Blaze of Bloodshed

Chapter one

“I’ve got to write in a new genre,” Markus said. “I think I will go for a walk,” he called to his wife. It was early evening as he left through the front door. The night felt crisp. It seemed the temperature was just right. The windows reflected a beautiful sky at sunset. The trees silhouetted against the late evening sky speared upward as ghosts gently swaying in the breeze. Mother nature had done it again.

What was on his mind the most of late was changing the genre he wrote. He had long been writing fantasy and action thrillers, fueled by his passion for “Lord of the Rings” and Harry Potter, an unusual combination.. He wrote successfully for several years but time had a way of changing what was fun. For over 10 years, Jake Slade had been a friend, facing off against witches and monsters.. What was left for Jake to do? Markus ran out of ideas.

Entering the café, one felt themselves transported in time. Built in the 1700s, servers wore period dress. Antique reproductions of weapons and historical documents decorated the wall. The owner dressed like Ben Franklin. The usual crowd gathered for a libation. As he walked through, different people rose to say hello. Heading towards the bar, Markus stopped dead in his tracks. Leaning against a table in the corner stood a man identical to Jake Slade. The man tipped his hat to Markus, as Markus had written him doing so many times in the books. Struck speechless, gaping was all Markus could do.

“Come have a seat, Markus! We need to talk.”

“How are you here? You’re a figment of my imagination. Why are you here?”

“We need to talk. Sit down.”

After pinching himself to see if this was a dream, Markus sat down slowly. A very attractive brunette came and joined them.

“Hello Markus.”

“Jeanette? Someone please tell me what is going on?”

Jeanette sat down after kissing Jake softly on the cheek. Leaning forward on his elbows, concentration filled Jake’s face. After thinking, Jake said, “Markus, only you can see us. We have lived in your mind all these years, so much so, we became real to you. There were times Jeanette and I came to you in dreams with plot suggestions and changes. Authors need to know that characters, after spending so much time in their heads, become a part of them. We have been together for so long, it allows us to appear to you here in the restaurant. We are tired of the same plot too. No matter how much violence, injury, and pain I suffer, Jeanette and I can still have sex. Do you remember me being close to the car that exploded? After a short time healing, we were back in the sack despite dislocated and cracked bones. We are weary of this too. What do you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking of changing directions, too. After writing for the gratuitous sex and violence people, I just can’t do it anymore. One way to end this is to kill you and Jeanette, which will end the series. I’m not too sure about this now, sitting at a table in a restaurant talking to you.”

“We have a better way to kill us. We want to get married and ride into the sunset. That way, the book series is over, we can live happily ever after with a sex life that doesn’t involve injury. What do you think?”

“I’ve never equated marriage with death. Let me think about it, get a yellow pad and write some ideas. My desire to drink has disappeared.”

Jeanette said, “Write something different about us. Why can’t Jake and I retire and go to a destination wedding? It would be great!”

“That sounds nice, but what will we tell the readers? Two of the greatest fantasy characters who vanquished every evil on earth are going on a destination wedding. They would spend the whole book reading and looking for the action.”

Markus stood up and turned to leave, looking back just in time to see Jake place a kiss on Jeanette.

Chapter two

Markus walked into the house, mumbling incoherently. His wife greeted him at the door, raised her head to be kissed, and Markus walked past her. She looked at him and sighed heavily. Their daughter ran up for a hug and felt herself plastered against Markus as if he was a brick wall.

“Mommy, what’s wrong with daddy?”

“He’s in writer’s outer limits.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a place writers go to leave reality and find new ideas. He may be like this for days. When you’re older, you’ll understand.”

“I will?”

“Yes, and then you can explain it to me.”

Slowly shaking his head, Markus sat at his writing table. A destination wedding featuring two prominent characters in a plot with no violence or sex. Where can they go? What will they do of interest? Who will buy the book? He stared off into space and wondered. A devious smile crossed his face. The fingers flew on the laptop. Jake will hate him for this, but I’ll do it, anyway.     

“First, I’ll fix his body. He needs to be rid of the scars that cover most of his body. I’ll beef up his physical fighting skills.”

Pausing for a moment, “Next, I’ll make him rich. He’ll drive a magnificent car and a private plane. He’ll have people saying James Bond who?”

“What about Jeanette? I’ll emphasize her curves. She’ll turn heads everywhere she goes. They will make an incredible couple. They want to get married. I must make this interesting.”

