Tanner sat quietly, waiting for the explanation.
“Mike has abandoned his faith.” Carl sighed.
“What does that even mean, Carl? I’ll shoot you just for pissing me off, I swear."
“Do you believe in any of this fate and God stuff? Because I do. My last doubts left an hour ago, and there’s no more room for it. I’m a believer. I was never sure if you really did, or if you just pretended to appease Mike. Honestly.”
“I don’t know. I tried the thermal scope thing, I never saw anyone glowing hotter, the time we cut into one of the “demons” and he saw a black beating heart, I just saw a dead guy. Mike knows things and sees things, hears things nobody else does. I don’t know if he’s crazy or chosen, I just know he saved me from the streets and jail and protected me, and he’s killing the people who need to be killed. He’s a good man and I love him, Sacred or schizoid.” she sighed.
“Well, I thought the same thing for a while, minus the love part. More like respect. But when you two left and I got the group together, I just wanted to kill shitty people. I just wanted to belong to something, kill the really nasty ones and see if any decent people were left to talk to. I've been hearing the voice, Tanner. Assumed it was just stress and being worried that I was in over my head, but the ones left after the first elimination round seemed to really see me as a leader. I never even saw myself as a leader, I was just faking it for respect. And then I started going through Mike’s stuff. You know he rigged the basement to blow if anyone opened the hatch? I opened the hatch and the damn fuse sputtered out, lit the place on fire, but it didn’t explode. For some reason I just grabbed everything I could and got out as the place went up, but that rigged grenade should have killed me, and it should have set off the fire faster. I thought I got lucky until I realized what I grabbed. Mike’s journals, just a few of them, his bible and his laptop. The laptop was password encrypted, like the kind that wipes the drive if you guess wrong, so I went through the papers to find the password. What I found was his beliefs. The more I read, the more I checked the highlighted verses, the more it made sense somehow. That's when the voices started. Quiet and slow, but growing. He predicted that he would find a replacement for his work before he even met you, but the part that bothered me was that it never mentioned your name or this replacement being a girl, or inexperienced, or…a cutter. You’d think Mike, the infamous sniper, would find a replacement who knew guns, and not a girl who stabs for fun and can't cover her own crime scenes. It just really stuck with me. He knew things were going to happen before they did, he made kills nobody could make, and he shot his way through a safehouse of guys who should have all outclassed him at his age, and took them all down with like a few handguns and an SMG he made. The man was not operating alone without divine help. One weird event is coincidence, 2 is creepy, but time after time this man defied odds and luck and knew with confidence 3 steps ahead of everyone, because a voice in his head told him shit. Schizophrenic people do hear voices, Tanner. They’re just usually not right about anything. His was right way too many times in a row to just be random.”
“Okay so Mike’s actually bulletproof, that’s a good thing. Right?” she shrugged.
“I thought so, but then I started to hear the voice guiding me to some strange phrases and notes that didn’t make sense. He built guns, long range and machine pistols, not one knife. He wrote words like “brother” and “partner”, never once saying soul mate or lover or even a female context clue. Read this part. I saved that on my phone.”
“In my dream, I met the devil again. Tempting me to my downfall. I have to train someone soon, before temptation finds me and sinks her teeth into my soul.” She read. “Yea, Mike has this thing with alcohol and pills that he can’t control. It’s his own personal demon of temptation. He struggles. We all have something like that, he’s just way more capable of fucking up a safehouse full of professionals than we are when he lets her sink her teeth in. She’s his forbidden fruit. What’s the point? Please tell me you didn’t let him get drunk and go Rambo mode on Nadja and like…get his face on a wanted poster or something."
“No, it’s worse than that. The alcohol wasn’t the lady of temptation. Nadja is. He used a male context for the demon, the alcohol. Always HIS grip, or HIS power. The alcohol is just his fuel. Read some of the shit he wrote. It’s pretty villainous thoughts he’s been having, really dark dreams, and this is coming from me, a guy who’s murdered like 29 people. This is going to sound insane but…I’m the one chosen to replace Mike, not you. You were just his reward or something.” Carl said confidently.
“Wow, some big-ego dick energy, Carl. You got the miracles to back that, or just delusions. You know, without the miraculous stuff, Mike’s claims would just be a crazy person. So…what miracles ya got, Carl? You gonna turn water into vodka?”
“You're not gonna like the miracle I got planned. God told me to kill Mike.” he sighed.
“Motherfucker!” she said, raising the gun as he raised his to match.
