 I used to be one of those jerks who would laugh at the nerds and geeks as they sat down to play their chess games. I'd mock them to my friends as we walked past the chess club doors. Look at them. I'd say sneering and laughing. I don't laugh anymore. Chess has recently become my favorite game as of a couple of months ago. I think the reason I laughed, most people laughed, was because things that interest us can sometimes be pushed down to impress the people we called friends. Friends who never actually turn out to be real friends. In the end, just something to do in school or work. To stave away the loneliness. I think the reason I kept walking past the door was that chess somehow fascinated me. Think about it. How many generals in history played chess? How many politicians and even some of my favorite celebrities? They all played it. Why didn't I? I had friends to impress. When I was in school, we didn't have the internet, just the library and those old heads in the park. I'd sometimes go by and sit and watch the guys in center city. All the things they saw and everything they ever did in life, good or bad, led them to those tables to play a game of wits. Think about it. A game of kings and queens, rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns. The goal is to systematically remove pieces from the board while keeping up your defense and losing fewer pieces than your competitor. So why am I talking about chess? My past with it and my new found love for it. I'm going to relate a story I told one of those same old heads in the park. A month ago, I was wasting the last few minutes at work, going over some papers for the meeting on Thursday night. My friend James asked if I was doing anything after work. I told him I didn't have any plans, so was up for whatever as long as it was before 8pm. It was closing on 430, so I started gathering my things and began to head out. James said he'd meet me at the Lucky Gravy, hell of a name for a bar, huh? The story was that the owner's gramps used to play the lottery, but never hit unless he made his Lucky Gravy the night before. After hitting the lottery for a little over 100,000, he stopped playing and passed out the money to his grandkids. The owner happened to be one. Either way, Lucky Dude must have been some damn good gravy. We met at the bar and hung out for a bit, and like every normal person, talked about work. Funny how you can hate your job, no matter how well it pays, but even away from it, all you do is talk about it. So anyway, we spent the next few hours chatting about the job and where the next series of vacations are going to take us. Big plans, I told James. He just laughed, knowing I'll probably just do a staycation. He planned to do pretty much the same. It wasn't a question of money, just more of a, I'm too lazy to plan out anything and don't feel like the hassle. It was getting late and the sun had set already. I checked my watch and sure enough, the time had flown past 8 o'clock. I looked outside and the darkness was starting to creep in. I took one last swig and tipped the barkeep and bid James goodbye to a work tomorrow. Since I wasn't that tipsy, I decided to swing by the supermarket to pick up dinner for tomorrow, no bars for me. Or comb and bed, maybe a little bit of Netflix and chill. Coming out of the store about 20 minutes later, I noticed that the fog had finally started to settle in as usual. It's part of living in a riverside community. My mind was ready for relaxation. I put on some classical music for the background. It kind of fit the weather and my fatigue. It helped that the roads were nearly empty even in the city. It was weird, but not unheard of. It made me want to hit the sack even that much sooner. I think I'll make some chamomile tea. I said aloud to no one, resting my head on my chin as the nearly 10 minute drive was coming to an end. I could see my apartment complex coming up. The anticipation of getting out of this fog, this suit, this car, this day was overwhelming me. I pulled into the parking lot and sat there for a minute. I sat in my car gazing out the window. My complex is shaped like a horseshoe. I live on the right side of the horseshoe and try my best to park on the same side like most of you. Half of the parking lot had those nice new daylight style lights I still haven't gotten used to. While the upper portions of the lot had those old orangey lights, human eyes have been used to since the Stone Ages. There was this strange effect going on with the mix of lights and fog. Think of it as a really dense gray milk kind of watered down where you can make out dark shapes with orange swirls because the milk is in motion. I was parked about 11 slots down from the top of the horseshoe. On my side, there were five cars including mine. I never put my bumper near the curb since it's a slight incline so I could see the rears of each vehicle. Looking out the passenger side, I grabbed the bag of groceries and placed them in my lap as I thumbed off the radio, then turned off the car. I looked around inside one last time and pulled the key out of the ignition. Then I opened the door. The instant I turned my head to look at my surroundings, I was frozen as the fog entered my nostrils when I took a breath of air. I mean, time just stopped. The door was three quarters of the way open with my fingertips on the windowsill. My head was parallel with my shoulders facing outward. My eyes locked straight ahead and my mouth in the middle of a yawn. I wanted to scream and panic all at once. I want to say my heart