Persona - Chapter 8
Chapter 8 – The
Last Trial Begins
I made my way
back to my car and started to drive off.
I needed to switch my clothes somewhere else where they couldn’t see me
take off my mask. I found an old gas
station and took my mask off as I parked the car out of the light of one of the
streetlamps. I grabbed my bag and
switched to my other clothes. I couldn’t
let the clothes that I did these hunts in be seen. The less that made me stand out in the Texas
summer weather, the better. As I went
into the gas station to grab some chips and a drink to clear my mind a bit
about the bear, I noticed a lady in line that looked eerily familiar. It was the same lady that had prayed over me
before I left Houston. My thoughts began
to race. Why was she here in the middle
of nowhere at a tiny gas station? I
didn’t have an answer for why she was there, but she had an answer as to what
her intentions were as soon as she saw me.
“Oh! Hello!
You must be the young man that I prayed for not that long ago. You seem even more troubled than you were
when I prayed over you. Here, let me
pray over you again.”
I almost
instinctively lowered my head and felt her hand extend out towards me. “Please guide this young man, Lord. May your hand guide his actions and bring him
closer to your love and salvation. May
your blessings shine on him and may he find contentment in your embrace. In the father’s name, Amen.” I thanked her for her time and paid for her
snacks so that she wouldn’t have to pay for them herself. “Oh!
You’re so kind, young man. Thank
you so much! May the Lord guide you on
your journey!” She left the convenience
store without another word and seemed to almost fade into the darkness as she
seemed to be walking off towards a car.
The cashier caught my attention so that I could pay for my own snacks
and wouldn’t hold up the line any longer than it had already been held up. It was strange that this woman kept appearing
wherever I went and even more strange that her first instinct was to pray over
me. She knew something that I didn’t and
felt compelled to help me anyways, even though I was someone who clearly
carried burdens that she probably didn’t want to carry. Still, I was thankful for her stopping and
praying for a sinner who clearly struggled with a lot.
I made my way out
to my car and started driving on the way back home. I wanted to try and clear my head of the hunt
that night and wanted to find some entertainment. As I arrived at the house, Uncle Freddy was
leaving out of the front door. “Oh,
Derrick! You caught me right as I was
heading back out on a call. There’s some
food in the fridge if you’re hungry!”
Uncle Freddy didn’t even give me so much as a look back when he started
driving off. He was in such a hurry that
he literally ran out the door and drove off to work. At least he seemed excited to head back to
work. As for me, I was excited to
finally get some rest. Uncle Freddy was
a lax person when it came to family being over, so people coming in and out of
his house that he approved of at odd hours didn’t raise any alarms for
him. All that I could think of doing was
showering and heading off to sleep. As
soon as I got inside, I immediately threw my clothes into the washer and
started getting them ready to go through a deep cleansing cycle. Even though I didn’t touch the bear, I could
almost feel the bear’s scent on my skin.
I needed all my clothes to be clean, if not to avoid raising suspicions,
then at the very least to help heal my conscience.
I decided after
the shower that tea would be in order, something to help calm my nerves. My uncle had some of the finest appliances in
the world. He had a $2,000 machine that
could brew the finest coffee, tea, and other kinds of hot drinks that I didn’t
even know how to pronounce properly, much less had tasted. I decided to brew some earl grey and let it
run for a few minutes while I got some fresh sleeping clothes on. I wanted to get a good rest after this tea
and needed to be ready to pass out as soon as it was done. Within a matter of minutes, I heard the
machine sputtering, meaning that the tea was ready. I looked through the cabinets and reached for
what looked like a fancy jar of honey.
On the jar was a label that read “Manuka Honey”. I had no idea what that meant, but I put a
good scoop of it into the mug and mixed it well into the tea. To say that this tea had an amazing flavor
would be an understatement. It was
nearly indescribable how good it was. It
made every other cup of earl grey tea that I had had up until that point feel cheap
by comparison. My uncle lived in the lap
of luxury and rarely actually took part in it, with how much he was gone at
work. I wondered if he ever made himself
tea like this and sat down on his couch to watch television as I did. He probably never even considered allowing
himself the time to do such a thing. All
that mattered to him was feeling like he was helping others and that he was
valued at work. He wanted to feel valued
and feel like he was needed, that much I knew.
