“Is everything okay?”
“I just feel at peace when I go there. And peace is something I could definitely use.”
“What’s going on, Ethan?”
“Just been having some bad dreams is all.”
“Anything you want to talk about.”
He shook his head. “Maybe some other time.”
Jonathan paused for a moment. “When’s the last time you talked to her?”
“It’ll be soon I hope,” Ethan responded, looking down at his lap.
“Her grandfather’s still in bad shape you know. They say it’s only a matter of time before he passes.”
Ethan did not reply.
“She needs you more than ever. Maybe it’s time you go—”
“Not yet.” Ethan’s gaze came back onto Jonathan. “Soon, but not yet.”
“Ethan, she—”
“Right now, our work is more important. Right now, what we’re doing is going to change the world. That’s more important than…she knows that.”
Jonathan silently nodded.
Ethan pulled a small blue box out of his coat pocket. He put it on the table and slid it to Jonathan. “Please give that to Cathy when you see her.”
Jonathan examined the box. “What’s this for?”
“Last time we were all at the mall, I saw her looking at this. Just tell her it’s an early birthday present.”
Jonathan nodded. “Sure…sure. Thanks, Ethan. I’m sure she’ll love it.” He paused again. “…you know, Ethan, you don’t have to put on this face when you’re here…you weren’t present at Will’s funeral and I know why.”
Ethan stared, silently.
“You’re hiding it well, you always do. Knowing you, I doubt that you’ve slept at all since his death. Since…well, since this all began you’ve hardly ever slept, but now it’s worse than ever.”
“How can I rest when his killer’s still out there?”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe not, but I dragged him into this—this nightmare. And it’s my fault he never got out alive. After everything he’s given in service of other people, he’s the last one who should have had to give his life. Now it’s my responsibility to find his killer.”
“He knew what he was getting into. He was a soldier before and knew the risks. And he willingly did everything, even up until the end. The last thing he would want is for you to blame yourself for his death, to destroy your own mental health in a hunt for his killers.”
“I wish I could believe that…”
“You have to.”
Ethan glanced down for a long moment before looking back up at his brother. “Anything else?”
“Just know I’m here for you.”
“I know.” Ethan again reached into his jacket’s pocket. “Which is why I’m giving you this.” He pulled out another small box and handed it to his brother.
“What’s this?”
“You’ll see.” Ethan rose to his feet and turned to leave. “Give my love to Cathy and Ben.”
***
The moment Ethan closed his eyes, it happened again. The one face he feared consumed his vision. The one voice he dreaded consumed his mind. The beast consumed his heart.
Daken.
His dark red eyes. His black scales and dark robes. His merciless and vile face. His large, intimidating figure. Daken was only inches away from him. He looked right into Ethan’s soul. He saw Ethan’s fear. He could smell his terror. And it only made him stronger.
“Death!”
The monster’s voice was darker than ever before. It filled his essence with an inescapable terror and dread. His malicious eyes pierced Ethan’s very soul.
“It’s coming!”
“NO!” With a yell, Ethan lunged at the beast.
He awoke, finding himself in the elevator drenched in sweat, with a rapid heart rate, labored breathing, and an uncontrollable shiver. He stayed there, bent over with one hand leaning against the wall, for several long moments.
Realizing where he was, he tried to regain control of his senses. He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. Finally convincing himself that the nightmare was over, his body slowly came back under his control.
The nightmares were getting worse and more frequent, each one more real than the previous. It felt like he was there, again, in the presence of the beast.
Why was this happening? After two years, how was this monster coming back to him? It had to be a vision. There w as no other explanation.
Then again, maybe it was real. Maybe he was denying the inevitable. That at the end of this long fought journey, there was no true redemption. There would be no light at the end of this dark tunnel. Instead, all he would find was the one thing that haunted his dreams and kept him awake at night…
Daken’s return.
Chapter 18
Underground’s Last Stand
The air was still and the sky was dark in this abandoned part of the city. Outside the entrance to an abandoned factory, a few men stood dressed in their withering jackets that did little to protect them from the cold. As a breeze blew through the streets, many of them rubbed themselves down in a vain attempt to stay warm.
The old steel walls of the sizeable factory were worn down. Cracks and mold seemed to cover almost every inch of the once magnificent building. But the surrounding buildings were in no better condition. Most of them had not been cared for in decades. Not even the owners of these unwanted buildings ever ventured down here.
A few of the closer men were standing in a circle and talked in their low voices while the others stood musing in their own thoughts. It was impossible to tell any of their voices apart, except for the sharpest ears.
“Can’t believe we’re missing the fights.”
“You saw them last time.”
“Yeah, but the pool looks much more entertaining this time.”
“You could’ve refused guard duty.”
“Nobody says ‘no’ to the boss. Were you here when Paul refused an order?”
“No. What happened?”
“You don’t want to know. Let’s just say, I didn’t know it was possible for a man to be kept alive that long while having his body hacked up.”
