Kill the Bastard

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay

To mould me Man, did I solicit thee

From darkness to promote me?

—Paradise Lost, X, 743-45

When I run over the frightful catalogue of my sins, I cannot believe that I am the same creature whose thoughts were once filled with sublime and transcendent visions of the beauty and the majesty of goodness. But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolations; I am alone.

—Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley

Remember this, Tyler said. The people you’re trying to step on, we’re everyone you depend on. We’re the people who do your laundry and cook your food and serve your dinner. We make your bed. We guard you while you’re asleep. We drive the ambulances. We direct your call. We are cooks and taxi drivers and we know everything about you. We process your insurance claims and credit card charges. We control every part of your life.

We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we’ll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won’t. And we’re just learning this fact, Tyler said. So don’t fuck with us.

—Tyler Durden, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, Yes, there was a book….

Chapter 1

Dark clouds plagued the midnight sky. The heavens cried pouring rain on the barren land of the damned. Patches of dying grass and weeds spread throughout the once hard cracked soil that now was mud. Tombstones protruded in uneven rows. Their markers were decayed very much like the planet they had tried so hard to save. It was an already dead world. It was the year 2524 and all life was struggling to survive.

The rain holds a gothic beauty I suppose, Thirteen thought. He was a biogenetic experiment, infused with organic matter found on a planet long destroyed with unknown mystic minerals to alter one’s DNA.

The iron fence and thick chains and padlock kept him from entering. For the moment anyways, he thought to himself. With the wave of his hand a flaming star suddenly appeared inside a circle. The star spun around and faded as the padlock and chains fell to the ground with a wet splash, sinking into the mud.

Thirteen, never one to marvel at his supernatural abilities, slowly opened the iron fence and stepped across the threshold. Lightning struck in the sky, illuminating the area for a split second followed by a clap of thunder. He then scanned the graveyard and noticed the mausoleum. It stood out like a beacon.

I know I will find what I have been searching for inside.

The stained-glass doors eased open as he stepped through the doorway. Lightning laminated the room as if a light switch was flickering on-and-off.

There she sat, huddled against the back wall between two coffins, soaking wet. She shivered as she looked up at him with terrified slanted eyes. Her eyes glowed in the dark, a rich emerald green. She held a haunting look that rattled him to the core.

Unlike the others, I don’t take pleasure in my purpose, he said as he approached her with great caution and concern for his safety. It’s exactly the opposite. I despise it. Yet I am created to do this, to rid the world of monsters, the ‘flawed’.

She hung her head, and her black matted hair hid her slender face and haunting eyes.

You know what I am here for. He stepped closer.

I was only defending myself. That man came at me. I just wanted to be left alone, she cried in an attempt to save her dreaded soul.

Thirteen looked away and slowly said, None of that matters to me. You broke a law, not to be in any Havens and not to steal from people in Havens.

I was only hungry. I took a cabbage and that man attacked me, what was I supposed to do? she cried, biting her bottom lip. She was young.

Regardless, you shouldn’t have been in Haven, and you shouldn’t have killed that man. You knew the consequences; you knew they would send us for you, Thirteen quipped.

She whimpered and pleaded, But you’re just like us, you’re a flawed like me! The only difference is that they created you as an attack dog. Their own personal Hellhound. Who’s to say they won’t turn on you and your kind one day?

He met her eyes. So beautiful how they glow.

That would never happen, we protect them.

Protect them from what?! she spat. From people that are different from how they perceive a perfect world with perfect beings? They are flawed just as much as we are! Instantly, her bottom jaw split in half and flared out like a cobra.

Thirteen’s eyes glowed with fire as he quickly reached for his hip-holster, drawing his plasma revolver—a throwback invention he had specially made to give him that western edge. It winded with an electronic charge and grew green in the chambers and barrel. I’m not like you.

A tear ran down her face. No, you’re worse. You’re a Bastard.

I am. I am a Bastard. He gritted his teeth before pulling the trigger. The green charge found its mark.

Chapter 2

About an hour later, Thirteen pulled up on an Air Glider ML130666. It was a relic of a 2025 Harley Davidson motorcycle that had been modified and equipped with a gravity pulse regulator that provided a magnetic energy source. Its wheels now would turn sideways with the push of a button and levitate with a glowing green energy source. It had carried him some 600 miles at lightning speed across the dying landscape of skeletal trees, rivers and lakes that were almost dried up, hard cracked soil, and remains of crumbled patches of asphalt that were once highways. He would see various mutated wolves and other predators fighting over scraps of a carcass. Massive deep craters pocked the face of the landscape. It was hard to believe the land was once beautiful and flourished with life. He passed mountains of stone and soil to reach a destination that looked out of place. A city of stone, metal, and glass: the Haven.