After I finished
the tea, I went to brush my teeth and made my way off to sleep. I knew that the last challenge was going to
be the most difficult of all, so I needed to be prepared. The next day, I got a call from Agent Nelson,
and she had some interesting words to say.
“Hello, is this Derrick Boseman?”
“Yes, this is
him.”
“Hello, Mr.
Boseman. We wanted to notify you that we
are going to need to hold on to your brother’s body for a while. You will probably not receive it for the next
few months until we have concluded our investigation.”
I was
shocked. “What do you mean months? How long do you intend on holding onto him?”
Agent Nelson
stammered as she replied. “W-we need to
hold onto his body for at least the next month or two to fully evaluate the
autopsies that have been performed on his body already. Hopefully, we will have some results back
that can provide us some clues as to who this killer is. Until then, we will do our best to try and
make sure to keep you and your family notified of any updates that may arise
during this process.”
I sighed as I
realized that my brother would probably not be laid to rest for months. “Alright.
Thank you, Agent Nelson. You have
a good day.”
“You too.” She hung up the phone and left me in a state
of confused emotions. I was most likely
days away from getting into Invictus Persona and they had yet to even come
close to identifying who the killer was.
There was no other course of action left for me to take. I was going to need to finish the last trial
and get involved in the down and dirty work until I could find who did kill my
brother and make them pay. Hell, I
wanted all of them to pay for what they did to him. My brother wasn’t perfect, but he was still
my brother. No one is perfect and he
deserved to live a full life, not to have his head served on his own desk like
an art exhibit. My brother deserved
better than that. But then again, not
everyone involved with Invictus Persona seemed to be bad. Some of them just seemed to be average
everyday people who were trying to do their best to protect their loved ones
and vested interests and Invictus Persona seemed to be the only group that were
willing to help them out. There was much
for me to think about that day, and it likely wouldn’t come to an easy
conclusion.
Fortunately, I
wouldn’t have to contemplate that for much longer. Right after that call, I ended up receiving
another message on the secure line. It
looked like things were about to pick up yet again. The secure line had another
message from Invictus Persona.
Greetings,
You have done an
excellent job on your last two trials.
This last trial will be more difficult than your previous two and will
require you to be willing to be covert, quick, and most importantly, deadly. This is the hunt that will determine whether
you are fit for our group. If you
survive the night, you will be granted status as a member of Invictus
Persona. If not, then you will face a
fate like that of the previous number 13.
The choice is yours. The
coordinates for this trial are listed down below. We expect you to be present 15 minutes before
the assigned time so that we have ample time to prepare for the attack. If you are late, there will be
consequences. Above all else, speak of
this to no one and come alone.
~IP
This was it. As soon as this last trial would be, I needed
to prepare. I had less than two days to
prepare for this attack. I had to make
every moment count. I started preparing
for this attack, knowing full well that I wouldn’t come back if I screwed
up. This was going to take precision,
efficiency, and grit. I made my way out
to the range one last time to prepare myself for the trial. I didn’t spend the hours there like I had the
previous times that I was there, though.
I didn’t mow through nearly as much ammunition, as nearly every shot I
made was directly on target and was in dead mass. If I were any more accurate, I would be
shooting plainly for the head to just get things over with. I knew that I would have to be quick and
efficient, but it seemed like I was efficient enough already. My nerves had steeled as well. I wasn’t as nervous about going to do another
trial. My excitement was rising, but my
fear was not. I didn’t fear going out
there to kill something again. I was
almost thrilled at the prospect of killing something.
I tried my best
to quell my excitement after shooting at the shooting range by shopping for
some food at the grocery store. Uncle
Freddy would leave me money for groceries so that I could pick us up whatever I
found that was good and in season. He
never really cared that much about what he ate, so long as it wasn’t complete
junk food. His routine of walnuts, fish,
salad, and fruit seemed to do him well enough, but I found it to be very
boring. He would likely tell me
otherwise, but it seemed like he was never really focused on what he was eating
when he was working. He ate what he had,
or he didn’t eat. He operated like
clockwork, consistently sticking to the same routine, never shifting, never
changing.
Making food for Uncle
Freddy always seemed like something that he enjoyed as much as I did. I enjoyed cooking for others. Cooking for myself felt more like a chore
born out of the necessity of eating.
