A homecoming, and then...[Complete]

[Wreckoner]

He woke up, afraid he'd yelled or something, but apparently the rest of the plane was undisturbed. He'd been having a dream that, under orders from Uncle Sam, the whole plane had been turned around in mid-flight to go back to Iraq. His R&R had been canceled, the insurgency had gained numbers and determination, and he was needed to go back into the suck and drain the swamp, never mind the alligators and mosquitoes.

False alarm, thank Jesus. The comforting drone of the pilot was informing him that the Fort Dodge terminal was coming up in about 15 minutes, barring any sudden acts of God, and if the passengers would be so kind as to put their trays in an upright position and buckle back in, gosh he'd appreciate it. And we'd appreciate it, buddy, if'n you'd either put some red pepper up your ass and get some enthusiasm, or just let us sleep.

Joseph chuckled to himself; now that he was back in home country, visiting his parents, he'd have to learn to rein in the attitude just a bit. His parents might cut him some slack since he'd seen combat and all, but not much. It would be a working vacation on the farm, early days and early nights (except on Saturdays, you betcha), but that was okay: Riles didn't want to get too out of shape because he was almost guaranteed he'd be going back in inside a month. A month of detoxing from the stress, the noise, the chaos, the stink, that was all he needed...

He was just about to fall asleep from the sheer joy of thinking about it when the pilot mumbled his announcement though the PA about the landing at Fort Dodge. Hopefully, his dad had commissioned a ride for him, but if not, he knew an old friend or two who'd be happy to give him a lift. That was the great thing about Iowa: nothing was so pressing that you couldn't drop it for awhile to do something different.

[Stargaizer]

There was no car rental place at the Ft. Dodge Airport, and Joseph knew it. That meant that someone would have to pick him up. But that wasn't so bad, because, again, nothing was so pressing that you couldn't drop it for awhile to pick up a friend and serviceman from the airport.

The landing was uneventful, so although the pilot wasn't very enthusiastic, he was good... decent at least.

Joseph went through the checkout procedure, and when he got to the baggage claim, found out that there wasn't any need for him to have worried about a ride. Apparently the return of a 'hometown hero' was the biggest thing going on in town, and the best thing that anybody had to do. The high school marching band wasn't there, and they hadn't cancelled school, but it seemed that the entire town took its' lunch break at the same time to come and see him home. There was even a news reporter from the local paper... apparently this was front page stuff.

His parents were front and center, with everybody else pressed in behind them. There were a couple of 'welcome home' signs, and everybody cheered when they saw him.

[Wreckoner]

"Wow." That's all he could say. He remembered hearing the old Vietnam vets in the VFW hall complaining about how they came home to apathy, and in a few cases, outright antagonism. He certainly didn't expect that, although he'd known the war wasn't all that popular back home. But he was sure that Greenbelt, Iowa would just give him a sleepy wave hello, just like it had waved goodbye when he'd left.

He swallowed, and his vision blurred a little. There were a few uniforms in that crowd: Dad's drinking buddies. The rest were his mom and a few aunts, and...Jeff, Danny, Ronnie, Skeets, and Larry! Damn, he hadn't seen them since high school! They already looked different.

He walked over and hugged his mom and dad. He felt the crowd press around him, and another cheer went up. Then there was his dad, enthusiastically bellowing, "ALRIGHT! HE'S HERE, FINALLY! NOW WHO WANTS TO HEAD BACK TO OUR PLACE FOR SOME COLD ONES AND SOME HEART-STOPPER BURGERS!?" This brought out a more enthusiastic cheer, followed by some chuckles. That was his dad, a man of priorities.

The crowd moved in unison, and everyone was peppering him with questions. Sadly, Denise didn't appear to be in the crowd, but he could ask about her later. This moment was too good to spoil.

[Stargaizer]

The pressing of the crowd, questions and pictures continued as they made their way out to the car, thinning some as others went to find their own ride. Someone had apparently already gotten Joseph's ruck-sack and put it beside the car. His father put it in the trunk, unlocked the doors, and got into the car.

Once Joseph followed his father's lead, his father started up the car and started to pull out. When Joseph questioned him about the apparent lack of 'Mom', his father explained that she had thought that 'the guys' would like some 'alone time' and had decided to catch a ride with someone else home.

Then he started heading home... without another word.

Apparently he was waiting for his son to initiate the conversation.

