Travis wasn't sure what woke him up at first. One moment, he was fast asleep, dreaming of running around the world so fast he could see himself in front of himself. The next, he was awake, his eyes blinking as they adjusted to the darkness.
"What the hell?" he muttered.
Then his phone vibrated.
"Ok, seriously, what the hell?" he repeated, rubbing his eyes as he got on his hands and knees. He reached for his phone, yawning a bit, before checking to see what all the fuss was about.
For a second, he didn't understand what he was seeing. His notifications showed that something called SENTRY had spotted movement.
Then it hit him. A few weeks ago, a little after the battle with Swarm, he'd gotten worried about a sneak attack so had gone online, looking to buy security cameras. He'd gotten a few from a brand called SENTRY that had great reviews and placed them around the house. They had facial recognition and activated the motion sensors in the evening until morning.
And one of them just detected something.
Instantly, Travis was wide awake. He pressed down on the notification and his phone opened up onto a livestream of his backyard.
Where monstrous figures were emerging out of the lawn.
In a flash of light, his costume was on and he was racing out the house to stand in front of them. "I don't know what hell you crawled out of, but I'm going to send you back there in pieces," he warned them, activating his lightning to crackle across his body.
Damn, I hope this looks cool, he thought.
The monsters all tilted their heads at him. They looked…different than before. He now realized that they were actually made of dirt, not like the microbots Swarm employed before. Was this what he'd been working on this whole time? Upgrading the bots so that they could manipulate the ground to surround them?
No, wait, the others had talked about the other figures that had emerged from the ground at the school. So, he could do this the whole time? But how did that even work?
Stay focused, he scolded himself. Remember what Moody says. Constant vigilance.
"Str…stroneman," the creatures said in unison.
"Yeah, that's not creepy at all," Travis muttered. "Well, let's see how long it takes me to pound your asses back into the ground."
Luke reacted instantly, his hand coming up and his power coming with it, holding the creature midair before it could reach him. It snarled, grasping at him, but he held it at bay.
"Let's take this outside," he grunted, using his other hand to reach telekinetically for the lock on the front door, twisting it open. Then, with a shove, he opened the door and hurled the creature outside. He swiftly followed, drawing on as much power as he could.
However, as soon as he stepped outside, he gaped as the ground ruptured around him, more creatures rising up, each one more horrible than the last. Some had wings, some hard tentacles across their spines, others had multiple limbs. And all of them had an earthen body.
Luke shot a look behind him to his house. He couldn't afford to fight here and risk his family. He had to get away from here. These things had to be after him so if he left, they should chase after him. Hopefully.
"Let's take this to the air," he said and shot upwards. Almost instantly, the creatures with wings took off after him. He was shocked that those actually worked but didn't have time to work out the aerodynamics of it all. He grabbed them all with his power and attempted to throw them aside but only succeeded in pushing them a little. Whatever they were, they were tough.
The good news was that as he flew off, the ones still on the ground gave chase, leaving his family behind. He breathed out in relief but didn't have time to celebrate as one of the creatures dove right for him, forcing him to dodge and only just managing to avoid getting sliced.
"There goes my relaxing weekend," he growled. "Alright you…whatever you are! Let's see if you can keep up."
He pushed himself and increased his speed, zooming across the night sky and pulling ahead of the monsters. He heard them screech behind him as they gave chase. They weren't quite as fast as him but they were certainly faster than he expected.
Was this Swarm's doing? This didn't look like those microbots he'd seen. Then again, every part of the day had been confusing so what did he know? The most important thing was staying alive.
"Let's try to thin the herd." He turned his head and focused on the lead creature, ripping its wings off and sending it plummeting to the ground. "Yes. Now onto the next…what?"
He stared in growing horror as the falling creature stopped falling, its size changing as new wings grew out of it. Not only that, but the wings he'd just ripped off changed as well, reforming into two small bat-like creatures with sharp teeth that gave chase as well.
"They can reform themselves," he said, trembling a little. "Oh that's just really not fair."
Apparently, it was going to take longer to pound the dirt monsters' asses into the ground than Travis previously thought.
He should have known better. Nothing was ever truly easy. One might think that dirt was soft and mushy and easy to take apart. But the truth was, when it was all packed together, it was really freaking hard.
He found that out when he punched one of the monsters in the face and immediately felt it.
