Galactic Fist of Legend

by Scottie Futch

  Scott was at a loss for a moment. What just happened? He felt liquid warmth flowing down his face and reached up to check. He drew his hand back and stared at what he found there. "Bleeding... I'm crying tears of blood?"

  Before he could fully comprehend the situation, he heard a weird sound from outside. The noise grew in intensity, and soon sounded like a train going by. He glanced toward the window then threw a hand to his mouth to stifle the decidedly girlish scream that threatened to rise up from his throat. Beyond the window he saw corpses and parts of corpses flying through the air. Black blood and airborne entrails slithered toward a singular direction.

  The corpses in the room began to flop around. Not long after, they rolled over. Scott did not need to see more. His brain finally kicked into gear and he shot out of the convenience store like a bat out of hell. He raced for his truck, but nearly fell over when he turned his head to look toward the epicenter of what was happening.

  "Oh fuck, me..." he said, eyes wide. A tornado of gore whirled vigorously just down the street. It did not draw him toward it like a natural tornado, but it did draw in the nearby corpses.

  Scott ran for his truck once more and missed seeing something even more terrifying. The tornado spat something out of the top of its funnel. The oval-shaped mass of pulsating flesh slammed down onto the asphalt like a grotesque meteor. A cry not unlike the wail of a terrified infant began to echo from the hideous abomination.

  He hopped into the driver's seat and tried to start the truck. Nothing happened. There was no sign of life in the thing. "It's dead?" he asked.

  He kept trying the truck for a moment and nearly gave up on it. However, after the fourth try it sputtered weakly. He did not know it, but the tornado down the street had begun to weaken as it did its grisly business.

  Several more of the malformed creations slammed down before the whirlwind finally died out. The sound of wailing infants echoed hellishly from the disgusting masses of flesh.

  Scott doggedly continued to try to crank his vehicle. Each time he felt like he was coming just a little closer to getting the thing going. Had he seen what was happening down the street he would have worked even more feverishly to get it started.

  A seam formed along the front edge of the first horrible mass. Black blood gushed from what appeared to be a giant open wound. Tiny little fingers tipped with claws slipped out from between the tear. Soon the tear was forced further open. A tiny torso slipped free. The grey skinned creature had elfin ears, a mop of white hair dyed black with blood, and the fangs of a wolf.

  It struggled to free itself and soon revealed a lower torso that bore the shape of a spider. The child-sized creature crawled free of its hideous afterbirth then sniffed the air like a predator. The creature's ears twitched slightly and then turned its glassy yellow eyes toward the sound of the truck being cranked.

  Scurrying forward on its arachnid legs, the nightmare beast opened its mouth wide. Its swollen tongue lolled out sideways briefly, thick viscous sludge dripping away like hellish drool.

  Halfway to its intended meal it shrieked out a high-pitched *skreee*, but was drowned out by the sudden firing of a heavy duty truck engine. Scott wasted no time in gunning the engine and moving forward.

  A jubilant cry was on the verge of escaping his lips, but instead of taking off down the road at high-speed the truck lurched forward then leaned heavily to one side. He'd traveled less that a full truck-length before the truck made a terrible noise and crashed down side ways at a shallow angle.

  His eyes widened immediately once he realized what must have happened. Someone fucked with his tires! He had not seen any flats, but he'd been distracted enough that it was entirely possible that he missed the signs!

  Scott started to get out of the truck, but he was stopped short by the sudden arrival of the misshapen hell spawn slamming into the back window. The small spider-thing attacked the back glass with feverish glee and rapidly began to break through.

  More by instinct than planning, Scott brought his pistol up and opened fire on the thing. It did not acknowledge the damage inflicted beyond being temporarily knocked back. However, the plasma rounds opened large weeping holes in its body.

  The other terrible eggs began to hatch in the background even as a spider leg smashed through the back window. It slashed at Scott in naked aggression and scored several minor hits on him.

