Even in the dark of the night, black coats and hats stick out like an ink stain on paper against the purity of the snow. Saw them coming. Expected this. But preparing against them, against It, is like preparing against a hurricane. Only sitting in your basement and praying doesn't help. You try running and they catch you. You try fighting and they kill you.
We shouldn't be alive. But we are. By sheer dumb luck we are alive. By the blood of... Another innocent. We are alive. Maybe it gets easier. It hasn't yet.
Those creeping shadows with their long knives... Pale faces frozen like the snow, blue eyes colder than any ice... Coats stained with the blood of an innocent bystander. His body ripped open by long knives. Their frozen eyes following us as we drove away.
He was a police officer. I don't know why he was here of all places. I know he saw four men with drawn knives stalking towards a van with a visibly panicked driver. I know he got out of his car and ordered them to stop. I know they turned to him. I know he drew his gun when they approached with knives shining in the dim light. I know he fired, but they didn't stop. I don't know how long it took him to bleed to death on the ground, choking on his own blood.
I know we did nothing to try and save him. Out of Fear.
Since then, I have been asking myself... Do I deserve life after what I did? After what I failed to do? I brought death to Silas' home. I did not go back to save him, I didn't even make an effort to. And now I brought death upon a stranger. Some heroic stranger trying to save my life. Someone who just stumbled upon all this madness. And I ran. I left him to the fate meant for me.
Should I die as penance? Or should I live on for both of them, so that their sacrifices won't be in vain? I just don't know. Perhaps the first would be easier. Quick and painless. The second is most likely a slow death. Agonizing pain and fear as I cling to life while that... Evil tries to drag me down.
Of course. There's no telling if I would actually be brave enough for the former. My own cowardice is clear. I just don't want to ever see those Pale Monsters of that Devil Abomination again. I want to wake up tomorrow in my own bed, get called into work and help people. I want to forget about all this.
I would beg for help, but it won't come. Nor do I deserve it.
You won't need to beg, for I now freely offer help. Should you choose to accept it, we can discuss it perhaps more... Privately than this blog? I believe I can help protect you from those revenants and their Master.
ReplyDelete-Doctor T. Mercer
... E-Mail. Fair Warning. Suspect you might be Proxy trying to spring a trap. Will treat you as such unless you can prove otherwise.
DeleteAs a proud sponsor of the Fire Cult I am being compelled by one of my way over entitled underlings to inform you that the only honorable way to proceed is to use their sacrific
ReplyDeleteHonor them through passion. Every loss is a cause to draw strength from, and a reason to fight that much harder. Don't not think of it as a fruitless effort. Embrace it as fuel to be the ultimate prey in the greatest of games. And through this make them, and yourself, more then you ever would have been without their noteworthy losses.
... Right. That, I guess. Hail fire or something. Bring a bucket!
Your choice Echo, you either die, or you live. You either take the easy way out, or the hard way out. But before you make that kind of decision, think about what makes you so special in order to take the easy way out? What makes you any different than any other poor slob who is surviving right now?
ReplyDeleteSee you got help proposal, I also see that you are on your guard, nothing else for me to suggest here.
Good luck.
- Mr. Incognito.