"Yowza!" he cried, shaking his fist as if that would help the pain subside. "Damn, you are a jacked creepy crawlie, aren't you?"
The creature just stared back at him without blinking, its claws ready to strike.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I'll find a way to beat you. Hey!" he complained as another creature made a swipe at him, speeding out of its way. "It's rude to interrupt. Maybe I should teach you some manners. Here." He sped off and then returned with a large shovel from the garden shed. "I was told spanking was a very popular punishment back in the dark ages, so I'm bringing it back just for you!"
He swung hard, putting all his up-and-coming muscles to good use to strike the monster right in the neck. He honestly didn't know if it would work which was why he was surprised when the head flew clean off, dropping to the ground a few feet away.
"Yes! Knew that could work. Well done me. I…oh no," he muttered, watching as the creature's form shifted and a new head grew out, good as new. Better even as it seemed to have bigger teeth. "Fine, guess we'll do this on extra hard settings, so- AI!" he cried out as something sharp bit into his ankle. He looked down and saw that the decapitated head had grown eight legs and had transformed into a giant spider with huge fangs that was now biting him.
And Travis wouldn't say he had a fear of spiders, but he definitely was scared of them.
"Ah, get off, get off, get off, get off, get off!" he screeched, ripping his leg away and feeling even more pain. He immediately started stomping down on the dirt spider, grinding it back into dust. "Ha!" he said. "Take that you stupid…oh not again."
He could only watch as the spider reformed, the dirt rising out of the ground to complete reshape the monster.
"Ok, so this is going to be much harder than I thought," he said to himself. "Well then, good thing I've been training. So let's…huh?"
It just occurred to him that he'd had maybe a dozen different monsters surrounding him and yet while he'd been distracted, none of them had attacked. It was a stupid move on his part but it seemed to have worked out this time. Still, what were they doing?
He looked around and felt his blood go cold as he saw them marching away from him, heading straight for his house.
"What the actual hell?"
Luke kept his distance from the creatures but he knew he couldn't keep that up forever. He had to take these things down eventually. They had somehow tracked him to his home. If this was Swarm's handiwork, then it wouldn't end until he was brought down.
But Luke didn't know where Swarm was. So until he did, he would just have to take these things down and hope that would give him a breather.
The problem was, how the hell was he supposed to take these things down? He'd already tried several times to tear them apart and they just reformed into smaller pieces. Now he had a whole flock of demon dirt monsters chasing after him. And the smaller they were, the faster they were, forcing him to crank up his speed.
"You are really getting on my nerves," he growled, dodging another attack. He grabbed the creature with his power and pushed down. After careful observation, he knew his power wasn't just lifting things up or holding things in place. It was like there was this invisible substance all around them that he could manipulate. He could bend it, strengthen it, and shape it any way he wanted. He used it now, squeezing down on the creature so hard that it crumbled into dust.
Just as quickly it began to reform. Luke grunted and tried to squeeze it again when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side. He lost his grip and nearly tumbled out of the sky, only just righting himself. He turned and saw one of the smaller bat-like creatures digging into his skin.
"Get off!" he bellowed, blasting it away. He shot forward, trying to gain even more distance, but he was losing his grip. He would need a place to land soon. But, once he did, the creatures on the ground would soon catch up. He could still feel them down there, keeping up with almost no problem. He guessed creatures like that didn't need to worry about lack of stamina.
What do I do? he thought, trying to stave off the pain. What could he do? He wasn't the best when it came to strategy, even in football games. He really only had a one-track mind. Get the ball to the end zone or stop other team from getting ball to end zone. That was it.
Trying to find a way to defeat dirt monsters who kept coming back. That was so beyond him.
He was tempted to try constantly tearing them apart until they got smaller and smaller but then the horrifying image of them burrowing into his skin and tearing him apart from the inside without him seeing it appeared. No, he needed something else. But what?
He felt another hard throb of pain and fell a bit lower. He couldn't keep this up much longer. He needed some sort of plan, now.
He felt it and acted without thinking, rolling through the air just before the barbed dirt tentacle could strike him. The monster flapped its wings and soared right for him. Luke tried to dodge it again but this time wasn't quite able to, his speed slowed down, and the barb hit him in the leg.
"Agh!" he cried out, clutching the wound and dropping a few yards in the air. The monster made another sound and came about for another attack, its brethren not far behind.
