The Castrator by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (short books for teens txt) 📕

THAT TOMORROW MIGHT NEVER COME. WE WERE TEMPORARY VISITORS IN A WORLD WE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND AND DIDN'T KNOW IF AT ONE PARTICULAR MOMENT IN TIME IT WOULD BE DESTROYED AND ALL INFORMATION ABOUT EVERYTHING IN IT ERASED FOREVER. I LAY DOWN INSTINCTIVELY TO PROTECT MYSELF.

I WONDERED IF FELISTER HAD ANYTHING IN HIS HEART AT THE MOMENT OF HIS DEATH? DID HE FEEL A TRACE OF SADNESS, HATRED OR REMORSE? FELISTER WAS THE KING OF GLOOM AND THE MOST EXPERIENCED SWINEHERD IN THE LAND, AND ...

WE THREW OURSELVES ON THE ROCKERS, SUPPOSING THERE WOULD BE FURTHER ASSASSINATIONS AGAINST US UNTIL WE REACHED OUR DESTINATION.

DURAITH AND ELLER WERE SKILLED MARKSMEN WHO STUCK AROUND AND OPENED FIRE, BUT THE RANGE OF THE PUMP SHOTGUNS WAS SIMPLY INSUFFICIENT.

SURE THE COPS WOULD COME SOON, BUT WE WERE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, AND EVEN THE KESHENA WAS AT LEAST TWO OR THREE MILES AWAY, MAYBE MORE - SO WE HAD AT LEAST A FEW SECONDS TO REACT.

THE FEELING OF RIDING AN IRON HORSE WAS GREAT - TO FEEL LIKE YOU DIDN'T BELONG ANYWHERE OR TO ANYONE. MOST OF THE GANG MEMBERS KNEW EACH OTHER RELATIVELY VAGUELY, AS SOME MEMBERS DIDN'T LIVE MORE THAN A YEAR OR TWO BEFORE FALLING VICTIM DURING ONE OF THEIR POGROMS. WE DECIDED TO TAKE HIGHWAY 55, AND SOMEWHERE TOWARDS NASHVILLE, CHANGE OUR ROUTE UNPREDICTABLY IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO GET AWAY. NOT THAT THE STATE GOVERNMENT WASN'T GOING TO DROP SOME ON OUR HEELS, BUT STILL, WISCONSIN WAS A RELATIVELY LARGE STATE - WITH AN AREA LARGER THAN THAT OF THE CUBE.

ELLER MENTALLY WANTED TO DRAW A SNOTTY CURSE FOR ACCEPTING TO BE INVOLVED AT ALL IN THIS WHOLE RIDICULOUS AND MESSED UP STORY, BUT HE WAS OBLIVIOUS TO THE INVISIBLE HAND THAT STILL SEEMED TO BE HOLDING THEM AND SEEMED TO BE WEIGHING THEIR LIVES IN THE BALANCE. DURAITH RODE BESIDE HIM IN SILENCE, BUT SPARKS SEEMED TO FLY BETWEEN THEM. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THE GANG MEMBERS HAD ESCORTED SOMEONE LIKE US, AND DESPITE THE HEFTY PAY AND PROMISE OF BOOTY, I COULDN'T HELP BUT BET THEY MIGHT JUST DUMP US SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY AND FORGET ABOUT THE ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN US. THE ROCKERS' HAIRSTYLES EXPRESSED THEIR INDIVIDUALITY, BUT THEIR REBELLIOUSNESS AND ANARCHISM WERE ALSO CLEARLY EVIDENT.

SURELY A SINGING SHADOW WAS SOBBING UNCONTROLLABLY OVER ITS SON, YET I NOTICED ITS RETREAT EVEN DURING THE RESURRECTION RITUAL. ON THE OTHER HAND, SHE HADN'T EVEN MENTIONED IT TO US.

AS THE ROCKERS RODE US AROUND ON THEIR IMPRESSIVE MOTORCYCLES, I NOTICED THEIR STONY EXPRESSIONS - THEY WERE IMPENETRABLE, AS IF THEY WERE UNEARTHLY BEINGS FROZEN IN SOME STATIC STATE, AND THEY REALLY LOOKED TO ME LIKE DEMONS STRAIGHT OUT OF HELL. BUT I DECIDED TO REMIND MYSELF OF WHAT I ACTUALLY KNEW ABOUT GUS BENZOUR AND BLUEBIRD - YES, THE TWO WERE FRIENDS, BUT THEIR FRIENDSHIP STILL AROUSED SOME SUSPICIONS IN ME. GUS BENZOUR HAD SHOWN NO DESIRE FOR ENLIGHTENMENT, BUT HE'D GOTTEN THE ROCKER GANG TO FOLLOW HIM LIKE FRIGHTENED PALLETS DEMONSTRATING LOYALTY TO THEIR MASTER.

