GREEN FIREFLIES CLOUD the area and move away. I guess what’s left of the hiding cannibals disturbed them. We will deal with the flesh munchers later.
THE STRANGER’S EYES are glowing green. He smiles through his beard. He is dressed in a suit jacket with no shirt underneath. The man is huge; a mass of muscle. His long dark hair is pulled back into a man bun.
The neon light dances over him. To say he is intimidating is an understatement. He is a REDEEMED, like the rest of us.
I know it’s not the time, but you know me by now; I can’t help myself.
“Nice haircut.”
He grins at me.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah, it reminds me of my little sister. I have fond memories of her, but most of the time she was kind of an arsehole.”
He’s not smiling anymore. That childish urge inside me is satisfied.
He looks us over one by one.
“Your new crew is looking kind of stark, Cowboy. What happened to the others?”
“Well, I reckon you did, Monster.”
The guy’s name is Monster. What am I supposed to do with that?
He is chuckling to himself. He enjoys what the Cowboy is feeling. I can feel the dark cloud hanging over my friend.
THE STORY
“Tell your new boy here.” He says, pointing at me.
The Cowboy looks at me, and a sadness comes up in his face.
“In the beginning, he had all the potential to be so good.”
“BULLSHIT!” He stands, the green getting darker in him. His emotion, like the humans, he’s ready to pop! “Tell him the truth!”
“I tried to help him. I tried to harness what he had, but his darkness swallowed him, and he doesn’t want the light in him.”
Monster stands up and drops his hands at his sides; he paces like a wild animal.
“I told you the light makes you weak. Look how strong I am!”
My eyes travel from his boots to his head. I see a person emanating the words: Fear me! A man who is truly feared doesn’t have to say anything; you just know. He is afraid.
I look him dead in the eyes and gain his attention immediately.
“If you’re so strong, we should be able to just know. All I can see is someone who is afraid of their own light.”
I can see his wheels turning in his mind. He is checking to see if I insulted him.
No, it’s just a fact.
The Cowboy puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Monster is known for only one thing he did…”
The Demon interrupts and steps forward.
“KILLING ONE OF HIS OWN KIND!”
Her head grows large, and he dodges out of the way. He is laughing the whole time. In a split second, he moves in a blur up to the top of a pile of rubble.
“It’s not my fault your little friend was so tasty, Demon, maybe you shouldn’t have left her all alone.”
She trusted him, and he ate her friend.
I can feel the green coming up in my face.
“Uh, uh, uh.” He says, wagging his finger at me. “Our time will come soon enough, Boogeyman. I’m gonna eat you alive, sucka!”
A rip in the air opens up, and he vanishes inside, disappearing before our eyes. I read in the Indian Bible that their Goddess Kali could make portals like that; sometimes she could even travel to other realities.
This ‘Redeemed,’ as the Cowboy calls us, is different. The one he calls Monster uses his familiarity to manipulate them. He is taking advantage of my circle, and soon he is going to be familiar with my light.
MONSTER IS GONE
The green fireflies light up the area. The neon smog becomes a magical place with a glowing haze. The swarm moves beyond the tattered tents of the Cannibals.
I can see the Demon out of the corner of my eye. She is closer to the large piles of rubble now. What is she up to?
I turn to face the way we came, and all the humans are sheepishly standing there. They share an expression that said, ‘Now what?’ It Is a good question.
If we leave these people here, they are going to die. If we take them with us, they are going to die.
I make eye contact with the Cowboy. He knows what I’m thinking; he shrugs his shoulders and nods his head.
“We’re gonna need some wheels. We gotta take these survivors to the survivor's town.”
The Ghouls are on the move to locate some wheels, and we are left to deal with the last of the cannibals hiding among the rocks.
I approach to find many headless corpses discarded nearby. I find the Demon, and she smiles at me with a nod. I didn’t even see her come over here. How did she? When did she?
There is something different about her. She stands there, as solid as me, but there is something phantasmal about her. I think she may be as much spirit as she is flesh.
Apparently the cannibals had vehicles put aside for rounding up their meat. (The Humans.) This is good news because none of the humans would survive the walk.
I’m kind of feeling bored with the fact that we are returning so soon to a place I can’t even explore. It makes me wish we had our own town to live in.
“Hey Cowboy, how come we don’t have our own town?”
He looks up at the sky. I see his bottom lip quiver as he is having an inner conversation. His green eyes peer right into my light.
“Tried it once. We ruined it. Never again.”
I nod my head, thinking about it for a minute.
“Maybe you didn’t have the right people living there.”
He tastes his grin and nods at me.
“Maybe.”
His hand clasps my shoulder.
“We’ll see Boogeyman.”
We round up the reluctant humans into the meat wagons and begin our long trek under the neon sky.
It is ironic that the vehicles that brought them here are their path to freedom.
I adjust the mirror of the vehicle I am driving to find the disenchanted faces of my passengers. There is a wire cage door separating us. I hope they find some kind of life, where I am taking them.
The Warrior is going to be surprised to see us. I can tell that the Cowboy is fond of her, but I also notice that it brings him some kind of quiet pain also. I think he wants more for her than what she has, but he can’t give it to her, or maybe she hasn’t figured out how to get it, and he can’t tell her how.
GROW UP
All these stupid games. Why can’t people just say what they mean and let us know what they want? So many stupid games! Why can’t we just be adults? What is wrong with honesty?
The interior must be colder now because they are huddled together. I switch on the heat and wave in the mirror.
“Sorry…”
Kind of forgot they were back there.
After a while I can see they are warmer and have found their seats again.
I turn my gaze to the snowy hills. Those mutant hounds are nowhere to be seen; I was hoping to see them.
The snow becomes mush and then naked road. We are here. Weaving between the well-placed debris. We stop in the bottleneck road.
The buses we left behind the last time are gone. Which is perfect because if they were not, where would we have parked?
Soon, we are basking in the green light of night.
The little footsteps of children make me smile bigger. Not a single one of the humans made eye contact with me. Understandable; I still look like a weirdo.
First I heard his voice:
“BOOGEYMAN!”