Hood

 

Officer Miller walked into the interrogation room in the local police station. For a warm, tiny little town in the middle of the desert, the room was surprisingly well air conditioned. It was a tiny room, painted a pale green, but nobody was in the room long enough to notice the old, cheesy paint colour.

He stroked his moustache and sat down across from his suspect, a 19 year old man from the town where the station was located. He wore Metallica like armbands, black jeans, black leather steel toed boots, a black hoodie with a zipper up the front, and a black t-shirt underneath. Black fingerless gloves kept his hands somewhat warm, although the youngster didn’t seem to care much about anything around him.

The kid had shaggy black hair, and looked like he’d died. He was ghastly pale, had huge dark bags of skin underneath his eyes, and refused to smile. He had a square jaw and piercing blue eyes, and when he glanced up or glared at Miller, Miller felt as though the boy’s eyes were glaring into his soul.

Miller wanted nothing except to charge this kid with the accusations of attempted murder that had been laid against him and get him the hell out of the room and into some jail so he’d never have to see him again.

He gave him the creeps.

“Alright son.” Miller said, sitting down and folding his hands on the table in front of him.

“Not your son. Son is weak.” The boy said.

“That’s another issue. Do you know why you’re here?” Miller questioned.

“Charged me. Attempted murder.” The boy said.

“That’s right. We’re here to see justice done.”

The boy’s eyes glared into his soul again.

“Justice?” he rasped.

“Yes Thomas. Attempted murder is against the law.”

Miller saw the boy’s fists clench tightly. He knew he was starting to get somewhere. But it made Miller incredibly uneasy.

“What about abuse? What about rape? What about sexual assault? Assault with a deadly weapon?” Thomas rasped, slamming his fists down on the metal table. Two officers armed with handguns rushed into the room, but Miller waved them off.

“Yes those are all against the law.” He responded calmly.

“Then where the hell were you? It wasn’t hard to see on Sunday morning in church when all those wives and children coming in with bruises and welts on their bodies, and the young boys and girls and teenagers who couldn’t walk properly, while some sick pervert smiled at them from across the room!” Thomas rasped, and shouted.

Miller again waved off the two pistol toting officers. He had a growing suspicion however, and this prompted further questioning.

“The other victims…the ones thrashed and beaten by a man wearing a hood and a mask. How is it that they lived and the man you attacked yesterday is now in the hospital in a coma?” Miller questioned.

“I wanted them to know. I wanted them to know what happened and why. But this Matthew prick…there was no way he could continue.” Thomas said, feeling himself, and the general mood of the room calm down.

“What can you tell me about Matthew?” Miller asked.

“Nothing you don’t already know.” Thomas said, leaning back into his chair. His face lost all expression of emotion and he answered Miller’s questions very blandly as he did before.

“We have him down here for several counts of disturbing the peace, but that’s about it.” Miller said, knowing Matthew’s case off by heart. He’d been close to giving him some jail time for the havoc he caused around the town, but every time something had happened to make sure Matthew got free.

A witness usually didn’t step forward to say something like they’d promised to, and were usually seen later on walking around in the dark without fear, unlike before when they’d been walking around in the dark fearing something would get them.

Miller stopped to contemplate this, but shook his head quickly, refusing to let his personal feelings get in the way of his judgement on this case.

Thomas had broken the law. That was that.

But was he justified in his actions?

Miller gave his head another shake.

“Tell me about the night when you tried to kill Matthew. And remember you’re under oath here.” Miller said, relaxing his posture and sitting back into his chair.

“Everything?” Thomas asked.

“Everything.” Miller replied.

“Matthew Stender, husband to Amber Stender. Abusive. Didn’t take long to realize that.” Thomas started, as cool and emotionless as he was earlier.

Miller sat back and listened to Thomas’ story.

 

 

 

Thomas watched for several weeks before the strike, making sure his mission was just. He sat crouched in a tree where he had a perfect view of what was going on inside the Stender home.

10:22 at night.

Tonight he would strike.

Matthew working late again.

Came home expecting a beer, didn’t get one.

The welts on Amber’s face prove his point.

Thomas dropped down silently from the tree, landing in a crouch. He pulled back his hood and tied his eye mask around his head, before putting his hood back up, thus assuming his identity of Hood.

