HOME | DD

Description
The square was lit only by a single streetlight, and was totally empty at this hour.  The fountains had been turned off for the night and the place was eerily silent.  A pair of teenagers ran into the square, stopping in the center to gasp for breath.
“Where is he?” Sheen shouted in a raspy voice.
“I told you there was no-” Melissa started, but was interrupted by a sucking noise behind the pair.
“Can I help you?” came the cool, emotionless voice of Dell Arness.
The pair spun around startled.
“Where did you come from?” shouted Sheen in an even more raspy voice.
“I got kicked out of my bar, so I came back here.  The same as every night,” stated Dell.  “What business do you have in my house?”
Melissa looked around at the empty square.
“Your house?” she asked.
Dell scoffed.
“What business have you.”
He said it like a statement rather than a question.
“You know those things you were telling me about?  The black thingies that eat hearts?” Sheen asked.
Dell nodded.
“Well um…..yeah….” Sheen floundered.  Melissa pointed up at the now moon sized object in the night sky.
“I see.  Come.”
Dell walked over to one of the tall, narrow houses lining the square.  Pulling a key out of his shirt pocket, he proceeded to unlock the door.
“I thought you said you didn’t have a house,” Sheen said.
“This house does not exist.  Neither do I.  This square is my house.”
“You are making no sense at all,” muttered Melissa.
As they walked into the house, Sheen noticed that it was far bigger on the inside than outside.  Twin staircases ran down the left and right walls and turned against the back wall, combining in the middle to form a single, widening stairwell.  Against the right wall was a closet-sized glass case.  Dell walked over to the case and shattered it with a gloved fist. He removed a long rectangular object bundled in purple cloth.
“What is that?” asked Melissa.
“My sword,” replied Dell.
“A sword?” said Melissa, skeptical.
“Yes.”
“The army of an entire world couldn’t stop them and you’re going to do it with a sword???”
“Yes.”
She sagged, defeated.
“Baby…” Sheen started, concerned.
“Don’t talk to me,” said Melissa quietly.
“Melis-”
“Don’t talk to me!” Melissa shouted, tears running down her face.  “I don’t want to hope anymore, it hurts too much when I’m disappointed.”
“Quiet!” said Dell in a harsh whisper.  Melissa paid him no heed.
“We’re all going to die.  You might as well accept that now,” she continued in a voice that was approaching hysteria.
“Quiet, you foolish girl!” Dell shouted.
“And you!  I almost believed in you!  I almost thought you could save us! I-”
Out of nowhere a small, black, ant-like creature came flying at Melissa.  She screamed as it knocked her over backwards to the ground.  Its claws ripped a gash along her left arm, and then it raised its right arm to deliver the final blow.  Before it could, however, Sheen smashed into its side like a football player in a blocking drill, carrying the then off of her and smashing it into a wall.  Pinning it against the concrete with his left arm, he swung his right fist at the Heartless’s head.  The shadow sunk into the wall, and Sheen’s fist hit concrete.  The shadow whipped under Sheen, then rematerialized behind him.  As Sheen flipped around, He saw the thing swinging its claws towards him in a blue ark.  There was no way he could dodge it.  It was all over.  A white flash enveloped his vision for a second, and then he saw a glowing, heart-shaped object float up towards the sky.
So this is what it’s like being dead, he thought.  It’s not that bad.  It didn’t even hurt.
“Are you all right?” asked Dell.
“I’m dead, but other than that I’m just peachy,” Sheen said sarcastically.
It’s not like he can hear me.
“Very funny, Sheen.  Now get up,” replied Dell.
“You can hear me?” asked Sheen.
“You’re not dead yet, but if you don’t get up you soon will be.”
For the first time, Sheen realized that Dell’s sword was in exactly the same place the Heartless was just before the flash.
“You-”
“Saved your life.  Yes.  Now get off the ground.”
Sheen stood up hurriedly.
“We’re not dead?” asked Melissa, her eyes blank.
“No, but thanks to you we’re about to be,” said Dell.
Across the square was a solid carpet of darkness, interspaced with pairs of yellow eyes, quickly but erratically moving towards them.
“That’s good then,” said Melissa blankly staring off into space.  She sat down.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Sheen as he moved behind Dell and in front of Melissa.  Dell chuckled quietly.
“Just stay out of my way.”
And then it began.  A wave of shadows launched themselves at Dell, claws outstretched, but he severed their heads from their bodies with a stroke of his sword and the shadows disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and floating hearts.  The swarm of shadows then began materializing erratically, sending a constant stream of small groups of shadows to launch themselves into the impossibly quick sword strokes of Dell Arness.  After slaying the last group, Dell leaned on his sword, panting heavily.