“I didn’t kill him. I just challenged him. Mike and I are going to have a gentleman’s duel, we knew you wouldn’t understand, so I drugged you and put you in the group house for safety and then after explaining why, he saw my point and agreed to it, hesitantly. I kill old people who have nothing left to live for. You know that. The ones ready to go, shells of themselves and no soul left. Just…broken. It’s a mercy. Killing someone quietly while they’re still just barely themselves, and before they become just a vessel without a purpose. Mike seemed pretty lively for a guy who God told me to kill and replace, and I couldn’t just shoot him in the back without warning. I had to know why. I thought maybe I was just losing my mind and getting, like you said, big-dick ego energy. The right motives but the wrong details, you know? That’s why I challenged him. If I’m just crazy, I’m too dangerous to be out there with a gun. If I’m hearing voices and killing people without hesitation, I’m just a psychopath. Not the kind we are, the kind we hunt. I’d rather die than go nuts and kill the wrong people. But if I was right, Mike needed to die for some reason. I figured why not challenge him, the is man blessed by God, and if God lets me win fair and square, then I was right. If not, then he does what he does best and kills a dangerous nutjob with an ego problem and a lot of guns. You have no idea how many guns I have, I have so many guns it’s insane.”
“Really helping your case there Nutter-Butter. So you wanna just let me shoot you and prove I’m God’s replacement, cuz we can do that right now if you pull over. I don’t wanna kill you driving down the road. That’s gonna suck for me. No thanks. Bad time. Not for me. You should definitely pull over and put that little toy gun down. It’s what God and Mike would want.” She said with a snide smirk.
“Oh, we’re just getting started, Tanner. To quote his notes. The devil rises to bring the end of days, and all that can stop her is a spider's bite and a soldier of God.”
“Fuck, this was already really boring. Can you speed up the bullshit at least, and then I can shoot you and get some tacos because I am starving, I haven’t eaten in like 20 hours. I would literally kill you for a taco right now. Try me.” She snipped, "And what does a spider have to do with anything?"
“No idea. Metaphor, literal spider venom. Who knows? But Mike is Protecting Nadja. I don’t know why, but the moment you left, they teamed up, and she got under his skin. They negotiated together, traveled together, I spotted them at the range shooting together. This is the woman who killed her parents and a bunch of random school kids, killed her high school boyfriend for cheating on her, she’s ordered hits for no reason, hell she tried to kill you for no reason, killed 2 or 3 innocent people at the strip club, where she was grinding on your boyfriend in a g-string.”
“Can we just not?” she cringed.
“He's turned. I wanted to prove something, between me and Mike, not her and her traps. So I had some of my guys storm the hotel they were staying at. I gave very clear orders, don’t harm Mike, warning shots only, but mow down Nadja without mercy. Simple. He was at the bar, getting drunk, and she was in the U-haul, so I told them to cut the U-haul in half, leave the preacher alone. You would have approved that order. They had her pinned down and helpless, and Mike took them apart. Good men, 3 war vets, some respectable hunters, and I hired 2 merchants for leadership, and he cut through them like paper, drunk and high, ran in front of gunfire for Nadja. Then he took a few shots at me and I don’t know how he landed a round near the truck in the dark, drunk and stoned with a damn pistol caliber gun with an 8-inch barrel at 850 yards, but I have 3 holes in my truck he put through in under 5 seconds and a few more as I got the hell out. Tanner, Mike is lost. Read his papers. There’s a dark side to him that she somehow let out. And he predicted it.”
“Well obviously she drugged him, hypnosis, syringes…WE have both used that shit, you’ve drugged me, don’t act like she couldn’t have given him a needle in his sleep and given him that…weird zombie drug you hear about. We have to save him.” She insisted. “And obviously kill Nadja.” She barked.
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“Tanner, we may have to kill him to GET to Nadja. She has connections we don’t, she has a hold on the meanest killing machine I’ve ever met, and he predicted it. SHE is the temptation he knew he would fall to. In my dream, I met the devil again. Tempting me to my downfall. I have to train someone soon, before temptation finds me and sinks her teeth into my soul. She’s the devil that sinks her teeth into him. Not kill him, temps him to his downfall. So if you think you’re really God’s favorite instead of me, then agree to disagree. I’m willing to die to find out, not get you killed to find out. Either way, Mike has fallen and whatever got back up is working for the devil now, and she is worse than I thought she was. She’s not just some psycho. If God is real and has chosen followers, The devil is real too, and that’s either Nadja herself or that's HIS chosen-protected one. I got close to her the other day, looked into her eyes. You don’t understand, there was a moment when she looked at me like a piece of meat and not in the good way, and something in the back of my mind wanted to betray everything for her. She just batted those eyes and said she wanted to see my gun, and I just handed it to her, without thinking.”
