Tom Zenk's The Long Oktober Page

Last updated 21 April 2015

The Long Oktober

He rose, stretching his muscular body. He slept in white boxer shorts .... when he slept. He stood over six feet and weighed over 240 pounds. He had been Mr. Minnesota some years back, a bodybuilder of dashing looks and enviable physical symmetry. Black hair, brown eyes and a chin that suggested an Italian heritage. He has a formidable appearance, filling most doorways he walks through. You could look at him and say, "God was good to Tom."

The nicely finished room in his house made all the right noises a well build house should make in the night. A creak of board and the floom and rumble of the gas furnace, all giving warmth unmeasurable by a thermometer.

All that usual, subtle, comfort amounted to nothing tonight. He couldn't sleep.

He scratched at his beard stubble and thought there might be something in the kitchen to help him sleep.

There was a cold Minnesota rain beating on the windows. Lights from the streets of Minneapolis reflected off his smooth skin. The wind howled. He ignored it. Being used to the flow of Minnesota seasons he'd kissed Summer good-bye in August. Winter comes early there.

His cat artfully tried to trip him as he walked toward the kitchen. Black with white boots, plaintively questioning his every move, he padded around Tom's feet.

All the cupboards were empty. He hadn't gone shopping in weeks. Didn't feel like it. He'd just eat and empty them again. He had felt like this for some time. If he had some rest, he might worry about his failing attitude.

There was just a single bottle of wine in one of the underside cupboards. Dusty wine. He looked at the label. Aunt Thelma's Dandelion wine; 1992. He knew why it was so dusty; he would never casually drink something so awful.

But he was so tired and wanted to sleep so badly. Just one medicinal glass, he thought. He promised his cringing taste buds he'd throw it right back. He still shuddered as he poured his dose.

He sipped a dram from a ceramic cup he had on the counter and shuffled back to the bedroom. He flopped on the bed and laid his thick forearm over his brow. He suddenly remembered what should've been obvious. He's never owned a cat.....

A rumbling voice split the silence of the room, "Get up!" Tom scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding. There was someone in the room with him.

He looked around and saw no one. He took four quick breaths and stood ready to fight. Muscle rippled over his torso, nervously.

"You got work to do!" The voice again, from the other side of the room.

Lightning split the sky with thunder on its heels so closely, Tom could feel heat in the room with the flash. There was a hand on his. "We need to talk." said the man. Less booming, soft with urgency in his voice. Tom jumped back getting a glimpse of the man that had just come from nowhere.

"You got some nerve!" Tom said, angry at the intrusion.

The man just laughed, "Yeah, I do." He was shorter than Tom, but broader. He looked a few years younger, muscular shoulders pressed through his gray clothing. The shapeless garment resolved into... a janitor's jumpsuit? He had a charming gleam in his brown eyes, five o'clock shadow, rough like steel wool. Black hair with gray-shocked temples. He had those rugged Italian features as well. His smile was rakish, looking pleased that he'd scared the hell out of Tom.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, calmer, but still ready for something. He was sure this man wasn't really there. The rain calmed and quiet fell over the house.

"I clean up around here," he said with one of those smiles that said he wasn't really telling the whole truth. "I'm The Janitor. You can call me Jack." He extended his hand and Tom cautiously shook it. It was thick and callused like Tom's. "There's a mess I need your help with." His voice was deep and resonant.

Tom blinked twice and then laughed. He wondered why his life has to be so weird? "Okay, what kind of mess."

The Janitor became very serious. "Tom, did you ever wonder why there's twelve months in each year?'

"No." Tom said flatly, a tone warning the speaker to get to the point.

"Or why they're named what they're named?"

"No, not since my last spelling test that included 'February'."

And that was when Tom learned about the Months. To his surprise, The Janitor told him that each month is like a man except the ones that are like a woman. And they live only so long and get tired and leave the earth until the next year when they're not so tired. And they control the powers of that time of year. Vast powers, unimaginable.

"So what's the mess?"

"There's some people that like to make changes in how the world works, and they do it without thinking," The Janitor said with a frown. "You people call them magicians."

"What do you call them?"

"A fucking pain in the ass!" Jack said with heat in his voice.

"Because someone like that had a thoughtless notion and too much power for their own good, Time has changed. And Oktober has some notions of staying around past his time."

"I don't get it." Tom said truthfully. "October is going to last longer this year? That's weird, but not such a big deal."

"Oktober is very powerful. Tom, you of all people should know the embrace of Oktober. It feels like this," Jack waved his hand and there was a blinding flash. There Tom was, years ago, unable to breathe, a vicious screaming crowd of fans, and the gleaming insane eyes of Van Vader, maliciously staring at him, holding him bodily off the canvas, hands clutching his throat. He beat on those hands and pried at the fingers and nothing moved. He felt weaker. The lights and sounds swam around him and he slammed into the floor.

He was back in his room, lying on the floor catching his breath. "You see." Jack continued in a strangely flat tone. "Anything in that clutch too long has all the summer sucked out of it."

"Summer?"

"That youth, thrill to succeed, you know." Tom felt a chill creep over him and he knew he had been touched like that long ago.

"Jack, what was that? He did that to me?"

"Not Vader. Oktober did that through Vader. He was trying out his new powers. You were an...experiment. Yeah, he did you harm, still unhealed. He pulled out some of your life-force," The Janitor said. He reached his callused hand to Tom and helped him off the floor. "And now he wants to touch the world like that and never let go. And he can, if he isn't stopped."

Tom took his hand up, "What makes you think I can stop him?"

"Right now I don't know. You have some things to learn first." He said still smiling.

"Why don't you do it?"

"I'm not a fighter," he replied.

"Listen, I'm flattered by the offer, but you break into my house, scare the crap out of me and bring me this crazy offer, this is too weird for me."

"First of all," he said in a Fatherly tone. "This is not your house, it's mine. You're dreaming and you came here. I didn't actually invite you."

Tom blinked and worried if he was going crazy. He remembered living in this house for a while, but actually didn't remember buying or building it.

He didn't even know if there were any doors to it or how to get out of there at all. It was a dream.

"Secondly, I didn't trap you here. I asked the Boss for some help in this matter and there you were. A fighter, made for the job, in my kitchen drinking that wretched wine," The Janitor said with a smile. "You need to ask yourself why your wanted to dream of this place."

Tom knew he wasn't going to understand this without some time. He shook his head, "I'm outta here."

As though he'd requested it, a shimmering gate opened in the middle of the room.

"There you are, the way out." The Janitor said. "You didn't impress me as the coward type though." He stood between Tom and the gate.

"Get out of my way," Tom said. "You have no way," The Janitor said forcefully. "You have your desires for the easy road, and you know they lead to sloth and obscurity."

Tom walked up to the burly Janitor and stood face to face. "I'm not your toy. Get someone else."

"Fine, pass me." He said with a smile.

Tom placed his hand on The Janitor's chest and pushed. He moved a little, but kept smiling. "I was afraid you'd take this way," The Janitor said. The room shattered and scrambled, reassembling as a school gymnasium as the fabric of reality shredded and reformed. They were standing in the center of the floor on a large circular wrestling mat.

"Fine," Tom said a ready tone. He locked with the Janitor and pushed him away hard. The Janitor had to backpedal three steps.

"Strong," He said with a smile. "But try this." He closed on Tom and shoved him with an unreal strength. Z-Man flew backward twenty feet and flopped on his rear. He fell onto his back shaken.

The Janitor walked up to him and stepped on his chest. Tom had never felt a weight like it. A single foot on his chest felt like a car had parked there. He had a hard time breathing. He grabbed the foot and tried to move it aside. Nothing.

Yeah, but a knee is a knee and bends only one way. Using the weight on his chest as a fulcrum, he reached up and clasped both hands over The Janitor's kneecap. Once he knit his fingers in a good clutch, he pulled the knee toward his groin and sat up as hard as he could, forcing The Janitor to get off his chest, fall or make the knee bend the wrong way.

Unprepared for this, a look of real surprise crossed Jack's face, just before he landed on his butt.

Tom took advantage of the surprise and sat up, sliding forward so The Janitor's ankle hooked over his shoulder, using the leverage on the knee. He hugged the knee and pressed it in a backward direction. The Janitor roared in pain as his leg was locked in a forceful knee-extension. He kicked at Tom's face, missed and hit his shoulder. Tom wrenched the hold tighter just as he caught a heel in the jaw, snapping his head back and breaking the hold.

Both men scrambled to their feet, The Janitor shaking out the ache in his knee. "You are good. But you have your heart in the wrong place, big man. You don't need to fight me."

"I'm leaving," Tom rushed him and shot for a tackle. The Janitor wasn't there. He felt strong arms surround his waist and found himself falling toward the mat, as the arms reached up, locking in a full nelson.

"Then you're fighting the wrong fight," Jack said in Tom's ear. His muscular arms bearing incredible pressure down on Tom's neck.

Z-man tried to power out but failed. Jack was too strong and had better leverage, driving Tom into the mat. Tom rolled to the side and reached down to grab Jack's leg and pulled it up between his legs, bending his knee in a painful backward direction.

Jack broke the nelson and slid off Z-Man's back. Tom timed his next move well. He knew he could affect this guy with kneelocks and went for it again.

He rolled to the side and sat down, straight on the knee while pulling the ankle up between his legs. The Janitor roared out in pain again.

"You had some nice magic tricks before," Z-Man taunted. "You don't seem to be so full of them now.

"Fine!" shouted the Janitor. "I'm done bein' nice! Watch this trick!"

There was a blurring of light around him and Tom felt The Janitor begin to melt out of his hands. Just as there was almost nothing to hold on to, Jack formed into a huge anaconda.

Tom tried to leap free but coil after coil of the huge snake circled his waist and chest. His legs were quickly wrapped up in the huge snake's tightening embrace. Tom used all the strength he had to keep it from coiling around his neck. He tried to stand but only got to his knees before becoming immobilized.

He flexed his abdominals just as the snake squeezed him with it's coils of solid muscle. He struggled to shove the snake off him but found truth in the old saying - that there's no leverage against a snake.

The anaconda squeezed Tom tighter and tighter. Tom's chest and torso ached under the relentless pressure as he fought to get his breath. Tom flexed his body hard to withstand the onslaught. He felt the cool smooth coils slither tighter against his skin. This hold was a winner and he had to submit.

But just then and idea snapped into his head. That this is a dream. Not real.

"You're...not real!"

The snake shimmered away and revealed the Janitor. He still held Tom in a crushing scissors and full nelson combination. But that was wrestling.

He could get leverage on that and knew he could fight on.

He hooked his calf over the end of the Janitor's foot and used his other calf over that one. He pressed down on the Janitor's ankle. "Let me go or it breaks!" He pressed down on Jack's toe and the scissors popped open with a wail of pain from Jack.

The Janitor broke away from the scissors hold and was rewarded with a Z-Man elbow to the ribs. After four elbow-shots, Tom was free and both men stood facing each other.

"Okay, let's have a real ring," Tom said. They were suddenly standing in a proper wrestling pro-style ring.

"Hey, this is my place you're redecorating," The Janitor said.

"Well, it's my dream," Tom said with casual confidence. Tom was ready to face him again. He threw himself into the ropes behind him. On his rebound, he flew at The Janitor with a flying body slam. They both went down.

Tom regained his feet and the Janitor was obviously winded. Tom climbed the corner and stood to plant a flying drop-kick on his chest. The Janitor was just regaining his feet.

Tom launched his kick. It all happened so fast, Tom was surprised. Instead of getting up, The Janitor morphed again. The result was nightmarish. It resembled a huge Venus Fly-Trap but smelled like rotting flesh. Straight from a Halloween nightmare, it moved to face his incoming trajectory.

The moist open mouth yawned. Tom only hoped to deliver a kick that mattered.