Got to get away, Luke thought, trying to will his body to move faster. But it was no use as the monster rose up above him and then dropped down, aiming to plunge its tentacle into his chest.
He didn't know how he did it. He didn't even truly understand what he did. He just moved, his hand coming up right as the monster dove for him. He dodged past its barb, getting on the inside, and slammed his palm into its chest.
"Go to hell!" he roared and blasted it with all his power. The monster made one groan before it exploded into a million pieces of dirt. Luke breathed in heavily, waiting for it to reform but this time it didn't. The dirt just continued to trick down to the ground below.
"What…what just happened?" he muttered, taking in shaky breaths. But he didn't have time to wonder as the rest of the pack closed in.
"Ok, so turns out they're not after me," Travis said aloud, speeding over to stand between the horde of dirt monsters and his home. "I'm going to do my best to not take that personally but just know, I'm going to beat you up even harder now."
If only I knew how I could back that up, he thought. Well, there is one thing.
"Let's see how you like this!" He focused all his energy and electricity surged throughout his body, collecting in his hands which he had shaped into two spears. "Lightning laser!" He shot his power out, letting it form into two long lances of lightning which he swung wide.
They cut through everything in their path, slicing the monsters right through the middle and causing every single one to fall apart in two pieces.
Travis grinned, though he currently felt like he'd just run up a hill before he'd gotten his powers. And he wasn't so sure it would last long.
Yep. As he watched, the severed sections began to writhe and reform, though it did seem a bit slower this time. He acted fast, grabbing the shovel again and getting to work, speed-striking every monster he could before it could reform. He even bashed one back into dust. But, no matter what, the second he stopped they would just start reforming again. And every time he did use his speed powers now, he got more tired.
He was starting to wish he hadn't used that lightning attack. Any lightning part of his power was a huge drain on him at the moment and it was clear that move hadn't worked on these things.
That was, until he spotted one prone form.
He hadn't thought about it, but all of these things were in constant motion, even when he cut them up as they instantly began reforming. But not this one. He ran over and stayed in speed mode, letting the world slow down completely as he inspected the creature. It was a top half that had fallen off when he'd severed them all, it's arms shaped like lobster claws and a wolf-like muzzle. But it was cracking and falling apart. And, most importantly, it wasn't reforming.
But why? What made this one different?
Because it hadn't hit the ground.
It hit him like, well, a bolt of lightning. The dirt body had fallen off the rest of it when sliced but instead landed on one of his mom's rose bushes and hadn't actually hit the ground. Which meant that in order to reform these things needed to be touching the ground.
Still, when he'd struck them with the shovel head, it had done nothing. So maybe, it required his own power or something if the lightning worked.
"Ok, don't have a full plan, but the beginnings of one anyway," he said, thinking hard. He needed a way to get all these to not touch the ground before slicing them apart. And he had one idea of how to do it. He just hated it.
"Alright," he said, cracking his knuckles and getting ready to feel the burn. "Let's do this."
They were all still in slow motion so he acted, grabbing the first monster, a large tentacled one, and activated his lightning into another, smaller laser, slicing all its feet off quickly. He panted a little but pushed through it, lifting the creature up into the air a little so it remained suspended. With any luck, he'd be done before it could hit the ground again.
"Alright, that's one severed," he said, looking at the horde surrounding him. "Time to kill the rest of you. Don't move, ok? Great."
Luke wasn't sure what happened but he really hoped he could do it again.
That hope seemed to be in vain.
"Come on, do that again!" he cried, pushing out with his power. But instead of the massive blast he did earlier, all he succeeded in doing was constantly shoving the creatures around. While it did give him some breathing room, it also weighed down on his energy and he was running low already. What the hell had that power been? He tried to remember how he had felt in that moment but any time he stopped to think about it, one of the other creatures would attack.
"Can't you guys just give me a freaking break!" He dove for the ground and decided to try something different. As the creatures gave chase, he looked around and grinned as he spotted something. He flew closer to it and, just as a winged wolverine creature slashed at him, he twisted out of the way, flew right behind it, and gave it a big shove with his power. The creature dropped down directly into the pool below, creating a large splash. It tried to fly back up but it was already dissolving, turning into mush.
"Can't reform, now can you?" Luke grinned. "Alright, time for the rest of you freaks."
