Collateral Damage - Halloween Story

Once he was standing beside the ring, he raised his hand high into the air and brought it quickly down as he shouted out, "Go!"

Both women began moving in a slow circle toward the center of the ring. When they were within a few feet of each other, they continued to circle almost as if it were some sort of savage dance. Vicki lunged at Sandy several times, but with the amount of oil on their bodies, she was unable to do more than push her around.

After about twenty minutes, the crowd began to get restless. Some were booing. Others were shouting "Do something!" Finally Hector yelled out loudly, "In five minutes I am going to declare you BOTH losers!"

That caused the two women to start making almost continuous lunges at each other. Vicki shifted her weight slightly as Sandy was getting ready for another attack. When Sandy lunged, Vicki not only sidestepped her, she grabbed Sandy's hair and pulled her further along. As Sandy's body passed Vicki's, Vicki reached around with spike and drove it into Sandy's ass.

Sandy screamed and turned to face Vicki, who was now bouncing up and down in a Rocky Balboa victory dance. The audience started to cheer, but then went silent as Sandy squatted slightly and expelled the spike from her ass. Evidently Vicki hadn't pushed it far enough up for the plug to set.

Sandy then launched herself at Vicki, who was still celebrating her apparent victory, and rammed her spike firmly into Vicki's ass with enough force that it almost lifted her off the ground. Vicki's loud scream was almost drowned out by the cheers and applause from the crowd.

"We definitely will have to have the judges vote on this one," Hector said loudly. "Obviously, Vicki's spike wasn'tFIRMLYin Sandy's ass, but does that mean she can shit it out and win by ramming her own spike firmly into Vicki's ass?"

He signaled the stagehands to come forward and they took the two women back to their chairs to restrain them. As they sat Vicki in place, Hector said with a laugh, "Now you know the purpose of the hole in the seat on those chairs." The stagehands had not removed the spike from Vicki's ass before putting her in her seat. In addition, they had restored the spike to Sandy's ass before putting her in place.

"Judges," Hector said dramatically, "what is your decision?"

There was soft murmuring among the hooded figures at the judges' table. One of them signaled Hector and he walked over to confer softly with them. He was still nodding his head yes as he walked back up onto the stage.

The airman leaned in close to Maria. "When I stand up," he said firmly, "drop to the floor just behind me. I will protect you. Whatever happens, stay on the floor and don't move! Don't try to stand up. Don't try to run. Just pull yourself into a ball and lay there." He looked directly into Maria's eyes for the first time as he said quietly, "Only I can keep you safe."

Maria didn't understand, but Hector was yelling, "Judges, make your selections and vote... NOW!"

Many things happened all at once when the judges slammed their hands on the red buttons. The world around Maria began to shimmer and distort. For a moment everything became deathly quiet. Then all six women screamed loudly as the lights on all of the chairs began flashing more brightly than they had before.

"You all lose," Hector cried out jubilantly. "None of you escape your contracts."

He faced the audience, smiled evilly, and rubbed his hands together as he said, "That means it's suppertime."

The six judges rose from their seats. They didn't stand up, they rose. They floated above their chairs into the air and drifted toward the stage. As they moved their masks fell to the ground.

The faces behind the masks, with jagged teeth and red, fiery eyes, were much more horrifying than the glowing skulls had been.

Meanwhile, Hector looked like he was melting. His skin flowed off his body revealing a reddish-looking lizard-being with huge teeth and eyes that seemed to sprout flames.

The six women began screaming hysterically as the lizard-being grew larger and larger. These were no longer screams of pain. They were screams of pure terror.

"You can have the bodies," the lizard-being growled out to the judges, "but I get the souls." He then opened his mouth and put it over Sandy's head.

At that moment, the airman stood up and said loudly, "On the floor."

Maria dropped to the floor behind him and curled herself into fetal position.

There was a sound louder than a hundred jet airplanes taking off and suddenly everything in the club was bright white. Strange beings, brighter even than the whiteness of the room, were zooming in from all directions. The six judges turned and attempted to flee, but two of the light beings caught up with each of them. As the light beings enveloped each judge, he... or she... or it... exploded in a flash of smoke and flame.

Dozens of the light beings were descending on Hector-- or whatever he now was. He was batting them away like so many glowing ping-pong balls, but more were flooding over him each second.