“I am so out of shape,” he groaned.  “Good thing that was the la-”
Shadows poured over the top of Dell’s house, falling on the trio from above.  More flooded through the narrow alleyways leading to the square, and still more popped out of thin air.  The trio was engulfed in darkness for a second, and then there was a white flash.  Sheen and Melissa fell back to the ground.  They stared at Dell.  His sword was glowing red hot, and his whole body was steaming.
“Please refrain from yelling.  Next time we may not be so lucky,” Dell said tiredly.  “We need to get to the beach.  That’s the only place we can stop this from.”
“You’re steaming,” said Melissa, who seemed to have returned to normal.
“Yes.  That’s what happens when you exceed the speed of sound.”
“THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!” shouted Sheen.  “YOU TOTALLY HAVE TO TEACH ME THAT WHEN THIS IS OVER!”  Dell sighed.
“A, that’s my talent, I can’t teach it to you. B, what makes you think we’re all going to survive this?  C, get in the portal before they hear your shouting,” Dell reprimanded, unsuccessfully trying to hide his pride in being “awesome”.  He waved a hand a purplish-blackish oval appeared in the air.  Dell stepped through the portal.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A man in a white cloak stood on a rock just offshore the beach where the main attack was taking place.  He chuckled quietly at the sight of the police force arriving en masse atop the road running parallel to the shore.
“Raise the estimate by fifteen minutes,” he said, apparently to no one.
“Is everything all right, Cygnus?” a voice asked from nowhere.
“Yeah, just their police actually managed to get here on time and make a combined stand.  Brownie points to whoever trained these guys,” joked Cygnus.  Two voices laughed hollowly in unison.
“All right Cygnus, but take care of yourself,” a feminine voice replied, sounding concerned.
“Of course,” replied Cygnus, returning his attention to the battle.  Suddenly he saw a pillar of white flash from the city.  He gasped.  “It can’t be!” he shouted.
“Cygnus?” came a muddle of several voices.
“It’s Dell!” Cygnus said, his voice seeping with hatred.
“What?  Are you sure?”
“Yes.  Cutting all communications, I’m going in,” Cygnus replied.
“Cygnus, wait, you can’t, he’s too-”
“I promised Delphinus.” Cygnus said as he raised his hand to the earpiece concealed in his hood and flipped it off.  He then began to walk on the water towards the beach.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The three fell out of the portal’s end in a tumble.  The narrow alley they had exited into was one of the many small residential streets running perpendicular to the coast.  Up ahead the beach was visible, covered in hundreds of dead bodies, both human and heartless.  Sounds of battle, gunfire and shouting, were everywhere.  A shadow started down the alley, but before Dell could move it was annihilated in a hail of gunfire.  A team of six men in all black body armor wearing elongated face and torso shielding and all carrying various firearms secured the area.  While three of them searched among the rubble for other survivors or heartless, the other three surrounded Dell, Sheen, and Melissa with their weapons raised.
“All right, stand up slowly and place your hands on your heads,” one of the masked figures said, his voice sounding like a radio transmission through the mask.  Sheen, Melissa, and Dell untangled themselves from each other and stood up.  “All civilians are to make their way to the hospital complex in sector 5.  We will escort you, but first we need to conduct a few examinations,” The figure continued.  “Scan them.”
One of the other two figures lowered his weapon and produced a small chrome handheld device from his utility belt.  Raising the device, he pressed a button and a finely spaced network of neon green lines covered the alleyway.
“Scanning initialized, sir,” the figure said.  “The girl’s clean,” he said a few minutes later.  Sheen scratched his elbow.
“What are you guys doing, anyways?” he asked.
“I said don’t move!” The scanner backed away quickly as the other two figures looked into their sights.  “He’s clean,” The man said, his tone softening.  “We’re checking for zombies,” the man said conversationally, far less worried now.
“There’s no such thing as zombies,” said Sheen.  The man lowered his scanner.
“I saw Sergeant Dave get up off the ground after his head was blown off and rip three of his squad members to pieces as they blew off chunks of his flesh with their rifles, then attack a parked car until we put him down with a fragmentation grenade and his shredded corpse lay twitching on the ground in a pool of its inky black blood.  Do NOT tell me there is no such thing as a zombie.”  Even through the transmitter, the man’s tone was enough to make Sheen shut up immediately.
“If we were zombies, wouldn’t we be attacking you already?  Why need to scan?” asked Dell.
“We’ve come across groups that act perfectly normal, until you let your guard down.  A few of the other squads did, and now they’re dead.”
“Still, why not scan only one person in each group?  The….zombies…..wouldn’t be able to travel with normal humans, would they?”
“You’re probably right, no one has ever run into a mixed group yet, at least that I know of.  But it’s better to be safe then sorry.”  He pointed the scanner at Dell.
Dell ground his teeth.  They same thing had kept this squadron alive and intact in such a bloody and grueling street fight was about to get him killed.

