Hacksaw

    Hacksaw worked the slide and ejected the spent shell; it clattered to the ground but before the Angel's blood could reach it he picked it up and stuffed it into a pocket of his duster. He glanced around to be sure that nobody had come running thought at five-thirty in the morning it was unlikely. He grunted as the body of the angel began to dissolve and float upwards as a cluster of dust motes. He'd only been in town for a few hours before he made his way back to the monastery before he came under attack. The dead one in the alley was the last of the three that attacked him. He stepped out of the alley and lit a cigarette.
    "Shit," He muttered feeling at a scrape on his side. The wound wasn't deep but it hurt and was seeping blood onto his shirt. A man looked at him and blinked while Hacksaw slung the shotgun over his back.
     The man's mouth gaped, fish like, before he turned and raced off.
    "Lovely," Hacksaw said as he pulled the door to his truck open and slid the weapon inside.
    He turned the key and the truck roared into life. He rolled down the window and rested his arm on the sill while he listened to the engine's idle. Smoke trailed from the cigarette and out the window into the French sky. Finally after sitting in his space and watching the sun rise in the sky he put the truck into gear and rumbled out into the street.

    The truck ate up the miles as he headed out into the wilderness and finally he turned off the road and through an ancient barrier before pulling up to the monastery. The massive complex was surrounded by thirty foot stone walls with a leviathan steel gate emblazoned with the eye and sword emblem of the watchers. Hacksaw chuckled as it split down the middle. He'd never understood why an eye that was being stabbed was the symbol of the order. He rolled the truck into a spot he'd reserved for himself near the gate and hopped out. He reached back into the bed and pulled his duffel bag out.
    "Welcome back," One of the younger Watchers at the monastery that supported Hacksaw's approach over the older ones. His brown hair was tousled and his brown eyes smiled. He was a little shorter than Hacksaw and leaner but it concealed phenomenal strength.
    "How's it been John?" Hacksaw asked.
    "Same as always," John said shrugging. "The council is still ticked at you."
    Hacksaw barked a laugh, "They're always mad about something."
    John laughed, "This time its about your escapade in Germany."
    "I'm surprised they even know where Germany is." Hacksaw grumbled. "Since they never leave the barrier."
    John smiled bitterly, "I wish they'd let us go out and fight back like you do."
    "Believe me," Hacksaw said, "So do I."
    "Let me come with you next time."
    Hacksaw glanced at the other man, "I can't without you getting permission from your council member."
    "He's never going to grant it." John muttered.
    "Well the old man is your father. You can't really blame him for being worried." Hacksaw said calmly. "But I do wish we had more of us out there."
    John grimaced and the two walked in silence toward the massive main building. Off to one side was the barracks where most of the Watchers lived while on the other side were the training grounds. Several watchers were practicing against each other in the hopes to be deemed worthy to enter the fight outside.
    "Will you be training with us tomorrow?" John asked idly as they approached the huge double doors.
    "Probably." Hacksaw said. "I'll need to work off some irritation after the council meeting."
    John smiled as they pulled the door open.
    "Daddy!" A howling whirlwind shouted as it smacked into Hacksaw's leg.
    "Kiddo!" Hacksaw crowed dropping his duffel to the ground and scooping up the child. He swept her up and around before resting her on his hip.
    "Maria," John said in greeting to the woman who was standing in the hallway. She was a lithe woman with long brown hair and a concerned expression on her face.
    "Maria," Hacksaw said nodding and smiling.
    "I drew a picture!" The little girl said.
    "Really?" Hacksaw said, "Let me see it."
    Her big blue eyes lit up as she handed him a piece of paper. Carefully he unfolded the paper and looked into a near copy of his own face. "Its brilliant kiddo." He letting a shade of awe touch his voice.
    "What happened to you?" Maria said gently touching his side.
    Hacksaw winced at the touch. "Nothing major just a small scrape."
    "It doesn't seem minor," Maria said, "And your coat is torn."
    "Its nothing."
    The look she gave him said that she didn't believe him. "Please," she started.
    "I know where you're going with this." Hacksaw said smiling, "and it isn't going to happen. We need someone out there doing what they can to protect people."
    "I'd be happy to do it id they'd let me." John said.
    "I'd love to have you watching my back kid." Hacksaw said. "But if it ain't in the cards it ain't in the cards."
    "Besides," He continued, "I always come back safe and sound don't I?"
    "It only takes one time." Maria responded softly.
    "I'd never do that to you." Hacksaw said pulling her into a one-armed hug. "I couldn't leave the two of you alone."
    She smiled up at him uncertainly but didn't say anything as he hefted his bag in his free hand still balancing the child in his other. He nodded back at John while he took the little girl back to his home within the monastery. He spent much of the remainder of the day sleeping.
    He opened his eyes and glanced around the great hall that he found himself in. "Well shit." He muttered tugging a cigarette free of its pack and lighting it. "How the hell did I get here?"
    "Who are you?" Someone asked.
    Hacksaw turned to face the speaker. He was shorter than Hacksaw with eyes that shifted between ice blue and black. His short hair was white and as Hacksaw locked eyes with the young man he knew who he was.
    "The fourth rider." Hacksaw whispered as the cigarette drooped. He saluted the man. "Sir, its an honor to meet you."
    The man shook his head, "I can't hear you. What's going on? Who are you?"
    "My name is Hacksaw." Hacksaw said. "I believe that you are the fourth rider. As for what's going on. The world is running full-tilt toward a final confrontation and we're going to need you to help lead us."
    The man shook his head again. "I still can't understand you."
    "Shit." Hacksaw muttered while the world faded and he found himself staring up at the ceiling and listening to the sounds of his wife washing dishes.