“Oh my fuck, you idiot. Is that the same gun you’re pointing right now? Give me that thing.” She said, taking the gun from him and checking it for sabotage.
“What are you doing?” Carl asked.
“Looking for a paperclip stuck in there to make it backfire or some kind of missing part she stole…” she said, removing the clip, taking out the ammo and shaking the magazine to see what fell out. “Okay, I don’t know this gun enough to say what’s wrong, but don’t use this thing. It’s gonna break or explode or something. She said reloading the bullet into magazine, in no particular order.
“That’s my favorite gun.” He insisted.
“Not until this is over and someone has inspected every part of that thing. I got a bad vibe off this. Maybe Chosen one bad vibes or like…common sense like the deadliest woman alive played with your gun so it’s clearly broken now vibes. We CAN’T kill Mike. And I’ll kill you if you even look like you’re about to try. Understand? NADJA is the problem, or ThE DeViL or whatever. We kill her. Mike wouldn’t ever hurt me, so if we have to, use me as a human shield.”
“That’s a horrible idea.” Carl sighed.
“Just to clarify, human shield for MIKE. Not for Nadja. If Mike is gonna kill you, use me as a shield, don’t you dare hide behind me if that bitch is shooting at us. We understand the concept?” Tanner clarified.
“I don’t intend to do either, but I get the concept. It’s a stupid concept. I hate it, but I heard you.” he shrugged.
“Promise me you won’t even attempt to kill Mike. Promise me right now and mean it, or I’ll pop your dick right now with this gun, and it’s way more lethal than you’d think. I’ll roll the truck, I got a seatbelt on, you don't. Promise me Carl. Make it happen.” she insisted.
“Okay fine. I promise I won’t try to kill Mike.” He said angrily as the silently stared forward and the hum of the truck engine became awkwardly loud. “You know this is gonna get us both killed.” He muttered.
“Just drive.”
Mike braced his neck with his arm, like a pillow, Nadja sprawled naked half over him and both on the floor of the U-haul.
“What is wrong with me?” he asked coldly.
“Apparently not much. It’s been fixed.” She grinned.
“I don’t know which thing I hate more, You or myself. Or the fact that my only regret is what this will do to Tanner.” He said softly. “It’s going to break her heart.”
“She’s young, she’ll recover. She will find new boyfriend. Maybe she will just fuck Carl.” Nadja jabbed.
“That’s a problem since we plan to kill him. It’s bad enough I stabbed her in the back, but God forbid she actually found that asshole’s lies believable, I have to break her heart twice. I can’t leave him alive, he’ll just come back to kill me. If you don’t kill me first. Maybe you should. Kill me, then kill Him. Let Tanner believe I was a good man who got killed fighting you. Consider it, at least.” he sighed.
“Don’t you dare burrow under that mask again, Michael. You fought so hard to get out, and now you understand. I didn’t even know you got shot.” She said, running her nails over the bruises.
“I didn’t care at the time, and I didn’t feel anything. The vest worked. Sent a bunch of amateurs with 9mm handguns and off-the-shelf assault weapons. What a joke.
“They got you 3 times, and once with a knife.” she said lighting touching the scratch.
“No, YOU got me once with a knife. You should finish the job you started.” He said feeling guilty.
“I have finished the job. The Job was to release you, and I have. Tell me you really regret it. Lie to me and tell me you didn’t love everything from the killing to the celebration.” she growled.
“I regret what it will do to Tanner. That’s the one part I truly do regret, and my one deep guilt. Everything else I’d do again, but I’d take it all back to keep from hurting her.”
“Then lie to her. Lie to protect her. Don’t tell her anything. Let her worry a little, why Carl plays this silly game and when we kill him, you will simply tell her that you are leaving her because it’s not safe around you. You love her, you would die for her, but you would run from her to keep her safe from me and everyone else after you. That much is not even a lie. Then tell her she is ready to do her job, God is ready to pass the torch, and you must lead the villains away, or she will never be safe. Lie to her, Michael.”
