Ahí
está otra vez, con ojos en espiral perdidos en mí, observando lo
que está dentro de mí. En la oscuridad siento las sombras moverse y
el sol de la ciudad que inunda mis sentidos, la campana que suena
eternamente con la pulsación de un martillo
que le acompaña, y sigue en el marco de la puerta, torciendo esa
pendeja cara con su burla obscena y cerda que no puedo borrar, no
puedo dormir, gritar, pensar ni mucho menos operar en cualquier
sentido, estoy harto del color en el que vivo, un gris embarrado de
sepia que no ayuda a dar un paso más en la vida hacia ningún lado
(para aquellos que creen que incluso un paso hacia atrás es bueno
les digo que –ni eso va a pasar cuando tienes un punto medio de ese
calibre-). Si sabes de lo que hablo entonces entiendes por qué la
mandíbula se atora con la presión, los dientes quieren tronar, la
lengua se atora en espirales extrañas que cobran vida, el silencio
muere con cada parpadeo y solo una explosión puede poner un alto a
la locura.
Historias, Cuentos Cortos, Poemas, Ensayos, Análisis y Reseñas de una mente que vive en el Ciberespacio en silencio y observando.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Monday, September 5, 2016
Maul Asik
Sixty
Two days after I
escaped that hell hole.
Civilization
has begun to crumble.
I don't care if I see survivors. Only I matter. I was dead to the
world before it ended, now that the world is dead and
I
am alive. My name is Maul Asik and I am reborn again.
The
converted mail van went down the highway with Maul pushing the pedal
to the metal. Where was he going, at this point he didn’t know nor
care but he wasn’t stopping, unless something or someone would
allow him to remain safer he would skip and skip again.
It
had been probably some six months since the world had ended, Maul at
this point wasn’t sure anymore but he wasn’t keeping tabs with
time anymore, not after all the time that had been stolen from him in
prison. Yes, he was a criminal and yes, he deserved to go to jail, he
deserved to be treated as a human being too but someone forgot this
at some point in the checklist, fucking
animals,
that’s all he could think about when the memories came back to him,
the beatings, the solitary confinement, the in-fighting, at
least now I have the upper hand,
was the next thought that filled in the gap, he had looted the prison
armory and the three police stations in the nearby area, some gun
shops had better surplus than what he had originally obtained from
the police stations and it made him laugh, paranoid
people bless your dead rotten heart, and
when looking to make his best loot at the army base he found remnants
still around so he really
had to skip on that even though he wanted to get his hands on one of
those beautiful tanks or an APC at least.
To
his amazement there were also civilians or the
broken,
as he was now fond of calling them, and while they presented an
organized threat they were slowly falling apart, conditions were not
optimal to keep enough crops to feed people, few knew how to take
care of the fields, good water was scarce as far as he had seen,
moving to better terrains was a death trap and a logistical
nightmare, better
on my own,
is what always came to mind when he thought about it, no
better than fucking savages.
On
the distance Maul saw an old gas station and pondered the situation,
I
could skip
this one but a little extra on the side won’t hurt for future
trading.
The van slowly stopped in front of one of the gas pumps and Maul
stepped out of the truck, he had his orange bodysuit from prison,
number 552160335542,
gas mask hanging from his neck, a generic black Kevlar vest, a
holster on his right hip with a semi-automatic pistol Garibaldi .45
inside, a Galt Mk II
SMG strapped to his left shoulder; he took a pair of empty jerrycans
leaving them next to the pump then proceeding inside the convenience
store with sub-machine gun in hand.
As
soon as he stepped in he could hear some sort of machinery working, a
dim light on the back where a fridge stood, the shelves were empty
but he had the feeling this was a recent thing, a few more steps
inside and he knew this was as far as he was going until the content
of the refrigerator got his attention, water,
shit.
It rushed through his head to just go for the water and forget about
the gasoline, no, this was probably a trap, he was going to really
get it this time, fuck
it.