was beating out of my chest, but it too had stopped. I had no idea what was happening. All I knew was I had somehow become paralyzed and couldn't move a muscle. I tried to strain myself, force myself back into motion. Is this what a paraplegic felt every day of their lives? Why can't I move? I struggled to regain some sense of movement. My brain was working because I could think and realized my situation, but nothing moved physically. Then I realized I wasn't alone. In my mental panic, I had ignored my visual senses. I could see a figure through the grayish-orange milk of the fog in the passageway of the upper left side of the horseshoe. Help! I mentally cried out. I could see the shape and outline of the person, but couldn't make out any color or gender. I just wanted them to help me. It was agonizing as I waited for them to come out into plain view from the shadowy side of the building from the fog. I was looking directly at them. It felt like eons, and yet there seemed to be no further movement from the person. What kind of twilight zone shit was happening, I thought? It was as if I and this other person were both frozen in time, but I could think so something wasn't complete. There was still some semblance of progression. Could they think also? What could be going through their mind? Could they see me? Were they looking to me for help, not realizing I was as stuck as they were? And then I remembered my watch. I just regained notice of my watch. I could see the time on it. It read 9.19 and 47 seconds. Then the 7 changed into an 8. Holy shit! What was going on? The 8 turned into a 9. Then the 49 turned into a 50. I wasn't paralyzed. Something had happened to time itself. I could think, but I couldn't move. No, I could move. I just hadn't realized it. I was moving impossibly slowly. I could feel the air between my fingers and the door. My eyes could also move only slightly faster than everything else. Okay, okay, I thought. If I could move, then there had to be a way out of this or the effect itself was wearing off. Also, if I could move, so should the other person. That's when I realized them again. It happens when you stare sometimes. Things plainly in your field of vision simply vanish then reappear when you notice them again. 9.20 I focused on the person in the shadows. Only they had exited it a little bit. I could make out the silvery glowing eyes and the dog like face. Had I confused a person with a dog, it was still too dark and far away to make out. 9.20 and 10 seconds. The dog moves slightly more into the light. Only the dog wasn't a dog and it damn sure wasn't a person. The fog swirled about its shoulders as its massive maw exited the milk. The best way to describe what I saw was a minotaur and a deer's head with dagger-like horns coming out of the sides of the beast's brownish-cray fur. The silvery eyes locked onto mine as the panic returned. I had to close the door somehow and start the car. Paralyzed like this, I was keenly aware of the space and location of my body parts. Keys were hung mid-air near the ignition. Fingers were still near the door. I could close it. 9.20 and 20 seconds. The beast had emerged nearly fully from the shadows and was now in the process of leaping over a blue-forged torus, its massive right hand smashing into the trunk of the car, forcing it down towards the ground. My fingers had made contact with the door fully now. I just had to hope I could make it to the handle before that thing could get close to me. I had no wish to feel those teeth on any part of me or that powerfully clawed hand reaching for my throat. 9.20 and 30 seconds. Launching itself off the car, it was in mid-air with its right foot pushing it higher. Looking up at it, I noticed something else that must have been there but was ignored by my eyes and all the panic. Another figure was launching itself towards the topmost car on my side. This one had glowing amber-colored eyes, shit, shit, shit. A demon stag on my left and another demon like being to my right. I got to get this door closed. I wasn't even sure if it was going to save me from what that demon stag thing did to the Ford. A demon stag takes blue Ford, amber demon, takes silver truck, scared human, closing green door. 9.20 and 40 seconds. The demon stag was in the process of coming out of the leap and was nearly a hundred yards from me. It acted like it didn't even notice the amber demon as it, she had landed on the roof of the silver truck. She however, did notice the demon stag as it made its way to me. Using her left arm, she pushed off the silver truck towards the white sedan. Demon stag takes pavement, amber demon takes white sedan, scared human, takes green door. 9.20 and 50 seconds. The demon stag's powerfully muscled left arm gripped the pavement, rending it as if it pulled itself forward with sheer power. I noticed that this time it was moving slightly faster as it got closer to me. That must be how it hunts. It slows down time and kills from the rear or by surprise. The doomed being, not even knowing it was dead. Silly me. I just happened to turn my head and notice it. I guess instant death was a blessing. But I knew I was going to die and it was no blessing to me. I could actually see my hands and fingers starting to move, still agonizingly slow however. I could now feel the sweat on my brow and frantic heartbeat resuming. I can't believe it's only been a little more than a minute. The demon stag was slightly ahead of the amber demon girl, still to the left of me near a gray Honda. The demon girl's skin came