An Apolymask short story.

To start with some context.. I've never really done a short story before that I can remember. I have wrote a tiny small amount of fiction years ago, like a couple pages for a book I was planning on doing some day which I still might.. But.. This is pretty new to me.

I don't really go into the realm of fantasy or fiction very much in my writings and try to keep it in the real world, but.. I've been inspired by a lot of the creativity in the IFC and I've been having this vision play itself out numerous times when I go on walks out into nature for some strange reason and thought it would be a cool story.. So I felt like I had to try to bring it to life.

If you enjoy this story, I may do more in the future. In fact, I may do more even if you don't enjoy it, cause I enjoyed it. :D It was fun writing this, I felt like I challenged myself and learned some new things.

OH.. And.. There's adult language and blood and fighting, so.. Don't read it if those are sensitive issues for you. Anyways.. I'm going to shush now.. Onto the story!

---

It started like just about any other day for Apollo.
He woke up, got some water to drink, washed, dressed and then spent some time on the internet connecting with the broader world and seeing what was happening out there.
After a couple hours of work and networking he decided to go for a walk out in nature.

He used to go for a walk virtually every single day when younger, though these days.. He's been perhaps a little too busy and focused on distant yet nonetheless serious issues.
Sometimes even just a five or ten minute walk is enough to help, though he had been caged up in his digital existence for days, if not weeks without going for a proper walk in nature.
He couldn't remember the last time he went for a good walk.. And that was bad, he was out of balance.

Nature was like medicine to him, and he had enough darkness in life already to deal with.
Apollo put the computer on sleep mode, grabbed his phone and keys and hat and scanned the room numerous times to make sure he didn't forget anything.
Locking the door behind him, the negative thoughts continued to attack him.

Cutting down through his neighbors yard he moved quickly up the dry creek full of rocks, jumping from rock to rock like some sort of acrobatic magician while listening to some music on his phone.
The dark thoughts lessened. The cool breeze and birds chirping and the movement of his body were all positive things temporarily pushing back some of the frustrations as he processed and progressed through the environment around him. It was strange to be Apollo.. On the one hand he had so much potential and good things going for him, was seen in a favorable light by many.. Yet.. Was always a bit dark, deeply unfulfilled and troubled.

He didn't understand how so many people could just look the other way in regards to all the injustice in the world, and not empathize with others more.
Apollo considered himself to be very good at putting himself in the shoes of others.. And.. He had gone through some deep darkness of his own and wasn't living up to his own expectations or dreams by any means either.
Every single day was an existential crisis difficult to get through.. Every single step a challenge at times. Though.. One of the wisest lessons he ever learned was.. To keep putting one foot in front of the other.

He had hiked the Grand Canyon in a day and down to Havasupai Falls on a bruised heel which was even more difficult and.. When he was in so much pain he didn't know how he would ever make it.. He just kept putting one foot in front of the other foot, and somehow.. He eventually made it.
Though these days he felt like that was a metaphor for his entire life and that he was sort of still in the Grand Canyon and hiking to Havasupai Falls on a bruised heel.
It's like those hellish never ending marathons never ended and life itself was a never ending marathon. Yet.. What else can you do...? But put one foot in front of the other..?

He kept putting one foot in front of the other until he got decently away from civilization and up into a canyon where the wind was much more active.
It was okay though, he liked the cold wind.. It was one of his favorite things. The cold wind kind of drew him in even more you could say.
He wanted to feel the cold wind more, so he kept following it while listening to his music and luckily no negative thoughts had bothered him for a while.. He was starting to enjoy himself.

Further and further up the canyon he went and the wind got stronger and colder, but he loved it. He jumped excitedly from rock to rock quicker with the beat of the song matching the rhythm of his feet, he even started dancing a little bit.
Then.. All of a sudden in his happiness he was reminded of Amanda who also loved the cold wind, perhaps one of the main reasons Apollo was so drawn in to the canyon in the first place.
And.. He stopped dancing. As much as he knew that Amanda would want him to be happy and to keep dancing.. It just didn't feel right anymore.

He started getting angry at life for what happened and kicked some rocks, which proceeded to fly violently half way up the side of the hill.
Apollo tried to regain his composure and continued putting one foot in front of the other foot. Further up the canyon he went and the wind got even colder and stronger.
He almost felt like.. It was making it more difficult to walk at this point the wind was pushing him back so strongly. But.. He enjoyed it, it reminded him of her.

Somewhere in the twilight of his mind he was digesting how bizarre it was for him to be so happy one moment and so overwhelmingly depressed the next.
Yeah.. Being Apollo was strange alright.. Constantly feeling like he was part of multiple worlds.
Less and less sure of where his own thoughts were even coming from, or who he was as well.