He rushed back to the van for a backpack then into the store again to
fill it up with as many bottles as he could, half-way through he
heard the cracking sound of a gun being cocked.
"I’m
assuming you are paying with cash" Said a voice to his right,
Maul turned rapidly to his right and saw an old man behind the
counter, probably around fifty years of age, almost bald, thick
jacket, shotgun pointed firmly towards him, on the corner of his
right eye he could see another person holding a revolver almost at
head level. “So, what will it be, make it quick boy or I’ll just
splatter your ass on the floor”
"Old
man the world is dead, no point on keeping it all for yourself"
Replied Maul with a thick guttural accent, almost as if he was
singing.
“Son,
I don’t care if the world is gone or not, you pay for the water or
you get a couple of buckshots up your ass” Replied the old man, no
one was moving, Maul even tried not to blink at this point.
"The
world is dead old man and so are you" Said Maul with his finger
slowly pulling the trigger to make it go into full action.
"You
wish" Said the old man, he fired first but his shot was slightly
off to the left and hit one of the racks, the shot from the revolver
hit so close to him that he felt the heat from the bullet just on
front of his face, his finger pulled hard on the trigger spraying
from left to right onto the counter and the entrance, he pulled back
quickly once he felt the click from the sub-machine gun and switched
magazines as a bullet crossed the shelves behind him with deadly
precision although not hitting him directly. "Come out you
little shit!"
How
the fuck did he do that,
thought Maul as he quickly examined his surroundings and noticed a
set of mirrors on the top of the refrigerator area, another shot came
down his way this time closer to him, not taking any chances he took
pot shots at the mirrors above him while covering from the falling
glass.
“You
spoiled brat, those cost a fortune!” Yelled the old man angrily as
he released another shot in the general area of Maul who in turn was
already moving with care, avoiding glass in order to not make any
noise, as he was turning he felt the bullet before he heard it, it
crossed through the top of his right shoulder, he acted fast but the
jolt from the impact forced his sub-machine gun to rip the remaining
bullets through the general direction, he managed to change magazines
again and heard some faint sobbing coming from a shelf or two in
front of him.
“Old
man, time out” Said Maul as he walked to the next shelf and taking
cover on the back, he examined the next shelf could barely notice a
tennis shoe showing slightly from the side, it twitched slightly with
what Maul assumed was every breath, the sobbing had stopped but
assumed it was the same person. “Old man talk to me, I’m not
fucking around here and I will shot whoever it is if you don’t give
me an answer back in three seconds”
“Calm
down you little turd” The voice was somewhat closer, Maul assumed
the old man was moving towards the figure so he rapidly crossed to
the next shelf and peeked through the corner, he saw a woman,
probably in her late teens, she had three bullet shots on her right
leg and was applying as much pressure as possible but evidently that
wasn’t working too well for her, she looked pale, tears running in
a non-stop line down her cheeks, having small spasms as she tried
controlling her breathing and sobbing, lips twitching fast, eyes
constantly gazing at her wounds, the blood covering almost all of the
right side of her jeans.
“You
are an absolute piece of shit, sending your granddaughter to do your
own shit” The teenager immediately turned to her right, Maul had
placed the end of the barrel as close as possible to her head, her
left hand instinctively reaching for her revolver. “If you raise
that thing I will shoot you, I am not kidding”
“I
am not his grandfather and who are you calling a piece of shit, you
wanted to rob me” Asked the old man who was at the other end of the
hallway probably taking cover for all Maul knew at this point.
