#3 Buzz Ellerby: Stuntmanimal

Eugene “Buzz” Ellerby was a prominent stuntman in the 1970’s. An established motorcycle daredevil, he was always looking to up the ante with each death-defying feat. While scouting new jump locations, Buzz stumbled upon Brokejaw Canyon. “Oh, I’m crossin’ this sumbitch,” he laughed. “Or die tryin’.” Word spread & his stunt team went to work constructing ramps, completely unaware they were on sacred ground.

They were confronted by members of the local Chinulpa tribe, who at first asked quite nicely for him to reconsider the location. But Buzz’s mind was already made up. The back & forth continued. On a daily basis, the elders would show up & begin to sternly insist that he leave. But Ellerby was dead set in making the jump. When it became apparent that the daredevil wasn’t going to budge, one of the tribe’s shaman decided to take matters into his own hands. He showed up the day before with a thermos, & said he would convince the rest of the tribe to back off, but only if Buzz would drink a warrior’s bravery potion, as was their custom. With the deadline quickly approaching, Buzz reluctantly decided to appease the man & downed the contents of the thermos. The man smiled & Buzz handed it back. Unbeknownst to him, the bitter concoction wasn’t for bravery at all.

The day of the big jump came. A crowd of thousands had shown up to watch & bake in the hot desert sun. TV cameras were there, at the ready. Buzz warmed up his bike, doing a couple of practice laps before heading up the ramp. With all eyes on him, he revved the bike & started to careen down the ramp. Suddenly, something went wrong. Before even reaching the trough of the jump, Buzz had come off the bike, skidding the rest of the way down on his knees. As his crew rushed to his side they realized Buzz was… different. In fact, he was no longer a man, but some sort of half beast.

Ever since, Buzz Ellerby has been cursed. In moments of high stress, he begins to change. Sometimes he resembles a wolf or coyote, other times a falcon. He’s even become snakelike. Or developed a scorpion’s shell. Pretty much any animal from the desert ecosystem. Each transformation lasts for a couple hours. And while he maintains some level of awareness, there’s no telling what will cause him to change, or what he’ll become. And while he clings onto the last shreds of his stunt career, his curse keeps getting in the way.

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Once again, I got caught up with the detail & ended up taking a lot longer than I had hoped. That said, I’m pretty pleased with the result. This one came from a half formed idea on my list of jump-off character prompts. I had the line “Werewolf Stuntman” on there, but took it a little further. I figured it’d make a pretty bitchin’ 70’s procedural. Buzz travels from town to town, using a combination of his daredevil & shapeshifting skills to right wrongs over the course of 44 minutes before moving along. I probably should have tore up his suit a little more, but I figured it was something kind of durable, given his occupation. Other characters are in the works. Hope to get to a point where I can finish & post more than just one at a time.

Category: 2012, Horror, Humor, Superhero