Recalling Destiny

by Michael Blinkhoff

  “There were two people!”

  “Ja.” he replied. “Ja, we got them.”

  “I was trying to call you, what happened?”

  “I was busy ja, it was not possible to.” He let her go so quickly and moved off in such a hurry that she was a little stunned standing in the street, still under his spell. But her temporary daze didn’t last long, another loud bang in her ears shook her back to the present.

  She turned to see Sousa upending a nearby wheelie bin and pulling something out of it, she thought it was a rifle at first but realised it was some sort of spear gun. He removed it from its wrapping along with a heavy canvas bag and moved onto the street, mindful of the slowly swinging net.

  He moved cautiously over to where the first body lay, with the spear gun raised in his hands as he approached. Catlin looked at the body, strangely, noticing it looked unusual, as if it was missing something. It didn’t quite look right as it lay still on the street floor.

  Intrigued she found herself stepping forward, just behind Sousa, to get a better look at the body. She moved casually and unassuming, looked over his shoulder at the body. She jerked back involuntarily as it came into view, the body was missing a head.

  “Ah!” She yelped.

  “Hey!” Sousa scolded her. “Quiet now hey!”

  “Sorry,” she whispered, creeping on his back.

  “Go check the other one,” he shrugged her off.

  “Fine,” she decided and turned to see where the other body was.

  It lay to the left of where she was, it must’ve been propelled forward by the swinging net. “Who is it?” she whispered as she crept towards it, fingers crossed.

  “She,” Sousa called back.

  She? Catlin kept moving forward, an impending sense of doom creeping upon her as Sousa’s words played in her head, She. The pretty boy and she?

  When Catlin was less than a couple of metres away, she jumped as Sousa fired the spear gun from behind her. She turned to see he’d fired it, point blank range, into the fallen man’s back.

  Despite thinking his actions odd, she kept moving forward toward the other body in the street with more than a little trepidation, an impending sense of destiny. She knew who it was but didn’t want to say it, didn’t want to think it, hopeful there had been some sort of a mistake.

  The closer she got, the more she realised it too looked as awkward as the other body had, meaning it was probably headless as well.

  He said it was a she?

  Oh please, please no! Catlin, you fool of a woman!

  As she got within a foot, she realised with a shock the person who she thought had been lying face down on the bitumen was in fact laying face up, only the body was minus the head.

  Please don’t be her.

  Repulsed at the burgeoning pool of blood, she looked around quickly in search of the head and not finding it, headed in the direction the first swing of the net had taken and searched for it there, scanning the bitumen road.

  She had to walk back past Sousa as she searched, with more than a little foreboding as she did so. Sousa paid her no heed, as he seemed to be fully enveloped in his new prey. Now he was securing the body with a series of chains he’d taken from the canvas bag.

  Catlin wondered why Sousa had pierced the body with the spear, the man was clearly already dead from decapitation so impaling him made no sense. Why are you chaining a headless body to a spear? She decided to ignore it and walk on in search of the head.

  Suddenly she saw it, lying there in the gutter. It was a strange site for her to behold, as she’d never seen the like of it before, it didn’t look real. Catlin approached it in an almost absurd and illogical way, casually bending down and grabbing it by a clump of hair to lift it up and look at.

  Ok, let’s do this.

  If she had any composure or innocence about the situation she was in, then it evaporated the instant she recognised the face of the head she held. It dropped from her grip instantaneously and she let out a wail of both shock and horror as it fell back to the ground.

  Catlin lost her footing immediately, her knees gave way and she fell backward onto her buttocks.

  The astonishment and shock got even worse when the body less head that she’d let go, thumped back to the ground and rolled back into the gutter where it came from.

  It came to a rest in the gutter with eyes forward, looking directly at her.

  Catlin was forced to look upon it where it lay, far too real for it to be true. She stared into the eyes, dead eyes that could only stare her right back in the face coldly.

  The look on the face of the body less head was of complete surprise, the eyes and mouth still wide open.

  Her screams were palpable, profound, deep, intense and so blood curdling it shook even Sousa where he stood. He looked up from his task and saw Catlin sitting there on the street with a look of abject horror on her face.

  Wailing.

  Screaming.

  The head belonged to Ursula.

  - -

  Catlin

  Catlin hadn’t stopped screaming since she’d seen the fallen head.

  Her legs had given way and she collapsed uncontrollably to the ground, the shock of seeing Ursula’s head sending her over the edge of reasoning and sanity. If she happened to stop wailing for a moment she would only have to look over at the severed head staring back at her, almost accusingly and she would begin screaming again.

  She was responsible, she had played a hand in the murder of her friend, how could she have been so stupid.

  The Viper meanwhile, was busy trying to secure the body of Yonas with ropes and chains. But his efforts were beleaguered by Catlin’s constant outpourings, every time he went to tie a knot he would stop and cringe at the sound of her penetrating cry. He’d heard plenty of cries on the battlefield before, but this was different, she was different. The fact she meant something to him tugged him from the inside, distracting him from his task.

  Trying his best to ignore her cries, he secured the body of Yonas, recovered his severed head and put it into a nearby duffel bag. Satisfied his prisoner was secure, he made the decision to walk over to try and calm Catlin down.

