if you want to forget this ever happened, I can help you." Sammy starts stuttering, "ye ye ye yeeeey ye." Byron says, "OK, here ya go. " He pulls a branding iron out and says, "give me your hips." The girls not even coherent anymore, turn over and expose their hips. Byron pulls out a lighter, laughs and says, "Man, I could have used you before." Then brands the girls with a K that has tail that winds around it and up to the top where it ends with serpent head. The girls instantly pass out from the pain. 6 dead beheaded bloody beasts and two hungover chics in a hotel room, Byron calls security and leaves.
Monday 7AM rolls around and Byron is at his desk with a large cup of coffee, setting up his day. Charles shows up right after him and says, "So, should I ask you now or later about the promotion?" Byron responds, "Give me a few. Got to get this deal done." Charles laughs and walks away. 30 minutes later Byron calls Charles and says, "ring it." Charles does the norm, with people starting to slowly walk in. Byron looks at his calendar for a while he then realizes its the start of November, the 3rd to be exact. His eyes light up, then slowly fall when he hears people coming in. Byron walks over to the breakroom where everyone is getting coffee and talking. The women are babbling about their awesome weekend, mini vacas, kids parties, their parents in the suburbs, the norm. But one of the women asks Byron, "Hey Byron, how was your weekend? Do anything to celebrate all those sales?" Byron gets aggravated, his head down so no one can see, then something slowly whispers, "Wither away my son, you will wither away if you continue this lifestyle. Get up. Live. Be free of your convictions," and he is put at ease. He looks over to the woman and everyone kind of quiets and looks at him waiting for a response. "Well, took my '74 out for a spin, Some skanks catcalled me, but that shit don't phase me cuz I'm tougher than that. Picked up a coupla sluts at a club outside of town. One bitch was a fawkn gusher so the bed was a mess. The other was well, into some choking, so ya, that was fun. But when I got them both on each other I was like vivid-ing that shit. Then the fawkn hounds, don't get me started on those assholes." The initial woman drops her cup on the floor, smashing everywhere. The rest of the people looking at him in awe, Byron shrugs his shoulders and says, "fawkn mercury in retrograde!"