  He emptied his full remaining rounds into the thing to no good purpose. The creature simply did not care that it was being injured.

  "Shit!" snapped Scott as he set his weapon to start the reloading process. The great weeping wounds on the beast's bloated lower body and torso leaked black gunk that smelled indescribably terrible.

  "Dammit! Gotta get out of here," he said while doing his best to dodge a scythe-like leg.

  The feral undead beast broke through the back window and shoved its head forward just as he finished his three second cool down. He shot it in the forehead at point-blank range. The creature's head snapped back heavily but to Scott's horror it merely opened its mouth in a grim smile and flashed its fangs. The headshot had been useless as well. It had not even expanded the wound as it normally would. Worse, the holes in its body were beginning to close right before his eyes.

  A scythe-like spider leg lashed out. He was unable to avoid it completely now that more of the creature was inside. Scott took a heavy slash across the face that left a thin line of blood, proof that his hit points were dropping rapidly.

  He did his best to escape his vehicle, but took several more hard strikes as he did so. The thing easily tore away at his hit points. Every strike that hit skin bled to some degree. His protection from physical attacks would not last much longer. Soon, he would be at the mercy of the beasts.

  Several high-pitched skreeing sounds echoed from down the street. Scott ran off as fast as he could. Unfortunately, his fastest speed was still only a little better than a top-end Olympic athlete. The creatures behind him were far faster than any normal man could hope to be.

  He dodged around the side of a vehicle on instinct as he felt a strange sensation creep along the back of his neck. His instinct allowed him to narrowly avoid a stream of material that had the appearance of spider webbing. When it struck the unfortunate car, the metal began to hiss and bubble underneath the webbing.

  Scott kept moving and ran down a walkway with a concrete awning overhead. The scrabble of spider claws on concrete caused him to redouble his efforts to escape.

  Practically hurling himself down the corridor, he turned down a narrow alleyway and ran back toward the previous street. He had incredible stamina compared to a normal man, but he needed to get off the street and away from those damned things.

  Streamers of acidic webbing lashed out and splashed dangerously close to him as he ran. Spying a closed dumpster on the other side of the road, he developed a desperate plan.

  Scott raced toward the dumpster then leapt atop it. He used it as a quick platform to hop up to an overhead railing on the second floor of the small clothing store outlet. Unfortunately, it was not a perfect escape. Just as he had nearly finished clambering over the top of the metal rail, a shot of webbing splashed against his hand.

  It took a great deal of effort to pull his hand free, but the back of his glove and a bit of the flesh of his hand stayed behind. Biting back a scream, he kept moving. Now was not the time to cry about his wounds.

  He could feel the acid burning away at his hand for a scant few seconds before the pain disappeared. He did not like the possibilities that fact might bring with it. Scott turned a corner on the upper promenade of the small section of buildings, avoiding another splash of acidic webbing.

  "How the hell do I get out of this?" asked Scott desperately just before he leapt from one railing to the railing of a neighboring building. There had to be a way!

  "If only I could do something to those fucking things!" he snarled as he raced down the next section of walkway. He had to figure something out soon. He was running out
of easy access buildings.

  The biggest problem was that he had not been given a moment to think. Scott's pulse pounded as he hurdled the rail on the other side of the building and landed on a van below. He hopped clear and kept moving into a small area of greenery.

  A zombie lurched out of the shrubbery nearby, but Scott paid the shambling bastard no mind. Its good fortune ran out a moment later as a stream of acidic webbing splashed against it. The zombie was soon webbed down and began to dissolve. The spider-thing leapt atop it and began to feast. The little undead bastards began to fight over the meal giving Scott time to keep running.

  His hand started to throb once more as his stamina slowly began to give out. He'd been full-out sprinting for most of that time and even someone with his stats was not immune to exhaustion. He was barely more than human after all.

