The Golden Heart

Episode 3 of "Terror in Manhattan"

Last episode, our heroes sneaked into the enemy warehouse, where they encountered some mischievous and malevolent gremlins. After a short battle, they left the gremlin's room. Opening the door, they found themselves on a balcony overlooking a wide storeroom filled with crates, boxes, and barrels. On the far side of the building was a staircase leading to some second floor offices.

Cautiously, they climbed down the stairs to the warehouse floor and picked their way through the cargo. Suddenly, the doctor felt a sting on his leg. He looked down to see a strange, insectoid creature that looked like a giant cockroach the size of a dog. Its mandibles had fastened on his leg. With a yell, he pulverized it with his tomahawk.

A bunch of the roaches surrounded the trio. Snake mumbled an incantation that she learned from the Freemasons. A burst of flames erupted from one of the insects. It scampered away in a panic, managing to ignite a couple of other roaches. While the others fled in terror, one of the creatures crashed into a barrel, knocking it over. Flames licked at the exterior of the barrel.

Rufus gave a cry of alarm. "That's gunpowder!" he shouted. He and the doctor rushed over and stamped out the flames before the gunpowder ignited.

As the doctor gave a sigh of relief he said to Snake: "Be careful. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing."

After this misadventure, our heroes made it to the stairs to the second floor offices. As they began to climb up, they heard a rustling from the dark corner. Then there was a heavy footstep that reverberated through the warehouse.

"Quick!" said the doctor. "Let's get back."

The trio retreated into the warehouse and hid behind some boxes. Out of the shadows stepped an 8 foot tall human-like figure. Its skin was a grayish-brown, with a consistency that appeared like clay. On its forehead was a 4 letter word written in strange characters.

"Emet - truth." whispered the doctor.

"What?" hissed Rufus.

"The marks on its head. Those are Hebrew characters that spell emet, which means truth."

"Well, it looks like truth is after us." replied Rufus.

"Actually, it's a golem."

Indeed, the golem was after them. It was making a beeline for their hiding spot.

"Time for the heavy artillery!" Rufus shouted  as he pulled out his pistol. His comrades did the same and unloaded a fusillade into the golem. It stumbled briefly but continued to advance.

With a shout of defiance, Rufus brandished his tomahawk and charged the golem. With a mighty swing, he buried into the enemy's skull. It sunk in, as if smashing into wet clay. The golem swung at Rufus, who just managed to dodge.

As the creature continued its vain attacks on Rufus, he doctor rushed forward to aid his friend. As he did so, he noticed a large mallet lying on the ground. He picked it up to use as a weapon.

"Rufus, mallet!" he yelled.

Rufus turned to see the broad head of the mallet coming toward him. With a shout of alarm, he ducked. The mallet head struck the golem in the forehead. The monstrosity stopped, then fell backward and laid still.

The trio came over and gazed at the golem.

"Look at its forehead!" exclaimed the doctor. The mallet blow managed to erase the first letter of the inscription on its forehead.

"Huh, interesting," said the doctor.

"Care to explain?" asked Rufus.

"Without the first letter, the remaining inscription says met - death. I wonder if that's what killed this creature."

As the trio pondered the meaning of this information, the golem's skin began to harden, like clay in a kiln. Then it began to crack, break off, and then pulverize into a fine dust.

"What is that?" asked Snake. In the middle of the pile of dust was a shining object. She picked it up and studied it. It was a golden heart.

What else will they find in the warehouse? Find out next time!