He kicked the top jaw hard, but nothing kept him from sliding into the huge jaws. He scrambled to get out but the mouth slammed on his waist tightly. His legs were trapped in the warm and spongy trap. In spite of the strength in those huge legs he could barely move them. He pushed against the jaws with all his might. They didn't budge. "No, this isn't real!"

"I'm afraid it is," The Janitor said. He was standing in the corner of the ring. "This is one of my trash receptacles." Tom felt the plant shift deep inside as his feet were drawn down. He realized he was being swallowed.

With a sucking noise his whole body was drawn deeper into the mouth of the Man-Trap plant.

"Why are you doing this?! What do you prove with this?" Tom asked in a fury, wondering what happens to someone when they die in a dream.

"I hope to prove you can prevail against horrors and magics that will come your way," Jack said, calmly walking closer to Tom. "You'd be out of there in a flash if you dismissed the notion of escaping. You need to realize something inside you. You fear Oktober and have since your defeat at the hands of Vader." Jack stepped closer to Tom, speaking directly to his face.

"Drive the cowardice from your heart. And then the plant will reject you. It feeds on the fearful, only."

As if to punctuate Jack's comment, the plant swallowed again drawing Tom deeper inside. He felt the plant envelop his chest, squeezing his torso tightly. He lunged at Jack, grabbing his jumpsuit. Jack turned to slip away but Tom got his collar. He pulled his body close and wrapped his huge arm around Jack's throat and slapped on a tight sleeper. "If I go in, you come with me."

"Stop this..." The Janitor gurgled. "You need to clear the fear from your heart to see what the real danger is." Tom just squeezed harder. The plant drew him into it's mouth deeper, now embracing Tom's shoulders. One more swallow like that and he'll have trouble breathing, he was sure. The pressure around his chest was increasing. He couldn't feel his legs.

"Stop!" The Janitor said. The room shattered and the hold was released.

Tom felt like he was floating in a gray space. He couldn't see Jack anywhere. But he heard his voice. "I'm sorry it went this way. I didn't want to fight you. I was hoping that you would listen instead of fight. I suppose I could've made a better case. I'm short of time as it is."

Tom suddenly felt cold and shivered. "If you change your mind, come back to my house. I'll be waiting. I have work to do." Jack's sad voice was gone.

Tom woke to dim gray light. He heard a pouring rain and felt it on his skin. There he was, on the sidewalk outside his apartment, in boxer shorts, in the rain. He picked himself up off the pavement and walked to the front steps. He was freezing and very tired. He stubbed his toe on the step so badly, he landed on the top step on his knees.

There was his soaked morning copy of USA Today. October 1. It's begun, he thought.

He reached up to open his apartment door. It was locked!

All he could do was bang his head on the locked door. "Why" *bang* " is my life " *bang* "so weird?" *bang*"

The first of the year's fallen leaves danced and floated as a large muscular man walked across the packed mall parking lot in slow long strides. His huge chest and tight waist pressed his white T-shirt into a powerful, unmistakably masculine shape. His blue denim did the same.

By passers looked twice, and shifted their gaze back to what they were doing, or away from his distracting size. If any of them recognized him as a famous wrestler, they didn't say so.

Tom didn't feel famous. He felt like an abused old man today, the cold air in the maturing autumn sank deeper into his body today. He didn't feel like Z-Man, the powerful fighter. Seeing that he woke up in the street soaking in a pouring rain, half naked, he was just happy to be alive.

He walked into the Burnsville Mall on the outskirts of Minneapolis.

This was his day off after a six day workout with limited wrestling engagements.

It was a worthless week after the dream. He was tired and restless and just wanted a break.

Quiet and light-filled, the out-of-the-way mall was a simple place to spend his off time. He hoped to kick around a music store, or just kill time, trying not to reflect on the dream he had last week. Really, it couldn't have been real.

The mall had its main entrance on the second level with an open floor inside. He wandered to the central section of the mall, pausing to look over the railing at the kids in the food court. A fountain made a shimmering sound through the whole mall occasionally interrupted by squeals of young ladies and shouts of young men. Light streamed in through skylights. He relaxed and walked slowly enjoying the atmosphere.

Strolling in a random fashion he entered a software store and saw that all the new Christmas stuff was already out. Cool graphics, cool fight games, excited salesmen.

"You want to try it out?" asked one young salesman. He looked like a high school letterman, clean-cut, tight stocky build. Tom was sympathetic and tried the game. It was called 'Madness in Madison.'

"It's about a bunch of aliens attacking Madison, Wisconsin, and no one's believing it."

"So you fight the aliens?" Tom asked as he picked up the controls.

"Ya, and you get weapons or sometimes you just get your bare hands. This is such a cool fight game, ya know?" The sales kid raved. It was clear the kid loved the games. Tom accepted the controls from the kid. Tom found it quite easy to knock down the aliens. He was fast. His reaction time was much better than what the game required. His character, a marine, ran down a corridor to a huge cavernous room.

"Hey, I've never seen this part," said the sales kid.

"New territory, cool," Tom said. The room opened up and revealed a huge caged arena and his character was standing in it.

The machine made weird noises like it was malfunctioning. Suddenly it sounded different in the store.

"Have you ever seen this?" he asked the sales kid.

He looked up and noticed there was something very wrong with the whole room. All the people he could see had stopped, frozen in place, and turned and stared at him. They had blank glazed looks on their faces. He looked out into the mall. Everyone there was frozen in their tracks as well. They all turned and looked at him.

"Yes. I've seen it." said the salesman in an eerie distorted growling voice. His eyes were red, raw like he hadn't slept in weeks.

His hair, wild and disheveled, looked like fallen leaves. "Perhaps you should take a closer look."

Suddenly the kid's arm changed, morphed like things did in his weird dream. It thickened and grew a brown crusty covering like bark. It flashed out and grabbed Tom by the back of the neck with unnatural strength. Tom felt icy fingers dig into his flesh. His face was shoved through the screen.

Instead of breaking the terminal, his face passed through it. He saw the arena, a crimson mat with harsh cable as ring ropes. The turnbuckles looked like splintered wooden telephone poles. He could tell there was a crowd he couldn't see. The crowd wailed in deafening howls of torment.

He pulled his head back from the nightmare vision and pushed the kid away, hard. He blinked looking around at the people in the store. The kid seemed to be normal again, and startled to get such a reaction from a customer.

"I...I'm sorry sir, it's never done that before," the kid sputtered. "Are you okay?" Everyone in the mall was going about their business as though nothing had happened.

"Yeah kid, I'm fine," he said quietly. "Weird game." He said and handed the controls back. He walked out of the store and headed for the mall exit. More weirdness. He had had enough.

He was still on the second level of the mall and looked around. Just to check. People were normal. He couldn't shake the weird feeling, though. He looked over the rail and froze in horror. There was a man. Not a normal man. He was tall, like a tree. Great muscles rippled over his form, his skin like bark and his hands ending in frost tipped rough hands. His hair was a deep autumn leaf red, ragged and flowing. He stood on the edge of the fountain which was a blossom of red. Bodies and parts scattered the floor around the tables. There was no one alive down there.

The people on the second level walked on, oblivious to the carnage below.

"Hey Tom!" the man shouted. He waved and smiled. "I think I missed a few up there! Could you take care of them for me?" A raucous laugh erupted from him. Tom shut his eyes afraid to open them.

There was a scream.

He couldn't take the wait and looked again. Kids. One was standing on the edge of the clean fountain about where the man had been. The kid was dangling a black purse over the water to the dismay of one of the young ladies below.

The carnage was gone. The man was gone. Tom turned and bolted from the railing, running for the exit. He didn't know why he was running, but he had to leave.

Outside the sky was gray and a cold, stiff breeze blew out of the north.

Tom knew things were far from normal. He ran toward his car and noticed there were no cars around his car. None. Leaves were driven before the blowing wind.

"This is not real. I'm still dreaming. I have to be." He said to himself hoping he could be convincing.

Next to his car was a man. The same man he had seen next to the fountain.

The wind threw his hair around like leaves clinging to an oak tree. Tom stopped about ten yards away. From here he could see that he was huge, muscles bunching his tall frame with unnatural strength. His face was rough yet handsome.

"Tom!" the man said with open arms. "You keep trying to leave me. I'm offended."

"Who the hell are you?" Tom asked. He was scared but knew that didn't matter.

"Hey man, don't get your balls in a twist!" the man barked. "You know who I am."

"Oktober," Tom said quietly.

"Oh," he smiled. "You do remember Jack's little talk. Good boy. I just hope you don't have any notions of getting involved in matters that don't concern you."

"No," Tom said honestly. "But if you do anything like you showed me in the mall, you will come very close to concerning me." Tom had no hope of taking this monster, but wasn't going to be bullied. He had never lived that way and wasn't about to start.

The wind became still. Oktober walked toward Tom slowly. The rap of his boots on the pavement echoed off the walls of the mall. He stopped inches before Tom's face. He was tall, his muscular chest loomed in Tom's vision.

"You are gonna try to stop me? Are you that stupid? You don't get it! I don't go away this year! I'm here for good!"

"Someone will stop you," Tom said.

A great hand grabbed Tom's shirt and lifted. The thin shirt tore off his body. Tom flashed a brutal right hook to Oktober's face. There was a snap like a twig and blood trickled down his face.

Oktober dropped Tom's shredded shirt and stepped back, feeling his nose with genuine curiosity written across his face. He straightened his nose with a creaking snap. "Wow," he whispered. "You hurt me. You actually hurt me." His eyes focused on Tom tightly. "Ooooh, you're gonna pay for that."

Tom backed up into his car. Onto the hood of the car jumped a black cat with white boots. It was the same cat from his dream. "Great, the cat I don't own." he said under his breath.

"You bet your ass," said the cat. "No one owns me. Now that you made him mad, do you have any other plans?"

Tom just stared at the cat in surprise. "Heads up!" said the cat jumping away from the car. Tom turned just in time to catch a hard forearm shot to the face. His head rocked back and he slumped down the side of the car nearly unconscious. A huge cold hand wrapped around Z-Man's throat. He felt himself being hoisted in the air, lifted by the throat. Oktober held him over his head for a moment and then bodyslammed him on his back on the asphalt.

Tom arched his back in pain. That one hurt. Much more abuse like that, and he knew he'd be so messed up, he wouldn't be able to defend himself. Sharp claws dug into his scalp as he was pulled off the ground. He took a hard kick into his ribs that doubled him over. He was so dazed he never saw it coming. A double fist struck him in the small of the back. He landed on the asphalt on his face.

"You are one pathetic challenger, you know that?" The monster gloated.

Tom rolled over on his back looking up at his adversary. Oktober blustered more, "Jack thought you were going to beat me? What a jerk! He's a janitor, not a fighter. You goodie-goodies can't beat anyone. You need balls to do that!"

His triumph gave Tom an ideal opening, so as punctuation Tom drove his heel into Oktober's crotch, hard. Oktober's eyes crossed and he sank to his knees.

"Funny. Now you can't even beat yourself."

"I have...to kill...you...now." Oktober managed through gritting teeth.

"Save it," Tom said. He hopped to his feet, shaking off the pain and grabbed Oktober by the wrist and wrenched hard. He howled in pain. Tom delivered a sharp kick at Oktober's twisted shoulder, once, twice. The monster howled again. Z-Man whipped Oktober into the front fender of his car, backed ten yards and threw a perfectly aimed drop kick at his head. Oktober flipped over the hood of the car and rolled onto the ground on the other side. Tom circled the car to find no one there. He heard a step behind him and ducked. Instinct served him well as a haymaker swing just missed his head.

Tom placed his hands flat on the asphalt and bracing himself he landed a double kick into Oktober's sternum from the ground. As Oktober doubled over, Tom grabbed his hair and pulled his face into the side of the car. *Clang!* Tom got to his feet and grabbed Oktober's wrist again. Oktober gathered himself up and stood. Tom twisted his opponent's shoulder hard but caught a rake across the eyes from those jagged claws. He could feel blood trickling down from a cut over his left eye.