[Wreckoner]

"Well, sir...I made my choice, and I'm going back in. I know I was lucky enough to survive the first go-around, because I knew a few people who weren't so lucky. Remember I told you about Conroy? Well, he's getting one of the best prosthetic legs our country can build.

"But I feel I need to go back. I'd rather have me over there, with the experience I have, than some new kid who's going to hit the ground over there either too scared or too cocky. It's safer for my squad, and it's safer on the Iraquis. Better to have a soldier on the ground who has some idea of what's going on.

"I know we'd talked about me heading back ASAP and getting a degree or getting started taking over the farm. Truth be told, I'm not sure either option is right for me, yet. Nothing has called out to me college-wise, and we've had...lengthy conversations about my suitability for farm-work, especially given other circumstances. Truth be told...dad, I think I'd like to make the military a career. It's the only thing, even at its worst, that really challenges and engages me. I really can't see anything else for me."

It came out in a gush, and then subsided just as quickly. He waited for his dad.

[Stargaizer]

As they drove down the road, through town, on the way to the farm, Joseph noticed a couple of new diners and a couple more places that were staples of his childhood had closed down. It seems that even in a sleepy, backwater town nothing stayed the same for long.

As for his dad, he just simply grunted and nodded his head. His reply was a flat, "Well son, you're your own man now. If that's what you think is best, then that's what you've got to do." There was little to no inflection in his voice, and, as typical of his father, he was impossible to read. Joseph couldn't, for the life of him, tell whether his father was being serious, was hurt, was being sarcastic, or was all three.

[Wreckoner]

Trying to find a subject that his dad would converse on, Joseph opined, "Wow, sure looks like a lot of places I remember are shutting down. Hope the economy isn't beginning to hit this place too hard. How is the farm doing, by the way?"

[Stargaizer]

His father seemed to thaw a bit... but only a bit. "Yeah, the only constant thing is change... or something like that. Right? You know, if you're going career, there won't be much time for family. Or making one of your own," and with that he coughed. It wasn't a secret that Joseph's parents wanted grandkids. "And you're not going to be getting very far as a PFC. You think they're going to let you go officer?"

[Wreckoner]

"Well sir, that's what I'm pushing for. If I go back, I'll have enough experience to make a push for promotion. They'll want to keep the career-minded and combat-tested. I'll be a known quantity.

"And with that under my belt, I'll be able to take my time. I want kids, but I don't want to settle down right away. I know life's unpredictable, but I've gotta at least have a battle plan. And right now, it doesn't include a new wife and kids. Soon enough."

[Stargaizer]

His father actually chuckled, just a little bit, as they pulled into their driveway, almost as an added emphasis to his statement. "Well you know what happens with battle plans once you start the battle..."

Almost everybody from the airport (sans the reporters) was at the cookout in their substantial back yard. Someone had even brought out their collapseable party tent (which only happened for special occasions, like weddings and, apparently, coming home from war).

There were a few people that Joseph had known from school who were there that hadn't been at the airport, but still no Denise.

Click to reveal..

Feel free to add as much or as little detail as you'd like for the party. I'd like to move to the evening, after the party's wound down as quickly as possible... though I don't want to deprive you of working out some of Joseph's backstory... so however much you want to do, we can do... the rest is almost completely up to you (within reason)

[Wreckoner]

Wow.

So...Dave had been recruited in to the Marines, Steve had been busted with an ounce of weed (the sheriff's kid!), Rita had wrapped her car around a phone pole (and put her best friend Jeanne in a coma), Larry had gotten ill, gone to the doctor, and found out it was some sort of cancer (in remission now, praise Jesus!), Rory and Lisa had moved away together to another state to start over, Jerry decided to stay and run his dad's used car store, Marlon had been hanging out with some Nazi punks, but had gotten away from them when some of them had been arrested on weapons charges, Kristen had come out as a lesbian (which surprised no one), Zeke had seen his dog get hit by some out-of-towner with a Hummer and an attitude problem, Randy had blown off two of his toes cleaning a gun he thought wasn't loaded, And Roland's dad had disappeared one night, and the family was still waiting to hear from him.

Wow. Between that, the food, and the watermelon mix (which was a watermelon shell with the pink part mixed in with various alcohols), Joseph felt like his head was spinning. Is this what it feels like to be an adult? To have time constantly pulling the rug out from under your feet?

Speaking of which...there seemed to be a code of silence regarding Denise. No one seemed to know anything about her after he'd left for the military. He'd been unsuccessful in trying to corner some of his friends and get the truth out of them.