Cooking for someone else, however, felt like an experience. Being able to curate, plate, and serve a meal
for my uncle was always something that I enjoyed when I was over at his
place. This was part of the reason my
brother wanted me to join him in cooking at a restaurant that was family owned. He wanted to run it with me and be able to be
in the kitchen, serving up fresh food every day. Now the closest thing that I’d get to doing
that would be to cook for my family. I
used to cook for friends, but all of them went their separate ways when we got
older and were getting ready to graduate from high school. Now that I was on the verge of graduating
with my bachelor’s in criminal justice, I needed to be ready to look for work,
and getting into Invictus Persona would present both benefits and drawbacks. While I could feasibly operate within the
organization, my time and efforts would probably be better spent if I got close
enough to expose them and take them down from the inside. It seemed almost like the perfect plan,
assuming that I could get everyone’s names and numbers in writing, there would
be no escape for these people. They
would all have to face the music and face being shut down by the FBI. It felt like a dream. I was this close to being a member of
Invictus Persona, this close to having the truth regarding my brother. I just had to keep going, to be ready for
when they would need me to kill again.
The next night
approached fast and without much warning.
I had just finished making Uncle Freddy some scampi, just like the kind
that Jessie would make. He had his fill
and decided to head off to sleep early so that he could arrive early at the
hospital in the morning. It was the
perfect time for me to leave, as his phone wouldn’t notify him about people at
the door while he was sleeping. I
dressed up in the same attire as the last two missions and set out to go and
take on the final trial. There was no
time for error. If this was going to
happen, it needed to happen tonight. I
made my way quickly out to the highway and started to drive out towards
Dallas. This location wasn’t in the
middle of nowhere. This time it was in
the heart of the metropolitan area and seemed to be a high-ticket target. Just by looking at where it was reading on my
map, I knew that I was going to be going for something huge. I already knew as I made my way towards the
coordinates that someone was going to die tonight, and it wasn’t going to be
me.
I made my way to
a secluded area where I could park out of the sight of cameras and lights. I needed to be able to approach this target
under the cloak of darkness. As soon as
I got close enough to the area that the coordinates indicated, I saw it, a
small-scale mansion that appeared to belong to someone wealthy. We were going to have to be silent. It looked like there were other people searching
the area with scopes. These weren’t
Invictus Persona members. They were dressed in military-grade equipment. If we were going to take this guy down, we
were going to need numbers on our side.
I looked around and noticed a nearby park. It was perfect. I made my way over and noticed 27 and 3. They appeared to be fully masked up and ready
for a fight. Both had rifles in hand and
were trained on the same house that I was at.
I needed to make my way over to them without being seen. I crouched down and made a quick and smooth
pace towards them, making sure to not break the view with the house. 3 noticed me first and whispered to me. “Hey, 13!
Over here!”
I moved over to 3
and instinctively reached for the rifle and pistol that they had on the table
and put on the gloves that were next to them, as was custom. 27 looked over and commented to me. “Good.
We didn’t have to tell you what to do this time. You’re learning. Hopefully, you learn fast, because we’re
going to need to go into this house fast.”
1 came up behind
us out of nowhere and nearly spooked me as he spoke up. “Now that everyone is here and 44 and 45 have
notified me that they are in position, we need to make this quick. We need to get in, take out the target, free
the hostages, and get out. There’s no
room for error. I assume that you’ve had
some training for occasions like this, right 13?”
I nodded my head,
“Yes, sir.” My brother and I would
practice clearing rooms to be able to take out intruders when we were younger. It was what led me to want to enter into the
military and then led me to want to become an investigator. I took on ROTC training with him in high
school and afterward in college. We grew
up wanting to be able to protect ourselves and learned how to clear rooms on
our own and together. My brother prided
himself on being able to clear out a house and make sure that if anything was
inside that it would be neutralized quickly.
As an added measure, we would also practice out at paint ball ranges to
simulate real combat. We practiced with
toy guns at the time. This time, I would
be using a real instrument of death to make my mark. I wanted to do more than my fair share. This time, I wanted to make my intentions to
join Invictus Persona mean something. I
waited for the cue. I saw a hand move in
the distance near one of the windows. It
looked like someone was waving for us to come closer to the house.
1 grabbed his
rifle. “That’s our signal. Let’s move.
27 and 3, you take out the soldiers in the courtyard. 44 and 45 will clear the soldiers on the roof
and through the windows.” 1 looked to
me. “13, you’re with me. We’re going to clear this house together and
find and kill Joe McKinley and free the young girls that he has imprisoned
downstairs.”
