And one last time into the dreamworld we go…

The board room was not much bigger than my own office yet a dozen of us were crammed in there. Chief Pryce had called a meeting no sooner did our shifts start. Six vicious killings in eight nights. Tonight was poised to be seven in nine. The timing between murders had increased after each one and it was highly likely I’d be at another murder scene within the first hour of my shift. Great way to start the evening. My partner Damien grumbled something inaudible to me and I quietly nodded in return. Beside him sat officers Nickles, Granger and Wish.

At the end of the row in the last seat was Inspector Main and he definitely had his less than impressed face on for all to see. The row in front of us has Captain Dolly, Lieutenants Lane and Page as well as Superintendent Duke and Staff Sergeant Smith. Deputy Chief Graves stood unusually nervously beside Chief Pryce as the presentation was wrapping up. The six grisly murders all took place within a surprisingly small distance from one another. All of us were being sent out to zones around the area to carefully search.

Does everyone understand their assignments?

A mixed batch of unenthusiastic grunts fills the room before Deputy Chief Graves steps forward and clears his throat.

This is the most important night yet people. We’ve got the sick fuck narrowed down let’s go catch us a murderer!

Chief Pryce slowly looks over at him with an annoyed expression before turning back to all of us and then exiting the room. Deputy Chief Graves shuffles his feet and nearly trips before following after Chief Pryce. Officer Wish turns to Damien and myself while the rest of the room slowly files out to the hall. The air is filled with the stench of stale cigarettes and anxiety. Based on the zones it looks like Wish is coming with us. Nothing wrong with some extra back up.

Normally I’d call shotgun but I don’t mind the back seat for this stakeout.

Have you been on any stakeouts prior to this?

You think your boy is just some pencil pusher? Shiiiit, I was doing stakeouts before your balls dropped!

Tommy I’m fucking older than you…

You two done yet? Shut the fuck up and let’s go!

About an hour later…

Sitting in the passenger seat of the Buick, I stare out at the old park. With the sun retired for the day, the park is mostly just darkness and giant shadows. Damien parked under the only working streetlight it seemed. Everything around us was just deafening blackness. Damien was impatiently tapping his finger on the steering wheel while Wish was fiddling with the shoelaces of his boot. I wasn’t sure if we would actually see anything but my gut feeling was telling me it wasn’t going to be a quiet evening.

I could feel the hairs on my arms tingling like some kind of strange electricity was coursing through my body. Poking my head out the window I peer up at the full, harvest moon. Heavy clouds keep moving in and blocking out the giant sky flashlight. I shift uncomfortably in my seat before dropping my gaze from the sky and to the road in front of the car. A quick flash of something catches my eye. It’s gone as fast as I see it. Somewhere into that darkened park is the direction I thought I saw it go.

Anyone else catch that?

Damien stops the annoying tapping of his fingers and looks over at me and then to the road. Officer Wish sits up and looks around.

Catch what?

Don’t be messing around wit us now…

Shut up, both of you. I saw movement up ahead and it went into the park.

I consider stepping out of the car with or without them. With the exception of a few straggling crickets, there’s hardly a sound coming from the dark park. And of course, that’s when an ear piercing scream shatters the eerie calmness. All three of us bolt upright as though a block of ice just touched the small of our backs.

The fuck was that!?

That was a human scream…

That came from the damn park!

On cue all three of us exit the Buick with quickened heart beats. Wish looks over to me and motions with his head for us to head into the park. I glance over to Damien on the other side of the car and he already had a rough grimace on his face.

You two take the left side of the park. I’ll take the right side and we’ll work towards each other in the middle.

Get your gun unholstered we can’t waste a second.

I don’t really like this plan…

I don’t really care, let’s go!

Before another word can be spoken, Damien treads off to the right of the park, passing through the shadowy playground. I begin making my way to the left corner of the park towards some shrubbery. Wish follows behind me, looking all around, head on a swivel. He clearly does not want to be here and I definitely can’t blame the man. The pit of my stomach feels like it is rotting with acid while I navigate my way through this ominous night at the park.

Splittin’ up was stupid, we should head towards Damien.

It isn’t ideal but we need to check the back of the park first.

No sooner do I say it, an obnoxious rustling can be heard several yards ahead of us. Wish looks at me with a hint of dread but we push forward to check it out. We both draw our pistols, the time for caution was long past.

If somebody is back there identify yourself immediately!