  Scott intended to keep running while the monsters fed, but he could already hear their shrieking from behind. They were nearly done with their meal and would quickly catch up with him.

  He panted heavily as he reached another group of buildings. It was a half-renovated building with a blue tarp covering the front. Nearby there was construction equipment left behind due to the end of the world.

  His vision began to blur once more as he felt his energy plummeting. His hand itched terribly and a sick looking fluid began to form inside of it. "Dammit, what now?"

  Scott used the left over scaffolding to his advantage and began to climb up the side of the closed off building. He needed to buy a little time so that he could use his few healing items. At the top of the building he used his status cleanser and a dose of his healing potion.

  In the process of pulling the healing agents from his pocket, he pulled out a small flower. Scott blinked at it for a moment then tilted his head to the side. "Shit... worth a try."

  The desperate champion chose to devour the gravitas flower and the seed of boom. Immediately, he could feel an incredible rush of power flare throughout his body. He felt light and strong; stronger than ever before. Even the first time had not provided a rush as big as the one that he now felt.

  Scott called the fire and the fire came. "Running is pointless..." he said slowly. The skreeing sound of the approaching monsters informed him that they were nearly up the side of the building.

  The moment that he saw a spider leg rise up above the edge of the roof he glared hotly toward his oncoming destiny. He had forgotten for a moment while he fled in terror; he was already dead. What was there to fear? He would die in one mission or another without fail. The only choice he really had was in how he faced his end.

  Running from these things was smart, but it was also the actions of someone too soft to fight back properly. He was not a normal human being, not anymore. He refused to remain a soft target for these things to devour.

  "It's time to get hard..." said Scott. He curled his now unblemished hand into a tight fist and narrowed his eyes. "Nintendo hard."

  Scott roared out an inarticulate battle cry as he ran forward. Acid web spitting undead spider bastards, or not, he refused to run away anymore.

  The first spider rose above the rim of the roof and immediately arched its hideously bloated ass forward and shot a stream of webbing toward him. Scott nearly smirked as he casually avoided the incoming blast. With strength had also come speed and reflex enhancement. If he had not been so surprised earlier, he might have recalled his special garden powers. Now that they were activated, it was time for a bug hunt.

  Scott leapt over another stream of webbing by launching himself high into the air. Before the beast could reorient itself the flower empowered man rocketed downward like a streaking comet and slammed feet first into the beast's torso. The moment his feet struck the creature's chest all of the power of the strike was instantly transferred into the undead spider-thing.

  He instinctively used the critter as a springboard to launch himself high into the air once more. The soldier of the shroom lifestyle came with several key insights. There were factors involved in using his floral powers he did not entirely understand when he first used the garden powers.

  Once in the air, he found his next target and shot downward once more. Webbing skidded along the side of his right arm, but did not hit cleanly. If the spider thing was capable of chagrin, it would have felt it at that moment. Scott's resistance to damage was much higher now as well. A glancing blow from something such as the bastard's acid webbing was not enough to injure him to any noticeable degree. Another hard stomp lead to another spider thing shrieking as it was sent hurtling to the ground.

  It was then that something else surprising occurred. Music began to play in the background. It was not the depressing music one might expect from a zombie apocalypse. No, it was the same quirky and overly cheerful music he had heard when in the Imperial Garden.

  A brief smile appeared on his lips that soon turned into a full on grin. "Hell yeah..."

  "Doot doot doot, da-da doot doot, ya ugly bastards!" he cried passionately while stomping on his enemies in time with the music.

  From that moment on, Scott used his flower power to stomp down on any opposition the spider things gave him. As soon as he forced them all down to the ground, he unleashed fiery hell. He spammed fireballs that exploded haphazardly down below. They only went off on the third bounce, but when they did it was like fiery grenades exploding.

  He unleashed fiery hell on the spidery bastards for quite some time. During the course of time the shrieking spiders only succeeded in trying to climb the building once more. Even that singular tenacious creature looked more like a blackened bit of meat than a true threat.

