“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

John Ray

---

---

---

---

---

You know it takes a lot to really hunker down, gather your balls, and face a true monster. I mean, what is more terrifying than facing one of your, if not greatest, fears? What is it that makes these fears so great? So, significant? Is it the pain they bring with them? Is it the sickness in our stomachs, those wretched butterflies? Is it the helpless feeling that we've lost all control of our lives? The fact that someone else is currently holding the reigns in what could be your fate? Or is it the look in my eyes when I'm about to squeeze the life out of yours?

Tonight I have something a little different to share with you. A story I would like to share to maybe bring to perspective the mood that I'm trying to bring to the table here. Its about a young girl searching for something. She's searching for something, but has no idea what it is she's actually looking for. Willing to go through whatever it takes, she will have to figure out a lot more than just what it is on the other side of this quest, but how she's going to get there when the roads get a little rocky....

---

part one

To New Beginnings

because the past no longer wants you

The edge of the world was burning. As the sun said its final good byes on its final stages of life for this day, it sent an orange gleam across the horizon. The fluffy clouds looked like plumes of smoke as the night sky began settling in directly above. A few stars would shine, but would soon be taken over by an oncoming storm that loomed just behind the reeling sky. None of that took away from the landscape that it all hovered over. The single road split a mix of bright yellow brush and trees in a flat, endless landscape. The incoming fall colors and shades painted a picture that would sell to the highest bidder at the most glorious, highest end auction imaginable. To needlessly further put it, it was beautiful.

Traveling at about fifty miles per hour, or around eighty kilometers per hour if you’re an asshole, the little car soars straight down the narrow roadway. It’s been a couple of hours since she’s pulled off the busy interstate onto this, what she’s convinced, abandoned road to nowhere. She didn’t have an address to go by, just the name of a town and its “where-abouts”. Meaning: “About where?”

The already worthless GPS fizzles out a few times and the satellite radio crackles a bit. She throws a couple worthless taps at the screen before switching to another station. A low rumble of thunder crawls across the flat landscape and that weird, warm static feeling can be felt in the air. Questioning what the weatherman told her earlier, she peers out her window and up at the sky to see this already established, most beautiful horizon. The music crackles out a bit, but still plays on as she murmurs along to the familiar tune.



Soooyyy…. Un prededor…. I’m a loser bay-beeeee… Soooo why don’t----

The song is then cut off by not the annoying snaps and crackles but by an incoming phone call that’s not displayed across the screen from “Michael”.

Ahoy!

Nancy, where the hell are you?

Driving.

Yeah, I figured. We stopped as soon as we got off from the Exit….

Yeah, I figured.

We’re not going to get anything done tonight. Come back, we’re staying at the Days Inn off 76. We’ll get a fresh start tomorrow.

We ARE going to a town, Michael… Surely, they have a place to crash in. You’re early start still involves us driving thirty miles to this place.

You don’t know that and you don’t know how far out a place to stay actually is. Be realistic here and what’s your damn hurry? It’s not like this shit is going anywhere.

You guys can hang back if you want. I’ve got to be closer there than I am to you by now.

This is why I---- You---- Never----

After a short conversation the call fails and the satellite radio returns, but barely. With mostly static and skipping around, she rolls her eyes, kills the volume, and sits back in silence. She looks around and starts to notice the scenery around her change as it all goes from happy ending beautiful to grotesque beautiful. The once lively, yet dying, burning surroundings turned to baron, nothingness as the trees stand naked in salute to their most random passer-by.

Nancy looks down to her side where one of her bags sit open. A bump causes one of the folders to slip out and release a photo containing a certain old man she’s investigating. She meets the gaze through the photo and allows the vehicle to slip off the road enough to catch the tire and pull it the rest of the way. The car swerves causing her to snap back to reality and counter-steer directly into a giant rock that completely destroys her front right tire. The car 619’s and lifts the back of it into the air to land the opposite way on the side of the road. Nancy sits like a deer in headlights until she lets gravity slam her forehead into the steering wheel.

Grrrreat…

She looks up and starts tapping away at the screen in her car once more and dials back Michael. It doesn’t even try and responds with the dreadful red-x that signifies the call has failed. She immediately starts digging through her bag and digs out a loose cigarette and puckers it between her lips as she shoves herself back in the seat.