And sadly, it was getting dark, and winding down. Most of his friends had taken off, promising to get him for a Saturday bar crawl. He winced, expecting to get lectured by his dad, but so far his dad had said nothing. So now, for at least a few minutes, he had some time alone with his thoughts, to catch up with the breakneck pace the world had set in getting away from him.

[Stargaizer]

His couple of minutes didn't last long, as his mother approached him after everyone else had left him alone. She had a set of car keys in her hand, and quietly transfered them to his hand with a loving pat.

"A lot has changed since you left, and this mightn't be the best way to try and readjust. Take the car, go drive around by yourself. Take some time and soak it in; maybe even park and walk around town. See how your old stomping grounds have changed. Let everything sink in and then come back home. Your father and I will be waiting... whenever you're ready."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then shoo'd him in the direction of the family car.

[Wreckoner]

It was a long, slow drive in the dark.

The arcade had finally closed. That spot by the river all the kids had gone to drink illicit beers and smoke cigarettes liberated from their parents, now closed in by a fence. Little shrines along the road near all the winding parts, commemorating kids who'd drunk too much and died driving.

His middle school was boarded up, apparently that new one had finally opened. His high school had a modern LCD sign in front of it advertising all the upcoming school dances and plays.

He drove past the 7-11 where he'd seen a lot of the rougher kids hang out. Some faces looked familiar, if older. Others he didn't recognize. He did recognize a few of the young mothers out front: at least two were supposed to be in his graduating class, but they'd dropped out to have their kids. They didn't look any better for their decision.

But the worst part of the drive around was something he couldn't point to. It was an overall patina of grime and decay. It seemed like his hometown was fixing to curl up and die, and no one living here had gotten the memo yet. Streets that should be jumping seemed lifeless and ghost-like. It almost looked to him like he was driving around in a movie, one where the town bogeyman hops out of the swamp and starts hacking up teenagers having sex. He'd seen that one Rob Zombie movie, and had laughed at the town and townsfolk, but suddenly he wasn't in the mood to laugh anymore.

He started wondering, in the back of his mind, how long it would take for the grass to just swallow up his hometown, and if anyone outside of it would even notice.

[Stargaizer]

As Joseph drove slowly, visualizing the decay and eventual death of his hometown, he got the urge to simply park and walk... to take it even slower. Whatever was left of the place he grew up in he wanted to connect to, and he got the feeling that he'd be able to do so a lot quicker 1-on-1, so to speak. Hear the sounds, smell the smells, feel the same old sidewalks under his shoes...

[Wreckoner]

And before he knew it, he'd parked in the lot of a bank branch that had shut down around the time he'd enlisted. Got out, locked up the car, and began walking.

[Stargaizer]

Joseph's walk was slow, and for the most part he kept his head down. His thoughts went back to all the fun that he'd had on these streets growing up. Went back to how lively these streets should be on a night like this, compared to how absolutely dead they were tonight. Went back to all of his friends that he'd had, and how life was so different now that they couldn't even pretend to go back to the way things were.

Joseph didn't even realize where he was walking, he was so deep in his thoughts. That fact wouldn't have mattered when he was growing up, as Fort Dodge was really too small to have a 'bad' part of town. And it shouldn't have mattered even now, with his military training and experience, he could take care of himself.

But that didn't make it safe for everyone. It started out faint, barely enough for him to hear, but enough to snap him out of his thoughts. It started off as faint voices, but Joseph quickly got close enough to hear the cursing interspersed with sounds of flesh (and other objects) hitting flesh.

Josh quickened his pace, and found that the sounds were comming from a nearby alley; one where all the surrounding streetlights were out (or had been broken). As he neared, he heard the distinctive sounds of two male voices, one of which said, 'someone's coming, drop her', and then he heard two sets of shoes running the opposite way down the alley. He also heard the sound of someone hitting the ground.

When he rounded the corner, he saw two figures rounding the far corner at a flat run, and the shadowy shape of a woman against the left wall, sitting on the ground, legs splaid, completely exposed. She was moving, so she wasn't dead, but there was something definately not right about her (in a drugged/intoxicated way).

Joseph completely missed the sets of red eyes in the shadows as he decided what to do...

[Wreckoner]

"Hey! Hey you sons of bitches! Get back here and man up to what you were doing!" But of course, they ran on.

Great, and he didn't have a cell phone with him.

He gently approached the woman in question. "Ma'am? Are you all right? Are you aware and coherent? Do you have a cell phone on you? You've been...mugged, and we need to get you to a hospital and get the police involved."

