Killing Angels
Page 12
“President Hicks was scheduled to speak in front of a crowd in Chicago, Illinois on the first stop of his 'Hope for Tomorrow' tour. From the footage, we can see him exiting his armoured vehicle, and there we see a member of his own secret service fire two shots into his back as President Hicks waves to the crowd. We understand that he died in the ambulance en route to the hospital. He was 66.”
Princess downed drink number two and went straight to the safe. Inside there was a handgun resting atop stacks of green totalling 5,000 dollars. Princess figured that it would be enough to get her away from the more populated areas. She would figure out the rest later. Perhaps some kind of cabin out in bear country. Bears were much safer than humans in the present climate.
“Hey, faggot! Are you in there?”
The voice came from outside. Princess stuffed the money into her crocodile skin handbag and gripped onto the gun. Her high heels click-clacked as she power walked out to meet the source of the slur, but once outside, there was less of a swagger in her step. It wasn't just one man, it was many. It was a whole God damn posse of bigots comprised of no brain rednecks and inbred fools. Princess puffed out her masculine chest so that it was visible past the feminine decoration and flexed her biceps. She wasn't as comfortable in her boy persona, but she could always activate it when she needed to. It was like her own personal superpower. The posse moved into a semi-circle formation around her. In their hands, she could see an assortment of baseball bats, knives and guns.
“Which one of you called me faggot?”
A goateed man separated from the group and stepped forward, playfully tossing a lead pipe from one hand to the other.
“That was me,” he said, flashing a gap-toothed smile. “You got a problem with that, faggot?”
Her hand was a blur as she reached up with her gun and blew the goatee right off of his face. The rest of the group closed in, but Princess was fast. She already had her gun aimed at the head of the next target before the body of her first victim even hit the floor.
“Hold on a second now,” she said. “Your friend here had to die, but there's no reason anyone else has to. I'm willing to forgive y'all for this transgression if you turn around right now and go the fuck away.”
Princess could feel the weight of all those guns pointed in her direction, but her grip remained firm and steady. She focused on the mullet-haired man that she had lined up in her sights. He stepped forward and spat on the ground at Princess' feet.
“You think we're gonna let a faggot just walk on out of here? It wouldn't be very Christian of us. Not only a faggot but a nigger faggot. One that walks around like he's proud of it - like he ain't covered in sin. Look at you all dressed up like a whore. People like you have brought the end upon us. Ain't no chance of you walking out of here when you've thrown away our future. You can pull that trigger, but you'll still be dead, nigger.”
Princess sighed as her finger tensed.
“Shame. I really was going to let you go.”
Princess pulled the trigger and blew the brains out the back of his racist head. She dropped to the floor as the retaliation fire came at her. The bullets zipped over her head as she turned their semi-circle formation against them. Two were dropped in the ensuing friendly fire, and Princess dropped another by firing up as she hit the ground. Those carrying melee weapons advanced on her while she was grounded. She fired an upkick at the first and crunched his testicles with the spike of her heel. Then they were on her with bats, chains and good old-fashioned kicks. She tried to fight her way back to a standing position, but there was just too many of them. She curled up into a foetal position and accepted her fate as the boots rained down. She was satisfied that she at least got to take a couple of those bastards with her. But a funny thing happened then. Instead of boots, it started to rain blood. Heads above her popped like balloons and bodies dropped like strings had been cut. An open black hand reached down towards her through the mass of falling bigots.
“Are you okay?”
She looked up at the hand’s owner.
“Voodoo man?”
“It's Remy actually.”
“Well, Remy, you just saved a Princess. Congratulations, I'm swooning.”
She took his hand and got back to her feet. She looked at the trail of bodies that ran the length of Bourbon Street.
“What a mess. Where did all the cops go?”
“They've disappeared, just like they do with every crisis.”
Princess took a makeup mirror out of her bag and assessed the damage to her face.
“At least I'm not a mess. There’s only so much tragedy this world can take.”
Remy grabbed an assault rifle that his group had picked up on their travels and held it out to Princess.
“Think you can handle something bigger than that pea shooter?”
“Two tours in the Middle East says that I can.”
“You never told me you were in the military.”
“Don't ask, don't tell,” she said with a coy smile.
“Um, Remy?” it was Darnell speaking. “I don't think the cops have disappeared.”
He pointed back inside Mister Sister where many of the group stood watching the television. It showed scenes from the New Orleans Arena where the cops were opening fire on people fleeing the chaos. Remy shook his head at the sight.
“We're gonna need some vehicles.”
Officer Keaton followed a snake trail of blood as a young black woman crawled away from him. He had seen her get clipped twice from a distance and thought that she was a goner for sure. Up close she defied his expectations and showed that there was still fight in the girl yet. He marched forward and placed a boot upon her back before ejecting a bullet into her head. This scene was echoed out all across the perimeter as the men in blue advanced and finished off the dying, one bullet at a time.