Quitting has never been harder in the last couple of weeks since the start of her new and first real project. She reaches over and pulls a folder out from her bag and sets it on her lap. Opening it reveals a stack of newspaper clippings and police reports regarding disappearances, mishaps, and straight up weird-ass happenings in small towns. With one in particular, she shuffles through the stack that she’s collected since the start of her research.

One article reads, “Town Left Abandoned After Mass Church Suicide”. Another speaks of the church being burned while the entire townsfolk were locked inside. Another of a terrible curse that simply decayed the town and those who chose to stay and even following those who fled there all the way to a short demise. Nancy takes a puff from her cigarette as she shuffles through the paperwork before noticing a pair of headlights peaking above the horizon. It’s nearly dark now and a sign of life after hours of nothing was closer to frightening than comforting.

She quickly pressed the button for her hazard lights and stumbled out of the car to wait for them. The headlights which seemed to once be coming at a decent pace slowed down to a crawl once it seen the lights from Nancy’s vehicle. She stood out in the middle of the roadway and waved her arms, pointlessly yelling at them from this distance.

Heeeeey! I need heeeeelp!

The, what is now visible, truck comes now even slower as it makes her feel less and less safe with every “ka-chuk-ka-chuck-ka-chuck”. She seen enough horror flicks and has investigated a lot worse to know to carry a knife. She pats it down a couple of times to reassure it’s still there and waists for the unexpected traffic. The truck finally makes it to her and stops by her side. She approaches the driver’s side window and through it sees an older fellow, that in no-way can see over the steering wheel, smoking a cigar and another gentleman sitting beside him. The window goes down and a cloud of smoke escapes out of the vehicle and into her face. Coughing and backing away, she holds up a finger before catching her breath.

Please, I need help.

The person in the passenger seat, appearing much younger than his very short driver buddy, leans forward. Meanwhile, the little guy teeths a cigar and glares at poor Nancy.

What’s up? I’m Tommy! That your car?

Uh, yeah.

I could probably look at it for ya. Not for free. But my buddies dad used to work on ‘em.

There’s really nothing to look at, thanks. Thank-you, for sure. I mean, the front’s fucked.

She points and tries not to keep making eye contact with the short one.

And why would you look at it if---

The short man picks himself up to his feet, stands on the driver’s seat, and yells out the window:

Do you want help or not, cunt? You look like a boy.

Jarvis, would you chill!

A stubby middle finger goes up in both directions and his little ass lands flat back on the driver’s seat. Not long goes by before a police car pulls up beside the both of them.

Oh, ho! You’re in trouble now, whore.

With a look of pure bewilderment, Nancy slowly walks away from the truck then quickly towards the police car that just parked beside her wreckage. A single police officer steps out.

He’s strong looking, younger like the one in the passenger seat, but more confident. He looks over the Nancy’s car with a flashlight for just a moment before moving his attention to her.

Hello! Hi! I’m Nan—

I’ll take it from here, boys!

The officer waves off the two weirdos in the truck. It stalls as it goes to move and clicks and clanks to start back up again before it finally makes its way away from them. Nancy watches them go and finally has a slight warmth of comfort as she turns to the officer.

I’m Nancy. That’s my car. I need help.

How bad is it?

Pretty bad, I think. I’m gonna probably need it towed. Is there any garages in the town up ahead?

There’s no town up ahead.

There’s not? I mean, I know there’s not, but isn’t there something?

Oh, there’s something alright, but nothing you want to go see.

See, that’s actually exactly why I want to go see.

Look, it’s getting late and unless you want to wait another couple of hours here for a tow truck, I suggest you come with me back to the station. In fact, unless you want some more company like you had earlier, I strongly suggest it.

Nancy looks around, thinks really hard, but can’t think of anything better so she agrees to go with the officer. She takes the few important bags from her car and hops into the squad car with the officer. They drive for a few miles down the road before there’s a left, which he takes.

It’s good to know that civilization was so close. It seemed like I drove for miles without seeing anything. Including a car or a house….

Yeah, we’re out here pretty far.

So, I’m Nancy.

You told me.

Sorry, what’s your… Officer….?

Andy.

