Endtown by Aaron Neathery for November 28, 2013

Poor man. He was narratively doomed from the start.

WOW!!!!

“It all will be fine” the doc liedShe warned Doctor Lyn … or she triedBut with monsters aboutHis one stifled shoutShows a grim death from being … tongue-tied=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

Welcome to Japan mother-

In my training for emergency response, the first principle that’s always hammered home is “Pay attention to scene safety.” Help the wounded, but before you do, keep your eyes and ears open for danger.The course covered many dangers, but not fish-headed worm monsters with prehensile tongues. (They could have been in the advanced course.)

Officer, you’re out of uniform.

“PRISONER 001 has ESCAPED!”

The First Mutation.

Is that cool? I’m tellin’ ya, is that cool, or what! Man, that is cool!For those of you thinking this is an extension of the Deadeye story, I can tell you that if it is, Ed is going to exit stage left kind of early in the first chapter…

That’s what you get for wanting to help people.

um, yikes?

Interestingly, Neathery starts us off again with a moral compass, a conundrum on humanity. Lyn was not just walking down a corridor before he attacked by a monster. He was performing an act of great bravery and fell to its consequence. Knowing the dangers, he cautiously investigated a scene where a fellow person – Law Enforcement Officer, as it hapened, but a person more importantly – was in potential distress and need of help. For that alone, we as an audience were saying to ourselves: “Brave and heroic, but stupid to put himself at risk. I wouldn’t’ve done that.” You could see the look on his face. “This is dangerous, but it has to be done. If I don’t risk my life, someone else may pay with his.”If the is the way the first mutations showed, up, then there was going to be a whole lot more misery in the world over the years to come. And indeed, in the current day, there’s almost nothing BUT misery. Almost. What we see here at the beginning, and what we see in glimpses of hope in Endtown, is the spark of humanity that occasionally reminds us what it means to be a human, truly a human, the noble human again which we measure ourselves. By this I am referring to the quality that makes us choose to stick our neck out for someone else. To save, or equally to choose not to harm. The victory conditions for the remnant race in Neathery’s universe:1) Survive2) Retain your humanitySuccess in only one is not sufficient.This restarted, post-hiatus opening story is not just a typical horror story. It’s classic, six-cylinder Neathery. I am loving it.

It’s the Thanksgiving Day Eel! Here’s hoping all of us have much to be thankful for. Or, as Tim Cratchett said, God Bless Us Each and Every One!When the eel hits your thigh

Like a snake tries to get by

THAT’S A MORAY

Here are some nice PRINTS for your consideration today. Of course DONATIONS are welcome.It opens with a cuddly bunnyman, then a very nice sketch of Holly and Wally at Sunrise, then a sketch of Holly and a friend, and finally, Wally contemplating the nature of existence. You may mix any prints with others from any or all available month’s prints. Negotiatiate the shipping costs and arrangements with:

aaronneathery@gmail.com

And of course, VOTE, PLEASE!

Vote ENDTOWN Vote Doc Rat Vote for Kevin and Kell Vote for HubrisSincerely, Respectfully & Fraternally, JusSayin

Okay… So this is the very beginning of the mutagenic plague.

Despite the horror, my heart is filled with glee at yet another wonderful Neathery Monster..

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to those who celebrate. I for one am thankful to be part of this little community, a reader of such a fine story, and to call Aaron Neathery friend :)

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Hanukkah to one and all. I am off this weekend. First time in about 25 years.I did say earlier there could monsters about.Jack Links will not satisfy that thing.As far as Jenner said earlier Lyn was doing a very brave thing to help another…like I said as an officer the worse sound is to hear possible help leaving without even looking.This makes me wonder did it begin in the patrol car when a partner began to turn….seeing something in the road….checking out a suspicious person who is in the state of mutation walking down the road….what ever this is a mutation that apparently Holly seen. This is a Holly flashback for sure….Dreams just like Wally has had…remember him holding the door in a lab closed.Was this how she lost the baby??Waiting for our usual cliffhanger Friday…..Mr. Neathery has never fail us yet.

@Jenner and Moral dilemmas: So very true. Rather than give readers a ‘monster in a forest,’ give them a moral dilemma in a charged situation first. I love this place! One sentiment that Lyn expressed which resonates with me is, “I have to help.” Its almost a compulsion that goes beyond being good or bad or smart or stupid, for a lot of us our subconscious feet are already moving either toward or away before our conscious can issue an order. This can leave a lot of people bewildered by their own responses during a disaster, or worse, racked by guilt and angst.

T.G.I.N.F. thank god its not friday

I sort of prefer only the moth in the darkness – wasn’t that terrifying on it’s own?

The interesting thing is that this monster, if it is an early mutation, is very different than most of the mutated monsters Aaron has shown us. While this one definitely has lots of sharp teeth, it only has two empty sockets for eyes. The traditional “Endtown” mutant monster has lots of eyes. This horror may be something other than an early mutation or it could be that this is a form of mutant monster we just haven’t seen yet.

Like being a red shirt on Star Trek.

To all, especially Veteran, Surfstuff55, Night-Gaunt49, Darwinskeeper, JusSayin, TSOJ, Jenner, crookedwolf, A happy thanksgiving to you who celebrate it (I’m happy you have it off, Veteran) and to all the rest I’m thankful for knowing you.

The empty eye sockets may actually be infrared sensors. It would be much better for hunting at night.

At the same time you could stop to help, and be gunned down, you could even be attacked just driving in the area. The idea is that you don’t know for sure what’s out there. Stop and use their radio for backup, risk your life to potentially save someone else, or continue on, call for help at a safer location. I’m one to avoid unnecessary danger, not to mention you’d be entering a situation out of your control, with no knowledge on how good or bad it is.

Wow, he surely knows how to surprise his audience.

For whatever reason, that “thing” that’s about to have a late-might snack makes me think of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky. Mucho creepy.

Yep. Last Halloween crossover ;)