(OMG!!! Sorry for the delay, Writer’s Block is a *****!!! But here is the third chapter of Death Princess. I hope to expand upon the character of Allie and some more of the plot as well. Also remember, words in Italics are Aliakana’s thoughts. Peace, DaSOCOM)

Meg grunted as she reached for her cell phone. She had been lying in bed, calmly enjoying that wonderful period between sleep and wakefulness when The Donna’s "Take It Off" had loudly disturbed her. Seeing that the caller was Allie, she ended the song and answered her phone, "Hullo?"
"Morning, Meg! Hungry?" Sure enough, it was Allie’s voice on the other end.

Meg’s voice was still dull as she replied, "Kinda. Just woke up." She moved the mouse connected to her Dell laptop that was lying on her nightstand, bringing the screen back to life from where she had left it last night.

"Well you wanna go to the Omelettrie, then? My ride, my dollar."

The Omelettrie was one of Meg’s favorite breakfast joints in Austin. Known for their plate-sized omelets that were stuffed full, it was a wonderful little restaurant. Allie had planned this one, Meg was sure.

"Okay… When you wanna go?"

Allie thought for a moment, "Uhh…can you be ready in thirty minutes?"

Meg nodded to the phone, "Sure, I’ll be down by then."

"Alrighty! Peace!"

"Peace out." Meg then clicked off the phone and sighed. Allie was one of the few people who could get away with the crime of waking Meg up on her one day for really sleeping in and lazing around. But at least she could do it right. Stretching the last few kinks out of her body, she slid out of bed and began to get ready.

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Allie’s car - her dad’s car actually, Meg reminded herself – was waiting by the sidewalk by the time Meg had walked downstairs. She saw Allie smile from the driver’s seat as her friend walked over and entered the little red Honda Civic. Inside, Allie was dressed in a tight-fitting pink t-shirt that reached the top of her white shorts that just barely reached the middle of her slender tan thighs. On her feet she wore her favorite pair of pink sandals – slippaz as she referred to them – and covering her eyes were the slim, dark Oakley Half-Jacket sunglasses she always wore for playing Volleyball while her waist-length black hair was hanging free today.
Meg herself was wearing a loose-fitting, dark blue Abercrombie t-shirt that managed to show some of her toned midriff in a breeze along with a pair of knee-length shorts that matched her top in shade and brand. Today she was wearing her black Keds sneakers with ankle socks and also her black-framed Versace sunglasses, and she was allowing her long crimson locks to flow freely as well.

Just as Meg clicked her seatbelt into place, Allie shifted the car into gear and they began moving. "What’s up?" Meg asked her Hawaiian friend.
"Not much, woke up early and didn’t want to eat breakfast alone. Plus I called my dad and he said we could take his car out today, so why not enjoy our freedom, eh?"

Meg nodded, grinning. "Highlands Mall?"

Allie nodded in agreement, "DDR?"

"It’s agreed."

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The Omelettrie was a small restaurant that was renowned around Austin for serving the biggest, heartiest omelets in town. And while there was normally a fair buzz around the place on a Sunday morning, it was two people short of empty today. The recent attacks were showing on Austin’s citizens, they were becoming afraid of going places. But that also meant that Allie and Meg were seated as soon as they had entered the place.

They both took their places across the table from each other in the small window-side booth and ordered some tea while they read over the menu. Their hostess, Jennifer, was a pretty black-haired woman who was in good shape despite being almost 30, working full-time, and also working towards her Master’s degree in Business Management. Meg had been here enough times to know that. The two minor friends small-talked for a few seconds before Jen went off to get their tea.

"So I have a question for you." Meg stated while she skimmed the menu. She already had her order in mind, but why not see if anything else appealed to her appetite?

Allie looked up from her menu for a moment to answer, "What’s up?"

Jen interjected for a moment with their drinks, which in turn led to their ordering. Writing their choices down, she zipped off again to deliver their order to the cooks and then seat an elderly couple who had just arrived.
Meg sipped her tea before continuing, it was still quite warm, "Are you okay?"

Allie’s expression turned to sarcastic inquiry as she raised a lone eyebrow at her friend, taking a short sip from her own cup, "Am I…okay…? I’m perfectly fine. What makes you ask me that?"

