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26d: You Sound Afraid

“Howdy,” Alec said. His voice was smooth, hypnotically soothing in a way that made my stomach churn. Somehow, the tattoos covering his body looked even darker than they had before.

“Now, don’t y’all worry,” he continued. “Nobody’s gonna get hurt — except for these two poor souls at my feet — as long as you behave.” He beckoned for his clayhounds and they sat at either side of him, blood falling from their jaws as he patted them on their heads.

“As you can probably see, I have a gift from God. I’m blessed, truly, and I got a lot of blessed friends, too. The Lord talks to us directly, each and every day, and you know what he tells us? That this country has gone to Hell. Y’all have given yourselves to the devil, and we’re here to bring y’all back into the loving arms of God. As of right now, nobody’s gettin’ in or out of North Carolina, Tennessee, or Georgia. No police, no military men — nobody. You can come to one of my churches to be purified, or you can wait for us to find you. Your choice. I promise, we’ll make it quick and painless. Have a good night.” He tipped his hat and smiled warmly, and put a sign in front of the camera that displayed the various locations someone could go to if they’d like to be murdered. Distant screams and wet thuds came from the TV as Alec slaughtered everyone in the studio. Mickey turned the TV off.

“Did this crazy son of a bitch actually just annex three states?” Anita said.

“Sure as fuck looks that way,” Mickey replied. “And we’re right in the middle of it.” He took a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. “Stephen, Carl, Ernesto, we need eyes on every one of these churches. Report back to me in an hour.”

Three staticky Yes Sir!’s came out of the walkie-talkie in unison, and the floor vibrated as dozens of men ran down the hall.

“Brandon, Clodagh, uhhhh Old Guy, go with them. Help them however you can, and report back to me.”

“His name’s Frank,” said Clodagh as the three of them ran out the door to catch up with Mickey’s guys. Mickey stood up and paced back and forth.

“Alright, we need to know exactly how many men there are, how many are marked, what they can do, and where the fuck Alec is. Will he be at one of the churches, you think?”

“No chance,” I said. “He’s going to be looking for us.”

For some reason, that made Mickey smile.

“I hope he does. The two of us together will whoop his cowboy ass.”

I stood up to look him in the eyes.

“You don’t know what this guy’s capable of, Mickey. I don’t know what he’s capable of. You’ve seen how much stronger we get each time our marks progress. How fucking ridiculous do you think he’s gonna be, marked from head-to-fucking-toe?”

“You sound afraid,” said Mickey. I encased myself in a sludge shell and smacked him in the face, sending him to the floor.

”I’m not afraid. I’m just not a fucking idiot. If you want to run straight up to Alec, you’re going to die. If I tried to help you, we’d both die. If we both die, everyone dies. You can’t go straight for the checkmate; you gotta take a few pieces first, especially when you’re starting out with fewer pieces.”

He stood up and put a fist in my stomach. Even with the shell protecting me, it hurt like hell, and I stumbled back a few steps, only being kept upright by the sludge.

“God, I missed hearing you jerk yourself off, acting all smart ‘n shit,” Mickey said. “I’m going straight for that sonofabitch as soon as I find him. I ain’t afraid of his old ass, even if you’re not gonna help me.”

“You’ve always been a fuckin’ moron, Mickey, I swear to God,” I said.

“You’re a moron and a fuckin’ douche, which is even worse,” he countered.

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“If you don’t shut the fuck up I’m gonna kick your fuckin’—“

“Holy shit I can’t take it anymore! Shut the fuck up! Both of you!” Anita erupted. “Jesus Christ, our lives are in the hands of two bickering children. Mickey — going into that fight without any knowledge of what you’re up against will end badly. Don’t do it. Gus — you’re gonna have to fight this guy at some point. If you’re afraid, then you’re gonna get whooped. And if you guys can’t talk like goddamn adults without yelling and hitting each other, all of this is going to be over real quick. Now, sit down and breathe. Damn.”

I wanted to snap back at her for calling me afraid, but she was right — they were both right. I was scared shitless of that guy after what he did to me, and what I saw him do to Beth. Even if I had gotten stronger, much stronger, since our last meeting, he would still kill me, surely. Not only had he let the mark cover him as much as it possibly could, he had years of experience using his powers. In a one-on-one fight – or even a two-on-one fight – I was almost definitely fucked.