Description
The square was lit only by a single streetlight, and was totally empty at this hour.  The fountains had been turned off for the night and the place was eerily silent.  A pair of teenagers ran into the square, stopping in the center to gasp for breath.
“Where is he?” Sheen shouted in a raspy voice.
“I told you there was no-” Melissa started, but was interrupted by a sucking noise behind the pair.
“Can I help you?” came the cool, emotionless voice of Dell Arness.
The pair spun around startled.
“Where did you come from?” shouted Sheen in an even more raspy voice.
“I got kicked out of my bar, so I came back here.  The same as every night,” stated Dell.  “What business do you have in my house?”
Melissa looked around at the empty square.
“Your house?” she asked.
Dell scoffed.
“What business have you.”
He said it like a statement rather than a question.
“You know those things you were telling me about?  The black thingies that eat hearts?” Sheen asked.
Dell nodded.
“Well um…..yeah….” Sheen floundered.  Melissa pointed up at the now moon sized object in the night sky.
“I see.  Come.”
Dell walked over to one of the tall, narrow houses lining the square.  Pulling a key out of his shirt pocket, he proceeded to unlock the door.
“I thought you said you didn’t have a house,” Sheen said.
“This house does not exist.  Neither do I.  This square is my house.”
“You are making no sense at all,” muttered Melissa.
As they walked into the house, Sheen noticed that it was far bigger on the inside than outside.  Twin staircases ran down the left and right walls and turned against the back wall, combining in the middle to form a single, widening stairwell.  Against the right wall was a closet-sized glass case.  Dell walked over to the case and shattered it with a gloved fist. He removed a long rectangular object bundled in purple cloth.
“What is that?” asked Melissa.
“My sword,” replied Dell.
“A sword?” said Melissa, skeptical.
“Yes.”
“The army of an entire world couldn’t stop them and you’re going to do it with a sword???”
“Yes.”
She sagged, defeated.
“Baby…” Sheen started, concerned.
“Don’t talk to me,” said Melissa quietly.
“Melis-”
“Don’t talk to me!” Melissa shouted, tears running down her face.  “I don’t want to hope anymore, it hurts too much when I’m disappointed.”
“Quiet!” said Dell in a harsh whisper.  Melissa paid him no heed.
“We’re all going to die.  You might as well accept that now,” she continued in a voice that was approaching hysteria.
“Quiet, you foolish girl!” Dell shouted.
“And you!  I almost believed in you!  I almost thought you could save us! I-”
Out of nowhere a small, black, ant-like creature came flying at Melissa.  She screamed as it knocked her over backwards to the ground.  Its claws ripped a gash along her left arm, and then it raised its right arm to deliver the final blow.  Before it could, however, Sheen smashed into its side like a football player in a blocking drill, carrying the then off of her and smashing it into a wall.  Pinning it against the concrete with his left arm, he swung his right fist at the Heartless’s head.  The shadow sunk into the wall, and Sheen’s fist hit concrete.  The shadow whipped under Sheen, then rematerialized behind him.  As Sheen flipped around, He saw the thing swinging its claws towards him in a blue ark.  There was no way he could dodge it.  It was all over.  A white flash enveloped his vision for a second, and then he saw a glowing, heart-shaped object float up towards the sky.
So this is what it’s like being dead, he thought.  It’s not that bad.  It didn’t even hurt.
“Are you all right?” asked Dell.
“I’m dead, but other than that I’m just peachy,” Sheen said sarcastically.
It’s not like he can hear me.
“Very funny, Sheen.  Now get up,” replied Dell.
“You can hear me?” asked Sheen.
“You’re not dead yet, but if you don’t get up you soon will be.”
For the first time, Sheen realized that Dell’s sword was in exactly the same place the Heartless was just before the flash.
“You-”
“Saved your life.  Yes.  Now get off the ground.”
Sheen stood up hurriedly.
“We’re not dead?” asked Melissa, her eyes blank.
“No, but thanks to you we’re about to be,” said Dell.
Across the square was a solid carpet of darkness, interspaced with pairs of yellow eyes, quickly but erratically moving towards them.
“That’s good then,” said Melissa blankly staring off into space.  She sat down.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Sheen as he moved behind Dell and in front of Melissa.  Dell chuckled quietly.
“Just stay out of my way.”
And then it began.  A wave of shadows launched themselves at Dell, claws outstretched, but he severed their heads from their bodies with a stroke of his sword and the shadows disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and floating hearts.  The swarm of shadows then began materializing erratically, sending a constant stream of small groups of shadows to launch themselves into the impossibly quick sword strokes of Dell Arness.  After slaying the last group, Dell leaned on his sword, panting heavily.