He turned just in time, the other monsters converging. He honestly didn't know if they had brains in there or not but he couldn't take the chance of them avoiding. He had to handle this in one shot. "This is just like football," he told himself, imagining himself on the field. Except he was flying. And the other team were actual monsters who were also flying. And there was no ball. Except maybe the monsters were since he wanted to throw them into the end zone. Which was the pool. In other words, it was nothing like football. "Who cares," he growled, readying himself.
One of the larger ones let out a screech and three of its tails whipped at him, barbs forming all over them. He flew right between them, narrowly avoiding getting skewered, and grabbed hold of the creature with his mind. He then threw it right into another monster, a big chunky one with enormous fangs, and shoved them together.
"Hold on tight cause it's just gonna get more bumpy." He reached out and managed to pluck the two small bat-like creatures and slam them with the other two. It was getting difficult to maintain but he pushed through it, yanking another monster out of the air to join the pile.
There were still too many and he didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. He had to constantly dodge around the attacks while still holding the growing pile of beasts firmly in place. And he was getting more and more injured, cuts appearing across his entire body.
"Come on Decker," he said to himself. "You can do this. You have the power and this is what it was meant for…"
He froze, the whole world stopping for a second. He was right. This was what it was meant for. Not for winning games of football but for fighting. For defeating these stupid monsters.
This was something he could do that was finally right.
He grinned fiercely. "Alright then. I hope you're ready cause I got one last trick up my sleeve." He formed it his mind, a rope-like form that connected his hand to the ball of screeching monsters he held in check. He grabbed hold tight and swung it, putting everything he had into it. The pile moved, forming into a large, invisibly tethered wrecking ball that soared across the sky. The other monsters attempted to dodge but Luke wouldn't let them, striking each one as he swung around and around, going faster with each turn, not letting a single one escape him. If one of the monsters flew out of reach, then he just extended the rope until it was within reach and got slammed into the now enormous pile. If they went up, he went up too, hurling the wrecking ball high enough to catch it. Pretty soon, the sky was clear again and Luke was more than exhausted.
"Time to wrap this up," he said when he felt something. He looked over and saw all the creatures in the ball were dissolving. No, that wasn't right. They were…shifting. The dirt was writhing and swirling like it was a liquid. Then, a giant claw appeared, the rest of the arm following suit. Then a wing and then a head began to appear. They were all forming into one giant creature.
Travis heaved up the he-lost-count-so-let's-just-say-twentieth monster into the air and took a shaky breath. His fingers were covered in blisters from the constant lightning lasers and he felt like he would throw up at any second. And there were still several creatures left to go.
"Come on Thunderbolt," he told himself. "No one ever said this was going to be easy."
He moved onto the next one, a strange multi-armed monster that looked like an actual spider monkey. At least it only had two legs. He hated the multi-legged creatures since that used up even more lightning power.
He channeled his electrical power, biting his lip as his fingers burned in pain, and swiftly sliced through the legs. He grabbed the dirt spider monkey and heaved it up until it was a foot up in the air.
"Guess all that training paid off," he grunted. "Should have done more lightning endurance stuff though." He really wished he could dunk his fingers into a bucket of ice cold water right now. "Alright, onto the next one."
He didn't know long it took, though in reality it would be less than a second, but he moved on from each and every monster, slicing through them and hoisting them up until the entire horde was now suspended in the air.
"Step one complete," he said, panting a little. His fingers were numb now which felt a lot better but probably wasn't a good thing. Still he'd done it. "Now, what was step two again? Oh, yeah."
He grabbed the large trash can and took out all the bags inside, laying them on the ground. He picked up the first monster top and carried it to the can, shoving the creature in. When it wouldn't fit, he'd take the shovel and smash it inside. Then he repeated it with the next monster and the next. He consistently used the shovel to smash the monsters back into dirt so they'd all fit. That way, he was able to get 10 monsters in the first can before moving on to the recyclables bin.
"Don't know if dirt can be considered recyclable, but oh well," he said, pounding the latest monster into the bin. "Should be though."
It took time and with each second that passed for him, the greater the strain. He had tested how long he could stay in speed mode so he was prepared for this. Still, he was beginning to push it. If he didn't stop soon, he'd be out of stamina for hours. He could already feel his stomach grumbling up a storm, needing calories.