A THOUGHT PASSED MY WAY FROM JACK KEROUAC'S GREAT BOOK, THAT THAT PART OF HIS LIFE BEGAN AFTER A CERTAIN MAN APPEARED - ON THE ROAD. THE WHOLE SITUATION SEEMED LIKE AN OXYMORON, BUT THE REALITY WAS MORE THAN FRIGHTENING.

I KNEW THAT NASHVILLE WASN'T THAT FAR FROM THE KESHENA, BUT IT WAS UP AND DOWN THE MIDDLE OF OUR JOURNEY - ABOUT SIXTY MILES AWAY.

AGAIN ANOTHER PASSAGE FROM KEROUAC[5] PASSED THROUGH MY MIND, NAMELY, THAT HE FELT THE ROAD IN ITS IMMENSITY.

DID IT MATTER, THEN, ALL THOSE FACES THAT PASSED US BY, AND FROM WHOM WE SOMETIMES DREW ENERGY TO LIVE. IT WAS DAMNED STRANGE, BUT ZONARA SHED NOT A TEAR FOR THE BLUEBIRD, AND SHORTLY BEFORE THE SKIRMISH BETWEEN THE ROCKERS AND THE INVISIBLE ENEMY WAS TIED UP, THE MENOMINEE INDIANS HAD PROMISED TO BURY HIM ON THE RESERVATION, AS IT WAS MOST FITTING.

ELLER RODE WITH DIGNITY, BUT ALSO WITH THE UNDERSTANDING AND CLEAR SENSE THAT SOMETHING WAS AMISS, TO SAY THE LEAST. USUALLY IT WASN'T OUT OF THE QUESTION FOR EVEN THE FEDS TO GET INVOLVED, AND IN THIS CASE, THERE WAS NOTHING BUT THE WIND RUFFLING HIS BLOND HAIR.

ELLER WAS A LONER, AND HIS RISE TO SECOND IN COMMAND OF THE GANG WAS THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT OF HIS LIFE, BUT HE REMEMBERED WHAT DURAITH HAD TOLD HIM ABOUT GUS BENZOUR'S STRANGE PROPOSITION.

"DAMN THE FARMER!" HE THOUGHT, BUT THEN STEELED HIMSELF, "AND HOW DO THEY KNOW DURAITH! WELL, IF EVEN OUR VERY THOUGHTS DRAW THE REALITY, THEN WE MUST BE VERY CAREFUL!"

IN COMPARATIVE PROXIMITY TO NASHVILLE WAS PELICAN LAKE, WHICH WAS PRACTICALLY UNCEDED TERRITORY, AND CERTAINLY OF PECULIAR STATUS. SOMETHING INSIDE SEEMED TO PUSH HIM TO STOP THERE TO CLEAR UP THE MATTER OF THE DURAITH, BUT THE INVISIBLE HAND WAS PUSHING HIM TO DRIVE ON. THERE WAS STILL A WAYS TO GO TO NASHVILLE, AND THE MOTORCYCLES WERE MOVING AT A DEVILISH SPEED.

WITHIN THE CONFINES OF NASHVILLE, HOWEVER, WAS ANOTHER INDIAN RESERVATION THAT BORE THE NAME OF MOLE LAKE. IT WAS WORTH ASKING AROUND, AND SURELY THEY WOULD HAVE HEARD THIS OR THAT, BUT THEY WERE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR COMPANIONS. ELLER SUSPECTED SOMETHING WAS STIRRING, AND WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED AT ALL IF GUS AND DURAITH HIMSELF HAD CONSPIRED TO REMOVE IT AND COLLECT THE LOOT.

BUT WHERE WERE HIS SUCH DELUSIONAL THOUGHTS COMING FROM? PERHAPS THE UNSEEN DEMON WAS INSTILLING THEM IN HIM, DESIRING TO DIVERT HIM FROM HIS PATH AND DESTROY HIM-TO DESTROY HIS IMMORTAL SOUL IN ONE FELL SWOOP.

- "A MAN CAN ONLY LOVE ONCE, BUT HOW TRUE IS THAT LOVE?," WHISPERED ELLER, DRIVING LIKE A MADMAN, "AND WHERE WILL FALSEHOOD AND LIES LEAD US?

AT ONE TIME THEY HEARD THE POLICE SIREN SOMEWHERE NOT FAR FROM THEM, AND DECIDED TO SWERVE DOWN A SIDE ROAD - AND THAT SAVED THEM.

THERE WAS A SMALL GROVE - THE ROCKERS RAN STRAIGHT INTO IT. THE GANG WAS TOO BIG, BUT SOMEHOW THEY MANAGED TO GET IN THERE.