Meg leaned in close, as if they were sharing something of monumental importance to the safety of the world, "It’s just that…you’ve been acting different lately. Weird dreams about other women, waking up early…that’s not the Aliakana I know."

Allie leaned in close as well, the two friends were mere inches from each other, "The truth…I’m not too sure what the truth is. It’s just that, ever since I’ve been having those dreams, my body has been completely weird, kinda like it’s not my own."

Meg sat up straight and leaned against the cushioned back of her bench, "Oh really?"

Allie sighed, "Yeah, it’s freaky. I always wake up after those dreams involving that same lady that I can’t quite remember. I’m also all adrenaline-rushed and cold-sweating. Not to mention that I’m so sore that I’d swear I completed the world’s greatest workout in my sleep. I just managed to stretch out the major kinks in my system before driving over to pick you up, I’m still in some pain."

Meg sipped her tea as she tried to gather more evidence. "You get some sort of weird feelings from these dreams?"

Allie nodded, taking a sip from her own tea as well, "Yeah, I feel pretty scared stupid afterwards. Almost like a train-wreck; not too sure of exactly what happened, but it was definitely bad.

Meg nodded, the Science Major inside of her coming out and analyzing the information before her. "Sure it’s not just your period taking you to this level of weird?"

"Doesn’t happen for another week or so. And it’s never really played with my mind like this, either."

The red-headed girl shook her head, finally shrugging her shoulders. "I don’t know what to tell you. But it certainly is interesting, whatever is happening to you."

Allie groaned, leaning over the table like the weight of the world was just getting to be a bit much for her, "Thanks, glad to know that my torment is giving you an intellectual challenge worthy of your skills." She then perked up and sat back against the cushioned bench again, "Food’s ready!"

Their breakfast plates were carried by David, a cute senior in UT’s Information Technology program. He was smart and nice, but both girls knew that he was also openly gay, a fact that Austin didn’t mind at all. It was one of the things Allie enjoyed about the city; it’s open-mindedness. So they talked to him about college and his life in general as he set their plates down in front of them and stood to chat for a short while before leaving the girls to their meals.

Allie had ordered the Original, filled with large bites of ham, bacon, and brimming with melted cheddar cheese with two links of sausage on the side. Meg had ordered her usual custom omelet, a hunk of folded egg with chunks of ham, onion, bell peppers, and sausage that all were swimming in a mix of melted cheddar and swiss cheese. She had ordered two links of sausage on the side as well. Both girls hungrily dug into their breakfast, eating more than talking for once in the morning.

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After both women had roundly cleaned their plates, save for cheesy residue, they continued talking about life in general over their third cups of warm, sweet tea. Jen had placed their ticket on the table, talked to the girls some more, and hurried off as more customers had shown up. The place was still relatively dead, compared to most mornings in the small breakfast diner.

As Meg excused herself to the restroom, Allie held up to her deal and set her money down on the small tray that their ticket had come on, which Jen scooped up as she passed by after seating a family of four. It wasn’t until after Jen had returned with her receipt and moved on to whereabouts unknown that Meg had returned, ready to go. Allie gulped down the last of her now-cooled tea, dropped her tip off on the table, and the girls left to their car. They had a day of fun ahead of them, why make it wait?

***********************************

The next several hours were a rush of stores, clothes, shoes and music as the girls moved from one place of business to the next inside Austin’s Highlands Mall. And living up their second goal, they shared several rounds of DDR at the local arcade and a running head-to-head grudge match on Initial D. Including today’s races, Allie’s white FC3-S RX-7 was up 16-11 against Meg’s more powerful but less forgiving Yellow FD3 RX-7. Not that it was any true measure of skill for either girl, but it their little competitions were the fuel for the fire of their friendship. They settled on Sbarro for a late lunch of pasta and soda, dining in the shopping mall’s expansive food court.

It was in the middle of her bowl of pasta that Chillaxin’ by Hi Risk Factor signaled Allie that she was receiving a call. Slurping her mouthful of spaghetti down, she plucked her phone from her waistband, flipped it open, and answered it, "Allie…Oh, hey Julia!" She paused, listening for a moment while looking over at Meg suggestively, "Canoeing at Zilker Park, then a picnic dinner?" Meg nodded an emphatic Yes to her friend, who listened some more before replying, "Okay, sure! I already got Meg with me, we’ll pick up some drinks on the way. A’ighty! Peace!"

