d_mekel

-The Triple Maniac Stare of the Raging Cogger-

"It is not for nothing that our age cries out for the redeemer personality, for the one who can
emancipate himself from the grip of the collective psychosis and save at least his own soul, who
lights a beacon of hope for others, proclaiming that here is at least one man who has succeeded
in extricating himself from the fatal identity with the group psyche."-Jung

Choosing the short cut across the old farm field was the young man's fatal mistake.  The
longer path through the abundant woods would have guaranteed safety from The Raging
Cogger.  He thought he could save himself some time before the gangs patrolled at dusk.
Although he knew he was not prepared, he burst into a run. He was in decent health under the
current circumstances of his time, but he started slower than he had anticipated. By the time he
reached a full sprint, his lungs and legs felt like they were about to explode. 

The young man was three quarters of the way across the field when the rustling sound to
his left was heard. An explosion of dead corn stalks burst into the air.  The Raging Cogger's
patience had paid off just like its predecessors. Although he didn't see it, the sound was enough
for the young man to know he was being pursued. 

What appeared next was more frightening than he had imagined from the stories he had
heard.  With each pump of the beasts synchronized legs, the whites of six eyes could briefly be
seen as the facial hair of the beast flung back and forth over its face.  The two middle eyes had a
pink, drooping semi-circle under them that were far more ominous than the pair of outer eyes.
The beast churned like a fine-tuned machine. The brown, white, and blond stream of matted hair
looked like billowing smoke. 

The pursuit was rapidly closing in and the fear was mounting.  Instead of paying attention
to the path ahead of him, he turned back to see the beast, tripped on an old cornstalk, and
violently fell to the ground.  He was done for.  The man unwillingly accepted his fate and
watched in horror as the beast rapidly approached. 

As it got closer, he could see that the eyes were actually three sets of eyes all belonging
to individual heads.  What seemed like one large boomerang shaped head were three smaller
heads matted together.  Not only were they three separate heads, but three dog heads and cocker
spaniels at that! Confusion, fear, and exhaustion filled the young man.  Regardless, the ferocity
in their eyes still meant death.  Death by a matted fluff.

The young man looked around for something to shield himself from the oncoming blow
but was surrounded by nothing but dead vegetation and mud.  In the blink of an eye, the whole
beast was gliding through the air towards its prey.  The young man pulled his only means of
protection he had left, a dull bowie knife. He closed his eyes and held his knife in the air firmly
for it to plunge into the beast. To his surprise, the knife entered into the mat of fur and was lost,
never to be seen again. No damage appeared to be done to the Raging Cogger and the beast
began to tear into the man.  The 2 outer heads were not within reach to bite the man, but their
claws were able to rip into the skin. The weight of the three dogs was enough to keep the man
subdued while the middle head repeatedly snapped and missed at the young man's throat.

The snarl of the center head sounded like his own cocker spaniel that he once had before
the town collapsed into pure disorder.  Despite the melee above him he couldn't help but think
about his old dog. It was even colored like his dog. Chocolate brown and dingy white spots like a
dairy cow.  He snapped out of his daydream and realized the fact; it was his dog! "Clancy!"
screamed the young man.  The dog paid no mind and continued to snap away.  The man
screamed his nickname, "Ding ding!"  The dog stopped and stared into the man's eyes.  The other
two dogs slowed down their barrage. They turned inward toward the center head and began
barking violently in Clancy's ears, now ignoring the man.  Clancy continued to stare into the face
of the young man. He was trying to make out how he knew those words.  "Clancy," the man said
calmly.  The little bobbed tail made a quick wiggle motion that looked like the dinging of a bell. 
Clancy stepped in a backward direction.  The two other dogs did as well, but hesitantly, still
snarling and growling in Clancy’s face.   

All of the sudden, all 3 heads perked up as if a flip was switched. In a smooth
synchronized motion, all 3 turned around and started a quick trot due south.  Clancy tried to turn
his head to get another peak at his former master, but both of the outside heads growled in his
face.  The man sat in disbelief as they trotted away.  He then laughed to himself as he slowly
pronounced cogger and cocker with the dialect of the gangs.  Funny how words morph into a
new meaning.

The sun was setting rapidly, but instead of taking cover for the cold night ahead, he
decided to follow the Raging Cogger. He wanted his dog back and he believed his dog felt the
same.  He kept low and walked along a row of dead corn stalks while trying to keep the Raging
Cogger in sight.  Once he lost sight, he hurried to the tree line and was then able to follow the
sound of the synchronized trot on the autumn leaves.  As they reached the deep and unfamiliar
section of the woods, the man could no longer hear the crunch of the leaves. The area was
covered in nothing but young pine trees. The pine needles left no sound as he walked onward.
He was quickly running out of daylight and had reached a point where he needed to find cover.
Instead, he chose to continue his search. 

After further searching, which led him in circles, he decided he needed to bed down for
the night.  Despite being a full moon, it did not provide him enough light to search any further.
He didn't like the idea of sleeping in the pine area since it was too quiet to hear anything
approaching.  He could barely make out a thick patch of thorns that he thought could be a good
area to hide. He walked a little closer and saw it was a massive wall of thorns.   The thorns went
back a ways but the height of the thorns made it hard to decipher.  As he walked closer towards it,
a thorn caught his ankle and he fell to the ground.  Right in front of his face was a small hidden
path in the wall of thorns.  A path that he didn't realize he needed to take.

The trail was only as wide and tall as it needed to be to allow the 3 dogs to run through. 
The man began his crawl for what felt like forever, but it was only 45 feet long. He noticed the
tunnel of thorns must have been maintenanced by some sort of shear or blade by a human.  The
cuts were very precise.  He also noted the moonlight became less and less visible the further he
got into the tunnel.  The tunnel finally led him to the sound of a crackling fire and a hint of light. 

