Man-Bat

End Game
1-4-12

Author's Note: This is the final chapter to the Man-Bat series.  I know this one was really late compared to my earlier posts, but I felt I had to end what I started…

The chamber, such a beautiful and peaceful place for the eyes of the innocent, only to be spoiled by the crazed Man-Bat.  This is the absolute last place Marlene could be.  My taser would do little in harming the devilish creature, but it was all I had.  His superior strength could easily rip me to pieces.  As I was standing in the main chamber, the odds of me winning this fight finally hit me.  Tears streamed down my face as I thought about it.

I said it before, and I will say it again; I am not going down without a fight.  I stood up and raced in the direction of the tight passage.  This was my greatest fear.  Since the passage was so small, Man-Bat would have some time to recover and catch up to me.  I knew I had to hurry in order to survive, so I sprinted, once again, as fast as my legs could carry me.

Once I reached the tight passage, I dove head first into it and immediately started army crawling.  My uncle was an ex-army commander, and would have been very proud of my quick crawling.  About half way through the passage, a deafening screeching was heard almost directly behind me.  Crap.  I scurried through the rest of the passage and burst from the exit.  I sprinted down the same path Hank, Marlene, and I had taken just hours ago.  In a couple of minutes, the second tight passage came into view.  That's when Man-Bat appeared.

He gracefully swooped down from a higher portion of the cave.  His face was, again, twisted in an angry scowl that just shouted, "Come at  me bro!"  I slipped out my taser, but just as I was bringing it up to my eye, Man-Bat threw his body into me, sending me flying into the cave's wall.  The oxygen seemed to have just suddenly disappeared from within me.  The world spun around me as I lay dazed, tangled in my arms and legs.  Though, through all the pain, I still was able to get to my feet.

Man-Bat's rapid climb in altitude reminded me that of a roller coaster's.  I stood their, stunned, awaiting his final dive to finally end this once and for all.  My eyes closed tight.  Another hard hit sent me flying into the cave wall again.  Amazingly, I was still able to get to my feet and stand up straight.  Man-Bat was now flying in circles over me like a vulture spotting its prey.  I got up and dove towards the tight passage, and was able to slither my way through the small opening.

Instead of seeing beauty, horror filled my eyes.  There, lying in the middle of the chamber was what once was Marlene.  I slowly walked over and confirmed it was her.  I sank to my knees and sat there for an eternity.  Time seemed to stop.  Suddenly, a swift breeze tickled my neck.  Knowing my coming fate, I didn’t resist as Man-Bat finished the job.

The Hunt
5-19-11
Author's Note:  "The Hunt is the fourth story in my series of stories of Man-Bat.  In this one, Jasper and two police officers come and try to flush Man-Bat out from his cave.  Along with hunting for Man-Bat, they are also searching for Marlene.  Shortly after entering the building, they encounter Man-Bat, and run into some problems

His eyes had a fiery glare to it.  The deep blackness of them devoured all light around them.  Man-Bat opened his mouth to show his gruesome stained red fangs.  He slowly raised his wings, claws aimed straight at me.  His knees slowly bent, and then sprang forward in an effort to kill me.

I dove to the side and just barely dodged Man-Bat's attack.  Man-Bat flew right past me and plunged right into Dante.  Both of them landed hard on the ground and laid stunned for a second or two.  Dante was first to get up, and grabbed his dropped gun.  He turned to aim it at Dante but was unable to completely turn around because Man-Bat swung his deadly claws straight for Dante's neck.  Dante was able to avoid the swinging claw, but was unable to avoid the pile of rocks on the floor.  His foot slipped on them and sent him sprawled back onto the ground. 

Man-Bat saw the opportunity and pounced on top of Dante.  His partner, Phil, and I knew that we could no longer save him, so we sprinted into the cave and slammed the door shut.  Sweat drenched both of us.  Everything had suddenly become very quite.

"Phil," I said turning to Phil ", it's way too quiet."

"I know.  Let's set up an ambush position.  Here take my taser.  I'll use my gun," replied Phil.

