The Greatest Escape Ever (pt 8) ‘Almost There…’

With no visible nose, the SubStance had an incredible sense of smell. It could smell potential prey nearly a mile away. It had no visible ears, but it could hear things, 100 feet away. No mouth to speak of, the OoZe would cover its prey, with its body, to seemingly ingest it slowly. All in all, its Talons were its most dangerous parts. Currently, they were extended, eight of them all glistening black, hard as steel and looking like exaggerated spider legs that were hairless.

Speaking of its Talons, a stab from any 1 of these boogers, meant a slow and very painful death. Many, once curious, rats found dead near the body of the SubStance found this out the hard way. But now, the SubStance moved with purpose. It had been traveling for near 30 minutes, through the Sewers when it suddenly stopped. It sat still for a few seconds as though it was listening. It pressed itself up against the wall and waited. . . Suddenly, it sprang up the wall so fast that the natural eye would not have seen it move. It raced for the top just below the street level, where it found a sealed manhole that it carefully twisted and slid it to the side with the ease of a person moving a paper plate. One by one, its eight Talons reached their way up and out of the manhole. Once all 8 legs were in place, they help lift the SubStance’s body up and out of hole in the middle of the street. Pek – pek –  pek – pek- pek – pek – pek – pek, the Talons tapped across the street as the SubStance hid in the shrubs just on the other side of the sidewalk. As it sat there motionless, in the bushes, a curious rabbit hopped out from behind a nearby tree. Although the SubStance didn’t notice, its Talons did. In the blink of an eye, one of the Talons exploded silently from the SubStance catching the rabbit mid-hop in its side, killing it before it landed.

Although it had no eyes, it seemed to peer through the bushes at something that caught its attention, as thick slimy goo dripped from its body. Because of its consistence, it destroyed all of the plant-life in came in contact with. It was in the bushes behind a SuperMart store and the stench from its Discarded Fruit Bin is what caught the SubStance’s attention. If it had been a few feet closer, the fruit flies that covered the Discarded Fruit Bin would have been all over it, as well. Interesting how the fruit flies, with their keen sense of smell, used their antennae to detect odors. The SubStance was just about to make its move when suddenly, the back door of the SuperMart opened.

When the Bag-Boy was hired to help out around the SuperMart, a month ago, he had no idea how quickly he would catch on to the routines, or how tragically he would die by the end of his shift today. He’d moved to Brooklyn from the Bronx to live with his Grandpa who had passed a year ago. He continued to live in his inherited Yacht the Brooke-Nikole, located on a small dock, just off the NY Bay. Mary didn’t know but the Bag-Boy didn’t need to work for money. He chose to work to get out of the Brooke-Nikole and meet people. At 28, he did not have to work, which he considered a blessing, but no one knew. Most people figured he was a lot younger because he had such a youthful appearance and flair about him. And it was as if his Beats earbuds were permanently stuck in his ears. Hardly ever seen without them, he was also quite fond of the Dirty South and East Coast Rap Game with his top favs being 2 Chains and E-40. He’d also become fond of Jay~Z, heck, didn’t he sell out The Garden?!  But, in a few hours, he would indirectly be responsible for the capture of just what might be the strangest creature ever.

The Bag-Boy had been on shift greeting customers for almost an hour when a family of 3 walked in through the door. ‘Excuse me Sir,’ said the cute little girl, who appeared to be with her Parents, ‘My name is Araya. Would you mind handing these flyers out to your customers?’ Awww, how cute is this? thought the Bag-Boy. ‘Sure thing, Little Lady!’ he said, after taking a quick look over the neon green stack of flyers she had handed him. He looked over at her parents smiling and asked, ‘Did you draw this cute picture?’ ‘Yes, said Araya, ‘and my Mom designed the rest.’ ‘So how long has your pet been missing?’ ‘Oh, for a while now, but I’m sure OsKar’s okay. He’s super smart, but I’m worried he might be getting a little hungry by now.’

Looking back up at Araya’s Mom, the Bag-Boy saw her wipe away a tear and her Dad squeeze her just a little bit closer. Touched by this Family’s presence, the Bag-Boy looked back down at Arayah and said, ‘Tell you what Little Lady, it’s your lucky day! I have some information that I’m going to give your Parents where you probably won’t find your OsKar, but you will definitely find a pet close to him!’ ‘Yay! You guys hear that?!’ A little shocked, her Parents looked at each other, and said, ‘Sure…Sure Araya. How cool is that, Honey?’