“I am so out of shape,” he groaned.  “Good thing that was the la-”
Shadows poured over the top of Dell’s house, falling on the trio from above.  More flooded through the narrow alleyways leading to the square, and still more popped out of thin air.  The trio was engulfed in darkness for a second, and then there was a white flash.  Sheen and Melissa fell back to the ground.  They stared at Dell.  His sword was glowing red hot, and his whole body was steaming.
“Please refrain from yelling.  Next time we may not be so lucky,” Dell said tiredly.  “We need to get to the beach.  That’s the only place we can stop this from.”
“You’re steaming,” said Melissa, who seemed to have returned to normal.
“Yes.  That’s what happens when you exceed the speed of sound.”
“THAT IS SO AWESOME!!!” shouted Sheen.  “YOU TOTALLY HAVE TO TEACH ME THAT WHEN THIS IS OVER!”  Dell sighed.
“A, that’s my talent, I can’t teach it to you. B, what makes you think we’re all going to survive this?  C, get in the portal before they hear your shouting,” Dell reprimanded, unsuccessfully trying to hide his pride in being “awesome”.  He waved a hand a purplish-blackish oval appeared in the air.  Dell stepped through the portal.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A man in a white cloak stood on a rock just offshore the beach where the main attack was taking place.  He chuckled quietly at the sight of the police force arriving en masse atop the road running parallel to the shore.
“Raise the estimate by fifteen minutes,” he said, apparently to no one.
“Is everything all right, Cygnus?” a voice asked from nowhere.
“Yeah, just their police actually managed to get here on time and make a combined stand.  Brownie points to whoever trained these guys,” joked Cygnus.  Two voices laughed hollowly in unison.
“All right Cygnus, but take care of yourself,” a feminine voice replied, sounding concerned.
“Of course,” replied Cygnus, returning his attention to the battle.  Suddenly he saw a pillar of white flash from the city.  He gasped.  “It can’t be!” he shouted.
“Cygnus?” came a muddle of several voices.
“It’s Dell!” Cygnus said, his voice seeping with hatred.
“What?  Are you sure?”
“Yes.  Cutting all communications, I’m going in,” Cygnus replied.
“Cygnus, wait, you can’t, he’s too-”
“I promised Delphinus.” Cygnus said as he raised his hand to the earpiece concealed in his hood and flipped it off.  He then began to walk on the water towards the beach.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The three fell out of the portal’s end in a tumble.  The narrow alley they had exited into was one of the many small residential streets running perpendicular to the coast.  Up ahead the beach was visible, covered in hundreds of dead bodies, both human and heartless.  Sounds of battle, gunfire and shouting, were everywhere.  A shadow started down the alley, but before Dell could move it was annihilated in a hail of gunfire.  A team of six men in all black body armor wearing elongated face and torso shielding and all carrying various firearms secured the area.  While three of them searched among the rubble for other survivors or heartless, the other three surrounded Dell, Sheen, and Melissa with their weapons raised.
“All right, stand up slowly and place your hands on your heads,” one of the masked figures said, his voice sounding like a radio transmission through the mask.  Sheen, Melissa, and Dell untangled themselves from each other and stood up.  “All civilians are to make their way to the hospital complex in sector 5.  We will escort you, but first we need to conduct a few examinations,” The figure continued.  “Scan them.”
One of the other two figures lowered his weapon and produced a small chrome handheld device from his utility belt.  Raising the device, he pressed a button and a finely spaced network of neon green lines covered the alleyway.
“Scanning initialized, sir,” the figure said.  “The girl’s clean,” he said a few minutes later.  Sheen scratched his elbow.
“What are you guys doing, anyways?” he asked.
“I said don’t move!” The scanner backed away quickly as the other two figures looked into their sights.  “He’s clean,” The man said, his tone softening.  “We’re checking for zombies,” the man said conversationally, far less worried now.
“There’s no such thing as zombies,” said Sheen.  The man lowered his scanner.
“I saw Sergeant Dave get up off the ground after his head was blown off and rip three of his squad members to pieces as they blew off chunks of his flesh with their rifles, then attack a parked car until we put him down with a fragmentation grenade and his shredded corpse lay twitching on the ground in a pool of its inky black blood.  Do NOT tell me there is no such thing as a zombie.”  Even through the transmitter, the man’s tone was enough to make Sheen shut up immediately.
“If we were zombies, wouldn’t we be attacking you already?  Why need to scan?” asked Dell.
“We’ve come across groups that act perfectly normal, until you let your guard down.  A few of the other squads did, and now they’re dead.”
“Still, why not scan only one person in each group?  The….zombies…..wouldn’t be able to travel with normal humans, would they?”
“You’re probably right, no one has ever run into a mixed group yet, at least that I know of.  But it’s better to be safe then sorry.”  He pointed the scanner at Dell.
Dell ground his teeth.  They same thing had kept this squadron alive and intact in such a bloody and grueling street fight was about to get him killed.