The Dark Streets

by Matthew Smith

  “I don’t know but it sounds a lot like the Blue Knights, could it be the same thing just another name?”

  “I’d have to say yes, but that seems like a dumb move, unless they wanted to be discovered but why would they want to be known.”

  “Maybe they’re looking for someone or something?” I gave her the picture of the young girl and man, “who do you think these two people are?” She grabbed the picture,

  “This guy looks a lot like Tony just older, the picture could be recent and the girl, I don't know who it is, doesn't seem to be Elizabeth, another fling after, Elizabeth?” I nodded,

  “That’s what I thought as well.” I took the picture back and put it back in my jacket pocket,

  “So where to now Jack?”

  “I think we did enough investigating for one night, let’s go back to my apartment for the night.” She nodded in agreement,

  “I agree, I'm pretty tired, I think we did a lot.” I nodded,

  “I concur with that statement.” We walked down the stairs, we left the way we came in and got back into the car and we buckled our seatbelts in and I turned the car on and started driving back to my apartment,

  “So Jack, can I stay with you tonight?” I nodded,

  “Of course you can Willow, I was just going to bring you with me because I just assumed you’d want to stay with me.” She smiled,

  “Good assumption Jack, I really love you.” I smiled,

  “I love you too Willow.” We reached my apartment and I parked the car across the street, we got out of the car and walked towards the apartment, we reached the front door and I opened it and I took out my key and unlocked the door. I went to my mailbox and unlocked it and got my mail out of it. We walked to the elevator and I pressed the call button and the doors opened and we got in. I pressed the third floor button, the doors closed and the elevator started going up, the elevator stopped on my floor and we got out. We started walking down the hallway towards my apartment, we reached my apartment door and I unlocked the door, we walked into my apartment,

  “So we had an interesting day, don't you think?” I nodded,

  “Yes very interesting indeed, I don't know who that guy was at that house but I bet he's after the family that lived there and I can't believe Laura is a part of a cult, it’s crazy!”

  “Well I bet the guy finding the family is working for the Blue Brotherhood.” I nodded,

  “That very well could be it” I took my jacket off and put it in my closet, and I took my shoes off and put them on the shoe rack, “come in Willow, make yourself at home.” She took her coat off and put it in the closet, she also took her shoes off and put them on the shoe rack. We walked into my living room, she sat on the couch and I sat on my chair. I picked up the remote to my TV and pressed the power button and the TV turned on,

  “And in recent news, there is a mad man out stalking the streets of Chicago, the cops have dubbed 'The Axe Man' for his gruesome nature of killing his victims with an axe and also scaring people around the city with his axe in hand, the police have issued a warning to citizens saying 'don't walk the streets alone at night and lock your door after the streetlights turn on and don’t let your children leave alone after the sun goes down and also don’t go out after dark.' For channel 5 news, I'm Mary Wilson.” I turned the channel on the T.V. to the sports channel, there was a football game on,

  “So it looks like we aren't the only ones looking for the Axe Man now Jack, we have to be very careful, the police are looking for him now, you should just tell Marcus and we could have his help.” I looked at Willow and shook my head,

  “No you heard how he treats his own flesh and blood for coming out gay and maryying a man, if we tell him the truth, he’d have us locked up in an heartbeat.” She nodded,

  ”Yeah true enough Jack.” She got up and walked up to me and kissed me and let go of me and sat down on my lap and I rested my hand on he butt,

  “I love you Jack.” I smiled,

  “I love you too Willow.” I turned the T.V. off and Willow got up off my lap and I got up out of the chair and took my shirt off and put it on the chair I was sitting in, “I'm pretty tired, to come back to bed with me?” She smiled at me and got up and took her shirt and bra off,

  “Yes I will join you.” I started walking towards my bedroom and she started following me, I reached my bedroom and took off my pants and my boxers, she walked in and saw my naked body and smiled and took her pants and panties off. I laid down and Willow climbed in the bed and laid down on her side in front of me,

  “Goodnight Jack.”

  “Goodnight Willow.” We fell asleep holding each other, naked in our arms. I woke up and looked at Willow sleeping next to me and I smiled, I turned around and looked at the time, it said eight o'clock in the morning and I got up and went into the washroom to pee. I flush the toilet and go back into my room, and put my boxers and pants on and walked to Willow, and kissed her on the back of her head. I walked into the living room and got my shirt and put it on and walked into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee and poured myself a cup and started drinking it, I then see Willow walk into the kitchen,

  “Good morning Jack.”

  “Good morning Willow, how are you this morning?” She smiled at me,

  “I'm good, but a cup of coffee would make it better.” I nodded and poured her a cup of coffee and handed it to her,

  “Here you go Willow, get this into your body.” She took the coffee from me and started drinking it,

  “Ah, that's some good coffee, thanks Jack.” I nodded,

  “Well no problem Willow.” I chuckled, she started chuckling as well,

  “I have a feeling today is going to be a very interesting day.” I nodded,

  “Yes I feel it as well, can't wait for the day to get started.”