27 and 3 started
to move first, running down the side of a hill towards the house and sliding
down into the grass, to avoid being at eye level. 44 and 45 began moving across the rooftops
and looked like they started stabbing and strangling the soldiers on the
roof. The soldiers down below in the
courtyard started to look around but weren’t sure where to look. 27 and 3 started to take their shots. 27 shot the soldier on the left while 3 shot
the soldier on the right that was guarding the front door. 1 and I started running quickly towards the
front door. 1 motioned for me to clear
the door. I positioned myself, took a
quick breath, and kicked the door in. I
quickly started sweeping the room with my scope at eye level, looking to see
anything that would indicate danger.
When I didn’t see anything in the foyer, I moved towards the kitchen. When that area was clear, I moved towards the
living room. Still nothing. I went and checked the media room. Nothing was emerging. I met up again with 1 and he motioned upwards
towards the second story. I started to
move my scope slowly as I stepped up the steps.
Immediately I crouched down as I saw a man reach his hand over the
railing and begin to shoot at us with a pistol.
I opened burst fire on the rifle and sent a few rounds flying his
way. One of them struck him as he let
out a cry of pain. I slowly moved up the
steps as I came up to face him. I shot
the pistol out of his hand. He had a
look of terror on his face. He was
nearly naked, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and trembling in fear. 1 approached him, picking him up by his
hair. “Where are the girls?”
Joe McKinley
answered 1 with a guilty plea. “They’re
in the basement, please just let me live!”
1 immediately
started dragging him over to a bedroom and handed me a knife. “Kill him and carve his head off. Place it
next to the pillows when you’re done.
McKinley began to
cry. “No! Please let me live! I’ll give you anything you want! Money, status, my company, anything you want,
it’s yours!”
I pulled my rifle
up to his chest and shot him point-blank.
I then took the blade and began to finish what I had started. I winced as the sound of bones and flesh
separating made me grimace. I then
placed the head in between the two pillows on McKinley’s bed and looked back at
his limp body before walking out of the bedroom and heading back
downstairs. We needed to get out of
there soon. I could hear sirens in the
distance. On my way out of the door, I
saw a bunch of young girls, all of them looking to be either teenagers or
younger. Suddenly, I felt less guilty
about having killed Joe McKinley, as it turned out that he had been holding a
bunch of young girls hostage in a basement.
The feeling that I had while I carved his head away from his body started
to fade and be replaced by righteous fury, one which would only be quenched by
the pursuit of justice for these young girls.
All that I could think of was trying to help those young girls, but it
was too late. I could hear the police
coming and needed to leave. I ran back
towards the table by the park and dropped off the guns. 1 looked over to me as I ran over there and
gestured for me to run to my car and leave.
He took off running in a different direction. I quickly ran to my car and started driving. I didn’t want to be anywhere near this house
when the police arrived, so I started driving some of the backroads and
listened to my phone as it recalibrated itself and directed me back to Uncle
Freddy’s house.
For the next few
hours, my mind was filled with the excitement and rush of having killed that
monster. Unlike the previous two trials,
I felt no remorse for him. The pig and
bear might have been considered pests by the locals, but this guy was a
monster, especially to those girls. He
deserved what came to him and then some.
I was probably too kind to him by just shooting him in the chest and
then carving off his head, but it was the calling card of Invictus Persona and
was an order from 1. Apparently, he knew
that we were coming, hence the soldiers that were guarding his property. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness
for the girls, though, as I left without saying anything to them and couldn’t
help them. Hopefully, the cops would be
able to help them find their way home, or at least to a better place than where
they were. I would have to wait for
another message to arrive before I could do anything else with Invictus
Persona. After what I did, though, it
seemed like I was in. They wouldn’t be
able to track me down, since I took good precautions when I did it and dropped
off my gloves at the table. I knew that
27 and 3 wouldn’t just leave them there for the cops to pick up, so there
wasn’t really a worry of me getting caught at that point. What mattered now was making sure that I got
home and that nobody knew of what I did that night.
