The Mad Guardian

The Denizen and the Traitor

Drake has no idea why the three men with him at the hospital are not responding to their radios. He quickens his pace as his concern for his men and their mission builds inside of him. As Drake makes his way to the hospital's main entrance he continues to try and call over his radio to his team members. He doesn't know that he will get no answer. His men are already dead.

The man sitting at the nursing station is twenty-eight years old, his name is Allen. He started at the hospital two weeks ago and is still getting used to what it is he is supposed to be doing. He is reading over a chart of one of his patients when the smell of sulfur and the cold harshness of a winter breeze brushes against his skin. He raises his head from the chart to see a man is standing before him.

The Man in Black's suit is torn and battered in places. His hands are covered in blood and although this should have bothered Allen it does not worry him. What worries him is the man's eyes. They are nothing but shining black reflective surfaces. Twin pools of eternal night pierce into the young nurses' soul and freeze him in place.

The rest of the Man in Blacks face rapidly begins elongating right in front of the young doctor. His skin is turning to the same black color as his eyes. Allen tries to say something. He tries to scream but he is too cold, too terrified. The Man in Black opens his mouth slightly and shows too many teeth in what is supposed to be a smile, "I'm looking for someone." His voice sounding more like a bestial growl than a man's voice. Allen just stands there staring at the Man in Black. The nurses' station countertop the only thing separating them.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" The young nurse chokes out in terrified whisper. The Man in Black snarls and moves with an otherworldly quickness. He reaches over the nurses' station and grabs Allen by the throat.

"WHERE IS JACK!?" The Man in Black roars. Allen's eye's water at the powerful dose of foulness that emanate from the monster's mouth. The only thing he can register before shock overtakes him is that whatever this thing is, it is not human. The Man in Black shakes the young nurse roughly by the neck. There is the sound of bones breaking and the young doctor's body goes limp.

The Man in Black roars his frustration at having come so far to be delayed by the delicate fragility that humans possess and his kind lack. He turns his midnight eyes to take in the whole of the room. He sees that everyone within view of the nurses' station is standing frozen in place. Like living statues; the doctors, nurses and patients stare in shock. Still holding the dead man up by the neck the Man in Black looks briefly down at the cluttered desk at the nurses' station. He sees charts and files strewn about. A name on one of the charts marked with red highlighting catches his notice, "STOVER, JACK! CAUTION! POLICE CUSTODY RM#607"

The Man in Black starts to laugh out loud. The sound of his laughter is distorted and awful, "Oh how you watch over your lost child!" He cackles maniacally as he arches his back and roars towards the heavens. He turns his attention back to the frozen bystanders in the momentarily silent hallways.

"You are all going to die." He promises smiling widely. He throws the dead man across the room into an elderly doctor. He starts tearing at his clothes and within seconds is standing there naked. His skin has turned almost completely black in color. The bones in his body breaking, reshaping and growing. The man, the creature falls to its knees and howls at the pain racking its body. Skin is replaced with jet black bulging muscle. Massive bone growths sprout over the things head and limbs. Fingers elongate and become wicked talons. Where there were once two now there are four glossy black eyes. His face extends outwards into the shape of a snout and his mouth fills with rows upon rows of teeth. The beast drools and shakes its body as its legs bend backwards at an angle they never should have been able to. A vicious tale erupts from the base of the its' spine and lashes about in the steaming air.