The Halloween Store - Chapter 4 - The Next Day

The Halloween Store

(c) 2016 Chris Calderon

CHAPTER 4
THE NEXT DAY

The red and blue lights flickered on the cobwebbed pained glass door. Gary and Allen opened the door to greet the officers. John, Andre and the rest of the girls stood inside watching the two managers talk to the men in blue. They looked like two young kids trying to explain where their younger brother or sister went. Allen waved both arms and hands above his head in a Y. This always reminded John and a few others of Richard Nixon when he would put up his arms with two peace signs in both hands. Instead of peace, Allen’s gesture always signaled frustration. The girls whispered to each other wondering who was to blame.

Allen came back into the store and waving his arms once more, “Everybody, get back to work, c’mon!” He tossed out costumes to everyone, “C’mon, let’s get movin’.”

* * *

As it was getting closer to Halloween they gave the reps a chance to promote the store by recieving a free costume to wear while working. It was good for the store because the customers would see how the costumes fit on a real person as opposed to a picture. John wore a Ghostbuster costume. He had been an immense fan of the film ever since he was a kid. He knew just about every line from the comedy. He used this eccentricity to his advantage by always quoting various dialog from the movie. He donned an inflatable proton pack complete with the particle thrower.

Campy Halloween music played on repeat for the rest of the night. Campy kids, Halloween music to Micheal Jackson’s Thriller. To the crew, Thriller was definitely the best some of the bunch.

John put some of the cavemen costumes together. Andre donned a viking horned helmet and nudged John on the shoulder.

“Hey, take a look at those!” Said Andre pointing at Stacy donning a leopard spotted almost-a-bikini top. She also wore a matching headband around her dark black hair. Her brunette hair seemed to frame her huge round breasts. Their gaze fell upon her as she bent forward vacuuming back and forth. Andre chuckled as John continued to watch.

Andre hit him on the head with his squeaky rubber club and laughed. John shook his head and walked around the store.

* * *

More and more people started to file in. John, Andre, Stacy, Star and Jen kept helping the wandering customers. John couldn’t take his eyes off a beautiful brown-haired girl. She stood next to her mom. She was dressed in the popular Cinderella costume. The long curly brown hair fell down to her bare neck. He felt the urge to go and chat her up but the mother was a major obstacle to him.

* * *

Jennifer had to go into the back of the store wearing tons and piles of brown boxes which contained lots of back-up costumes for the front, most of them were not priced yet. Allen told her to check in the piles of boxes for a vampire costume. After opening several boxes and not finding any costume that even came close, she started checking the boxes in the back. She tripped and fell over the mound of brown cubes in the middle.

Soon, she found herself swimming in them. She couldn’t find her balance and footing. The boxes fell on top of her and became heavy almost to her as if they were pushing her down on purpose. Her body was fell towards the floor in a quicksand of large brown boxes. The only thing she could get out of the cardboard was her right hand. She seemed to descend for an absurd thirty seconds. This depth was way beyond the actual store floor. Time seem to slow like Alice falling through the rabbit hole.

As she slowed her hands and legs shot out in an inverted Y. Below her was a very old black wooden coffin. She panted as the door creaked open. There was nothing but darkness. Then a pale, finely clothed man opened his eyes, smiled, showing his long two-inch fangs. Jen screamed in terror.

Outside the mound of boxes just a mere muffle could be heard if someone was near that area.

“I heard you were looking for my clothes.” Said the ghoulish, red-eyed, vampire. Her scream slowly died into a whimper as she stared into his hypnotic eyes. Her mouth stayed open as she slowly descended into the pale man’s arms. His fangs plunged deep into her soft neck and the coffin lid fell over her. The coffin knocked just once at the last bit of struggle. The boxes fell back on top.

Meanwhile, Allen was still getting grief from an impatient customer. “Andre! I need you to check up on Jennifer and see if she found that Dracula costume yet, it’s been about five minutes.” He glanced at his watch.

“Yes sir,” Andre said saluting and smiling at him. He strutted down to the back of the store and to the storage room.

Allen raised his hands in the air and waved his hands. “Hurry up! Got customers waiting!”

Andre turned his head slowly, smiled, walked backwards, turned and kept strutting at his usual pace. When he finally arrived he opened the curtain to reveal the usual mountain of boxes, but to his surprise they had been perfectly stacked on top of each other so that they took up almost half of the room. Only one box remained on the top layer. Flabbergasted at the organization, since he only measured five foot three he took the top box just above his shoulders, and opened it using his box cutter. He saw the word Dracula and instantly snatched the first one without thinking to look at the rest of tge package. He jogged forward just a few seconds then went back into his usual slow strut. “Man, you were so quick!” Said Allen. “Lightning quick! I tell ya.”