  “Are we going to be seeing Tony Brooks today?” I nodded,

  “Yes, we will have to be careful, he may be important but he’s also possibly armed and he is very dangerous, but our priority is to get him on our side with no violence and no casualties.” She nodded,

  “Okay got it Jack.” I nodded,

  “Okay let’s get going! The sooner we do this, the sooner we stop Drogoth and save our Dimension!” I put my empty coffee cup in the sink and went in the closet where I put my jacket, I opened the closet and grabbed my jacket and put it on, and I handed Willow her jacket and she put hers on and I put my shoes on and so did Willow. I opened my apartment door and held it open for Willow and she went in the hallway and I followed her out and closed the door behind us and locked my door and put my keys away, “let's do this!”

  Chapter Eight

  We started walking down the hallway towards the elevator, we reached the elevator and I pressed the call button and the elevator doors opened, we walked in and I pressed the main floor button, the doors closed and it started going down. It reached the main floor and the doors opened and we walked out of the elevator and started walking towards the exit of the apartment building and we reached the front door leading outside, we walked out and towards Willow's car,

  “You driving again?”

  “Up to you, but I still have the keys though, so it would be easy if I just drive.” She nodded,

  “Yeah true, you drive then.”

  “Okay.” We reached the car and we got in and buckled our seatbelts in and I turned the car on and started driving,

  “You know where you're going right?” I nodded,

  “Of course, we’re going to the last address on our list, 2798 Kenmore Ave.”

  “Okay just making sure, because I remember in high school you were very forgetful, you always forgot we had a test and always forgot your notes or calculator, I had to remind you of it the day before and had to remind everyday about your notes and calculator.” She started laughing and I smiled and started to laugh with her, I reached a red light and I stopped,

  “I wonder what we're going to find at this location? Every location brings us one step closer” The light tu
rned green and I started driving down the street again,

  “I don't know, maybe it’ll be the Blue Brotherhood hideout.” I chuckled,

  “Haha you’re very funny Willow.” We reached the address and it was a house and there was a van parked in the driveway, I parked Willow's car in front of the house and I turned the car off and we unbuckled our seatbelts and got out of the car. We started walking towards the house and we walked up the porch stairs to the front door and I knocked on the door, there was shuffling around and footsteps on the other side of the door and it opened on the other side was a woman, it was Laura,

  “Hey Jack, how's it going? Hi Willow.”

  “Hey Laura, it's going well... you reported seeing the Axe Man?” She nodded,

  "Yes, I saw him, I didn't want to tell you because I was... scared, come on in so we talk more.” We walked in,

  “What are you scared of?” We sat down on her couch and she sat down on her chair,

  “Of what he would do to me.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “He told me if I told anyone I saw him, he’d kill me.” My eyes grew wide,

  “You actually spoke with him!?” She nodded her head,

  “Yes, he broke into my house while I was asleep and I awoke to him putting his axe to my throat, he was going to kill me but then his phone started to ring and he started swearing and cursing and left me alive but said if I told anyone he'd come back and kill me.” I took out my notepad and wrote everything she said down,

  “Did you get a good look at him?” She shook her head,

  “Unfortunately not no, because he was wearing a ski mask.” I wrote that down in my notepad,

  “I have a big question to ask Laura?”

  “What's that Jack?” I took the picture out of my jacket,

  “Could you care to explain this? And who exactly is the Blue Brotherhood?" She took the picture and looked at it,

  “Fuck! I thought he got rid of all of the evidence, oh well you’re too late anyways, my lord Drogoth is in the process taking this Dimension and elevating us to the next world!”

  “You’re a fool Laura!” At this Laura smiled,

  “That’s what you think Jack!” She pulled out a gun, “give me your guns now!” I gave her my gun and motion Willow to do the same,

  “So now what Laura? Are you going to kill us?” She smiled,

  “No he has better plans for you, Jack.”

  “So who is this Axe Man!?” She chuckled,

  “No no, that’s not how this works Jack, you know this!” She then hit me with the butt of her gun and everything went black,

  “Jack I’m so sorry Drogoth has figured out I’m on his track, he is moving even faster to proceed with his plan, I’m sorry Jack, he blindsided me, he was pretending to be weak to throw my guard down and I let it work.” I looked at him and put my hand on his shoulder,

  “It’s okay Stake, we’ll make them pay and I discovered that your brother has started another cult to do his bidding, they call themselves the Blue Brotherhood, I have a picture of members of the Blue Brotherhood.” Stake nodded,

  “I know, I saw it and it’s the same cult under a name and new leadership but some of the members are the same, it seems like your old boss Marcus Johnson, is in the leader chair where Mike was ten years ago, I also didn’t see Mike or Thomas in that picture though, so it seems like they’re not a part of the new cult, maybe the new cult leaders paid their bail to have us thrown off their trail?”