[red]Andy? Shouldn’t it be Officer Something?

You can call me Officer Something if you want to.

I mean, you ARE a cop, right?

As much a cop as you are not in some serious shit right now.

Huh? What?

The road takes another turn and the truck seen earlier sits ahead parked beside a trailer.

Okay, what’s that? That doesn’t look like ‘the station’.

Well, it should because that’s what it is.

Ya know, I’m starting to get some vibes here that maybe you’re not a cop and you and your buddies are going to try and, ya know…

The officer chuckles a bit under his breath.

There’s about a thousand possibilities to what you just said, but if sacrifice you to the devil was the ‘ya know’, then you just won a million dollars.

---

So, what do you think is going to happen? Do you think Nancy’s not even going to make it to her first big site to explore the unknown? That officer there really seems to be turning into a shady fellow, but we’ll just have to wait and see. More importantly, do you think I’m walking into Relentless six years after you and I first buried our claws deep into the foundations of this place, five years after Loverboy brought life back and mended all of the hearts and hopes of ALL the little XWF children, and one year after Lux became a legend to not be completely ready to shred something to pieces. I was honestly looking for something meaningless to just kind of introduce myself to all the wonderful new patients I have now, but having someone so regular like yourself makes it SO much better. It was completely unexpected, too. Who would have thought that same temper that got you squashed so many times before is going to be another reason for another downfall. More bruises, too. But you don’t mind those as much, do you?



From a place so long ago and in some of the deepest, dankest, darkest memories that you have to drown with a mug of warm cocoa each night before bed, begins our most glorious journey. From a place that has created such an overwhelming feeling of hatred that you can’t help but love and respect it all.



So, this is what we’re doing? We’re sitting in the void again, are we? Sitting alone, talking to ourselves, smoking cigarettes. Thinking with your stupid thoughts. Sinking into that sick, so sick, mind of yours. You should know you shouldn’t spend TOO much time there, right? It’s been known to drive a few folks crazy, ya know. It is good to see that you’ve had a bit of alone time to reminisce on the past, just like I have. Do you remember the good old days, Jacob?! Do you remember how wonderful it was?! Back then even you had things to brag about, am I right? You were one of the longest reigning World Heavyweight Television Champions of the World of all time! That’s one incredible accomplishment.



And you know, if it wasn’t for you, sir, I could have perhaps NEVER become the XWF Legend that I am today. Turn the tables for a moment and just imagine if, on that fateful evening, I became the TV Champion. I defeated the champion, Gator, and walked away as a champion. Sir, I will MOST DEFEINITELY thank-you and credit you for at least some of my success in becoming one of the longest reigning XWF Universal Champions of all time. That would have never happened had I been stuck defending that Television Championship, week-in, week-out against the same mediocre talent over and over again. That’s what kept you so mediocre, goof-ball, and it could have easily done the same thing to me. Maybe. I doubt it. I can’t help but evolve. I can’t help but scrap and crawl to the very top. I can’t help but just takes heads and roll ‘em. You, Jacob, can blame yourself for not keeping up with the rest of us. You can blame yourself for not already having your name printed next to mine in this fine federation’s Hall of Legends. I HAVE been saving you a seat there and have thrown in TONS of nominations, but sadly it appears I could be the only one pulling for you, sir.

Make no mistake though, me crippling you at Relentless will set up a perfect return for you to be a better success down the road like it did me back then. The projection of your ‘decimation’ lead to you forfeiting your match against me at King of the Ring, which I later was crowned. Which then lead to the Xtreme Title, briefcase, blah, blah, blah…. you were there. So, right, we both shared a couple bad days together, am I right? Things are different than they were before though, friend. They’re different from the first time just like the second time was. Different from the third time, too. It’s a running joke that the good ol’ Doc seems to be running out of juice and that he just comes back to lose to someone. Joke, indeed. You know better than to listen to anyone but your instincts to start, but you’re damn smart enough to not just assume I’ve lost ANY steam in the last few years. We may stumble, sir, but we will get back up. We may fall, but we will rise again. Maybe I’ll run out of gas someday. Maybe I’ll fade away. Maybe I’ll fall flat on my face. Or… or maybe I’ll rip and tear my way through this place like never before.