"I'm done playing," Oktober rumbled.

Tom felt a fist bury itself in his abdominals and he doubled over, fighting for breath. A boot to the face, he tumbled over backward, flat on his back. A hard boot heel crashed into his ribs. He felt one break. The boot landed on his face. His eye bled freely now. Another boot smashed into his ribs causing Tom screaming pain.

"I am going to finnish you now. You're fighting days are over, Zenk!"

The monster settled on his torso, straddling his waist. Oktober's heavy weight crushed Tom's breath out of him and ground his injured ribs together. A rough fist caught him in the face. And again.

Then Oktober said, "Take a deep breath...this is gonna hurt a lot."

Tom felt Oktober's huge hand press heavily on his chest. Then an agonizing stab, as if all five fingers dug deep into his body. The pain was indescribable, as though part of his life was being torn out. The fingers dug in even deeper, increasing the pressure and the pain, like they went through his left pectoral into his heart. He remembered this was Oktober's embrace. Within the red haze of agony he wondered if death would follow.

He tried to pull the hand from his chest, but the searing pain in his chest doubled when he grabbed the wrist of the monster and tried to pull it off.

Z-Man howled in agony as his life was being torn from his body. He pounded on Oktober's face and chest without effect. They were surrounded by a swirling gray mist. Tom was weakening. His world faded into darker and darker shades of gray.

Suddenly there was a scream and Oktober's hand lifted from his chest.

Tom opened his eyes to see The Cat had attached itself to Oktober's face clawing madly. Tom pushed Oktober off his body. Oktober rolled aside, trying to get The Cat off his face. Tom collapsed on his back exhausted from the effort.

Oktober tore The Cat from his face and threw him head over tail. The Cat landed twenty feet away on his feet and hissed at the cursing monster. Tom dragged himself to his driver-side door but ran out of breath to do anything else. He slumped to the ground, a grimace of pain on his face.

Oktober raised himself to his feet. Even though The Cat caused him pain, Oktober showed no marks on his face. He slowly walked over to the car. Tom tried to get up but couldn't. Oktober bent over and whispered in Tom's ear -

"I could kill you," Oktober whispered. 'But that would be unnecessary. Right now, you'll have trouble eating solid food, let alone entertaining notions of stopping me." He smiled black and broken teeth. "I like that."

Oktober looked back at The Cat, "You tell Jack that there's no hope for this world. You can't stop me."

"Screw yourself!" Tom growled defiantly, but his weakness kept him totally unable to follow through.

Oktober roared with laughter. "I will see you again. I hope to make you suffer more."

The air around Oktober blurred and melted. Oktober was gone.

"You are a danger to yourself and others, you know that?" the Cat said. It licked his hand and rubbed his face on Tom's arm. "Can you drive?"

"I probably shouldn't," Tom said holding his ribs. His lungs rattled. Tom coughed roughly and moaned in pain. He felt real sick and dizzy.

"Okay, give me your keys," said the Cat.

"You're nuts," Tom blurted out.

The Cat shimmered and grew. His shape shifted and became a man, about 5'6", shining obsidian skin, long black hair, dressed in black denim and a Metallica T-shirt. He had a thin lean build. He didn't really look human, his eyes kept the cat-like reflection and yellow-green color. "The keys," the Cat said.

"No way," Tom's vision blurred as another spasm of coughing shook his chest. He never felt Cat rummage through his pockets and pull out his keys.

"Great, I'll drive." said the Cat with a childish smile. His eyes sparked.

"I don't think my insurance covers cats' driving," Tom said, still wincing as he got up. He was going to go through the instinctual reaction to disbelieve what he was seeing. Either he was crazy, which means he should enjoy the ride, or he was seeing the real thing and it should be paid attention.

"You're one to talk. Look at you. You're almost alive, but barely. At this rate, you could die from an infected hangnail. I have to get some food into you soon."

"Well, let's go into the Applebees..it's just over there."

"Screw that. I'm cooking. I have some special things to give you that you need," the Cat said as he got into the car. "You coming?"

Tom limped around the car and got in and belted himself into place. The seatbelt felt like a vice. "Oh, man that hurts. Cat, you got a name?"

"Shithead," the Cat said calmly.

"Umm. Ahh, I'll call you Cat." Tom said after a stunned pause.

"Most of my friends do," the cat said. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "I got a plan. If you follow it you can kick this delusional maniac's butt and send him back to where all the Calendars come from."

"I'm not fighting him," Tom said.

"Yeah right! In case you haven't noticed, he's just taken over three quarters of your life-force and is ready to write bad-news headlines for the world!"

"What makes you magic-people think I can do anything about it?! Huh?"

"You broke his nose," the Cat said quietly. "No mortal can hurt the Months. It's against the rules. It even surprised him. You can take him. You better get used to that fact. Until anyone else steps forward that can even have a chance of changing his hairstyle, you're the man."

"You scratched him and he felt that," Tom said.

"Who you callin' mortal?" Cat hissed. Tom blinked at the vehemence of Cat's statement. Shithead calmed quickly and continued. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I can't cut him, just make him feel pain."

"But why me?"

Shithead looked at him with his curious yellow eyes, "I don't know. And I'd really like to. Regardless, you're the man."

Tom took a moment to let that to sink in. He felt like sleeping but knew there was work to do. Like it or not, he had to take Oktober down. Fear gone, reason in place he set his mind to making this work. He hurt like hell, in fact didn't remember ever hurting this bad. That didn't matter. He had to get to work.

"Fine, what's next." Tom said confidently.

"For real?" Cat asked blinking.

"Don't push it," Tom said. "Tell me what we need to do."

The Cat looked at him and smiled. "Thanks. Okay, we'll get you fixed and then get your life-force back."

"Where do we get that, Mall of America, Wal-Mart maybe?" Tom said.

"Very funny," the Cat muttered. "No, we go through the Winter Gate."

"Oh, silly me."

"But first, we get you fixed up," Cat said as they hit I-35W on their way to Minneapolis. Tom sat back and immediately fell asleep. Cat looked over at Tom as saw he was out cold. He looked back at the road. "Well, now I don't have to go into what happened to Jack. Maybe later."

Z-Man, Tom Zenk, woke after two days of fitful sleep.

At least that's what Cat said. Cat was standing over him when he woke, still in his human form. He had a bowl of soup waiting. He wasn't very human looking to Tom. He had obsidian black skin and long jet black hair. His eyes were yellow-green and reflected light at the proper angle. But, out of the corner of his eye, he looked human enough to call a good companion.

The soup tasted great, but the flavor was unidentifiable.

"Thanks Cat, "Tom said. "What's in the soup?"

"Good stuff," he said as he straightened the covers on the bed.

"Like what?" Tom pressed. He decided he wasn't sure if he liked listening to Cat not answer questions.

"Finish it," said Cat. "We have work to do tonight."

"I feel like a truck ran me over." Tom said. He was almost right. He fought Oktober, the rogue Month. As he understood it,

Months were living creatures, magical and powerful, each with a number of jobs and purposes, each required to leave when their time was over. The problem arose when some irresponsible magician released the controls placed on Oktober, allowing the Month to stay as long as he wanted. No one knows why but The Janitor, the mage that cleans up cosmic messes, assured everyone one certain stupid magician would not be able to do that again. But the Rogue remains abroad. It is October now. It's his time to do his jobs.

The withering of life is his favorite job.

Tom considered himself lucky to have stood toe-to-toe with Oktober and lived. Unfortunately he had his ribs broken and most of his life-force sucked from him in the process. Cat saved him from complete oblivion. He owed Cat a big one.

It seemed that he'd get to pay back the favor. Cat and his friend Jack the Janitor wanted him to clean up the Oktober mess, stop him and send him back, where-ever 'back' is.

Tom sipped on the broth and decided that it wasn't bad, regardless what was in it.

"What are we doing tonight?"

"I gotta take you to the Winter Gate and see if you can get in," Cat said.

"Oh, that sounds simple! You do that often?" Tom said sarcastically. He was losing his patience with all these forays into magical weirdness.

"Why are we doing that?"

"Oktober's taken a lot of your life-force. When I last noticed, you weren't done using it yet." Cat said with a small smile. "So that's where we go to get it back."

"I'm pretending that this makes sense because you saved my life, you know." Tom said. "I'm hoping this gets clearer."

"Don't worry. Man, you fret so much. I've eaten calmer birds than you." Cat showed his pointed teeth and frowned. "Okay, the Calendar is a circle. At its end, you see life wither, in the beginning, bloom and flourish. So Oktober took your life, but where do you suppose all that goes?"

"I've been on this same question about taxes," Tom said.

"All right, it goes to Winter. He converts it for Spring to use." Cat said. " Now how would you get to Winter from here?"

"I'd wait," Tom said.

"Exactly, time would move past you and then in some weeks you'd be there" he said. "Right now you need to get there faster than that. You use the by-pass gates to get there. There Winter will probably give your life back."

"Probably?"

"If you show you will fight Oktober and other things," Cat said. "Otherwise, he probably won't be too interested."

"What's he like?"

"Loud, cold, strong; you'll like him," Cat said.

"Thanks a lot."

"Anyway, you need some rest. This is going to be a bit stressful," Cat said.

"I've already slept two days," Tom said feeling sleepy regardless of what he'd just said.

"Two, I said two?" Cat asked folding one of Tom's shirts. "I meant five."

"FIVE DAYS?" Tom snapped out of bed like a spider had walked on him. "You said two! I have matches! I have training!"

Cat turned around, put his hand in the middle of Tom's chest and pushed him toward the bed. Tom flopped hard and realized he was winded.

"Now I remember why I lied. You're too stupid to know when to lay down." Tom was about to protest. "I know," Cat continued. "You work harder than most people even think about and it's served you well, up to now. This is different, man. You could die if you strain yourself too hard. Don't do that. I'd be sad. I hate being sad."

Tom looked up and saw Cat was looking at the floor, detached. "I took your calls and told them you're sick. There's a list of messages."

"Cat, why are you helping me so much?"

"You weren't going to help Jack and... he went .... oh man..." a tear fell from Cat's eye. He turned and went back to folding the laundry.

"What happened?" Tom asked. He got up and touched Cat on the shoulder.

"Jack's dead," he said with silent trembling cracking his voice.

"Oktober killed him. Oktober's supposed to be invincible while it's his time on the world. When he gets to borrowed time, he wants as few opponents around as possible. No one knows what's going to happen. He apparently doesn't either. He hunted Jack down. Jack fought him. He ...didn't make it. I hid away and Oktober didn't see me. I've been here because you're all I have left. And I like you."

"I was supposed to go to Jack's house if I took the job," Tom said.

"Don't," Cat said flatly. "Oktober destroyed it. There's traps there waiting for you. It's a mess."

Tom's frustration crashed in. He'd never felt this weak in all his days.

"I am so messed up, I can't do anything. I've never been helpless. I hate the feeling."

"I'm here man. I'll help all I can."

Tom simmered, punched his bed sheets, in silence. "Thanks Cat." he said eventually.

"No problem dude." said Cat. He was calm again. He finished the laundry and with a blur of light, shapeshifted back into the form of a black Cat with white boots. Tom got up and walked into the kitchen and looked around.

"Where are the messages?"

"On the fridge," Cat said.

"Is this the pot of soup." Tom called from the other room.

"Yes. Don't look in it," Cat said.

"What did you feed me! Oh ... what the hell is this? Is this what I think it is?"

"How should I know what you're thinking'?!" Cat shouted back. "I told him not to look," Cat said under his breath as he curled up for a nap in Tom's sock drawer. "I wonder if he'll ever listen."

The leaves kicked around the site of the abandoned Fair. The smell of garbage occasionally interrupted the perfume of the wild countryside around the site. The Minneapolis Renaissance Festival was over for the year. There were nobody around except Tom and Cat. The last embers of the setting sun cast orange splashes of color and long shadows on the ramparts and shops surrounding the Fair site.