Finally he was on the ground, growling and snarling and flailing away with his long scaley tail. Then he, like the six judges before him, exploded in a flash of smoke and flame.

When Hector exploded, so did The Cantina.

Maria lay huddled on the floor watching everything through the airman's legs. The last thing she remembered was an extremely intense flash of heat and light. As the wave of fire washed over the room, the airman stood above her. His arms were stretched out wide. His strange costume was burning. His body was burning. Everything in the club was burning. Everything, that is, except for the small patch of floor directly behind the strange airman.

Maria awoke on an ambulance gurney. A medic or doctor or whoever was asking her if she knew where she was. She raised herself slightly and looked around. She was in the parking lot. The club was a smoking pile of rubble. There were dark bags lying on the ground in neat rows.

"He saved us," a voice said from behind her.

Maria turned to see Deanna standing above her swathed in a blanket.

"I was behind the wall like he told me to be when the club exploded," she said. "Otherwise, I would have been toast like everybody else. The fireball even burned up all the cars in the parking lot."

She then looked down at Maria and asked plaintively, "How did you survive inside?"

"He shielded me," Maria said tearfully. "He stood between me and the flames. It was like he was pulling the fire into himself." She started crying almost hysterically as she cried out. "I watched him burn to death!"

Between sobs she said shakily, "He knew the Angel Squadron would destroy the club and everyone-- everything-- in it, but he wanted you and me to be safe."

She then dissolved into uncontrolled sobbing. The medic looked up at the police officer standing nearby and said, "I think she is out of it right now. You will have to talk to her at the hospital in the morning."

***

The next morning, Detective Rodriguez sat quietly beside Maria's hospital bed as she worked with the police sketch artist trying to create an image of the unknown airman who seemed to know in advance what was going to happen at the club.

"That's him," Maria finally exclaimed, and the artist turned the tablet so the detective could see what was on the screen.

"That's Lieutenant Walcowski," Detective Rodriguez said with obvious frustration in his voice. "You must be remembering him from the statue."

"Who is he?" Maria asked.

"Walcowski," the detective answered almost angrily. "You know? ... like in Walcowski Junior High?"

When Maria continued to look at him in confusion, he explained, "Way back when the base was really active, one of the jets flamed out or something and the pilot punched out. He thought it would crash in an open area on the base, but there was a strong wind and it started curving over toward the school. Walcowski was in one of the other jets and saw what was going to happen. He caught up with it and rammed both jets into the ground before it could hit the school. If he hadn't, hundreds of kids would probably have died when it hit."

He looked directly at Maria and said, "They renamed the school after him."

He shrugged, "Turns out he was rich," he said. "In his will he set up a special fund for survivors of catastrophes-- natural or man-made. I guess he was thinking about kids because it gives grants to help them go to school or college."

He thought a moment and said, "Hey, that club blowing up would qualify. After what you and Deanna have been through you could both apply."

Epilogue

Maria Sanchez stood in front of the statue in the grassy area in front of Walcowski Junior High School. She looked up at the face of the man depicted in bronze. The artist had somehow captured his face exactly, even down to the thousand-yard stare.

She held up the black folder as if she were showing the statue the contents. "I did it," she said quietly. "I got my degree." Her voice was sad and there were tears in her eyes, but there was a smile on her face.

She then closed the diploma folder and said softly, but firmly, "And I now have a decent job." Her voice became almost hard as she added, "I will never have to work in a place like The Cantina ever again."

She stood quietly for several moments before she said "Thank you," through her tears and placed a single rose on the pedestal between the legs of the statue. As she did, she noticed, for the first time, some writing carved into the base. In a script that evidently imitated the airman's signature, it said, "Daryll Walcowski" and beneath that in the same handwriting, "No collateral damage!"

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

END OF STORY

Please remember to vote

by clicking on one of the stars at the end of the story.

If you really liked it, click 5.

If you really hated it, click 1, but please click something.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Please note: I love hearing from all of you,

but because of a few vicious trolls,

I am no longer allowing anonymous posts.

Any anonymous comments-- good or bad--

will be deleted. I will-- of course-- continue to

read them, but I will not leave them on the site.

Please put your name or your Literotica username

on your comments. Claim what you say.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =