The Hills of Avalle and the Impossible Race (875 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: monster
Rating: 2 on 20 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Stagger Lee (View user info) at 2006-03-08 12:24:18 EST
Part the First: http://www.ubersite.com/m/84896
Part the Second: http://www.ubersite.com/m/84947
Part the Third
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It did not take me long to escape the town of Avalle, (the monster said). There were perhaps two streets behind the main road. I ran through them with my hands and face covered in blood and gore. I had thought the air above and with the town had felt strange before; I could never have anticipated the way it felt now. It was oppressive in the most literal sense I have ever felt. It bore down upon me from above with almost physical, crushing weight.
As I ran, people stared at me and I could feel their hatred and fear clearer than ever. I only saw four people in those back streets, yet the combined assault from their stares was clearer and more painful than all the stares I had encountered on my walk to the house.
It was with great relief that I made my way up the hill. I was not pursued. Perhaps they were afraid. I myself was terrified, and sick at what I had done. The sky was still blue to the eye; it cared not what had transpired beneath it, nor would it ever. The sunshine was impossibly cheerful and cruelly indifferent, even as the sun sunk ever closer to the horizon over the ocean.
I did not stop running until the hillside meadow blended into the inland woods. It seemed I had great stamina. I instinctively knew when to stop. I was deep into the woods and the sun was but a memory when I finally ground to a halt. I heard animals moving through the undergrowth around me and in the branches above me.
A new instinct arose in me then: the instinct to hunt. I should have been tired from my exertions, but I was not. I was simply ravenous. I set about foraging the only way a thing like me can; sheer, brutal force. I was to discover that I possessed extremely focused and accurate hearing, however, this was not all that aided me in my hunting. I found I could sense the locations of animals by some means that I could not exactly describe or measure. I simply knew.
I charged headlong and foolish into a bush, tearing cuts into my skin. I seized upon a rabbit, which sat frozen in fear under the bush. I hauled it up by its head, then took hold of its legs and twisted it savagely, breaking its back. I ate the rabbit raw, spitting bones and clumps of fur into the forest.
I made several futile efforts to clean the gore from my body.
Once this was done, I felt sleep coming to claim me. I searched amongst the trees and bushes, and found a hollow in which to rest. I lay down, and I do not remember lying there for more than two minutes before I fell into sleep.
I was awakened at dawn, to the sound of singing. The voice I was summoned from sleep by was as nothing compared to the sweet singing I had been treated to yesterday. Rather, this was a cracking baritone, that occasionally revealed touches of a grace and skill it might once have had. It was the voice of a man who was past his prime.
He sang:
Whisky, rye whisky, rye whisky I cry
If I don't get rye whisky, I surely will die
Well it's beefcake when I'm hungry
Whisky when I'm dry
And it's guineas when I'm hard up
And Hell when I die
If the sea were made o' whisky and I were a duck
I'd swim to the bottom and never come up
But the sea ain't made o' whisky, and I ain't a duck
So I play jack o' diamonds and trust on my luck
Oh I said whisky, rye whisky, rye whisky I cry
If I don't get rye whisky, I surely will die
His mood was buoyant. This I could feel quite easily. It seemed that my senses were developing further and further. I could feel his mood, his location, and something more. It seemed as if I could taste...his age, perhaps, or experience.
I sprang from the hollow and realised why the man had come upon me. The hollow was in actuality merely a deeper section of the ditch running beside a road. In my tired state the previous night I had not noticed this.
The man's mood instantly changed as I saw him physically for the first time. He was lined and weathered. He wore ragged clothing and a faded, wide-brimmed hat. His eyes were blue and terrified. He was riding on a creaking cart, pulled by a mule almost as elderly as he was. The back of the cart was loaded with sacks.
I realised the image I presented: a pale, gore-covered creature wearing clothes that were decidedly the worse for wear after my insane sprint through the forest. I recognised his understandable fear, and I respected why he feared me. And yet...his fear, and his hatred, they burned into me. I felt the same intense discomfort in my head, and I had to restrain an urge to leap aboard his cart and end his life.