Andre only cracked half a smile and held out the bagged plastic costume. The angry woman rapidly grabbed it from his hand. She gave it a glance and quickly slammed it on the counter “forget it!” She snapped and promptly left. Allen picked up the costume, shook his head. “Y’know you might want to read the whole title.” Said Allen as he held and showed Andre the costume. It read, “Bride of Dracula.” He threw the costume on the glass cashier table with plastic vampire teeth memorabilia under it. “Now go put it back were you found it and go get Jennifer. Wherever she is.”

“Right boss,” Andre replied.

* * *

The second time the police showed they thoroughly searched the store from front to back. No trace of blood was found to back room. No trace of blood was found or piece of clothing. They searched throughout the room throwing all the boxes aside only to reveal a regular light blue carpeted floor.

John and Megan watched Gary and Allen talk to the police once again with Gary cross armed and shaking his head while Allen hands predictably shot up into the air again. Megan was dressed as a clown with a huge round waist as big as a trampoline.

The yellow striped pants were followed by huge red shoes. “It’s so weird what’s been happenin’.”

“I know, it’s like their here one minute and then they’re gone.” John said while watching the police officers.

Andre had been looking around trying to stay busy. He grabbed the rejected costume from the glass display desk.

He looked down at the cover and gave a second look.

He walked up to John and Megan and handed them the costume. Megan looked down at it and screamed instantly dropping the plastic package to the ground. John picked it up instantly and turned pale.

The title was The Bride of Dracula. Jennifer pale and with two blood holes in the side of her neck stood in a long black outfit. They thought, either she had a twin as a model or somehow it was her.

The Halloween Store - Chapter One - The Store

THE HALLOWEEN STORE

By Chris Calderon

(c) Chris Calderon 2016

CHAPTER 1

THE STORE

The leafs never fell in Burbank California during the fall. It never felt like the season to John. Things had changed much since leaving Michigan for a shot at the movie business. It had been a bold move indeed. After shacking up with a friend for two straight weeks he had been diligently looking for a job up and down San Fernando Blvd.

Ideally he’d been wanting a videographer job or a PA gig on a film or TV set. Unfortunately, John had to pay rent and feed himself. His unemployment would run out soon.

After filling out an application and chumming around with the manager about being a videographer in the past.

Gary, the manager told him to call back soon because they needed lots of people for the Halloween season.

They were in the first week of September but to Gary they were already late into the approaching Holiday. Gary and his management team always made sure they were stocked with costumes at least six months in advance.

* * *

The week John started. He worked with a majority of girls. Most of them were in their twenties. There were also a few guys they varied from five to ten years older then he. John was the oldest floor sales rep there. He had to do what he had to do. He purchased a red polo shirt and black pants, the company didn’t supply its own uniforms. John could only afford to buy one shirt. He was lucky to have the black pants. Money for him these days wasn’t an object. The pressure to make money for rent and feed himself was high, and he was a long way from home.

Allen who donned white hair and glasses gave John the tour of the isle. He was second in command to Gary. He showed him where the food costumes were. He showed him isle four, the gangster outfits and faerie costumes in ail seven. Allen had to make sure John was familiarized with the store’s costumes, the newest costumes in the store. In the back of the store Allen opened the curtains where piles and piles of boxes of costumes were ready to be opened.

The white-haired man opened the rickety tick metal door. The dark metal garage was all around them as they stood on a iron floor above the stairs. Next to it was a cut off square platform.

“This lovely area is where we take the garbage out. Ponder the garbage bin in the corner, “Allen pointed in its direction. He grabbed the red and green button controller hanging from the ceiling and pushed the green button with his thumb. “Green means go.”

The platform slowly lowered.

“So it does sir.” Replied John.

Allen shook both hands in the air. “Make sure you always have someone help you when taking the garbage to the bin. It’s store policy."

My Audible review of The Talisman by Steven King/Peter Straub

For Jason's sake! That was epic!!

That was a well done quest book! Memorable characters and plausible scenarios make it great.

Frank Muller as always, gave a hilarious and perfect performance.

My only real gripe was that it was just a bit too long, other then that it was a more then satisfactory.

