Leibräubers 

Chapter One

William (Bill) Thompson

Bill had been brought up a Christian, although it wasn’t a strict upbringing it was a solid one. His family only went to church for funerals and weddings but his father insisted that they pray at the table and before bed, so that God could have a chance to forgive them for their sins. Other than that his home life was pretty average.

He was the middle child tormented by an older brother who picked on him continuously and a younger sister for whom ‘butter wouldn’t melt!’ He was always in trouble with his father but the majority of the time it wasn’t his fault. His mother wasn’t as gullible and she could see right through his brother’s and sister’s lies. When his father’s back was turned she’d slip him a packet of sweets or a cake to make up for it. Putting her finger to pursed lips to make sure he’d be quiet.

Bill loved his mother immensely, he guessed he loved his father too but it wasn’t the same, which would explain why he wasn’t as upset as everyone else when his father died. His father had left him with some good values, installed in his brain from the minute he was able to learn. The value that would always stand out most, was his father telling him that he had to work hard to get what he wanted from life. He would never get things handed to him without some effort first and the more effort the better the reward.

Bill went to the local primary school and the not so local high school where he was a good student, mostly A’s with the occasional B but being a good student meant he was bullied and teased by the other children. How he hated them. He used to find solitude in the school library, the only place where he could spend his breaks inside with constant adult supervision. On one hand it was a blessing because it helped him improve his grades but, on the other hand, it was a curse because it didn’t encourage him to mix with the other children. No one could blame him if all they were going to do was bully him when he did. It’s no wonder he opted for the quiet life.

Bill loved the library for more than just the reason that it was free from bullies. It was a quiet, relaxing place where you could pick up a book and learn about the history of the planet or just read a good story and get carried away on adventure that would never really happen in real life.

In 1992 he went onto university where he studied law. For the first time in his life he had friends, people who were interested in the same things as him but most importantly of all, people who didn’t ridicule him. He finally fitted in.

It was at this stage in his life where he was offered a very strange path and where we shall join the story.

“Hey Bill, I’m off out, you want some beer bringing back?”

Bill looked up from his book, watching the tall, gangly ginger-haired kid grab his denim jacket from the hook on the door. Dressed in worn-looking jeans, a Nirvana T-shirt, trainers and reeking of cheap aftershave he was sure to be a hit with the ladies.

“Na,” Bill replied, “I’ll probably give up on this soon and go down the bar for a couple myself. You gonna be there?”

“Yeah, I’m meeting Raquelle.” He said rolling his tongue on the ‘R’. “I’ll see you down there.”

Bill laughed to himself as he hoped Raquelle liked men who seemingly bathed in cheap perfume.

Bill and Spence had been roomies now for two years and it was funny how much they had in common. They both kept a tight ship when it came to the tidiness of their room, unlike the other boys in the dorm who had so much rubbish, clothes and books strewn about you couldn’t see the carpet, let alone vacuum it. Bill and Spence, particularly Bill, were both methodical in picking up after themselves. Bill’s motto was ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’.

They both enjoyed the odd beer at the University bar, the odd trip to the movies when their wallets would allow and their favourite food was pizza with extra cheese and double pepperoni, which seemed to be an essential dietary need at least twice a week.

Bill’s thoughts returned to Spence’s date with Raquelle, how could a babe like Raquelle be interested in a guy like Spence? They’d only been seeing each other for a week now and Bill had only met her twice but he knew guys like him and Spence didn’t have a chance with girls like her. She had to have some hidden motive. Of course, Bill hadn’t told Spence his feelings on the subject, Spence was too happy and Bill wasn’t going to be the one to hurt him.

It wasn’t long before Bill was interrupted by a quiet knock on the door. “Come in!” Bill sighed, closing his book and giving up on revision until tomorrow.

As the door was closed softly, Bill looked up from his book to greet his visitor. “Raquelle?” he said, puzzled to see her there. “Spence has gone to the bar to meet you.”

“I know,” Raquelle smiled, chewing on the tip of the sunglasses she had removed after closing the door. “I thought I’d just pop round to see my little Bill first.”

Raquelle’s long blonde hair shimmered in the light as she walked over to Bill’s desk .

“What’s up?” Bill asked trying to sound cool as he stood up from his chair.

Bill couldn’t help but notice her slender figure through the thin fabric of her flowered summer dress, seemingly floating and turning translucent as she passed through the stream of sunlight from the large gothic styled window of the dorm room.

“I’ve been thinking Bill. We need to get to know each other a little better, you being Spence’s best buddy and all.”

“Well, I’ll be down in the bar shortly to join you both for a drink. Let’s get to know each other then.” Bill said, smiling nervously and trying to think of someway to get her out of the room. He’d never done well with women, they made him feel nervous and on edge. It’s not that he didn’t fancy women, he just didn’t have enough courage to ask one out. They were just alien to him.