Meg was almost jumping up and down in her seat with curiousity. "So what’s happening?"

"Julia and a bunch of other girls are going down to Zilker park, canoeing, feeding the ducks and stuff. Sophia and Ashley are bringing the food, Julia and Ronnie are picking up snacks, and we’re getting the drinks. And the best news is Jun is doing the cooking out on one of the grills in the park, so of course the food is going to be totally great!"

Meg was all for it, she could hardly contain her excitement . "How soon we gotta be there?"

"About an hour, we’re going to pick up some drinks for their cooler on the way and meet them at the Statesman’s parking lot, Ash and Jun wanna go watch the bats again." She shook her head in dismay, "Biology majors…"

Meg laughed shortly, "Got a problem with that?"

"Watching a bunch of Winged Rodents taking flight to go out and make their mark on Austin’s insect population is not what I would consider quality after-dinner entertainment."

Meg reached over the table and placed her hand on Allie’s shoulder, squeezing it softly with a small grin shaping her face." Don’t worry, I’ll be there to protect you from the swarms of flying insect-eaters.

Allie made a show of patting her hand and wiping away an imaginary tear, "Oh Meg…you’re such a great friend." It was then that both girls broke into laughter that lasted for enough time to get them ready to go have some more fun.

***********************************

The young Hawaiian girl sighed as her body crashed back-first onto her bed. It had been one fun and tiring day for her. She looked at her clock radio as she turned it on, noting the time of 8:49 pm as well as the ending of the latest song from Fat Boy Slim. She couldn’t help but lay there across her bed, legs hanging off and resting on the floor as several more songs passed by until the DJ announced the coming commercial break. Yawning and stretching out, she sat up slowly. She had to get ready to go to bed, she was tired already.

Just as the announcer began announcing the next song he was going to play, his voice was cut off and replaced by silence. The sudden lack of sound drew Allie’s attention, looking to her radio to see if it had died or something. The time, now 9:03, was still shining back at her. It was then that a cold, heartless voice took over the airwaves. The pure malice in the voice transfixed the girl as she sat there, she couldn’t help but listen.

"Austin, Texas. Listen to my voice, I am the Father. I lead Christ’s Judgment, the group responsible for the attacks on both the First USA Bank and the Parker Avenue YMCA. I have been visited by God Almighty and the Lord in his benevolence allowed me a glimpse into the future of our world. I was sickened by what I saw; homosexuals leading society, sin and vice running rampant, Christianity itself under attack by the forces of ignorant popular culture. I was then shown the beginning of the insanity and it all begins right here. Ground Zero for the fall of decency as we know it will be Austin, Texas.

It was at that moment that I knew in my heart that the Lord showed me these things for a reason; he wanted me to stop them before they began. So I gathered fellow true believers and we have vowed to destroy the menace that this town will become. It is unfortunate that events have forced us to sack the city as a whole, we wanted the Bank action and the YMCA to shock you into changing your ways. But it seems as if you have your own Protector of Sins, this Death Princess who so willingly defends the shameful ways of queers, non-believers, and heretical "Free" thinkers. So you, residents of Austin, have forced us to play our hand.

By the end of tonight, you will tear your own lives apart in the Chaos that we will create. Man will turn himself to beast and it will be brought upon the world to eradicate the stain of your sins as you retreat to becoming the beasts that you truly are inside."

The transmission cut off quickly, but Allie was still stunned even as the DJ returned, offering an apology for what happened. He began to finish his earlier announcement, "And now we turn you to Fall –YEEAARGH!!!"From the speaker of her radio came the sounds similar to a hungry tiger being turned loose on the radio station insides. Allie could not believe the sounds, a mix of animal-like screams and growls and unmistakable sounds of human beings in terror, panic and...PAIN!!! Still in shock, she drew closer to the radio until the last manmade yell ended and only the hungry growling could be heard. It was then that her door was hit with the force of a sledgehammer, the same kind of growling occurring outside her door as...something was trying to force itself in. As she got up to rush over and deadbolt the door, her whole world was encircled in a black tunnel that closed in on her vision until she was alone in the cold darkness.

Fin