I stop a few feet in front of the bushes while officer Wish begins to move behind them to see where the sounds came from. He squints into the darkness and then looks back at me and shrugs.

Maybe it was a cat?

The bushes suddenly rustle again and I aim my gun while Wish stumbles over an exposed root and trips. The rustling moves through the bushes straight towards where Wish has fallen.

Get the fuck outta there, Tommy!

The rustling gets closer and louder as Wish scrambled to get back to his feet. Finally a ferocious beast emerges from the bushes as we both jump back. Except that it is less beast and more raccoon. I turn and watch the night scavenger run off into the darkness while lowering my gun. My knuckles are white so I loosen my grip and shake my head.

Close call, eh Tommy?

…Tommy?

There is a disgusting snap from behind me and I flinch at it. Slowly I turn around to face officer Wish but I already know it is far too late. As I turn I see Officer Wish standing at a strange angle. Even in the darkness I can see the black, oily blood spilt all over his checkered shirt. His head is craned drastically to the left and a massive wolf looking head is biting into the side of his throat. That wolf head is attached to a huge, eight foot tall beast of a creature. Covered in short, bristly blue hair, the thing stands on it’s beefy hind legs.

I blink several times in disbelief. My mind struggling to comprehend what I am staring at. The monster rips it’s head and jaws away from Wish’s neck to look up at me, taking a large chunk of flesh with it. It chews the flesh and swallows before glaring directly at me. Without feeling myself move, I realize I’ve raised my pistol back up at the creature. I fire two shots in a daze and the beast howls out while falling backwards with Wish’s body into the bushes. I stand still for a moment, light smoke rising from my gun.

Tommy…are you okay?

I have no idea why I ask that, I know damn well he’s not okay. That beast made him dinner and I might very well be dessert if I’m not careful. I slowly step over to the bushes where I see officer Wish’s lifeless body first. There’s movement directly behind where he lies and I shine my flashlight. I stand in shock as the light illuminates the woman with the blue hair. She is quickly pulling on her ripped clothing, covering up as best she can while I stare in awe.

Marf!? Tommy!? The fuck is going on over here where are you guys??

I hear my partner Damien rushing over but I don’t take my eyes off the woman with the blue hair. She’s trying to hide but I can see the blood all over her hands and face. Damien runs up and stops just behind me, also in shock.

The fuck is this?

I fucking told you there was a girl!

Damien seemingly ignores me and steps towards the blue haired girl.

The fuck were you thinking? This is the sloppiest mess yet!

I cock my head at Damien, not quite understanding what he is saying. But he’s staring directly at the woman in blue who looks down sheepishly.

The fuck you mean…?

Damien turns around to face me now as I take a step towards them both. I hear the shots before I see the gun in his left hand. It’s strange that I don’t feel anything despite him plugging me four times. I don’t feel anything at all as I drop to my knees. My eyes water and then go wide as I finally begin to understand.

Looks like you got a little too close, kid. Couldn’t let ya blow our cover. Nothing personal…

My body trembles but all I can think about is how awful that coppery, oily taste is coming up the back of my throat. The blood pours out of the four separate holes in my stomach and chest while I slump to the ground. I feel the life running out of me as I watch the two of them in front of me. They both transform into giant, beastly werewolves and that is the last thing I ever see…

~Fin~

In the hours leading up to Relentless…

And here sits our glorious hero Marf, slowly moving back and forth in a rocking chair he likely did not purchase. He looks dashing as always.

Well I hope you’re fuckin’ happy, Tales, you dun gone goofed. Just when I thought you’d run off again due to your radio silence, wham! You blunder through a sloppy pile of insults and strange thoughts that should have stayed inside you’re stupid little perra head. And somehow all that bullshit actually managed to push my needle from annoyed to flat out pissed off. Is this your big plan? Get me to the point where I only see red once you’re in front of me come Sunday night, awesome idea!

Marf stops rocking and plants his feet before giving a cheesy thumbs up.

So tell me, amiga, what level do you intend on getting to in order to actually stand a chance against me? Don’t level up too fast now or you’ll miss the magic flute in level three! You speak about doing what it takes to win the match but do you even know what that entails? If you hit your finisher and I kick out, do you really have the cojones to stomp my head into the mat until I stop getting up? Until my face is so covered in blood it leaves a stamp on the mat every time you stomp? I’ll give you a moment to flip through your notes filled with generic bullshit for an answer.

Marf lifts his arm and looks at the nonexistent wrist watch then back up.