I just wanted to go back to the fuckin bridge and drink 40s, for Christ’s sake. But no – I had to go fight in a goddamn superhuman war with the biggest prick I’d ever known as my co-general.

“Alright,” I said through a drawn out sigh, “what do you think we should do, Anita?”

“You’re outnumbered, fighting a defensive war, which only means one thing – guerilla warfare. You need to fight dirty, like the bums you are. None of that honorable, ‘fight me like a man!” bullshit. Hardly anybody’s going to voluntarily go to one of the churches and die. They’re gonna have to send patrols through neighborhoods, into peoples’ homes, and kill them. That’s where we can intercept them. We take their squads out on the streets, one by one, until the playing field is levelled – or until they catch on and find a way to put a stop to it.”

“I’ll go with Clodagh,” Caleb blurted out. I gave him a suspicious side-eye. “Uhhhh… because we do similar things, ya know? Her scorpions, my little guys…” he trailed off.

“Yeah, ok,” I said. “She’s a little too old for you though, don’t you think?”

“Ugh! What are you even talking about?!” Caleb’s voice squeaked at the end of the question. “That’s not even what I was talking about. I just thought that we –”

“Ok, so Caleb can go with his girlfriend, Brandon and Frank can form a unit as well, assuming they don’t kill each other, and Mother Dora and I will lead a team as well. Gerald, you come with me, but be ready to move elsewhere as you’re needed.”

Gerald looked like a baby that was about to spit up, but he managed to nod without throwing up. I ignored it and hoped he got his shit together before we were out in the shits.

“What about me?” Anita said.

“What about you?” I replied.

“Who am I going with?”

“I thought you and Darius could stay here and watch Law and Order or something,” I said. Darius, half-asleep on the couch, jolted awake when I said his name. He looked around, saw there wasn’t any danger, and slunk back into the couch cushion.

“Are you fucking joking?” Anita said indignantly. “I’m the only one here with more than two brain cells to rub together, and you want to leave me behind?”

“Brain cells didn’t account for much when you had cannonballs flying at your head. If I wasn’t there, your brains would’ve been splattered all over the floor.” I said.

“If you weren’t there, nobody would’ve been shooting cannonballs at me in the first goddamn place, but fine – I get your point. I’ll stay here and strategize. But what if they show up here? I’m gonna need more protection than that old lump over there.”

Darius jolted up again when he heard the phrase “old lump”.

“Fine. Mother Dora, stay here with Anita. Make some fucked-up booby traps or something, I don’t know. I’ll lead a squad by myself,” I said.

“Well, I’m coming with you too, right?” said Gerald.

“Yeah. Like I said: I’ll lead the squad by myself.” He looked at me with that sneering look of disdain that he nailed so well. I wondered how long it would take him to realize that I enjoyed pissing him off.

“Works for me,” said Anita. “Mickey, you should use your men to keep eyes on the area, make sure we don’t get any surprise visits. And form a squad of your own with your best men behind you, of course.”

“I’ll do what I fuckin’ want with my men,” Mickey replied. “But yeah, I was thinking something similar. Except I don’t need a squad. I’ll whoop these Gestapo fuckers all on my own.”

“God damnit, Mickey, they’re gonna have marked men with them. We don’t know how big these squads are gonna be. You’re probably gonna get your ass handed to you, running into danger by yourself.” I said.

“Damn, Gus. You must be weaker ‘n I thought, with all the bitchin’ you’re doin’. You better hope my heart grows two sizes by the end of all this and I let you back out of our little deal. If not, I’ma kill you in about two seconds it seems.”

I wanted to sludge-slap him in his fucking face again, but I restrained myself. I knew he just wanted to rile me up.

“Alright, go alone. I really don’t give a shit,” I said. “The rest of us will play it smart and stick together.”

I looked at everyone for a moment – just trying to take them all in. Holy shit, we were gonna get steamrolled, weren’t we? There’s no way these goofy motherfuckers could take on a whole army.

“Mickey, call our guys back,” I said. “We need everyone together. Tonight, we’re going out.”