Jack and Wolf were a great team and I found myself really caring for both of them. 

It could be a suspenseful story and it had a lot of sub-plots and felt like there were many stories within the main one. I also think a big strength of this book is actually the simple save-his- mom plot. As much as it got off track at times, I never lost sight of the main quest and plot point which was always a breath of fresh air.

I appreciate the references in The Dark Tower to this and I'll have to reread where they talked about Jack Sawyer.

Also, the character Speedy reminded me a bit of Scatman Crothers 😄👍🏼

The Ranger: Epilogue & Afterword

EPILOGUE

Weeks went by and The Ranger buried his old crewmen out of respect of their body's return to the land. He decided it was perhaps, time to move on from his tree haven and further explore the land he had come to call his new home.

He also wanted to honor the quest he originally accepted by King Adric. The Ranger took an oath. That oath was his word. His oath was his life and he would honor it. After the wreck he had to recover his mind, body and spirit. After this betrayal, would he ever be able to fully trust anyone again? Did he have sound judgment too? Was that his weakness? The Ranger contemplated these thoughts while looking over the deep blue sea. It met with the sky with almost no distinction. The waves rolled in over the green marine layer giving way to the white sandy beach.

* * *

He took the dead men's clothes and rags. He was also able to find a cloak in the storage of his ship.

He gandered once more the skeletal remains of his old vessel. Ah, the ship, although it had just made it to the island, he couldn't deem it fit for the sea. He did have it back though. It had come home.

* * *

After walking for some time, the jungle mysteriously transformed into a forest like it always had.

After some significant time deep into the mystic woods, he came upon some rich and meaty smells, he followed them and they eventually led him to a small town. Incredibly shocked and much to his surprise it was populated with all sorts of life; villager's and merchants!

Was this mysterious land part of a much bigger one? Not a lone island like originally surmised?

The Ranger pulled the hood of his cloak over his face. Were they friendly folk or a fearful lot? Only by entering the town and observing them would he know. Aside from finding his next clue about the King's daughter, what he was absolutely dying to know was, how was their ale?

* * *

On the beach, the mast of The Ranger's small rowboat still stuck up out of the dirt. The worn, wooden dragonhead grinned in defiance of it's destroyed body. The Ranger's people had believed these fantastic and dangerous creatures were gods which helped them sail fast and plunder great riches. A hooded giant figure approached the wood sculpture.

It outstretched its muscular green, scaly, forearm and placed its hand on it. A slight hiss could be heard.

THE END



AFTERWARD

What moved me to write such a fantastic tale of survival? Well, part of it was out of an urge to tell a realistic tale set in a sort of enchanted world. The Ranger is modeled out of two characters. One is out of my many days of gaming; the character was an ex-pirate who struggled to turn from his old ways and take on the more enlightened ways of The Ranger. I had created a whole backstory for him while playing D&D. The character had a preference for battle axes and wouldn’t take much guff from anybody.

Many years passed since those imaginative gaming days but the passion for role playing and that particular character never died. As I would drive back and forth to work, sometimes for hours on end, I would contemplate his adventures. What really was his story? He would be running through the woods in pursuit of someone or in a rush to save that someone in time. As I passed numerous forests on the road, my imagination wouldn’t leave me alone! The urge to tell an honest to goodness realistic fantasy story was bubbling though.

The second character that inspired me was The Man with No Name from Sergio Leone’s The Good The Bad and The Ugly. I had heard that fantasy films and stories are just westerns set during the middle ages. I found that idea fascinating! I thought, what if I sort of combined the spaghetti western with a fantasy world and a little bit of Rambo thrown in. The result is what you just read. There’s a definite tip of the hat to Sergio Leone, with some of the long pauses and looks between characters and also with The Ranger being the less then perfect anti-hero.

This story is meant to stand alone, but I intend to write at least two more. These stories will be part of a ongoing tale dealing with The Ranger and a mysterious beastly character. This monstrous character was heavily influenced and created my late friend Wayne Boyce.

The Ranger - Chapter 9 - Wulfric

                             CHAPTER 9

                              Wulfric

The Ranger moved and twirled into the dense bushes and foliage.

"C'mon Captain! Where are you hiding now coward? Said Wulfric."Come out! Let's finish this!"

The Ranger shot out of the bushes to the left of Wulfric and sliced his left hand which held the hand axe. The Ranger then swooped down and picked it up, immediately parrying with his dagger. This blocked

Wulfric's blow from above but not the front kick to the chest. The Wulf dove on to The Ranger with his knife in both hands pressing it down about an inch from his face.