Before him stood a 100-foot steel wall surrounded with spotlights, razor wire, and armed guards. A futuristic city of glass towers, concrete buildings of old, paved roads and land, gardens, farms and factories—the Haven was a city that was supposed to offer safety, peace, and prosperity for people to thrive once again. Sadly, it was only prolonging the inevitable, prolonging death in a dying world. For how long, he could not say. It was not his place to say. He only did what they created him to do, that’s all; serve the Leader. Protect the city. Protect the Haven. Hunt the monsters or whatever creatures that threatened it. In return, he was given a life to live within the Haven as long as he served his purpose. Thirteen would have a place in Haven and never looked upon as different. He guessed a good kind of different. A necessary different. A different they had made, created, controlled.

A guard in exo-skeleton black armor waved him to a stop, and Thirteen stretched his wrist out for him to scan his identification number. Thirteen saw his I.D. flash in the guard’s visor: shaved head and red eyes.

Sitting on the glider, hovering, dressed in black, the guard glanced at Thirteen again, then said, You’re clear number Thirteen. The Leader wants to see you.

Thirteen gave a slight nod and proceeded through the entrance as it rolled open. After entering the Haven, the massive steel door rolled closed behind him. The streets were crowded with people and machines, cars both hovering and driving. Metallic service droids were cleaning the sidewalks, catering to people in little diners and bars with holographic images of the establishments’ names shining brightly.

Eventually, he would reach the tallest skyscraper in the center of the city. A building separated in the middle and held up by magnets, so the top of the structure floated and rotated. This was how they were provided energy; powerful reusable energy for all vehicles so they could levitate and travel for as long as the magnetic energy allowed. Usually, the vehicles would fall apart and decay before the energy ran out. But not Thirteen’s Harley.

The Leader, a middle-aged woman who was the powerful creator, put so many of the Havens together. She was the head council of the other leaders who controlled the other Havens. The Leader was the first to create Thirteen’s kind to protect the Havens and all that lived in them.

The Glider landed in front of a glass palace and Thirteen stepped off. The building held floor after floor of shops, restaurants, clothing stores, bars, and housing units. A security droid then scanned Thirteen’s wrist. He waited patiently.

Proceed, the droid crackled.

The glass door opened and Thirteen stepped inside. Before him stood many influential and wealthy people. Numerous security droids, human officers, and service droids occupied the space as well. He looked out at the people walking by. They glanced at him briefly, then turned away quickly to avoid eye contact. Getting the feeling I disgust them, he thought. He had heard their snide remarks about Thirteen’s kind in the past. He ignored them. It was none of his concern.

He quickly walked over to the elevator and the doors closed. A gentle push sent him up. He stood there looking through the glass, thinking of the concrete jungle and beyond that, a barren dying land filled with ruined cities of the past to forever haunt the world of mistakes. Ruined cities where the Flaw thrived.

The elevator reached the part of the building where it separated from the top half. It continued floating up, being pulled by the top floating half of the building, which turned the elevator upside down as it kept him upright. Finally reaching the top floor he came to a stop and exited.

Another armed guard in exo-skeleton armor greeted him and opened the door to the penthouse suite.

The Leader sat behind a grand piano playing a song that she had heard in the data archives of a time long ago. From what Thirteen could tell it was one of the Leader’s favorite songs she would play often. Either Moonlight Sonata or Divination, she was playing the latter of the two. The irises of Thirteen’s eyes glowed red and their eyes locked on one another. Her eyes were blue and would change to gray. One would think that such a brilliant radiant color such as that would be filled with life, but her eyes were as lifeless as the land beyond the walls. She smiled as she stood up, grabbing her martini glass which sat on the piano seat next to her. Her teeth, white and perfect, matched her porcelain doll like skin. The Leader gracefully swept her hand across her snow-white shoulder length hair. Like her and this city, nothing was to be flawed, only perfect.

He kneeled before her.

She casually strolled to the center of the room between them and asked, Did you dispose of that filthy vermin?

The flawed woman’s glowing emerald eyes haunted his memory. I have.

The Leader smiled, showing off her blue lipstick. Her lips illuminated from her white robed garments.

Good, I am very pleased. Did you bring me any proof? she asked. He remained kneeled. No, I did not.

Approaching him she slid her blue painted finger nailed hand elegantly across his shaved head and replied, I am a little disappointed by that, but grateful for the service, nonetheless. You are my best. Her touch was cold like death itself.

A nagging question itched in his mind and he had to scratch it. What did she do wrong? he asked. The Leader raised her white eyebrow. She said she was hungry, and the man attacked first.

Her lifeless eyes seemed to be piercing through him.

Had a conversation, did we?

Thirteen looked at the floor and tightened his fists. She was ranting a helpless plea to save her own life.