"So they hid the gate in the Ren Faire?" Tom asked as they walked, still not so comfortable with all these magical details.

"Mostly right," Cat said. "Gates pick where they want to be. The Winter gate liked it here."

"So anyone in the world that needs to use this, has to come here?" Tom asked.

"You're so linear," Cat said in disgust. "The Gate is here because it needs to be near us and it likes to be here."

They came to the top of a hill where one of the many performing stages sat. Spreading through a field before them was the jousting field. Two hundred yards of turned soil, with just a small cover of weeds taking opportunity, the field smelled sweet. It was cool enough for the mosquitoes to thin out. But they never truly gave up until the first hard freeze. Running along-side the field was a tall structure with three tiers looking like an observation deck. The ground floor was converted to a raised stage. The solid wooden structure looked old and sturdy. To the right of the field was a topiary arch, with an elegant wooden cross at the top, making a chapel appearance of the shrubs. Oddly, the arch looked like it had recently been propped up with extra lumber, as though it had fallen over. Twenty feet from that was a tall sculpture of a man made of straw and branches - the Wickerman.

Tom looked over the field, weary with exhaustion. His ribs ached in the cool air of the approaching evening. "How much further?" Tom asked.

"Until you open your eyes and see the gate," Cat said rolling his eyes. "It's right there."

Tom focused his eyes tightly. Just as he was about to give up he saw the faintest shimmer hanging in the air, a vague u-shaped warp of light just past the chapel arch. One corner of the shimmer occupied the same space as the collapsing corner of the chapel. It was no wonder it was collapsing.

"Glad to see you punks again," a voice came from behind them. Oktober stood, his great arms folded across his chest, his leafy hair flapping in the breeze. "Cat, you've made some bad choices in your time, but this loser?" He walked toward them in slow deliberate strides, his arms swinging at his sides.

"Tom, go through the gate," Cat said quietly, backing slowly to the gate.

"What about you?" Tom asked.

"I'm fine, you're fragile ... get going."

"You guys are going to suffer very nicely," Oktober said threateningly.

Tom broke into a run. He heard Cat scream in pain. He was a couple feet from the Winter Gate when he felt something hit him in back of the knees. He fell forward, hands first and came to a skidding stop on the ground in front of the gate. He rolled over to see Oktober flying through the air to land on him in a splash. He tried to roll to the left but was too late. Oktober landed on his left shoulder catching Tom mid-roll. Tom felt a burning pain radiate down his arm. Oktober straddled his waist. He had a vicious smile on his face. He slapped a choke on Tom and squeezed hard. Tom didn't have the strength to fight. Suddenly, Oktober's head snapped back as if he had been kicked by a great foot across the jaw. Another invisible kick lifted Oktober bodily from Tom, breaking the hold. Tom sat up in time to see Oktober sail away from the Gate from the force of a third unseen blow.

A rumbling voice boomed out of the Gate. "You may treat the people of the mortal world as you see fit, but when they're my guests, you will be mannerly!"

The voice echoed off the edges of the horizon like thunder.

Tom turned to see a giant figure, white skinned, black haired, dressed in a great white fur vest, and the biggest muscles he had ever seen. His eyes glowed a bluish white." Take your offensive carcass away from my lands!" He was in a foul temper and power crackled from him.

"YOU!!" The Giant boomed pointing at Tom. "YOU'RE LATE!!!"

"I ... I'm ?"

"CAT!!!" Cat scrambled over to Tom and helped him up quickly. Oktober had picked himself up off the ground and came slowly walking over with a look of dismay. Cat and Tom stood before the Giant.

"Sir, he needed time to heal because Oktober assaulted him," Cat explained. "It would be rude to bring you an unfit champion."

"Indeed," the Giant said. "Come." With that he turned and walked away from the dumbfounded Oktober, blurring into nothingness beyond the Gate.

"This isn't over!" Oktober shouted. The Giant just laughed.

"You can rest assured that statement is true," he quietly rumbled in return.

They passed out of the Mortal World. Tom looked behind him and could see no sign of Minnesota. It was suddenly bright and very cold. Shimmering into form were towering snow-covered mountains, more breathtaking than any Tom had ever seen. The Giant walked over to a rough-hewn granite armchair of great size. He sat and a heavy sigh escaped his huge chest. "That little worm takes after his mother."

"Yes sir," Cat said respectfully.

"Cat," the Giant began. "Every time you pass my borders, disaster follows you. Which suffering pox have you visited on me this time?"

"Yes sir! Introductions?"

"Get on with it!" The mountains rumbled at his demand.

"This is Tom Zenk, a strong fighter from the Mortal World," Cat was calm and stately in his confidence. "Tom, you stand in the magnificent presence of the most powerful strength, the vastest military intellect, the loudest...."

"CAT!!"

"Right..." Cat said recovering his composure and cutting the flowers off of his speech. "This is Winter, Oktober's Dad."

"Dad?" Tom said, doing his best to roll with the situation.

"So what do you want, this isn't a visit for tea!" Winter growled.

"Your Majesty, we need to see March. As I told you through messages, Tom has lost his life and must have it back to assist ... to defeat Oktober. I'm sure you are aware of the situation."

Winter shifted in his stone armchair.

"You too must be aware that I'm not permitted to help in any way," Winter said. "Don't mistake my meaning. I want to see Oktober shredded to compost. The blame for his actions will fall at my feet and I'm not happy about that. I've done what I can already. And just TRY to talk to Time about all this! Just stares at me!"

He calmed himself and continued. " You see if I help in any way, Oktober will not be truly defeated. Only an unassisted and chosen mortal may do that. I want this done rightly."

"I beg your pardon sir," Tom began. Winter's bushy eyebrows rose in surprise. "But I don't get it. Why was I chosen?"

Winter looked into Tom's face and smiled. "I see, you are confused. Would it help if I told you I could explain it all in elaborate detail, and you would still not be satisfied?"

"I would be lying if I said yes. Could you try it?" he asked hopefully.

"Not now," Winter said with a softer voice. "I want you to trust me that this is not the road to peace. Nor is it the road of strength. You're looking for something to argue with, maybe in hope that this challenge will pass you over. It will not. We can afford no more delays."

"Can you help?" Cat asked.

"Technically, no," Winter said with a conspiratorial gleam in his eye.

"I can give no gifts. But I can grant rewards for tests completed."

"A test?" Tom almost whined. He was weary to the bone already. "What kind of test?"

"A test? You want a test? You should've asked!" Winter asked.

"Wait-a-minute! I said nothing of wanting any tests!" Tom protested.

Cat jumped in, "If he is tested, he may for a boon. That is the way."

"Cat!" Tom said threateningly.

"Winter smiled. "Then it's settled."

"Do I get Advil with this boon?"

Winter said, with a smile, "If he succeeds he can have his boon and his Advil."

Realizing this was the only way to get through this, he agreed. He wanted to regain his strength and he was going to kick Oktober's butt.

"Fine. Then, test me." Tom said. He thrust his shadowed chin forward with the challenge.

A stone table appeared before them and two double-headed axes appeared with it. "Okay," said Cat. "I think I know this one."

"Good," said Winter. "I'll see you at sunrise." And he disappeared in a swirl of flying snow. "I will leave you this advice, my not-son."

Winter's disembodied voice rang through the valley. "I leave this to all worthy men who are tested thus." The sun began to set and it became remarkably colder.

"Remember this: If you know me, then you know mine."

"What's happening? We don't have to fight or anything?"

"No, Tom. You have to hold these," Cat said picking up the first one, hefting it in his hands. "It is said in the old writings that a man in control of his own destiny will have the strength to hold two axes at arm's length until sunrise."

"I'm tired just from walking here," Tom said.

"This is a mental test as well as a physical test," Cat said calmly. "Care to look at this differently?"

He hefted the ax that Cat handed him. It weighed about 15 pounds. The other one weighed more, about twenty pounds. Steel with oak handles grooved with age. He was about to say something defeatist again but knew there had to be a solution or otherwise he wouldn't be assigned the test. He thought of lightness, hoping it would rub off on the axes. He lifted the axes. They were lighter. He was strong. He suddenly saw that his thoughts greatly effected this test. He held out the axes, arms spread, his chest muscles flexed. Cat looked satisfied.

"Do you want me around?"

"Sure," Tom said.

"Now, you must stay in this place once you've begun and stay 'till sunrise."

Tom was determined to make this work and company could help. Cold wind blew through the valley where he stood. His hands felt numb. His mind wandered to his gym, how he missed the workouts this week and what that meant for his training. He thought about Oktober, he felt weak almost immediately.

"You look stressed, hang in there," Cat said.

"How does anyone do this? This is a test for Mortals?"

"Truly," said Cat. Suddenly the snow behind Cat rose like it was alive and shaped into a great hand, grabbing Cat. "Noah, I wasn't helping." Cat yelled.

"I know," a voice rolled gently across the valley. "I plan to make sure you don't. He must win this legally."

"You don't trust me!" Cat said accusingly.

"Of course I do," Winter's voice chuckled. "I trust you to meddle and play with all plans around you. Don't forget, I know why they call you Measles!"

"Not fair!"

The great hand pulled Cat under the snow. Cat only made a quiet mewling sound. "He will remain safe, You have my word" Winter said.

Silence enveloped the valley and Tom knew he was alone. Already his arms began to tremble. He closed his eyes and galvanized his body. He thought about the riddle and immediately panicked. If he dropped them, it would be over, the burden passed, done. He remembered Winter's words. No. It was true, this won't pass. He must win. He stopped himself and took a deep breath. "Okay, think. If you know me you know mine ... "Winter. I know winter, I'm from Minnesota!" He thought further. If there is Winter and he's the Father of Oktober, he must have a wife that birthed him. Could she help? Wait, if there were embodiments of seasons there had to be one of...

Time?

A spark came to Tom's eyes and he chuckled. His arms drooped and he righted himself. He called out, "Time! Are you there?"

In an instant, a melting blur appeared before him. Out of it stepped a beautiful, ageless woman. "I am here." She spoke with an empty distance.

Tom looked at her more closely. She had a dark bruise on her left eye.

Her arm hung at a strange broken angle.

"What happened to you?" Tom asked. She looked at him vacantly.

"Life," she said. "Among other things."

"Why are you injured?"

"Oktober," she said. Tom shook in rage. This was too much. Tom's old fashioned manners kicked in. You don't hit women.

She continued. "Oktober was put into his position over my will. I fought to stop it."

"Please..." Tom was shaking now and his manners had shortened. "Take me to sunrise."

"I am," she said. There was a vacant look on her face, like she was thinking about other things.

Tom laughed again, nervously this time. "I mean, please take me there faster. I want to be there now."

"Oh ... that. You want me to move things," she said.

"I will be out of strength and I will fail my test if you don't," he explained further. "If I fail, I won't be able to defeat Oktober."

"I need an exchange. That's the rules. What will you give me?" she asked in her removed voice.

Tom was out of options and was feeling faint. He couldn't even check his pockets in his present situation. "Um .... I'll give you a kiss."

Her face was graced by a smile and Tom could see he had her attention.

"You will ... what?"

"I'll .... um ... give you a kiss," he suddenly realized there's much more to a kiss that he could deliver on at the moment.

"I've ... never kissed a Mortal." she said, deliberating the offer.

"Um... you should try it. None better," he was sure that this gambit had just gotten away from him. "But you need to come closer."

She did. She stood in front of him, waiting just out of reach with her head cocked to one side. She blinked.

"Um ... could you place your lips on mine?" Beads of sweat stood on his forehead. His shirt was soaked.

"Like this?" she asked as she came closer.

He felt a warm touch cross his lips and closed his eyes, trying to keep concentration on the heavy axes. The axes became lighter. There was a sudden flash of light and a rush of movement that felt like a roller-coaster ride. The bright light burned the color from the world. The light softened and Tom could see that it was the sun rising over the horizon.