"I want that damn treasure Captain!" Said Wulfric somewhat muffled as he struggled for the kill.

"I hope it was worth dyin' for Wulfie," The Ranger replied in a 

mocking tone.

Completely covered in dirt, they rolled around several times. The Ranger was now on top of Wulfric holding his axe on above his head. Wulfric grabbed a small rock on the ground and smashed it against The Ranger’s left side of of his head. He saws brief stars and felt brief intense pain, the next thing he knew Wulfric was on top of him.

The Ranger's refined hearing senses, perfected by Leto, could hear the heavy footsteps plodding through leaves and bushes. The large, brown beast had returned. He spotted the grizzly in the corner of his eye. Wulfric rose up, gleaming knife in hand ready for his killing stroke. He held The Ranger's right arm down keeping his silver bladed beauty at bay. He instantly kneed Wulfric in the groin. He moaned and this loosened his grip on The Ranger's right forearm.

The Ranger extended his arm high above his head, parallel with the ground, tightened his grip and with full force, gritting his teeth, plunged the axe deep into the left side of Wulfric's neck and collar bone. Crimson blood sprayed everywhere including all over The Ranger's face and body. A huge droplet of blood landed on his eye patch, giving him a seemingly round red pupil against the black cloth.

The Ranger wasn't sure if it was an instant kill. Wulf rose to his feet howling as he backed up a few steps. The distractions in the fighting made The Ranger forget about his giant spiked trap directly behind the villain. Just one more step backwards and his opponent would fall through the leafed foliage thinly disguised as leafed ground.

As much pain as Wulfric was in, The back of his heel felt the emptiness of the pit. He smiled at the blood eyed man and once again raised his right arm in a sure killing stroke.

Wulfric wasn't even able to lower it as the giant brown beast flanked and tackled him from left. It’s immense strength and weight of the enraged grizzly bear fell upon him. Finally, it had a real dinner to dine on. It had patiently waited for the victor, whether it be Wulfric or The Ranger. Some small part of it hoped it would be the one with the longer hair, the other had fed it a good fish days earlier. The long haired man drove his knife deep into the bear's chest but to no avail. The bear scraped and scratched into his chest and belly. It bit deep into his already blood spattered neck, cracking and shaking it. Wulfric's limp body followed suit.

"Captain! Captain!" Wulfric maniacally screamed, “not like this!”

The Ranger ignored his plea for help. He could not do anything about it anyway. The starved beast

had already killed Wulfric several moments ago and his mind didn't fully comprehend it yet. He had also, made a deal.

It was a non-verbal agreement between hunters. The bear let The Ranger go, as long as he stayed out of his way

next time. He had lived up to that promise.

The Ranger almost felt sorry for Wulf as he walked away exhausted. Wulfric made his choice just like the others. He was even worse because he infected some decent crewmen with his sea madness. His thought about his ship, in tatters, it was sea worthy no more much to his disgust. As for his trusty silver axe? It would find its way back to him after the bear finished its meal. It always did.

The Ranger: Chapter 8 - On The Beach

                             CHAPTER 8
                             

THE BEACH

The Ranger was carrying three large branches when he sensed a change in the wind, after that he heard sounds that could be interpreted as voices. "But all the way out here though?" The Ranger thought.

He instantly dropped the sticks where he was and ran to the coastline. As he made his way to the coastline his eyes widened in amazement. It was his ship! It was a ghost of its former self, weathered, holed and worn. It resembled a ghost ship, come to think of it, his ship had always looked kind of like that. Yep, it was definitely his ship. She had come back to him much like his trusty silver axe always had. The ship was part of him except for the hand-picked vermin that now infested it like a sick disease.

He overheard their voices and he hid behind a tree waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.

Wulfric, Edward and William came down the ropes over the bow of the deck.

"Alright, let's spread out a bit. He could be here, but let's not announce our presence." Said a cautious Wulfric.

A bit too late for that, The Ranger thought briefly.

"He could take us all out with one axe throw." Said William.

"Might even take less then that," The Ranger said. The three of them whipped their

heads around immediately.

The Ranger stood with his back to the tree line facing his treacherous foes.

"Well, it looks like you survived Captn'" Said Wulfric.

"Good observation" said The Eye-Patched Man, with his arms crossed in front of his chest, leaning

against a palm tree. "You're gonna wish I didn't."

The three men turned towards the voice with their hands holding their crossbows and daggers.