Back door unlocked.

Chose not to enter through the back.

Tonight was garbage night.

New plan.

Amber exited the house through the back door, two garbage bags in hand, making her way to the aluminum garbage cans on the back patio of her home, beside the back door.

Hood cut the power to the home.

“What the hell is going on out there?!” he heard Matthew shout.

Amber visibly shuddered.

“I’ll get it. Probably just another raccoon.” She said, before rounding the corner of the outside of the home.

Hood grabbed her and held her close to him, cupping his hand over her mouth so she couldn’t speak.

“Where is he?” he whispered.

Amber said something back, but her speech was muffled by Hood’s gloves.

“What?” Hood asked.

“The kitchen.” Amber said, pulling down Hood’s hand.

Kitchen.

Kitchen was good. Wasn’t visible from the street.

No one would see.

Good.

Hood stalked towards the back door, and heard a whisper from Amber as he passed.

“You’re doing God’s work.” She said before scurrying off into the night.

Hood walked silently through the house.

“Got that power fixed yet b***h?” Matthew shouted from his place in the living room.

Hood saw a shelf built into the wall, with baseball trophies lined along it, with a picture of a young Matthew Stender in a player’s outfit. There was also a bat there, which Hood assumed was of some importance.

Not that he cared.

He removed the bat from its place and started making his way to the living room.

“I said, you have that power fixed yet b***h?!” Matthew said angrily as he stood up quickly and stormed into the kitchen. He was dressed in plaid boxers and a white wife-beater, which Hood thought was ironic.

“Matthew Stender.” Hood said.

“Who the hell are-” Matthew never finished his thought.

Hood brought the bat crashing down on Matthew’s hands, shattering his right wrist.

He cried out in pain.

Too bad that nothing Hood could do to him would equal the pain he inflicted on Amber.

Too bad.

Hood swung the bat into his gut, causing him to double over. When he was doubled over, he brought the bat down on his back, throwing him out on the floor.

Matthew grabbed Hood’s ankle with his left hand and tugged the leg out from underneath him, a move which took Hood by surprise. Not for long though.

Hood was faster.

He had to be.

He scooted backward away from Matthew, who was making frantic grabs for his ankle. After a swift boot to the face, Matthew was clutching his broken nose, giving Hood enough time to get back up.

Blood flowing from his nose, Matthew stood and started taking swings at Hood with his left arm.

Not hard to avoid.

Hood avoided the blows before taking a step back and assuming a fighting stance.

He swung his arm, with his hand laid flat, executing a knife edged chop straight into Matthew’s Adam’s apple. Matthew choked and gagged, struggling to breathe.

When he managed to breathe again, he swung his fist straight at Hood’s face, who caught the attack with both his hands. He grabbed the wrist with his left hand and placed his right underneath Matthew’s elbow.

After the right amount of pressure, applied slowly, the joint was severed.

Matthew howled in pain, so Hood kicked him in the throat.

Hood grabbed the Matthew’s right leg by the knee and snapped the leg from the join at his hip. Matthew tried to shout in pain, but he found himself unable to do so due to the previous kick.

Quickly and calmly, Hood severed all of Matthew’s joints, leaving him a crippled mass of meat on the floor, in a pool of his own blood, which was still flowing unchecked from his nose.

“You’ll pay for this…” Matthew choked out.

“No Matthew. Vengeance has come for you.” Hood said, and commenced beating Matthew across the ribs and chest with the baseball bat.

It was true he couldn’t cause Matthew the pain he had inflicted on Amber.

But he could come close.

Lights flooded into the room.

“Hood! Drop your weapons and freeze!” a police with a loud speaker said.

No.

Hood dropped the bat and ran for it, making his way to the forested area behind the Stender home. The police were only a few steps behind him, and he could hear their panting breaths as he continued to run, driven by some unknown force.

As Hood neared the forested area, he was tackled down by a police officer, who handcuffed Hoods hands behind his back, while shoving his knee into his back and making sure he didn’t move.

“Don’t move!” the cop shouted.

“You don’t understand!” Hood bellowed, his raspy voice filling the night.

“Shut up and stay down.” The officer said, and tore the eye mask from Hood’s face.

