HELL'S VIGILANTE
Written by J O'Connor
Prologue:
In the dead of the night a city, known as Hell, sits bleeding in the dark. With no authorities or control over its inhabitants, bins burn out of control in the gutters, cars are overturned in the streets, there are buildings so damaged that they verge on collapse and electricity, water and gas is scarce or non-existant at all.
Gangs have been running riot and tormenting those who are too scared, weak or unable to fight back, for months. The hoodlums truly do run the city.
Those brave enough to try and fight back are either beaten and tortured too death or aloud to live, but are left to regret what they tried to do, crippled forever by what was done to them... A warning too those who might also think of the same mad, impossible attempt at stopping the terror.
Chapter 1
April 9th, 10:00pm
A young blonde woman in her late teens, runs for her life along a street, lit only by bin fires. Screaming in fear, she glances back to see that the group of five blokes who have been chasing her are still there.
"Stop running ya Bitch!" One of the men barks angrily. "We're gonna catch ya!"
Panicking she turns down an alleyway without thinking and finds it's a dead end. "Shit!" She exclaims, frantically looking for an escape. "No, no, no, no!"
Turning back to exit the alleyway, she's tackled off of her feet and into the side of a burned out car by one of the men. With blood starting to trickle down her cheek from the cut she just received to the top of her head, she tries to pull herself across the floor but is stopped by a running kick to the face by one of the other men.
Cowering eyes watch from the shadowed windows of nearby buildings and alleys as the other three members of the gang catch up to the woman and beginning circling her like a pack of dogs.
The woman holds her face and cries in pain as the gang of men tower over her laughing and calling her names. Begging for mercy, she holds out her hand but it's just slapped away by the guy who tackled her as he spits at her and laughs.
Suddenly two men and two women all in their twenties, acting as heroes holding knives and broken bottles, burst from an alleyway and towards the five men. The heroes scream and grunt desperately as they swing at the gang members but miss and before the would be heroes can swing again they're disarmed and knocked to the floor.
"What the fuck do you call that!?" Boastfully shouts one of the bad guys as he and the others proceed to beat up the fallen heroes.
Watching as the original female victim continues to cry curled up in a ball, the gang leader pulls a gun from his coat and without pause, shoots dead the two male heroes.
"Well It looks like we've got two more volunteers for the party now, thanks to you Love." Smirks the leader as he puts away the gun and squats down beside the young blonde again.
Scared shaking eyes continue to watch from the shadows as while the rest of the gang beat up the failed hero women, the leader climbs on top of the blonde and pins her down. She screams in terror as he starts struggling with her clothes.
A female voice whispers in horror from under one of the scared pairs of eyes in the shadows "Please... Where are you!?"
The gang turn to watch their comrade as he rapes the young woman but are distracted by an approaching headlight from down the street. One of the gang asks "What the fuck is that?"
"A motorbike, Chris!" Quickly replies one of the other gang members.
"Fucking really!?" Chris replies sarcastically as he turns and glances at him. "You see a single headlight in the distance and deduced that it's a fucking motorbike, Adam!?"
"Well... Init?" Adam asks confused.
Chris rolls his eyes in frustration then looks down at the leader raping the blonde and comments "Phil, mate? I swear I'm going to twat Adam, in a minute!!"
Angry and frustrated the leader shouts "For fuck sake!" He then jumps up off of the crying woman and pulls up his trousers as he storms over to Chris. Phil barks "I am trying to fucking do something here! ...Do you mind!?!"
Clearly rattled, Chris mumbles "There's a motorbike coming."
Huffing angrily, Phil turns away from Chris and watches as the motorbike skids to a halt just a few meters in front of them. Confused, the gang stare in silence as the average build male; dressed in trainers, jeans, a zipped up black jacket and a motorbike helmet. Just turns off the engine, dismounts the bike and then begins walking towards them.
Phil, removes the gun from his coat and points it at the biker "Alright, that's close enough mate. Who are you?"
Stopping where he is, the biker just looks down at the curled up half naked woman crying on the floor then back up at the gang.
Mildly disheveled, Phil glances around at the rest of the gang then back at the biker and awkwardly asks "So... Who are you then?"
The biker removes his helmet to reveal a handsome twenty-three year old man with short dark hair. He tosses away the helmet then goes back to staring at the gang leader.
"I've been asked to help!" The biker calmly comments.
Chuckling, Phil lowers the gun slightly and replies "You what, mate?"