"You," he said, "You're Alice's monster, are you not?"
I did not have to be told that Alice was my erstwhile companion. I understood instantly.
"Is..." I hesitated. "Is Alice faring well?"
He laughed, and I felt nothing but hatred for him in that moment. I took one step towards him, and his laughter abruptly ceased. He eyed me mistrustfully. "Demon, you may not harm me without your mistress to command you. This I know."
I was baffled. "Pardon?" I said. "Who is this mistress of which you speak? Why do you call me demon?"
"Why, Alice is your mistress. She summoned you to kill her father, did she not?" He spoke as if such facts as these were self-evident to all but the most misguided of fools. "As such, she is to be executed in Tupelo, tonight. She was taken there this morning."
I heard his words, however, at first I could not grasp their significance. A being of pure innocence was to be executed because she had befriended me. She would die because I could not control my animal nature. I felt ill to my very core. Of course, I blamed myself and I was responsible, but at the time, I did not also accept that she would die because of the ignorant and superstitious people of her village. That came later.
"There is no time to waste," I said, "Which way lies Tupelo?"
"Why, I am heading to Tupelo," he said, and pointed down the road. "I will be able to sell many wares in the aftermath of the execution. There will be celebrations late into this night."
The idea of this man capitalising on Alice's death enraged me beyond restraint. I came at him and leapt onto his cart, grabbing him by the throat. "You now speak only to answer my questions," I hissed at him. "How far is Tupelo? How long will it take me to reach it? And at what hour will this atrocity be committed?"
He struggled, but he could not move my arms a so much as an inch. I shook him. "Cease your struggle and answer me!"
"Tupelo is perhaps six hours away," he coughed, spattering my reddened face with phlegm. "She is to be executed at sunset, in four hours."
How could this be? I had slept most of the day away, while Alice was dragged to her demise. I was a failure before I even began. My hands ached to kill this wretch, and yet I stayed my hand.
Until he looked me in the eyes, and smiled. "Your mistress will surely get what she deserves, and then you will be no more," he said. "And I know you cannot harm me without her leave. Kindly unhand me." In his tone, and in my sense of him, was such a sense of small-minded satisfaction that I could not hold back any longer.
Released within me was the rage that I had felt while ripping out the throat of Alice's father, magnified and unchained. I held him by the throat and slammed his face down into the wood of his cart. His nose broke and he screamed, a harsh, cawing sound that caused the birds to take flight above us. I raised him up again and flung him into the road.
He looked up at me and I felt his fear, his hatred, his disbelief and his pain. None of these emotions calmed me. All his emotions pushed and prodded at me like little jabbing fingers. I dropped down next to him and spoke words of venom and hatred. "Do you still believe I cannot harm you?" I enquired.
I gave him no time to respond. I stood to my full height and slammed my foot into his neck, over and over again, until his life expired from him in a puff of rancid breath.
I set out running down the road to Tupelo, but when I arrived, it was as the man had predicted. I was too late, and she was gone.
The monster, having talked constantly, fell silent once more.
"Well? What happened next?" I asked, and regretted it instantly. The words were too harsh, and his reaction would undoubtedly be severe.
To my surprise, and immeasurable relief, he merely looked at me sadly.
"Do you really wish all those details? I arrived, and she was dead. What more is there to say on the matter? I failed her. I failed her as a champion. I have no desire to speak of that further. The events that followed may interest you, however."
"Which events were these?"
"Why, butchery, of course," he said, and there was sorrow in his tone, but there was also a glint in his eye. "Sheer butchery."
He paused for a moment, and then continued.
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Note on the song: again, I didn't write it. It's Nick Cave adapting a traditional drinking song.
User Reviews
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2006-06-21 02:15:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I don't like you, but Orgasmatron does.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-05-09 16:36:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Reviewed in last chapter...