They stood facing him for what seemed like a lifetime. Each one waiting for the other to draw

their weapon. Who would be first?

William was the first to throw his dagger, Edward soon followed firing off an arrow from his crossbow.

The Ranger quickly bent backwards as the arrow zoomed past his chest by only a few hairs. He straightened up and

bashed the dagger out of the way with his axe.

He grinned, confident in his trained and honed reflexes. "My turn!" He quickly shouted then brought back his right hand then launched the silver blade forward. William ducked the spinning blade and it found it's bloody home in the chest of the man behind him. Fountains of blood spurted from his chest.

"Get him!" Wulfric shouted, pointing his short sword at The Ranger, their old captain.

The Mutton-Chopped Man sprang into the jungle-forest immediately jumping over the tall grass.

The remaining three chased after him. Edward stopped for an instant to ponder his actions, the jungle was immensely dense,then he ran through the tall grass.

All was going to The Ranger's plan.

* * *

The Ranger was already twenty yards away. He knew the jungle-forest very well after these many days. He yanked at his weighted camouflaged pulley lift and it hoisted him into the air, shooting him straight up as the giant stone next to it fell straight down. On the wooden platform where his make-shift long bow had been waiting for him, he grabbed it and knelt behind the brown branched railing. He thought for a moment, He could just let them get lost and let the jungle naturally take them, slowly devouring them with thirst and hunger. He could let them eventually kill and eat each other.

He decided against it, why let nature take away his fun of the kill? No, he would be merciful and play the part of death himself since He made the mistake of trusting them. He incorrectly misread their characters. He most now undo the mistake he allowed into this world, then he would give them back to the land. They would be Corrected and hopefully purified for the gods and land to re-use in a better way. She would use them to feed the animals and rejoin the soil.

His anger wouldn't allow it anyway, he needed to let his festering rage out of its cage. The whole process of picking them off would be a definite test of his skills, especially after being shipwrecked for many, many, days and weeks. After many days of boredom and solitude, this would be very fun for him. He was also curious to see if his man-sized snares would work.

Suddenly, he spotted William noisily brushing the thick grass and brush out of the way.

The Ranger then loaded an arrow onto the vine bow string. He then put the deadly bow and arrow down to just watch William slowly activate the stick trigger on the ground holding an green looped lasso.

He stomped on the trigger as he heard some rustling in the distance.

The loop tightened around William's ankle and hoisted the rest of his body about five feet in the air.

The Ranger descended from his rope vine and stealthily approached him weaving in and out of the dense vegetation until he finally faced his upside down ex-crew mate face to face.

"Why'd ya do it Willy?" The angry Ranger questioned.

"Captain look! Wulfric’s forcing me to kill ya. I didn't want to do it!"

The Ranger stood a foot away from him as he searched William's face for the truth in his words and found none, only panic grasping for any explanation that would do.

The Ranger's face tightened and he clenched his teeth as the dagger quickly slid across William’s neck. Blood sprayed onto his face. Willy seemed to speak as the crimson liquid rand down from his neck. He thought the traitor mouthed the words sorry, but he couldn't be sure, nor did he care. They were all way beyond sorry.

The Ranger sheathed his dagger."Too bad Willy, you were a decent row man."

He crouched and crept off to his next position.

Edward, in the meantime, had taken it upon himself to climb halfway up a tree. He brought his old telescope to scan for any traces of his former Captain. All he saw was green leaves and a few colorful birds perched on an odd branch. He didn't have time to sight see weird exotic birdies.

Frustrated and already tired, he descended the tree and spotted some shade and a place to rest.

A smooth rock seemed out of place among the grass away from the trees and gigantic rock wall. The wall itself seemed to move backwards, suddenly Edward saw a huge shadow grow over the ground as a huge rock fell off the top of the wall crushing Ed instantly.

The Ranger watched the whole action from a safe distance camouflaged in tree leaves around his head and shoulders. He stood up and looked at his mantrap in awe because he thought that out of all the traps this one would work the least. He approached Edward with his bow and arrow in hand.

Edward's torso was partially splayed out above the edge of the massive stone. Blood ran out of his mouth. The Ranger looked down at his eyes with a trace of remorse. Edward was instantly dead but to The Ranger Edward had always been the one to easily roped into bad situations like this. During his time on The Ranger's ship Wulfric and the others would always talk Ed into doing something for their own amusement. Whether that was a foolish school boy prank played on another crewman or a task that no one wanted to perform. Ed was the man to be suckered into doing in it. He feared that this was the reason Edward laid there bloody. Yes, part of him felt remorse for the trap could have killed the man that conned him into this doomed quest.