You couldn’t blame Bill for being attracted to Raquelle, who wouldn’t be, she was a babe. But she was also his best friend’s girl, so as Raquelle approached him, Bill backed away. He kept backing off, maintaining eye contact to be sure that the distance between them stayed the same. Feeling something push against the backs of his knees Bill turned around to find his bed in the way. He was just about to shuffle round it when he was shoved on to the bed. Landing on the soft downy duvet, all Bill could do was swallow and watch helplessly as Raquelle climbed on top.

“Raquelle,” Bill pleaded when he found his voice again. “I really don’t think you want to do this, Spence is my best mate and it would hurt him to know what you’re up to.”

Raquelle didn’t answer, she just began unbuttoning Bill’s shirt and then proceeded to kiss Bill’s chest, stopping at each nipple to lick it gently. As she did so, Bill couldn’t help but moan with pleasure. Bill couldn‘t believe that despite the constant worry that Spence would walk through the door at any given moment, he was still getting turned on.

Suddenly, there was a crash like thunder and bright, white light flashed from the corner of the room. Raquelle seemed oblivious to it and as Bill looked over to the corner of the room a man in a long black leather jacket seemed to walk out through the light.

“What the hell?” Bill said not believing his eyes.

“Stop right there Leibräuber!” He shouted, his English accented with German.

Raquelle looked up and hissed at him, her face had changed into a hideously wrinkled, somewhat distorted picture of its former self. It brought to Bill’s mind the classic horror film ‘Evil Dead’, a much watched and much loved flick. Bill recoiled and tried to get out from underneath her but Raquelle’s strength seemed reinforced, abnormally strong for someone of Raquelle’s small stature.

“You will never stop us Shadow! You can try but there is just one of you against millions of us! You might as well give up now because you’ll be one of us soon!” But although it came out of Raquelle’s mouth, Bill knew it wasn’t her voice. She then poked her tongue out, forming it into a point, from the centre came a long black, almost needle-like thing. It reminded Bill of a porcupine quill. Raquelle, seemingly forgetting about Bill, propelled herself off the bed, flying across the room and knocking ‘Shadow’, who was at least twice her size, to the floor. Under different circumstances, this would have been extremely comical and had it of been a film, Bill probably would have laughed his socks off but as it was he felt like pinching himself because it couldn’t be real, it had to be a nightmare!

Bill looked on, amazed at Raquelle’s strength, as they struggled, rolling around on the floor. ‘Shadow’ gained control by rolling Raquelle underneath him and pinning her arms under his legs. As she wriggled he pulled a funny-looking item out from under his coat and hit a button which seemed to produced a long, thin laser light.

Bill stood up, ready to run to the door and shout for help or more than likely run away scared like a girl. Grabbing the door handle Bill turned to have one more look, as if to confirm that this was really happening. It was then he saw Raquelle’s leg lift off the floor and knee the ‘Shadow’ straight in the back. The strange looking object in his hand fell away, skidding across the floor and landed at Bill’s feet. He looked back up at the scrum to find that Raquelle had gained control once more, ‘Shadow’ seemingly in a lot of pain.

“Grab the cutter!” Shadow shouted to Bill.

Bill stared blankly at him.

“Down there at your feet,” Shadow said. “You’ve got to help me. Pick up the cutter, press the yellow button on the side and slice off her head!”

“What!” Bill yelled back in horror not believing what Shadow had just said.

“Slice off her head!” Shadow’s head was moving from side to side trying to avoid the long black probe.

Bill picked up the cutter between his thumb and forefinger, looking at it closely it seemed to be vibrating, but Bill then realised it was his hand that was shaking.

“Hurry!” Shadow ordered.

“But I…”

“Do it, the fate of the world is at your fingertips! If she kills me then there is no hope for mankind!”

He had to be dreaming. Bill examined the cutter, finding the yellow button he winced as he pressed it. He jumped as a long, thin, amber light appeared from the cutter and proceeded to burn through the leg of his desk.

“Shit!” He said taking his finger off the button.

As Bill stared at the laser, ‘Shadow’ regained his strength and his position of hold on Raquelle, rolling her underneath him. “Do it now!” he yelled, “Quickly, I don’t know how long I can hold her!”.

Pointing the cutter at Raquelle’s neck, Bill pressed the yellow button, and began to move the laser light across it. Her neck began to smoke, omitting a smell like which could only be described as burning pork fat. It was very hard to keep slicing, Raquelle kept moving her head around and screaming. Bill got about halfway through when the noise and movement stopped. He was about to turn the cutter off when Shadow said, “Don’t stop now she’s just pretending to be dead. You must cut it completely off to sever the survival cord.”

“The what?” Bill couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Mind you he couldn’t believe what he was doing either.

Shadow looked him straight in the eye. “There’s no time to explain this you’ve got to finish it now!”