Week Three

Author's note: I understand I'm probably going to get a lot of stuff wrong as I feel out this character and their surroundings. Bear with me.

    Athena tapped her pencil against her desk as her history instructor began his lecture. School had just started for the semester and she was already bored by the man's monotone. She stifled a yawn and glanced out the window toward the front gate of the school. St. Mary's girls school sat on top of a hill overlooking the town and specks of people wandered around living their daily lives. All except one. She was certain she'd seen the man before but he leaned against the wall near the gate and stared up at her. She couldn't make much out but he wore jeans and a T-shirt, as he always did, and watched. What he was there for she didn't know but he meant no real harm. She felt no hostility from him, something she'd always been able to feel when someone meant her harm.
    "Ms. Athena?" The instructor called.
    "Yes sir?" She asked.
    "Please read from where I left off."
    "Of course," She said as she began reading through the entry in the textbook.

    Finally the class ended and Athena stretched. Actively trying to get out of the room without appearing to rush she was caught up in the mob and accidentally jostled one of the other girls into someone in front of her. The other girl turned and glared down her nose at Athena.
    "Well what do you have to say to me," The girl said.
    "I don't have anything to say to you Cindy," Athena muttered.
    "What was that?" The other girl demanded.
    "I don't have anything to say to you," Athena muttered.
    "Well a barbarian like you wouldn't know how to act in civilized society."
    Athena balled her fists and fought back the anger that she could feel building. "Deep breaths," she told herself. It wasn't a secret that she'd been thrown out of her previous two schools for fighting but it still stung to be reminded; even obliquely.
    "I hardly think that's called for," A man's voice broke into the discussion. the voice's owner was holding a closed visor motorcycle helmet by its strap and his pale blue eyes twinkled with mirth but the scars that ran across his nose added an element of danger to his face. He was wearing torn jeans and boots that would likely have looked more appropriate on someone less than half the age his white hair declared him to be.
    "Sorry sir," Cindy said mockingly contrite.
    "I'd not go out of my way to piss somebody off who could clean my clock but then again that's me," the man laughed while he walked off.
    Athena blanched and glared after him as the other girls began talking about how handsome the square jawed man was.
    "I can't believe he said that," She groused as she got dressed for her gym class.
    "I wonder who he was," Her friend Michelle said tapping her chin in thought.
    "I don't care who he is," Athena said slamming her locker shut and tossing her red hair back out of her eyes. "He's a jerk."
    Michelle just laughed.
    She was still chuckling when the two emerged from the locker room and took their place in line for the warm-ups.
    The entire class Athena was faster than she'd been in a long time during the timed runs and she went longer without rest. The entire class was amazed when, after the mile run, she continued running laps even after she'd finished her own lap. She'd finished her third mile when the teacher called out for her to come in. The rest of the class had finally finished their own runs. She stopped and followed the others back into the gym where the standard physical tests continued. She ignored the disparaging comments she knew some of the other girls were making behind her.
    "That was incredible," Michelle said, "I was pretty happy going for a ten minute mile and you went through two." She shook her head with a smile, "I need to get in shape."
    Athena nodded absently while she thought. She'd never been that fast. Her best mile time before had been seven minutes and while she'd always been able to run two miles easily but she'd never been able to sprint that far. She shook it off while they changed back into the standard school uniform and went for lunch.

