Beast out of the Cage

a short story

"Stay out of trouble..."

The guard's words echoed in his head like his cranium was a cave. But he wasn't hearing any of that. No. He did 5 long years and he spent all of it preparing for this moment. He hid beside the dumpster, the pugent smell riddling his senses yet, he thought with clarity. "Let it go, baby," his mother counseled him.

'Dead men...they're all dead men. They just don't know it yet,' he thought. He heard the squeak of a mouse near by. He looked down at the rodent as it stopped and looked up at him, chewing on it's meal.
'Must be nice,' he thought, the recollection that he hadn't eaten in days struck his stomach almost immediately. He heard the louder squeak of worn brakes and felt his stomach turn to knots instantly. He pulled two pistols from their holsters, and said a quiet prayer. "'Vengence is mine,' said the Lord. Grant me the strength to be who I was...and forgive me what I have become."  He heard their laughter as they exited the vehicle, more than likely purchased with his money.

"I heard that fool got out..."
"What? You scared? You shook?"
"Yeah...he knows better than to come here messing with us."
As they walked past the dumpster, he waited for them to pass him completely before knocking over a glass bottle. They spun in surprise. One by one, their confused, bewildered looks turned to stares of horror.
With his pistols still trained on them, he rose from where he hid...

"Good thing I don't know any better..."

Pigeons and birds from the roof tops scattered to the skies from the successive thunder strikes.