Revenge From the Darkness - Part 1

He began to contemplate the concept of revenge. After all, the past year of his life, everything that he had learned, all of the training that he had paid for, it all culminates tonight. He was prepared; at least he thought that he was, for anything that this night would bring. He was ready for what would be the beginning of the revenge the thirsted for.

“I am the night.” Greg Brentford told himself as he stood in the darkness of the alley. In his mind, he was not hiding in the shadows, he was the shadows. He knew that if someone were to look right at him, they would not see him, he was the shadows. Instead of being camouflaged by the darkness, he was soaking it in. It was now part of him.

He could see the front of the alley, at the men standing there. He knew all three of them, and he knew them well. It was amazing how much information was available on the internet. From police files to DMV records, if you had just a little bit of knowledge and some extra money, you could find anything. These three, though they were very low level street dealers and not of much circumstance, they were where it started.

A car pulled up under the streetlight, and he watched as Jerome Thomas walked up to the passenger window. It was the same routine every time. Thomas walked to the window and took the money, just as he was doing now. Once he had the money in hand, he would walk away and Steve “Tiny” Williams would come to the window and hand over the drugs. It was a simple exercise, exactly the same, every time. The third man, Cory “Slick” Johnson was the muscle. It was strange that the smallest of the three was considered the muscle, but based on his arrest record and his many arrests for violent crimes and suspicion of murder, it made sense. Of the three, he would be the quickest to pull the trigger and the first to sense trouble. Johnson would be the first to go.

Slowly, at one with the darkness, he began to move along the wall toward the end of the alley, to where they stood. There was no reason to rush; he had all the time in the world. All rushing would do was cause noise or make a movement that the three would see. At night, movement seen out of the peripheral vision of a person was the best way to be seen. He was not going to make that mistake.

It took him the better part of an hour to make most of the distance until he was within about 15 feet from the men. The conversation that he heard was clear, each bragging about their latest sexual conquests. Each story was more outlandish than the last, but he wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying, he was waiting. At any moment the next customer could pull up, and he had to be ready.

He was not sure how long he waited, but finally a vehicle pulled up. He watched as Thomas made his way to the window. As soon as he had the money in hand, he started to walk backward as Williams stepped out. Johnson, just as he was every time, had all of his attention on the car. Just as he imagined a million times, Brentford closed the distance in a few silent steps, reached out with his left hand, covered Johnson’s mouth, and with his right hand, jammed his knife to the hilt into the base of his skull, severing his spinal column. The man was dead before he knew what was happening.

Quickly, but making sure he made no sound, he pulled the now dead man back into the shadows. In his mind, Brentford evaporated into the darkness. Just as he had played in his head, no one had seen him. In fact, the drug exchange hadn’t even taken place.

In well practiced movements, he placed the body on the ground so that he knew it would only be seen when the other two were only a few steps away. The absence of the man would lore the others into the alley, and when they saw him, they would be momentarily distracted. That was when they would join him. After the body was set, Brentford melted into the darkness on the other side of the alley.

“Yo, Slick.” Thomas said as he made his way to the head of the alley. “Where you at dawg?”

When there was no answer, he looked deeper into the alley. Williams quickly joined him as he made the exchange and the car sped away.

“Where he at?” Williams asked. Thomas just shrugged as he took a step into the alley with Williams right on his heels. The two continued to call out to the dead man, even as they passed Brentford, standing in the shadows.

“What’s that? Thomas asked as he saw something in the darkness ahead of him. As expected, they both squinted and leaned toward the object. Brentford was on them at that instant. With a knife in each gloved hand, Brentford raised his arms and struck down into the upper kidney area of each man. He knew well of the nerve bundle in that area, and knew just how much pain even a strong poke with a finger would cause. All that he knew was that he would never want to experience what he knew these two men were as the blade sliced through the nerves.

Both men went rigid and not even a gasp escaped their lips. The pain was so extreme that their physical reaction was no reaction at all. There was no noise, no movement, just as if their bodies had frozen and now set like stone. Not pausing for an instant, Brentford ripped the blades free, glided forward, and slammed them home into their backs, directly into their hearts. He then twisted it sharply, making sure to cause as much damage as possible before he pulled them free. The twist was not needed as the heart shredded itself as it beat with the blade sat inside of it. And just like that, it was over.

Standing with the bodies, Brentford was surprised that he wasn’t even breathing hard, his heart was beating normal, and it went better than he ever hoped it would. Now however, was not the time to pause, he still had work to do.

He quickly pulled the bodies into the shadows. He once again felt himself becoming one with the darkness, sucking it in and not simply hiding in it. Once one with the darkness, he began searching the bodies. First was Thomas, where he pulled bundles of money from several pockets. He also found a rusty pocket knife as well as a beat up old revolver. He shoved everything into pockets and moved on, there would be time to figure out what he had found later.

