Fathom by Mikel Parry

CH-KILLING GOD

Standing at the edge, a bone chilling breeze swept over Demo’s body. He had never been to this side of town nor inside any of its aged buildings. He was standing in historical pieces of rubble that were being prepped for their ultimate destruction. In days, maybe weeks at most, it would all be gone, along with its memories and long ago forgotten purpose. The old hospital had been abandoned by time. It brought up feelings for Demo that only a place like this could. He glanced down at the flimsy paper he was holding tightly in his freezing hands. It had to be right. This had to be the place. The trick was finding the right room. Judging by the number, it was on the fifth floor; five floors up in an off limits, crumbling building. He didn’t care anymore. Live or die, it was all chance.

Climbing to the fifth floor, he did his best to keep his failing composure. His heart was pounding with adrenaline. He never thought his end would come like this. He’d always hoped somehow he could die a fat, old, and happy man with little grandchildren running about. But he just wasn’t that guy. Fate had dealt with him harshly. The old hospital creaked and moaned with the effects of time. Now it felt haunted Room by room Demo made his way, carefully examining each door until he finally arrived at room 513. There was nothing special about this room to him, but he knew to someone else it represented years of bottled-up feelings. To them, this was the gate to hell. He took his shaking hand out of his pocket and pressed it to the door. With an eerie moan it gave way and opened up to fully expose the room, which like the others had been ravaged by time. Its walls were faded, its infrastructure debilitated. A cool gust of wind caught him by surprise. The far wall was half gone, exposing a view of the city. But it’s what he saw next that truly vexed his soul. In the middle of the rubble was a man tied to a chair; a man whom Demo knew all too well.

“Martinez?” Demo gasped, sprinting forward instinctively.

Martinez . . . Jacky’s right hand man and devoted cop. Demo looked carefully at the meticulously knotted rope that bound him. This had been planned out carefully. That’s when it hit him; a horrific wave of nausea and the sudden awareness that they weren’t alone. Everything he knew was converging. He had a monster to slay and decades of spilled blood to redeem.

“So, is this where she died? Is this where they failed you, Dio? Is that what you call yourself now, or is it what Angel used to call you, you self-righteous bastard!”

Demo heard footsteps behind him but didn’t turn.

“It’s such a sad thing to see when the people called to protect, heal, and serve are found to be inadequate. There’s no justice in failure. I should have known the doll was yours, the car’s deity tied name, the eyes of beauty carved out of the victims, the scales of justice, the disciplined disciple—it was all there—I just couldn’t see it. ”

Demo could hear someone breathing behind him now; they were getting close.

“Justice? Like a father and mother who failed at raising their child; who abused hum, tortured him, betrayed him? They deserved nothing. They left a kid alone to fend for himself in a sick, sick world. But then again, he wasn’t really alone, was he? He found someone with a bleeding heart he could manipulate, lie to, and deceive into taking up his cause to shed the blood of the innocent.”

Demo was answered by a terrible gnashing stream of words that could only be coming from a completely unhinged, psychotic mind. .

“They’re not innocent! They’re whores of perversion! Embellishers of filth! They are nothing! Each one deserved the end they met!”

Demo turned as Martinez began to groan. What he saw slammed an icy hammer against his heart, shattering it to pieces. He had expected almost anything, but never this. The judge stood before him, though every movement and sound he made seemed to come from someone else entirely; a monster, a demon. He was hunched over and wore a look of sheer madness on his face. In one hand he held a dingy looking pistol, in the other, a child’s doll, its faded blue hat and suspenders carrying a dark message from the past. As Lyle came closer, he carefully set the innocent looking doll down. He looked completely insane.

“They’re people and deserve to be judged fairly! Who gave you the right to take their lives? Who gave you the right to decide that they deserved to die?”

Lyle stepped aggressively toward Demo. He pointed the pistol at a spot right between Demo’s eyes. It was then that Demo saw it. The weapon Lyle held was the same gun that had taken the life of his partner so long ago.

Where did he get that?

The judge spread his arms wide in a malicious display of pure evil.

“I was called! I was chosen! God gave me the right! God is in me! God knows justice, and I am HE!”

Demo was stunned by the metamorphosis that had taken place. There was absolutely no trace of the refined, articulate Judge Lyle Ridding in this monster before him.

“You are no God! You’re just a sick freak! A freak who’s ended too many lives for his sick and twisted game!”

Lyle let out a guttural howl that echoed through the abandoned building.

“I shall not indulge you! I’m here to open your eyes! I wish to show you the truth of all things! Don’t you understand? I didn’t come here to kill you; I came to set you free, to give you wings my angel!”

