After the Cleansing

This is a story about a man who is forced into a position where he controls the fate of many lives. He must overcome vicious mutants and a conspiracy funded by a billionare.

 After the Cleansing

By Malik Amandla

 

            I’m lying on the carpet of my office with a smashed hand, a few broken ribs and blood pouring out of my head. Two or three of my teeth have been knocked out, that really pissed me off because I consider myself a sexy man. How will anyone take me seriously with random gaps in my mouth? My right eye is swollen shut and there are gashes all along my toned chest and abs. The gashes aren’t deep enough for me to bleed to death but they could use some medical attention. This is the most pain I have ever experienced. I’ve had some freaky girlfriends in the past, so my tolerance for pain is pretty high. But this is a whole new level of pain. I feel like I have just gone through surgery without any anesthetics. Did a large group of men do this to me? No, it was worse. Did some vicious animals do this to me? No, it was worse. They weren’t animals, but they were definitely vicious.

            My name is Kareem Jones and I’ve come to realize that the best part of your life can simultaneously be the worst part. For example, the highlight of my life is my job. I’m the sheriff of a small town and I get paid a decent amount for settling a few disputes and conflicts a week. I’m well respected among my peers even though their opinions of me are irrelevant. All I care about is the money. Fortunately for this town’s occupants, I get paid to help them. Seems like everything is fine, right? Wrong! If everything was fine then I wouldn’t bother telling you what I’ve been through. A few miles away from Yermo, my hometown, there was a laboratory owned by J-Tech. The scientists in this laboratory were not attempting to cure cancer or creating alternative fuels or even dissecting frogs. These scientists were making weapons…human weapons. J-Tech operations were financed by an anonymous billionare whose identity was only known by Dr. Kage. Dr. Kage lead the scientists into developing techniques to manipulate human DNA and genes to create humans with various abilities.

They planned to sell their greatest successes to militaries from various countries so they could finance even more operations. Eventhough there hadn’t been a war in a decade,  America, Iraq, China, Japan, and a few countries in Europe were stocking up. No one wanted another country to have the upperhand. The scientists actually hired hitmen to kidnap people to be experimented on. They also pulled people from foster homes, asylums, homeless shelters and hospitals for their experiments. Hundreds died, but no one cared. They were careful to use people who were basically alone, people who were social outcasts without family or friends.

            But I wasn’t worried about the deceased since none of them were from Yermo. I was worried about the survivors who were mutated; they were the ones who could cause pandemonium. They were the ones with the capacity to make chaos reign wherever they inhabited. After three years of practice, the scientists started having a lot more success with the mutations. The survival rate increased from three percent to fifteen. Soon there were enough mutants at the lab for them to overtake the scientists. Every single scientist was brutally murdered and the lab was destroyed. Pieces of Dr. Kage could be found all over the laboratory. After the raid, the mutants began to search for a place to live. Most of them chose Yermo because it was the closest and it’s isolated from all the cities and towns in California. It’s in the middle of the desert, the perfect place for mutants to create mayhem without interference from cops or soldiers. Most people in my position and with my abilities would probably feel obligated to protect their hometown. Well, I’m not like most people; someone would have to dig deep in their pockets if they wanted to motivate me to be the hero.

            A few hours before I got cut up and beat down, my uncle and cousin walked into my office. I had just had a large breakfast that even Denny’s and IHOP couldn’t replicate, so I was relaxing in my favorite chair getting dangerously close to dozing off. Whatever was on their minds was obviously urgent and extremely serious, since they neglected to give me a courteous greeting like “Hi” or “Wassup bruh?” The first words out of my uncle’s mouth were, “Get off your a*s and grab a weapon! You need to come with us now.”

            I sighed, and then attempted to pick a piece of bacon from my teeth. “Is it really going down? Are the rumors really true?”

            “Yes! They killed Dr. Evans and destroyed his house. Fortunately, her kids were at school, who knows what they would do to little kids.”

            I finally got the piece of bacon out of my teeth and threw it to the side. “Dr. Evans, she’s the dentist who worked out of her house right?”

