Journal of a Tortured

SOUL

Written By: Kain

Episode 2:  Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?

The year is New Beginning 35.  The survivors of the now defunct army of the Dominion, classified as "The Renegades", reduced to scavenging for food and supplies, the world has been plunged into a state of darkness.  A new Dark Age is upon humanity.  The renegades strike fear into all that they see.  No one is safe when they come.  A group of enraged militia, code-named "The Resistance", had begun to seem as a symbol of hope and heroism against tyranny, but even they couldn't keep the renegades from most of their targets.  Even two families were slaughtered at the hands of the renegades.  In those two families, only a boy and a girl were spared.  In those two, may be the only hope left of stopping the renegades.

Light shines through the hotel window.  A new day has come.  Kylie rises with the early sun, her rosy cheeks fresh from the pillow.  She glances over to Damien.  His legs are tangled in the sheets on the bed, his torso is slowly sliding off the bed, and his is snoring loudly.  She sighs loudly and pushes him off the bed.  Damien hits the floor with a loud thud, yet still he sleeps.  Two hours later, Kylie returns from the lobby and her free breakfast to find Damien sipping coffee and reading the classifieds.  "Whatever your looking for isn't going to be in a small town like this."

"We'll see."  Damien never takes his eyes off the classifieds.  Kylie sits down next to him and reads over his shoulder.  "I found it," Kylie is surprised as Damien leaps into the air, but only speaks mildly, "Are you ready to go, Jade?"

"My name is Kylie now, remember?"  Damien just blows her off and returns to the ad he found.

"We'll be going to a junkyard near here.  It has some parts that will help us take down the renegades.  A boy around my age runs it.  His name is...Biosoldier?"  Damien can't believe that "Biosoldier" is a name.  The two stray humans leave the hotel without paying and without any intention on returning.  Upon reaching the junkyard, they find a boy on a snow mobile being chased by an old, fat man in a bus.  Because it was a school bus, the snow mobile easily outran it, even though there wasn't any snow.  The boy got off his snow mobile to point and laugh at the retreating bus.  Noticing Damien and Kylie, he calms down and walks over to them, tripping three times.  "What can I do for you?"

"Are you...uh...Biosoldier?"

"Why?  Are you with the PBS fundraising committee?  I told you I'd pay..."

"We're just looking to buy stuff."

"Oh!  Have you seen the PBS committee around?"

"No."

"Good, then follow me."  Biosoldier proceeded to show Damien and Kylie around.  He showed them all the junk he had and all the trash.  Damien and Kylie made a list of the items they needed and Biosoldier gathered them.  "That will be one-hundred million denars."

"Denars?  You do know denars are useless now, right?"  Kylie almost burst out laughing.  Biosoldier looked around, stupefied.

"Useless?  So that's why people bought things at my prices."

"I'll give you five yen."

"Is yen the current currency?"  Kylie nodded.  "Then it's a deal."

With their supplies ready and no money to pay for it, Damien hit Biosoldier in the back of the head with a steel pipe he found on the ground, gathered the supplies, and left.  As he fell to the ground, he muttered one word, "Argh! Damn it! How quaint...ugh..." err... ok maybe it was more than one word.

"Hitting him wasn't necessary," Kylie's complaint almost amused Damien.  "No, it wasn't necessary, but it was fun."  Kylie looked at Damien for a minute and decided that Biosoldier would probably be better off with the hit.

With help from the surrounding people, Damien and Kylie found the trail of destruction the renegades left behind.  Determined to find the lost souls of the old army of the Dominion, they pressed on.  While Kylie softened and turned toward humanity with hope and love, Damien isolated himself from the rest of humanity.  He turned his back to all those who tried to connect with him.  Emotionally, Damien has become a monster.  He cared for Kylie like a sister, but even that was only in a good mood.  Damien is rarely in a good mood.

The track of the renegades is very hard to follow.  They are obviously trying to hide, now that they have enough food to last them a while.  The resistance must be pressuring them hard, Damien thought to himself.  That is basically what Damien does now, he thinks to himself.  The path soon leads them to a city.  The city is called:  Ice Hole.  Particularly, it leads them to a part of the city called "Fargin".  That's right, they are in Fargin, Ice Hole.  The city fell into ruin when the founder was deported to Sweden.  He wasn't actually from there, but he was deported nonetheless.  "That thing that killed the Dominion, the lack of resources, it is happening everywhere.  No one is safe.  The terror has yet to be seen."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing.  I was just babbling to myself."  Damien continues to walk on toward their destination.  Damien has become a very introspective person.  He doesn't talk to Kylie anymore.  It's as if Kylie weren't even there.  I'm sure Damien doesn't mean it, Kylie thinks to herself. 