He had been reading up on some conspiracy theories recently and knew the secret government had the power to at some level and some degree control peoples minds and even put voices into their brains.
The "Voice of God" technology, and to him he just had to think.. Isn't it all the voice of God regardless? Yet.. Clearly, some more artificial and human guided than others!
However, in the end he knew he wasn't a big enough threat to warrant such attention from the occult forces, he just went through some really difficult things in life and it's to be sort of expected to have some psychological issues after experiencing such kinds of things.

He kept walking.. And started to get a sort of creepy weird feeling.. Like.. He wasn't alone anymore.. Like he was being watched.
The hairs on his skin started to stand up and he felt an electrical energy pulse throughout his body.
Aware of his own over active imagination, but also not wanting to ignore the potential signals he looked around quickly to see if he could spot anything unusual.

He kept looking and looking.. And didn't see anything, but the negative thoughts creeped deeper and deeper and got more and more intense and something definitely didn't feel right!
And then.. He saw it.. Or.. He saw something.. It was looking at him from sort of behind a big boulder and some bushes and trees.
If the hairs weren't standing up before, they were practically jumping off his body at this point!

With the adrenaline really kicking in big time all of a sudden and fight or flight fully triggered Apollo saw what appeared to be some kind of creature coming out of the foliage.
As the thing walked more and more into view Apollo couldn't decide if he should run, or try to communicate or fight? The possibilities ran through his mind a million times, though he couldn't decide. It's like he was frozen.
Perhaps petrified with fear, or perhaps the creature had some kind of ability to hypnotize him? Either way.. Apollo was just stunned, he didn't know what to do.. He didn't know if this was even real or not.. Was he dreaming?

It reminded him of his experience with the "Shadow Man" he had when he was younger.
A shadowy being had walked through the wall of his room and approached him while he was in bed and just stared at him, like.. It chose him for some reason or purpose. And similarly that time Apollo was frozen in his bed unable to do much of anything but stare at the being. He wasn't sure if it was a vivid dream or hallucination but it felt so real.. Later on in life he found through research that he wasn't alone, and quite a few other people had reported very similar experiences with the "Shadow Man". Though.. Was it a real being? Or some kind of commonly shared delusion?

This creature which was almost twice the size of Apollo walked out into the middle of the creek-bed and just stood there staring at him. The being was terrifyingly ugly and had the most colorful and bizarre looking eyes..
The phone finally dropped from Apollo's hand and clanked across the ground playing a sort of futuristic tune that was fitting for an encounter with what seemed like some sort of alien.
Apollo didn't get the impression this thing wanted to talk or be friends, but.. Desperately trying to find enough courage to find his voice he partially managed to croak out "Who.. Or.. What are you?".

The dark alien-like being didn't respond, it just continued to stare at him.
At this point.. Apollo was legitimately freaked out. Starting to panic now, it almost seemed like the creature could sense the panic and enjoyed it and started to walk towards him.
Apollo suddenly regained control of the rest his faculties almost as if by miracle, or by the ultimate realization that if he didn't do something soon, he might not be able to ever do anything else again.

The creature continued to amble towards him, as he yelled out.. "What the fuck.. Seriously? Dude.. Stop advancing.. Back off. I'm warning you." Apollo's voice started to tremble, both with a fear of him knowing he probably should have been trying to run away like the moment he saw the thing, and also at the idea that he was literally telling some kind of alien like creature that was advancing on him to back off.. Was this real life? Or some kind of dream? What the hell was going on?!" The creature didn't seem phased, it just kept slowly moving forward at a consistent pace, hopping over the rocks in a way that made Apollo look rather amateur.

"Okay.. This is it.." Apollo thought.
"I'm fucked. I'm going to die.. Whether it's a dream or real life. This thing looks like it wants to harm me, and how could I possibly win in some kind of physical fight?" Apollo continued to run through the possibilities in his mind realizing it STILL wasn't too late to try to run away if he really wanted to.
But.. For some reason he didn't, and didn't think he would probably get very far anyways.. The thing was probably much quicker and Apollo was a bit out of shape as well.. Which.. Didn't help.

The creature was about 30 feet away from Apollo now and something was going to happen soon.
Apollo yelled at the being one more time. "Look shithead! I understand self defense! If you keep coming at me, I'll do what I gotta do, whoever or whatever you might be!".
Apollo realized he was likely about to die. Life flashed before his eyes. All the good and bad and things that couldn't be framed using such words, or any words for that matter filled his consciousness.

Only feet away now and scary looking as all hell the creature advanced.
Apollo considered retreat one last time, though knew he should have done that a while ago if he was ever serious about it. So he then threw up his hands in self defense, bent his knees lowering his center of gravity and started slowly stepping backwards like one of his Mixed Martial Arts heroes taught.