The biker looks around at all five gang members then down at the two badly beaten women and the blonde rape victim.
Now irritated by the situation, Phil just shoots all three women in the head then looks back at the biker. 'And who exactly are you suppose to help?"
The biker looks at the dead women then back at Phil and calmly responds "I've been asked to help take back the city."
Sarcastically, Phil chuckles again. "Are you on something? ...Take back the city for who??" As Phil cockily looks at the gang once again, the biker suddenly lurches forward grabbing the gun from his hand and places it to Phil's head.
Not sure what just happened, the gang jump around in shock. Holding up his hands, Chris nervously comments "Woah, woah, easy mate! just take a second and think about what you're doing!"
The biker just shoots Chris and Adam in their faces then points the gun back at Phil's head.
Shaking and scared while the other two gang members shuffle in fear, Phil splutters "Wha... Wh... Who the fuck are you? When our boss hears about this, you are so dead! ...You have just made the biggest mistake of your life!"
"You're about eight months too late on that one, mate!" The biker then pulls the trigger, blowing a hole clean through Phil's head.
While Phil's body falls to the ground, the biker tosses the now empty gun under a nearby car and stares at the two remaining gang members. After a few seconds of glancing at each other in terror, the two remaining gang members finally attack.
The biker ducks under the first gang members punch, catching his arm with his right hand, he then spins causing the gang member to hunch over in pain. With the second gang member approaching, the biker jumps up and kicks him in the face, sending the second gang member to the ground nearly unconscious.
Still holding onto the first gang members arm with his right hand, the biker just watches him scream in pain for a second then drives his left elbow down into the first gang members shoulder and a loud crack, sounds out as the guys shoulder breaks in two places, the biker then lets go and the bloke just falls to the floor holding his shoulder.
Staring down at the two gang members, the biker wittily asks "So which of you shall I let live?"
Whimpering as he holds his shoulder, the conscious guy whines "Please... Please don't kill me!?"
Sighing with disdain at the blokes cowardice, the biker continues "How about I let them decide."
The gang member looks up to see five figures appear from a dark doorway and begin walking towards them, four women and one man. One of the women, an elderly woman in her sixties, walks straight up to the biker and stops in front of him. After a second she stutters "I wasn't sure if you would come... Thank y..."
"Hi Mum," He interrupts. Slowly smiling at her, he continues "I've missed you."
The two then hug tightly, like they haven't seen each other in a lifetime. Finally pulling apart, he takes a deep breath and clearly fighting the urge to show emotion, he clears his throat with a cough then asks "So which one of them gets to live and tell his boss, I'm back?"
CHAPTER 2
Almost instantly one of the female friends of his mother. A slim and beautiful nineteen year old with brunette hair, blurts out "What? ...You're just going to kill one of them!? ...But they're not any threat!"
Watching as the biker and his mum turn and face her, the brunette fidgets nervously then realizes that the other three are staring at her too. Feeling uncomfortable, the brunette notices that the biker is walking towards her. She stares at the floor in fear as he aggressively asks "Sorry but why do you care if a couple of rapists, live or die?"
Trembling, her eyes glued to the ground. She stammers "I... I... I just think life is sacred... Was just a question of morals."
She falls silent again and continues shaking as he stops in front of her and asks "What is your name?"
"Aspen." She answers hesitantly, "My name is Aspen."
"Okay, Aspen," He begins arrogantly, "So you'd be happy for me to let these animals go? Even though they could very possibly come back and attack you one day!"
Before Aspen can respond, the bloke from the group; a slightly tubby man in his late twenties with ginger/blonde hair. Interrupts saying "He's right, they can't be allowed to live!"
Not overly happy about another person just joining the discussion uninvited with their two cents, the biker flaps his arm with angst and says "OK, who the hell are you all?"
"Hi, I'm Carl." The man chirpily replies. He then ushers toward him one of the other women; a brunette also in her late twenties. He continues "And this is my fiance, Maria."
Maria just gives a quick wave and awkwardly says "Hi."
The biker then turns to the last woman: a stunningly pretty blonde in her mid twenties. Instantly smitten-ed by her beauty, he charmingly asks "And you are?"
The woman smiles flirt-fully and uses her hand to brush her hair off of her face as she replies "Sophia."
Smiling as he continues to stare at her for a couple of seconds, his attention is broken by Maria mumbling "Jesus, really!?" The biker then claps his hands awkwardly and looks around at everyone as he says "Right, my name is Reaper!"
