A minute ago, I thought that this guy was going to kill me. Funny thing is, when he was running at me, I was ready to fight, and maybe kill him too... sort of. But as he was (still) holding me in this friendly bear hug (frakkin’ embrace), I had to say that I was more than a little confused as to what is going on. I was able to coax him into putting me down, and as he did, I backed away from him, putting a few yards between us. I was still ready to fight (I think…), in the off chance that this was some type of trick, but as he wiped his eyes, with the occasional sound of what was a cross between a laugh and sob leaving his mouth, I didn’t think that it was.
When he finally spoke, he called me “Brother”, and said it with… reverence. He told me that he was sorry for running me through earlier but that was the only way to wake me up.
What the fuck...?
My look of shock and disbelief must have been enough for him, so he explained. He told me that all of this destruction was necessary as he (and I) were forces of nature. We were vital to the circle of life, and if I knew my history, would know this to be a truth.
I must have still had the same look of dumb on my face, so he continued. He told me that he heard the name that the press and military gave him, ‘The Destroyer’, and while that was accurate in the description of what he was doing, this was not his name. He said that like me, he had two names; the one he was born with and his real name. His birth name, he said was Steve. Before he told me what his real name was, I interrupted him, pretty much flipping out.
How am I a part of any of this!? I only have one name, and that is the name that I was born with! How is it you knew that turning me into shish-ke-bob wasn’t going to kill me?! You’re trying to tell me that history is repeating itself, beginning here in the city!? And that it is history repeating that is causing you to trash everything and kill all these people?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?
Steve (Steve!?) just continued to smile at me and began to answer my questions. He said that the short answer to most of what I asked was ‘Yes’, except for if he was indeed kidding. As for how he knew who I was, he said that he could just “see” it. After he was awakened (killed and came back) he had the ability to find his ‘family’. He looked for years and when he saw me, knew that he had to awaken me so that we could begin what he called ‘the work’. Since I took longer to wake up, he felt that he should get a jump on things, and started tearing the city up.
What he was saying made no sense. I knew that. He was a nut job, and somehow I’m a nut job too. But my uncle called it. He said that when I died, my life would start or whatever. I thought that dying was an escape; I had always felt that way. That’s why I was so excepting when it happened earlier. And also probably why I was so willing to go against this guy when I came back to life. I never questioned the General about anything, I was just pointed in the direction of the chaos, and went along to do…what exactly? I guess that I thought that maybe he would kill me again, permanently this time. What was wrong with me? Why was I so comfortable with dying? The more I thought about this, the more pissed I got. Steve had killed all these people, caused all of this pain… because that was the way of things? He was no force of nature and neither was I. We were just some kind of weirdos or whatever. I wanted to rush over and throttle this jackass, but in the back of my mind, that idea felt… wrong. Why was I so hesitant to do what was right? Beating him down would be the right thing to do for what he has done...
Wouldn’t it?
He was talking again, pulling me out of my own head. He said that as for the history part, there was a similar incident written about a long time ago. Steve told me that when he I heard his true name, then I would get it, that everything would make sense.
He said that his true name was War.
Huh...
End Part 4
No comments:
Post a Comment