Officer Keaton reflected on his duty to protect and serve and determined that his role had evolved to protect and serve their immortal souls by putting an end to their sin. There were moments when he doubted himself. When he could feel his old sense of self and purpose coming back to him. But he knew those moments to be selfish. He served a higher power now. The order had come down from the angels and was further approved by the Governor as well as the police chief. How could it be wrong when he was just following orders? These were the last thoughts to pass through the head of Officer Keaton. The very next thing that went through his head was the tire of a blue Honda Civic, driven by Remy Laveau.
The cops were taken by surprise as vehicle after vehicle ploughed into their rear flank. It started to rain bodies as they were forcibly thrown up into the air and tossed across the parking lot. Some managed to turn around and get some shots off, but the cops were in full rout as the wave of cars chased down anyone not hit in the initial assault.
Princess screeched her car to a halt and climbed up onto the roof with her assault rifle in hand. She opened fire on the fleeing cops and cut them to ribbons. Others followed her example, and soon everyone was standing on top of their cars, firing at anything blue. It sounded like thunder as they all fired in unison, but then it was suddenly silent. They had run out of targets to shoot at.
They advanced on foot, providing aid to any civilian survivors that they came across. As they got closer to the New Orleans Arena, the weight of what had transpired was evident. Hundreds of dead bodies littered the ground all about them.
“The cops are trying to kill us all,” said Darnell as he looked about in shock.
Remy barely had time to take it all in before a commotion rose up to the side of his position. People were knocked to and fro as The Great Giant charged, swinging his fists from left to right. He charged right at Remy and tackled him to the ground with the hundreds of dead bodies. Princess raised up her gun, but The Great Giant knocked it aside and backhanded her to the ground.
Other men in spandex charged at their group, wielding weapons they had retrieved from the dead cops. Remy tried to get back to his feet, but The
Great Giant seized him by the throat and effortlessly lifted him up into the air. Remy gasped for breath, and his feet kicked uselessly as The Great Giant roared and chokeslammed him onto the roof of a parked car. The car alarm screeched as The Great Giant raised two big fists in the air and brought them crashing down hard onto Remy's chest. The impact caused the roof of the car to collapse, dropping Remy into the front seats with a pained grunt. The Great Giant raised his fist once more to deliver a knockout punch, but Princess climbed up his back and locked in a deep choke. The Great Giant staggered and tried to pry Princess' arms away from his throat as Remy pulled himself out of the car wreckage and retrieved his fallen gun. He fired two shots. One hit the Giant in the stomach, and the other in the chest. The Giant dropped to his knees with a solid thud, and then onto his face. Princess kept the choke applied until she was sure the behemoth was out.
“Where the fuck did he come from?” said Princess.
“I don’t know, but there’s still more of them,” said Remy.
The other men in spandex had taken cover behind some cars and were exchanging fire with others from Remy’s group.
“Let's finish this freak show,” said Princess as she kicked a charging midget in the face and cocked a picked-up shotgun.
Remy and Princess rounded people up and charged at the exposed flank of the wrestlers, firing everything they had left. Luke Cassidy took one through the eye and was killed instantly. With the heat off of them, Darnell and others emerged from behind their cover and advanced on the wrestlers from the front, trapping them between two points of fire. It was easy then. One after another the wrestlers were permanently pinned and sent to the great wrestling ring in the sky. They all dropped until all that was left was Mike Hammer pleading on his knees with a quivering lip.
“Please. The angels told us to do it.”
Remy drew his serpent rapier and stabbed Mike Hammer through the throat. As Mike Hammer gargled on his own blood, the angel Uriel flapped his wings and viewed the proceedings from twenty feet above. Remy pointed up to the angel as the light left Mike Hammer’s eyes.
“Stay the fuck out of New Orleans!”
Remy pulled back the blade, and the body fell face forward onto the parking lot ground. Uriel sneered down at the group and their collective defiance before disappearing into thin air.
But all was not yet finished. A mighty roar rose up from behind Remy. A roar that seemed to make the very ground shake beneath them. He turned to see The Great Giant back on his feet and charging towards them. Blood spilled from the places he'd been shot, but still, he came forward like a crazed Viking berserker. Remy shook his head in disbelief.
“You've got to be fucking kidding me.”
Another roar came, but this time from the opposite direction. Heads turned to see a production truck that was on fire. As they watched, its door burst open, and from the flames emerged a phoenix - or at least a woman that was painted like one.
She charged at The Great Giant without a trace of fear in her stride. As she ran, Princess threw a shotgun into her path, and she caught it without a pause. Karina Katana unloaded another shot into The Great Giant's gut, and he dropped to his knees. He snarled at her as she kept on charging, and she smashed his snarling face with a running swing of the shotgun butt. All 400lbs of him dropped to the ground, and she turned that shotgun into a club, swinging down onto his head. Blood splattered back against her as she turned his face into something that even Mama Giant wouldn't recognise. And after that, she still kept swinging into the meaty crater that used to be his face until Darnell came up from behind and pulled her away.
“I don't think he can get any more dead,” he said as he dragged her off. She still managed to spit on the corpse for her own personal satisfaction.
Remy surveyed the people that had survived their push into the city. Some were injured, and many beaten down, but their spirit was still strong. He could see it in all of them. They had been waiting for a moment such as this one to spark them back to life. The flame burned, but it still needed to be fanned lest it die out. Remy climbed onto the roof of the nearest car and addressed all of them.