He pauses for a second as Carl, Maria, Sophia and Aspen all stare at him blankly. Slowly he points to his mum then continues "If anyone has any questions regarding my name, they are welcome to take it with my mother! Otherwise lets get back to current events, shall we!?"
Still standing in silence the four of them just slowly look past Reaper and stare at his mum. She just glares back and snaps "What!?"
Rubbing his left temple, Reaper sighs and as he's about to explain about his name, he sees Carl and Maria's faces and turns just in time to see that the gang member that was unconscious, has gotten up and is about to stab him with a knife.
Catching the guys left arm with the knife, Reaper grabs the guy by the throat with his right hand and lifts him into the air then slams him down onto the back of his head, smashing the back of his skull in.
"Holy shit! Did you see that...," Reaper stops bragging as he notices everyone's expressions of shock and horror. "What? He tried to stab me!"
Reaper rolls his eyes with a sigh then looks back down and watches as the guy spasms on the floor and blood pours from the gaping hole in his head. As they all watch the man convulse in pain, Reaper playfully comments "Well it won't be him that gets too live!"
"Reaper..." Mumbles his mum as she takes him by the arm, "Stop his suffering!?"
Looking at his mothers face, Reaper also notices Aspen's expression as well and stops smiling then with another sigh, he glances down and places his foot on the guys neck.
Reaper stops and looks at his mother again. She stares at him for a second then nods and turns away. There's a loud crack sound and the body falls still.
Watching as his mum walks off, Reaper picks up the knife and turns to the last surviving gang member with the broken shoulder and says "Right, your turn."
Kicking the injured man onto his back, Reaper straddles him and raises the knife then as he's about to strike, Reaper's distracted by a squeak sound. Still holding the knife in the air, Reaper slowly looks up to see Aspen covering her mouth as she watches on.
"You said, you'd let one live!?" Aspen squeaks through her fingers.
Pausing, he glances at the others who seem to be indifferent towards the guys fate then back at Aspen. One by one the others all look over at Aspen as well.
Realizing that everyone's looking at her, Aspen asks confused "Wh... Why are you all looking at me?"
"If he lives, he's a threat!" Reaper instructs trying not to make eye contact with her.
She then looks back down at Reaper and becomes overcome with fear. A tear forms in her eye and she whispers "Please don't make me choose what you do!"
Still holding the knife in the air above the injured and cowering bloke, Reaper glances up at Aspen and sees the tears on her face. Pausing for another second as he thinks about how this goes against every instinct in his bones, Reaper finally growls with frustration and throws the knife through a broken window of the nearby building.
"This is so your, lucky... Fucking... Day!" Snarls Reaper as he stands up and grabs a handful of the guys clothes from around his neck and begins dragging the guy along the floor.
Once Reaper has dragged him a decent distance away from the others, he leans in close to the guys face and gurns "Go back to your boss and tell whoever it is, that I'm back and I'll be coming for them real soon!"
Reaper then drops the guy and grunts "Now go!" The bloke struggles to his feet and begins staggering off down the road in pain as fast as he can while Reaper shouts "And if we meet again, you're dead!"
Walking back to the others, Reaper glances at them all then looks at his mum and jokes "So I go for eight months and the whole place goes to Hell!?"
Not seeing the funny side of his joke, she glances around at the others and says "Come on, lets get home then we can tell you everything."
"Now hang on!" Blurts Carl, "No offense Felicity but we don't know this guy!"
Reaper's mother (Felicity) glances at Reaper then at Carl and answers "He is my son, Carl! He's the only person I could think of, who could help to stop that evil woman! I asked him to come back and save us from her."
Cutting off the conversation, Reaper asks "Sorry Mum but what!? Save you from who?"
Stroking Reaper's face, Felicity just replies "When we get home."
"Yeah, we really should get off of the streets." Comments Maria, taking Carl by the hand and leading him away as she says. "Aspen!? Come on!"
Watching as Felicity links arms with Sophia and the two begin walking off after them, Reaper looks at Aspen and she gives him a grateful, coy half smile for letting the guy live then jogs off after Maria and Carl.
Watching as the five of them walk off, Reaper looks at the destroyed buildings, cars and flaming bins that surround him and shakes his head in bewilderment then hearing his mum call out 'Reaper?' he turns and begins following after them too.
Chapter 3
Comments