Description:
As he reached the steps of City Hall on his way to the Convention Center, Arach was unlucky enough to be the first to find The Stranger.. L’Etranger, bruised and cut, was obviously dead from the single gunshot wound placed between his open eyes, locked now in a fixed stare. The Stranger had been nailed with railroad spikes to the raised plinth that held Fatlington’s statue of George Washington, his hands folded as if in prayer and the back of his trenchcoat tacked up as though they formed the wings of an angel. Two other bodies were at his feet, spiked to the steps in a position that seemed as though their corpses were bowing to that of The Stranger’s. Brownish crimson tendrils of blood connected the ghastly tableau into one coordinated scene. It took Arach a deal of effort to control his stomach.
As he fought down the urge to vomit, Arach noted a small diary sitting on the steps just below the corpses. He read the words carefully written inside in a small, neat hand.
I waited calmly as The Stranger went to his door, fiddling with his keys. Brightly they shone in the darkness, how lusterless in comparison where The Stranger’s thoughts as he mumbled to himself. Calmly, I took to my feet and laid him low, rendering the fool unconscious, and tied him up, and dragged him from his home, to the place in which he, and others, would await their judgment.
Part 2
Go forth I did again that night, to find Charlie Frick, busy ordering a burger and fries, and I entered the dinner and sat down across from him. At first, he was perplexed, and began to ask many questions, but I assuaged his fears and soon we began to speak quite plainly to one another. For an hour and so did we talk, until I invited him to follow me home, and so he did with much a glint in his eye and a smile upon his face.
As we walked arm in arm to my car, I paused but a moment to remove a scrap of cloth from my handbag and proceeded to cover Charlie’s face with it. But for a moment he struggled, finally succumbing to the vapors of the cloth, and I did drag his body to the car with some effort, so heavy was he.
And off I drove again to the appointed place, whence his judgment would begin.
Part 3
And so the final piece was to be collected, and it was from his slumber that Helmut Frack awakened to see me at the foot of his bed. Fear welled in him as he gazed upon my masked visage, and so did he scream and begin to put up a fight, but only become entangled in his own sheets. Falling to the floor, Helmut let cowardice overcome him and he began to cry for mercy and god.
In that moment, I was overcome with pity, and nearly left him there. But my duty overcame my pity, and it was so that I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him off, out into his hallway, through his parlor, and out his front door. Try as he might, he could not wrest himself from me and run to the safety of his home.
"Please, I beg of you! For the love of God, do not kill me! I beg forgiveness!"
At his words I could do naught but box him across the ears to silence him as I threw him into the back of my car, to drive him to the appointed place. His sobbing was the only sound to be heard as I drove into the night.
Part 4
I set about readying my captive’s judgment, waking them from their slumber. They were surprised to see each other, and remarked to one another that I, their captor was the last person they had seen. Before they could explore their captivity more, I made myself known to them from on high.
"Stranger, you promised death, chaos, and destruction, you spoke of harming the town as if it was a game. These minions of yours always cheered your words in the coffee house, deeming them “poetic” instead of blasphemous. You wished to set about events so that none could trust each other, and satiate their fears each day with spectacle. You all claim that which you shall not deliver, except unto yourselves. Before you are weapons of war, forged by man - it is with your own hand that you must now select one of those weapons, and kill those among you for the safety of the flock."
"He who has purged the others of life, shall be set free to live again, having earned their redemption. I shall watch from here, to insure that all goes as planned."
And so after a tense moment, those in the pit picked up the knives left for their use in the cargo hold, and attacked each other with much fervor. The fight lasted but for a few moments, until the screams of two men had died down, and the victor came into the light, awash with blood and eyes filled with shock and emptiness.
"And so you have won your redemption," I did say, "And so you will now understand what it means to be redeemed, and how lucky thou art - but many who are first now will be last, and many who are last now will be first."
A thunderous crack more, and my Mosin-Nagant M1930 settled as The Stranger fell to the deck, and then did I go and collect them from the interior of the ship.>
Fermanagh’s officers were able to quickly confirm the identities of the two victims who’d died, apparently at The Stranger’s own soon-to-be-dead hands. Both men were Fatlings of long tenure, though not members of the Committee, and were known associates of The Stranger in better times.
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