            My uncle sadly nodded, “She gave me a discount for the braces on all of my kids, including Shakwon,” he said while pointing his thumb at his tall and lanky son. Shakwon gave me an awkward smile showing a little of his dental work. I couldn’t tell if his braces were blue or green, it looked like a combination.

            “Damn, these mutants are getting out of hand. That is definitely going to cause some problems.” I said trying to keep the frustration from leaking into my voice.

            “We are the solution to those problems. Shakwon tracked the mutants to their hideout. We’re going to meet with about twenty guys at my house right now. We’re all gonna use whatever we can for weapons and run those freaks out of town. Hopefully we can kill a bunch before we run them off.”

            I let out an irritated groan and leaned back in my chair. I let my size fifteen boots rest on my desk as I crossed my legs. “Why can’t everybody just chill? Is all this killing and drama really necessary?”

            “Those mutant freaks started it; we are obligated to finish it before more innocent people get hurt. Just like you are obligated to use your talent for combat, to help us protect this town. I’ve heard about your rigorous workout routines since the last law changes, you know we can benefit from your help.”

            “It’s truly a shame that guns have been outlawed all throughout the nation. If you guys were smart like me, you would’ve started training with knives.” Training with knives was one of many adjustment I had made since the mass executions called Project Cleanse.

            “Great, grab your knives and come with of us to get some justice.”

            I let out a loud yawn and wiped my watery eyes. My meal was still digesting and I still wanted to doze off. The only reason I had woken up that morning was to eat, then I planned on going back to sleep. There hadn’t been in any disturbances in Yermo all week, until they came in. I took my feet off my desk and stood up to stretch. “First of all, you’re not going for justice. You just want revenge. Second of all, I’m not going anywhere until I get fifty thousand dollars in cash, right on top of this lovely desk. Fighting mutants is not in my job description, y’all have to pay up.”

            “You know we can’t afford that!”

            “Then I can’t afford to waste my time with this nonsense. I’ll be leaving for Las Vegas in the morning. If you’re gonna be cheap, then you can deal with these mutants on your own.”

            My uncle glared at me. For a second I thought I saw a hint of hatred in his eyes, but that was impossible. We were family after all, what kind of family looks at each other with hate? He answered my question by swinging his fist at my face. I ducked at the last second as his fist flew over my head. I backed up into a defensive position and prepared to retaliate. Shakwon stepped between us, all traces of his awkwardness were gone. He looked at me coldly before addressing his dad.

            “Pop, we don’t need even need him. We have enough men to take down the mutants. We’re wasting our time asking this boy to come battle with real men, let’s just go.”

            They both stormed out of my office leaving me with a smirk on my face. I thought the whole situation was kinda funny, except for the part about Dr. Evans being killed. You never really know someone until you see how they react in an uncomfortable situation. I had never seen my uncle so angry before. He looked like he would have put a hole through my head if guns hadn’t been outlawed. I had never seen Shakwon look so assertive and cold. He never would have done that a few months ago. I chuckled a little to myself, then it tuned into a loud frustrated laugh. I admit that I felt a little guilty about not helping my family, but that’s business. Either pay up or get the hell out of my office. I sat back in my chair and rubbed my temples. I couldn’t believe my uncle actually swung on me, I felt like I dreamt the whole thing. I decided not to concern myself with their troubles and just go back to sleep. I lowered my head to my desk as I thought about what I would need to pack for my trip. I told myself everything would be irrelevant in twenty four hours, when I’m in a jacuzzi with two models from Vegas.

            Before I could doze off a man with an abnormally long neck came in. His skin was a chalky white, he wore a tank top and some slacks that were similar to the color of his skin. His neck was about three feet long and it supported a thick head with a receding hairline. He was the strangest looking man I had ever seen in my life, I was barely able to contain my disgust as I asked, “What can I do for you?”

“I’m Exzell, I’m trying to find out some information. Did Dr. Kage used to live here?”

“Yeah, he was here with his family whenever he could get away from the lab”

“Give me his address.”

“Sorry bruh, I can’t give out that information. He was a very private man, you know, because his job was dangerous with all them mutant freaks.”

