From: wolf@cheshire.oxy.edu (Clinton Richard Wolf)
Subject: Freddie Phelps' Fatal Initiation, part the last...
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 04:18:52 GMT

   It is night. 11:34 PM, to be exact...
 
   But what is time to one who has entered the Center?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

   Freddie Phelps carefully and quietly picked his way through the broken
rubble of the Shunned Center, dimly visible in the cold light of a bloated
moon, whose harsh glare cast a ghoulish, alien light on the ancient arch-
itecture. He had left the rest of the 'Runners at the Edge about five minutes
ago, but already the twisting alleys had obscured them from his sight. Al-
ready his journey seemed like an eternity. 

   And Freddie could feel the Press...

   At this point, it wasn't much. Just as though someone was wrapping a wet
towel around your brain, trying to smother you. But not too bad yet. Just en-
ough to make you nervy, thought Freddie. No matter how hard he tried to push
it away, he had a creepy, icy feeling in his gut, as though some ancient, in-
stinctive impulse was warning him he was going too far, he should turn back
and forget the whole thing it was hopeless...

    "NO!" shouted Freddie, immediately regretting the outburst, which seemed
to echo back at him, mocking. Gotta get ahold of myself. Can't crack under the
Press or it'll be just like Drew said Bang you're dead keep calm keep fridgy...

    Taking a few deep breaths, and listening hard to see if anything had heard
him, Freddie moved on. At one point, he had to crawl through a passage so nar-
row the stonework chafed his ribs. At another, he jumped over cracks in the
ground whose bottoms were hidden in shadow and from whence a foul odor rose to
taint the air. And always, there was the Press...

     It was stronger now. Freddie was beginning to see things. A vaguely hu-
man shape lurching into a doorway up ahead... a pair of eyes glowering bale-
fully at him from a shadowy alcove, and when Fred looked again they weren't
there. A noise in the distance. Slide....THUMP! Slide....THUMP! Slide...THUMP!
And it was gone. He was alone with the Center, the malignant presence of the
Center suffocating his mind and soul flaying at his ego his senses all the
while screaming FEAR! FEAR! FEAR! in a numbing flood thrumming into the primal
depths of Fred's id. Yes it was definitely stronger now... the towel was con-
stricting, and it felt as though filled with lead. He could distinctly feel
a pair of eyes boring into his back... He turned!!!
      ... and nothing was there but the street, the ghastly ruined street, 
sickly blighted weeds waxing fecund between the cracked pavement feeding on
the long dead bones of humans and other, stranger creatures whose skulls sat
grinning at Fred, empty sockets mocking him under the bleaching, blasted light
of the moon. The buildings also werebeckoning him, with gaping doors hanging
like a wino's diseased mouth and the buildings were as dead as everything else
here oh yes they were everything was dead in the Center even you Freddie Fred-
die, fearless Freddie, how fearless will you be when your bones litter the
street along with us? Join us freddyfreddy we're waiting we want you we hunger