I quickly grabbed for his taser and took up a position behind a rock formation.  Phil did the same, but chose a rock several feet closer to the cave entrance door.  We waited.  After about 20 minutes, I started to lose hope.  Where is he? I thought.  We waited another 15 minutes when the screeching began.  It was super loud even though it came from the other side of the cave entrance door.  Two minutes later, the screeching stopped just as quickly as it started. 

"Wait for it," whispered Phil.

"I have been," I replied sarcastically.

"Now's not the time to get snappy at-"

Phil was interrupted by a loud crashing noise.  Apparently, Man-Bat had barreled through the cave entrance door.  Gun fire was soon heard just seconds after Man-Bat arrived.  Phil had opened fire.  One of his shots landed right between Man-Bat's eyes.  Man-Bat's head whipped backwards.  He seemed to have been killed right there, but suddenly, his head jerked right back up.  There were no signs of any wounds on his body.

"Jasper run!"  yelled Phil.  I instantly turned and started to run for my life, and in the process, dropped my taser.  It was only seconds after I started to run when I heard a loud scream from behind me.  Phil was held high in the air by Man-Bat.  He thrashed around, and tried to get free from Man-Bat's grip, but it was no use.  Man-Bat's grip was stronger than any human being's.  The crazed mutant bat turned, and flung Phil across the cave.  The policeman slammed hard into the cave's wall, and slumped to the floor.

"Dang it," I said to myself.  Now, I am the last one left.  I am the only one now left in Man-Bat's cave.  The thought of this scared me to death.  This also brought me new strength, so I continued to sprint my way as far away from Man-Bat as I could.  By running as far away from Man-Bat as I could, this also meant I would have to run deeper and deeper into the cave.  I couldn't run forever.  I knew I had to come up with a plan fast, and I knew I had to face him sooner or later, but I knew now was not the time.  I had to get space from my pursuer first. 

After for what seemed like hours of running, I found myself in a small chamber.  It was almost identical to the one Marlene, Hank, and I had discovered, but this one was much smaller.  A small little tunnel seemed to be the only alternative entrance or exit in the tiny chamber.  Great, I thought to myself.  I was unsure of how long it was or where it led, but it had to be quite longer than both of the tunnels I had ventured through.

A plan, I need to come up with a plan!  I thought to myself.  It took me probably 30 minutes when a half decent plan finally came to my mind.  I could use my phone's camera to blind him.  Then I could run out while he is stunned.  Although this plan was super simple, I really needed to get out of this small chamber.  I smiled to myself.  I thought this plan was really dumb, but it was genius enough to escape the confinement of the small chamber.

It took Man-Bat several minutes to finally discover my "secret" location.  As soon as he appeared in the entrance way, my phone's camera flashed right in his eyes.  Man-Bat screeched in pain, which gave me the opportunity to slip right past him.  As I was slipping past him, I couldn't help the urge to punch him in the face.  He screeched even louder after that.  Serves him right, I thought. 

I sprinted past the screeching Man-Bat and headed back to the main chamber to grab my taser.  I'm not going down without a fight, I thought to myself as I made my way to the main chamber.  In a couple of minutes, I finally found myself back in the main chamber.  Where is it, where is it?  Here it is!  I found my taser and started to run back towards the only place Marlene could possibly be, in the large chamber Marlene, Hank, and I had discovered.

The Chase
5-9-11
Author's Note:  This writing piece is the third piece in the Man-Bat series.  The two pieces below are the first two pieces in the Man-Bat stories.  This piece is about Jasper's first attempt to get Marlene back, but it goes terribly wrong...

  

"Help!  Help me!  Jasper!" yelled Marlene as she was swiftly carried away by Man-Bat.  I slammed my foot on the brakes and sharply swerved the car around.  The tires squealed and the smell of burnt rubber filled my nose for the second time of the day, but this didn't stop me from going after Marlene.

"I'm coming Marlene!  Hold on!" I yelled back.  I weaved in and out of the oncoming traffic in an all out attempt to catch Man-Bat.  Horns honked at me as I avoided all of the cars.  Looks of pure anger flashed at me as I avoided the cars.  Occasionally, I saw some people catch a glimpse of Man-Bat and Marlene, which meant the police were bound to come sooner or later. 

