All too quickly, Pale King’s beach vacation ends. One moment he is wading through the cool waters of the bay, musing on what to catch for dinner then the next he stood atop a craggy outcrop with a turbulent wave nearly throwing him into the churning sea. After that small scare he had adjusted to the paradigm shift, scrabbling up the slick cliff face to step onto the island proper.
Striped bathing suit stained from several close encounter with shambling abomination of insect and mammal, Pale King now padded with more sure footing through a nearby building. Dust clung to his thin wings and he had long given up on flapping them to clear their membranes.
Like it or not, he was in this for the long journey.
While he had not been here quite long enough to consider eating the slain monsters, Pale King did stop and study a beetle overturned on its back. ...No, he was not that hungry. Yet. Perhaps nonperishable food could be found. There were surely other structures on this isl—
The rebar catching between his horns is all that keeps him from unconsciousness. He still toppled from sheer momentum, knocking the wind straight out of him as the sharp corners of his clutched crowbar dug in but otherwise, remained unharmed.
A weapon? The possibility of armed assailants had not occurred to Pale King. Head still swimming, he rolled over to get a better look. What awaited him, the sight of a bloodied rubber chicken mask and familiar letterman jacket, surprised him even more then the expected twisted visage of mandibles protruding from flesh ever could.
❝-Jacket!❞ he gasped, head still ringing with after shockers. ❝What in the stars are you doing?!❞