The Bag-Boy reached into his back pocket and pulled out a wallet that was attached to a chain. And rightfully so, it was filled with cash. So much that he could barely close it once he’d pulled out a beautiful blue business card. ‘Ms. Aquee Tankz Pet Store isn’t too far from here,’ the Bag-Boy said as he handed the business card to Araya’s Dad. ‘She’s a personal friend of mine and I can guarantee that she can take care of you. She’d be heartbroken about this. Do you guys have more flyers with you?’ ‘Oh, yeah!’ exclaimed Araya. ‘We have a lot of them!’ ‘Well good,’ said the Bag-Boy, ‘I just wanted to make sure you had a few for Aquee to hang up and pass out at her Pet Shop.’

With that, the Bag-Boy shook hands with Araya and her Dad, but the Mom insisted on giving him a hug. She smelled delightful, and sensing that she was going to get all sensitive again, the Bag-Boy spoke quickly. He don’t worry guys. I’m sure your pet is okay and even so, Aquee will definitely be able to hook you up with another pet just like him.’ After they were gone, the Bag-Boy proceeded to hand out the flyers and was out of them long before his 1^st break.

A few hours later, it was now closing time and the last of the customers were checking out. The Bag-Boy was scheduled to be off hours ago, but volunteered to stay when 3 of the SuperMart employees called off. He began gathering trash and stacked it all against the back door. Once it was all collected, he opened the back door and tossed them out. He carried the last 2 out dropping them immediately and reaching in his jacket pocket he pulled out his E-Cig to take a few puffs. He started with 2 full canisters of E-liquid plus the half full canister in his E-Cig. The night air was still, so within a few minutes the Bag-Boy looked like his top half was on fire. He stepped perfectly between the Discarded Fruit Bin and the SubStance, still hiding in the bushes a few feet away.

The Greatest Escape Ever (pt 9) ‘Free’

Making a last minute stop by his locker the Bag-Boy made the decision to grab his last 2 E-Liquid canisters since he would have to tidy up the back dock once he’d thrown out the trash. He was now standing in so much fog from his E-Cig, and his 2 Chainz beating so loudly in his ears, he had no idea the SubStance had crept right up behind him. Finally putting his E-Cig away, he reached down to grab a couple bags of trash. Turning around he screamed noticing the SubStance was right behind him.

He stood there, paralyzed with terror as the huge slimy-green-spider-looking-creature the size of a Golden Retriever faced him. For a second, the Bag-Boy felt like he was on one of those Spoof TV Shows. He was so scared he started to giggle nervously. As he did so he slowly slid his hand in his back pocket to grab his phone. As he slowly pulled his phone out, he noticed the Black Talons that slowly began to poke their tips out of the creature. When he stopped moving, they stopped moving. And finally it happened. That moment when all rationale goes out the window and stupidity takes over.

The Bag-Boy made the stupid mistake of thinking he could outrun a creature half his size that had 8 legs and flying Talons, but of course he had no idea about the flying Talons. So he turned, screaming with 2 Chainz continuing to rap, he pressed his quick dial 911 button. He actually made it about 5 steps before one of the sharp pointed steel-like Talons sliced through his lower back. Losing the feeling in his lower half, the Bag-Boy fell throwing his cell-phone. He fell on his face over a couple of the trash bags that were still sitting there. Shattering his top 4 teeth, blood was now everywhere. Almost passing out from the taste and sight of his own blood, the Bag-Boy couldn’t see where his phone landed, but he could hear it clearly, ‘911 Operator…What is your emergency?’ ‘Hello? Hello..?’ Tek, tek, tek, tek, tek, tek, tek, tek …the Bag-Boy could hear the Creature walking up behind him and now he could feel the sharp-pointed-spiky-legs moving across his back.