“Your
daughter, niece, whatever, had you let me go with the water none of
this would be happening right now” Maul slowly examined the wounds
and noticed she was still bleeding, this reminded him of his own
wound but a quick checkup gave him good sign on his shoulder although
the pain was probably going to hit him hard after the adrenaline was
gone. “She’s bleeding badly, man”
“She’s
not my family and I already know that, you flushed that thing down on
her” Maul found it curious that the old man was trying to take care
of someone that wasn’t her family, what an alien concept to
consider right now of all times. “Look, just get out of here and
we’ll call it even”
“Can’t
do chief, I’m not going out empty handed, I want the water and the
gas plus everything else that’s useful in this store”
“Unbelievable,
you are worse than the fucking military or the nomads, whatever
happened to loving your neighbor and helping in times of need,
Christ”
“Homo
homini lupus est”
Replied Maul as he checked the other side of the shelf, his
suspicions confirmed that the old man was trying to go around him
when he could see the edge of his jacket on the next shelf on the
other end of the hallway. “You know what I mean?”
“Cut
me a fucking break, now you speak Latin, what a world to live in, of
all places I find a guy trying to rob and kill me that tells me
proverbs in Latin at the very end of the world, the odds I tell you
what” Maul was seeking silence, he knew the old man was not as
nimble or fast moving as him, he knew that he had to act fast as soon
as he slipped, he needed patience, patience,
haven’t I learned to have a world of patience now after so long;
Maul looked at the teenager who in turn looked back at him enraged,
her right hand still holding tight to the largest wound while her
left hand floated on top of the revolver, twitching, just waiting for
that right moment.
Crack.
Maul
let loose on the shelf on a general direction, he sprayed from right
to left at what he thought would be hip level, as soon as he heard
the click he moved the weapon to his side and took out his sidearm
with which he advanced quickly towards the refrigerator area, there
he found the man laying against one of the refrigerators, glass
broken over him from the refrigerator
doors, a small pool of blood forming below him, he wasn't sure how
badly wounded the old man was until he noticed a bullet hole on the
side of his head, Maul figured that he had probably crouched in order
to avoid his bullets, fucking
irony,
he
holstered his handgun with peace of mind.
Maul
immediately
grabbed the shotgun and
pumped it, no shell came flying out, he
was going to bluff it, that man had balls,
and with that he had some pity
on him, going all the way to risk it for someone who wasn't even his
family, no
matter how young the person it was foolish in his eyes, what a true
waste. Maul went
for his backpack and finished filling it with as many water bottles
as he could, back to the van to drop his loot including the shotgun
and back for whatever was left, as he went in for the second time he
heard sobbing again, how
the fuck is she alive,
Maul walked toward the sound and found the teenager trying to raise
the revolver at head level with her left hand, shaking and probably
unable to lift that much weight at this point Maul walked towards
her.
“Hey,
kid” The eyes of the teenager slowly turned to him, rage still
filled them but there was also disappointment, lose of hope, he knew
that feeling too well from his time in that hole. “How do you work
the pump or is there even any gas left here?”
Maul
wasn't waiting for a reply, he didn't get it anyway, he took the
revolver with ease and stashed it on an empty holster he carried with
him for such occasions.
“I
could give you the benefit of blowing your brains out, kid, but I
could always use that extra bullet, you're dead anyway” The words
came out with such ease, he smiled perversely not because he felt joy
in what he was doing or what had happened, he felt a natural smile
because this is how life was turning out to be.
Maul
did not take much time to look around for loot, he took the extra
water, an incomplete first aid kit and a box of .44 bullets that
would go well with his new acquisition, the jerrycans back without
any extra gasoline since he did not have the time to figure out how
to work out the system, a small gasoline can on the back of the store
next to the still working electrical engine worked as some additional
decent loot, aside from that nothing else left, the van roared as he
turned the engine on and before leaving he thought about the
situation, shit,
I can't leave this like that.
He
turned the engine off, got off the truck and into the store, he heard
a gasp coming from the back of the shelves but he ignored it, he
simply started piling up some of the trash he had found on the store
and with a lighter lit it up then dropped some of the flaming trash
on the shelves, the counter, the back of the store, he made sure
everything started burning up before getting back into the van and
into the road, no need to leave any sort of valuable behind.
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