A lilting voice traveled over the valley, "I accept your offering .... you will see me again. Thank you, Tom Zenk."

He could see the form of Time. Her bruises were considerably faded and her stature was upright and strong. She smiled. With a blur, she disappeared.

Then the valley was a roar of laughter. "AHA ha ha ha!" Winter held his stomach and slapped his leg. "Every champion that I've seen win the test has asked Gravity to lighten his load or begged Snow to fall, drifting under his arms to support the weight. You, bold mortal, kissed Time! Summer's going to love this!" The giant collapsed into tearful laughter again. His throne shook on its base and the mountains trembled, sending plumes of snow tumbling down to the distant valley from the force of his laughter. "What is your name Mortal?" he said wiping his eyes.

"I'm Tom Zenk."

The Cat, in cat form, walked around the throne, rubbing his face against the cold stone.

"Cat!" Tom shouted. Cat scampered over to him and leapt into his arms.

"Good job! I've never seen this one passed before," Cat said.

"Well, I thought he wouldn't give the test if there weren't a way to succeed," Tom said proudly.

"Really?" Winter asked, truly curious at the notion. "I believe this is the first time I've ever been accused of fair play. How strange."

Tom blanched.

"What?" Cat said. "You thought only Mortals cheat?"

"It came from somewhere," Winter reminded.

"Never mind," Tom eventually said. "I have a request."

"His boon," Cat said.

"May I have returned to me the life force that Oktober stole from me?" Tom said clearly.

"You may, my not-son." Tom felt stronger and more alive. "And for your kind gift of healing to Time..."

Cat whispered, "Now's the time you say, 'I meant to do that.'"

"... I give you this," he handed Tom a wooden club. It was rubbed smooth and had a hefty weight. It was inlaid with bone in a knot pattern. "Use this on the head of my son for me. His head being a non-vital organ, it shouldn't kill him. Then you will be able to send him to me."

"Thank you," Tom said, receiving the club gratefully.

"Remember, do not lose that cudgel," he said.

"It's magical then," Tom said.

"No. It's not magical in any way, but is heavy and will do the trick."

Tom smiled. They turned to see the gate to the Mortal World waiting for them. Without hesitation, Z-Man returned.

"So, Cat," said Tom while the fog parted on his way back to the Mortal World. "What was that about not-son, anyhow?"

Cat grinned. "As pissed off at his true-son as Winter is, he's sure not gonna insult you with the usual 'son', huh? Come on. We need to get you home for more soup."

"No chance! Cat. Cat! CAT!" Tom's protest was cut short at the sight of the world on his return. The daytime sky was black with rolling clouds. It was cold and raining. It looked like it had been raining for weeks. Oktober stood waiting, looking at the Chapel gate. Tom thought it curious that he was appearing behind the Mad Month, probably thanks to the caprice of the Winter Gate. Lightning tore the sky showing the ravaged landscape.

Tom hefted the cudgel in his hand, ready to put it to good use.

Oktober stood waiting where he just knew the Winter's Gate stood. He knew Z-Man was returning to the mortal world after meeting with his Father, Winter.

It was a curious time with Tom gone, all told. Zenk stayed in the land of Winter for two weeks, an unexpected occurrence.

Oktober had seized control of the weather by right, and made the world cold and dreary. The leaves had been blown from trees that stood like black gnarled fingers reaching up to the sky. He enjoyed his work, and planned further torments.

But then there was the matter of that Tom Zenk.

Who gave him such power over Me? Oktober wondered about that as he remembered the promises of untouchable power he'd received from the Mortal Magician who wanted him to take this world for his own.

The Magician was gone now, taken to Justice by The Janitor. Oktober chuckled as he remembered Jack's fate, The Janitor's life draining completely as he crumpled into desiccated crusty parts in the autumn avatar's withering clutch. He vowed to do this to Tom if he made it back through the Winter's Gate. Just as soon as he comes through that gate to the mortal world, he'll have a surprise.

"You lookin' for me?" Oktober heard behind him. He turned and met the solid bone-crushing swing of a very heavy object to the jaw. He was knocked backward to land flat on his back. He shook his head and looked up to see Z-Man standing over him, his Father's cudgel in one hand and a grim look of violence on his face. He was wearing the same shorts he wore two weeks ago and no shirt.

"YOU LOOKIN' FOR ME?!" Tom shouted at him. "LET'S DO THIS!!" Tom was ready to hurt Oktober badly.

Oktober smiled.He spoke to the sky and Tom knew there was more to this other than a standing fight. "I petition Justice!" Oktober shouted.

"I'm here, creep!" Tom shouted back, "I'll pound you into Spring!"

"Halt!" Tom heard behind him.

He turned to see a woman in a sharp business suit holding a briefcase. She seemed to be a normal twentieth-century person, aside from being eight feet tall.

"For starters!" she said, taking the cudgel from Tom's hand. He tried to hold onto it but it slid effortlessly from his fingers. "Give me this before you hurt yourself," she said dryly. "Don't try to help. You're not equipped. Yet."

"You're Justice?" Tom asked as she walked past him.

"By what right do you demand Justice?" she said, answering one question with another.

"I am Oktober!" the mad month said.

"By your right as an avatar of the Calendar, air your grievance," she said in a terse tone of voice.

"What is this?" Tom said.

"He has this right, regardless of our opinion of his previous actions, to ask for my intercession when he has been wronged," she said calmly. She turned to Tom, "Dear boy, don't try to take my role in this matter. It only confuses things."

"This mortal," Oktober said, as he rose from the ground, pointing at Tom, "has left the Mortal Plane and wishes to return to it to do harm to me."

"Imagine that?" she said blandly, raising a single eyebrow in mock astonishment.

"He must be barred!" Oktober roared. "No mortal may leave and regain entry!"

"I know the law," she said coldly," I certainly don't need you to lecture me. It further states that he may not re-enter without doing battle. So - Pick your Champion." She casually turned to Tom, "Prepare to defend yourself."

"What?" they both sputtered in unison.

"Why is it that when I do my job, no one is happy?" she asked rhetorically.

"I will remind you Oktober, that Justice has nothing to do with fairness. Tom may not know this yet, but you should know better. Rest assured, now that I have been invited to become involved in this matter, it should be resolved without further ado."

Oktober glared at her.

"Oh don't pout. Your Champion may win. If he does, Tom is banished to the outer planes to fend for himself." She paused and smiled. "If he loses, I give Tom his little stick back and send him on his way."

She turned to Cat, "Good to see you, Cat. I hope all is well with you."

"As best as it can be, all considered," Cat said. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "I miss Jack."

"He was a good man," Justice said.

"Yes," bellowed Oktober raucously. "He made some great noises when he begged me for his life, on his knees."

Cat turned and shifted to his Cat form, coiled and ready to attack.

Justice stopped Cat with a staying hand and faced Oktober. "Choose your Champion or forfeit your petition. I am tired of your nonsense, little boy."

"Are you threatening me?" he rumbled, looming over her.

"Why on Earth would I bother threatening you?" she retorted, totally unafraid of him. Without really knowing when it happened, she seemed to be a normal human's size next to Oktober. "This mortal is doing just fine in that regard. Besides, I don't make threats. If you don't know that by now, you'll learn it before we're finished. Now get on with it or forfeit!"

Oktober's mouth opened and closed like a carp, washed up on a beach. He finally decided against saying anything and walked away, trembling with anger instead.

"Ooooo, he shut up! She smoked you!" Cat sneered. "Just singed your whiskers with words. I bet you never..."

"CAT!" She snapped. He was immediately silent. After a deep breath, she calmly said, "you're not helping, dear."

"Sorry." Cat twined around Tom ankles, purring in contentment, smug in his catlike superiority.

Oktober stopped near the tower pavilion, next to the joust field and an orange blur of power formed next to him. It was a gate to his world, "I call forth from my harvest, a Champion. Assemble!"

From the blur came a huge creature, mostly humanoid, like a cobbled joining of plants and compost, tan with massive muscles and a v-shaped torso. Gnarled bumps and vines grew through its flesh. Green lines of color ran the length of its muscular body. Its head was a yellow and tan gourd with coal black, unblinking eyes. A gash under those eyes served as its mouth. Its arms ended in large hands with fingers that were writhing vines.

"What is that thing?" Tom asked Cat, his eyes as wide as when he had passed his first gate.

"Hey, this is easy!" Cat said. "It's a vegetable!"

The monster wrapped his finger-like tendrils around a support column of the observation pavilion and effortlessly pulled the building over. It brandished the support as a stave and walked toward Tom.

"Servant! Destroy that mortal!" Oktober ordered.

"Okay," said Cat, his nonchalance shook, "It's a mean vegetable!"

Just as the Dark Champion started to move, Justice waved her hand. Tom felt the whole world change in a swirling vortex. When it became calm, Oktober's Champion and he were in a deep square pit of roughly cut stone.

The thing didn't have a weapon any more and didn't seem to care. The ground was covered in fine sand.

Justice stood at the opening to the pit and issued her orders. "There will be one victor. If it be you, Tom Zenk, you will be free to re-enter the mortal world to do as you please. If it be ... the vegetable," with this she shot a disgusted look at Oktober, "then you, Tom Zenk, will be banished to the outer planes to fend for yourself. There will be no interference. Begin!"

Tom braced himself and true to form, Oktober's champion rushed in, roaring madly. Tom dodged and tripped him as he rushed by. Clumsey, the plant- thing fell and slid in the sand. Tom stood back to see if it was going to rush him again. It stood slowly, spitting sand out of it's garish mouth and walked closer to Tom.

It lunged suddenly to tie up. They grappled, holding onto one another as they fought for balance. The tendrils on Oktober's champion dug into the flesh of Tom's shoulders. Tom shoved it away and delivered a kick to its midsection. There was a loud thump - otherwise the creature was unaffected.

Its fist knotted into a ball as it swung at Tom. It missed with a whoosh ....

As its arm swung past, Tom landed a punch to its ribs, wondering if it really had ribs. Unlike any opponent Tom had encountered before, this thing twisted at the waist in a full circle. The same swinging fist that missed the front of his head continued around and clobbered him in the back.

Dazed, Tom fell forward. The things was on him. In a flash, its arms twined into Tom's, pulling his arm back into a hammerlock. His face was pushed into the sand making it hard to find air. Tom rolled hard to try to slip the hold. His face was free of the sand but his exposed throat was suddenly caught by the thing's free hand. He struggled fiercely in the strangling hold.

"This won't take long," Oktober chuckled.

"True, it may not. Then you'll be able to relax and rule the mortal world without fear," Justice said coolly.

"I fear no mortal!" Oktober roared.

"Oh? Then we can dispense with these proceedings?" she asked, her hand raised ready to cancel the whole challenge. "Zenk can enter the mortal world unchallenged?"

"You're worse than Father ever imagined," Oktober grumbled.

"Continue!"

"Your mind is so ... tidal," she said smiling, "In ... out ... back ... forth. It's fascinating. What will you do without your tidy straight lines ..." With that she turned her attention to the fight as Oktober stared at her in horror.

With a handful of sand, Tom slammed the palm of his hand into the thing's eyes. It roared and released him immediately. He shoved it off him and scrambled away and to his feet. It seemed confused and blind. Tom felt like he could beat it, if he could find some weakness. He might just be able to wear it down.

It flung itself at him in a rage and caught a boot to the face for its efforts. It went down hard. Tom didn't waste time and dropped an elbow on its mid- section hard. It roared in pain. Desperate it kicked wildly and landed a lucky foot on Tom's ankle. Tom slipped and went to one knee.

With a kick, the thing skipped to its feet straight from laying on its back and threw itself at Tom. He tried to dodge but together they landed tangled in the sand.

Wrapping its long muscular arms around Tom's torso it clutched tightly. Tom found himself in a devastating bearhug, flat on his back, with no traction in the sand.

