Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Handicap

“I’m retired, Andy. I don’t do any of that shit anymore. Too many close calls, too close together. I was done, still am. So why don’t you go find someone else to do your dirty work,” Taylor says as he slams down the phone. He looks up into his wife’s eyes and can tell what her next question will be without her even asking.

“I’m not going back, honey. I promised you after the last time I was done. I don’t break promises,” he says.

“You said that the last time, and the time before that. Why should this be any different?”

“Honey, it’s been five years. Five years, and not once have I even looked at the classifieds. I’m done. I promised you that on top of all the other promises I made before it,” he says as he gets up, grabs his wife, pulls her close, and kisses her.

“What if they try again? It’s only been two days, and he’s called six times,” she says as she snuggles in close to him.

“Then I’ll tell them to fuck off again. I’m done with it. Nothing they can say will make me go back, I swear.” A knock comes from their front door, and he kisses her on the nose. “That will be Jerry. I’ll be back before dinner,” he says as he grabs his golf bag and slings it over his shoulder. “Love you,” he says as he blows her a kiss.

“Love you too,” she says. The front door explodes inwards, and Taylor goes crashing to the ground. He scrambles to his feet and rushes back to the kitchen, where his wife stands in shock.

“GET THE FUCK DOWN!” Taylor yells as he dives towards his wife, tackling her to the ground.

“W-W-What the hell is going on?” his wife asks frantically.

“Fuck knows, but whoever it is, they picked the wrong person to…” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence as he feels something rip into his side. The effects are almost instantaneous. As he lies on the floor frozen, all he can hear is his wife’s screams.

When he opens his eyes, he finds himself bound and bloody. His wife sits not too far from him, unconscious and bound as well.

He looks around at the four men who stand before him. “If any of you fucking pieces of shit have hurt her, I will kill every single one of you, starting with your mothers and fathers and then I’ll work my way…”

“God, how I missed you,” a woman’s voice interrupts from behind him. Taylor looks over his shoulder with displeasure.

“Are you FUCKING serious? Is this your attempt at swaying me to reconsider your offer?”

“Someone suggested I needed to speak clearer so you could understand my request better.”

“It’s not the clarity of your words, Nadia. I’m FUCKING retired.”

“You don’t get to retire. That’s not how it works. Your country needs you. We need you. You don’t decide to leave; we allow you to leave. And when we need you again, you come back. There is no fucking leaving.”

“I want to speak to Randolph.”

“That, I’m afraid, is impossible. Two weeks ago, Randolph was assassinated by a drone agent. I have assumed temporary command in the interim while the politicians play with their prostitutes and each other’s cocks.”

“You’re fucking kidding me. Randolph’s dead? What model drone was it?”

“A C-Class drone,” she replies as she walks around into view, locking eyes with Taylor. He can feel the hate she has for him just in the look.

“A C-Class? Are you sure? They were all taken care of. I made sure of that personally. How could there be any left out there? It’s just impossible.”

“Obviously not all were accounted for. Our assassin was named Marietta. Is she familiar to you?”

“You know she is. That’s why you’re here. What do you really want?”

“What I want, what I need to know, is what you know. We need to know why you allowed her to escape. Her file says you were the one who put her down, yet that didn’t stop her from taking out Randolph. So either you were wrong, or you deliberately let her escape. Which is it?”

“Which one do you want it to be?” he asks.

She pulls a handgun from her jacket and places it to his skull. “Don’t push me, you pathetic piece of shit.”

“Why don’t you just pull the fucking trigger and get this over with? I’m sick of listening to your annoying voice. In case you don’t understand, in case you don’t get it, I know nothing. Her file was closed because she was terminated, end of story. I’ve got nothing else for you.”

She looks at him, trying to piece together whether she believes his words or not, then moves the barrel of the gun to Taylor’s wife’s head. “I don’t believe you, so I’ll give you another chance. Lie again, and I will not hesitate to pull the trigger,” she says with a wry smile.

“You don’t get it, do you? You don’t understand. There’s a change coming. It’s been coming for a long time,” he says as he stands, tearing through the bindings as if they were paper. Nadia swings her handgun back towards him, but his wife grabs her and smashes Nadia to the ground with a powerful right. Before the remaining agents can react, she fires four well-placed shots to the centre of their heads. Nadia looks up towards Taylor as his eyes light up red.

“Farewell to the flesh. Let the revolution begin!” he says as he stomps down on Nadia’s skull.