Matvei here.
Talm hadn't been back for a while, so yesterday I drove to his house, it's flung a little way down the coast, nearest to Bude, Cornwall. Beautiful white cottage with ivy and all. There were balloons and streamers and banners leftover from Charlotte's birthday. You could hear the ocean rolling, the seagulls, smell the salt. There were more seagulls around than I was used to, then again I'm not from here so I didn't make much of it.
I knocked on the door for a bit and there was no answer. Tried the handle. Open. And then, that smell. I'd know that smell anywhere. Decay. In Britain, the weather has been hot these past few days, that only exacerbated the stench, sped up the rotting. Inside. Lana was the first corpse I found, Jesus Christ, I can only imagine what they did to Lana, only see the aftermath. She was kind of a bitch. But she didn't deserve that. Relatives, playmates, dead. Throughout the house. All killed in one gruesome manner or another. I think they took the dining room hostage, not certain though. They must have done it on Charlotte's birthday.
This was the work of more than one person, no doubt. I found one proxy upstairs stabbing at some leftover birthday cake. I really should have interrogated him. Instead I gouged his eyes out with the fork. Talm says men with children kill with the least mercy. Whenever I remind him that I don't have kids, he just shrugs like I'm some kind of explainable exception.
I found what was left of Charlotte in the garden, strung up on the swing and decorated with some streamers and burst balloons. Her presents and wrapping paper were strewn all around.
The shed, there was a noise coming from it. Opened doors, got ready to shoot. Glad I didn't. Little Felicity. She was clutching a bear that had a bandage over it. She was a state, covered in her own tears and vomit, Christ she must have been there for three days. Kind of drawn in, blanking everything out. She didn't even flinch when I picked her up and carried her back to my car. I had a last look around for Talm, but couldn't stick around long. Needed to get Felicity out of there.
I guess an explanation of precisely what it is we do is in order. Because I think the Oracle has been waiting for this moment for a while.
Kelevra asked why I changed sides so rapidly. Thing is, I never did. Neither did Talm or Pascaline. That's what brought us together. What with all the hits on England lately, did you ever stop to wonder why the place was so vulnerable, why news spread so slowly? Us. We intercepted messages, wiped files, replaced files, spread lies, damaged the system at its very foundation. Moreover, we killed. Funny story - Pascaline and I met while trying to sabotage the same proxy mission.
Those train wrecks, Kelevra? They were intended to kill those proxies. And the rest were intended to get angry so I would have a reason to kill every last of one them. You could call us all... infiltrators, I suppose. We never changed sides. We never forgave our "Master". We never served. Only destroyed.
✒Matvei
Interesting, so like under cover proxies then? And here I was wondering why England was in such a shit hole, it is obvious that Proxies are rapidly losing over there, what with all the hits that go at that place, me included.
ReplyDeleteSo you didn't find him, shit, he's gonna be fucking pissed if he ever comes up, he seemed like the guy that would kill without hesitation for his family.
I may have killed a lot of people, they may have had families, but I never attacked, or killed a whole family all together, I don't go for families, that is something sacred that no one touches.
So turns out we're on the same side here.
Hows the girl doing?
Or undercover runners. Or something. We never truly "gave" ourselves to serve the Faceless man. We have no azoth.
DeleteFamilies are indeed sacred, I would love to still have one. Alas. God help the men that did this; I can kill them as ruthlessly as I like, but Talm is... god fucking help them.
Felicity is dehydrated with a few scratches but I have given her some water. She has cried a little, although she refuses to be comforted by me. She's not talking much except to ask to go to the toilet and whatnot. I think she understands what has taken place.
✒Matvei
Well at least you won't have to lie to her about what had happened, while a child isn't supposed to go through that, in this game, its better you learn now, than late. She seems tough, I think she will be able to handle it, but don't give up on trying to comfort her.
DeleteBet Talm is somewhere pursuing the fucks that did this, doubt he is dead.
The reviewing makes a strange sort of sense now.
ReplyDeleteI hope Felicity recovers.
Shame 'bout the family. Can't say it's a surprise you aren'ton the up-and-up, though. Had an interesting talk with one of Deimos' men. No way to stop this coming to a bitter, bloody end, but enough that we both know that you and yours need to die. So I convinced him to spread the word.
ReplyDelete