Tales of the Wanderer #1: A Slender Encounter

There are things that go bump in the night. Some things are just ordinary noises like creaks, cracks and moans from old wood settling in a house. Others could be stray animals such as cats, or a raccoon rummaging through garbage. Like was stated before, there are many things that go bump in the night, and the man only known as the Wanderer was definitely no stranger to them. He walked down the main street of the small town, his brown eyes from under his hat peering into the darkness.

            “I know you’re here, and I’m coming for you, Slender,” he whispered as he sat beside a garbage dumpster to keep warm in the night and sleep.

            The morning’s sunshine hit the Wanderer’s eyes awakening him; he looked at the frost around him. It didn’t matter; the coat had kept him warm enough. There were ambulance and police sirens screeching down the road. Getting up the stranger decided to investigate what was going on; none of the townsfolk paid any attention to him. That in itself was surprising.

            He decided to grab some breakfast at the local Waffle House. A small crowd was there; this was the morning rush he observed. Removing his hat out of politeness, the man appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.

            His skin had a tan to it, and a thin trail of whiskers surrounded his jaw. To the waitress he smelled a little like wine and bourbon. His ears picked up on a conversation being held next to him.

            “Yeah, disemboweled the father was. Body was on tree branches, and the boy was vanished. Gone like that you know,” said a young construction worker.

            Fright was in his comrade’s voice, “I’m telling you. They shouldn’t have messed around with that slender crap on the net. That thing is real. I’ve read that it’s been terrorizing people back to medieval times.”

            “Hush. That man is listening. Who is he?”

            “Don’t know. Don’t care you don’t think?”

            The stranger looked away as he lit up a cigarette that smelled of coffee; dark circles under his eyes betrayed that he hadn’t slept well until last night for a long time. His stomach growled with hunger.

            “What will it be?” asked the waitress.

            “Two omelets please. I like to intake a lot of protein.”

            “Ok. You sure look like you don’t get much sleep though. It’ll be ready in five minutes.”

            “Thanks,” replied the Jew; his hands pulled out a small Bible, and he read from the Proverbs, and sighed putting it back inside his coat.

            How many times have I been through this? Hunting these things? Sometimes I want to lie down and die; leave this dark world behind. Tell me, God, why? I know why. We go through this constantly; when can I go home?

            His thoughts were interrupted by the smell of his food; he got some hot sauce, sprinkled the eggs, and literally ate both omelets in less than a minute. He left a five dollar bill, and walked outside. All the people sitting around him stared at him strangely.

            The Jew walked down the road, where he’d heard the police sirens earlier. Lighting up a cigarette, his brown eyes took in the area. How he was to hunt this thing down, well, things just seemed to flow together wherever he went. Distant sounds, his acute hearing picked up led him to a grizzly scene.

            “I-I’m not sure what happened,” said a young woman to the police officers.

            One of the law enforcement men was a sheriff, and there was a forensics team at the scene. They didn’t notice the dirty coated stranger that had just arrived. Fright filled the young woman’s eyes as she saw the torn up house of her now dead neighbor and missing son.

            “Ma’am can you tell us what could have caused this? Were they involved in anything unusual?” asked the sheriff.

            “Slender. That Slender Man game,” she replied.

            “Ms. Dana Rockford is it? How long did you know Mister Johnson and his son?”

            “Not long. I’ve only been living here for a few weeks, but I would notice something strange at their home. It would get dark inside; chilly when it was perfectly warm. Like it was-”

            “Haunted?” interrupted the wanderer, brown eyes glaring at the cops and woman.

            “And who the heck are you?”

            “Whoever you want me to be officer. She’s telling the truth, and the slender game is nothing to mess around with. It’s how he draws his prey out. Kills the adults, sometimes the children but they become new slenders usually, absurd but I’ve been around longer than you would believe,” the stranger answered.

            The cops looked at the Wanderer like he was insane, but his face just remained cold and stalwart.

            “I take it your some self-styled paranormal investigator?”

            “As I just told you, I’m more than that. But I’m whatever you want me to be.” He lit up another coffee cigarette, before taking out a small glass bottle of green liquid and used the still lit match on the oil. They heard him mutter the names Elohim and Yeshua.

            A path opened up before them; tentacle prints could be seen going into the woods. Everybody stepped back; it was only logical. This man was not ordinary at all; the blade of the dagger he took out seemed to be based from an old Roman nail. He stabbed it into the beginning of the path; Dana noticed it had slight traces of ancient blood on it.

            “Who are you?” she inquired intrigued.

            “A friend that’s going to help. The father may be dead, but the child may not be. It usually takes the slender virus twenty-four hours to enact into the system. I can still save him; when Slender comes out, I want you to throw this match onto the dagger understood?” said the Jew.

            Dana nodded; this day was getting very weird for her. After last night she wasn’t going to doubt somebody could hunt down and potentially stop these supernatural creatures that were only myths to most people.

            “Sir, what’s your name?” asked the Sheriff intrigued. “Do you need back up?”

            “No, I don’t. Just call me a Wanderer. All of you must not tell anybody from out of town who I am after today. I have my reasons; I am no fugitive but I have enemies that would gladly annihilate all of you if they’d known you’d seen me. They are the forces behind this, and they’re regrouping stronger than before,” the Wanderer replied. “You can just call me Detective Near.”

            Near walked forward onto the path as Dana watched with bated breath, and in an instant after throwing his thick overcoat coat off that revealed a smaller lighter jacket, he held a coiled whip and ran down the path. The fire lit his way.

            Panic filled the boy; his father was dead. Disemboweled…something so gruesome that if he lived through this, he would never play the slender game again. His captor seemed to be waiting for something; there were running footsteps. The faceless thin monstrosity walked forward from his grove of trees; the boy saw a grizzled Jewish man of twenty-eight staring at him.

