Web Standards Hero, episode 2

Read episode 1 first

The blistering cold hit him straight in the face as he left the warmth inside. Was it already this cold? He regretted not taking the thick coat he had seen in the closet. The thin jacket he had right now had to do, there was no time turning back. It got a little better as he started jogging.

The table army had gotten quite a head start on him, but even at this distance he could hear their metallic legs marching forward, only interrupted by an occasional crash as they hit something in their way. No screams. Yet.

The town was rather empty on the winter season of the year, and the few permanent occupants had probably gotten to bed by now. A few years ago people would have gotten up from the terrible sound, but hardly any longer. Nightly fights between street gangs had made people afraid, and few would risk being seen.

Our hero increased his speed somewhat. He had an idea of how to get to the town hall before his opponents. The tables would probably keep to the main streets; if they took the smaller ones they might have to split up. They wouldn't risk that, few had any problems breaking a single table. So they would stick together on the bigger streets and he would stay on the smaller ones. He had the exact way plotted in his mind, and felt his speed increasing.

An elderly woman with her dog walked down a dark alley. She heard quick footsteps approaching from behind and quickly hid in the dark, covering the dog's mouth with her hand. From her hiding place she saw a young man with big yellow headphones approaching, he certainly looked to be in a rush; with determined steps and eyes fixed straight forward. He continued past her and she got ready to continue her walk. She threw one last look over the shoulder as to make sure she was safe. Like in slow motion she saw the young man being hit by something and flying through the air towards a brick wall. A screeching roar from a nearby alley convinced her not to linger. She quickly disappeared around the corner.

Our hero woke with his head against something hard. Touching his head he felt that the big headphones had taken the worst hit. The music continued from the other ear and for a while he just laid there listening to the deep base. When he thought about it, the base reminded him about something heavy moving its legs step by step: *Thump*, *thump*. *Thump*, *thump*. That's wasn't the base! He jumped out of the way as another spacer gif hit the ground where he had laid. In front of him was a gigantic black shape. A sign, swinging around its neck as it moved forward, clearly stated: "Made in Dreamweaver".

It really was huge, patched with layer over layer with machine-made material. Our hero doubted that his text-indent gun would be of any use. He knew he had to be smarter to outnumber this foe, but how?! As he nearly got hit by another gif attack as an idea struck him. He looked at the sewer drain, maybe 20 meters away, and started running towards it. He felt the creature behind him, too busy keeping up with him to be able to shoot anything. With a great leap, worthy of an athlete, he jumped over the drain and continued forward. After a few seconds he heard metal break as the creature stepped through the drain and disappeared down into the black water.

Yes! He stood still and tried to catch his breath for a while, and listened to the music flowing from only one side of his headphones. There was no doubt now, he was up against professor Font, the maniac who had killed his parents all those years ago. No one else could have created a monster like that. He felt an anger building up inside him and with eyes shining of feverish determination he continued towards the town hall.

Oh jolly gosh! What an adventure. Will our hero make it to the town hall in time? And where are those cookies you promised last episode?! Stay tuned for another episode of… Web Standards Hero!