He slowly crawled forward until he could see some silhouettes flickering on the ground in front
of him.  An unfamiliar human voice arose that was very deep and guttural but was only as loud as
a whisper.  The inflection of anger and disappointment permeated the small area. Abruptly, all 3
heads of the Raging Cogger let out a cascading yelp.  The young man inched a little closer and
could now see the 3 heads of the Raging Cogger hanging low.  He could also now see that the
deep voice that he had heard came from a short, pudgy old man that wobbled back and forth
when he walked. The old man sat on a stump with his back turned to the entrance where the
young man still lay on his stomach. The old man poked at the small fire and pulled some deer
hides around himself for warmth. 

Now that things were settling down, the young man began to scan the inside of this
sanctuary. From the corner of his eye, he saw hedge clippers.  They were pristine and did not
have a spot of rust on them. He now realized how this old man had created this place.

An idea popped into the young man's head.  If he could get ahold of the clippers, he could
cut his dog loose somehow.  His dog's hesitation earlier was enough to think this plan could
work. He just needed a minute to think.  Before he could start scheming, a gut sinking doom met
his wonderful idea head on.  He could now see in the corner, there was a human corpse.  The
hanging chunk of body had no head or legs and appeared as if it had been cured.  There wasn't
much meat left on the cadaver. He realized he was supposed to be the next meal, but thanks to
Clancy's hesitation he was still alive.

The man nearly gagged, but maintained his composure. Now he realized he just needed
those sheers for his own protection.  Without hesitation or a plan, he inched closer to the opening
to try to reach the sheers.  They were within arm’s reach.  Clancy slowly turned his head and
peeked back at his former owner. The man paused, and was surprised to see the nubby tail
wiggle a few times. Clancy then turned his head back towards the fire and rested it on the
ground. 

The man had the shears in his grasp. He started to inch back toward the opening but his
scent caught the attention of one of the Cogger’s who immediately erupted in a wailing alarm. 
The other one, including Clancy, began also. Without hesitation, the old man let out a guttural
"grr! grr! grr!".

The Raging Cogger, once again a fluid mind, spun around and charged the man.  In a
split second, Clancy veered to his right causing the matted Cogger mechanism to run into the
wall of thorns, entangling itself.  The man snapped from his disbelief of certain death and began
crawling hectically through the tunnel of thorns.  After 5 minutes of crawling backwards as fast
as he could, he reached the end and could hear the Raging Cogger was loose.  

Lungs and muscles burning, he stood up and could see freedom only a few feet away. He
stumbled forward a little and composed himself.  Only a little bit of energy was needed to jump
into the heavily uncarved woods ahead of him.  It would never happen.

The young man sprinted toward freedom.  Unexpectedly, the shears in hand opened from
its closed Y position to the open X position.   As he fiercely pumped his arms, one handle of the
shears slammed into the decayed hole of a tree. The shears then slipped out of his hands, sliced
across his chest, and ripped his right bicep in two. It nearly reached the bone, but the thin muscle
barely hung together.   The young man fell and screamed in pain.  The force of contact between
the man and the shears broke them into 2 single blades.

The man could hear the Raging Cogger barreling down the corridor of thorns.  The pain
made him vomit and blurred his vision.  Like a drunk stumbling home, he grabbed one half of
the shears that had made their way to the ground. The man's right arm lay limp while his left and
less dominant arm was posed waiting for the attack. The three heads worked in unison and
immediately lunged for the young man.  He quickly side stepped, closed his eyes, and slashed at
the beast blindly.  He felt the impact, but when he opened his eyes, he could see that he had only
severed the matt of hair between Clancy and the dog on his right. Despite the separation, the 3
dogs still functioned as one.

The Raging Cogger started to line up for the next attack, but suddenly Clancy turned and
attacked the Cogger on his left.  The dog never saw it coming. Clancy kept snapping until he
finally got a solid grip on the throat and proceeded to thrash around violently.  With a quick yelp
followed by a gurgling and gasping, the dog was dead.  The dog that had been detached stood
there confused and unsure of what to do.  Its first reaction was growling followed by shrill
barking. Clancy just sat and panted calmly, trying to cool down after killing the other dog.  A
few short playful barks came from Clancy encouraging the other dog into doing the same, which
he did.

Clancy turned his attention to his true master.  With a look of waiting approval, Clancy's
tail began to ding back and forth like a bell rapidly ringing.  The young man walked over and cut
his dog free from the corpse that was still attached.  It was the bigger influence on Clancy, but
was not the true source.

The reunion was short-lived.  "Grr! Grr! Grr!" Filled the air at the entrance of the tunnel. 
The old man slowly stood up and awaited the spell to fall in place.  Clancy and the other dog,
which was now following Clancy's example, lunged as they had always done.   It was not toward
the young man like the old man had intended. Instead, Clancy and the other dog charged the old
man, slammed their furry bodies into the old man's chest.  The old man yelled out in pain as he
fell back into the wall of thorns.  Clancy and the other dog were poised for the next attack, but
was called off by the true Master.  

The young man had no intention of falling in the footsteps of the old man. He would not
abuse the power he had just inherited.  He left him there to live or die, whatever the old man
wanted to choose.  He felt he would no longer cause harm to others without the Raging Cogger. 
He could now forage, hunt, and scavenge like the rest of the town that weren't in a murderous
gang. The young man, with his one good hand, made a sling to hold up his torn open arm. 
Clancy lovingly licked at the wound. The young man winced in pain and pulled it back from his
dog.  He grabbed each side of the broken sheers to keep for further use.  One of the first uses, as
soon as his arm healed, was going to be a haircut for Clancy and the other dog.  The three walked
side by side under the full moon.