Demo’s soul shrank into the depths of his own personal darkness. His worst fear had just revealed itself. Everything became crystal clear—terrifyingly so—Demo had been chosen as Lyle’s new zealot of evil. The judge had been grooming him all along.

“I tried to tell you. I showed you myself time and time again! But your humanity blinded you. The sinners that called you friend deceived you! I was the only one who spoke the truth! I was the only one who never stopped believing in you! I gave you pieces of me in order to perfect you!”

Demo felt his insides bubbling. His darker emotions swelled, ripened, and then burst forth, leaving toxic pools of anger. His pain and loss threatened to consume him. Suddenly, Martinez spoke.

“Demo, is that you? Where am I? What’s going on?”

Hearing him through a mental fog, Demo came back to reality. Despite everything, Martinez did not deserve to go out like this.

“Leave him out of this, Lyle! He doesn’t concern you!”

Lyle let out an unworldly cackle that shook the walls.

“Oh, that thou should ask and receive, that the dark shall be brought to light!”

What is he talking about?

Lyle circled Martinez, keeping the gun carefully on Demo.

“Our dear Richard Martinez—cop, friend, servant to vice, and murderer!”

Martinez cringed painfully.

“What is he talking about, Martinez? Why are you here?”

With tears in his eyes he shook his head.

“I won’t . . . I can’t . . . don’t make me do this!

Lyle hit him hard with the back of his gun.

“Oh, ye of little faith, you poor tainted creature! You know what I can do if you disobey me!”

Martinez spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Martinez, what is he talking about? Demo screamed frantically.

“I did it! I did it, alright! I was desperate and it was years ago.”

Demo stepped back. His mind was furiously trying to stitch together the new info crashing into him like a tsunami.

“Speak clearly, devil, so your sin can be made clear!” Lyle demanded. The judge was pacing faster and faster around Martinez and Demo like a bloodthirsty shark.

Martinez dropped his head onto his chest. Tears streamed down his face mixing into the thick rivers of blood gushing from his wound.

“I was a strung out druggie once, another lifetime ago. I was desperate and the door was open! I wasn’t in my right mind. I was just looking to score some cash. I didn’t know two cops would be inside. I didn’t know that it would go down like that, I swear!”

Demo asked what he already knew.

“What are you trying to say, Martinez?”

“Yes, tell him. Purge your sins, you lying whoremonger!”

“I killed Mike, Demo. I thought you both were sleeping. I thought I could sneak in and out, no big deal. But then he woke up! He was so angry he attacked me, so I panicked. I did the only thing I could think to do. – I shot him . . . with your gun. I pulled the trigger over and over, and watched him collapse next to you. I can’t shake that image, man! I can’t forget what I did! I joined the force in hopes of redeeming myself, somehow, some way, but I can’t! I just can’t! I didn’t mean for it to happen, Demo, you’ve got to believe me!”

Demo’s head swirled with emotion. Martinez’s confession ignited a spark that was becoming a raging fire.

“You? You killed Mike? Why didn’t you tell me? All this time I’ve known you, and you just looked me in the eyes and smiled! How could you do this to me? How could you do that to Mike?”

Martinez began to whimper and sobbed uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry, Demo! I just don’t want them to die; he said they’d die if I didn’t believe! I’m sorry. I can’t change this!”

“But I can. Those you held dear have abandoned you, but I never will. You are my own; you are my flesh and hands! I will set you free and give you a life you could only dream of. You will finally have what you’ve always wanted; a normal life! “

Lyle suddenly tossed an ornately embellished knife at Demo’s feet.

“You know what you need to do to make this all goes away . . . all the injustice, pain, and suffering. I will call you my executor, harbinger of righteousness upon the vile evil that thinks it is safe. We will bring them all to justice; for only the chosen have the eyes of beauty, the eyes that truly see.”

Demo bent over and picked up the blood-stained knife. Throughout the decades of ceremonious murder, this deviant tool had been used time and again. He stood and looked directly into Martinez’s quivering eyes. Inside he could feel the darkness he now shared with Spencer clawing at his rapidly beating heart. A part of him wanted to exact vengeance. A part of him wanted to release all his years of hell in one repulsively artistic slice; one final climactic gesture to seal off all the pain. Then maybe, just maybe, he could live a normal life under the careful watch of a new devil.

“Do it! Take his life and set yours free! Become part of this righteous work! He will be the first of many that your hand shall cleanse, my angel, my perfect angel!”

“Many? What are you talking about?”

Lyle pointed into the open air of the ravaged hospital room. Demo followed his signaling gesture to see a paralyzing image of something he now could see clearly, a hospital.

“They shall be cleansed by the purity of fire, those who call themselves healers but only for profit; those who fail to bring salvation where it’s needed most. They could have saved her, but wouldn’t! Their insolence shall not go unpunished! I have given the sign! Now comesthe calamity of God!”