  “Maybe sounds logical to me, Stake.” He nodded,

  “You need to figure out where you are and get the hell out of here, I’m going to try to locate Drogoth again, now that he knows I’m looking for him, he’s masking his trail.” After he said that I looked around and saw that I was in a warehouse, I was on the ground and noticed that I wasn't chained or tied up, “at least I’m not confined to a chair like the movies, so there's that.” I looked around and couldn’t see Willow, “Willow!” There was no answer, “Willow!” Once again no answer, looks like the Blue Brotherhood took her. I walked around in the dark warehouse looking for a door, a way out this hell hole. After a while of looking around, I found one and to my surprise found it unlocked and opened it to the blinding sun,

  “Okay I need to get my bearings back, I need to get a vehicle and meet the famous and important, Tony Brooks.” As soon as I said that my phone started to ring, I took out my phone and looked at the caller ID it said 'Willow' I answered, "Willow! Where are you?"

  “I was just about to ask the same thing Jack, the last thing I remember was us talking to Laura and then she hit you and then before I could do anything she hit me as well.”

  “I’m at the harbor, where are you?”

  “I woke up in a cage in their hideout, I gotta go, I’ll call when I can again.” Just then she hung up, I looked at Stake,

  “No need to worry about her Jack, she can handle herself.” I started walking towards the parking lot of the harbor by the entrance of the docks. I reached the parking lot and got into the closest vehicle to me, it was a 04’ Ranger, I busted the window and thankfully no alarm was activated and I unlocked the door and got in. I started to hot wire it, after a while the truck turned on and I buckled my seatbelt in and started driving out of the parking lot and out of the harbor. I looked at Stake,

  “What are your thoughts on everything so far Stake?"

  “Well firstly, it's obvious that my brother is working with the Blue Brotherhoods, the new Blue Knights and I personally think they specifically killed your father and the Axeman is their personal hitman, effectively killing the cults and my brother's enemies and anybody getting in their One Dimension Universe vision and secondly I think Tony Brooks is a very big part of this but I just don’t how yet, but his immunity to the Darkness is very strange and needs to be observed and finally, it's good that Willow is at the Blue Brotherhood’s lair, she can give us information when needed.” I nodded,

  “That actually makes a lot of sense, Stake and I agree she can be a big help where she is, she can handle herself.” Stake shrugged,

  “I have my moments.” We made it to the apartment where Tony Brooks was last known to be living at, I parked the truck in a parking garage across the street, Stake disappeared and I turned the truck off and I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out. I started walking towards the building, I reached the front door and opened it and I walked in the lobby and I looked at the names on the buzzer list and saw that Tony Brooks ws indeed living here and his apartment number was five thirteen. I entered the number on the buzzer and it started to ring, after a while someone was on the other end presumably, Tony Brooks,

  “Hello, who is it?”

  “Hi my name is Jack Darring, I have some questions for you.”

  “What kind of questions?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

  “Try me.” Stake tapped me on my shoulder and I looked at him,

  “Ask him about the voices in his head telling him to do their bidding.” I gave a look to Stake, “just do it!”

  “Are the voices telling you to do their bidding Tony?”

  “How do you know about the voices and how do you know my name?”

  “Let me in and I’ll let you know everything.” He buzzed me in and I walked into the building and I walked to the elevator and I pressed the call button and the elevator doors opened and I got into the elevator, and I pressed the fifth floor button and the doors closed. It started going up, the elevator stopped and the doors opened and I started walking down the hallway towards his apartment. I reached Tony's apartment and knocked on his door, I heard footsteps on the other side of the door and he opened his door,

  “Come on in quickly.” I walked in and I closed the door and he walked into his kitchen and sat down on a chair at his table and I sat across from him, "so how do you know about the voices in my head and what they tell me are you some kind of psychic or some shit? I thought you were some cop or something?” I looked at S
take and he nodded, he appeared in front of Tony Brooks,

  “Hello Tony, I know the source of your voices Tony, it is voices of the dead crying out in pain, the reason you are hearing this is because you’re dead and not dead at the same time because your family has a virus ingrained in your genetics and it is fused with you Principle and Nepharia Energies, that virus is called the Darkness, it was created by an alien race that is at war with my people called Zions, my people are called Morphers. They created this virus to win the war but it is a psychological virus that manipulates its hosts and drives them insane and evil.” His eyes grew wide,

  “That explains why my family are criminals and have killed! But what about me!?”

  “Well you have somehow built up an immunity to the effects of the virus and I myself have no clue, whatsoever why that is, in every living creature observed, we have not found one creature to have an immunity such as yours, you have full immunity to the virus.” He sighed,

  “Does that mean you want me to be your lab rat?” Stake nodded,

  “Yes but I also think that you and Jack together would be an unstoppable team, also don’t you want to control the voices and tap into your Darkness fused Energies and see what kind of powers can be unlocked when used safely and controlled? Also we need your help taking my brother Drogoth, the only other living being to have fused his Life Energies with the Darkness, down and his cult the Blue Brotherhood.” He looked at his hands and nodded,

  “I guess there’s no harm in that, I mean I guess I’ll be living with it for the rest of my life, I may as well control it and use it to my advantage and did you say the Blue Brotherhood!?” Stake nodded,

  “Yes I did, have you heard of them?” He nodded,

  “Yeah they have been causing issues for the 47’s lately.” I took out my notepad and pen,

  “Okay you take it from here Jack, nice meeting you Tony, see you later.” He disappeared and Tony gave me a look,

  “Yeah he does that sometimes, the 47's? What would a cult want to start issues with a street gang for?”