It wrenched its hold tighter on Tom's muscular torso. Tom howled in pain.

He flexed hard against the constricting tide, but still felt his breath drain away in the squeezing hold. Squeezed tighter and tighter, Tom's struggles became weaker. Suddenly he fell still.

The thing picked Tom's limp body from the sand and shook him mercilessly, still squeezing. Finally released, Tom fell in a quiet slump.

The creature roared in triumph.

"Victory!!" Oktober claimed. "Now Justice! Banish him!!"

She slowly turned and just blinked. "Are you delusional?"

Just as she spoke, Tom leapt to his feet and landed a solid drop kick to the plant-thing, squarely in the back of the head. It went down hard.

"NOOO!" Oktober shouted as he realized Tom had only been playing dead. Tom picked the thing up in a head lock and rushed the stone wall. A sickening splat sounded through the pit as its melon head hit the cold stone. It fell to the ground.

Tom settled over the plant's back and grabbed its chin, pulling in a camel clutch. The sound of splintering green wood echoed from the pit. The thing stopped moving and lay at an odd angle, even for such a wretched creature. Clearly, it was not going to move again.

"Bad design," Tom said, out of breath. "Needs a brain."

"Foul!!!" cried Oktober. "He cheated!"

"Be quiet," Justice said to Oktober, staring in disgust.

"Next!" Tom shouted, pointing at Oktober. The rogue month fell silent and stepped back from the pit. Tom stood and brushed the sand from his body.

"Ma'am, may I please enter the mortal world now?"

"Yessss!" Cat shouted running in circles.

"Such nice manners," she smiled, a tinkling quality leaking into her voice. "You may, Tom Zenk." she said waving her hand.

The world flew apart in a wild swirl, parts falling up, down, sideways ... and then they were in an space, together. They stood on a piece of verdant, grassy ground. It was floating gently in a starry night. Tom closed his eyes to dispel the ensuing vertigo which the whole transformation had caused.

"I wanted some privacy for this." Justice extended both hands and Winter's cudgel appeared in her hands. "You may have this for your return." She handed him the cudgel. "Don't lose it," she said.

"Yes," Tom said smiling. "It's heavy and will do the trick."

"Not only that," she said. "I added some improvements."

"I wasn't aware that was legal," Tom said. "It must be, seeing you did it."

"Jack was a friend of mine. My employee, to be exact," she said gravely.

"I'm sorry," Tom said. "Don't worry, I'll even the score."

"When will you mortals understand, I'm not interested in vengeance," she scowled. "With this weapon, the score IS even."

"I'm sorry Ma'am. I didn't mean to offend."

"You're so charming," she said smiling. "You have all the manners of a knight errant with the conversational skill of a grenade." She kissed his forehead. "Understand me. There is an imbalance in the Universe greater than Jack's life. Time has been wronged and much rests on your strong shoulders to make it right. Good luck, Tom Zenk."

Tom re-appeared in front of the chapel in the fairgrounds. The pavilion had collapsed and there was no sign of Oktober. Predictably. A bleak sideways rain blew in from the west. The sun was setting and darkness was thicker and more foreboding.

"Tom!" Cat walked around the Wickerman in his man-form. "Good job, man!"

He hugged Tom. He carried a shoulder bag. He opened it and handed him a thick sweatshirt. Tom had just realized he was cold. He looked at the smiling Cat and knew things could've been much worse.

"Great! I see she gave you Winter's cudgel back."

"You bet," he said, hefting the heavy stick. "She said it's for Jack."

"Oooo, she's pissed." Cat said.

"How do you know?"

"She doesn't usually admit such things to mortals," Cat said. "Have you noticed the time anomaly?"

"Not my habit, usually, especially when I'm arguing with a maniac compost heap." Tom said. "What's up?"

"Time took you two weeks ahead," Cat said. "Tonight's Hallowe'en."

"Are you telling me I haven't slept in fifteen days?" Tom demanded, appalled.

"You have a strange sense of priorities, man," Cat said shaking his head.

"Keeps my sense of humor intact," Tom said, beginning to smile. He looked confident and ready.

"Okay. Now we need to find Oktober."

"That's easy," Tom said.

"Woah," Cat said. "How do you know that."

"Watch!" Tom struck the ground with the cudgel and the earth rung like a gong. Oktober appeared holding his ears screaming.

"Nice," Cat said. "How did ya know that?"

"I guess Justice helped. That just felt like the right thing to do,"

He walked slowly to Oktober. "Next!" he shouted at Oktober. A look of dread crossed Oktober's face as Tom happily swung his improved toy.

The Z-Man closed to finish this ....

The world had greatly changed since Tom came back from the Winter lands.

The wind ripped across the land constantly. The rain was cold and bitter.

The night was Hallowe'en. Rain ran down Oktober's face as he stood before his mortal rival, Z-Man, amid the soggy Renaissance Festival in Minneapolis. Beyond any of his reckoning, this mortal, a wrestler, has stood as the only person able to affect his plans. Oktober stood here because this mere mortal had summoned him forth. He was furious.

But these were strange times.

From Tom Zenk's perspective these were the strangest. He merely thought his career faded, interest in him waned, maybe he was too old, or something. No one could tell him, really. Then he discovered that a magician had changed reality with a powerful work of magic. After practicing on Tom, draining the life from his career, Oktober, an avatar of the Calendar, had received unlimited reign until such time as he chose to relent.

And he did not wish to relent.

The agencies of the cosmos, unable to shake his clutch on the mortal world, turned to the only man they could find able to hurt Oktober - Tom Zenk, The Z-Man.

No-one knew why he alone was able to affect the madman, until they discovered Tom's past.

The wrestler had been the victim of an unnatural experiment, one where Oktober had first exercised his power, at the height of July, during another month's reign. The avatar had stepped inside another wrestler, Van Vader, and torn parts of Tom's life-force brutally from him. And when it was over, Tom had no idea what had happened.

He had thought it was the flu.

So Oktober's reign was nearing its natural limit, and was soon to push into uncharted Time. Never before had a month continued beyond its normal span. No one really knew what would happen if it did.

With the new powers Justice had bestowed on him, Tom called Oktober to stand before him so they may finish this.

Oktober eyed Tom and his companion, Cat. "Now that you've summoned me here, did you have a plan."

Tom hefted the cudgel that Oktober's Father had given him. "I plan on trashing you."

"And .... then what?" he asked. "I will recover and stand again. Then what?"

Tom stood uncertain. "I'll do what I have to."

Oktober laughed, "Admit it! You have no plan!" He walked several steps closer to Tom. "Tell you what," he said with a smile. "You put down your little aggressions. I'll spare a small part of the world for you to live in. You can even have pets," he said sneering at Cat. "...... Or I can kill you both."

"You're desperate!" Tom said.

"You confuse the offer. This is mercy."

"You're incapable of that emotion!" barked Tom," I met Time, you know." Tom remembered what the avatar of Time had looked like after being brutalized into agreeing to Oktober's unlimited reign on the Mortal Plane. "She looked real nice after your last demonstration of mercy."

"She's still alive, isn't she?" he rumbled with a smile.

"You're meat!" Tom had had enough. He rushed to beat this abomination's head in.

He swung the cudgel at Oktober.

With amazing speed the mad avatar ducked the blow and rushed Tom with a tackle. They landed on the muddy green in a tangle. Tom rolled on top and connected with the heavy club on his chin. Oktober's head snapped back. Tom hit him again. Blood ran from his mouth. Tom's return backhand was suddenly caught in an iron grip. The pressure on his wrist was tremendous. Undaunted, he caught Oktober in the face with a left hook.

Oktober bridged forcefully and flipped Tom off his body. He snapped to his feet and stood back. "I don't have time for this!" He clenched his fist and opened it. Seeds, like corn, flew from his fingers.

"Tom!" Cat shouted. "Look out!" In a flash, each kernel of corn sprouted as small animate plants. They scrambled up Tom's body, razor sharp leaves, tearing through his clothing straight to his bare flesh. Tom thrashed to slap the deadly plants off him. He dropped the cudgel.

Four of the little monsters dragged it over to Oktober. "Thanks Dad," he said as he picked it up. He tossed it in the air with a flip-twirl and caught it. Tom tore the plants off him, his clothes already shredded.

The plants scattered from him in all directions. "Just what I needed. Good work, children." Oktober beamed. The air around him blurred, like he was melting, he folded in on himself and disappeared laughing.

Tom sank to his knees, crushed. "Great!"

Cat came over to him. "Let's go ... we need to get some shelter .... and another plan."

"Right," he said wiping the mud off himself. He had numerous cuts on his body. They burned and itched. He barely felt them. He felt so stupid.

He wanted to hit himself but knew there was no time for that. He stood and they walked toward where he thought he'd left his car. "What happens after midnight?" he asked.

"My best guess," Cat said. "He either loses all vulnerability because he's in his own realm, a new world no avatar has ever taken. Or he loses the invulnerability he gets for being part of the Calendar. But remember, I'm guessing."

"Sounds confusing," Tom said.

"These days are that..."

Tom marveled at what it took to get back home. Most roads were barren, empty of people. There were downed trees all over. There were no traffic lights, actually no lights at all. Wherever all the people ended up, Tom didn't know. He saw no one. It was like everyone had gone into hibernation

His apartment had been flooded when the windows had been blown in. It was cold and wet. There was no electricity. The phone was dead. He covered the windows and tried to get the place to hold some heat. He had a chance to wash up and change his clothes. Cold water, ugh. Oh well, it's still refreshing, Tom thought.

Cat sat in the kitchen chewing on his nails. "I don't even know where he'd be keeping it," he said. "Oktober isn't much of a pack rat that I know of."

"Won't he be able to store the cudgel in his Harvest?" Tom remembered the dark place from which the adversary of his last fight had emerged.

"Well, it doesn't really work that way," Cat said. "It's full of dead things. They don't usually play with toys nicely. It would be a way to make it very hard for us to get it back."

"Well, I don't know how to call him if I don't have that thing," Tom said pulling on a fresh T-shirt. "Is there someone we know that could tell us something?"

"Are you asking for help?" Cat asked.

"Yes, I'm stumped. I could use some help please."

"Finally!" Cat said.

"What?"

"You need to remember that I'm not allowed to formally help you unless you ask," Cat said. "I hoped you'd learn this faster. We're running out of time."

"Why such a big deal?" Tom asked.

"If you are helped to defeat Oktober and rules are broken by helping, all of our work can be undone and he could come back. It works both ways. If Oktober and that magician hadn't cheated by unjustly harming you and your career in that wrestling match, we would have no help in this matter. Things would be very different today."

"But, you helped me at the Mall," Tom said. "I would've been dead then. I didn't ask then. Didn't that break the rules?"

"That's different."

"Why?" Tom asked, his hands on his hips.

"Because I'm a cat," Cat said with a smile. Tom threw up his hands. "Why do you think all the cosmic agencies are so nice to me. Not 'cause I'm cute, let me tell you. They called me Measles the first time we met."

"Who named you that?" Tom asked.

"Sunset did," Cat said. "He said he could tell when people met me. It was written all over their face, just like Measles. I'm really much nicer these days."

Tom turned and walked into the living room shaking his head. The candles in the room flickered as he walked by. "I know someone that can help," Cat said. "You'll have to respect his privacy, though."

"I'll try 'most anything," Tom said.

"Careful," said Cat. "These are strange times and you need to watch what you say." Cat returned to his cat form. Tom never was comfortable with the shapeshifting tendencies of Cat or any of his associates. "He's a strange guy I met when I visited here some years back. I don't know his name, in fact I don't know much about him. He seems friendly and familiar so I suspect he's a good guy .... and connected. Stay here and out of sight. I'll be back soon. Simple enough?"

"Simple and clear," Tom said. "I like simple. I like clear. I could cultivate those as a habit."

"Just stay here, please?"

