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The Hecatomb, Chapter 6 |
| Written by Sean | |
| Sunday, 13 July 2008 | |
The journey home was long, and David did not return to sleep that night. The memory of Evelyn turning away from him and leaving alongside Lord into the dark and loathsome night kept him awake. He sat upon his couch, wondered why it was no longer as comfortable as he remembered, and stared blankly at the equally empty television screen. He was not sure if he blinked, or even breathed. Evelyn was gone. For how long? Hours, days, weeks, years?
He stared up at the ceiling, and all the clouds and stars beyond it. David was never a faithful man but he now stared at God, glared at the Almighty with burning rage and miserable curiosity. What sort of God allowed such things to happen? What sort of God took a man's wife, his daughter, and permitted the world to take such wretched turns? There must be a reason. There is always a reason, some logic that let ridiculous things occur with little regard for those affected.
David could find no such reason, and so resigned to returning his gaze to the television set. He did not remember falling asleep, only the sudden sensation of waking up. He had hardly moved from his sitting position, and his head rested uncomfortably on the back of the couch. There was no sunlight. The clouds made sure of that. However, a bird on the windowsill chirped pleasantly instead of staring at him, and David felt slightly better.
He rose. He stretched his legs as best as his sleepy muscles would allow and trudged to the kitchen. He vaguely remembered Evey the morning after Lord's first appearance, standing there with her cereal bowl and curious eyes. She was a shadow, that Evelyn, and so David had no choice but to walk through her. She faded, and David opened the door to the refrigerator. All men must have sustenance, and this was no exception. He withdrew some generic bottled water form within its depths. The moment he allowed the door to close itself, a loud knock thundered throughout the house. For a moment, David believed that maybe he needed to fix the refrigerator door. He couldn't have it smashing like that, but it would just be another thing to add on to his extensive to-do list.
He walked past the front door, bottled water in hand, and it was then that another loud knock rippled through the room. It came from the front door, and David was so startled by it that the bottle of water flew out of his hands and landed quite gracefully on the couch. Thankfully the cap was on, and he did not have another thing to clean.
"David Verre! David Verre, are you in there?"
David grew pale. They have come for him. After those years of waiting and fear, they have come for him.
"David Verre, open up, please!"
Please. David Verre had witnessed the squads take mutants before, and he could not recall any of them being particularly gracious. Color returned to his face, and David gripped the doorknob carefully. Making sure that the lock was still on, he opened the door as far as he could, just enabling him to see who was on the other side.
A beast of a man, easily taller than David himself and with biceps that could have very well allowed the man to break down the door rather than knock upon it, stared at him, eyes tired and breathing shallow.
"You are one hard man to find."
David was at a loss. As many stupefied men in his situation do, he said the very first thing that came to his mind.
"I'm in the phonebook."
The man said nothing, merely inviting himself into David's home and taking it upon himself to sit upon David's couch. They seemed to share the same weariness, though the visitor bore the smile David had not yet found. There was silence for some time, something David had come to loathe.
"Can I help you?"
"I dunno."
The man got up, strolled into David's kitchen and happily removed a beer from the refrigerator. Alcohol had become one of David's vices over the years. Giving his host nothing more than a quick smile, the visitor returned to the couch, plopped down upon it, rested his feet on the coffee table, and released a relaxed sigh.
"This is nice."
"Mind telling me who you are?"
"Darius."
David waited for more information, and when no such thing came, he relinquished himself to getting his own beer, and pulling up a chair across from this intrusive visitor.
"And why were you looking for me Darius?"
"Just lookin' for some company."
"You just so happened to find me?"
"Well, It occurred to me that you and I share some similar experiences, David."
"I don't thi-"
"Thanks to that jackass Lord, we are both alone."
David immediately closed his mouth. His eyes bored into Darius'. He hadn't expected this. Who could? Not once in those recent years had David ever met a mutant opposed to Lord. In fact, he had begun to think that, aside from him, such a mythical creature did not exist. How could this man know of Evelyn's departure? It hadn't occurred more than a few hours earlier.
"I'm surprised you don't know how fast word gets around, Dave. We keep an eye on each other."
"And you didn't do a single damned thing."
Darius gave David a cursory glance, and the father immediately felt embarrassed for saying such things. However, Darius seemed to catch himself, and his expression softened. His voice became gentle.
"David, we watch, but we can't see the future. I'm sorry."
"So am I. You said we were both alone. What has Lord taken from you?"
"I'm sure you're familiar with Artemis by now."
"Lord's little spy?"
"Actually, I like to call her my little girl. Her name is Alicia, but like Lord says, she goes by Artemis now."
David had no clue to what say. He knew what he wanted to say, that he knew every inch of this man's pain, that he understood, that he hated Lord. But he could not discern a way to put it into speech. He faced the problem of compressing every emotion he had felt over the past six into the depreciative form of words. He mustered up the best sentence he could manage.
"What now?"
"I don't know."
David looked over to the refrigerator.
"How about another drink?"
"Sounds good to me."
David fetched the drinks, sat down and the couch, and exhaled. Somehow, this exhale carried away the pressure that had rested on his chest. He looked over at Darius, who had already begun to down his drink. For once, David rested. Copyright 2008 Sean |
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