“Today, God's children came of age. It is time for all of us to leave his house and make our own path. The world today is not the same as it was yesterday. A new world calls for a new order. We can't rely on those that used to protect us anymore. We must now fight to protect ourselves. Today, I lost my mother, and many of you have also lost people that you love. No more. I have seen the horrors of what we can do to each other, and I say that the line must be drawn today. Let us stop this madness, because the world doesn't end just because someone says that it has to. The future is in our hands, and it is what we make it. Don't live out your days like you’re already dead. That's the coward’s way. Come with me, and we will kick in every single door and drive out all of the crazy. We will take back this city and make it an angel free zone. We will send a message loud and clear that God is no longer welcome here. This is New Sodom, and in New Sodom, we answer to no one but ourselves. Who's with me!?”
Roars of approval came from the crowd and they fired their guns into the air. Remy nodded back at them and raised his sword up high above his head. At that moment, New Orleans was reborn as New Sodom, and things were never the same again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The convoy of battered cars pulled to a stop alongside the Atchafalaya river basin. Remy couldn’t open the door of his bullet-riddled Mustang, so he kicked it. The door separated from its damaged hinges and skidded across the dirt with a rolling clang. Remy gritted his teeth as he rose up to full height and signalled for the others in the convoy to form up around him. His face was unlike any they had seen from him before. There was a fury that was barely contained beneath the surface and straining to get out. He paced in front of them all with his fists clenched and raging thunder clouds in his eyes. Remy struggled to maintain control of himself, but maintain control he did. He took a deep breath as he paced, and hummed with a violent energy that was not to be argued with.
“I want those airboats on the water ASAP,” he instructed. They wasted no time in getting his orders into action. Most were eager for work and distraction. Anything to take their minds off of what had just happened.
“We lost a lot of people back there,” said Princess as she stared a hole into the ground. “Good people.”
Remy put his hand under Princess' chin and gently lifted her head.
“There will be a time to mourn after the job is done. Not before.”
“When did you get to be so cold?”
Remy looked genuinely stunned by the question.
“I'm only as cold as the task requires me to be. I will not let their deaths be for nothing.”
Both their heads turned at the sound of people raising up their guns at the road behind. Coming up the path was a single police cruiser. Fingers tensed on triggers as the cruiser stopped just out of range. Its driver stepped out slowly with his hands up in the air.
“Gus!”
Karina sprinted towards him with the enthusiasm of a rock groupie and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly. Gus winced against the force of her greeting.
“Careful darlin'. The body's a little tender.”
People lowered their guns with happy sighs and crowded round to welcome Gus back into the fold. His return was a welcome bright spot on an otherwise dark day. Remy shook Gus' hand.
“Welcome back, man. We thought you were gone for sure.”
“I made a promise to a little girl, and I aim to keep it.”
Gus looked at the group that stood before him and his brow furrowed. Too many were missing. One person, in particular, was missing.
“Where's Cormac?”
His eyes fell on Darnell, and Darnell shook his head with his eyes to the ground.
“Shit.”
Gus' eyes welled up as he punched a large dent into the side of the police cruiser. Karina placed a delicate hand on the back of his shoulder.
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��Take all the time you need.”
Gus shook his head vigorously.
“Fuck that. Just get me on a boat, and I'll be fine.”
They loaded as many as they could onto their fleet of airboats. The people that were unfit to fight set up camp at the jumping off point and awaited their return. Darnell rested his hand against the cage that separated him from the giant propeller fan on the back of the boat.
“I've always wanted to ride on one of these things.”
“Now's your chance, cowboy,” said Karina as she started up the motor and set the fan into motion with a loud whir.
The boats cruised along at a brisk pace through the green duckweed that floated on top of the water. The alligators watched them pass without movement, their bodies as still as logs. The boats manoeuvred around the trees that rose up out of the water and made steady progress towards the point on Remy's blood-stained map. Every so often they would pause and send people ahead to check for enemy scouts. They managed to kill a couple before they raised the alarm.
“It should be just up ahead,” said Remy as he scrutinised the surroundings.
“There,” said Princess, pointing through the tree vines.
Remy saw it. A community of rundown shacks sitting on top of a decked, wooden pier. He grabbed his binoculars for a closer look. It was them alright. Police officers, politicians, and Cajuns all sharing space on that little piece of backwater. Remy smiled, for this moment had been building for years, and it was now close at hand. He took the tarp off of the M134 Minigun that he had been saving for just such an occasion. It was undoubtedly not mini in size.
“Let me do it,” said Princess. “You know how I love to play with toys.”
Remy was reluctant to hand over the honours, but he had always found it hard to say no to Princess.
“Oh, alright. I'm not a man to stand in the way of fun.”
Princess hoisted the sizeable minigun up into her muscular arms and pointed it in the direction of shack city. Remy came up behind her, strapped the ammo pack over her shoulders and placed earmuffs on her head. She looked at Remy with a wide grin spreading across her face. He nodded for her to proceed with a smile of his own as he plugged his ears.