Suddenly, a fight breaks out.  At the center of the fight, is a little girl.  She seems to be ten years of age.  Kylie recognizes her immediately.  "Alicia!"  The little girl looks up.  Tears streak her face.  One man lunges at Alicia with a switchblade.  He cocks the knife.  He Strikes hard, downward.  Alicia screams.  Everyone in the fight stops.  They look at a man's lifeless corpse, lying on its back, in a pool of its own blood.  The very knife that was meant for Alicia tore through his heart.  Damien stands above Alicia, his mouth in a large grin.  He seems to chuckle to himself.  Three men charge him.  Comically, he puts them all out of commission with his drunken boxing.  He turns to Alicia and puts his hand on her shoulder.  "Hey, if you ever need help, just look for me.  Don't forget the name Shadow."

Kylie stares dumbfounded.  Shadow isn't his name.  Why is he so nice to Alicia when he is so mean to me?  It doesn't make sense.  Damien walks over to Kylie.  "I think we need to go and have a great big dinner.  My treat."  Kylie nods and Damien struts triumphantly down the street.  Why is he being so nice?  He just killed four guys and he doesn't care.  Damien has grown very scary.

Later that night, Damien and a few men are laughing and telling jokes.  Kylie is trying to convince a doctor to have a look at Damien.  The doctor laughs at her and returns to the table where everyone is laughing and drinking Longtrail.  Kylie goes up to Damien.  "Damien, I'm tired.  I want to go to a hotel and sleep."

Damien reluctantly turns to the guys at the table.  "Well, I gotta go.  This girl, she can't wait to sleep with me."  The men laugh as they head to the nearest hotel.  Once inside, Kylie turns toward Damien and screams at him for embarrassing her at the bar.  "You're not even old enough to drink and you made jokes about me?"  Damien looked at her with a smirk, laughed and went to bed.

The next morning, Kylie woke up to see Damien sipping coffee and reading a paper.  He had the same doom-and-gloom look on his face.  His eyes were as clear a blue as they always were.  She couldn't help noticing the strange shade of gray they were last night.  She walks up to him silently, gracefully.  He glances at her just as her hand swings.  Caught by surprise, Damien falls backward in the chair as her hand connects with his face.  The loud smack can be heard echoing in the room.  Damien lies on the floor, his eyes so wide; you can see the roundness of his eyeball.  He sits up shakily.  He looks at her as if to say, "Why?"

"You know exactly why I did that."  Damien just looks at her questioningly.  His eyes become narrow.  He stands up slowly.  He stares deep into the eyes of Kylie.  A moment passes, but for Kylie, it seems to be an eternity.  Damien pushes her into the chair.  While continuing his unnerving stare, he speaks.

"Why did you do that?  I don't remember doing anything that would make me deserve that."

"You know what you did, you made jokes about me last night and told people I wanted to sleep with you."

"I don't remember that."

"I don't see how you could forget.  It was right after you saved Alicia."

"Who?"

"Alicia.  The girl in the crowd."

"I didn't save her.  I blacked out after seeing that man pull out the switchblade."  Kylie's eyes widened.  Thoughts poured into her mind.  If it wasn't him, than who was it?  It had to be him.  He was the only one it could be.  He's so sincere.  Is it possible that he was taken over by some magical force?  No, that's insane.  How could it be true?  Something is wrong with Damien.  I have to find out what.

Upon getting ready, she notices Damien watching her carefully.  Damien isn't going to let her get off with slapping him again.  He's back to his old, agitated self, maybe even more hateful then ever.  Kylie doesn't know what happened last night.  Maybe it was a dream.  Maybe it was an illusion.  Maybe she was the one going insane.  She made herself sick with her self-doubts.  She had slapped Damien for no apparent reason.  Damien may never turn his back to her trustingly again.

"Damien?"

"What?"

"Sorry about slapping you.  I guess I just had a dream that was a little too real."  Damien kept silent.  He had been through far too much to be so forgiving.  The time draws near.  They would be at the hiding place of the Renegades soon.  She needed Damien to trust her completely.  If he didn't trust her, then the Renegades might be able to split them up. Kylie didn't want that.  She cringed at the thought of her best friend being removed from her life.  She knows that she has to regain his trust.  She just doesn't know how.

As Damien checks out of the hotel, Kylie roams around the back alley.  All of a sudden, a boy jumps out wearing a musty Elvis wig.  "Oh yeah!"  Kylie screams, which causes the boy to scream, which causes people to look around trying to find the screamers.  Damien comes walking out of the building.  He turns and sees the two screaming children.  He stares blankly at the two for a long minute.  It's finally Kylie who stops to ask questions.  "Who are you?"

"My name is Cheese, but most people call me, Cheesy Boy."

"What's with the wig?"

"Wig?"

"That thing on your head?"

"That's not a wig, it's my friend!"  Kylie stares at him, rather frightened.  Damien is still staring blankly at them.  Kylie is looking Cheese over.  She sees that he is wearing a potato sack for a shirt, but no pants.  Damien continues his blank stare.

