Right on the deadline, but here's my entry for the writing category. Enjoy.
Duke Nukem: Stalker
It was the last remaining evidence of Dr. Proton’s existence. Duke had been thorough in his world saving and the little red spaceship he escaped in was a worthwhile trophy of his achievements. ‘When I arrive in L.A in this hot ride, babes will be forming a line just to hail to The King!’
The ship broke into the Earth’s atmosphere like a bullet through water, maintaining both its speed and stability. It was only minutes before Duke Nukem was soaring over the Pacific Ocean like an albatross of crimson steel. L.A was in his sites, the skyline was illuminated like a beacon in the night and soon he would be home; ready to kick-back and enjoy some much needed ‘R & R’. After saving the world singlehandedly for the second time now, Duke both deserved and needed it.
Duke’s glorious arrival to his home planet was shot to shit, however, around the same time his ship was. A huge blast of energy burst from the L.A twilight and smashed into the side of vehicle shearing off a wing and damaging the engine to the point of failure. With no stability and momentum, the ship took a flaming nosedive for downtown L.A. Duke acted immediately by making a distress call, ‘Unknown hostiles over L.A have opened fire on my ship, Duke Nukem is coming in hot and heavy, ladies!’
There was static and interference for a second and then a voice, ‘Duke? Oh, thank God! Listen, aliens have invaded Earth. They’ve killed off nearly all the men and mutated the rest into weird pig… things. They’ve taken the women; too, they’re using them for… something. You need to help, Duke! The Earth needs you!’
‘What? Shit, if aliens can’t come in peace, they can all leave in pieces!’
‘Do what you do, Duke.’
He punched the ‘EJECT’ button and was launched from the ship literally seconds before it smashed into the side of a cinema building. Duke landed hard on a rooftop nearby, a wooden crate the only thing to break his fall. ‘Damn, those alien bastards are gonna pay for shooting up my ride,’ said Duke as he slammed a clip into his gun.
Duke scaled a ventilation shaft to get to street level, where he was immediately attacked by two aliens. They had muscular humanoid bodies with black markings and a reptilian face full of sharp ivory fangs. They were armed with laser guns and very angry. Duke shot and killed them both. Duke gave the alien corpses a swift kick, reloaded his gun and continued stalking the streets. As he came to the back alley behind the cinema, he was greeted with a shotgun blast by what remained of one of L.A’s finest. The cop had been mutated, just like Duke was informed into a horrific pig-like monster. The beast let out a feral roar as it charged Duke, unloading shell after shell. Duke ducked, dived and dodged the onslaught long enough to put a slug right in the creatures protruding snout, obliterating a large portion of the pig-cop’s face. It let out a high-pitched, guttural shriek as it collapsed in a bloody heap.
‘Squeal, piggy, squeal!’ said Duke as he picked up the creatures shotgun.
Duke entered the cinema through the back door, taking him directly to the the auditorium. There was no movie playing yet the place was swarming with aliens. Using the pig’s shotgun, Duke shot off limbs and spilled guts; painting the entire room with dead alien. ‘What a mess!’ laughed Duke as he continued into the foyer.
The stench of death mixed with artificial butter filled the air as Duke made his way to the concession stand. More aliens showed up. A pig cop dived up from behind the counter, while two alien soldiers teleported into the room and begun opening fire. ‘Eat shit and die,’ said Duke as he returned the favor with a few shotgun rounds; killing one of the alien soldiers and fatally injuring the pig-cop. The alien that remained teleported behind Duke while he was still in cover, Duke responded by elbowing the creature in the face, breaking everything that could be broken. A slug from Duke’s pistol finished the job.
Duke headed to the elevator leading to the arcade. As he was waiting he kicked over a nearby bin, revealing a hidden cache of explosives. There were pipe bombs, a box of them, complete with remote detonator. Duke smiled as he pocketed them, ‘I’m gonna rip ‘em a new one!’
He rode the elevator to the arcade. There were more aliens. Duke threw three bombs into the room before returning to the first floor and detonating them. The thunderous blast shook the building and the cries of aliens echoed through the building. Duke chuckled to himself as he returned back up to the arcade that was now also serving as an alien slaughter house. Save for an arcade game playing homage to his previous deeds, the room was empty and a heavily secured door blocked the way. A small device next to the door marked the requirement for a red keycard. Duke returned to the first floor in search of it.