into clarity as she exited the heaviest of the fog. It looked like the veins beneath her skin were tracks of lava after a volcano exploded. Demon stag takes gray Honda. Amber demon moves between silver truck and white sedan. That human has door handle 921 exactly. Both of the creatures were only three cars away now, about 10 feet apart from each other and maybe 50 feet from me. I got more than a close up look at each now. The spittle was flying from the maw of the demon stag man thing. I swear under the daylight white lights every detail was clear. The patches of skin where it looked like it had gotten into way too many fights. The brown gray fur was groomed very well, surprisingly well. The claws were polished and sharp. I could see all 25 of its teeth and several more broken ones. I guess some of its food fought back. The silver eyes were inhumanly attractive and distracting almost as if they were meant to hypnotize you. Another way to spare you I guess. The amber demon girl was attractive also if you like amber eyed demon girls with lava blood I guess. Her hair was short and styled kind of like Lupita's hair in Black Panther. They even shared similar facial features. But there was mischief in this one's eyes. She never even looked at me in the few seconds I'd noticed her. I did notice the oddest smile on her face though. She was slightly ahead of the demon stag now. Then I realized what this was. This was chess. I was the pawn, she the queen and it the king. To one of us this was a game, the other dinner and to me life or death I had no wish to be a pawn. Demon king takes 20 feet, demon queen takes 25, pawn no, knight takes door, 921 in 10 seconds. As time sped up, I felt confident in the fact that I could close the door in time. But even then, those teeth claws and lava blood were more than a match for car windows. My hand finally made it to the ignition as I felt the key touch the slot. My groceries were still in mid free fall from my lap as I leaned back into the car trying to give myself space in case one of them made it first. Demon stag takes 25 feet, demon queen takes door, knight takes ignition, 921 in 20 seconds. As time normalized, I was happy that I had not yet stepped out of the car. As the demon girl slammed the door shut with so much force it nearly dislodged my shoulder. Luckily I was leaning in when she did so. Her back to me she tried to block the window just as I made ignition. But the demon stag's mouth punched through an open spot near her side and right through the window. I instinctively closed my eyes as the spittle slapped me in the face. But I was able to grab the gear shift, pound the gas and hit reverse. It was a life saving measure, but a dumb idea. I hit the pedal so hard I went straight back into the hood of another parked car, nearly knocking myself out. Stunned, I blearily looked out the front windshield and watched as the demon girl lifted the demon stag into the air, then slammed the damn thing into the ground. Her hands were glowing red hot as she shoved it into the side of the beast body. This howl was so loud, car alarms went off and people began to show up at the windows. The girl didn't even try to hide what she was doing. I couldn't tell if the beast was dead or just unconscious from the trauma it received. I rolled out of my car and puked on the ground as the smell of seared demon thing hit me. I heard a crack, then a pop, then another crack and pop, then a wet ripping sound. I saw the demon girl walking towards me, hands still smoking. I knew I was going to die then, the queen had won. But instead, she helped me to my feet and set me beside my car. I could feel the power in her arms and grip. And I knew that the other demon thing had stood no chance. In her free hand, she held both of the thing's horns. Taking both, she rammed them into my hood along with a smattering of fur and some blood. You're going to need that for your insurance claim tomorrow. I'd also take the day off, you've been through a lot tonight, you're gonna need some rest. Maybe a couple days, actually, that's a nasty nod on your forehead. She said, kneeling down, looking me in the eyes. Who are you? I stammered as she took the arm she nearly broke into her hands. Someone who's going to make sure things like that no longer hunt you. She rolled up my sleeve and placed her palm on my shoulder. There was a quick burning sensation. Then it passed. I looked over my shoulder, but it appeared as though nothing happened. Then I noticed underneath my skin, the veins pulsed orange like hers, then vanished. What's your name? She asked, walking away and taking the thing over her shoulders. Uh, it's TJ. My friends call me TJ. I said, then followed up with, is it, is it dead? Nah, he's hurt, but not dead. I'm taking him back to where he belongs. She replied, well, TJ, I'm sorry you had to go through this. It won't happen again. I promise. Remember to call your adjuster tomorrow. Try to sleep, okay? I nodded as she ran off with a thing back behind the buildings. Queen takes King. Night lives, I said, smiling to myself. I noticed it was now 923. When I told that story to the old head at the park, I kind of figured he'd brush it off as me being tired or sleepy or hell even drunk. He sat back and looked at me. Can I see it? He asked me the mark on my shoulder. I replied as he nodded. He stood up and walked around to me and lifted his sleeve. Then I felt the pulsing again. I rolled my sleeve up to see the mark glowing. Then I noticed on his arm the same mark glowing. I see you've met her too, huh?