He’s going to blow up a hospital!

Demo pressed the knife into Martinez’s throat. But there was one more thing he had to know.

“At the docks, when you pulled me out of the river, was it you that shove me in? Was it you?”

Martinez completely broke down.

“He got to me early, told me he’d hurt my family! He told me to help you! I had a weak moment; I thought maybe if you were gone he’d leave me alone and then maybe I could get out of this! He wanted to destroy me, Demo. I’m so sorry!”

It was all making sense. Martinez had been used by Lyle. Lyle had obtained Demo’s pistol through Martinez. Martinez had let him into the evidence locker where he’d seen what he wasn’t supposed to see. It was the perfect set up. All the evidence would now point at Demo if Lyle didn’t get what he wanted. He would be a pariah thrown to a rabid public then locked away for eternity. He knew what he had to do.

“I’m sorry, Martinez. I truly am.”

Demo stalled for just a heartbeat before speaking again.

“Didn’t you see it, Lyle? I left it for you, right inside your own house. What was it you said about that chess game? There’s always another move? But you failed to see that there isn’t another move when one side is willing to lose everything, when one side is willing to die!”

In one swift movement, Demo spun around and threw the knife directly at Lyle. In sheer panic, Lyle squeezed off a deafening blast from the pistol before Demo tackled him to the ground, sending the gun flying. Lyle screamed demonically as his surprising strength was pressing an advantage. He bit into Demo’s shoulder, ripping out a chunk of flesh. The open wound sent bolts of pain into Demo’s body. But he wasn’t about to give up. Now more than ever he wished he possessed the strength and fighting ability of Bob Cat. Alone, he was frail and weak, even against an aged Lyle. A detail that was suddenly and painfully obvious. With a couple of well-placed head butts, Demo felt the world around him turn hazy. An intense pain erupted from his side. Lyle had found the knife.

“Pathetic creature, I was willing to give you everything!” Lyle pronounced boldly, gasping for air as he stood back up.

Demo rolled over, feeling his life essence rapidly draining out of him. His eyes fell on Martinez who sat still and silent. An errant bullet had found its mark; Martinez was dead. Despair and hopelessness crept over Demo as he remembered the hospital. All those people could still be inside. Gathering every last bit of his diminishing willpower, he pushed himself back to his feet. He pressed a hand deep into his wound to try to stop the bleeding; the pain was almost more than he could bear.

“It’s over, Lyle! I’m not going to join you! You’re alone, like always!”

Lyle’s teeth chattered manically. He had become completely lost in his bloodlust. He held the knife firmly in his grasp and ran at Demo. Lyle slammed Demo with a powerful backhand that sent him tumbling backwards. In pure defiance, Demo fought the pain and looked at him with disgust.

“Your family, Spencer, Kevin, Martinez, and now me; nobody cares about you anymore! You will be forgotten, erased, left behind, another raving lunatic lost to the pages of history! Just another dead, wannabe god, forgotten by everyone!”

Lyle raised the knife high. A ray of sun broke through the clouds directly above his head. For a moment he looked like what he believed himself to be; a god.

“Thou shall not forsake me!”

Lyle was about to plunge the knife directly into Demo’s skull when a powerful blast sounded from the shadows. An intense force ripped through Lyle’s chest, leaving a mangled, gaping hole behind. With one last beat, the monster’s heart stilled. The judge was dead. Demo’s knees buckled. That’s when he saw his savior emerge from the shadows—Bob Cat.

Seeing Demo’s massive wound, Bob Cat rushed to his side.

“I’ve got you buddy. Hold on!”

Demo broke into the biggest smile he could manage. His soul felt awkwardly happy.

“You came for me?”

Bob Cat smirked.

“Of course I did, you chicken’s arse! Look what happens every time I lose you for five minutes!”

Demo’s smile faded.

“We’ve got to get out of here, Bobby. He said he was going to blow up the hospital!”

Bob Cat’s eyes bulged open. With little effort, he threw the injured Demo over his shoulder to carry him from the horrific scene. Before he could take a step, there was a deafening explosion. Any windows not already broken shattered as flaming pieces of shrapnel rained from the sky. The shockwave knocked Bob Cat off his feet, dropping Demo onto the vibrating rubble covered floor. hospital room. Demo glanced over as he felt his body finally beginning to succumb to his injuries, and saw the doll. Its lifeless eyes stared back at him with the forever look of a child; an abused, lonely, demented genius of a child. The doll had been the child for so long being protected by its new deity. Now it was just a doll, just a childish toy. Demo’s blood loss carried him into unconsciousness.