"Right." Tom stretched for about an hour. He hadn't stretched in weeks, it seemed. Strangely enough he felt powerful, almost rested. He did a stretch of 300 push-ups and felt great. He was sure he had more strength back than before, when Oktober had taken life from him in Burnsville.

Then there was a knock at the door. Tom opened his apartment door a crack and saw a figure in a gray robes, cowled and covered, arms folded. He would've just smacked him with the door these days but he saw Cat around its ankles and took a deep breath.

"I understand you need help," a deep and resonant voice asked.

"Yes, please," Tom said. The cloaked man walked in.

The tea Tom served to drive the chill away was the finest he had tasted. Tom knew what was true - cold weather and hard work season the tea best. The cloaked figure enjoyed it as well. "That is fine. You are resourceful, tea with no electricity."

"I have an underground propane tank for emergencies. The stove works."

The cloaked figure let out a deep sigh. "I thought you were only a rumor, someone that can hurt Oktober," he said. "We have hoped for a mortal that can help."

"You sound tired," Tom said, hoping to tease out any information.

"Many of us have been working hard. You mustn't know who we are, yet." He sipped more tea. "You other have questions, so ask them."

"I don't know how to find Oktober," Tom said.

"I see," The figure took a deep breath. "I will tell you what happened to the cosmos, that you may fix it. This may give you an idea of where you are." He told of how Oktober came to have his power. It is not known why the magician on the Mortal Plane wanted Oktober to have unlimited reign; there were far too many senseless majicks being performed these days. When Time was brutalized and shown the horrors that would be visited on the world if she refused to allow the change in the Calendar, the change was allowed. He told of the death of November, Oktober's own brother, the only legal challenger in the Calendar.

He told of how Summer wept at the passing of these things.

He told of how Justice watched the whole event, taking note of each action.

And so it came to pass that Oktober entered the Mortal World, as agreed by Time. He entered to stay until he passed through the Winter Gate, signaling the end of his reign. Oktober was intentionally misled into believing that his exit must be a voluntary act of will. Time's only option was to use that loophole, to find someone that could force him through the gate.

And that is when hopes for Tom's help began.

The figure told of the death of Justice's servant Jack at the hands of Oktober. He told of Jack's death and what Oktober learned of Tom's existence then. And that was when Oktober decided that Tom must die. To the avatar's annoyance, Tom had managed to be the only one of Oktober's enemies to avoid this fate.

"So, my friend, you need to pass this monster through the Winter Gate, ending the days of Oktober." The figure rested a moment and sipped his tea.

"I can't get him to the gate," Tom said, close to despair.

"You can, if you listen. It should go this way." The figure leaned forward and said conspiratorially, "This is what we're gonna do..."

Tom walked into the Mall of America. Without lights, it looked like a hulking monstrosity. They moved into the main halls of the Mall and quietly entered the open space of the indoor amusement park.

In better days it was a light-filled atrium, cavernous, echoing with music and delighted children. There were the standard rides, a train, a roller coaster, a water log ride, things that swung and machines that held children upside down a bit longer than candy filled children ought to be.

It was all in ruins.

The atrium glass ceiling had been breached. Windows were smashed and tables overturned. It looked as though the place had been looted.

It seemed colder inside than outside. Tom shivered in his white sweatshirt. His muscular body stretched it tight. He figured it would be too much to wear for the fight, but he needed the warmth. He didn't want to lose the mortal world because he cramped up.

There were eerie sounds echoing through the building. The dome had not been broken and shelter was good. Most of the rides had been destroyed, laying on the ground in parts. Tom marveled at the destruction. It was as though someone had lifted the building and shaken it hard.

Cat and the cloaked figure walked along with him.

"You two don't have to be here," he said. "If I lose, I'll just be dead, happy to make peace with my maker. You guys will have a different reckoning with Oktober."

"I must reiterate that it's critical I be there," the cloaked figure said.

"It's your funeral," Tom said. "I don't get it, why do we have to be here?"

"It a wide open space," Cat said. "Many happy people have been here and left behind some of that feeling. It should help - even the playing field. Besides, there are no people here I can sense."

"It's five 'till midnight, get ready." The cloaked figure cleared a space in the floor.

They set up two portable lights.

"Are you ready for this, Tom?"

"Yeah, as much as I'll ever be," he said.

Tom waited for the signal. The cloaked figure's watch chimed midnight.

A groan creeped through the building and the ground heaved. "What was that?!" Tom exclaimed.

"We're in borrowed time now," the figure said. "The integrity of the world relies on Oktober's concentration on it. He has a lot of strain at the change. Now!"

Tom stood in the center of the atrium and called out, "By the power given to me by Justice, I call the Winter Gate." A shimmering appeared in an arc over part of the remains of the roller coaster. Parts of it shivered and slipped through the gate disappearing into nothing. The ground heaved again, dislodging huge chunks of the concrete ceiling. Tom hit the floor covering his head. Cat in his cat shape, was immediately in his arms, burrowing under his body for cover. Things calmed down a bit. "I think he heard that one."

"I'm sure he knows we're here," Cat said. They looked around for the cloaked figure. He was no where to be seen.

"Keep going," Cat said.

Tom stood and announced, "By the power given to me by Justice, I summon Oktober to come here, now!" There was an orange shimmer and then a blinding flash of light. Oktober screamed in pain. He looked gray, icy white patches covered his body, his extended fingers looked like knives. His eyes darted about madly. The transition seemed to be more than he'd bargained for or expected.

"Oktober, avatar of the Calendar, I challenge you!" Tom said formally.

As foretold by the man in the cloak, a shimmering red field enclosed the whole area once the challenge had been spoken. Tom stripped off his sweatshirt revealing his muscular torso. All the formalities were complete.

"He was right," Cat said. "You don't seem to need the cudgel."

"Fine," Tom said. "It can stay in whatever bog it dropped in."

Oktober stood, "I'm leaving. I don't have to do any of this," He waved his hand expecting a gate to form, but nothing appeared.

"You're in borrowed time now," Cat said. "All the rules are different, now. Undefined."

"I'll show you borrowed time," Oktober rumbled.

"You can leave this world now, or be destroyed," Tom said hoping he would see reason and take his exit. He knew it was unrealistic to hope for, but he didn't want to go through this - if there were a simpler road out.

"I will consider destroying you and nothing else," Oktober walked toward Tom, fists clenched. The floor lurched and pieces of the ceiling clattered to the floor. Both combatants stopped to stare as a little girl dressed in a flowered sun dress walked into the atrium from nowhere. She clutched a string tied to a skull floating in the air like a balloon.

"Hi Mr. Wrestler," she said in a friendly voice. "Hey, Cat!" she squealed. Her face changed from delight to consideration as she faced the avatar. "You might consider a few other things Mr. Oktober."

Cat quickly moved out of hiding to her side, "Um ...you shouldn't be here." He said nervously. "As the Queen of Chaos, you aren't allowed to roam about like this."

"Don't be a silly, Cat," she said. "All the rules are broken, now. Me and all my chums are comin' to play." She turned to Oktober. "Oh, and you're in trouble now, mister."

"Really?" Oktober said, looking at the little girl as though she were a bug.

"Uh-huh. All the big bosses are about to recognize you as the supreme ruler of this realm." She said with a smile, bouncing on her toes in delight.

Oktober roared in satisfaction. "YES!!! ITS ALL MINE NOW!!!"

Cat slinked up to Tom, "Oh man. This is real bad."

"Yes it is Mr. Cat," the little girl said with a giggle. "He's not even smart enough to notice that."

"You are an interfering little girl!" Oktober barked.

"Yeah," she said with a beaming smile. "I do that a lot."

"What bosses?" Cat asked.

"Mr. Gravity, Mr. Light, Mr. Dark, and Mr. Winter," she said with a smile. "And Mr. Dustbunny, too. They should yield their jobs to you right any minute now."

"Hang on!" Cat yowled. Oktober suddenly clutched his head in pain. Blood leaked from his ears as the ground trembled. Suddenly everything warped and twisted. All the colors in the room switched and faded. Violent quakes shook the cold earth. With a thunderous tearing sound a large part of the concrete, steel and glass roof shattered into millions of small shards that rained down on the group below. The shattered parts made a nearly harmless impact. They had turned into marshmallows and disappeared almost immediately. The sky was exposed showing clouds ripping across the sky. The gibbous moon was a bright blue.

"What is all this? What's happening?" Cat asked the little girl.

"Mr. Oktober's brain is all too full," she said with a pout, twirling the balloon that had somehow become an umbrella. "He now has the mental work of five real busy avatars on his mind, as well as his own selfish little plans. And we all know," she whispered. "He isn't very bright upstairs anyway. You shouldn't tease him about it. It's a touchy subject."

"You can just shut up, you little bint!" Oktober shouted at her. He held his hands on either side of his head, bloody tears leaking from his eyes at the effort of his concentration.

"Mommy told me you were a meanie," she said. "I should invite all my friends to come. Then you won't know anything about up or down, not that you do anyway."

"My darling little cousin," Oktober said with derision, still holding his head. "Begone!"

Seemingly just to mock him, hundreds of flying pigs passed overhead.

"I know you are, but what am I?" she said with a snotty emphasis available only to little girls. "I'm not goin' and you can't make me! You know the rules- if the guy in charge ain't in control I have free reign, too!"

She stuck out her tongue for emphasis before turning a very serious face to the cat and the mortal. "Cat, if your wrestler friend had any sense, he'd get Mr. Oktober now."

All was suddenly still. Tom looked and saw Oktober was still distracted, a long distant look in his eyes.

"Let's do this!" Tom said.

Like a flash of lightning, Oktober leapt at Tom. Tom surprised even himself with his reaction time. He ducked and ankle-tripped Oktober, dropping him hard on his back. He leapt on his opponent and wrapped Oktober's head in a headlock, squeezing hard. Oktober howled, slowly pushing his head out of the hold. He snapped to his feet quickly. They stepped back from each other.

"I'm not interested in this fight, mortal," Oktober said shoving his hand into his pocket. A handful of seeds hit the floor. They sprouted into hundreds of plants that looked like spikes and knives. "You'll need to deal with many problems at once. Just like me."

Suddenly the mysterious gray-cloaked figure stepped around the roller coaster and stood in Oktober's line of sight.

"Be careful Oktober," he said. "If you introduce interference, I get to play here as well."

"Who are you?!" Oktober barked.

"Stop your critters or you'll find out," there was ice in the voice of the cloaked figure. This was obviously personal. Oktober waved his hand and the saplings flew through the air, born through the Winter Gate.

"Oh, so transparent you people are," Oktober said. "I knew you had the Winter Gate here somewhere. You think I'm going to just walk through that? After all I've been through to get here?! You can't even throw me through that. I have to willingly walk through." Oktober closed on Tom.

"I'm willing to give it a try." Tom said. He slowly backed toward the gate, hoping Oktober would just get closer. Oktober stopped. "You want me? Come get me."

Tom closed on Oktober and they tied up. Tom felt a knee like granite crash into his gut. He went down on one knee. Oktober was stronger! One shot and Tom could hardly breathe. It was as though the change at Midnight had increased his strength by a factor of ten. He tried to get his breath. The same knee caught him in the head and he went down.

A rain of kicks landed on Tom's ribs. He stood over Tom ready to stomp on him again. Tom noticed he rested his weight on one foot. He neatly tucked that foot in his armpit and rolled into the knee. Unable to catch his balance, Oktober fell to the floor. Tom snapped to the attack and landed on Oktober's chest. He rained a flurry of punches into Oktober's face. The maddened month tried to fend Tom off, driving his thumb into Tom's eye. Missed! Tom grabbed the thumb and wrenched. There was a wet splitting noise and Oktober howled in pain. With the stab of pain, reality quaked again.

"Did that distract you?" Tom asked with a gleaming smile. "What about this?!" Tom landed a solid forearm into Oktober's face, crunching into his nose. Oktober growled in pain.