[Stargaizer]

The smell of the woman's breath was heavy with alcohol, and Joseph caught the faint whiff of marijuana. Apparently her actions and words weren't slurred just from the trauma that those men had put her through.

She looked up at the sound of his voice. Her words were slurred and almost incoherent. "Sssccay.... ttthhheyhh lllefffft bbb.... bbbb... nnoo pppayyy...." And it was then that their eyes met.

Waves of feeling and emotion coursed through Joseph's mind... and other extremities. The lady in front of him was none other than Denise. She'd changed a lot since he'd last seen her, but it was unmistakably her.

Apparently the realization of who was standing in front of her sobered her up a bit, as her speech was more coherent this time. "Hey sssoldier. Welcome hhhome. It'sss been a long timmmme. How'ssss about I run a hhero sssspecial? It'sss jussst the two of usss nowsss...."

She tried to make it up to her feet, but it was clear that she wasn't going to be able to make it without help. Joseph did notice that while she tried to stand she didn't even make an attempt to cover her exposedness.

[Wreckoner]

"Denise? What the...What happened to you? What the hell is going on? I couldn't have been gone that long! Never mind. Let's just take a walk. Damn me for not remembering my cell phone! I was walking to clear my head...I left my car THAT way. C'mon, let's walk a bit and maybe sober you up some."

Joseph was struck absolutely numb. Deep down, part of him was saying: Just keep calm. If you need to get angry, get angry later. Just...not now. You used to feel a lot for her, still do, and what she needs is help. You can do that much. Be a hero, no matter how much it hurts. Oh damn, this is going to hurt if I stop to dwell on this too much...

"Here, I have a jacket. You wear it, and keep walking." Jesus, what a clusterfuck.

[Stargaizer]

Joseph got Denise up, but only with much trouble. It was all he could do to cover her up and keep her from exposing herself to him again.

And there was no way that she could walk on her own. Her legs were like Jell-O, and her eyes were actually hazy from whatever it was that she had in her... and from the heavy smell of alcohol on her breath, weed in her hair, and dark tracks running up her arms, there was no telling what, or how much, that was.

"Hhey... a girlssss gotta make a living... butsss for youssss..." And she reached out to grab him... inappropriately.

It was all he could to to keep her from either putting his hands on her, or her hands on him. Not to mention that she was propositioning him the entire walk.

With all of his attention on her, he completely failed to notice the multitude of red eyes that lined the tops and shadows of the buildings they walked by...

... something was definitely not right here...

[Wreckoner]

Deftly maneuvering to keep away from Denise (as much as he hated it, those Armed Forces "hygiene" videos were popping into his mind, and they should have had nothing at all to do with Denise, a girl he'd considered spending his life with), he tried to get her to focus. "Denise, what happened? How'd you end up like this? I was gone, but I was not gone that long. What the hell happened?"

He saw his car in the parking lot. Thank Jesus! As weird as it was, nothing felt right or safe in his own home town. He was beginning to feel like he was out on patrol again, with the pressure of a thousand unseen eyes on his back. And any one of those eyes could be looking at him through a rifle scope.

[Stargaizer]

Denise's eyelids grew heavier the closer they got to the car. Her speech got more slurred, and she supported herself even less (as if that were even possible). She even stopped maneuvering herself to come into illicit contact with him.

"A girrlss ggottta do wwhattttss a girrlsss ggotta doo..."

[Wreckoner]

Well, no choice left in the matter. He hoisted her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, and wobbled himself back to the car. All the way back to the bank parking lot, he felt eyes on him.

He got to the passenger's side door, unlocked the automatic locks, opened the door, and poured Denise into the seat, buckling her in. Then he ran (not walked, ran)to the other side, opened and shut the door, buckled with one hand while the other one was fitting the key into the ignition.

He got the hell out of there, driving past the spot where he'd found Denise, remembering the nearby streets, and then went driving to the police station.

[Stargaizer]

The thousands of eyes, red eyes, that Joseph felt on him as he made the long trek back to his car didn't go away. It was only once Joseph was in the car and driving that he saw the red eyes lined along the tops of the buildings down the street. From his vantage point they looked like pure red christmas lights, though they were a darker shade than any merry holiday would merrit.

Gave a new meaning to the term 'red light district' in Joseph's mind.

He was on his way to the police station when he saw Denise's chest rise and then fall for the last time. Out of the corner of his eye he could've sworn that he saw something leave her as she expired.