I continued back
towards Austin for what felt like hours as I mulled over the events of that
night, wondering whether I would be caught sooner than the guy who killed my
brother. At the rate that the police
seemed to be working, I would probably figure out who killed him before the FBI
even had a real suspect lined up. I made
it back to Uncle Freddy’s place late into the night but managed to get in
without much fuss. I almost forgot to
put away the mask before I entered in that I had to pull it off my face as soon
as I pulled up in front of his house to avoid suspicion. I immediately put the car in reverse and
backed up out of the view of the camera and began to switch out my clothes in
the car. I had to make sure that nobody
saw me in that outfit. It took me a few
minutes, but I managed to switch out everything so that I wouldn’t raise
suspicion. I made my way inside the
house to see that it was completely dark, and that Uncle Freddy was gone. It seemed like I lucked out yet again! Uncle Freddy was out on shift again and I was
able to shower up and clean my clothes before he ever realized what had
happened. I made sure to mix baking soda
and stain remover along with clothing softener when putting the clothes in the
washer so that all the stains would break down while I went to shower and
cleanse my body and mind of that night.
I had a craving
for fruit in the shower as I washed the scent of blood off my body and the
sweat from my hair. I started craving
something sweet as I washed myself off in the shower, almost as if I needed
something to satisfy the drop in sugar levels in my body from the night’s
events of action. Thankfully, Uncle
Freddy always had a bowl full of fruit that was available to everyone on his
counter. It was one of the few things
that he made sure to go to the store for.
He usually would grab some fruit on the way out to work as a quick
breakfast and would save his vegetables in frozen bags in the freezer. At least I knew that I would have a stocked
fridge to attend to once I was done. As
I got out of the shower, I noticed that there was a light coming from my
computer. It looked like there was a
message that was coming through on the secure line yet again. This time, it was addressed to me with my
number on it.
Greetings,
Thank you for
helping us tonight, 13. We likely
couldn’t have done that mission without you.
With that man gone, those girls will be able to hopefully find a better
place to sleep tonight. With him gone,
that’s one major player in a ring that involves some of the most powerful
figures in this nation gone. You are
more than a new potential recruit at this point. You are a hero and have earned your membership
among Invictus Persona. We will be
sending you coordinates for you to meet up with us at our nearest headquarters
and will provide you with your own patch and mask. Welcome to Invictus Persona!
~1
Now I knew who
had been sending me these messages this entire time. 1 had been sending me these correspondences
himself. He was behind all the major
actions of Invictus Persona, after all.
He was the closest thing to a leader that they had and seemed to be a
leader that should not be messed with. I
could rest a bit easier, knowing now that the trials were over and that I would
be able to get one step closer to Invictus Persona. The sooner I could figure out who was behind
all of this, the sooner that I could take them down. However, I found myself toying with the
possibility of operating within Invictus Persona as a genuine member. So far, they had only killed people who
deserved to be killed, safe for those who seemed to be average people who got
too close. I still didn’t know why they
would kill people who happened to get too close to the organization. It seemed counterintuitive if they wanted new
members who might be curious about what they were doing. However, there might have been something to
it all, with the FBI still suspecting that the organization was just a loose
connection of serial killers and not a group of vigilantes who were bringing
their own sense of justice. It made me
wonder what my brother really did to end up getting murdered by Invictus
Persona. Did my brother do something
like Joe McKinley to deserve being killed like that?
I tried to clear
my head to keep from that pattern of thinking from clouding my judgment. I needed to have a clear mind and clear
conscience if I was going to be able to deal with the next mission, and I knew
that there would be one sooner than I would probably like. I decided to head downstairs and grab an
apple that was sitting on the counter in the bowl full of fruit. I couldn’t believe how big this thing
was. It had to weigh nearly a pound. I took one huge bite out of it and was
immediately surprised by how crisp and sweet it was. It had just the right balance of sweetness
and tart. It was an amazing experience
to sit there, fully cleaned off and showered and snacking on an apple of this
caliber. I wished that my life was full
of experiences that were always like this.
I needed to try and make this my life, the good life. It’s a shame that my future job prospects all
seemed to be the same, wield a gun and avoid being shot at by another one or
sleep six feet under. At least I could
take solace in three things during that moment, I had won the favor of Invictus
Person, I had rid the world of a powerful monster, and I was able to enjoy what
was probably the best apple I had ever had in my life in peace. It was moments like this that made me truly
value life and helped to cleanse the taste of death from my palette, at least
until the next round of killing would begin.
And begin it would, soon enough. I
just wish that it wasn’t such a long shot.
Comments