A ring of officers formed around him.

“Jeez…he’s just a kid.” One of them said.

“Alright. Bring him down to the station. Make sure he doesn’t run off.” Another one of them said.

They tossed Thomas into the back of the cruiser and drove off, leaving the ambulance and paramedics to deal with Matthew.

 

 

 

Miller was stunned.

Sure, this kid’s actions were just and true, but they were still very much against the law. No one was allowed to take the law into their own hands. No matter what movies and television said.

“And you believed your mission to be just?” Miller asked,

“Yes. Mission was just.” Thomas answered emotionlessly.

“Well, you broke into his home and beat him senseless, all the while taking the law into your own hands. That’s unjust.” Miller said, trying to reason with the boy.

“Unjust? Punishing those who do evil to others is unjust?” Thomas asked, growing angry again.

“It’s against the law.” Miller answered.

“Then the law is corrupt.”

“The law isn’t corrupt. It’s in place to protect the people.”

“Then how is it nobody did anything about all the stuff going on here until after you guys caught me? How is it that the people who caused pain to others are being treated better than I am?” Thomas rasped, glaring right at Miller.

Miller stopped, trying not to let his personal feelings get the better of him.

“What about the other victims? David Donaldson comes to mind.” He said.

“David Donaldson was a scumbag and deserved what happened to him.” Thomas said, leaning back into his chair and folding his arms across his chest.

“I believe he was the first of your victims wasn’t he?” Miller asked.

“Yes.” Thomas answered.

“What did he do to deserve a visit from Hood?” Miller questioned.

“Do you not pay attention to anything? He was the town creep, and raped the farmer’s daughter.” Thomas rasped.

“What?” Miller said in confusion.

Thomas grinned.

“Oh yes. But he was scary enough that nobody would say anything to the police about it, so it just looked like a random assault when you came across him, but that scumbag deserved it.” He said, his grin only growing as his brow lowered into a dark scowl.

Miller didn’t know what to say. He struggled to find out what to say, and Thomas leaned forward and glared at him from across the table.

“You’d like to know how that happened. I know it.” Thomas said.

Miller nodded slowly.

Thomas leaned back into his chair again.

 

 

 

The farmer’s daughter, a lonely girl named Carolyn, wandered home along the dirt road to the farm. She was being watched by one of the largest creeps, who was being watched by the town hero.

Nobody but Hood noticed she was walking funny.

Wind rustled past her, and she rubbed her arms to keep herself warm. A voice sounded out from the darkness, which made her shiver and stand straight.

“Hello Carolyn.” He said.

David Donaldson.

“Get away from me.” She said.

“What’s the matter Carolyn? You seemed fine with me coming over all the time a while ago.” David said, a smirk rising to his face.

Hood sneered in the darkness.

David was going to pay. And soon.

“I said get away from me!” Carolyn screamed.

“Come here…” David said, reaching out for her.

Carolyn turned and ran for her home, which was still over a mile down the road from her.

“Help!” she screamed.

David caught up with her easily, and tossed her to the ground beside the road.

“Nobody is gonna help you!” David said. He tore her shirt from her and tossed it to the ground behind him. Carolyn screamed and struggled against David as he forced her down to the ground.

Hood emerged from the darkness on the opposite side of the road and started walking towards David.

David didn’t have a clue what was about to happen to him.

“Excuse me.” Hood said, his raspy voice taking David by surprise.

David’s pants were around his ankles, and he was moving in on Carolyn, who’s skirt David had forced up to the bottom of her backside.

“Who the hell are you?” David said, turning slowly. He stopped upon seeing Hood.

Hood gave him a swift punch in the jaw, sending him reeling back into the bushes. He tripped over his pants and fell backward, and Carolyn panicked and stood, moving away from the two men.

“You have nothing to fear from me. I’m here for this one.” Hood said, pointing at David, who was feeling around in the darkness for the waist of his pants so he could stand up properly.

“Thank you.”

“Go home and call the police.” Hood said, prompting a nod from Carolyn. She took off down the road, leaving Hood and David alone.

David stood and did his jeans back up, and glared at the masked vigilante in front of him.

Hood stared.