Meet Luc

    Lucifer stepped into the great hall again. He knew this dream he'd had it periodically all his life and he still didn't know what it meant. The massive stone pillars showing things that couldn't possibly exist and rising into the darkness. He'd never been able to see the roof of the hall and this night was no exception. He ran his hand over the grooves on one of the pillars as he slowly walked through the hall to the double doors that sat at one end. Upon reaching them he hand his hand over the ancient wood feeling the grooves and rough texture. He turned back to the hall and leaned against the door sighing. As he put his weight on the door it creaked open and he spilled backwards.
    Quickly he got to his feet and looked around; in the room a battle was being fought. Four riders on horseback led an army against things that couldn't exist, Lucifer saw one thing that didn't seem to have a head cut down a human with a sword and a winged man brought to the ground by arrows. Suddenly one of the riders, a man with a flowing black cloak that hid his black armor turned to face him. His eyes burned white against his skull faced helm.
    "You must accept the mantle!" The man shouted as Lucifer woke up and rubbed his eyes.
    "Creepy," He muttered as he rolled off his bed. He stretched tapping the power button on his computer. While it booted up he went for a drink he glanced at the clock while he filled a glass with water. It read 3:00 and Lucifer shook his head. "Guess that's all the sleep I'm getting tonight."
    He drained his glass and put it in the sink. Upon returning to his room he sat at his computer and contemplated loading up a video game or working on a project he'd been putting off. Finally he decided to browse the internet before making a decision. The first article that he found was about a fire in an apartment complex in Germany that burned down almost a city block.
    "How does that happen?" He muttered as he scrolled through the article. Reading it a series of coincidences led to the trucks getting there too late to do anything about saving most of the buildings. Adding to the mystery was a little girl's account that she'd been saved by a man in black. Whom she claimed killed a monster but who was never seen by anyone else.
    "You'd think someone would have seen something," Lucifer said rubbing at his chin. He shrugged the strange story off and booted up an online game for the rest of the night.

    Lucifer slung his backpack on the floor next to the desk that he had appropriated for the history lecture; his second class of the day. He propped his head up with his hand and yawned. He wasn't paying close attention as everyone else filled up the lecture hall. After everyone had filled the room the instructor, a youngish thickset man with brown hair, entered the room and tossed his bag on the desk at the front of the room. He looked up at the class and slowly began to take roll in a strong voice that filled the large hall easily.
    "Lucifer Harrelson?" He proclaimed in a confused way, "That can't be right."
    Lucifer sighed and raised his hand, "Sir that's my name; just call me Luc though please."
    The instructor laughed and marked his attendance sheet, "You have a rather odd name don't you think?"
    Lucifer smiled tightly, "I guess."
    The instructor moved on through the rest of the class and finally once he had finished he set the sheet down and introduced himself as "Dr. Michaels." and went over the syllabus as Lucifer knew every one of his classes would be doing today.
    He paid attention through most of the class but when they were dismissed an hour and a half later he couldn't be happier to finally get out of the room and head toward the food court to meet up with a few of his friends. Walking down the concourse he heard someone calling to him. He glanced around trying to locate the person when he spotted a girl jogging toward him. She was shorter than he was with long blonde hair pulled back and wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Lucifer stopped and waited for her to catch up.
    "Whew," She said pushing a loose lock of hair away from her eyes, "Thanks for waiting."
    "Did you need something?" Lucifer asked uncomfortably.
    She smiled, "Care to exchange numbers in case one of us misses class?"
    Lucifer felt himself smile, "I guess I can do that, but I've never been sick."
    She blinked, "Wow. Lucky.
    Lucifer shrugged and gave her his number while she scrawled it on a sticky note. As soon as she finished writing it down she handed him a note with a number on it.
    "That's my number," She said, "You know just in case."
    Lucifer nodded, "Always a good idea I suppose."
    She waved and jogged off toward one of the other buildings nearby while Lucifer stuffed the note into his pocket and watched her leave.
    "See something you like?" Someone laughed from behind him.
    "Hey Sarah," Lucifer said recognizing the voice of one of his housemates.
    "Heading to lunch?"
    "Yeah. You coming?"
    "Sure I don't see why not." Sarah said with a chuckle, "And you can tell me all about your new friend."
    Lucifer sighed as they started toward the food court together, "I don't really know her. She's in my class we traded numbers just in case one of us misses class."
    Sarah shook her head, "You really need to get better at talking to people don't you."
    "I'm perfectly fine at talking to people!" Lucifer protested.
    The playful banter continued throughout the lunch break and the other two people living in the house that Lucifer rented joined in to give him a hard time.

It all begins

(Now again this is a shitty first draft so take that for what it is. And if you have ideas or things that you feel necessary to point out please do so in the comments.)