The floor rumbled. Great slabs of stone flew from the disintegrating floor. From a hole in the ground leapt four frost covered demons. One was dressed as Sonia Henny, the other's in New Jersey Devil's uniforms.

"Hey, it's real cold down there guys!!" One demon shouted as he body-checked the Sonia Henny demon into the broken merry-go-round.

Suddenly the airborne chunks of rubble landed around the combatants, each large enough to kill either opponent.

Oktober threw Tom off him and stood up. Tom landed on his feet. The next quake shook the building causing Oktober to clutch at his head. Tom landed a side kick to his head. "This is for Time!" Oktober's head snapped back as Tom's Boot connected with his jaw. The world shifted in size, larger, smaller, then back to normal. Tom noticed it moved with the kick he landed. He pressed the attack harder.

"This is for what you did to your family!" Tom rocked him again with a boot to the other side of his head.

"This is for Jack," he landed two boots squarely in Oktober's chest.

Oktober spun and landed on his face. Tom picked up Oktober's foot and sunk-in an ankle lock, violently twisting his ankle and knee. Oktober laid on his stomach and howled in pain pounding the ground.

"And this is for the inconvenience of having to look at your sorry face!" The building was coming apart around them as the reality quake raged on.

"Tom!" Cat shouted. By reflex, Tom rolled to one side. A huge man-sized chunk of concrete, dislodged from the ceiling, landed on Oktober's prone body. Tom was blinded by the resulting spray of dust. He stood and saw a large black stain spreading from under the concrete slab.

"Oh, man. That's bad. Is he dead?" Tom asked the cloaked figure. The demons skated up the walls and out of the mall.

"Not likely," he said. "Get him through the gate."

Tom just stared at the man in the robes. "That's disgusting."

"It needs to be done," the man insisted.

Tom rolled the chunk aside. It weighed hundreds of pounds and rolled badly. With his new strength, Tom found he could move the boulder. He dragged Oktober's body free from the wreckage. He was a mess, crushed in many places only barely recognizable as something humanoid.

"EEEEwwww," The little girl squealed. She was holding a floating anchor on a string. "He's just gets ickier."

"Um, right." Tom said.

Tom dragged the body toward the gate. Suddenly one of the saplings Oktober had dispelled lurched from the rubble at Tom's face.

Tom scrambled and tore it off of him. It flopped on the ground, maimed.

He bled from one eye freely and stumbled backward. He sat on the floor hard.

Cat came over to him. "You okay?"

"That hurt," Tom said quietly.

"We got to finish this," Cat said. Beyond belief, Oktober stirred.

"Just ten feet ... come on!" Cat urged.

"Fine," Tom said, getting to his feet.

He turned and was greeted by the nightmarish face of Oktober, standing before him. Smashed and lacerated in hundreds of places, Oktober smiled.

"Going somewhere?"

Oktober's arm let loose a sick green light as it changed shape. It became a jagged shard of broken wood. His body reshaped quickly, muscles growing before Tom's eyes. The spiked arm swung at Tom like a sword. Tom ducked and Cat scattered. Tom grabbed the jagged arm and turned around pushing Oktober back toward the gate. Tom struggled against the strength of the arm, his muscular body shaking at the effort. Blood ran down his face, soaking his chest.

"I'm tired of this game, mortal," Oktober said. Tom suddenly felt a knifing jab in his leg. He looked to see one of those accursed plants tearing a hole in his calf. The distraction was enough. Oktober's arm slipped out of Tom's grasp. With a wrenching twist and a flash of lightning, Oktober shoved into Tom's torso, through his right pectoral and out his shoulder.

Tom's mouth fell open but he made no sound. He pressed his eyes shut as he slumped, held in the air by Oktober's impaling arm; the Winter's Gate so close, he could feel its shimmer. The pain was so complete he was close to blacking out. He refused to make any sound for Oktober.

"I can feel inside you," Oktober whispered in Tom's ear. "Your heart is slowing down, you know? I will enjoy holding you tight as your life seeps away. I have the world under control now. It's mine. And you will now die."

Blood flowed down Tom's body and onto the floor.

"That's enough!" The cloaked figure shouted, standing behind Tom. "You have invoked interference!" The figure threw off his hood revealing the furious face of Jack. His gray jumpsuit underneath showing through the robes, his five o'clock shadow had gone several weeks into a short beard.

"Jack!!" cried Cat.

"Impossible..." muttered Oktober. "You're dead. I killed you." Tom struggled to look up.

"It is the simplest magic to fake dying," Jack said. "If you looked deeper instead of gloating, you would've seen through the illusion."

Tom felt cold creeping into his body. He knew Jack offered the only thing he could legally offer, a huge distraction. Tom summoned his last ounce of strength and will and with a roaring scream, shoved Oktober away from him.

The jagged spike ripped from his chest as Oktober tumbled backward.

There was Oktober's terrified scream and a cold blast of air as the Winter Gate claimed the madman.

"NOOO!!"

There was a clap of cold thunder.

Tom fell on his face, coughing uncontrollably. It hurt to try to breathe. He felt Jack's strong arms hold him.

The next reality quake was the greatest of them all. Suddenly all the elements of creation were without rein, floating and drifting aimlessly.

Then, just as if a great hand had tightened the laces of the loosening reality, it all snapped back into place. Light filled the atrium which immediately fell to placid darkness. The stars shown brightly.

"You still with us? Tom!" Jack whispered.

"Is he gone?" Tom managed.

"He fell through the gate. Good shot. You did it." Jack said calmly.

"Good... is the ... gate closed?" Tom felt himself crying. "It hurts so bad ... Can you ...help me ... please."

"No problem, man." Jack said. There was a warm glow of light that surrounded Tom. The pain subsided and he felt slightly drunk. "Gate's closed. You're stabilized. We'll fix you up. Some people owe me favors."

"Will he live, brother?" The little girl asked curiously. She stood holding a balloon shaped like the melting head of Salvador Dali.

"Yes, Jill," he said to the little girl. "He'll need time to heal, but he'll be fine. Tell Justice. She'll be pleased. "

Tom closed his eyes and rested.

The sun was shining the morning he left the hospital for good. Tom decided to walk around the neighborhood that afternoon. The world had come back together and people were beginning to forget the long nightmarish month.

The news had decided that it was the worst earthquake in the history of the country. The hibernation of large masses of people had been described as common by newly found experts. The strange weather was over and power was back on in most places.

That was their story and they were sticking to it.

They weren't talking about ghosts and walking dead and malls that collapse and weird animate plant life. Those were just urban legends, you know. Mass hysteria. Too much X-files or something....

Tom laughed thinking about it.

His ribs still hurt a bit but he liked laughing just the same. It had been three weeks since he had a yard of jagged wood shoved through his chest. He didn't know how, but Jack had patched him up very well and deposited him at the hospital. His house was fixed, probably by Cat.

He got several get well cards from Jill, the little girl from Chaos. They were odd pictures of a landscape where the trees don't quite touch the ground. She was holding a balloon that was a small Volkswagen, complete with confused miniature passengers.

He got a weird card from Van Vader with a rambling letter. He said he heard Tom had been hurt and wished him a quick mend. Tom didn't know he even cared! He sent a picture of Vader in a classic strongman pose, draped in Japanese tourists, all smiling and waving. It was by far the strangest picture he had ever seen of Vader. Vader said he had new plans to wrestle in Japan. Something changed in his life, didn't know what, but everything felt like he just woke from a bad dream and he needed a change. He mentioned the world even smelled better the moment he thought of the change.

Tom smiled, remembering how glad he was to see Jack alive. And Cat was thrilled. Cat made apologies for being so fickle, but he was going back to live with Jack. Tom was secretly delighted, unsure how his neighbors were working with a shapeshifting, speaking and generally obnoxious cat. He stopped and looked at his house. It looked like it was put back together just fine.

"Hey mister!" Tom heard behind him. A boy in his early teens was running down the sidewalk toward him. He had floppy brown hair and dressed in a winter coat much too big for him. "Hey, are you Z-Man?"

"Yeah," Tom said hesitantly.

"I'd love your autograph, I think you're the greatest!" The kid started plowing through his numerous pockets. "If I can find my scrapbook, I'd like you to autograph it for me." He pulled a hardbound book that had newspaper clippings sticking out of it. "Here it is."

"Sure kid," Tom said. He hadn't signed an autograph in some time.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"November," the kid said with a huge smile. "You probably know my dad. He said you did." Tom's jaw fell open.

"You're November? The ....the month?"

"Yeah," the kid said looking at the ground somewhat shamefully kicking stones. "You're feeling better I hope." he said still looking at the ground.

"I'm fine, really," he said to the kid. Tom lifted the kid's chin, "It wasn't your fault."

"I know, I just thought it was raw you getting shoved into that fight. It was a family problem." He said. "Thanks for fixing it. It's good to have a friend outside the family. Dad and Oktober are getting along much better. Dad's not mad anymore and Oktober's mind is healed so he's not crazy anymore."

"I thought you were .... um ... dead?" Tom asked.

"Well, the Justice lady, she fixed that and is sitting with the family working out the new rules. It's on a couple pages back." November turned the pages in the book back. Surrounded by cryptic and strange scribblings in an indescribable language, there was a moving, animate pencil drawing showing the meeting. It was like watching a sketch animation. Around a huge room sat all the months, Winter, Summer, Jack and the little chaos girl Jill.

Justice stood, writing things in a huge book that rested on a podium. Time sat in a cloud-like armchair. She sipped tea, smiling pleasantly. Jill was bored and walked aimlessly around the room and rested against the podium. It turned into a strange pile of jagged sticks, yet still held the book. Justice tapped her on the head and wagged a finger. She huffed and walked back over to Jack.

"This is going on right now?" Tom asked.

"That's a bit linear for a true description, but it'll do," said November rolling his eyes in a way only a 15 year old kid can do. "Do you want to get back into the famous parts of wrestling?" November bluntly asked.

"I'd like to," Tom admitted. "I'd have to train real hard to get there."

"Cool, I think you're going to have a big come back. If you want it, I bet it's there for the asking," November said. He grabbed the book and quickly flipped to a bookmarked page. "Can you sign on this part?"

Tom autographed in the part next November's numerous notes and pictures of Z-Man.

"You have a real, ummmm, different family," Tom said to November. "I hope they work things out."

"They're fun," he said back. "But when you look at it, everyone's family has a weird part to it. At least mine has a wild set of rules to follow, actually written down, which makes it much simpler to straighten things out than most other peoples' families." November pulled his huge baggy sleeve back and looked at his X-Men watch. "When I came back, I didn't have time to get new clothes. And I still don't. Man, I've got more work to do. I have to meet a storm in Canada. I'll catch you later. Enjoy your comeback."

The kid ran down the street and disappeared around a corner.

Tom continued his walk wondering about the months and all their rules, regulations, and contracts. He was glad to have them behind him.

He stopped dead in his tracks and his hands slowly crept up to grab his head. He couldn't shake the curious suspicion that had overcome him.

"What did I just sign?" He couldn't believe what he just did. He felt a curling slink around his ankles and looked to see a black cat with white boots purring happily.

"Cat! What did I just sign?" The cat purred.

"Meeew," the cat said.

"Don't give me that!" Tom shouted. He looked up at one of his neighbors peering between her curtains at him shouting at a cat.

"Hi, Mrs. Brown," Tom said pretending nothing was happening. Mrs. Brown raised her eyebrow curiously and quickly closed the curtain. "You're not fooling anyone,"

Tom mumbled as he walked inside.

"Meeeew" the cat said.

"Oh sure," Tom said. "Now you're going to tell me you're just a little cat. Nothing weird, just a cat."

"Meeeeew," The cat said. "Tuna!"

"I knew it!" Tom said. "My life's weird again! Just say it! My life's real weird!"

"Meeeeeew," said the happy cat.

-the end-