Luckily I had my Corvette with me today, because I was quickly gaining on Man-Bat, only about one hundred feet from him now.  The flap of his skeletal wings was soon heard as I came even closer to him.  I was only yards away from Man-Bat when the impact hit.  A car finally hit me at full speed, throwing me from my Corvette into a grassy area on the side of the road.  I hit the ground with a loud thud.  Marlene… I thought as I drifted into blackness.

My eyes suddenly flew open.  I was unsure of how long I had been out or how hurt I was, but I somehow made my way to my feet.  A sharp pain filled my entire left side of my body.  The ache in my head was like somebody was trying to pound his way out of it.  My vision was blurry, and I was unable to see straight.  Walking didn't seem to be a major problem though, so I was able to make my way under a tree.  I turned and saw a huge wreckage in front of me.

Flames engulfed what used to be my Corvette.  Another car lay on its side in the grass not far from where I had been thrown.  Car parts littered the grass in front of me.  Police sirens wailed, only a short distance from the car accident.  Guess I haven't been out long, I thought to myself. 

Once the police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks arrived, I wasn't sure if I should give myself up.  Surely they wouldn't believe my story.  As soon as the fire was put out, policemen and medics rushed out of their vehicles and started searching for survivors of the horrendous car accident.  I saw one medic shake his head and start back to his ambulance.  No, I'm not giving myself up.  This is between me and the bat. 

"Hey wait!  A survivor!  Sir, get over here!" yelled a voice.  I tried staying as still as I could, praying that it wasn’t me. 

"Yeah I see him.  You, by the tree, get over here!" yelled another voice. 

Okay, that proved that it was me, so I stepped out from the tree.  The policeman that had spotted me stared at me with a look of complete surprise.  This scared me to death.

"I can't be that bad can I?" I asked.

"Dude, come with me." said the policeman.

He took my arm and half guided and half dragged me to one of the ambulances.  His vice like grip caused my arm to turn to a whitish color.  Considering my condition, this is not the proper way to treat me.   After a couple of minutes, the policeman finally let go of my arm.  He led me into the back of the ambulance and closed the door behind him.

"Bro, we need to talk," said the policeman.

"Sure thang bro," I said, mocking him a on the "bro."

"There were sightings of a giant bat.  Did you see what many others saw?" asked the policeman.

"This may be hard to believe but yes," I replied.

"Did it have a captive with it?"

"Yes, he had a captive.  She is my friend.  We need to get her now before it is too late!"

"Yes I understand.  Now can you tell me the direction it was flying?"

"Uh, he headed toward these caves my friend and I had visited before she was taken.  It's like just a couple minutes from my accident sight.  Just head a little ways down the road and you'll find yourself at he caves."

"Thank you sir.  Oh and one more thing, what the heck were ya doin'?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were weaving in and out of oncoming traffic.  What was the point bro?"

"I almost got him." 

"Yeah well next time leave it to us"

"Sure."

My conversation with the policeman ended there, and the next thing I know, we pulled into the cave tour building entrance.  The door was still left open from our earlier escape attempt.

"Looks like somebody left in a hurry," murmured the policeman.  After reading his name card in the ambulance, I found that his name was Dante. 

"Yeah, this is where Man-Bat started his pursuit," I said.  I didn't feel like telling him about our earlier encounter just yet. 

We walked up to the front entrance and found hundreds of souvenirs littered on the ground throughout the room.  Postcards were thrown off all the racks, a pile of rocks sat in the corner of the room, and gems laid shattered on the ground.  A jacket still hung on one of the coat hangars.  This must have belonged to the man that was taken into the cave. 

"Gosh look at this place," said Dante.

"Yeah, we left in a hurry," I answered. 

"You got that right bro."