“You stupid b*****d! You just stopped me from scoring!” David shouted.

Hood stayed silent.

“Better keep your mouth shut.” David said, starting to walk towards Carolyn’s home. “Time to teach those farmers a lesson.”

Hood lashed out, kicking David in the side of the knee, and causing him to drop to the ground, writhing in pain.

“Not today David.”

“How do you know me?”

“I know everything. Like how you raped that poor girl. Just like the other ones.”

David’s eyes widened in fear.

“How did you know about that?” he said, his voice sounding panicked.

“I know everything David.” Hood repeated, and reached down and grabbed a handful of David’s collar. David swung his fist at him, which missed.

“When my friends hear about this…” David started.

Hood punched him in the solar plexus.

“Shut up.” He rasped.

David started choking for air, and Hood started pummelling him. He felt two or three ribs break, and he knew the flesh was very bruised.

Good.

He wanted David to remember.

David opened his mouth to speak again, and Hood punched him again in the solar plexus.

“I said shut up.” He rasped.

He heard police sirens coming down the road, and saw the flashing red and blue lights in the darkness.

“They’re coming for you David.”

When the police found David, he was suspended by his ankles from a tree branch, several feet above a rusted iron pole, tied there with a chain.

 

 

 

Thomas chuckled after telling Miller the tale.

Miller was horrified. After telling each of the tales, Thomas seemed amused by the pain and anguish that he had caused his victims. Matthew was in a body cast, waiting for all of his bones to heal and for his joints to heal properly. Chances are he’d never be able to function properly ever again.

David had such a bad rush of blood to his skull that he was unconscious for a while, and doctors at the hospital wondered if he’d ever wake up. He eventually did, but the man doesn’t even like to go out after dark anymore.

And that was only two of the ten victims.

Miller didn’t want to know about the rest.

Two armed officers entered the room, and stood on either side of Thomas.

“Take him to his holding cell. Put his personal effects in storage and fit him with some prison slacks. He’ll be staying here for a while.” Miller said, standing up and moving away from the small table.

“How long will it be Miller?” Thomas called after him as the two armed officers grabbed each of his arms and started taking him out.

“How long until what?” Miller asked.

“Until you let me out of here.” Thomas said, shooting Miller a wicked grin before being escorted out.

It was as though the boy had seen right through him.

Sure what Thomas had done was very much against the law, but it was morally sound and just. Miller couldn’t help but think. When he used to live in the big city his fists would always clench in anger when he read about some pedophile getting out on bail, or how some murderer got out with a warning after killing over three people. That was Miller’s whole reason for moving to a small town, to try and escape all that. But it seems now that the scum of humanity have seeped their way into even the small towns.

That was before Hood.

Because of Thomas, who assumed the identity of Hood and took a stand against the filth, the town feels a little safer, and people who do evil to others are scared. Some of them have completely stopped what they did and turned themselves in before Hood found them.

The town still has its share of evildoers, but Hood helped make it a safer place.

Miller was now faced with a choice.

He could allow Thomas’ charges to go through, and give him jail time and keep him off the streets, which would allow the filth to fill the streets and homes once again, or he could release Thomas to continue his war on crime.

But if he released Thomas, he’d be no better than the dirty cops back in the big city that let criminals go free without so much as a warning.

Miller put his coat on and started driving home, a heated internal battle waging in his head and in his heart.

 

 

 

Thomas slept on his bunk that night, lying on his back with his hands folded neatly on his gut. His bunkmate, a pedophile named Frank Cain looked down at him from the top bunk.

Cain had been thrashed by Hood while he was still at large, and exposed for the sicko that he was. The kids were smart and scared enough to stay silent, but their tears and cries flowed like a river once Cain had been caught.

He fully intended to kill Thomas.

He dropped silently to the ground and clenched his teeth in anger as his adrenaline began to rise. His hands reached out for Thomas’ neck, so he could strangle him or snap his neck.

Thomas’ eyes shot open, and his hands found Cain’s. Bones snapped. Cain screamed in pain, and several pistol toting guards came rushing into the corridor where the cell was located.

Thomas’ hands clenched around Cain’s shattered hands tighter and tighter the longer it took the guards to get there, and Cain’s cries of pain got louder and louder as the pain escalated.

