...Chapter 20, The Hero Thing...

The second Madison sees the ape-thing, a hand of magma emerges from the lawn near the porch. It's barely enough to get the thing's attention. But me laying on the horn works to distract it from whatever it was going for inside. That and Madison screaming out an insult about its sister. She doesn’t even have time to make it rhyme as we swerve around the corner.

While I'd initially been slowing down, the second we have its attention, I gun the gas. Which gets us all of half a block before my good old reliable Honda sputters and dies.

Because of course we're out of gas.

I shift the car to neutral, hoping to preserve some of our speed while Madison's laughter fills the now quiet car. Her laugh is reassuring as she smiles at me. "You totally called that one."

"Not the sort of 'I told you so' moment, I'd prefer," I reply, glancing over my shoulder at where the ape-thing is charging towards us. "Not sure if you remember, but I'm a lot squishier than you."

"Not in the fun ways," Madison replies as she turns around, leaning over the seat.

"Kinda my point," I agree, guiding the car as best I can as it bleeds off speed. We make it several blocks before it gets to the point where we could probably run faster. But Madison clearly has no intention of running, based on the way she's kicked open the passenger door and is leaning out, giving the ape-thing the middle finger while screaming offensive poetry at it. Though I'm not sure if it's how bad it is, or the insults that are actually the more offensive part. Probably the poetry.

"Your mother's ashamed of your drawers! They never smell like flowers! If you were a boar, you'd be the rump roast! And if you were a whore, oh, wait, you cum first!"

Either way, she manages to enrage it, getting it to howl as it slams its fists into the pavement, charging towards us. And veering off when Madison tucks and rolls out the side of the still moving car. I just about scream when I see her dive towards the pavement. But then she's up and running. And my inattention causes me to slam into a telephone pole.

When I gather my senses, I realize the airbag I was certain had stopped working has exploded in my face. Before I try moving, I hit myself with a Purify, followed by a quick Restoration to wipe away the minor bruising across my chest. Then I squirm free of the airbag before digging under the seat for the sawed-off. I grab the box of shells, scrambling to load them as I hear Madison scream out another horrible rhyme at the ape-thing. I can't hear the actual words, but I know it's horrible.

Running towards her, I manage to get the sawed-off loaded while watching them fight. Madison's not using her flaming hands, though I can tell she's not exhausted. Which makes me pause.

"Your breath smells like bananas, and your nose looks like my granna's!" Madison shouts, as she dodges another wild swing, skipping across the ground in my direction. She smiles when she gets close, grabbing me by the shoulder to steady herself. "Oh, hey Darren. Fancy giving me a hand? Big, tall and stupid is annoyingly resistant to- oops, we gotta go!" The last is said as she pulls me along with her, narrowly keeping us both from being smashed. When I see the shape of the concrete, my thoughts go back to the door that was holding this thing at bay when we first spotted it.

What changed?

"Anyway, it's immune to fire. And barely notices my hands when they grab it. Feel like giving it a good dose of 'no trespasser's allowed'?" Madison asks even as she jerks me sharply to the side.

"Uh, sure. I'll try," I answer as I barely manage to get my feet under me. I'm turning to line up my shot when Madison jerks me away again. It takes another two attempts before I'm able to shoot in its direction. And I'm pretty sure I missed.

"Damn. Not even a scratch," Madison states as she pulls me away. Is this really how much of a difference her powering up made. Just how much stronger and faster is she?

"Mads, are you sure you're only one level higher than me?"

"It's not just a level. Way more intense than that," Madison says as she leaps over one of the holes the ape-thing left in the concrete. "Not that it's helping against this bastard. Seriously, what's he made of, titanium?"

"I... wait, do you have any silver?" I ask, thinking back to the ape's howl.

"Silver? I don't... the electronics. In the trunk. Pretty sure we've got something of Mrs Kellis that was silver. That weird talking angel.”

"That was silver?" I ask, glancing towards the trunk of the car. "But it was all... brown and stuff."

"It was tarnished. Will that work?" Madison asks as she shifts me into a princess carry before dashing towards the car.

"I don't know. I don't know if silver will even do anything. It doesn't exactly look like any werewolf I've ever seen before."