As he walked backwards, the creature increased in speed and it was already difficult enough walking backwards in a dry creek full of uneven rocks!
Good thing he had a decently photographic memory and knew there wasn't anything big enough to trip over for a little ways. Time was running out though.. He tried everything within reason to avoid conflict, the question now was.. Strike first? Or let them officially infringe before attacking back?

"Why the fuck am I asking this question?" Apollo asked himself.
"It's a fucking alien monster creature coming at me, why should I wait for it to attack me?!".
Then all of a sudden the beast creature moved even quicker as if to ram him and surprised Apollo to the point that Apollo had to change direction, he slipped off balance into a roll and rolled off to the side a couple feet.

His years of martial arts training when younger paid off heavily, especially the Capoeira.. But.. He was still out of practice and even though his years of training and amazing reflexes kicked in to save the day, he was still a little dizzy and a bit off kilter.
Getting back to his feet, the alien beast didn't cease, it actually increased in speed even more and made the first attempted strike. Even though Apollo was a bit dizzy, he saw it coming and knew he wouldn't be able to dodge it in time, however.. He could possibly roll with it, and counterattack if it worked just right..

The beings huge ham fist came at Apollo's face like it was all happening in slow motion.
Still a bit disorientated Apollo continued trying to walk backwards and threw up both of his elbows to deflect.
At the same time as the ham fist was connecting with Apollo's raised arms and elbows, Apollo stomped down on the leg of the creature where the knee would be, but it didn't have a regular human knee, so what would have ordinarily ended a fight and left the opponent screaming and crying on the ground in the middle of nowhere with a broken leg only ended up jarring the beast a little bit.

And simultaneously the blow from the ham fist was just a bit too much for Apollo's guard, and pushed through to connect with him in the face a little bit disorientating him even more.
Apollo desperately tried to focus.
The alien being threw a right cross at Apollo so quick that once again Apollo was unable to properly defend.

Apollo threw up his left arm to try to block but it just wasn't enough. It helped block some of the damage from the strike, but Apollo was still rattled a bit from the force of this "thing".
Looking at the monster in it's face Apollo could almost swear he saw it smile for a second.
This started to annoy Apollo. He really hated it when bullies got their way and took satisfaction in it.

He didn't want that to be the end result of this.
Yet.. What could he possibly do to stop it?
Even if he was at the peak of his physical fitness and days of martial arts training.. This thing was like.. Beyond human.

In the middle of advancing the being paused for a moment to stare at Apollo almost as if intrigued or surprised that Apollo didn't just crap his pants and pass out or run away in the first place and that he actually was trying to stand and engage.

This time Apollo quickly smiled.
Noticing this momentary lapse of attention by the creature Apollo launched a heavy drop kick to the midsection of the creature and it hurt the being a little bit, but wasn't enough to even knock it down or make it lose balance.

Apollo followed up with a straight jab to the face which hurt his own hand, then a spinning Muay Thai elbow to the head which seemed to have an effect as the creature groaned a little bit and stumbled.
Apollo not one to waste an opportunity continued his assault and led up with a jumping stomp to the creatures other lower leg area and as he did this the creature grabbed Apollo in mid air and slammed him to the unforgiving rocky creek-bed. The air wheezed out of Apollo and most of his sense and clarity of perception went with it.

And that's how quick a battle can all change he thought to himself.. Not that he ever thought he had a chance to win in the first place he reminded himself sighing.
After a couple moments of intermittent consciousness and visiting the dream world, Apollo gasped and coughed some life and awareness back into himself.
The ground game was something Apollo never got that great at though he tried to wrap up with the creature and prevent or control further strikes.

This was mostly futile he knew, and he was literally watching his life flash before his eyes now more than ever as he realized his time was likely almost up.
"God.. What am I going to do.. God.. What am I going to do.." Apollo kept saying to himself.
The alien started to rise up and then rain down strikes on Apollo. Even just one was enough to seriously complicate his already staggered and dazed state, though he kept getting hit over and over again.

"Fuck!" Apollo screamed and spit blood.
Somehow with a burst of energy Apollo managed to inch back a little, curl up and kick the creature off of him.
Apollo got back to his feet with a rock he had picked up from the ground and launched it at the face of the being.

The creature was fast, but.. Not fast enough for this one..
If it was a regular human, it probably would have killed them, or at least busted their face to a mess.
Though while wasn't a human, that didn't mean this didn't do significant damage. This was Apollo's most powerful attack so far, and even though it was an external weapon, it's not like this was a fair fight to begin with, no real fight ever is.

When struck the being let out a sunken groan and collapsed.
It quickly got back up though much more unstable and wobbly this time.
Apollo smiled again, this time much longer. "Even if I lose.." He thought "I still gave this thing a good run for it's money, or whatever the hell it uses for currency, oh shut the hell up overactive brain!"