There was a pause.
“Suddenly guard duty doesn’t seem so bad.”
“Yeah…when you look at it that way.”
“Did you hear about the gang on the eastside?”
“What happened?”
“They were all found dead.”
“What! When?”
“Yesterday—night. Don’t you watch the news?”
“I don’t waste my time with that garbage. Besides, I was out yesterday picking up the boss’ order. How were the boys killed?”
“With a knife.”
“That—”
“Do you think he’ll come here?”
“What are you, superstitious? He’s just one man. We have more chances of running into the president than him.”
The Guardian looked down upon the six men as they stood in front of the factory. From his position, he could see three of them huddled up together, while the other three kept to themselves. Of course, Norris was not amongst them. The ambush would go like clockwork.
Taking a step back and a deep breath, he lunged forward and leapt off the rooftop. He quickly dived thirty feet to the ground. His cloak and hood flew in the wind behind him. He landed noiselessly and crouched down a few feet from the furthest guard.
Rising to his feet, The Guardian unsheathed his long dagger and walked towards the first guard. As he came right behind him, he put his gloved hand over the man’s mouth and plunged his dagger straight through the man’s back and into his heart. The victim let a deep, pain-filled gasp before collapsing.
The Guardian then soundlessly moved toward the second guard. The target did not sense his silent footsteps and never saw him coming. Within seconds, The Guardian butchered him in the same way as his companion.
The Guardian
targeted the third man. The thug was looking down at his feet, unaware of what was about to happen. He looked back up and began to turn around just as his to-be-killer was steps away from him. By the time he caught sight of The Guardian and whipped around to face him, it was too late. He did not even have time to pull out a weapon. The Guardian plunged his dagger into the man’s stomach, gutting him. The man yelped in pain, but his screams were muffled by his The Guardian’s glove. Wrenching his dagger out of the man, the killer roughly pushed the body onto the floor.
With an inhumanly quick motion, the masked man reached under his cloak and pulled out three small knives. He launched them all simultaneously and they cut through the air with lightning speed. Before the remaining three guards even had a chance to defend themselves, their heads were split open and they fell dead to the floor.
Ethan began to make his way to the entrance. He needed to move quickly if he was to save all the gang’s to-be-victims from its sadistic leader. Prison had been unable to hold Norris, but Ethan would send him somewhere from which there was no return. But before he killed Norris, he would find out where William’s killers were.
This ambush had been easy, but the battle inside would not be so easily won.
***
“Do you know what this means? If what you are telling me is true.” In the back of the moving limousine, Villanueva looked at his counterpart who sat across from him.
“It’s true. I can assure you that,” Marcos replied grimly, his hands clasped in front of him. “And I know fully what it means. It means that everything we’ve done can be in ashes within a week. All of our work and the sacrifices made by everyone could amount to nothing.”
Villanueva shook his head. “You should’ve come to me sooner. As soon as Tony gave you the ultimatum, you should have let us know.”
“I thought I could call his bluff.”
“People like Tony don’t bluff. They don’t care who they hurt or destroy in order to get what they want. And they can’t be strong-armed into changing their mind. He’s already thought ten steps ahead of us. Anything you try, he already has a plan for. There’s nothing you or I could do to outsmart him.”
“I know that now. We should have seen this coming.”
“We did. Deep in our hearts, all of us knew that this would happen one day. But none of us wanted to admit it. None of us wanted to admit that all this time, we and our mission were truly at the mercy of a man like Tony.”
“You mean a madman like Tony,” Marcos spat out.
Villanueva solemnly looked down.
“The man has enough power already. He’s already untouchable. Why would he crave for more?”
“Greed perhaps…or maybe something else. Maybe there’s a darker game afoot.”
“What do you mean?”
Villanueva shook his head. “It’s only a hunch. But what if Tony is working for somebody else?”
“Somebody else?”
“Somebody who doesn’t want us to succeed.”
“That list has no end.” Marcos glanced out the window. “Do you think our associate saw this coming?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Villanueva looked back up at his friend. “Do you want to make contact with him?”
Marcos nodded. “And pray that he is a wiser planner than we were.”
***
The factory had turned into a slaughterhouse.
The once magnificent steel mill was now a barren catacomb. The enormous, rectangular room was almost bare of any machinery or equipment.
But it was not bare of people.
There was a large pit in the middle of the cold, dark room. Around the pit, a crowd of nearly thirty dirty, unruly ruffians roared and jeered. Their eyes were mad. Their minds were blurred. Many of them held empty and half empty bottles.
The disorderly men drunkenly and enthusiastically stood around, celebrating their recent crime of successfully abducting eight innocent teenage boys—all varying in age, race, and backgrounds.
They had been waiting for these games to begin for a week. This sadistic celebration was in honor of the shipment they had received now that they were the last major game in town—the last gang large enough to be a major player in Crown City’s affairs.