"Were... oh, the howling. Right. But there's no moon in our new pair o dice," Madison points out.

I bounce twice as Madison changes course, taking us away from the car. And the hissing ape-wolf-thing. "It's also daytime. If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

"I'm a mad-rapping mechanic. Not an idea girl. That's your gig."

"Silver in the trunk is all I've got," I reply. "And I can't help but notice we're getting farther from the trunk."

"Yeah. Cause I've got another idea!"

"I thought that was my gig."

"Sue me," Madison laughs as we leap over a fence, carrying us into a familiar looking backyard. Then she takes us up to the second story window, hanging on the edge. "Yes!" Madison hisses as she slams her fist through the closed glass and grabs a... fancy candle holder from inside. Which looks like untarnished silver.

"Hope this works," Madison says, dropping me to the side right as strong and ugly smashes through the fence she leapt over. The second he's inside, Madison throws the candle holder. For a second, I think it's going to impale him. But then it bounces off.

However, it does leave a bright red scratch along his cheek.

"Fuck," Madison mumbles as the ape-thing reaches up to touch the bloody line. Then it throws its head back, howling in rage. It towers up, and we get ready to run.

It beats us to the punch, turning around and retreating out of the yard.

"Uhm. Did it just run away?" I ask, slumping down beside Madison.

She joins me for all of a second, before pushing back up then jumping down to the yard below. She walks over to the fence before looking back to me. "Yeah. It's running. We should probably follow it, huh?"

"Yeah. Probably," I agree, eyeing the drop. I know I can make it. It's further than I jumped earlier when chasing Jackson. But I wasn't thinking before making that jump.

Still, knowing I can make it, I throw myself off the side of the building. And I'm caught in Madison's arms.

"We really need to stop meeting like this," Madison teases, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'd rather meet like this every morning," I tease back, which manages to earn me a blushing smile.

Madison stops long enough to allow me to grab the candleholder before pouncing out of the backyard. "That could be arranged, you know."

"Hmm. I'd like that," I say, leaning into her arms and snuggling against her boobs. I look up when I realize Madison's stopped running and is looking down at me.

"I... Our sisters are lucky I love them almost as much as I love you," Madison finally says as she resumes running up Oak Street, following a path I can't make out.

"Yeah. I know what you mean," I say, with a sigh. Then I run a hand through her hair as she jostles me through another leap. "I'm way too lucky, you know that? Any one of you is more than I deserve. How the heck did I get all four of you?"

"You keep asking that, and I might just have to dump you on the side of the road," Madison says, though she's smiling as we bounce through the next intersection.

"Fair. Don't question it. Just accept- ack!" Our most recent leap is interrupted by Madison throwing me over her shoulder. I'm able to make out the ape-thing huddled in a nearby building, framed between Madison's side and her raised arm. Then my vision is blocked as Madison thrusts her hand in my face. It only takes me a second to realize she wants the silver candlestick.

The second I hand it to her, she drops me, launching herself at the ape-thing. Righting myself, I shake my head as I watch her charge in.

The ape-thing is swiping wildly at her. It reminds me of someone trying to swat a bee away more than any sort of attack. Madison manages to land another hit, scoring a long red line down the thing's arm. Which is when I notice the tears.

The ape-thing is crying.

"You've got to be shitting me," I say as I move closer, looking around. Sure enough, I see a couple people huddling in the house behind the ape-thing. They're staring out at where Madison and it are fighting. I wave for them to come closer. The elder, a girl I guess must barely be in her twenties looks back and forth between us, as if trying to make a decision. The younger girl just remains fixated on where my sister is dancing around, hurling more insults at the ape-thing.

Finally, the elder seems to make up her mind, and comes running towards me, pulling the shorter girl behind her. Before I can say anything, she grabs my hand, asking, "Can you stop her from hurting him? He's my brother!"

Three seconds later, right as my brain has wrapped itself around her statement, there's another howl of rage.

The ape-thing has noticed his sister standing next to me. And he's charging.

WincumCestalot

Good thing about lots of hours at work. Money. Bad thing about lots of hours at work. No writey, write. Or edit, which was all I needed for this chappie. Also, for some reason, SH doesn't display stats properly for like 24 hours after you post a chapter. Then it works fine again. Is weird...