“How do you know he was making mutants at his lab?” he asked while staring into my eyes. The eye contact made me uncomfortable so I avoided his glare by shifting my focus to his feet. I noticed they were long and covered with brown hair, they reminded me of kangaroo feet. He was a truly strange man.

“Dr. Kage brought it up in a council meeting a few years back. He asked the council members for permission to do research out in the desert about twenty miles away. He paid a pretty large fee to get permission to experiment so close to home. Everyone on the council, including me, got a nice percentage of the money.” My lips formed into a small smile as I reminisced abut the fun I had blowing the money. “So we let him do his experiments without any questions, as long as he didn’t cause any problems. Are these questions for the Yermo documentary? I told your boss at Pride Productions that I want the cash up front.”

“No, I don’t work at Pride Productions.”

“Then what’s up with all these questions? Who the hell are you?”

“This is the last time I’m asking, give me Dr. Kage’s address.”

“My answer hasn’t changed man. That information is confi-.”I cut off my sentence and stood up as he jumped on top of my desk. The desk groaned under his kangaroo-like feet as he used his momentum for an attack. Exzell’s head hung limply behind him as he arched back. Then he swung his elongated neck toward me, his head sped at me like a metal ball at the end of a chain. I unconsciously threw up my left hand to protect my face. My hand was no match for his momentum and hardened skull. The bones near my knuckles and pinky cracked under the force, the pain was sharp and immediate, but I could tolerate it. I used my right hand to grab his neck and throw him off my desk. His head collided into a nearby wall with a satisfying thump. I grabbed a knife from my desk drawer, as I spun around to face him, he jumped and used both of his feet to kick my chest. I stumbled back a few yards before falling to one knee, he had knocked the air out of me. He slowly got off the ground and rubbed a knot forming on his head. I had threw him harder than I thought. He addressed me in a calm voice that contrasted the scowl on his face.       

“So you know that Dr. Kage and his scientists were torturing us and you just sat back and did nothing?”

“Say what? Are you a freakin’ mutant?”

“Obviously, and you’re one of many who allowed a group of scientist to experiment on innocent people, so they could sell us to American, Japanese, and Russian militaries.”

“I didn’t think it was that serious, I thought you were getting paid or something. I didn’t know the full extent of the situation.”

“You didn’t know because you didn’t want to know!” Exzell charged at me with his head flailing behind him. This time I was prepared for his attack. His emotions clouded his judgment, he came at me without any regard for the knife gripped tightly in my right hand. This time he swung his head at my shoulder. I quickly dodged to the left and kneeled. I thrust the blade deep into his thigh. I twisted the blade to widen the wound before pulling it out and stepped out of the range of another strike from his head. He growled as he examined the gaping hole in his leg, by the time he shifted his attention back to me, I was sprinting at him. I went to work on him with calculated speed and accuracy. Before the blood could spill out of one cut, I was already slashing somewhere else. I cut into his eyes, neck, shoulders, stomach, and his other thigh. I was about to roll on the ground to slash his Achilles tendon, but he raised his blood soaked hands in surrender. While I contemplated sparing his life, Exzell dipped past me and sprinted out of the door. I was surprised he could move so fast despite the damage I inflicted on his legs. I could have thrown my knife into the back of his head, but I decided to show some mercy. My legs were shaking from the adrenaline being pumped through my body and my heart was pounding against my chest as if it was trying to escape from its bloody prison. The pain in my hand slowly increased from tolerable to extremely annoying as I walked over to my door. 

My pale attacker was gone, there was nothing but desert sand and vacant houses outside my office. Everyone unwittingly went out to their safe, monotonous jobs while their sheriff was dealing with a bunch of bull s**t a few miles away. I hung an “Out to Lunch” sign on the front of the door and locked it. That would hopefully deter anymore unwanted visitors. I went back to my chair and struggled to keep all my emotions on the inside. I never externally expressed any emotions because I felt that was a sign of weakness. It takes a lot of character and self control to remain composed no matter how frustrating a situation is. The whole scrap with Exzell was just another reason for me to despise the latest president.

