The Scrapyard Dungeon Chapter 5: Night of the Boggles (Patreon)

Should have gone to sleep, didn't, and wrote until 3 am. Part of writing this story is the setting, and it takes time. I go down rabbit holes trying to find out prices in 1993 or what rifle an ex-police officer might use, and then twenty minutes later, finally returning to the story. So much easier in a fantasy story. :)

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Huck had planned on sleeping in Charlie's room tonight and dumped his blankets and pillow by the door. Next to his bedding was the steel spike puller and the smaller pry bar. There wasn't much light coming in the windows, but there was some. He saw his Uncle getting out of bed and cursing about missing the play. "Charlie! I think we have a burglar. Do you have a flashlight up here?"

Huck heard the door to the closet open. "Burglars? Yeah, I got a flashlight right here." Bright light lit up the doorway, and Huck made sure not to look and ruin his vision even momentarily. He pulled on the armguard he used with Bruno, then a heavy work glove for his other hand, and grabbed the prybar. He heard something outside the door and hesitated. His mouth was dry, and for a second, he thought of pushing something in front of the door...but he knew they wouldn't go away. He could hear noise from the window as they smashed something, probably the generator. High-pitched laughter followed each loud bang of metal on metal. And from somewhere, an organ's low, throbbing sounds came, playing something that wouldn't be out of place at a funeral. It filled the air and seemed to suck the hope out of Huck and replace it with fear that made his mouth dry.

Then the knob was turning, and Huck flung open the door and swung down hard with the spike puller. Twenty pounds of metal rod came down, propelled by the muscles of a strong and scared sixteen-year-old boy. The boggle took the blow on the top of its head with the sound of a watermelon dropped on concrete.

Another was two steps down and hesitated. Huck had the high ground and used it, stepping into the stairway. His blow hit the thing in the shoulder and knocked it down, where it sat, cursing and trying to move its useless arm. As it started to get up, it took a boot to the chin that sent it to the bottom of the stairs. Nothing else was moving, and Huck checked his own room but saw nothing. "I'm going down, Charlie; back me up and give me light."

Charlie sounded confident as he followed behind. It had been over a decade since he'd been in uniform, but underneath his recent bouts of dementia were all the years of training while on the police force. "I've got your back, partner; take it slow, and don't give them a shot."

The basement door was open, and the lock was broken. The back door was also mostly open, and Huck heard the voices of several Boggles outside. He slammed shut the basement door and put a chair under the doorknob. It wouldn't hold long, but hopefully long enough. Outside, in the backyard, was a chaotic scene. Two creatures were slamming branches into the destroyed generator, and two more stood across from Huck, guarding a taller creature. It looked like a boggle, with the same thin limbs and huge clawed hands. The over-large mouth was full of teeth. But rank grey hair hung down to its knees, giving it a wild appearance and glowing blue eyes showed more intelligence than the crazed creatures Huck had dealt with before. And it spoke in a voice like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard.

"You were bad, Huck. Now you take your punishment and the old one as well. No more fun stealing memories and thoughts. Tonight we take it all, and no one will remember you were here. Go play with Huck, little ones, and then we'll hunt the old one."

To His horror, four more creatures appeared out of the darkness, bearing old steak knives that Huck remembered Ginny buying a set of that they didn't need. He backed to the doorway to avoid being flanked but heard something banking on the basement door. The first two rushed him, running with knives held high. A voice in Huck's memory laughed and said, "That's a good way to get a gut full of boot." He took a knife blow on his left arm and kicked the other one in the face, black blood flying as its nose shattered. Two others rushed past it. Huck hit the one trying to stab him in the arm with the iron bar twice, killing it. The old spike pulling was great for splitting heads.

The next two boggles were tougher. When Huck kicked one away, the other lunged at his leg, grabbing hold and stabbing him in the thigh with the knife. It pierced the leather pants he was wearing, and he was sure it went into his leg, but other than a momentary twinge, it didn't hurt. Huck stabbed down at the thing, injuring it along its back and shoulder, and it stabbed him again. Huck knew he'd taken a wound that time, but still no pain. This time he split the thing's skull open. The two boggles he'd given broken noses were up and yelling. Huck realized the other four weren't in the fight yet, because two-hundred pounds of fur, fangs, and a bad attitude was running at them. This was his territory!

Snarling and barking, Bruno had come through the gate, his bulk breaking the flimsy wood. Mastiffs have a lot of strength in their jaws, as a boggle found out when Bruno crushed his leg and shattered the thin bone on his first bite. He snarled and shook the thing, then tossed it to the ground. Lonesome and Cinders were on it, darting in and out and leaving bloody wounds each time. Augie barked from the rear, but the half-grown pup didn't have the instincts yet of the other dogs. Bruno leaped at a second victim, crunching down on a thin neck. The thing stabbed him in the shoulder twice, as it died. Bruno swung it back and forth like a rat he'd caught, the body and head flopping back and forth.