  “Hey Catlin, c’mon hey, stop that now.”

  She didn’t deign to look up, she was completely enveloped in the shock of what she’d been a part of. Sousa was about to tell her to be quiet when he thought better of it and rested his hand on her shoulder instead, trying to comfort her, against his natural instincts.

  “It’s ok ja,” he soothed rather awkwardly.

  “Look what you’ve made me do!” She rounded on him viciously, tears all over her face.

  Sousa reeled back, slightly offended. “Say what now hey?”

  “You! You made this happen. I called for you, I told you someone was down here, but you didn’t reply. And the charges, what happened to them, huh? They never blew and the net didn’t fall properly!” She stood up, her anger surging her forward to him.

  “Look what you’ve done!” She pushed at him with outstretched arms, collecting him in the chest and forcing him to take a step back.

  The look on his face was indifferent and it only upset Catlin further, she moved to slap him but before she’d even raised her hand he anticipated her and caught it. He held it, suspended in the air for a minute, not sure what to do with it, or her.

  “Let me go!” She flapped about with one arm held tightly against her will.

  “Calm down Catlin.”

  “I said let me go!”

  “Come here girl,” he pulled her in close, squeezing her tightly in her arms. “It’s ok hey,” he soothed, cradling her in his arms.

  Catlin buried her face in his chest and sobbed uncontrollably.

  Sousa looked more than a little uncomfortable at having to hold a wailing woman in his arms, his stance was co
mpletely awkward in the desolate street.

  “Sousa!” A voice calls out from behind them.

  The Viper dropped his hold of Catlin the moment he heard the voice, recognising it immediately. The two of them both turned, looked back down the street and were surprised to see the silhouette of a man standing with his hands on his hips, staring them down.

  The man was tall, dark, muscular and wore blue coveralls.

  “Smith.” Sousa hissed the name out as he said it, turning in the street to confirm it was indeed the man who he thought it was. When Sousa saw him standing at the end of the street a smile crept across his face and he licked his lips in anticipation.

  “Sousa,” Catlin stirred. “Who is that?” she said grabbing his hand, trying to stop him as he moved towards the figure. “Sousa, is that him, the black man?”

  Catlin too recognised the man, with his faded blue coveralls and distinctive features. She had no doubt this was the man she was after, he looked exactly like the guy in the newspaper.

  Sousa didn’t answer her question, Smith had arisen something in him and it flipped a switch inside, he’d already blanked Catlin out. He shrugged her grip from his hand and moved off towards Smith at the other end of the street, leaving Catlin standing there dumbfounded.

  Catlin didn’t know what to do, she turned back to look at her friend and let out another wail involuntarily, turning away from the ghastly sight. Her cries were stifled though, when she looked over at the rather strange site that Sousa had been responsible for.

  The headless body of the pretty man had his legs and arms hog tied behind his back, which were then tethered to the giant spear that had been forced through the middle of his back. Catlin wondered what Sousa was thinking, as if he was going to go somewhere without his head. He did mention the man possessed some sort of super human powers, but this looked more than a little overdone.

  Her gaze wandered back to that of Ursula and she steeled herself, resolving he wouldn’t get a chance to do the same to her.

  “You have come to the wrong place boy!” Sousa’s South African accent taunted Smith in the street. “Only more trouble for the likes of you here, hey!”

  Catlin couldn’t believe it, but the black man stood still, as if not threatened, in front of the antagonistic Sousa, who seemed to be getting more and more excited as he paced towards him. Sousa was clearly spoiling for some sort of fight, but the other man stood there, defiant but stoic at the same time.

  “What do you say this time Smith hey?” Sousa got up close to him, pointing at Smith chest. “Nothing, hey?”

  Again nothing from Smith, although his eyes flick over to the body of the man hog tied on the ground.

  Sousa jumped on Smith’s eye movement straight away, “Oh, is that your friend over there? Is that why you came?”

  Smith looks back to Sousa, but says nothing.

  “Maybe you’d like to lose your head too huh Smith?” He let out a laugh, “you and your friend can be together then hey?”

  “Like Sousa,” he replies. “Sousa help … make end.”

  “Ja, whatever boy.” He reached out, punching Smith cleanly in the face. “Like I said to you many times, you got screwed when they were handing out common sense, you got rocks in your head man.”

  Smith doesn’t rebuke at the assault, he takes it placidly and replies. “Moment soon … have choice ... choice Sousa.”

  “Ja, ja ... enough nonsense out of you hey!” Sousa pulled the revolver he’d tucked in the back of his pants, aiming it at Smith’s head.

  Smith responds by making a move to step past Sousa, but Sousa moves first and more sharply. He flicks his ankle up, tripping Smith’s foot, causing him to lose balance. With Smith off balance, Sousa only has to give him a small shove from behind and Smith goes crashing forward to the bitumen.

  Smith rolls onto the ground and uses the momentum to further his progression towards the body of Yonas.

  Sousa follows him, “Oh no, you are not getting what you want this time hey Smith, ha-ha ... I’m not stupid twice!” he slams the point of his boot into Smiths ribs. “Took the bloody device last time you cheeky bugger!”