We moved slowly, but cautiously , and made it to the cave entrance door.  Although the front door was left open, this one was tightly closed.  The sight of this filled me with terror.  I was almost sure that Man-Bat was in there just waiting for his chance to cut open my throat.  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then stepped toward the door, and twisted the handle.  I slowly pulled it open and found myself face to face with Man-Bat!

 

A Failed Escape
5-5-11
Author's Note:  This writing piece is a sequel to the one below. In this piece, Marlene and Jasper attempt to escape Man-Bat's Cave.  Look below this story to read the original!

"No way!"  I yelled.

"This can't be happening," says Marlene.

Hank had just formed into a real living giant bat right in front of our eyes.  His once cool, soft blue eyes had transformed into menacing pitch-black ones.  Those menacing eyes now stare at me full of hatred.  My mind was in full confusion at this point, which also seemed to be the case with Marlene.  In the back of my mind, a voice brought me back to my senses.  It said, run!

Everything happened very fast.  I turned towards Marlene, grabbed her hand, and made a break for the tight tunnel.  I shoved Marlene inside, and soon followed.  As soon as I got in, I heard Hank, now nicknamed Man-Bat, quickly follow behind us.

"Let's go Marlene!  We need to move!"

"I'm trying.  It's just-"

The rest of Marlene's sentence was inaudible because a loud crashing sound suddenly came from behind us.  I had a bad feeling Man-Bat was now right on our tails.  After a second crashing noise, I heard a spine-tingling screeching noise only a couple of feet from us.  This scared the heck out of me, but motivated me to keep going.  Right after Man-Bat's screech, I heard a weird noise; like fur brushing against rocks. 

"Marlene?!!" I yelled.

"I'm out.  Hurry Jasper!  We need to go. now!" Replied Marlene.

Marlene made it out and sprinted to the right.  Seconds after, I followed her in an attempt to try and escape the cave.  I couldn't help myself from looking back to see where Man-Bat was.  There was no sign of him, but there was some movement in the tunnel.  Is that even possible, I thought as Man-Bat was crawling in the tunnel in pursuit of Marlene and I.

"Marlene!" I yelled again.

"What?!" Marlene yelled back.

"Man-Bat is still after us!"

"Who?!"

"Hank.  He's after us!"

"Oh gosh!  Come on Jasper.  Turn left after the second passage."

"Okay.  Let's make this quick Marlene!"

As I made it to the turn, a loud screeching sound confirmed that Man-Bat had finally made it through the small tunnel.  I knew looking back would be a bad idea, but my curiosity won out.  As I looked back, a screeching sound from just a couple feet behind me made me shiver.  No use looking back now.  He's right there!  I sprinted with all I got left, and turned into the passage Marlene had taken.  Once I turned, a big ball of fur zoomed right past me.

"Marlene take another left.  Man-Bat will try to cut us off if we go right," I told Marlene.

"Okay."

"If I don't make it, call the police.  Tell them we are being attacked in this cave.  Don't say Man-Bat is attacking us.  Just say we are being attacked by an unknown person."

"Yes I got."

Seconds later, I saw Marlene take the right.  I slowed my pace to a little more than a jog.  Although I was still terrified, I had to force myself to slow down.  If I didn't, I would get tired much quicker.  My hopes were pretty high until I heard another screech.  Gosh darn it.  I thought I lost him.   My pace soon returned to a sprint and had almost reached the turn when a sharp claw scraped the side of my face.  The pain was tremendous.  Fortunately, I was able to turn into the passage before Man-Bat could do any more damage.  Once I was in the passage, I was able to catch a glimpse of Man-Bat flying past the passage entrance.

"Marlene!  We've got maybe one minute max.  You almost to the end?"  I asked.  Silence.  "Marlene?" I called again.  Again silence.  Please be okay.  Suddenly, I hear a door slam, and know that Marlene was able to make it to safety. 

My relief did not last long, because suddenly, Man-Bat let out another loud screech, this time, from way above.  I looked up and saw that he was preparing to make another attack on me.  For a second, we caught each other's eyes, and locked for a couple seconds.  All that hatred in his eyes made me stop running and froze me to the spot.  It was until I heard a voice, a human's voice, that I snapped out of the trance.  The voice yelled," Run!!!"  Standing in the doorway of the cave was Marlene.  It was her voice that snapped me out of my trance.

