Down on the street, people watched in horror as the rig hung loose. Some called 911, but if would take rescue a while to get there. That's when a mumbling in the crowd started to spread, and several people pointed to a blue cannonball shape flying up from the ground below.
The man was startled as Golem untucked her legs from her jumping position and landed on the brick of the building. She was a muscular figure with blue-tinged skin and wild, black hair, wearing a sports bra and biker shorts; she looked like a female body builder...on steroids. Under the hair on her forehard was the Hebrew letter Aleph, a sign of the liniage of her powers.
"Just relax. I'm here now. Let's get one of these windows open and get you inside," Golem said calmly, in a raspy croak. Reaching over, the blue creature tugged at one of the windows. This wasn't a true balcony: it was more like an overhang. No doors to access it, not on this side anyway. And the windows hadn't been opened in decades. But this was not a problem for Golem. Pushing her fingers into the wood frames as if they were styrofome, she made the slightest effort to push up, and the locks on the windows snapped off, much to the surprise of the lone storage worker who'd been moving pallets on a small lift.
"Call 911 and give them the address and floor!" Golem ordered as she carefully lifted the man into the building through the open window. She set him flat on the first set of boxes she could find at waist height.
Looking across the room, Golem saw the clock on the wall; the time: 5:50 PM. Surprised, she croaked "Oh crap!" and, making sure the injured man was stable on the boxes and that the worker was calling for help, she leapt out the window. Moments later, Golem slammed into the ground. Trampling down the deserted side street, the bulky blue form transformed into that of a slender young woman with an exotic combination of features, dressed in casual clothes. Her dusty brown hair blew in the breeze as she continued to run for the train station. Radical Escape had a set to play.
The
Friendly Bottle was a small venue, Joey Woods thought, carrying in
the 40 lb Fender amp. Joey was a bald man, overweight, arms heavily
tatooed (tribal), wearing a driver cap and a Slipknot T-shirt. He
pushed past the table, wishing the place had a decent alley entrance
to bring this stuff in from.
Moving
past the regulars at the bar, the after-work crowd and their happy
hours, he stepped up onto the small stage and positioned the amp next
to the drums. He leaned in to Will Secor, the long haired, slender
teen who was practicing the beats for their first set.
“Will,
any word from Alex yet?” Joey looked concerned and the number of
people filing into the small bar. They were only the opener for the
night, but it would still hurt his bottom line if they got canned
because the lead singer didn't show...again. Joey was getting sick
of Alex and her crap, but honestly, she was an amazing singer.
Radical Escape had more of a chance of making it big than any band
he'd been in, and he'd been in quite a few.
Looking
up as he plugged in the amp, Joey sighed relief. Here was Alex,
looking like she'd just jumped off the train, as usual. Joey thought
her Japanese and Central European Jewish features made one of the most
beautiful combinations of human being he'd ever seen, but she was way
too young for him. Besides, he had Maggie. Scanning the audience,
he noticed his wife wearing one of the band's T-shirts, holding an
impromptu concession stand at one of the tables near a window. He
waved and mouthed “Hi, baby.” Joey looked over angrily as Will
laughed. Will shut the hell up.
Alex
hopped up on stage and adjusted the microphone Joey had set up at her
height. “Sorry, guys. Ran into a snafu on the train...” she
said sheepishly. Megan Curtis, the last member of the band, the bass
player, nodded and continued practicing. Megan was a very slender
young woman, probably unhealthily so, with blond hair shaved up one
side.
Joey
stood up, annoyed that everyone else busted their balls,
metaphorically, to be here on time, and her highness Alex Tanaka had
problems with the El. “Hey, no big. Really glad you made it on
time though. Mind helping me with the last of the equipment?” he
asked.
“Um,
sure Joey. Sorry for the hassle.” Alex jumped down, her brown
hair bouncing off her shoulders. In her mind, she once again
bemoaned her need to keep her identity as The Golem secret from her
friends. Since she'd inherited the position from her grandfather a
year ago on his passing, she'd lost two boyfriends and three friends,
and had almost been kicked out of the band once, because The Golem
had to do what's right.
Once
everything was set, Alex waited for the clock to hit 7 PM before she
picked up her mic.
“Good
evening Chicago!” she shouted, in a kinetic voice worthy of
Benetar. “We're Radical Escape, and we're here to get your weekend
started!”
Joey
and Megan started in with a driving rock riff, and Will started in
with the beats on their cue.
I
was a rebel from the day I left school,
Grew
my hair long and broke all the rules,
I'd
sit and listen to my records all day,
With
big ambitions of when I could play...
The
crowd began to really rock as the recognized the song Alex was
singing as a George Thorogood class “Get a Haircut, and Get a Real
Job.”
The
whole band was rockin', and Joey was loving every second. This is
what he did it for. This moment when he was one with the audience,
when everyone was loving life and joy was just cascading around the
room.
And
then, just as Alex hit the line “I'm 10 times richer than my big
brother Bob, he's got a haircut, he's got a real
job,” it all fell to crap.
The
outer wall of the building collapsed, and a horrid beast from beyond
human imagining, a creature of tentacles and eyes and teeth, writhed
in the street. Several people, including his Maggie, were injured in
the wall's collapse, and Joey was stunned that Chicago had once again
surprised him with its raw brutality.
In
an echoing voice, the “beast” shouted over all the street noises
(the band had trailed off), pronounced:
“Send
us the one named Golem, and the people shall live...for now...”
An
incredible anger welled up inside Alex. This beast was challenging
her, and it had hurt all these people to get her attention? Well,
she thought, it had
it. It had better damned well be ready, because it was ON.