President Malise was the man responsible for my lack of guns. He was also the reason I let Exzell escape. All authority figures were supposed to kill anyone who committed a crime, there were no lawyers, juries, judges, or jails. You could be executed over a crime as petty as stealing a five cent jolly rancher. President Malise had was strict and had no mercy for anyone he deemed a criminal. I personally had no problem with killing people, but it had to be under my terms. I wasn’t going to kill someone just because the president revised a few laws. Unfortunately, my animosity toward President Malise was uncommon. Everyone I knew loved and admired the president. Violence in America decreased significantly since Jay Malise was inaugurated. President Malise  dedicated the majority of his time to ending the violence, crimes, and wars associated with the nation. His whole campaign depended upon his promise of a country with no violence or fear. A country where the people could truly be free to live their lives.

            With an unlimited budget, he was able to buy the support of every important senator and congressman, making him the most powerful and influential president in American history. He used his own money to finance government projects so he could afford to dramatically cut taxes without hurting the economy. After the tax cuts, he had the respect and loyalty of almost every American. They supported him no matter how extreme his beliefs were. President Malise began to show his true colors during his second term. He ordered a mass execution called Project Cleanse. Every prison throughout the nation was locked down after all the employees were evacuated. Then they were all blown up while the prisoners were still inside, tens of millions of people died that day. The whole event was internationally televised and widely celebrated. The presidents of oversea countries observed the mass executions and considered doing a similar feat. All the protesters of the social cleansing were executed within a week leaving President Malise with little opposition.

After Project Cleanse, prisons were no longer necessary. That was when death became the only punishment for crimes. Once a crime was committed, it was reported to the city or town’s sheriff, the authoritve figure. The decrease of felonies were so extreme that only one official was necessary per city or town. It was up to them how quick and painful the execution would be. Fortunately, those executions were rare since crimes were almost non-existent. I’ve been a sheriff in Yermo for almost five years and I haven’t had one crime reported to me. Things were starting to change for the worse in Yermo, there was too much anger and animosity in the air. I was definitely going to leave before all the hostility escalated. I pushed out the negative thoughts of the president and closed my eyes as my adrenaline level went back to normal.

            I wasn’t even asleep for an hour before someone started banging on my door yelling for help. I shuffled over to the door while wiping drool from my mouth, I still wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not. Nobody had a reason to yell for help in little, old Yermo. I opened the door and was smacked in the face by reality. Shakwon was there looking terrified, he pushed passed me and ran into the office. I looked out to see what could make a grown man act like a child in a thunderstorm. Even though I knew the mutants existed, I still wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Three mutants were sprinting toward the door as I slammed it shut. They immediately crashed through, reducing the door to firewood and splinters. That was when all hell broke loose.

            The first one to come through hit me hard and fast. He had six powerful arms protruding from his thick body. The highest set of arms was attached to his shoulders like most people. The second set was on each side of his ribs, they were the set that crashed through the door. The last set freaked me out the most, he had a large muscular arm attached to each one of his thighs. The hands that were near his thighs were holding onto a metal pole that was about the size of a hockey stick. He swung the pole at my head before I could react. The first hit stunned me, it blurred my vision. The next hit bust my head open in a red spray and sent me stumbling into a wall. I caught a glimpse of the other two mutants before the blood flowed in my eyes.

            The one that went after Shakwon was covered in scales and fur. Brown, reptilian scales dominated his arms and legs while a thick, black coat of fur covered his torso. The fur on top of his head was tied into a long, bushy ponytail. He had sharp teeth and long pointed ears that were more mobile than conventional human ears. His eyes were yellow and his pupils were thin, dark slits. His nose was actually darker than the rest of his body; it was round and moist like the end of a wolf’s snout. He threw Shakwon onto the floor and sunk his teeth deep into my cousin’s shoulder. Shakwon’s scream was filled with a mixture of pain and terror. His efforts to fight off the mutant were futile, the mutant was enjoying the taste and warmth of Shakwon’s blood. Then he addressed the third mutant, “Slice, take care of the sheriff, this one is mine.”