  Soon, the five horrors unleashed on the world were nothing more than a charred ruin. Scott stood there fireballs in hand and breathed deeply. Somehow, he managed to snatch victory from the spidery asshole of defeat.

  Chapter 14: Prepare for Total Domination

  Survival was a task given to all creatures that walked upon the earth. From the moment that they were born, until the time of their last fleeting thought, living was their deepest and most overwhelming desire. It was a desire that the undead lacked. The lack of a desire to survive led them to come forth to the slaughter without hesitation.

  The thunderous sound of gunfire echoed through the area as Scott brought down another zombie. They trickled in a few at the time, but they came frequently enough that he was forced to stop his attempt to get his truck back on the road to deal with them.

  "Dammit," said Scott before he wiped sweat away from his forehead. He had nothing to jack up the truck, so he was forced to use his increased strength to lift up the side of the vehicle for the extended period necessary to reattach the wheel that had come free.

  It was a pure stroke of luck that the wheel studs did not break when the wheel fell off. The bastard that called the spider creatures had somehow had the time to remove the lug nuts and toss them into a pile. The moment the truck started forward his right front tire had rolled off. He could only hope that the studs had not been stressed to the point that they broke on him before he got the group to the hub.

  Fixing the problem took far longer than he would have liked. He'd been forced to find a lug wrench and two matching lug nuts since he could not find all of the originals.

  Scott put his gun away then moved back to the truck. He lifted the side up and then did his best to make certain that the wheel was flush and aligned properly once more. "Three to go." he muttered before he began to tighten the remaining lug nuts.

  A low moan drew his attention once more as he reached the final nut. He poked his head around the corner of the truck and tried his best not to laugh. Really, nothing about the situation should be humorous. A little old lady staggered toward him. She wore a gore encrusted sundress, and walked using a battered walker. Upon further inspection she showed no clear sign of having any teeth in her mouth.

  He laid zombie grandma to rest with a sad smile and a plasma round to the skull. Zombie nana fell sideways without complaint. Scott gazed down
at the ruination of another life for a moment. This world and everything in it was pure garbage as far as he was concerned. So many lives ruined, and for what? Eventually, he lowered his head and returned to work. The zombie apocalypse was pretty depressing at times.

  Tire firmly in place once more, Scott hopped inside the truck then fired it up. "Hell yeah," he said after he drove forward a short distance. Nothing was wrong now that the tire was fixed.

  "Good girl. Daddy loves you baby," said Scott after patting the dashboard a few times.

  It took longer than he would have liked to return to the mall, and he soon realized that his lengthy departure had once again allowed the zombies to pile up outside. There were only a few dozen of them, but their presence was still a reminder that a great deal of time passed during his outing.

  He honked his horn like a mad man and gunned the engine. Zombies turned from the mall and began to stagger toward him.

  Suddenly, one of the staggering zombie threw its head back and began to shriek. "Alright..." said Scott as a slight smile rose upon his lips. Time to put his truck to work.

  He gunned the engine just as the zombie began to run toward him at a full-sprint. It was another berserker, or a hundred mile an hour crackhead as he liked to think of them. The big black truck plowed into running undead with a satisfying thump. The berserker was knocked back and then diverted to the side by the plow attached to the front.

  Scott heard the thing screaming in outrage as he continued forward. Several zombies were battered by his plow, and he scooped them away.

  He continued to drive in a wide arc for a moment then stopped and pulled back a bit before driving around the pile of battered and dismembered corpses. A few of the mangled monstrosities reached toward him as he drove away, but they would be of little concern for the moment.

  The shambling zombies in the parking lot were killed off once again after a few rounds of good old fashioned family plowing. Broken zombies crawled around in wretched little circles while trying to find a reason for their continued existence. Scott put them out of his misery by unloading plasma rounds into their rotting skulls.