Cosmic Undead: Contenders

Short Elations

“Who’s that?”, Greg asked, staring into the thick fog.

“Hermen”

“Mercury”

Prof Adkins and Jeremy said, at the same time, and stared at each other. “This is the guy who told me how to get out of Somnolence. He even had a fight with me, first”, Jeremy said. “His name is Mercury”

“Well, he must have lied about his name. That is Hermen; the dark god of games”, Prof Adkins replied. “He created Nowhere”

“What’s Nowhere?”, they asked in chorus.

“It’s a separate world that trapped some humans with beasts from Hell”, Prof Adkins said. “For centuries, the people had to fight to survive till Mario intervened and tore down the game”

Hermen walked out of the fog. “Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and an old man”

“Good day to you, Hymen”, Prof Adkins replied.

“Actually, it’s Hermen”

“Pardon my pronunciation. I call people by what they look like”

Greg laughed. “I’ll interpret; you look like a p***y!”

Becca nudged him. “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to see the people who have been disturbing my game”, Hermen said.

“What’s he talking about?”

“He’s referring to the Mongers”, Prof Adkins replied her.

“I’m talking of the Damnings”, Hermen retorted.

“It’s the same damn thing, dummy”

“No”, Greg laughed again. “p***y”

“I’ll just cut to the chase”, Hermen said. “I think you should be more focused on the Cosmic assassins that are coming after you. Leave my Damnings alone and let my game continue. I won’t interfere in you war and you won’t interfere in mine either”

“Actually, you are interfering in my world”, Jeremy said and stepped forward. “To whom much is given, much is expected. This chaos can’t keep happening around me when I have the power to stop it. I’m sorry I will have to ignore your request”

“Okay then”, Hermen said and sighed. He turned back, walking back into the mist. “When the headhunters start storming in, you’ll have to stop disturbing my s**t, anyway. I’ll just hope it happens a lot sooner than expected”

“No. The only headhunters that’ll be coming my way are the ones in an office!”

“He’s gone already, Jeremy”, Big Momma said to him. “We just have to watch our backs”

“Yea- and that ‘To whom power’ bullshit made you sound like a moral freak”, Greg added. “That’s another word for an i***t”

**★**

Baron walked confidently to the office and took his seat. “You got it done?”, De Antonio asked.

“No. I came with something better”, Baron said and dropped a file on the table. “That’s an agreement I drew up for you. Check it out”

De Antonio wore his spectacles and looked into the file. He glanced up at Baron for a second and kept reading. “Wait. Does this mean the man is still alive?”, De Antonio asked. “This was a simple task and your first one. Why would you choose to start with disappointment? Listen-“

“No, you listen! I am not going to be pushed around so you can fire me or you may not! If your goal is to take your oppositions out of the way, this does it well, as long as you hand it to a lawyer. If your goal is just to murder people in cold blood, then count me out of it ‘cause I am not a good man and I am not proud of who I am but I am not a monster. You don’t have to be called a monster. Deep inside, you will know what you are”. Baron stood up, walking out of the office.

“Wait”, De Antonio sighed. “I have to admit; this is surprising and I’ll look into it… You are a hitman. I just wonder how you got this in you”

“The will to change does it all. You can choose what you become”, Baron said and turned. “What I did- what we did- wasn’t a good thing either. If you’ll become a better person, you can start with listening to the opinions of others and trying to see things their way. Sometimes, it helps you see things you’ve been blind to and it makes you better. Sometimes, it helps you see the flaws in others, call it out and fix them. That way, you make them better. Then you feel better, knowing you’ve made your impact in their lives”

“Okay… That was pretty weird, coming from you”

**★**

“Hey, Gar”, the supervisor said, using his phone. “You wanted to see me. What’s the problem?”

“I’m here to make a request. It’s pretty-“

“Wait!”, the supervisor said, quickly, and dropped his phone on the table. “You were late to work today. I forgot to draft a letter of dismissal”

“No, you won’t do that”, Garullon smiled. “I’m sorry for coming late. I got muuuugged”

He had to think about that, a million times in two seconds. “That mugged was pretty long”, the supervisor said. “The guy punched you in the throat?”

Garullon laughed. “I really am sorry. I didn’t get mugged. Someone got mugged. I tried to help and the guy got me roughened up. I had to go back and get myself washed again”

“Okay. I’ll try to believe that. What were you saying about requests?”

“I need to leave town for a while”, Garullon said, trying to think of a way to put it right. “There is an emergency with my brother and I need to meet with me. Turns out he is miles away so I might be gone for a while”

“Okayyyy. That sounds like ‘I’m going on a vacation so I need you to write me a sack letter’. Did I get you right?”

“Come on. It’ll only be for a few days. Please, I really need to check on my brother”

“Give me a reason to let you go and still keep you as a worker here”

Garullon stuttered. His mouth was definitely moving faster than his thoughts. “I’m a monster… and I have been bad to my brother and the family”, he said. “I need to fix my family and I have to go away to do that. Family comes first and you know it”

The supervisor nodded. “Okay… I’ll give you one week”

“Thank you very much. I’m grateful”, Garullon said and turned, walking out.