    Hacksaw pushed himself up and shook the cobwebs out of his eyes. He reached forward and jammed his black cowboy hat back on his head. He gripped a cigarette between his teeth and a sawed off shotgun in his left hand.
    "Where are you?" He muttered his eyes flicking into the dark shadows of the apartment building. He slowly eased a knife from its sheath along his leg as he stepped forward into a stairwell. Dimly he could hear shouts from the evacuated residents of the building.
    His combat boots thudded on the wooden floor of the hall as he stepped in. Sobs caught his attention and easing a door open on the far side of the building a small girl clutching a teddy bear looked at him in fear.
    "Shit," He swore stepping toward the girl.
    With his attention diverted he never saw the demon that smashed into his side and sent him sprawling through a door into one of the apartments.
    Hacksaw rolled to his feet; dodging the demon's follow up strike, but he'd lost his shotgun in the fall. He stared the demon down with the knife held in front of him.
    The demon in question was taller than a man with short arms and bone-crushing jaws. Its legs were a mass of muscle and its beady eyes, all eight of them, were locked onto Hacksaw.
    "Today you die Watcher," It hissed its forked tongue flicking.
    "I've heard the same from a lot of your kind." Hacksaw grunted, "You aren't special."
    The demon smiled wide and Hacksaw spun as a second demon's jaws slammed shut where he'd just been standing. The newcomer spat out the mouthful of Hacksaw's black duster it had caught and advanced.
    Hacksaw had an uncomfortable flashback to when he watched an old movie about cloned dinosaurs as he backed into the apartment's kitchen.
    At some unheard signal the two demons charged him their jaws snapping.
    Hacksaw ducked to one side and caught a slash from one's forearm claws but he ignored it and grabbed its neck with his free hand. Without hesitation he jammed his knife in under its jaws and the demon screamed over the sound of the fire in the building. Hacksaw dove as it swung its massive head around trying to catch him in its now pinned jaws. He rolled back to his feet behind a particularly ugly green sofa and while the two attempted to get turned around in the cramped kitchen he scanned for his lost gun.
    He found it underneath a coffee table in front of the, now ruined, TV. He scooped the weapon up and swung it around as the uninjured demon charged through the door. Hacksaw grinned as the shotgun bellowed. The explosive round that he'd loaded it with hit the demon in its opened jaws. The round's detonation blew the top half of the demon's head clean off and sprayed the wall and its companion with demonic ichor. Everywhere the demon's blood hit began to steam and eat through whatever it landed on.
     Hacksaw was waiting for the second demon to emerge with the weapon leveled when he heard a scream from the hall. He vaulted the couch and was in the hall in a flash. He stopped cold with the gun up while the injured demon hunkered behind the girl with the bear. She was coughing and looking at Hacksaw with a fearful look on her face.
    "Let the kid go," Hacksaw ordered.
    "And die by your hand Watcher?" The demon hissed through its pinned jaws.
    "I'll let you go if you let her go," Hacksaw spat, "Now just let her go."
    The demon seemed to contemplate Hacksaw's offer as the building began to collapse from the heat. Outside sirens wailed and people screamed.
    Hacksaw slowly tugged a pistol from the holster under his arm as the demon smiled up at him. The shotgun wavered and lowered to point at the ground.
    "No," It said tearing its jaws open and charging Hacksaw with the child held in its stubby arms.
    Hacksaw had little time to react and his shotgun came up before the pistol and lodged in the demon's mouth; its eyes went wide as Hacksaw tugged the trigger and the weapon spoke again dropping the demon to the floor.
    Hacksaw moved quickly; scooping up the child and making a mad dash for the building's exit. He stormed into the street just as emergency crews finally pulled up. He dumped the kid into a startled woman's arms and jogged down the street.
    He stopped a few blocks away where he'd stashed his truck. He tossed both of the shotguns inside a compartment in the back of the cab and sat back. He sighed as he looked at the chunk of his duster that the demon had taken.
    "Better the coat than me I guess," He said, "Going to be hell fixing it though." Shaking his head he started the truck and headed for a bar that he knew would still be open.
    He stopped the truck outside the bar. The place was about as dingy as they came with the lights barely flickering on the sign and few cars in the parking lot. Climbing out of the vehicle a big man tossed another man out of the door and blocked his way back inside. Hacksaw nodded at the bouncer and sidled past as the drunk spewed profanities at them both.
    "Pleasant customers you've got here." Hacksaw laughed as he reached the bar.
    "What happened to you?" The bartender, a youngish man with dark hair and blue, asked raising an eyebrow.
    "You know how parties can get out of hand," Hacksaw said smirking, "Just one of those nights. Give me a beer."
    The bartender nodded and quickly had the drink plunked down in front of him.
    "Is it just me or does this stuff get worse every time I come in here?" Hacksaw asked with a chuckle.
    "Don't like it then get out."
    Hacksaw shook his head and drank his beer.

Changing things up.

Well I'm altering things. Instead of being a review deal I'm going to start using this as an avenue to get my lazy ass writing. So on a weekly basis I'm going to have a bit of a story posted here on my blog the beginning will be out and on the site in the next couple of hours from when this post goes live. Now one thing I'm going to head off here this is what is known as a Shitty First Draft. The concepts are what I'm working with NOT the grammar. I'll endeavor to put the correct grammar in because without it sometimes things can be hard to read. That said don't jump down my throat because I misplaced a semi-colon or missed a comma. Read and enjoy the ride.



Well I'd better get started.