As he made his way over to the bathroom, Duke stood on and over corpses, treading footprints of blood into the carpet. An alien soldier hiding above the stalls blasted Duke in his right arm as he entered the bathroom. Duke fired back, catching the creature in the neck. As it choked its way head-first into a toilet, the alien spattered blood all across the white tiled walls. A few stalls down, a subtle groaning could be heard, complete with a pungent and audible aftermath. Duke tossed a pipe-bomb into the stall, the toilet flushed and then erupted; throwing the door across the room and launching gore and feces in every conceivable direction. Duke managed to blurt out the words, “fire in the hole, asshole” as dived to the ground. His attempt to avoid the bombardment was futile. Duke got up and wiped himself down, the only morsel of wisdom he could bestow upon himself was simply that shit does indeed happen.
Duke climbed up to where the alien had been waiting for him. Nestled in the corner was a med-kit Duke used to heal his wound. Duke exhaled in ecstasy as he took a shot of morphine and patched up his wound. The earlier explosion had ripped open the air-vent in the wall behind him; Duke took a peek within revealing a shaft large enough for him to fit. He crawled his way inside.
Duke disturbed rats and creaked metal as he crept through the ventilation shafts. He came to a bend turning right, and after more cramped darkness, he came to another grate that was securely attached by four nails to the body of the ventilation shaft itself. Duke ripped it off with his bare hands and tossed the mangled grate into the darkness behind him.
The clanging noise of the metal grate alerted aliens, who began firing upon Duke while he was still in the vent. Duke crawled backwards to avoid the burning laser fire and once the creatures were close enough, he shot them in the knee caps; dropping them instantly. Once he crawled out of the vent, he finished them with a stomp to the face each.
In the corner of the room, stood a human woman, cocooned in a green, slimy, alien-residue; her body pale and bruised. Once Duke approached her, she could only groan the words “kill me”. Not knowing and not wanting to know what the alien’s had done, Duke obliged by detonating a pipe bomb at her feet. Her haunting scream resonated through the cinema and more alien’s teleported into the room. Duke snapped one alien’s neck, tore another alien open with repeated shotgun blasts, and made the final swallow a pipe bomb. Blood ran down the walls and ceilings, tiny plumes of smoke rose from corpses and the smell of gunpowder filled the air, ‘Nobody messes with our chicks and lives,’ explained Duke.
Duke exited into the projection room where there were more aliens. They were oblivious to his presence until the moment they had each lovingly received a head full of shotgun rounds. A wall at the far side of the room opened up to reveal another alien who teleported around the room as Duke attempted to take him down. The room became Swiss cheese as Duke emptied multiple clips into the disappearing image of the alien trooper. Duke decided to throw a pipe bomb into the middle of the room and as soon as he heard the distinct ‘vwomp’ as the alien materialized, he detonated it. The alien teleported away as the bomb went off around it, only to appear once more in about seventy different pieces that threw themselves across the room as soon as they had fully materialized. “Ooh, that’s gotta hurt,” said Duke. On the floor of the compartment from where the alien had been hiding was a rocket propelled grenade launcher, Duke grabbed it and as he went to leave the room, he noticed a red keycard standing on the desk beside him. He took and it headed down a spiral staircase.
An alien waited on the stairs, Duke had it eat an RPG shell with somewhat predictable results. When he reached the ground floor, the building shook and part of the wall exploded. Another alien appeared and begun firing; Duke sent the alien dick-slinging across the room in a hail of fire and smashed internal organs. Three more aliens had occupied the foyer, one RPG round blew the trio to tiny little bits, ‘You guys suck!’ said Duke.
He entered the elevator back up to the arcade. The red keycard opened the security door revealing an empty storage room. As Duke entere, the wall to his right exploded. A pig cop climbed out of the hole and opened fire; the buckshot skimmed Duke’s face leaving burn marks across his right cheek. Duke gritted his teeth as he fired an RPG at near point-black range; ‘Suck it down!’ roared Duke as the pig became instant BBQ. The resulting explosion knocked Duke back into the wall leaving behind a Duke-sized crater. Shaking the dust and pork shards from his body, Duke climbed out of his mould, threw the empty RPG to the ground and climbed into the hole the pig-cop had came from. Inside was a dark corridor, the glowing red eyes of another pig-cop burned in the darkness; Duke put a bullet between them. The corridor lead to a door outside, with a small bridge that took Duke across the alleyways bellow and to an elevator that lead further into L.A’s seedy downtown underbelly. Duke walked over to the elevator where he stopped a moment to check his pockets. He pulled an empty packet of bubblegum, stared at it for a second and then crushed it between his hands. ‘It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum… and I’m all outta gum!’
Duke took the elevator into the red light district.