The next thing he had to do was find Heathenway 24th street, with the directions Samoa had given him. He walked out, through the door, almost colliding with Lydia.

“Hey, Gar”, she said, quickly, smiling and feigning surprise. “I was just about to walk in to see the supervisor. Is there a problem?”

“No. There is no problem”, Garullon replied, staring at her. “How about you?”

“I am totally fine. Are you sure you have no problem that requires you leaving this place for a while?”

“Um… that sounds like you’ve been listening to all of my conversations because you’re in love with me”, Garullon teased.

“In love with you? Huh, dummy”, she said and turned, walking away with disgust on her face.

Garullon rushed to her and walked beside her, keeping up with her pace. “So let’s talk about the fact that you no longer have anything to say to the supervisor because you met me and I took all your sorrows away”

She stopped and smiled sheepishly. “Okay, you got me. I was only there because, after the incident, I get nervous seeing you and the supervisor in a conversation. It makes me feel ashamed of myself for that mistake”

“Forget about It, Lydia. That mistake was necessary to bring us together”” he replied. “Now, we are best friends”

“Don’t push your luck, dude”

“Oh, okay. Pardon me”, he said. “We should start slowly. Now, we are lovers”

She nudged him. “What’s up with your brother? You want to talk about it?”

“I’m not sure about that. It has to do with the conversation we had while we were locked in the shop”

“How’s that?”

“You know I told you I had done horrible things?”

“Yes. What happened?”

“Well, the reason I am even here, at all, is because I want to fix my mistake”, Garullon said. “I came back from-… I came here to find my brother so I can fix my ugly past with him but I couldn’t find him so I told someone to watch out for him. The conversation with you made me give up for a second. You can’t understand”

She held his hand. “Try me. I might understand”

“No, Lydia. You will understand but I can’t tell you. At least, not now”, he replied. “But that same conversation made me want to get it done a lot faster. Like a miracle, the guy called me, this morning, and gave me the good news”

“I’m happy for you, Gar. I hope you find what you’re looking for”, she said, smiling sheepishly.

Garullon smiled back. “I wish I could kiss you, right now, but we’re still lovers. I don’t want to push my luck”, he teased her.

“You’re funny”

“I know”

**★**

Baron walked into the house and dropped on the couch. He had been having mood swings, all day. It started with doing the right thing and saving a man’s life, then he realized he would still have to kill a lot of people to keep himself alive. He was able to convince the notorious De Antonio to stop hiring hitmen for dirty jobs. That was another achievement but the elation was as short as possible. His soul was the only atonement for his sins. He needed to give it up.

“Baron?”, Diane’s soft voice called. She sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “What are you thinking about?”

“Everything”, Baron replied. “You, Reina, work and our challenges… my past and everything. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad”

“I believe once you have a reason to be happy, you should let nothing hold you back”, Diane said. “Now, talking of Reina, she said something about the school fees”

“Yea. I’m getting that covered, by tomorrow”, Baron said and smiled.

Diane smiled back at him. She was happy but her smile was hesitant and confused. “I don’t know, Baron. I trust you but don’t you think this man is paying you a lot for the job?”

“I understand; it feels like he has ulterior motives with the offers or I’m doing something else for him, secretly, to get the extra payment”, Baron said. “I’ll tell you what happened”

“Welcome, dad”, Reina said, as she walked out of her room. “Mum? You didn’t tell him the other thing”

“Come on, Rei. The school authorities can deal with that. You have nothing to worry about”, Diane replied.

“What is she talking about?”

“There is a serial killer around the school- or inside, we don’t know”, Reina said. “They’ve been dumping bodies all around the school, for days. This morning, they found a boy. He isn’t a student of the school but he was about my age. They have to do something about it”

“When did this start?”

“They say it’s been happening for weeks and it’s one body per day”, she said. “I saw one yesterday and another one today. I’m scared”

“You don’t have to be scared, Reina”, Baron replied. He wasn’t sure but he had the feeling it was a Returner like him. “I, uh- I know these people at work. They can investigate the killings and fish out the killer. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe”

“Thank you, dad”, she said and hugged him.

“You’re welcome”, he replied and she walked back into her room.

“You really know people who can do that?”, Diane asked.

“Trust me. I can fix this”, he replied and sighed. “Now, I have to tell you how I make this much…. De Antonio wanted me to be his hitman because of the manslaughter case… but I haven’t killed anyone for him and I won’t do it… He gave me the first task to kill a man but I was able to save the man’s life by convincing De Antonio with another way to get what he wanted. Today, I was able to get in his head and I’m sure he won’t hire anyone to kill anyone again. He was paying me so much so I could kill for him and when I didn’t do it, he didn’t stop paying me. I already have Reina’s fees and more than enough to give us a pretty comfortable life”