“Let him go!” one of the guards shouted as they started to open the door to the cell.

Wordlessly, Thomas released Cain’s hands, and Cain fell to the ground in pain, his hands mangled beyond recognition.

The guards grabbed Thomas’ arms and dragged him out of bed and escorted him out of the cell and down away from the screaming sicko.

 

 

 

Miller walked into the interrogation room the second day of the Hood investigation. There really wasn’t much to investigate, although Miller was somewhat unnerved at the violence that had occurred during the night.

Thomas was already seated at the table, as intense as ever.

Miller sat across from him, and opened up Thomas’ file folder, which wasn’t very thick. It was almost as though the man had no past, only the present, and if he escaped, the future.

Miller was still at odds about that. As much as he wanted to help Thomas escape and continue doing his work, he knew that if he aided him in any way, he would seem just as bad.

“Good morning Thomas.”

Thomas didn’t respond.

“I heard about the excitement last night.” Miller said, catching Thomas’ attention.

“He deserved it.” Thomas said, answering the next question that Miller was thinking about.

“I have no doubt. But that’s for the law to decide.” Miller said, antagonizing Thomas to get a reaction.

Thomas’ stare turned into an angry glare and he glared hard into Miller’s eyes.

“The law? The law that treats criminals better than the victims?” Thomas rasped.

“What?” Miller asked.

“The victims are hushed and silenced, and told to get over what happened to then, while the criminals who commit atrocities get out on bail, or do community service, or get out after 5 years instead of life.

“There is no gray. There is black and white. There is right, and there is wrong. Those who do wrong get punished. Those who have not done wrong should reap the rewards.” Thomas explained.

“What you’re saying is unfair.” Miller said, taking the opposite position as Thomas.

“What I’m saying is natural justice.” Thomas said.

Miller stopped.

He was absolutely right.

The crazy vigilante across the table from him was right. The argument with himself was over. Sure it sounded crazy, but Thomas had done no wrong. He had merely taken it upon himself to shame the law and its inadequacies.

Those who do wrong get punished.

End of story.

Miller folded up the file folder and stood.

“How long will it be Miller?” Thomas repeated.

“Until what?” Miller asked, playing into the conversation.

“Until you let me out of here.” Thomas said as two officers grabbed Thomas’ upper arms and started escorting him out of the room. Thomas shot him the same wicked grin as he had before, a look that still chilled Miller to his bones.

When everyone had left the room, Miller thought on his situation and came up with an answer for Thomas’ question.

“Soon.” He said to himself.

 

 

 

It was midnight.

Miller had told his wife he couldn’t sleep, and was going to go for a walk to make himself tired. He walked down to the police station, and the late night guards weren’t at all surprised.

Heading to the ward of cells, he found the night watchman asleep, which didn’t surprise him at all. But in a town this small, who cares?

Miller gathered up Thomas’ personal effects and grabbed the keys from near the watchman’s booted feet. He started walking down the hallway, passing sleeping convict by sleeping convict. He reached Thomas’ cell, where he was kept isolated from the other inmates.

Thomas was already sitting up waiting for him, as if he expected Miller to come and bust him out. Miller unlocked the cell, and the two men had a wordless understanding of each other.

Thomas was going to keep doing what he did best, and Miller would do everything to protect him.

Miller left Thomas to put his clothes back on, and watched the corridor to make sure no other late night guards were approaching. The whole place was silent as a graveyard, which made Miller a little nervous.

Hood emerged from the cell.

Not Thomas. Thomas was merely the vessel that got Hood through the day, until the glorious darkness in which he could work.

Hood walked past Miller and straight down the corridor towards the front door of the station. If he was to truly shame the law’s inadequacies, he would do it in style by exiting through the very doors they brought him in through.

“Thanks.” Hood said, in a voice that was worse than any sort of raspy voice Thomas ever talked with. The voice was the embodiment of the darkness itself, and it scared Miller.

Scared him enough to rethink what he was doing.

Should he unleash this crazed vigilante into the world? Could he cope with the fact that he was responsible for whatever this man, this creature of the night was planning on doing to the criminal underworld?

Whatever he thought, it was irrelevant.

Hood had been unleashed.

God save those he came for.