|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- HONEYSUCKLE ROVER--CUP 3--"DEMONBANE, INC." <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Honeysuckle Rover  ||  -------> (Cup SRhr003, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = She sat at her new desk figuring out her new signature. At the top of the sheet of paper she had done a number of her old "Sleap Drassy" signatures, and now at the bottom she was trying to figure out how to make "Sleap Jankels" look good. She couldn't. No matter how she tried it, it never even looked remotely correct. She'd just gotten married to Jean two weeks earlier, and had returned from their dizzying honeymoon that morning. She thought of Jean, who was taking a shower, as she kept writing "Sleap Jankels" over and over again. What was she doing with her life? It didn't matter, she thought. At this point, you have to go along with it for a few years, you made the choice, you said yes, you have to give it a chance. The doubts seemed perfectly natural to her; they didn't bother her. But Jean Jankels--there was something about him, a side of himself he revealed on the honeymoon, that... BASH! BASH! BASH! Sleap looked up, shocked. Someone was bashing the door down. She started to get up but stopped, thinking better of it. BASH! BASH! Her mind was racing. KERASH! The door was down. She should run to Jean, warn him. Did he still have the gun from the honeymoon? She didn't know. She heard a man yelling orders. The door next to her was almost closed--she gently pushed it shut. She could hear the voices distinctly now. "The Helloid scanner's goin' nuts!" a husky voice roared. "In there!" a man with a deep voice yelled. "That's it!" a woman said. "It's in there!" She heard the bathroom door being kicked open. "It's in the shower! Babel, the Exorsault better be ready!" the husky voice yelled. "It is!" the woman yelled back. "Here goes!" the guy with the deep voice said. Then a sound came to Sleap ears which blew her mind apart. A shrieking wail, that made fingernails on a blackboard seem like a church bell. It was pure pain, pure horror. The shriek continued but it was joined by a weird sort of deep bubbling noise, eerie and pronounced. She couldn't believe that at some level she found these sounds enjoyable. After a few moment of these noises, which seemed really like forever, there was a dull pop, followed by the sound of liquid splattering on bathroom floor. "One less demon." the husky voice said. What had happened? Was Jean being attacked by a monster and these people saved him? It seemed the logical explanation. Slowly, Sleap opened the door and peered out. An Asian man covered in equipment and reddish gooey stuff looked over at her. "Miss?" he said in his deep voice. Sleap stared at him, unable to move or speak. "What a mess!" she heard the husky voice say from the bathroom. "Better this one mess than the multitudes this guy would've slaughtered." the woman said. "You said it." the husky voice mumbled. The Asian man looked from his cohorts, back to Sleap, then back to his cohorts again. "Uh, guys. There's a lady out here." "Huh?" said the husky voice, as its owner came out of the bathroom, a large man with a full beard and mustache, likewise covered in equipment and gore. He regarded Sleap. "How were you related to that thing in the shower?" "What thing?" she asked. "The demon." "What about my husband?" The large man looked down. The woman came into view behind him. "The only thing in that shower was a demon." the woman said, a grim expression on her cute face, her long black hair fouled up with red junk. Sleap looked over at her desk and slowly nodded her head. "That would explain a lot." Sleap said dreamily. "Ma'am, we're sorry." the Asian man said. Sleap just looked at them, a complex expression on her face. Suddenly, a beeping sound started going off, and the large man looked at something on his wrist. "Demon attack at the Farzound Shopping Center!" he exclaimed. "Oh no!" the Asian man said. "How could they have found out? What if they..." "Come on! We have to get there fast!" the large man said, and the two men started running out. The woman started after them, then paused, and turned to face Sleap. "I know this must be terrible for you, and I wish we could stay, but the fate of the whole continent is at stake!" Sleap made a "yeah, right" kind of sneer. "Here--take our card. Give us a call if you need any help!" Sleap took the business card and nodded. "Have to get to that shopping center!" the woman said. Then the woman ran out, and the stench of the pile of demon remains started wafting across Sleap's nostrils. She looked down at the card. "Demonbane, Inc.", it read. "There's no demonic problem we don't have the solution to!" -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----