The creature smiled back as well even longer this time, some kind of purplish blood draining and bleeding from it's nose and mouth, it's bizarre colorful eyes staring just as wide eyed and determined as ever.
Apollo in this moment had a realization, this alien being was.. Just like him in some ways.. In fact, maybe if he was in their shoes.. Alien feet thingies, he would be doing the exact same thing..
And.. Ultimately Apollo believed that all beings are all just different expressions of the "one", so in a sense.. This alien beast was him in another lifetime.. And with this in mind.. Apollo offered as much love and forgiveness as he was capable of.

There was almost a sense of unity being shared between the two as blood dripped down their faces and their bodies swayed in exhaustion.
However brief, however... Rare.
This respect shown, was an anomaly in the greater world out there.

They just stared at each other for a while, each one waiting for the other to make the next first move.
Both a bit rattled, both a bit amused.
The beast charged, Apollo charged the beast back as well then fell back, and fainted with few strikes designed to disorientate.

Almost like out of a comic book or a movie he went from side to side, from top to bottom, back and forth landing critical strikes at critical locations to the point any regular person would have crumpled.
Once again, this was no regular person. The beast groaned and faltered, then managed to grab a hold of Apollo and slammed him to the ground.
Once again Apollo spit out blood and this time wasn't as quick to spring back up to his feet...

Apollo was ready to give up. He had enough. He was exasperated.
Blood dripping from nose and mouth and damaged all over, he muttered "Could you be a little uglier?"
As if the alien understood what he meant and took it as a challenge it screamed in his face spitting all kinds of nasty green and purplish alien spit on him and then proceeded to press up and grab Apollo by the leg.

After securing this lock and with it's almost superhuman strength it managed to swing Apollo around and spin him into a bunch of sticker bushes and eventually a tree.
This was a critical blow and Apollo took heavy damage, probably at least a few damaged ribs.
He couldn't believe he survived this long, though.. He felt like his time was about up.

Breathing heavy and in immense pain Apollo looked up from the ground to a menacing alien like being, which again.. Smiled.
Apollo started to have nightmares of being tortured and his body being dragged around and disrespected after death and his loved ones being pursued.
The alien being oozing from it's wounds stared down upon Apollo as if to signify it's victory and dominance.

Apollo closed his eyes, assuming the worst. Thoughts of Amanda and everyone else he loved came into his mind.
He apologized for failing them.
As he opened his eyes a big hamfist connected with his face sending him sprawling backwards.

It was amazing he put up as much of a fight as he did, though at this point he kinda realized more than ever just how futile it was.
Barely even able to stand, Apollo stubbornly still tried to get up.
The being stared at him as if entertained as he once again fell flat on his face and rolled across the ground.

Apollo was heartbroken and then he heard the creature start to make a noise that resembled laughter.
"Really?" Apollo thought to himself.. As if many of the humans he was normally surrounded by on this planet weren't enough already.. Even the aliens taunt and toy with their victims?
Apollo was on the brink of destruction.. And.. This might have been the spark that kept him alive in the end. Apollo was enraged by bullies and injustice.

Apollo didn't see it as himself that was being laughed at.. He saw it as anyone and everyone, as he saw himself as anyone and everyone.
Even though he was damaged and on the brink of consciousness, he couldn't let this piece of shit get away with this.
Struggling to get back to his feet, he remembered everyone he loved and almost as if by magic, he was back on his feet and speeding towards his opponent.

Blood streaming from his mouth and nose, out of breath, running off endorphins and memories.
He tackled his opponent and dragged him to the ground.
The alien tried to crawl away but Apollo was done messing around.

He once again grabbed a rock from the creek-bed and started smashing it against the aliens head over and over again.
This time a new color of blood spewed out from the wound created, there were no words for it, a color never seen before by him. Apollo was stunned but not stunned enough to ceases his efforts in bashing the life out of his adversary.

He became so engrossed in his mission that before long the creature was no longer what it used to look like, plus he feared the thing might have some regenerative ability so he did his best to prevent it from coming back to life.
Limbs here and there, the torso essentially reduced to beef jerky. Almost all that was left unmutilated, was the front part of the face... Apollo stared at the mess of what was left, disgusted with himself, but also proud he was still alive.

He thought for sure he was going to die.. How was he still alive..?!
If the alien was such an alien why didn't it use some kind of futuristic energy weapon or some shit?
If it wasn't some kind of alien from elsewhere, what the hell was it?!!?
So many questions.. As usual.. Very few answers. He showed respect to his adversary knowing it could be and is a sense was him on the other end and apologized for his own savagery.

The sun began to set and the colors were changing to dramatic reds and purples to suit the bloody landscape that was around him.
As some clouds lit by the sunset floated overhead the cold wind washed up against Apollo who was covered in his own blood and the purple, green and unknown colors of blood and material from the being.
For some strange morbid reason, Apollo grabbed the face and took it towards home with him, stumbling one foot in front of the other.

Art by @jimramones