Eight teenage boys had been cast into the nine foot, perfectly circular pit that once housed a massive piece of machinery. Their ages were different. Their races were different. Their creeds were different. But they all had one thing in common: they were all facing their deaths.
The windows of the factory were boarded up from the inside and had been for years. A few lanterns were placed in the perimeter of the pit, giving the ditch its only illumination. The men maliciously taunted the boys down in the pit as they faced their deaths. Still betting who would win the fight to the death. Still cursing the helpless victims. Still waiting for the bloodbath to begin…all to gain their master’s approval.
Seeing his boss coming, the largest man of the group roared above the inebriated crowd. “QUIET!”
His commanding voice did what it always did: it calmed down the pack of rabid dogs. Within seconds, the crowd settled down, turning in their boss’ direction. As he came to them, the crowd parted like the Red Sea to make room for him as he went to the edge of the pit. He looked down at the helpless boys.
The leader’s long hair was filthy. His unshaven face was covered in dirt. His lank body was shielded by worn down clothes. A wicked smile came across his face as he looked at the boys’ innocent faces. It only gave him strength to see their hopelessness. It fueled his dark fire.
He turned to his gathering before his sadistic voice cut through the air. “We are gathered here today to celebrate our brotherhood. To celebrate our victory. To celebrate what we have created. What you have created!”
The thugs shouted and cheered upon hearing his words, their deafening voices consuming every inch of the factory. Their hearts pounded faster and faster with anticipation of the games. After a long minute, they once again quieted.
The boss then turned to speak to the boys. “Do not lose hope. You need not die today if you prove yourself worthy. All you have to do is one simple thing.” His fiendish sneer grew. “Kill. Kill with no mercy. Kill with no remorse. Kill and not be killed.”
There was laughter from the crowd.
“The one who survives in the end will be given an honor. An honor to join our brotherhood and eat from our plentiful tables.” He turned away from the boys and back to the crowd of men. “Give them their weapons.”
From the horde, five machetes were thrown into the pit. They loudly clanked onto the floor, echoing through the building.
Once again, the boss’s cocky and malicious face looked down at his prisoners. “Time to die.”
But it never started. Something fell from above them all.
Coming from the darkened high ceiling, it landed in the center of the pit like a sack of meat. It hit the ground with a heavy thud. For a long moment, nobody could believe what they were seeing. It was straight out of a nightmare.
It was one of their “brothers”…what was left of him.
There was complete silence. Nobody could take their eyes off of the corpse. The gang stared at the ripped remains of their comrade, barely able to recognize him. There was only one who was capable of doing this…
A shadowy figure fell from the ceiling.
The Guardian landed right beside the body, crouched down and bent over. His hood and cloak were covered in a few small patches of blood. He did not move.. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They all waited to see what would happen next.
Then his cold voice echoed through the building. “You all have two choices.”
They all watched as he menacingly rose to his feet.
“Fall on your bellies. Fall on your bellies like rats and beg. Beg for mercy. Beg like dogs. Beg that the ones you threaten to hurt will grant you a quick death. A quick and painless passage to Hell.”
Fear gripped the hearts of every man in the room.
“Or don’t beg. Don’t beg…and burn.”
Every criminal stared at the deliverer of death. They could not make a move.
“The choice is yours. Die quickly…or burn.”
Silence from the men, as they realized the deliverer of death had come for them.
But the peace did not last. Suddenly, a lieutenant leapt into the pit with an angry growl. “I’m not afraid!”
All eyes were on him as he rushed at The Guardian. He picked up one of the machetes off of the pit floor and ran full speed with a mighty roar. His loud footsteps reverberated though the building as he charged. But The Guardian did not move. He merely stared down his oncoming attacker.
As the large man came upon him with the machete raised above his head, The Guardian quickly unsheathed a long dagger. He sidestepped the machete as it came down before deeply slicing the lieutenant across his stomach. The lieutenant fell over, howling in pain as life slowly, painfully left him.
Ignoring the dying man’s cries, The Guardian’s eyes scanned the gang, his cold voice filling the room once more. “Who’s next? I’ve already killed every other scum in the city.”
There was a moment of peace. But it was simply the calm before the last stand of Crown City’s underworld began. Several men simultaneously leapt into the pit with roars and curses. They charged at The Guardian. Seeing the spike of courage in their brothers, the rest of the thugs followed suit. In an instant, they had leapt into the pit and charged at the lone warrior
The only man not to leap into the pit was the gang leader, Norris. The eight boys cowered along the edges of the pit, afraid of what was about to unfold.
As the army of thugs came upon him, The Guardian reached behind his cloak and his fingers touched the tips of six knives. But these were no ordinary knives. They were part of the collection William built. With one fluid move, he simultaneously launched the special knives in different directions. Each knife hit their target. And as they did, something happened.
They erupted into explosions.
The balls of fire roared as they went off and lit up every corner of the pit. With their unmerciful wrath, they each consumed and set five men ablaze. And their victims howled like animals.