            “Been awhile. I guess some things never change uh?” said Near.

            “Indeed they don’t you pathetic interferer. Why can’t you leave well enough alone? I am a legend, the thing that grabs children at night,” replied Slender’s literally blank face.

            The boy could sense that great anger and a hint of fear was coming from him. It had to be this new arrival. Slender walked forward slowly.

            He posed his tentacles before speaking, “How many years have you been at this Near? Over two thousand now and you still can’t destroy all of us?”

            “Yeah the ones I destroyed before were the ones you’d spawned. Sickening really; I still see you’re a jackass for punishment. I’m not stupid; you’re the source of all the other Slenders in the past several centuries. You forget one thing unlike you, I can’t die,” replied Near cracking his whip.

            Slender snarled as his tentacles picked up the boy, and hissed, “This last one here will be my protégé. My heir if you destroy me.”

            “Let me guess you’ve sped up the venom’s process?”

            A snarl was all that escaped Slender. The boy could feel sharp pains in his body, like his bones were going to elongate any moment. Slender tightened his shivering tentacle grip on the boy’s body.

            Near’s eyes shifted to him; the boy’s face pleaded for the new pain to end. To not become a monster. A nod came from the Jew.

            He spoke, “You know, I am the Wandering Jew. Sure, I’m not the only one that wanders and protects as you know. But I am THE Wandering Jew; the one who has hunted your kind for centuries. I may be able to disguise myself as an old man, but I’ve decided to throw that away. Why don’t you throw yours away as well, Zedekiah?”

            A scream of rage came from Slender or Zedekiah; he dropped the boy. The venom’s process had stopped for the time being. Near used his whip to  drag the boy to himself, and he poured olive oil into his mouth.

            “Swallow it in one gulp. It’s a mix of the river Jordan’s water, and the purest olive oil mixed with one of the three nails and prayed over. There’s also a small hint of silver a blood purifier. It’ll cure you now,” whispered Near.

            The boy nodded, and swallowed the liquid. His pain was now gone; Near gave him a look that indicated to follow the lit fiery path away from the grove. Not needing any command to do so, the boy ran for his life.

            Near and Zedekiah glared at each other; the Wandering Jew had put away his whip. “We end our fight here today and right now, Zedekiah. Only one of us will come out of this alive, and it’s not going to be you.”

            Slender’s blank face crinkled, and leapt forward, shooting tentacles at Near, who dodged them all with ease. The Wanderer leapt with years of skill, and pushed off the side of a tree and threw three small glass orbs that broke. Green liquid spilled onto Zedekiah’s tentacles and one on his shoulder.

            His opponent skidded under him, and wriggled out of his coat in the process, but not before taking out his whip that had silver pieces attached to it. Fear filled the Slender Man’s being, and like anybody trapped in fear, he was determined not to lose.

            “I will take you with me, and you will live in torment until that Messiah of yours returns….YOU DAMNED WANDERER!” snarled Slender, as he formed more tentacles, and grabbed ahold of tree branches that became spear-like.

            “Bring it on you thin bastard!” snarled Near as he ran through the rain of shots thrown at him. A large log came flying towards him, and with super human ninja-like moves, Joseph leapt onto the log.

            His whip caught one of the shadow-like appendages, and he swung himself forward, with a flip. With eyes that were determined and cold, he choked Zedekiah’s neck, as he crushed the green orbs onto the monster’s blank face. The blankness melted away to reveal burned skin, and bits of a man’s skull showing through.

            Zedekiah’s eyes were aflame with the sweet nectar for vengeance. With a piercing scream his face became blank again, but darkness was all that came from him. One of the Wanderer’s booted feet kicked up his jacket, and threw it on in one move while pulling his fedora down. Running with a few leaps in between, Joseph had two old fingerless Roman soldier gloves on both hands. The knuckles of the gloves shined, and with a punch he knocked the Slender Man back.

            Slender’s terror was evident once again, as his tentacles shot out- in retreat. Joseph knew that this monster was planning to circle him and escape; he would prevent that from happening.

            “I say we lay aside pleasantries Zedekiah, fight me in the light if you dare, slim pickins!” taunted Near. “Or is it a little bit too much for my delicate slender associate?” he said as he unlatched his glove, and lit a cigarette.

            Zedekiah paused, an invisible expression of frustration was evident.

            “You know you could go down as the girly man legend that was defeated by a money-grubbing stereotype that has an affinity for coffee cigarettes. Care for one? Oh wait watching your good looks not that there’s anything to look at,” laughed the Wanderer as he stepped back onto the lighted path. “Nice little limited time-space distortion you have here. What are you, a faceless pedophile that gets his kicks from watching little children sweeping in theiw bweds?”

            Slender roared and between his ever shifting form, Near stepped aside, and threw the cigarette down onto the path. It lit up, large flames then a solid bridge of light grabbed the monster. He was frozen, and Joseph walked up with a now regloved right hand.

            “The blood of the One, you despise, heal, and defeat you. Yeshua Hamshiach, Rausch, Yahweh Elohim, aishor ahavah!” said Joseph.

            The former monster screamed in agony as he was consumed by the ever entrenching power of light and love. “By the way, I need my knife back,” he continued.

            His hand grabbed the nail/knife, and he holstered it inside his coat. Everything returned to normal, and Jonathan walked up to the long standing onlookers. It was now almost sun set. Dana was still standing there, and the boy was there as well along with the police.

            Near walked off from the crowd as they all looked at him. He ignored them all knowing they were safe for now. “Matthews, send one of the Kartarkians here to protect them,” he hissed into a small cellphone.