Day Two

[Strazio Rockwell]

We stood in that gym for a long time. After what must have been at least an hour I finally sat down and leaned against the gym wall. The Rock was still pumped and ready to rumble, but I was tired and still sore from earlier.

“Yo, big guy... I’m gonna catch some rest. I haven’t had much since I got here.”

The Rock nodded his head slightly “these candy asses must be scared of the Rock N’ Rock Connection! I’d be too if I was a little jabroni like them.” I chuckled a little, the big guy was growing on me.

He didn’t seem to have a problem with me sleeping so I took the opportunity to shut my eyes and rest. My dream was unpleasant, it was full of fire and death. Rarely did I ever have pleasant dreams, but this one was more rough than usual. I found myself standing among the ruins of my village. All around me was death and fire, fear and pain. In the midst of the slaughter covered in a crimson cloak stood one man, Damien Alabaster. My rage and hatred sparked a raging inferno in my heart. I woke from my dream yelling and livid, ready to tear apart the world to kill that man.

When my senses came back to me I noticed that the Rock was gone. The only thing left was the wooden plank that he had given me to use as a weapon. Panic hit hard, the bastard actually left me? I looked out the nearby window and all I could see was darkness, night had come. My heart dropped, he had left in the dead of night and didn’t bother to take me along. Dammit, the bastard had actually made me upset that he left.

The Rock N’ Rock Connection was over.

As I always did, I moved forward. I left the gym and started to head east, hoping to find the coast or something to orient myself. At least he left me a weapon, this plank would be put to much better use than a disembodied arm. My little nap did wonders and although the dull pain in my busted arm was ever-present I wasn’t nearly as stiff and sore. The town was eerie at night, every light was shut off and there was no traffic or signs of life. The silence was ominous and I found my self stamping my feet in an effort to push away the quiet. Finally I made it to the edge of the city and the edge of the wilderness, it would be harder to hide in the woods than on the streets of a ghost town.

Unable to see in the dark my hike through the woods was harsh, me feet kept tripping over the thick underbrush and I ran into several low hanging branches. The moon did little to guide my path, most of its light blocked by the forest canopy. I was no stranger to traveling at night, but without any light source it was always difficult. Eventually I made it a clearing and came to a quaint little park. Carefully I did my best to survey the surroundings, but I had a hard time seeing anything in the darkness.

I did hear something however, a low rumbling growl. My body froze in place and I tried to find the source of the sound. Another roar erupted behind me and I whipped around and came face-to-face with a very pissed off bear. Bears can run almost twice as fast as an athletic human. There was no way I could get away, but I didn’t want to get away.
“You want some then? I’ll put you into the fucking ground!” I roared back at my attacker. The massive ball of fur and flesh was none too impressed and charged at me. I readied my plank and was prepared for the worst. After all I had made it decently far and to get mauled to death by a bear wasn’t the worst way to go.

“Can you smelllllllll... what the Rock’s cookin?!”

The Rock came from seemingly nowhere and broadsided the bear. He hooked his arm around the bear’s neck and using his momentum he swung his body over the bear and slammed it into the ground. With wasting a beat I rushed forward and cracked the bear across the face with my weapon. We had only managed to piss it off and I stumbled backwards as it erupted to its feet. The beast slashed the Rock across his chest and sent him backpedaling into a nearby swing set. With my muscle-bound companion out of the way the bear turned its attention to me. It charged with all of its ferocious might and I dove out of the way.

The Rock had regained his footing and rushed over to stand by my side as I picked myself off the ground. The Rock N’ Rock Connection was still alive and well, but the bear aimed to change that.

“Glad to have you back” I told him as we readied ourselves for the next charge.

“I just went for a stroll to see if I couldn’t find someone to layeth the smackethdown on” before the showman could continue the bear plowed into us. The impact knocked me to the ground, but the muscle-bound Rock stood tall. I watched in awe as the mountain of beef wrapped his arms around the bear’s torso and lifted it into the air. The poor beast thrashed about, trying to break free from the wrestler’s grip. With one solid motion and a sickening crunch as the bear’s head crashed into the ground the Rock sent the beast straight to hell.

“Wow...” I managed to choke out, glad that this man was on my side.