Chapter three

Jake and Jeanette drove with great excitement. “This is a vehicle! It's a convertible! We could never drive a convertible in the books because of snipers. This makes James Bond’s vehicles look like tricycles. Markus did it right this time. I always wondered how the author could write as if he was on an expense account for the things we needed.”

“Jake, look at us. You look like a twenty-year-old. Look at my curves. I feel beautiful.”

“You always have been beautiful, Jeanette. I must admit, the curves are incredible. We have two days before we arrive at the wedding venue. Markus hasn’t revealed the exact location to us yet. He also told us we couldn’t fly. It would have made the trip so much easier.”

They continued the ride through the beautiful countryside. So convinced that their narrative had changed, they paid no attention to anything besides each other. Two vehicles appeared behind them. Both were from their past. Separate but equally nasty villains occupied the cars. The villains hung back for a respectful distance, waiting for others to join.

It was only by accident that Jeanette saw them. She raised her arms and turned to look at the scenery. Glimpsing one of the vehicles, she screamed and grabbed Jake. Jake struggled to keep the car on the road.

“What is it?”

“It’s two of the people we fought in the books. They’re following us. Quick, get the weapons!”

“We don’t have any. This was a destination wedding, remember? Markus!”

“Oh my God! There’s more coming.”

“How could he do this to us? He’s going to kill us to end the books. Why?”

“It’s a rule of writing. To make it more exciting, kill off a character or two. This time it’s us.”

“What will we do?”

“Go get weapons. If Markus is going to kill us to make money, we will die in a blaze of bloodshed.”

“Jake, the word blaze will never pass the editors.”

“You’re worried about editors when every bad guy we ever saw is coming? * I have a plan. Do you remember how we traveled to the restaurant to meet Markus? We’ll leave the convertible and go to the weapons locker. Then we’ll be ready.”

“We can do that?”

“It’s worth a try. Markus didn’t write us into the restaurant, so he won’t write us into that either. Concentrate hard and think weapons locker.”

“What about the car?”

“That’s Markus’ problem. Maybe it will blow up in a blaze of bloodshed! Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

*Editors are nice people! Trust me!

*  *   *

Markus smiled at the developing story. “To the weapons locker. Hmmm, this might, for both sides, be interesting. He began moving characters in a different direction. First rescue the car. Then I’ll have to redirect the villains toward the weapons locker. I’ve never had this much fun. My main characters are alive and making their own story!”

Out on the road, an agency emergency road wrecker found the convertible in a ditch with the motor still running. They found no passengers. The agency emergency road wrecker driver discovered the convertible in a ditch, the motor still running, and initiated an international search. The spies in the agency reported to their contacts the same message.

At the weapons locker, Jake scoped everything before allowing Jeanette to enter. Unknown to them, alarms went off at both the agency and the villains’ contacts with their leadership. Both sides started movement to the weapons locker. Jake and Jeanette took too much time to pack and arm themselves. After taking several hours, they believe they escaped undetected. Outside, people from both sides took up positions to trap Jake and Jeanette. Shock registered on both sides, discovering the other. Reinforcements summoned arrived to make the number of guns present dangerous to both sides.

Stress grew as the agents for both sides realized one move from fear could kill them all.

***

Markus readied his plan. He assumed control of Jake and Jeanette, which made them both unhappy. Markus smiled at their complaints. Seeing both sides gathered, he increased the stress between the two groups with short sentences and strong action words. He then planted a young, skittish villain close to the center of the action. Two leaders of his agency stood next to him, talking. Not realizing the excitement in their voices, one said, “When they attack, we FIRE with a booming voice. The scared young man shot one round, killing an agent of the agency. There was a brief pause before all hell broke loose. Markus wrote in a single shot that penetrated the weapons locker, striking an explosive device. The explosion leveled the entire area. Most people there died.

Markus jumped up from the typewriter, dancing in his study. “What an ending! I’ll write a blaze of bloodshed into every book! What fun this will be to rebuild everything.”

His little girl ran to her mom. “Daddy’s acting baffling again!”

The mom replied, “That’s so much better than a zombie. Go outside and play while I fix another drink. Daddy’s mood will require celebration tonight. You’ll spend the night at grandma’s house.”

On a tiny island, part of the Hawaiian chain, Jake and Jeanette lay on the beach, cuddled as close as possible. Markus let them keep the stuff he gave them in the beginning. Finally married, life couldn’t be better.