The Anomaly - Part 16

Oak had taken off his large horns, but even without them he easily stood at seven feet tall and his wide stature didn't make him look any less intimidating.

"Why did you run, Mr. Yaway?" Oak asked, "why did you?"

"Look, look, Oak," he said, stepping back to put some distance between him and the big monster, "I can explain."

"The concert was important for me and for all those who were attending. They all had given something to make the night a success and all because you were not willing, we had to break it all up. We were all together in that moment," he raised one accusing drumstick at Otrahun, "and you fucked it all up."

"You were going to skin me alive! What the fuck was I supposed to do?"

"Aaaaargh," Oak looked up at the burning orange sky and rolled his head in frustration, "it was a symbolic gesture. A dead flake of your dandruff would have done, too! No one would have skinned you! What do you think we lot are?"

Otrahun shrugged, "there was no way for me to know. All I felt was that your audience was going to skin me alive and use my skin as cover for your next drum solo."

"Well, now you know. And you are coming to the next performance. I will hear no arguments."

"Man, Oak, I don't know." He sat down cross-legged on the uneven ground. "I got stuck in with some bad people and now they want me to get something from this place. I can't leave till I get them what they need."

"You realize this place is not what you thought it to be,"

"I did, just some time back. I thought I was in hell, dead and paying for my sins. This place doesn't look like any hell that I know about."

"You will figure it out, sooner or later. We all did, too. I'd tell you, but I'd rather you found it on your own." Oak stared into the distance as a flare rose up from the dusty hills up ahead and exploded high in the sky. He turned to Otrahun. "I have to go from here. But I wish you luck, Mr. Yaway."

"Wait, I just need to know one thing. Is it safe to check those buildings out?"

Oak smiled and incisors the size of chopsticks erupted from his lips. "I am sure you will find out in a bit. Goodbye."

He raised his hand in a gesture of salutation and vanished with a gust of wind.

Otrahun looked at the shifting buildings. His stomach grumbled and he realized he was still hungry. The hunger was replaced by a fear of something unknown as if something was watching him. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

It was not mere chance that he had ended up where he had. Something or someone had been guiding him towards these buildings. The files that could be the key to his freedom were somewhere in there. He knew it as well as he knew the fear of something unknown swirling in his stomach.

He made his mind up. He was going to at least investigate these buildings.

Another flare rose up in the sky like a small rocket and exploded at the zenith of its trajectory. It spread plumes of blue and pink in the sky and the smoke stood out against the hellish orange sky.

He got up and started to walk towards the buildings. Something small and wrapped in paper caught his attention. As he bent down to pick it up, something swooshed past his head. He picked up the wrapped McDonald burger and another arrow struck the ground just where his hand was a moment ago.

Otrahun did not look back. He zigged and zagged as he ran towards the buildings and arrows peppered the ground around him.

Finally, in the protective shade of one of the buildings, he dared to look at who was shooting at him. The small group of demons from his first encounter in the McDonalds was here. He unwrapped the burger and chomped down on it.

If he was going to die here, he was not going to die on an empty stomach.