            Slice was covered in shards of metal. It looked like someone applied transparent glue over every inch of his body and then dropped him into a ditch filled with shattered, sharp metals. The shards were sticking out of his hair, lips, eyelids, nostrils, they were literally everywhere. At the end of each altered hand were five metal claws as long as pencils. His raspy laugh echoed in my ears as he walked toward me.

            I only needed a few seconds to recover from my head injury enough to dodge the next strike. I rolled to the right just as the six-armed mutant broke through the wall with his pole. I rolled again and dived onto my desk. I grabbed the knife I used against Exzell and an additional one that was in another drawer. I winced as I struggled to hold one of the knives in my left hand, then I turned toward the six-armed mutant. After a quick flick from my right wrist, the blade of my knife was buried snugly into his eye. A combination of blood and tears flowed from it in a steady stream. I went after the Slice mutant next. I switched the other knife to my right hand and charged at him. He just looked at me with a nonchalant expression, his body was too relaxed for someone who was being charged at. That’s when the real pain began.

It turned out that a knife in his eye wasn’t enough to put Six-Arms out of commission. Before I was halfway to Slice, Six-Arm’s pole crashed into my ribs producing a sickening crunch. I immediately crumbled to the carpet, I felt a sharp pain around my lungs every time I inhaled. Before I could pass out, Slice smacked me back to consciousness. The shards along his hand cut up my face with each slap. He ripped open my shirt, exposing a hard, sweaty torso. Bruises were already forming beside my abs. His eyes widened with anticipation as he surveyed my ragged body. He took his time and slowly cut into my body with his claws. He savored every gash and incision, they were deep enough to hurt, but not deep enough to kill me. I could still hear Shakwon screaming in the background, I was surprised he was still alive.

            After seven or eight long cuts into my body, Six-Arms intervened. He pushed my malicious surgeon aside and stood over me. He passed the metal pole from his lowest set of arms to his highest. Then he raised the pole over his head and prepared to crush my skull into powder. I closed my eyes and braced myself for an agonizing death. I wasn’t sure if there was a heaven or hell, but anything had to be better than the massacre I was a victim of. Before he could deliver the lethal blow, someone yelled “Stop!”

            Six-Arms reluctantly lowered his pole and glared at the mutant with scales and fur. He spoke again, “You know better than that, we are not here to kill anybody.”

            I was startled by both his voice and his words. It hadn’t occurred to me that something so violent and vicious could have such a soft, almost feminine voice. His words were alarming because I was ready to die, I couldn‘t endure anymore pain. If they weren’t there to kill us, then what was the point of all that beating and cutting? Six Arms replied in a low baritone, “This human will pay for what he’s done to me,” He pulled the knife out of his eye before continuing, “My left eye is useless now. There’s no way he’s getting away with this.”

            His grip tightened on the pole and a large vein pulsated from his temple. His rage had increased exponentially in that short period of time. He raised the pole high again, it became a blur as it sped toward my head. The reptile-mammal compilation raised his voice, “Impervious won’t like that Zeke.”

            Zeke, the six-armed mutant, stopped in mid swing. The pole was inches away from my face; I could touch it if I stuck out my tongue. Zeke was quivering with fury as his partner continued. “You know what Impervious will do if you anger him.”

            Zeke threw the pole aside and backed up from me. He had a wild look in his eye and was sweating profusely. I originally thought he was quivering with fury when he stopped his attack, he was actually reacting to his fear of Impervious. His voice softened as he spoke, “I’m sorry Tyran, I didn’t mean to get out of control. You know I would never disobey him.”

            “Remember, we are here to torture these humans. We are going to make them experience what we went through. We are going to take our time and enjoy the process of punishing all the humans in this foolish town. They had to know what was going on at the lab, yet they did nothing to stop it. No, death is not an acceptable punishment, Impervious wants them to suffer, just like we did.”

            “Are you going to tell him about this incident?”

            Tyran smiled and licked Shakwon’s blood from his lips. His tongue was abnormally long, like a wolf’s. “Naw, I won’t report you this time. We’re just about finished here. Go ahead and get a couple more hits in before we leave.”