The Leader turned her gaze away from him. Hmmm…does not matter what she did. That vile creature broke a law, no flaw in my city and no stealing. She should not have entered if she had wanted to live.

Understood my Leader.

Good, enjoy the rest of your night number Thirteen.

Rising back to his feet, he left.

Chapter 3

The Leader watched Thirteen leave the room with lifeless blue eyes. She took a drink from her glass while she strolled leisurely to her desk and took a seat. She tapped the surface of the desk in deep thought. She swiped her index finger across the glass top before a soldier appeared.

My Leader? the soldier asked steadily, awaiting orders.

Bring up number Six. I have a special assignment for him. She carefully placed a strand of hair that had strayed from her ponytail behind her ear.

Right away! the soldier replied as his image disappeared from the glass.

She leaned back against her chair and twisted about.

Number Thirteen seems to have developed a curiosity.

She stood and walked to the window looking out across all she had strived to build. Her empire.

Such a shame. A fire burned in her cheeks with rage. She felt betrayed by one of her children. How could he? How could he question me and my orders? It must be corrected.

Her door opened and she saw number Six through the reflection of the glass window. Dressed in black much like Thirteen except with all black eyes and black smoke like skin. He kneeled before her exposing his black hair which was shaped into two horns on his bald head.

She smiled into the reflection and said, Well, if it isn’t my second favorite Bastard.

Chapter 4

Thirteen laid in the dark. Red eyes were the only thing glowing in the abysmal room. Her voice haunted him. But you’re just like us. You’re a flaw like me…

He could still see her green eyes lighting up the dark within the crypt as lightning filled the room.

That man attacked me. What was I supposed to do? He recalled her plea as she shivered in the dark and her black matted hair hid her face with haunting eyes.

Motionless he laid there. What am I feeling? Why am I thinking about this…flaw? Is it pity?

No, he did not think it was that. It was her eyes, soft lips, her voice, her rain-soaked thin athletic body. Why was he thinking of the wet clothes that clung to her curves? I must not think like this.

He closed his eyes and saw her crouched in the darkness between two coffins. Scared, bewildered, and beautiful, her bottom jaw split in half and flared out like a cobra, revealing fangs and sharp teeth. Tears streamed down her face.

No, you’re worse… You’re a Bastard. Thirteen vividly recalled squeezing the trigger, a shot echoed, and his eyes snapped open.

Damn. He muttered as he quickly sat up in bed and buried his head in his callused and scarred hands. The room was soaked with the night shadows, but he could see as if it was daytime. He then got out of bed and dressed before glancing about the room. If someone was to enter it, one would think it had been abandoned. There were no pictures on the walls, no framed artwork, and no possessions of any kind except for a bed, a cup, a plate, a fork, and bare walls.

Rain beat against the windowpane and he could not just sit there anymore, he needed to go. He exited the room and got on the Air Glider as the rain tapped against him before speeding off into the barren landscape once again.

His mind screamed. Why am I doing this? If I am seen, the consequences are devastating.

Yet he felt his heart was screaming as well, but he could not understand what it was saying.

He slowed the Glider down and pulled up to the black iron fence of the cemetery. He stepped off and strolled in front of the mausoleum that was frozen in place before the stone doors. The echo of the shot rang loud in his head. He clenched his fist and proceeded through the doors. The lightning flashed and filled the crypt silhouetting her body.

He could not understand why he had done what he had done.

As he made his way to her body and stood over her looking down, his red glowing eyes locked on to her green glowing eyes. He could not understand why he had done what he had done…why he missed the shot.

You came back. She spoke softly.

He stared at the hole in the concrete wall before he looked back into her haunting eyes.

Yes.

Why? she asked.

Thirteen kneeled down reaching into his pocket to pull out some fruit and handed it to her. I figured you might be hungry.

She hesitated then cautiously accepted the fruit before saying, No, I mean, why did you miss the shot?

Your eyes are all I can think about. I feel something I do not understand, Thirteen said.

Chanta raised an eyebrow and asked, You felt something you don’t understand? Really?

Yes. His heart beat faster just from being close. He could smell her sweet aroma.

Haven’t you ever felt those emotions before? she asked. He thought about the question for a moment and shook his head. Her face came closer to his and she examined him. Hmmm, I didn’t think you and your kind were capable of emotions, especially love. You always seemed like murderous monsters.

He could not look away.

Love? I think I have read about that. No. It is not possible for my kind to love yours. It is not allowed.

What is your name?

Now he looked puzzled.

I do not have a name.

Well…, she said, What do they call you?

Thirteen.

A number?

Yes. What do they call you?

Chanta. She looked away, frowning.

Chanta, he whispered, just to hear it roll off his tongue. That’s beautiful.