The Ranger shook his head, but wasn't Ed a man? Even naive men as slow as he, were able to make decisions. For those who weren’t quick, surely they can still think with their hearts? Hadn't Ed's heart warned him against this action? Was Ed so slow as to not listen to his heart? Perhaps yes, but in the end the Ranger had to reconcile that he picked him to be a crewman on his ship. It was his poor decision to take such a man upon their king blessed venture. The Ranger now felt guilt picking such a man for his crew. This all fueled The Ranger's anger even more towards Wulfric.

* * *

Wulfric chopped through the dense jungle. The green leaves seemed to grab at his arms. Still Wulfric hacked them off as he vigorously, with The Ranger's axe, left to right. Already, his axe was on his way back to him.

Wulfric swore at the effort it took to clear the jungle. His arms were like heavy weights pulling themselves down. Wulfric's anger alone allowed him to clear the final leaves. Finally, the jungle cleared and gave way to tree branches, grass and stones. The jungle had, to his amazement, transformed seemingly into a forest.

Wulfric used his heavy breath to scream for The Captain. He screamed out of exhaustion and frustration. The Ranger put him through. He didn't understand why the jungle had cleared into a forest clearing, but he was too angry to care. "Captainnn!!!!!!" Wulfric yelled into the air. His arms were wide, axe in hand. "Let's finish this!"

For several moments there was absolute silence, then the trees shook, branches snapped. He looked all around him not

knowing the direction he would come from. He heard light feet hit the ground behind him.

The Eye Patched Man tossed the rope vine behind him. It seemed to spiral but up into the trees, running home to a high branch. He and Wulfric locked eyes, their eyebrows smashed together in intense anger and concentration.

The Ranger: Chapter 7 - The Bear Returns

                             CHAPTER 7
                         THE BEAR RETURNS

He pulled the axe from the tree bark, the echo still ringing in his memory. Almost immediately afterward he heard a loud growl from the bear about forty trees south of him.

The Ranger had only hunted just enough for himself and hadn't been greedy. Leto had taught him the laws of the land, the laws of the forest. The same laws of the birds and the animals on the ground. Never take more then you need, whether that be firewood, shelter or food.

The large beast hadn't been exactly starving as of late but The Ranger had been a lot more successful with his diligent hard work. It seemed to him that the bear was jealous.

Could this be the answer?

He walked to the nearest tree which held his nearest weapons. His hand-axe was fastened in his vine belt.

He wanted something with a longer reach so it would reduce his chances of an injury.

The bear spotted The Ranger from a distance. He hadn't picked up his wooden missile yet.

The great brown moving mountain slowly approached him. At a few bushes distance it stopped and their eyes locked.

There was a long pause as they waited for each other to move.

The Ranger thought, to hell with it, it's now or never. The beast growled as The Ranger quickly picked up the spear and braced himself behind it. The grizzly bear stood on it's hind legs. The Ranger allowed it to show off as this towering mass growled with its lips sneering.

Let'em vent and get it off his chest but let'em know if he tries to take me down, he'll have a fight on his hands he The bear swiped at the pointed thick stick..

Anger stirred in The Ranger and he poked back(imagining if the bear had flanked him, it would be out of his front sight and

there would be no hope).

This enraged the great brown bear further as the its long white mouth daggers were unsheathed.

The Ranger didn't really want to kill it but if he was pushed enough he would no doubt would let The Bear be free of its frustrations.

       I'll let him get it off his chest, he thought, but I'll let'em know if he tries to take me down he'll have a fight on his hands.

The bear swiped at the pointed thick stick. Anger stirred in The Ranger and he poked back.

To the distant right, deep in the woods, The Ranger spotted a deer. His keen senses had been perfected during

his training with Leto. Always observe your surroundings even under heavy stress and distraction.

The Ranger strategically moved himself so he was between the deer and the bear.

The deer was perfectly still, ready to bolt at a moments notice.

The Ranger stabbed at the bear a few more times. It moved around his spear. He raised the axe from his belt

and raised it in the air. The deer quickly pranced off. The large brown beast spotted it out of the corners of it’s eyes and ran after it. The Ranger took some deep breaths. "I hope you get'em. For both our sakes" Said The Ranger. He picked up his spear and walked back to his tree hut.