“That almost makes things worse. She’ll look for me. No closure, never sure if I’m alive or dead, thinking she could help me and bring me back. She’d almost be better off thinking I was dead. Or knowing what I am and hating me to heal and move on. Never knowing anything is a purgatory, I can’t lock her in.” Mike muttered.
“And you know if you leave me, I WILL kill you. But not in a quick, heroic way. I have waited for a long time to find a monster like you, if you steal that from me, I will cut it back out of you.” She seductively whispered, lightly biting his neck.
“It’s a tempting way to go, assuming I don’t kill you first. I would have the edge knowing I was going to betray you before you knew it. I could just kill you in your sleep and go back to Tanner. Kill Carl myself. Say you did it. Deny everything. Remind me why I don’t do that and have everything I ever wanted?” he asked darkly.
“Because…you don’t truly want Tanner anymore. The preacher you were pretending to be, wanted a lamb to save and a student to mentor. That little streak of evil in her was enough for the evil in you. Now you know what the real thing tastes like. You’ll never go back. You will either embrace what you are and accept that Tanner will move on without you, and you have taught her how to be strong, or you will try and kill me to burrow back into denial and I will remind you why you still fear me a little bit. Or you will break and run away like a coward and vanish into the night. You will never go back to her with me alive to find you, and you can’t kill me. You have had the chance so many times to try, and stopped. The same man who killed those merchants without hesitation or regret, FOR me…you won’t kill me because you know you can't.” She said, rolling over and taking a swig of vodka, handing it to him. “And Carl is too much a chicken shit to kill be a threat to me.”
“You’re right.” He said, taking a swig and looking distant. “I can’t, because I don’t want to. Even if you admitted that you planned to kill me, I still don’t want to. But if you ever touch tanner, I promise I’m going to start wanting to, and you saw what happens to people I wanna kill, when nothing is holding me back. If God isn’t real, and temptation is just an illusion of guilt, then we should do whatever we want. But Tanner is real, and how much I care about her is real. So if you hurt her, I will want nothing on Earth more than to shred you apart and burn the evidence.” He smiled sadistically, visualizing it in his mind and almost liking the idea. “And both sides of me are in agreement of that decision, and God doesn’t get to disagree anymore.” He promised. She climbed back on top of him, sitting up and grabbing a handful of his hair.
“Now, THAT is the dark preacher I came all the way from Russia to catch. I can see you thinking about it now. The hate in your eyes, the darkness savoring the kill. No more quick shot to the head and running away to hide the evidence. You can do whatever you want now. As long as I’m alive, you can get away with anything.”
“So I’m finally free, as long as I'm a slave to you? That's ironic and poorly played.” Mike huffed.
“As long as you don’t run away from me.” She growled. “My grandfather would have you hunted to extinction if you did kill me. But nobody can. I'm your newest and most enjoyable curse. In fact… I have something in mind you have never done, that I bet you would enjoy even more than last night.” she tempted.
“I’m curious to hear this lie.” He joked, doubt in his eyes as he stared at her naked body, glistening with sweat. "Difficult to top that performance."
“Have you ever killed an American president?” she asked with a subtle bit of her lip. His eyes changed, the look of playful doubt fading to a new kind of belief.
“I thought your grandpa had our president Dupont on a similar leash to the one you have me on, except with the body positions reversed. Why would we kill a president that works for your family?” he scoffed.
“Not that one…the one he’s running against soon. What is it they say, once you are President of the United States, you are always a president? We could prove that wrong and make sure Former president Bloomberg is never elected again.” She tempted. He sat up, grabbing the back of her neck as she smiled with devilishly gleaming teeth in the dim light.
“Is that what all of this is about? You did all of this just to get me to kill someone for you?” he smirked, almost admiring the game she was playing and the intricacy of the moves.
“Nyet, Michael. How diminishing. I offer you a treat, and you accuse me of trickery. Tell me, it doesn’t sound like fun? We can’t kill the one you have, that would be detrimental to my family. And my grandfather would probably kill you and everyone you care about, including your Tanner. That is not fun for anyone. So choose something else. Tell me something more fun that you would prefer. Name it. Whatever you want, with a few rare exceptions. What is more exciting than killing a president?” She asked. He pondered the question, and every name that came to mind seemed like an excuse to divert to something trivial and random. Nothing else serious came to mind. The only thing that seemed more fun to kill…was Nadja, and that option was still on the table and not worth bringing back up again in conversation.
“Let me consider on that offer.” He replied.
"Consider it part of a deal, a contract. Your soul for Tanner's" She hissed.