"Knew I should have kept an emergency stash on me."
But soon enough, he was done, all the dirt monsters packed away. He clapped his hands and grinned. "Well, mom won't be happy about all the dirt in the trash cans, but at least they're not trying to destroy the house. That reminds me." He looked back at the house and frowned. "If you guys weren't after me, then what the hell were you after?"
This had to be Swarm's doing, though it was still unclear how microbots could do this. But he'd want to kill Travis for what he'd done. So why ignore him and go for the house?
Travis felt another stomach grumble and decided to push those questions aside for now. He took a deep breath, got into a fighting stance, and left speed mode.
He half expected the trash cans to explode in a dirt volcano or something but nope. Not even a bump. The dirt in there was as dead as it was thirty minutes ago.
The same could not be said for the dirt in front of him.
For a second, it looked like the severed leg portions were confused, as if wondering what happened to their top parts. But they quickly got over it and began to move, the dirt shifting around so fast that it was like they were in the middle of a tornado. The dirt all collected in one place, rising up to form a new creature.
"Aw hell," Travis muttered. "Alright, guess we're doing this one last time."
He waited patiently as the creature formed in a simplistic human form this time except with sharp claws and vampiric fangs. So, a vampire. It looked right at him and charged.
"Alright, at least it's just two legs," Travis shrugged. "Now let's get this…done?" He blinked, not sure what had just happened. He had tried to enter speed mode but nothing happened. "Wait. Come on, don't fail me now." He focused and the world slowed down but just as quickly it sped back up. "Oh crap, I'm out of…YAH!" he cried, falling back as the monster crashed into him. "Yikes, no biting!" he complained, holding the thing back as it kept trying to kill him with its fangs. "What, your mom never teach you any manners? Cause when I bit my sister when I was five, I got an earful-YOW!"
The creature had struck his hip with its claws, digging into his side painfully. He grimaced and then glared up at the thing. "Ok, time to end this. Lightning laser!" He held up his fingers and summoned all his power into them.
They fizzled and popped once before going still.
"Well…that was embarrassing. Ah, stop that!" He pushed as hard as he could but the dirt vampire thing was too powerful, pressing down on him. Pretty soon its claws would start tearing into him and he couldn't hold back its fangs for much longer. But he was all out of power. He'd stayed in speed mode too long and used lightning too much. He needed a recharge now. But he didn't see and chocolate bars lying around. The only thing was…
"Coincidences, I love you," he muttered and thrust his arm out.
By some miracle, he managed to grab hold of it and he stuffed the head right down the monster's throat, stopping it for a split second. And that was all the time Travis needed to reach out further and twist the nozzle to full power.
"Open wide, Dirtcula!"
The garden hose practically exploded with water, sending a whole stream down the monster's throat, dissolving it from the inside out. It spluttered and tried to move, but it couldn't make any solid form.
"You just got scienced," Travis proclaimed, getting up to his knees as he watched the thing turn into a muck puddle. "And here's some more." He reached into the puddle, wincing at how dirty it was, and drew on the last of his power, sending a current of electricity through the muddy water. He didn't know why his power disrupted the creature's sentience or whatever, but it worked as the mud stopped writhing about, finally going still.
"That's right," he said, falling back. "You just…stay down…ok? I think…I might…just take…a nap…before I wash…my hands…if that's…ok." He didn't finish as his eyes closed, the world going dark.
"Oh," Luke muttered. He didn't realize they could do that. Not that it mattered anyway. They were all about to be mush anyway. With one final heave, he thrust the monster pile right down into the pool, causing an even bigger splash, water slopping all over the random people's yard. Luke hoped they didn't wake up from that but he quickly became occupied with something else.
The new giant monster wasn't dissolving.
It growled, its claw scraping into the stone tiles surrounding the pool as it tried to pull itself out. Its back half was quickly turning into sludge but the front half was still going strong. Luke grimaced and used his power on the claw, trying to force the thing back into the water.
"Come on you ugly art project!" he seethed, pushing as hard as he could. "Just…go…in…AH!"
He didn't see it coming but a very thin tentacle made of dirt had whipped around and struck him as he got closer. He felt it digging into him but swiftly grabbed hold of it and ripped it out of him, throwing it into the pool as well.