Just before Man-Bat could land a direct hit on my face, I was able to roll out of the way.  A claw managed to just scrape the top of my shoulder during my evasion.  This time, the pain didn't slow me down.  My determination to reach the door was much higher than my adversary's.  I reached the entrance, and was able to close and lock the door before Man-Bat could even turn around after his dive attack.

"Nice job Jasper.  Now let's get out of here," says Marlene.

"Yeah.  Let's get out of here quickly, but efficiently," I said.

"Agreed.  For starters, let's get as far from this place as possible."

"You got that right."

We had only just reached the door, when the cave entrance exploded.  Terrified to even look behind us, we yank the door open and ran for our lives.  Once we were at least 30 feet from the front door, I finally allowed myself to look back.  Oh gosh.  A horrifying sight filled my eyes.  The man working inside the building had gotten up to see why we were running.  As the man was watching us, Man-Bat attacked the man and flew back into the cave, and took him back into the cave.  After seeing that, I stopped to catch my breath. 

"Marlene, he just attacked someone.  He took him back into the cave.  I'm not sure if he's targeting us, but we better get out of here.  Where's your car?" I asked.

"Oh gosh, I don't remember.  Somewhere back behind us.  Where's your car?"

"Same as yours.  Here, let's take mine.  It's the burnt orange convertible Corvette toward the back of the parking lot.  It's probably closer than yours.  Let's hurry up!"

We quickly made our way to my Corvette and hopped in.  I started the car and stepped on the gas.  My tires squealed and the smell of burnt rubber filled our nostrils.  We shot out of the parking lot at lightning speed,  and turned onto the highway.  It wasn't long after we turned onto the highway when loud screeching sounds pierced the cloudless skies.

"Already?" I said.

"Yeah.  Looks like it," replied Marlene.

A loud swooshing noise came from above us.  I looked to see what it was, but I was too late.  We hadn't even been driving one minute when Marlene was snatched from her seat.  Man-Bat had kidnapped Marlene.

Man-Bat
4-29-11
Author's Note:  This is a writing piece on caves.  My friend, Shaun, and I randomly came up with the topic on caves during one of our language arts classes.  We chose caves because, well, it's different.  Also, notice that my friend's name, Shaun, is a link above to his blog.

I stood in the middle of the cave, happily taking in the unique scenes of it.  It was my first time ever being in a cave with a talkative tour guide.  Being alone in here felt like freedom.  Although there was no tour guide, I had a few companions to accompany me on my journey.  There was Hank, a tall, athletic guy that toured caves around the world, and then there was Marlene, a skinny, quiet girl.  This is also her first time ever going spelunking without a tour guide.

Our small party had ventured pretty deep into the cave, almost to the point where no other human has been.  We were all excited to cross into the unknown, even Hank.  Well, I guess this is new to Hank too.  I'm just kind of jealous of all the things he knows about caves.  His mind is like an encyclopedia all on caves.

"This stalagmite is over 2 million years old.  You can tell by the color of the base.  This insect right here is a ___ (I can't remember what it was called).  Blah blah blah."

I'm sure half the stuff he said he made up, especially the one on telling how old a stalagmite is, but I let it slide.  Marlene ,on the other hand, seems to believe everything he says.  She gets this weird, dreamy look whenever Hank says one of his "facts."The only things I'll ever believe are things from a book, something from a scientist, or something I witness.  Everything else is garbage.

As we were crawling through a tiny passage, I started to smell an awful smell.  It smelled awfully like guano.  I stopped abruptly in the passage, causing Hank to bump into me.

"What's the deal, yo?" he asked.

"Something reeks.  You still want to keep going?" I answered.

"Well I can't crawl backwards."

"Let's keep going.  We are almost at the end of the passage.  Just tough it out Jasper," said Marlene, instantly ending the discussion.