THE ENORMOUS RISK MADE ELLER WONDER IF IT WAS WORTH DYING FOR SOME MEASLY TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS - THAT, DIVIDED AMONG THE GANG MEMBERS, WAS JUST PALTRY COMPENSATION, BUT AGAIN HE REMEMBERED THE HIDDEN POWER.

THEN SOME VOICE IN HIS HEAD SPOKE THAT HE SHOULD JUST REMOVE THE DURAITH HIMSELF - YES, THAT CUNNING AND BRUTAL TYPE WAS THE CULPRIT FOR ALL HIS SUFFERING. NATURALLY, WE WERE AROUND PELICAN LAKE.

THEN, AS IF OUT OF NOWHERE, A CRAZY ARGUMENT BROKE OUT BETWEEN ELLER AND DUREITH - THEY CLEARLY HATED EACH OTHER TO DEATH AND ONE HAD TO DIE FOR THE OTHER TO LIVE.

DURAITH USED OKICHITAU, WHICH HE HAD APPARENTLY ACQUIRED AS KNOWLEDGE WITH THE INDIANS, AND WHAT IS CALLED PRISON ROCK - A BRUTAL HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT METHOD - IN ORDER TO KNOCK THE TEETH OUT OF HIS OPPONENT. ELLER WAS A LITTLE MORE ROBUST, BUT HIS SKILL AT FIGHTING WAS SHAPED IN STIFF STREET FIGHTING.

THE TWO OF THEM LOCKED LIPS TO OUR SURPRISE, WHILE THE REST OF THE GROUP AWAITED THE DENOUEMENT - FRANKLY, EVEN THEY WERE SURPRISED THAT THE MELEE HAD BROKEN OUT AT THIS PRECISE MOMENT, BUT APPARENTLY NO ONE CARED ALL THAT MUCH. THEY WERE OVERCOME WITH A STRANGE EUPHORIA - THEY WANTED BLOOD! THE BLOOD OF ONE OF THE TWO!

ELLER WAS ALSO SLIGHTLY TALLER THAN DURAITH, BUT THE DIFFERENCE IN HEIGHT WAS OFFSET BY THE LATTER'S AGILITY. WHAT HAPPENED, HOWEVER, SURPRISED EVERYONE. SUDDENLY, ELLER STOPPED AND, AS IF TO JUSTIFY HIMSELF, SAID:

- FORGET IT! IT WAS OBVIOUSLY MY FAULT!

SUCH A FALL COULD NOT BE FORGIVEN BY THE OTHERS AND ELER WAS SIMPLY IMPALED BY THEIR WEAPONS.

- "HOW DID DURAITH, WHO SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN ADOPTED BY THE GANG, AFTER HIS EXIT FROM ADMAX, MANAGE TO DO THIS?," WAS MY OPINION.

ZONARA AND ARLO WERE AS IF PINCHED. NOW DURAITH WAS GOING TO BE THE SOLE DECISION MAKER.

FOR EDIFICATION, THE DEAD ELER WAS IMPALED ON A STAKE, A BARBARIC CUSTOM MORE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE POPULATION ALONG THE AMAZON THAN OF A BRUTAL MOTORCYCLE GANG.

INTESTINES PROTRUDED FROM HIS STOMACH, AND THEN THE GANG SET FIRE TO HIS CORPSE WITH A TUBE OF GASOLINE - THE STENCH WAS INCREDIBLE, DOWNRIGHT INTOLERABLE. ACCORDING TO SCIENTIFIC CIRCLES, THE DECOMPOSED HUMAN FLESH HAD SOME SORT OF SMELL THAT WAS A STRANGE MIXTURE OF GRASS CLIPPINGS AND FRESH FISH, BUT THE SMELL OF ALE WAS INCENTIVE ENOUGH FOR US TO FLEE IN AN ATTEMPT TO SAVE OURSELVES. THE TWO CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS CADAVERINE AND PUTRESCINE CONTRIBUTED TO THE SPECIFIC SMELL OF DEATH - THE AROMA OF DECAY AND DECAY.

DURAITH APPROACHED, CLEARLY FEELING DISPLEASED AND INDESCRIBABLY ANGRY WITH US, THE IMAGINARY CONSPIRATORS WHO WERE, HOWEVER, VERY, VERY MUCH IN TUNE WITH THE PARANORMAL:

- YOU WANTED TO DESTROY ME! 'YOU AND YOUR DUBIOUS SPELLS AND CHARMS DON'T WORK AGAINST DURAITH BENSERCRUTER,' HE MUTTERED, HIS WORDS REMINISCENT OF THE FRICTION OF BARE STEEL AGAINST ANOTHER METAL, 'LET ME SEE YOU DIE, BUT FIRST GIVE ME THE REST OF THE MONEY - IT MUST BE ENOUGH. THE PROVISO FALLS AWAY. FELISTER MAY HAVE LEFT NOTHING! DORI AND PETAK! WHY DRIVE YOU NEARLY A HUNDRED MORE MILES AND RISK A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OVER SOME STUPID GHOSTS OR WORSE, DEMONS? IN THAT CASE, THE COPS WILL JUST BEAT US TO DEATH WITH A MOTIVE OF RESISTING!