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-04-12 14:20:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
DAMMIT! fucking hell i had no idea these were parts of the same story from the title.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2006-03-15 16:01:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-03-11 12:16:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I want to give you a -2 for being a Man Utd fan, but this is very good.
Rest assured that if we lose tomorrow I will come along and spam you with -2's.
-Dave
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2006-03-10 08:44:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-03-09 20:16:26 (#)
Ranking: 2
Must be the British (fucked up) version of "Rye Whiskey." Heh.
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Nick Cave's an Aussie. We own Australia.
Ergo; he's right.
I'm enjoying this series a lot.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-03-09 22:55:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-03-09 20:16:26 (#)
Ranking: 2
Must be the British (fucked up) version of "Rye Whiskey." Heh.
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I'm only half British. It's the Nick Cave version.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-03-09 20:16:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Must be the British (fucked up) version of "Rye Whiskey." Heh.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-03-09 11:27:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i like it a loooot
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-03-09 09:10:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
ubmitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2006-03-09 08:23:47 (#)
Ranking: 2
Great stuff. Keep 'em coming.
More people should be reading this series.
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Cheers, wolfie. I can think of several people who have posted about the lack of content on here, then blithely ignore it...especially Coyote's 'Project Centaur' series. Fucking nobody reads that, and it is gold.
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2006-03-09 08:23:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Great stuff. Keep 'em coming.
More people should be reading this series.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-03-08 20:52:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-03-08 19:53:15 (#)
Ranking: 2
Very nice continuation... I have a couple of comments you might find constructive, or possibly not.
1) Show, don't tell... I kind of got distracted by the monster telling about his supernatural powers, before he snatches the meal, for example...
and, some of the language felt a little hesitant, like in paragraph 2.
Awesome story though, I'm looking forward to the next installment.
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Interesting. I'll bear this in mind.
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Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-03-08 19:05:10 (#)
Ranking: 2
Quite good.
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Cheers.
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Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2006-03-08 16:48:54 (#)
Ranking: 2
Simply incredible. If this was book I would buy it and recommend it to my friends.
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Wow. I don't know what to say to that. Thanks.
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Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-03-08 15:19:56 (#)
Ranking: 2
this better not be a 46-parter, Axolotl, Jr.
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Chill. There's pehaps 3 to go.
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Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2006-03-08 15:18:53 (#)
Ranking: 2
This is excellent. The voice of the monster is just right and the descriptions are spot on.
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Good to hear the monster rings true. Thanks.
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Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-03-08 15:14:11 (#)
Ranking: 2
Still good. I kind of picture him to be a thinner version of one of the monsters from "Where the Wild Things Are".
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Thanks. I'm not sure what those look like, though.
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-03-08 19:53:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Very nice continuation... I have a couple of comments you might find constructive, or possibly not.
1) Show, don't tell... I kind of got distracted by the monster telling about his supernatural powers, before he snatches the meal, for example...
and, some of the language felt a little hesitant, like in paragraph 2.
Awesome story though, I'm looking forward to the next installment.
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-03-08 19:05:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Quite good.
Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2006-03-08 16:48:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Simply incredible. If this was book I would buy it and recommend it to my friends.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-03-08 15:19:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
this better not be a 46-parter, Axolotl, Jr.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2006-03-08 15:18:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is excellent. The voice of the monster is just right and the descriptions are spot on.
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-03-08 15:14:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Still good. I kind of picture him to be a thinner version of one of the monsters from "Where the Wild Things Are".
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-03-08 12:40:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-03-08 12:32:18 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-03-08 12:31:17 (#)
Ranking: 2
I have checked it out - and found it good. Perhaps some description of the beast is in order?
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The monster is for the imagination of the reader entirely, because that's how he is viewed by people.
Sorry for the double post, everyone. First one was an error.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-03-08 12:32:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-03-08 12:31:17 (#)
Ranking: 2
I have checked it out - and found it good. Perhaps some description of the beast is in order?