At certain times, Marlene's voice can be very commanding.  She has this tone that has a thing to it like , knock it off or else.  It sometimes scares the bejeebers out of me, and Hank.  You just can't do anything to try and oppose her word.  Who knows what happens if you try?

Marlene soon signaled to us that the end of the passage was approaching.  The putrid smell got worse with every inch I crawled.  I started to gag.  Tears grew in my eyes.  The smell was almost to the point of making me lose my lunch, but then it suddenly disappeared as I emerged from the tight passage. 

"My gosh dudes.  You guys didn't smell that?" I asked Hank and Marlene.

"Nope," answered the two in unison.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No man, we are dead serious.  I think you're just making it up man," said Hank.

As we started to walk further into the cave, Marlene started to inch her way next to my side.  I started to get nervous.  I wasn't sure what she was going to do.  Was she scared?  Did she want my comfort?  I have no idea, but if that's the case, I wouldn't be much help.  Truthfully, if she is scared, I'm just as scared as she is. 

"I have to tell you something," Marlene suddenly whispers to me.

"Yes?" I ask, feeling my cheeks starting to get red.

"I smell something bad too.  I think it's coming from Hank," she answers.

"Ha-ha, really?" I say.  I started to feel really stupid about what I thought Marlene was doing.

"Yes really."

After a couple of minutes walking in dead silence, we finally reached the border of the known and unknown.  Once we stepped into the unknown, I suddenly got a weird, creepy feeling about this.  Something doesn't seem right.  I can’t place my finger on it though.  Everything looks the same in the unknown section as it does in the known section.  The stalactites and stalagmites look the same as the ones in the known section of the cave.  There is one difference between the known and unknown though, the unknown place just gives me the creeps.  I guess being the first to explore something will always give you a weird feeling.

"Let's rest for a little bit.  I'm pooped," I say after getting a funny feeling in my stomach.

"I agree," says Marlene.

"Fair enough.  I guess a break won't hurt," says Hank.

As we sat down on the ground, Marlene made sure to get as close to me as she could, but also as far away from Hank as she could.  This girl is creeping me out, I thought.  Obviously, she had something to tell me; something that is not intended for Hank's ears.

"Jasper, I have something to tell you," whispers Marlene.

"I thought so," I reply.

"Hank is starting to creep me out.  He seems… different.  I don't know, but something's up with him.  I'd make sure to keep an eye on him all the time."

"Okay.  I'll keep an eye on him."

After five minutes, Hank urged us to get up and venture further into the cave.  We could do nothing but agree, so we got up and followed Hank's lead.  While Marlene and I were following Hank, Marlene made sure to keep close to me.  Every time Hank would stop to see where we should go, Marlene would instantly grab my hand.  I didn't know what to do when she did that, but I kept in mind that Marlene wasn't playing around when she said she thought Hank was odd.

At one point, Hank stopped abruptly, and Marlene wasn't able to suppress a small yelp, and still grabbed my hand.  Apparently, there was a steep section of the cave, so we had to walk back and had to take a alternate route.  Unfortunately, the alternate route was another tight passageway.  The only way to get through was to crawl through it.  We didn't care, we've done this already.  Marlene and I let Hank go in first, then we followed and made sure that we had some space between Hank and us. 

Although this passage was super tight, it was shorter than the other one we had to go through earlier.  When we got out, an amazing sight hit us.  A vast chamber with multicolored stalactites and stalagmites sat in front of us.  This was probably the most beautiful thing my eyes had ever seen in my entire life.  By the look on my Marlene's face, it was probably the same for her too.  I voice interrupted the beautiful scene.

"No not here," Hank suddenly says.

"What?" I ask in confusion.

"No, please not here.  I beg you," he continues.

"Oh god," whimpers Marlene.

"What's happening to him?" I ask Marlene.

"I have no idea dude."

Fur started to sprout all over Hank.  Rubbery wings replaced his arms.  Long, pointy ears sprouted from his head.  His clothing disappeared, revealing large, lethal claws.  Marlene let go a long, high-pitched scream.  All I could do was stare in surprise.  I was frozen in terror, finally realizing what Hank had transformed into.  Hank had transformed into a bat!