Well actually, turns out we don’t exactly have a whole lot of time to wait for that. Guess you better just bring your intangibles and hope for the best. What are your intangibles again? Talking about a bunch of boring shit you did around the world? Like I give a fuck. What you did in OCW and wherever the fuck else helps you in zero ways for your match with me. With all that gloating and patting yourself on the back your head has really grown. It’s too bad there’s only a pea-sized brain in there.

I mean come on, you’re trying to tell me I’ve achieved nothing here in XWF? That getting to this number one contenders match took me longer? Tell me again, which one of us ran away like a little bitch years ago? Which one of us is on our second chance? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not fucking me! Last I checked I haven’t even been here for a full year and here I am on Relentless night three, fighting for a chance to earn a title shot. Icing on the cake is I get to ruin your precious redemption story in the process.

While I’m at it I’m also going to ruin that cum glazed mouth of yours too. Speaking so negatively about me and you didn’t even do your fucking research. I won the television title. I won the heavy metal weight title five fucking times before it was gone. I’m a multi-time Freestyle champion and currently still hold that title. So how many more titles have you held in XWF than I have Tales? Oh would you look at that, absolutely fucking none! And you want to talk shit about how I’ve achieved nothing? Open your fucking eyes you worthless cunt I’ve done more in under a year than you’ve ever accomplished here in half a fucking decade.

At this point Marf gets up and then smashes the poor rocking chair to pieces. Hopefully he didn’t steal it so he can take his receipt back for a refund.

Christ, you’ve done it all in your short return? A thousand times wrong tonto del culo! You haven’t done a god damn thing other than win a handful of matches against people who nobody can remember their names already. Whoopity fuckin’ do. You’re foolish enough to think over a decade of experience is going to impress a guy with nearly twice as much experience himself. Your ideas are as fucking dumb as the words stumbling their way out of your cock holster. Just keep reaching into that well of generic banter. I’ll do my best to resist the urge to shove you in.

Good thing your body can endure a lot of pain, eh Tales? It damn well better, I intend on inflicting tons of physical harm upon you. I am downright curious to see just how much endurance you truly have. You may have your speed advantage and actually believe it’s going to get you somewhere. But speed will only get you so far. Sooner or later I’ll have hurt you too much for you to run any longer. And that’s when I’ll coil around you like a massive boa constrictor. How much of a lack of oxygen can you endure once I have you in my grasp?

Marf leans forward and wraps his beefy arms around himself in a strange demonstration. In an alternate universe he’s likely an intimidating high school teacher.

Speed will only remain your ally for so long. When that’s all you rely on, it eventually will let you down. Just like Talia is going to let down her twenty fans at Relentless. When her speedy ride on redemption road hits a giant, solid wall and bursts into flames. I mean what else do you really bring to the table here? Stupidity masked as courageous behaviour? No I think it’s just flat out stupidity. Suggesting I’m going to be afraid of you? Like, you seriously believe in your puta heart that will happen?

Marf stops and then bursts into laughter at the idea. He looks to continue but the holds up a hand and chuckles some more. Finally he collects himself and goes on.

Have you listened to a fucking thing I’ve said over the last several days? Have you ever seen a single one of my matches? Do you even fucking realize who you are booked against at Relentless!? I fucking love violence. If you get back up from that mat when I put you down, it isn’t fear I will be filling up with. It will be joy! Every time you get up I am granted the chance to beat on you further. Toss you around some more. Empty out more of that oily Spanish blood. Surprise, I’m fucking stoked for that, please get up!

The grave mistake that was made was not by me I’m afraid. It was from you Tales, when you neglected to properly prepare for this match. You’ve done some training but look at your dumbass, you haven’t a fucking clue what you’re about to walk into. You can barely muster up a verbal assault against me, how can you possibly keep me down long enough for a pinfall inside the ring? Meanwhile I’ll be playing my own fun game inspired by you actually, Tales! What stops first, my assault or your heart?

I can promise you Tales, all the pent up aggression flowing through my veins means I have a helluva lot of assault to get out. Appreciate you offering up your body for that, big props, oh la lay or whatever the fuck. I assure you, there will be no underestimating on my side. Just like there will be no miracles for the underdog. And most importantly, there will be no fucking redemption for you Tales. All that lies ahead for you is severe pain, gallons of your own blood and my assault. And you know what? It’s going to be, hmm, what’s the word?

And of course Marf feigns the old lightbulb going off shtick.

Relentless…

Marf grins like the manic he is and spreads his arms out wide as we fade out.