Williams was next. He found baggies of powder in one pocket, pills in another, and some sort of liquid vials in another. He shoved them all into a small shoulder bag and would worry about all of it later. He also found some money, not nearly as much as was on Thomas, but he took it all the same. He was surprised that he didn’t find a gun or knife on him. After a quick pat down, he moved to Johnson.

Brentford was surprised by the amount and types of weapons that he was finding. There were several guns, semi-autos, revolvers, a MAC-10, several types of knives, and even a few throwing stars. Brentford was glad that his leather gloves provided protection from the blades. Those weapons too were shoved into the shoulder bag. Within five minutes since his first move, Brentford made his way out of the back of the alley.

The shopping cart was behind the dumpster right where he had left it. He lifted the blanket and shoved the shoulder bag under it. Making sure it was well covered; he switched roles from hunter to a drunken hobo pushing a cart with all of his worldly possessions down the street. Though he was now a target, he was not a valuable one. People, even drug dealers tended to stay away from bums, as they usually had nothing of importance. He hoped that the disguise would hold up for the next 6 blocks, until he made his way to his car.

It took him 2 hours to get to the alley behind where he parked. Becoming one with the darkness, he shoved the shopping cart behind another dumpster, pulling the shoulder bag free as he did. He switched roles once again, from a slinking homeless man into a man just walking to his car. With a brief glance, not seeing anyone, he slid into his car, started it, and drove away.

Brentford was careful as he drove, knowing that if he were pulled over for speeding, it would all be for nothing. He had come too far and had too much to accomplish for it to be ended because he was too anxious to get home and discover what he had gotten rather than take his time.

Take his time he did. It took him longer than planned to pull into his driveway. It didn’t matter though; he had all the time in the world. He pulled into his garage and waited until the garage door closed before he opened the car door. Pulling into his garage just before sunrise was not suspicious. A neighbor seeing the way that he was dressed however was very suspicious.

Though he was now in the relative safety of his home, Brentford knew that there was still work to be done. He had set things up and was ready for it though. He opened his door and stepped out onto the plastic tarp that was laid out. Once on the tarp, and began pulling wads of cash from his pockets and placed everything into the shoulder bag. Once his pockets were empty, he stripped everything off, from his gloves to his socks. Once naked, he rolled the tarp up and shoved it into an oversized black garbage bag. The bag then was placed into his trash bin. Next, was the shower.

In the back of his garage, a few years ago, he had a shower installed. Tiffany had grown tired of the tracks of mud and grass he would leave after doing the things that he had asked her to do. At the time, he had been so annoyed by her nagging that he installed it as to not hear her complain any more. Now, he would have given anything to have her complain to him once again.

He turned the water on and climbed in. With the water heater so close, it was instantly scalding. He took the brush, squirted some liquid Dial soap onto the bristles, and began to scrub. Every inch of his body received the harsh treatment, from head to toe. There would be no residue found if he was checked out by a forensics team. After ten minutes, and with his skin red and raw, he was satisfied.

After quickly pulling on a pair of sweat pants he had waiting, he pulled the trash bin out the back door and put it in the alley for the trash pickup in just a few hours. After closing and locking the back door, it was time to discover exactly what he had gotten from the evening’s activities.

On a plastic covered folding table, he dumped the contents of the shoulder bag out. Money, drugs and weapons nearly covered the entire table. He separated everything, unloaded the guns, and started to wipe them down with a lightly oiled cloth as he disassembled them. He was prepared for finding weapons and after they were fully wiped down, he reassembled them and put them into an airtight box. He would hide them later; he wasn’t really concerned with them at the moment.

Next were the drugs. He placed each type into its separate container. The vials though, he was not all that sure about. He was going to have to find out what the substance in them was. That however, would have to wait. He then moved onto the money. In total, he had just over $3,500. It was a good haul for a single night’s work. He wondered if his future actions would bring in as much.

With everything in its place, it was time to get some rest. Brentford went around and turned off all the lights and made sure that all the doors were locked. He dragged himself up the stairs, finally feeling the drop in adrenaline. He could not believe how tired he was. Before he could sleep though, there was one more thing to do.

Standing in front of the dresser, he continued to look down, knowing how much pain it would cause to just look up. He could feel his hands start to shake and the burning feeling in his throat. The burning was growing, filling his throat as tears began falling from his eyes. His vision blurred as he reached up and found the lighter. He finally looked up. Though he could not really make out what he was looking at, he could see everything in his mind. His eyes may have been closed and tears may have been flooding down his cheeks, but in his mind, he could see everything.

There were pictures everywhere. The mirror was completely covered, pictures in frames covered just about the whole dresser top, and candles covered the rest of it. Not only was he seeing every picture in his mind, but he was reliving every memory. The pain was more than he could handle. His eyes cleared just enough for him to light the candles. Once they were lit, the sobs began. He was overcome with grief as the sobs took over. He collapsed to the ground and folded into the fetal position. Within moments, the sobs gave way to the adrenaline crash as he drifted off into his nightmares.