The Daily Discord: Blood, Viscera, and Pain (Featuring Jack Primus)

As Jack, Alex, and John raced into the corrupted beauty salon, they heard more grinding and the building vibrated under their boots. This was followed by a loud bang as what had to be the tow truck Jerry drove smashed into the back of the strip mall a second time.

Jack was the first to enter the center of this makeshift Temple of Pain and his stomach churned at what he saw. Body parts were stacked in piles along the walls and hung from rusty hooks suspended from the ceiling. Viscera spread over the floor in stagnant pools and clogged foul drains. Victims in various states of dismemberment moaned on blood soaked tables. Most of them were unknown to Jack, but when he saw Eric’s mangled body, it was like a dagger through his guts.

Strangely, the one thing he didn’t see much of was an enemy. Maybe all of the pukes we’ve already taken out have actually made a difference. But I know their leader, that bitch of theirs, is still around here somewhere.

“Help me. Help me,” one of the men hanging vertically along the far wall called out. Only then, did Jack notice that another of Alex’s friends, Blake, hung there.

Beside him, John lost it and vomited across the already sick floor. “Alex, help him along. We need to be sure we stick close. The only thing we can count on is that this isn’t over yet.”

The trio started to move toward Blake, but Andre appeared out of the back of the building and got there first. “Don’t worry, Blake. I’ll get you down.” The young teen said.

“Andre, be careful,” Jack called out. “Hold up, we need to-”

But it was already too late. Blake hadn’t been chained at all. It was all a ruse and their former friend’s eyes glowed a dull red before he slipped a jagged dagger into Andre’s heart. Andre fell back with a scream—blood already seeping through his lips. A second later, he stumbled over a severed head and his body toppled into a pool of blood with a grotesque splash.

“Son of a…” Jack started as he ran over the slick floor. His other allies hurried to stay on his heels. Jerry was just entered through the same door that Andre had used when Jack’s hand axe went spiraling. The blade took Blake in the forehead and this proved enough to save Jerry from suffering Andre’s fate.

Jack knew that not much could be harder than taking out your own friend, so he saved the teens the trouble and put Blake out of his misery with the sledge.

Looking around for a moment, he found the place devoid of adversaries and only the slow dripping of blood and the weak moans of the Templar’s victims could be heard.

Jerry and the others reached him and Alex asked, “What now?”

“We have to clean this place out and then burn it to the ground. Nothing this horrible can be allowed to fester and regrow.”

“You’ll do nothing of the kind.” The Templar Queen said, as she and what might have been her last surviving follower stepped into the horrid room. Red flashes erupted from the pair’s fingers and John and Jerry’s throats filled with screams before their bodies had even hit the floor.

Templar Queen

“The only thing you and yours will do is die at our leisure and be assured it will be a long dance of exquisite pain for all the damage you have done to my temple.”

Having said her piece, the Templar queen and her follower once again fired Agony Bestows at the remaining Stalwarts. Alex collapsing like the others, but Yig burned strong within Jack’s veins and, with a growl, he managed to burst past the spell this time and raced for the scarlet villains.