His deadened legs offered him zero support in the idea of getting up and trying to run again, so he could only lay there as the Creature positioned itself right in front of him. ‘Sir/Ma’am? We can’t hear you but just relax, we’ve almost honed in on your lo’-CRRAAACK ! The Creature slammed 1 of it spiky-legs right through the face of the Bag-Boy’s phone, breaking it. Still focused on the Bag-Boy, the SubStance now seemed to move even closer to him. Now more terrified than ever, the Bag-Boy made an attempt to push himself up. So, was he just going to crawl away?! He didn’t even know. All he knew was he needed to get as far away from this – SSSHUNK! This Talon went right between the Bag-Boy’s eyes and it was over. The Bag-Boy’s head landed on its side with a loud SMACK as it landed in a pool of his blood. Now the SubStance inspected the Bag-Boy’s body. It quickly found his E-Cig. As it dug the E-Sig out of his back pocket, the 2 extra canisters rolled out to the ground. Curious, now the SubStance picked up the canisters and inspected them, also. All of a sudden it took all 3 items and stuffed them inside itself. After a few seconds, it began to shake violently.

It did not realize it, but a K3 Tactical Recovery Unit had been notified to report to the back of the SuperMart long before the Bag-Boy stepped out to throw out the trash. They were present for the whole show and had great video footage for their Bosses. There were a total of 5 K3 TRU Soldiers who were preparing to move in to capture the KheMi-OoZe. They were equipped with everything they needed to recover the KheMi-OoZe. Speaking of which, its legs had now fallen off, and it seemed to be separating from itself..?

The K3-TRUS had no idea that it was beginning to separate from its fused partnership of OsKar. As it continued to shake and shimmer, OsKar finally began to break free of his gooey prison. The K3 TRUS stopped in their tracks for a moment and looked at each other….confused. Completely free, OsKar looked around and noticed the corpse lying a few feet away from him. Backing away slowly he also noticed the green slime that was also a few feet away from him. No memory of what had happened since fusing with the KheMi-OoZe. As he backed up the K3 TRUS began to close in on him slowly. OsKar was so over all of the death that he was responsible for since escaping.

Had he known it would be this way, he would have just stayed where he was. Zzzappp…One of the K3 TRUS shot what looked like an electric-net over the green gooey stuff, he figured to contain it? Which meant they would probably do the same to…Zzzappp as the net came towards him, OsKar flipped over backwards twice. The Zzzappp Net just missed him, but now he felt threatened… With the speed of light, OsKar reached out and grabbed one of the Soldiers by the legs and snatched him straight up in the air. The others stopped in awe as OsKar continued to back away slowly. The in another moment of ‘Rationale being tossed out the window,’ another

Soldier made the stupid mistake of charging him with his high-tech gun pointed at him. Taking the dangling Soldier, OsKar swung him around to build up some momentum before slamming him, helmet first, into the helmet of the oncoming threat. The simultaneous breaking of both of their necks was indescribable as the 3 Soldiers left began to slowly back away. OsKar didn’t focus on the one that was apparently on interested in capturing the green stuff. She wasn’t a threat, but the other 2…? Not known for backing down both Soldiers began to charge from opposite directions, and OsKar waited til the last few seconds before reaching down and picking up 6 of the 8 legs that were left, holding them up in the path of the attackers. Both of them ran directly into the spikes before they even knew what had hit them. Lifting them both up off their feet, OsKar threw them both far beyond where the other Soldier was with the Zzzapp Net on the slime. OsKar stood still for a few moments and then seemed to sniff the air before turning around and taking off into the darkness. The Soldier would collect the KheMi-OoZe and initially tell only a small portion of what she had witnessed that night.

It would be several years later when Araya, now a Wife and Mom of 3, would hear talk of a New York Times Best Selling Book that caught her attention. She’d grown up to become a World Famous Marine Biologist. Purchasing one of the 1^st copies of the book, she devoured its pages, taking a special interest in Chapter 13. The Author’s account of what happened that night behind the SuperMart when she worked for the Kozmann Khemical Kompany. By the Author’s description, it could have only been Araya’s long lost pet, OsKar! She remembered him to be a feisty little Booger, but this shed an all new light on what he was capable of and she was not upset about his actions at all. The timing of it all helped to confirm what she began to believe really happened to OsKar, once he’d escaped their home, throughout the years…

As Oskar retreated that night, he found the open man-hole that he’d come through and didn’t even bother closing it behind him as he jumped into it. He now sensed that he was even closer to his Final Destination than ever. And he was right! Traveling through the Sewer System he was upon a key area within the hour. He was now in an area that connected to the Upper New York Bay. Once there, OsKar made his way through to the Hudson River and within another hour he made it to his Final Destination. Here he would experience more freedom and happiness that he ever had his entire existence up to this point. He’d made it to the Atlantic Ocean, finally.