      "AAAAGH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHAFT YOU!!! I'M NOT GONNA DIE I'M NOT I'M
NOT I'M..." (if you lose it in the Center, chummer, you're dead. Bang. 'Cause
Creepy Charlie likes 'is meat, he does. And he likes it RAW...)
      MY god what am I doing?!? I'm howling like a shivvy baby! Come on, Fred,
get ahold of yourself, it's just the press that's all it is the buildings
aren't really talking to you they can't do that buildings don't talk...
      (join us, Freddie...)
       buildings DO NOT TALK! and they don't feed, only Slimes feed and maybe
there isn't any slimes at all maybe Drew and the others were just tryin' ta
nerve me out... Well whatever fuckit let's just grab a 'jeckt and then get the
SHAFT outta here...
       Freddie selected a promising looking building...
       (that's right Freddie me pick me I'm hungry...)
       AND walked in, finding the interior to be just as much of a shambles
as outside. Rubble covered the floor, and what remained of the furniture was
covered in thick, viscous mold, growing in huge clumps, clinging to its an-
chorings like some sort of unearthly parasite. Wait. WAS the mold moving tow-
ards him ever so slowly?!? No. No. Just a trick of the mind. Just the Press.
A 'jeckt. Find a 'jeckt and get out. That's all there is. That's all I should
think about...
       Picking up a rust-flaked metal bar he saw, Fred began to sift through
the ruins... ten minutes, and nothing. Fred realized he was covered in a 
sheen of sweat... he continued... twenty minutes, still nothing. Thirty. NOTH-
ING!!! Fred was breathing hard, whether from exertion or fear, he could not
tell. Ohgodpleasepleaseplease let me find something let me get out of here oh
please that's all I ask lemme get back to my house my da' my straw mat it's
not much but it's home oh let me see home again please!
        FIFTY MINUTES: NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! Fred was ready to scream!
He would have to go try another house soon and he didn't know if he had the
guts to do it he might just snap and run blindly for the Edge and then Creepy
Charlie was sure to get him...
        Frantically, he hurled the bar aside and began clawing aside the stone
with his bare hands, froth on his dry parched lips, madness gleaming in his
bloodshot eyes, ignoring the pain as the stones smashed his hands and broke
off his ragged nails, bringing blood to the surface of his skin...
        THERE MUST BE SOMETHING THERE MUST BE SOMETHING
        "THERE'S GOTTA BE!!!" he shrieked, flopping back on his butt and pant-
ing heavily.
        And then he saw it...
        Near the ceiling, atop an old crumbling mantle, was a goblet made of
gold, encrusted with gems that sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow...
A 'JECKT! A BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, SHAFTIN' POS 'JECT!!!! Oh this would ensure
his position in the 'Runners they would worship him when he showed them this
they would ooh! and ahh! and that Nibbs Fem who was pos cute was sure to like
him and maybe he could even supplant Drew with this what had HE ever brought
back, huh?!?
        Giggling wildly, Freddie got up and staggered over to the mantle. The
'jeckt spun in his vision. It WAS his vision. He reached for it with trembling,
bleeding fingers...

        *SHH-THUMP!*

        Right outside...

        Freddie froze, his fingers inches from his prize, his entire body taut
with fear. He struggled to control his breathing...

        He waited... and listened...

        Nothing.
               
        He moved.

        *SHH...*

        Freddie's mind snapped. All thoughts of the goblet were forgotten. His
only thought was to flee. NOW. He dove out the door,feeling the whish of air
on his back as something shattered the mantlewhere he had stood moments before.
He sprinted out into the street, dodging cobblestones and masonry, caution
thrown to the winds. He ran, and ran, blindly, up and down the alleyways, a-
cross ruined courtyards, beneath crumbling archways...
        The EDGE the EDGE Oh jeezus where was the EDGE?!?!? Freddie ran on, 
barking his shins, mauling his feet, tripping, falling, getting up again, but
always running, always running, the moon and the buildings and the bones the
whole SHAFTING CENTER mocking him all the way, laughing and laughing and
laughing and oh god Creepy Charlie is out there yes he is and he sure does
like his meat raw yes he sure do oh yas oh yas mansteak messy but good eat
'em up, yum WHERE WAS THE FUCKING EDGE?!?!?!?
        
         There! As he rounded a corner, he could see the Edge. The boundary
back to the Buff'... the runners he had come with weren't there anymore but
that didn't matter it was the Edge he was in sight he was out just a few more
steps and...
       
         And something burst up from the ground before Freddie, shrieking in
unholy triumph. Something pink and malformed, covered in barbed, whipping ten-
tacles...

         Freddie felt the sharp points sink deep into his flesh, at knew his
life was over... but it wasn't too bad... at least the chase was over, and the
fear...

         Then Freddie felt the sucking began. And he raised his head towards
the cold moon, and screamed... and screamed... and screamed...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The next morning, Largo, Drew, and the rest of the 'Runners found Eddie's body
on the Edge, just inches from where the 'Buff began. It was just a floppy bag
of skin. No blood, no muscle, no bones... just empty skin, complete with hair
and fingernails... and socketless eyes staring upward from a face that now
seemed more like a hideous mask...

That's the way things are.... in the Buff'...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ADMIN: I know, I know, I promised all the info at the end, but at this point 
        I'm all written out, and feel it would destroy the mood. Hope you en-
       joyed my little tale... I'll work up the info for a later post...

-- Clint, the Cthulhuphile :)
 
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