Meanwhile, back at the junkyard, Biosoldier begins to come to.  His head is throbbing from the hit.  He is mad as hell.  He jumps on his snowmobile, ready to pursue Damien when a woman comes up to the junkyard.  "Are you Biosoldier?  I'm from the PBS fundraising committee.  I'm here to pick...up...your...donations."  The woman looks as if she were about to fall off the Grand Canyon.  Biosoldier had pulled out a giant potato cannon as she was speaking.  Seeing him load the weapon, she runs off in a fit of terror.  Biosoldier starts his snowmobile only to find that it's out of gas.  He then jumps into his car, Gramp's Dandruff, and proceeds with his pursuit.

Back in Fargin, Cheesy Boy has explained his reason for coming and the absence of his pants.  He wants to join Kylie and Damien in their constant struggle against the Renegades, or, as he calls them, the Cheese People.  Damien is still looking blankly at them.  Kylie turns to him.  "Should we let him join?"  Damien comes out of his stare to look only at Kylie.  He says one word.  "No, I think not."  Okay, so I'm not so good at counting words, big deal.

"What? Why not?"  Cheese is screaming at Damien.

"I don't like the idea of having a guy that takes off his pants to head butt a brick wall being in our presence."

"I'm useful!  I can head butt brick walls and walk the tight rope."

"You can't walk a tight rope."

"Fine, so I can't.  I can make great baloney!"

"Deal!"  And so, Cheesy Boy entered the small ring of friends that wants revenge on the renegades.  Cheese takes it upon himself to head butt any brick wall in the way and to cook baloney.  Damien leads them on to the signs of victory.  That is, until one day...

"Damien?"

"Damien?"

"Where are you Damien?"  Kylie and Cheesy Boy look frantically for Damien.  They can't find him anywhere.  Suddenly Cheesy Boy looks at a drawing of a man on a brick wall and yells, "You did this, didn't you?"  He proceeds to head butt the wall until he knocks himself out.  Kylie starts walking through the dense swamp of the  Illusion Forest.  She continues to call out to Damien.  He never responds.  She hears an eerie laughter coming from the hills.  Maybe Damien is up there, she thinks to herself.  He might need my help.

She runs up the hill and hides behind a fallen tree.  She peaks out at the two people sitting at the ends of the table.  On one side, the witch of the forest.  On the other is Damien.  The witch begins to speak.  "I am not allowed to tell mortals of the future that waits for them.  I can only see it for myself."

"I wish to know, dear enchantress.  How can I know you have the power otherwise?"

"You are a clever one Kain, but alas, you are not long for this world.  For fate conspires against you.  Time runs short.  You must choose your path wisely."

"If fate conspires against me, then I am dead.  Is this a forgone conclusion?"

"Only one who knows how to bend time and destiny to his will can change the future.  I can tell you, but it may cost you the little girl you are with."

"I am with no girl."  The witch chuckles to herself.  She begins to roll some rocks onto the table.  A red one rolls straight into the middle.  Two blue rocks surround it.  "This is your destiny, Kain.  The red is the original, but the blue is just simple conjurations of the mind.  Only one can change the future.  You must believe, or else it is a forgone hope.  Kain, do as your heart commands you.  Kill those in your way and be the last man standing.  Only then can you truly conquer this world.  You are heading toward a point where fate and destiny will collide.  You must play your cards right so that Destiny comes out on top.  You are destined to save this world from the brink of insanity.  That is all I will tell you.  Now sleep."  With those last words, Damien falls backward and hits the ground sleeping.  The witch utterly disappears from whence she came.

Kylie runs up to Damien and wakes him up.  He looks up at her.  "Where am I?  How did I get on this hill?"

"You don't remember anything?"

"What?"  Kylie is frightened beyond words.  Kain?  Who is Kain?  She begins to think of the problem Damien is having.  He has multiple personalities.  She decides right then to seek help for her best friend.  She has heard of a man that can separate personalities so that each can have their own life.  She needed to get Damien there.  She took Damien back to the campsite and found Cheesy Boy sitting in a stump while eating baloney.  She told Damien to sit down and rest a while.  She then went to Cheesy Boy and told him of her plan to get Damien to the man that she heard of.  Cheese basically said "whatever."

Kylie told Damien that while he was asleep, a man came and told them that the Renegades had been seen in the northern reaches of Duschtenheim, a small town three miles north of the Illusion Forest.  Damien agreed to go and started the march to Duschtenheim.  Kylie hoped that the man in Duschtenheim would be able to help Damien.  She hoped that he would not be taken over by his new personalities.  She wasn't ashamed to admit that she loved Damien as a brother.  She needed him.  If he were gone, whom would she have left?  Cheesy Boy?  Yeah, right.

On the horizon, a white car can be seen flying along the roadways.  Biosoldier is on a heavy look out for Damien.  Gramp's Dandruff can be seen racing along the country roads, propelled by the sheer power of its speakers.  Biosoldier wants Damien's blood.  Damien wants the Renegades' blood.  Kylie wants Damien to be healed.  Cheese wants a sandwich.  A hope still stands as long as that man exists.  A thing must come together, or be torn apart.