            Zeke picked me up by head. My head was in between two massive hands from his highest set of arms. My feet were dangling off the ground, I doubt I could’ve stood on my own if I wanted to. The other four fists were slamming into my body relentlessly. My body had gone numb, I was aware of the pain but I couldn’t really feel it. After what seemed like an eternity, Zeke threw me head first into my desk. The wooden desk yielded from the impact and collapsed on top of me. Slice let out another raspy laugh as they strolled out of my office. He said in his hoarse voice, “I can‘t wait to get President Malise. We should cause him three times as much pain since he financed all of the experiments.”

            The knowledge that the president was responsible for making the mutants hit me like a physical blow. He must have planned the whole thing before he even became president. He had manipulated the nation into giving up all of its guns and bombs, now it was defenseless against the mutants that were made from his money! With the power of the mutants, he would make a smooth transition from an obsessive president to the USA’s first dictator. He probably didn’t expect the group of mutants near Yermo to escape, but they didn’t matter if he had more labs around the country. He could have thousands of mutants out there for all I knew, so one small group after revenge wouldn’t concern him. The irony of the situation added on to my headache caused by Zeke.

            I just laid, entangled in the remnants of my desk. I had never felt so fatigued before, I don’t think I could’ve been any closer to death. I looked over at Shakwon, his clothes were soaked with blood and he wasn’t moving. I couldn’t tell whether or not he was alive. I vowed I would get back at those mutants.

They should’ve killed me, now I am going to devote my life to killing every single mutant I can find. The Slice, Zeke, Tyran, who ever Impervious is, and any other one that crosses my path. It’s wild how violence can be passed on like a virus. Violence is contagious and it spreads rapidly, destroying its hosts. When one group suffers, they make another group suffer. That group retaliates by finding another group to release their frustrations on. It’s like water, it takes on so many forms but it’s always there. The sun doesn’t get rid of water, it just relocates it. The water evaporates into the clouds, the clouds move, it rains in a new location, just like violence. Someone takes the initiative to find a new target and then violence reigns. It’s a vicious cycle with no true winners, who is strong enough to break this cycle and make it end? I’m definitely not strong enough. I’ve been pulled into the cycle, there is no point in resisting. Once I recover, I swear I’m going to reciprocate the mutant’s lust for violence. Then, I’m going after President Malise.

 

 

 

           

 

Author's Note

Please give me honest criticism, I thrive on criticism and use it to become a better writer. Thanks.

Reviews

[richard hurndall]

Hi- thanks for your recent review. Returning the favour.

I think you've got a real nice narrative style, and your paragraphs are broken up into manageable and readable chunks. This is a task in itself, so kudos. Also I liked the line 'Pieces of Dr. Kage could be found all over the laboratory.'
There are quite a few things I could suggest on improving the story, but I think the main one is that after the first paragraph you 'infodump' on the reader. This is a bizarre sci-fi word which essentially means, instead of integrating the reader into your world by 'showing' them what is happening, you are 'telling' them the backstory. From my point of view I am interested in why your character is bloodied and mangled, then you hit me with a huge backstory and by the time you get back to the action I'm confused.
How do you avoid infodumping? I still don't know the answer! My advice would be to google search the word 'turkey city lexicon' and read that- it describes common pitfalls in story building. Let me know what you think!

[Dempsey Wilson (D.L. Wi..]

Pretty good story, Malik. It flowed fairly well and had an interesting storyline. Good protagonist, too. Keep up the good work!

[Michael Carr]

its good. the character is a bit too much, he talks about how tough he is, how he has well toned abs, etc. a real anti hero doesn't do that, the descriptiuons could use a bit more variety as well.

that said, the story is excellent, the action fast and furious, and some great lines. just a few nitpicks in a great work. well done man.

[Brandon Meyers]

An interesting premise and well-delivered.

[Bianca]

Wow. The plot was interesting and it was full of action. I liked it. To be honest I'm not very good at criticism but I did enjoy the story so far so keep going.