~Subject may experience episodes of intense physical and emotional stress~
Fingers of ice creep over the room, bathing each and every thing with the chilling dawn of frozen sunlight. The fingers walk across the floor and climb the bed. The invisible hand of winter grabs the blanket and flings it off of his body. His face is caressed by the icy fingers, turning it a light faint blue color. The old house shifts somewhere deep in its bowels, and the groan of foundations and studs and crossbeams rings loudly in Ichabod's ears. He awakes with a start and looks around himself. He notices the girl in the bed with him. She's Tejano...
The cold that helped to bring him to consciousness is replaced by a shiver of doubt and sudden fear. Where is he? He knows at least that he didn't sleep with the girl, that is something he wouldn't forget. And he knew that no matter what state of mind he was in the night before, his subconscious wouldn't have let him do this to Deidre. He is safe in that assumption.
Ichabod climbs out of bed and looks at the clock. 9:58 am. This nearly strikes him as funny, since the last time he'd checked a clock it had read 9:57 pm. He wishes he could account for the last twelve hours of his life-twelve hours he'd never get back-and he makes his way downstairs. The crash of waves coming from the bay window assures him that he is still in Myrtle Beach, or some beach.
Stepping out of the door on the front of the house, Ichabod takes in his surroundings. A new chilling wave sweeps over him as he realizes he is in Charleston. He runs to his truck--Where the fuck is his truck?
Lacking the time and will for pleasantries, Ichabod runs under the carport and sees the girl's car. A Camaro. Perfect. He elbows the driver side window, watching it implode with satisfaction, and unlocks the door. He steps inside and hot wires the car, firing it to life. He only hesitates for a moment before tearing onto the street and heads north.
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The girl in that bed is the first thought that enters his head. He feels clammy all over thinking about it, but he faces the truth. She looked strikingly familiar, like someone he once loved. A woman who shared this business with him, but who he had come to hate with every fiber of his being. A girl named Selena.
Why the hell had he been with a girl that looked like Selena? It was a question that, no matter how much he groped for it, he could not come to the answer for. All in all it made him feel uneasy and nauseaus.
The lack of warmth existant in the car keeps him from vomiting. Instead his mind turns to things at hand. Gladiator is very close, and he is going to do everything in his power to be ready. The number of people to go through is rapidly diminishing due to politics in the fed. Ichabod couldn't pretend to care. Twenty men in his way or two men in his way, he intends to go all the way this time.
Two men in his way--that is closer to reality than any assumption. After watching the competition wilt like a rose on the hottest day of the year, Ichabod had discovered his main challenges in this event. One was Chad Harzy.
Harzy had proved himself worthy of concern in a match. Ichabod had underestimated him and paid the price. Harzy doesn't seem like a man who is going to let the backstage politics work against him. He is out for accomplishment, and this match could give him the edge he needs to turn that talent into gold. But Harzy has two things to reckon with now, and both of those things have to do with Ichabod himself. The first being simply being in a match with the evil redneck, and the other is the one that Ichabod knows will give himself the edge, and thats that Ichabod "owes him one."
Now Ichabod "owes one" to a lot of people, and some of them he owes more than one. But Harzy had beaten Ichabod.. well, had beaten Archer and caused Ichabod to lose. This puts Harzy in a very unfavorable position, because now there is a vendetta, though Ichabod respects him for his fair win, he can't let it rest at that. Everyone that he "owes one" to eventually gets taken care of, and Harzy's turn is going to be at Gladiator. There it will be just Ichy and Chad, no third man to pin, only a sea of losers outside the ring waiting for Ichabod to toss Chad over the ropes. Ichabod knows now that that won't be easy, but he also knows that it will be done, one way or another.
The other man is Brother Brimstone, the freak who is at times religious, and others evil. Most of the people here believe he is prophetic, others think he is the antichrist. But Ichabod thinks he is just having an identity crisis. He hasn't liked Brimstone since the day he returned here, and he has been waiting patiently for his chance in the ring with him. Here it is then.
Ichabod once knew another evil preacher. His own brother, Reverend. He knows from experience that preachers gone bad are unpredictable and practically unstoppable. They usually still believe that God is on their side and is backing them the whole way through. This may or may not be the case, but their belief in it is so strong that it fuels their will to win. There is a phrase somewhere in Matthew that says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me" or something like that. Because of this belief, they also believe they are untouchable, or invincible due to divine intervention or some shit like that. This means that Brimstone will put life and limb on the line to stay in his current mode. Defeating him will be no easy task.. But it won't be impossible.
There are few others that cross Ichabod's mind on his way home. Some are former challenges, Archer, Rage, all overcome. Some are people he's never met or cared about, Death, Anarky, Lord Miller, Necron, both of the Dickhead Experience, PKA, Torment, Victor Dark. Well the Dickhead Experience somehow had gotten somewhat of a stature here, though only Brimstone and his God knows how. And there was Miss Odette, who Ichy looks foward to facing in the ring, for his own reasons. Actually the reasons are probably the same reason every man here would love to meet her on the mat, in more ways than one. Ah but he won't let that get in his way of winning. He has Deidre and doesn't really need to let another pretty face distract him, and Deidre is enough pretty to last him a lifetime.
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