Speechless: Hunting Party Part 4

Eye For An Eye

I thought I was making some pretty good time down that hallway for a cyclops, but the bastard just wouldn’t slow down. He was dodging and weaving through every little corridor, prancing across the catwalks, hopping over guardrails, thinking he was going to get away.

Too bad I’m persistent. Having your arm flayed open, salt scraped into it, and then losing your eye can do that to a man though.

Speechless: Part 2 of Hunting Party

In A Blind

Once upon a time, there was a man named Curtis and he liked to play with eyes. It had started when he was little. His third grade teacher brought sheep eyes into class and let them dissect the eyes with little scalpels. It was enough to break little Curtis’ heart. For you see, Curtis had no eyes of his own. That would change though. That would all change when Curtis moved to Chrysalis Falls with his Daddy.

You see, Curtis had already been learning all sorts of things about eyes. He tried telling his mommy once, but she wouldn’t stop screaming. He was telling her about how the dog’s eyes seemed to fit just right when he put them where his eyes were supposed to be. But she wouldn’t stop screaming and waving her hands at the dead dog in the middle of the floor. Well, of course the dog was dead. Didn’t want it to be missing its eyes too. That would’ve been cruel.

Speechless: Aiming High Part 4

Ideals

As the skinless man walked across the floor he squished and squelched. Part of me giggled and wondered what vintage the wine beneath his feet would be. A click click click followed him across the floor above my head. His sister was back again. Would the bitch never leave? He’d be a big enough problem without some acid-spitting whore at my back as well.

Things had been going well enough. I should’ve known better. The Baron’s list of targets had all been too… unremarkable. They died too easy, moved too slowly, and lacked any semblance of bizarre abilities. They were normal humans and all too easy to find and kill. I wasn’t needed for this. Nate had known all too well where every one of our targets had been except for the last one.

Speechless: Aiming High Part 3

Sharpening

I belonged in the position of Magistrate no more than I belonged aloft and flying through the sky. It was not my failure to catch Jack Lorenz that brought me to this conclusion. It was the actions of my fellow Judges that brought me to this conclusion. I sat in the darkness of Sturm’s office, hands folded, waiting for his return. He would return soon, no doubt. He would not be expecting me to be here. Why should he? I would out hunting Jack Lorenz. I would be being a useful tool, a sword that held swords. It is what I should be.

Speechless: Aiming High Part 2

Sighting

It was almost as boring as playing a video game. Wait. Kill. Repeat. They might hear the bullet coming, but these were ordinary humans in league with The Judges out of fear and survivor’s guilt. A shot, a kill, and I’d move on to my next target. Another level cleared, another thousand points that no one gave a rat’s ass about, another target waiting. They were all just heads to step on as you headed for the boss.

What happens when the game’s beaten though? I turned that thought over in my head as I pulled the trigger on my new rifle. My body shook and my ears bled and I was on the floor squirming in pain, but that wasn’t where my brain was. My brain was waiting for the bonus round.

Speechless: Part 1 of Aiming High

Redirection

I had not expected to spend the time I had allotted to mourning sitting and chewing the fat with an obnoxious voodoo ghost. I didn’t like his too sweet rum. I didn’t like his top hat. I didn’t like the stink of the swamp that lingered around him.

His cigars though, they were pretty fine.

“You know why she did what she did, doan you?”

I sucked on the end of my cigar and held the smoke in, willing it to paint my lungs black. I exhaled slow, letting the rich, sweet flavor roll out. After sitting and thinking for a minute, I set my cigar down and starting signing back to him.