  Catlin, standing nearby, instinctively rushes to intervene but is shoved aside violently by Sousa, “Stay out of this woman, you hear!” He points and yells, “out of it!”

  She’d never seen the look in his eye before and it both scared and hurt her at the same time. She pulled back, unsure what to do. Feeling abandoned and helpless, all she could do was stand and watch as Sousa set his aim on Smith.

  She cringed as Sousa pounded Smith with kicks to the side, which repeatedly sent him back to the ground. Still Smith remained undeterred, Catlin found it strange he was taking the punishment, as it surely would have flattened any other man. Added to this he wasn’t fighting back, wasn’t crying out in pain, all he kept doing was trying to get back up and crawl his way toward the body of Yonas.

  Whoever he was, clearly he hadn’t thought this through, Catlin wondered to herself. But watching him take the beating, her mind triggered and she felt herself rubbing her arms, to the places where only a short time ago she had wounds sustained in the 7-11 store.

  Looking down at her arms and noticing they were devoid of any scar or sign of damage, she looked back curiously at the black man on the ground. No injuries.

  Sousa continued his assault, kicked him again in the side, this time Catlin could audibly hear the ribs in his chest crack under the powerful blows. She couldn’t help herself, she found herself trying to intervene again, rushing forward out of instinct.

  But Sousa saw her coming and reacted this time with less patience then the first, backhanding her across the face as she came close.

  It wasn’t a powerful blow from him, but the sting of it was enough to cause Catlin to rear and fall backwards, tumbling and hitting her head on the pavement as she bounced off the ground.

  She rolled on the ground, dazed, stars slowly dissipating from her vision. She lent on one elbow for support and looked up, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, noticing another man arrive on the scene. He noticed her too, saw the look in her eye and decided to move on past her, in the direction of the other two.

  The man made no attempt to disguise his approach, he moved with intent. Catlin didn’t recognise him, but she did note his massive frame as he moved past her towards Sousa.

  Who the hell is that? And what the hell’s he doing?

  But he didn’t stop when he came upon Sousa and Smith, he ignored and moved past them towards the disfigured body of Yonas. As he walked past Smith and Sousa though, Sousa noticed him casually walking and stopped his tirade on Smith.

  “What the heck?” he called, as he recognised the man. “You!”

  Hesitant, the Viper wasn’t sure what to do for a moment, Smith had stopped moving under his blows and now, for some strange reason, the man who’d previously captured and tortured him was walking past, as if he and Smith didn’t even exist.

  “Hey!”

  Even stranger to the Viper was the fact the man paid no attention to him or what he was doing. He’d walked past him beating up on Smith as if he no longer had an interest in protecting him, as he had once before. His eyes showed no recognition or interest in Sousa or Smith.

  “Piss off!” the big man mumbled as he moved.

  “Hey!” he called after him. “Big guy! You remember me? From the lift …”

  The man stopped, looked the Viper up and down, shrugged his shoulders and turned away. This only angered the Viper and he roared at the insult. “You won’t get me this time you big fool, now I am different, now I have great power. Get back here!”

  This seemed to stop the other man, who in response turned, raised his finger and pointed it at the Viper, “I don’t know who you are, but best for you if you stay back from me.”

  “Huh? You crazy or something man?” The
Viper asked, genuinely confused, the man’s voice had changed somehow. It looked like the same guy but he sounded different and his head looked slightly more elongated.

  “What the hell’s going on here man?” The Viper said aloud, confused now and unsure if it was the same guy.

  “I do not know you.”

  “Have you lost your head man? You don’t remember me? Caught me on a rooftop, tortured me, caved my head in at the side?”

  “I am not who you think I am.”

  “No, I saw you only weeks ago. What was your name huh? Truck was it, hey?”

  “That is not my name.”

  “Yes it was. You were with some bitch called Suni and her cronies.”

  “Not me.”

  “What’s your name then, hey?”

  “I said piss off man!”

  “Ah c’mon, I have the gun here asshole.” Sousa waved the revolver in his hand.

  “I am Iegar and this body is not mine. Now I’ve warned you once already, so keep your distance from me or I will crush you little man.”

  “Ja whatever hey, you don’t scare me. Now get away from the pretty boy. That is mine,” he challenged, stepping off Smith’s broken body.

  The man stopped and turned to face Sousa, a growing look of anger on his face.

  “I already told you no … this is my friend … do you understand? I have come to collect him, so back off!” Iegar threatened.

  “That is my prize, so you back off boy.” Sousa hissed back, waving the gun.

  “And who are you anyway that makes you so cocky in the face of Iegar the mighty?”

  “I am the Viper … and you’ll be dead in less than a minute,” he snarled.

  “I said back …”

  But Sousa wasted no more time in deliberation, his patience had worn thin and he fired his revolver. The bullet hit the mark, as intended, passing through Iegar’s chest and exiting out through the back.

  It was a perfect shot, right through the heart.

  Iegar fell to his knees, a look of shock on his face. Clutching his chest, he fell to the ground in a heap and lay still.