Thanks. Her tone was cold as she brushed off his comment.

They stared at each other, confused.

Why did you come here? he asked.

She shrugged before replying, Seemed like a safe place. No one ever comes out here. Can I ask you something?

He nodded.

Why do you hunt us? Why kill the so called ‘Flaw?’

It is what I was created to do.

Yes, but why? Don’t you feel bad about murdering my kind?

I never liked it, but if I did not, I would have been killed myself. Chanta clenched her jaw.

You murdered so many of us. I don’t know how to feel about what you did. He did not respond. What happens to you if they find out you didn’t kill me?

They will not find out. He assured her, and himself. They sat in awkward silence. Two enemies listening to the distant storm that raged both in the wastelands and in their hearts.

***

Out in the rain, a figure stood in the distance on a small mud caked hill. His hair made into two horns on a bald head and his solid black eyes stared intently with disgust. He lifted his left arm to his mouth and began to speak into it.

You are right. Thirteen defected. What would you like me to do, my Leader?

Her voice was calm while she answered.

"Nothing at the moment. Come back for further orders.

Chapter 5

Thirteen got back to the empty place he called home. Soaking wet and confused as ever, he had made love to Chanta, and it opened a door to new sensations. Senses came about that he never knew existed. It was strange, yet wonderful. The intercom on his left wrist started to beep. He gently touched it, and a holographic projection of the Leader appeared before him.

Thirteen, I have a new assignment for you. I have arranged an escort for you to see me to get more of the details. I will see you soon. She then disappeared.

A new assignment? An escort? Since when do Bastards need an escort to the sky tower?

He walked to the door ready to leave and upon opening the door, a grinning figure with horns greeted him. Thirteen relaxed a little.

Thirteen.

Six. Thirteen responded.

Maybe I am not so paranoid after all.

Six moved to the side and revealed his Glider, a newer model from the previous year with blue lights. It sat next to Thirteen’s. The Leader wants to see us. Now.

Thirteen did not bother responding he just closed his door and got on his Glider. Six hopped on to his and they made their way to the sky tower.

Something is not right.

Arriving at the glass fortress they made their way to the gravity defying elevator and silently stood next to each other. They waited quietly while they ascended up to the Leader. The glass walls reflected images all around them, including their own.

Six was the first to break the silence. How long has it been, Thirteen?

Thirteen raised an eyebrow.

Six continued, How long since we worked together?

Thirteen thought about the question then replied. A lifetime it seems.

Six nodded. A lifetime, indeed brother. Remember that job we did? When the Leader sent us to exterminate that group of Flaw children, I remember that, loads of fun. I enjoyed it, didn’t you?

Thirteen recalled Six unloading on the children, laughing with madness as he did so.

I get no pleasure out of it. They were kids. Barely old enough to understand what we are and what we were doing to them.

Six smiled. His eyes were as black as his soul. Nothing makes me feel more alive or feel like I have such a purpose like that day, but I don’t know. Something new always seems to present itself, doesn’t it?

Thirteen looked into the reflection and saw Six’s mirror image had a dagger in his hand; he wielded the dagger into the air towards Thirteen’s face.

Thirteen blinked, red eyes glowing like hot embers. He had seen Six’s reflection standing casually again as if nothing had happened. He had caught a glimpse of the future, Six’s plan. Just as he had foreseen it, Six wielded the dagger into the air and Thirteen grabbed Six wrists and squeezed tight, punching Six in the face repeatedly before he dropped the dagger. Instantly, blood flowed from his nose like a faucet.

You’re going to pay for that! It would have been quick, but now, it is going to be slow and painful. Six spat before waving his hand to send a wave of energy that sent Thirteen flying into the wall.

Thirteen was quickly back on his feet. He twisted his neck until it popped and rolled his shoulders and said,

Sounds like fun. His eyes glowed red and a heat wave was seen leaving his body.

Six cracked a smile, exposing his jagged and sharp teeth. His hands clenched into a fist with black smoke emanating from them. I’ve been waiting for a worthy opponent for a long time. Let’s see what you’re made of Thirteen.

The two wasted no time charging at one another.

As fists and kicks were flying and hitting their targets, the elevator ascended into midair before eventually making its way to the top entrance of the building. There, an exo-suited guard quickly scrambled at the sight of the struggle before raising his rifle and taking aim. A subtle ding was heard, and the doors slid open. Black smoke plumed out of the elevator and filled up the corridor. The guard tried to peer through the smoke for a target but spotted Thirteen slinging a fireball into Six’s chest that launched him into the guard. The rifle flew out of the guard’s hands and landed at Thirteen’s feet. Thirteen snatched it up and wasted no time firing into Six’s chest.

Six instantly disintegrated and his body turned into