Chapter 1

The Duke brothers made the last mistake of their lives.

To: Sabrina, thank you for always putting up with me hiding in my office to write.

Brad, for giving me the idea of coming back to this world.

My father for picking up comic books and showing me the old heroes.

 

“Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

-          Ephesians 6:11

 

“I am the righteous hand of God,
And I am the devil that you forgot,
And I told you one day you will see,
That I’ll be back, I guarantee,
And that hell’s coming, hell’s coming,
Hell, hell’s coming with me.”

-          Poor Man's Poison ‘Hell’s Comin’ With Me’

 

Chapter 1

 

“Where the Hell is Charles?” Joseph Duke cursed, rubbing his dirty hands beside the dying fire in the two-room cabin. The shack was once used for hunters who came out here during the winter months looking for a good buck to eat, but now, this place was used only by the Duke brothers as they hid most of their moonshine under the place. The steel wasn’t too far from the shack, barely holding itself together in the bitter wind of the mountains, even if they didn’t need to hide their moonshine anymore. Prohibition had died at the beginning of the year, putting some of the moonshiners out of business.

                Moonshine was still outlawed, but alcohol was flowing freely while the chill of the coming night was leaking into the weak cabin walls. Joseph huffed, jumping to his large feet and spinning around to his two brothers.

                Kin Duke was the smallest out of the little pack of thieves, killers, and rapists. No sin on this earth was beneath them, trying out at least once in their bitter lives. Kin wasn’t only short and ugly like a dumb dog, with one eye going wild and no hair on his sun-spotted head, but he was strong like a bull. He stared hard at the closed door, growling a little like the mad dog locked in him.

                He might be small, dumb, and downright cruel to anyone outside their backward family, but he listened well to Joseph when it came to most things like what he wanted to do to the girl tied up in the other room.

                “No,” Joseph hissed, pointing at his brother. “We aren’t touching her, got me?”

                Kin growled, turning his gaze away from the door. He picked up the knife on the table, sticking it into some meat they had cooked when they first got to the cabin with the lovely girl. She was screaming and crying, making it harder to keep Kin under control.

                Joseph had to kick him a few times in the side to stop him from touching the little lady. Their job was simple: find the girl, get her somewhere safe, and wait for the Arkansas boys to pick her up. It was an easy job, and Joseph needed an easy job.

                The law was about to come down on them. He might have to get his brothers out of North Carolina for a while to make sure things calm down. Charles had gotten a bit too drunk one night, killing a few out-of-towners. One of those men was good friends with the law man in this part.

                It was not good, but he could get them somewhere safe with the pay day coming from this easy job.

                “Damn it,” Joseph roared, “where is Charles with the firewood? It’s cold.”

                Kin kept his head low, chewing on the black meat. None of them cooked anything worth a damn which was the reason they all missed mother. Pa had picked her up somewhere down south in the depths of the swamps, making her give birth to them. She cooked and cleaned for them while teaching them the ways of a woman, as Pa taught them what it meant to be a man. He kept ma chained up all the time. She also had a collar on.

                “Mute,” Joseph said, making the giant of the man across from Kin turn to him. Jim, ‘the Mute’ Duke, was the tallest of the brothers, to the point where he had to duck to get into rooms and had long arms with massive hands. The hands of a man who could crush the skulls of his foes as Joseph had seen him do it a few times before. It was a nasty sight and neat as well.

                Jim wasn’t always mute. Joseph remembered when Jim could sing. Jim loved singing old-timey sheet music with their Pa before he got mad at the boy one day. Joseph couldn’t recall what Jim had done. Maybe, it was singing to ma without Pa watching. Or maybe it was when Jim stole a chicken from the farm down the road.

                Joseph couldn’t remember, but one day, Pa got the rage in him and the drink, hitting Jim in the head with an iron bar. After that, Jim never sang again or spoke; it was the only time Joseph saw his old man cry.

                The law got Pa. The law seemed to get everyone.

                “Go get Charles, that dumbass,” Joseph said, and Jim raced for the door, but right when he reached for the handle, they heard heavy boots on the other side. Joseph turned toward the door, about to start shouting at Charles, when a shotgun blast kicked it in. The buckshot nailed Jim right in the chest, throwing him backward, dead as the broken door on the floor with a mighty man stepping in. He wore all black with a cowboy hat and a pastor's collar around his thick neck, carrying a smoking shotgun.

Joseph hissed at the man with a square jaw and heroic gaze, but he wasn’t any kind of holy man Joseph had seen before in his wicked life.

                The giant tossed the head of Charles onto Jim’s dying body while Joseph dashed for his pistol, and Kin raced at the stranger with his knife.

                The shotgun blew Kin’s head off, throwing his body onto the table and shattering the old thing.

                Joseph grabbed his pistol, spinning it around to point at the massive man, only to find a Bowie knife being pushed into his stomach. The pistol went off with a scream, crashing into the floor as Joseph was being lifted off his boots.

                The stranger growled right into Joseph’s dying face. He saw the scars all over the stranger’s face as he narrowed his eyes to Joseph’s agony.

                “Who, who are you?”

                “The righteous hand of God.”