WITH THOSE WORDS, HE TUCKED AWAY ZONARA'S BAG WITH A SHARP MOVEMENT AND GASPED - THERE WERE PILES OF MONEY INSIDE, EVEN SMALL BARS OF COLLECTIBLE GOLD - AS MANY AS EIGHT IN NUMBER.

HE SHOWED IT TO THE GANG, WHO, HOWEVER, WERE NOT PARTICULARLY CHARMED. AT FIRST, THOUGH, THEY HAD WINNING SMILES ON THEIR FACES - THEY HAD OBVIOUSLY UN-CONSPIRED US - THIS WAS MUCH MORE INTERESTING TO THEM. IF THEY LOST THEIR REPUTATION AS TERRIBLE ROBBERS AND RAPISTS, THEIR LIVES WERE OVER!

THE ROCKERS REALIZED THAT MANY OF THEM WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ENTITLED TO EVEN THE LAST MEAL THAT DEATH ROW INMATES USUALLY HOPED FOR WITHOUT THE RIGHT TO APPEAL IF THE STATE POLICE HAD FELT LIKE SEARCHING THE LITTLE GROVE - FORTUNATELY THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. THIS AGAIN WAS COMPLETELY INEXPLICABLE.

USUALLY THE POLICE WOULDN'T EVEN NEED MUCH OF AN EXCUSE TO SHOOT THEM LIKE DOGS, AND SOME OF THE EASIEST EXCUSES MIGHT HAVE BEEN MAKING THREATS OR EVEN A TRAFFIC VIOLATION. THERE WAS A SO-CALLED SCIENCE OF "KILLOLOGY[6]" THAT HAD DEVELOPED THE PERFECT INSTINCTS IN THE POLICE IN THIS REGARD.

IN GENERAL, DWIGHT WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO HAD ESCAPED DEATH MORE THAN ONCE OR TWICE. IT WAS A BASIC PRACTICE THAT IF SOME EX-CONVICT OR INMATE JOINED THE GROUP, HE WOULD DESCRIBE IN THE MOST GENERAL TERMS HIS PREVIOUS CRIMES. JEREMY EIL HAD ALSO GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT, ESCAPING WITH ROBERT CHAMPS FROM SAN QUENTIN, A MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. BOTH REMEMBERED SHARING A CELL WHERE VIOLENCE AND PAIN WERE A DAILY OCCURRENCE. THE GUARDS WERE HORRIBLE AND VIOLATED THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS WITH A RELISH THAT WAS ENDEMIC TO BEASTS. STILL THERE THEY VOWED THAT IF THEY EVER MANAGED TO GET FREE THEY WOULD ABIDE BY ABSOLUTELY NO SOCIAL OR SOCIETAL NORMS - THEY WERE ALSO TWO OF THE BLADES OF THE MOTORCYCLE GANG WHO HAD PROVEN THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IN OPERATIONS.

EIL AND CHAMPS HAD SHARED A CELL WITH PSYCHOPATHS, SERIAL KILLERS AND ABSOLUTE MANIACS - WITH ONE OF THEIR CELLMATES EVEN ATTEMPTING TO DETONATE A HOMEMADE BOMB IN THE PRISON DORMITORY - AND UNTIL NOW THERE HAD BEEN LITTLE CLARITY ON EXACTLY HOW THIS HAD HAPPENED DESPITE DRACONIAN SECURITY MEASURES.

THE TWO MEN HAD SEEN ALL SORTS OF SADISTS AND GANGSTERS, BUT THEY HAD NEVER WITNESSED A TOUGH GUY LIKE ELLER GIVE UP FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE JUST LIKE THAT. NO, IT WASN'T FEAR! IT WAS JUST IMPOSSIBLE! HERE LAY SOMETHING ELSE!

THEY REMEMBERED HOW, IN THE SAME WAY, DURAITH HIMSELF HAD YIELDED TO GUS BENZOUR.

THERE WAS EVEN A SERIAL KILLER IN THE ROCKER GROUP, JEFFREY BANDOW, WHO HAD THREE MURDERS OF POLICEMEN AND BY SOME MIRACLE HAD NOT YET BEEN SHOT. THEY HAD PUT A HUGE BOUNTY ON