Click to reveal..

make a perception/awareness/notice check, DC 7, 2sux min to notice that half of the red 'lights' go out when she stops breathing

[Wreckoner]

Click to reveal..

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2252815/

9,10= 2 sux.

[Wreckoner]

Oh...wow. Oh, dear God. Oh, shit shit SHIT!!

He turned the ignition and got the hell out of there as fast as he could. As he drove away, he headed to the police station, keeping an eye out for cop cars along the way.

Oh God, she's dead. She got mugged, possibly raped, and now she's dead. Obviously overdosed. And...no, those were some weird lights back there, not eyes. This scene is horrible enough without supernatural bullshit on top of it.

Now, if only he could believe that, he wouldn't be thinking about how nice it would be to be back in Iraq getting shot at...

[Stargaizer]

…And suddenly…

As Joseph’s headlights rounded a corner, he noticed a man standing in the middle of the road. As fast as he was going, it was a miracle that he missed the man… but to do so he had to hop up on the sidewalk, where the man should have been. Of course, at that speed, that got his car airborne for a moment, which landed him in somebody’s yard, which wouldn’t have been that bad, except for the fact that their sprinklers had been on that night and the grass was still wet. As it turned out, though, that was ok, because the giant oak tree that they had in their front yard stopped him from skidding into their front porch.

Of course, that meant that his parent’s car was totaled… but that was ok, because everybody was…

Joseph remembered why he had been speeding. Denise was dead. He could’ve sworn that he saw something leave her, and then half of those weird red lights, the same ones that were moving closer to his wrecked car, half of them had gone out.

How were they moving…?

Joseph and tried to open the door to the car, but it was stuck… and slick. Why was it slick and… sticky? Why was he? Must’ve spilt some soda or something… but he didn’t have a soda…

Joseph undid his seatbelt and tried to turn in his seat to get his feet on the door. Maybe he could kick it open. Of course, that put his head in Denise’s lap. Oh how he’d longed to be here… well, not here… but… this was still nice… no it wasn’t… but why not…?

Joseph got his foot on the door and gave it a big kick and it finally obliged and opened… then fell off… that was funny… So Joseph sat back up and looked out onto the street. He’d managed to miss a single streetlamp, the only one on this street, or at least the only one that was working… and the guy that he’d swerved to miss was standing in the middle of the pool of light with Denise… but it wasn’t the guy that he’d swerved for… this guy was different. And he was talking to Denise… well, not so much talking as standing there while she berated him… that Denise had a temper…

But when had she gotten out of the car…? Must’ve been when he stopped… but weren’t they going somewhere…?

Joseph shook his head to try and clear both his head and his vision… then realized that it was a bad idea. The sudden motion stirred up a hornet’s nest in his head, and the edges of his vision were getting even more blurry. But that was definitely Denise out there in the middle of the road, talking to some strange man… and the man was glowing… no, that was just his blurry vision…

Then Denise turned, not towards Joseph, but towards the shadows, away from both Joseph and the glowing… no, just the man. She turned and walked away from them, towards the shadows towards… there was someone else over there, surrounded by lots of pairs of red lights…

Joseph didn’t want her to go over there, didn’t want he to go into that other man’s arms, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to shout at her, tried to run and grab her, but all that came out was a hoarse croak and he fell flat on his face.

When he looked up again, the cloaked, shadowy figure had his arms around Denise, and she had her arms around him. And then they just vanished… along with all of the red lights.

That’s when the glowing man came over towards him. He was actually glowing, because the light from the streetlamp actually followed him… was coming from him… Joseph looked harder, through his blurring vision and saw that the street light wasn’t even on… it was broken, just like all the rest of them.

As the glowing man approached, Joseph looked harder at him. He had short cut beautiful blond hair, beautiful yet fair skin, and was wearing a white shirt and jeans. He slowly approached Joseph, kneeling when he reached him. His gorgeous, piercing blue eyes locked with his, staring deep into his soul. His voice was deep and commanding, yet calming and soothing. He simply said “Fear not, you have been chosen.”

The glowing man turned to where the shadowy figure had been and spoke under his breath. His voice was still deep and soothing, and it had the ring of absolute authority to it this time. He spoke in some language that Joseph didn’t understand, but that didn’t seem to bother either one of them.

Then, blackness finally started to overtake him. The last thing that he remembered seeing as he sank slowly into oblivion was the glowing man holding out his hand as red and white ambulance lights mixed with blue and red police lights down the street.

--TO BE CONTINUED--