It looked like all four would charge the dogs, and Huck didn't want that. He charged the two wounded ones, smashing one in the head twice until it quit moving, blocking the other with his reinforced left arm. The fabric was getting tattered now, the mesh underneath showing. The larger bobble raced at Huck, and he barely blocked its claws. They cut through the mesh of his left arm and came away bloody, but it felt like a shallow slash. The thing stared at him and stepped back. "Oh, cheating. Did Huck get smart? Did Huck take a reward? Do you even know what you have done, little Huck? Can you feel it yet? Why the wounds don't hurt? But they will!"

It lunged again, but Huck struck as well, hitting it in the face, ruining one of the bright blue eyes and shattering its cheek. The creature's claws came across his side, slicing his jacket and cutting his side to the bone. Huck fell back, stunned. The beast licked its claws. "Real blood this time, from a real wound. Huck is out of what made him special. So sad." Kneeling and holding his side, Huck saw that Bruno was injured and down, but the other three dogs, even little Auggie, were dealing with the last attacker. If only he could move...

"Stay down, Huck." Charlie stood behind him, legs spread. He wasn't holding a flashlight' it was a rifle. On it was mounted the bright light that had been giving Huck light to fight by. Charlie fired and put a hole in the tall boggle's chest; it stared down at it and laughed. "Oh, Charlie, you haven't learned the lesson Huck learned. Iron is King."

Charlie looked at it. "I know you. I saw you in my nightmares!" He started firing as fast as he could, putting holes in the thing's chest until he knocked it down. It stood back up slowly, then went down again when Charlie put bullets into its pelvis and left leg. Huck felt himself floating. He'd lost something...something that had protected him from the knives. Now he was bleeding. He saw a drop of blood drop from his hand to the ground and ran to a small puddle where a blood-red pyramid sat, where it had dropped from the remains of the boggles. Remembering what had happened last time, he grabbed the dice and flung it along the ground, wincing as his side ached. The dice landed on the 2. His side and leg felt better, and some of his protection was back. He stood up, grabbing his bar. Charlie had fired all twenty rounds into the creature, and it wasn't dead. But it was hurting, and having trouble getting up. He stepped forward as Charlie gave ground and brought the bar down with both hands on its leg, snapping bone and making it howl, then danced back as it swiped at him.

"Smart, Huck, smart. Learning secrets. She might keep you. Do you see it yet? The extra life? The speed? The magic? Or are you still half blind and fumbling?" Huck broke their other leg.

Charlie stared at it, then got angry. "Why? Why did you come here? Why me? Why my house? What did you take from me? Answer, damn you!"

One bright eye winked at him and smiled. "Oh, Chucky, don't you know? We've always been here, waiting for the veil to grow thin. She found the door beneath your house first and came to feast."
It rolled over and started to crawl to Huck. When it swiped at him, he broke that arm and then pounded its head until it quit moving, and more after that. It dissolved in a puddle of goo that faded to smoke, leaving behind a pile of coins and dice. One of them was a brilliant blue D6. The cube glittered in the light of Charlie's flashlight. He stumbled forward and grabbed it. "It's mine. She took this from me!"

He dropped his gun and looked at Huck, only and tired. "It took this from me, but it's mine now. Mine." Huck saw a bright glow from Charlie's hands, and then he dropped a dull, grey cube on the ground. "I'm tired, Huck. So tired. I'm going to bed."

Huck helped him to the stairs. Nothing was banging on the basement door, and the chair was in place. "Go upstairs, Unc, and lock the door. Take your gun with you. I've got to check on Bruno."
The gas grill wasn't hurt, and the gas burners gave him light to see by. He knelt by Bruno; the old guy was in bad shape. He had some shallow cuts and scrapes, but a wound in his side was seeping blood. Auggie was licking a wound on his paw, and the other two dogs seemed unhurt. Bruno licked his hand, and Huck scratched his ears. The old guy didn't have long.

Quick as he could, Huck looked around on the ground for anything the boggles had dropped; he found more of the clear D4, then a bright green one, and finally, another red. How could he make Bruno roll it, and would it work for a dog? Huck touched him with the dice, put it on his muzzle, and let it fall off. Nothing. Magic was bullshit. Bruno solved the problem by snatching the dice and chewing it. A red glow flowed along his body, the oozing wound healed, and he started breathing better. Huck didn't want to leave the old guy outside. He coaxed him to stand up, and Bruno leaned against him, panting. It took him five minutes to half drag, half carry the two-hundred-pound dog inside and lay him on the carpet. The other three dogs sat outside the door, looking sad.

"Get in here. We can all sleep inside tonight." The other dogs raced past him to surround Bruno, where he lay on the carpet. Huck gathered up the money and dice left by the boggles and went inside. He had just enough room to shut the door and then jam a table in the spot between the two doors, making it impossible to open either. Just as he did that, the power returned and lit up the house.