He felt his shirt growing wet and had pain blossoming all over him. But he couldn't focus on that. He had a job to finish. He dug deep, imagining himself against a giant football player. His team was counting on him. He couldn't let this guy pass. He had to push them back, no matter what. So that's what he'd do.
"RAH!" he roared, throwing everything he had into one last push, shoving the claw off the tiles and into the water. The monster roared, tentacles sprouting from its head to try and latch onto anything but Luke wouldn't let them, pulling up the water as well and swirling it up high like a reverse whirlpool, only to slam it back down onto the monster, forcing it down into the pool. It gave one last mushy growl before dissolving into muck.
"That's right," Luke said, finally releasing his hold. "You go on and dissolve, slime ball."
He took a minute to rest and take a few breaths before he realized he was on the ground. In someone else's yard. Whose lights had just turned on.
"Uh oh," he muttered and took to the air, moaning from the effort.
"Holy hell, what happened to the pool?" he heard someone say as he flew over the roof. He grimaced, feeling a little guilty. But he couldn't dwell on that. He had to get home.
He knew he couldn't make it there flying though. He was way too drained for that, so he came down for a landing, dropping the last few feet and nearly collapsing but he just managed to catch himself, leaning against a car.
"Alright Decker," he told himself. "Just get home. You got this."
He never saw it coming. One second, he was putting his foot forward to begin the walk home, the next something grabbed him from behind and threw him across the street. He didn't even have time to try to fly again before he struck the side of a car.
He gasped in pain, feeling a pop from his shoulder. Definitely dislocated. He'd dislocated it before in a football game and the familiar pain was not welcome. At least he did not how to reset it.
He looked up and cursed as he saw several more monsters stomp towards him. He'd been so focused on the monsters in the air that he'd completely forgotten about the ones on the ground. And now he was going to pay for that, it seemed.
He managed to get to his feet and did his best to not collapse again. He had no idea how he was going to beat them but he couldn't go down like this. He wished he could just fly away from them but they seemed to be able to chase him effortlessly and tirelessly. Plus, he didn't know long he would be able to stay in the air anyway.
He saw the horde approaching so quickly held his shoulder firm with his mind and popped it back into place, almost crying out from the throb of pain. It did feel much better a second later though. Now that that was handled, he focused on the monsters.
Some of them were made of dirt but most were actually made of asphalt or concrete, as if they were formed from the street. There were about a dozen of them and each looked powerful enough to crush him with one blow.
Which meant he had to finish this in one blow.
"Ok Luke, just focus," he told himself. He'd done it before, with the one winged monster. He had somehow completely obliterated it with his power. Now he just had to do it again, times 12. Or he'd die. Absolutely no pressure.
The first monster, one that looked similar to Sullivan from Monsters Inc. except with no hair, charged the last few steps, bringing its fists up to smash down on Luke. He threw up his power and just managed to shift the fists enough so that they missed him. But then the tail whipped around and struck him in the chest, sending him rolling down the street.
"Really…can't catch a break…today," he muttered, rubbing his chest. Definitely felt like he might have cracked a rib there. But he didn't have time to worry about it as the next monster, a large reptilian thing, snapped its jaws at him. He leapt out of the way and hopped into the air, floating for a second before landing a ways away.
"Come on, how did I do it?" he asked furiously, looking down at his hands as if they would reveal that answer. But nothing came. The horde was fast approaching. He could feel the vibrations in his feet as they stomped closer. He was officially out of time. He couldn't fly anymore and he couldn't run. So this was it. If he couldn't pull off that move, then he would die.
It's when it's all or nothing that your true strength comes out, he heard his dad say. Well, that couldn't be more true than right now.
He looked at the upcoming horde and brought out whatever was left of his power. They were seconds away. He gritted his teeth, ready to try just pushing them away as the first one raised its fist, when he felt it. He felt everything. His mind was reaching out to everything around, showing him where everything was in the entire area. He could feel it all, see it all in his head. And he could see inside the creatures, see what made them form. And he knew how to take them down.
"Boom."
He used up everything he had, throwing it all into the one move as he connected with each of the creatures and tore them apart from the inside, blowing them up and causing twelve consecutive shockwaves to ripple out, showering the area with concrete and asphalt fragment. Car alarms went off all down the street and dogs suddenly began to howl. But Luke didn't care anymore. He just fell down to his knees and slumped over, dead to the world.