hunting season part IV

Detective Brandon Williams is driving a blue turquoise car. the model seems to be old, like from the 90's. he has a cigar on his left hand. he keeps driving on direction towards the woods. he receives a call from his daughter. he throws away the cigar.

the Detective was listening to loud classic music. he turns the radio off. he takes his phone and answers the call. he listens to his daughter's voice. she sounds worry. for once Detective Williams can feel accepted by his little girl.

it has been so long since he last saw her. she has been avoiding him for so long. he starts to cry while driving. he asks for forgiveness. he feels guilt for the dedication he gave to his job, and the lack of love he gave to his family.

he is glad that his daughter call him first. he finally has the answer for the question he has been asking himself for a while. he thinks that he has reached the limit of his career as a police officer. he can give the torch to someone else to hold.

with teary eyes Detective Brandon Williams tells hims daughter about Sydney. he tells her about a girl he met. a girl with who he wants to start a relationship. she is in her mid-thirties and he is on his fifties. not the idea age. but he wants to confess to her.

his daughter tells him that he is too old. that he just should give up on love. Detective isn't sure himself if Sydney will accept his confession. he just wants to forget all about this tiresome life. even if it is only him and his daughter.

Detective Brandon Williams tell her that he can't continue. he has given all for the job. he can't give more of his life. he had already risked his life countless times. he asks his daughter if she has think about living either on a big city, or somewhere else.

the daughter asks him if there is anything hurting him. if there is anything on his heart. he confesses that he has found himself stuck. he let the swamp dirt his t-shirt. he can't tolerate the struggles any longer. he is tired.

the daughter can tell that something is wrong. she asks if he is really going to go back home with her. if he is really going to give up on his job. Detective Williams cleans the tears from his eyes. he admits that he isn't sure if he will make it out alive.

the town is so dirty. there is so much filth in every corner of every street. he believed that the town was savable. but it is just a swamp. one that swallows you whole. the only way out is either inside of a bag, or giving up to the corrupted nature of the town.

Detective Williams is barely holding the tears. on his entire career he has never before cried for the job. he isn't crying because it is too much. but he cries for the realization of how there are people impossible to save. not everyone deserves salvation.

Williams always believed on the salvation of others. by putting behind bars the sinner. but the Midnight Reaper came to destroy his world. he created a world where he became a myth, a legend of hero like achievements. he became the hero of the people.

Detective Williams can't accept a murderer as a hero. he can't accept the support Rig is getting from the people. on the last seven years he became almost a hero to most. Williams has given up on humanity. and it hurts his heart to see humanity as it truly is.

the tears aren't for him. the pain isn't for him. but for all those humans who are born evil, or give up to evil. he cries for those who can't clean the filth on their hearts. his suffering is for the sorrow of the souls that are eaten by a corrupted society.

Detective Williams asks his daughter for forgiveness. he asks her if she knows the tale of how he got the nickname of the 'Mallet of Justice.' the daughter laughs and tells him the tale that everyone knows. not the actual tale of what happened.

the tale that is mostly known is mostly true. jet there are few things that are false. there are few things that were given a candy like flavor. a hero of justice doesn't need a darker origin story when he is going to fight darker characters on the road.

"the one who was killed wasn't my uncle. it was my dad, my mom, and my siblings. the boss gangster wasn't just some gangster, he was my dad's brother. my uncle. I saw the whole thing. I didn't deliver my uncle to prison, I deliver his corpse."

"why are you telling me this now dad?"

"because I always failed guilt, hate, responsibility, and other things. I always wanted to correct the family sins by cleaning the sinners on the streets. but I commit a bigger mistake by leaving behind my own family. baby girl I want you to know I am sorry."

"dad, are you coming back alive?"

"I am not sure baby girl. I see the devil in that boy's eyes. I see hell's settlement on that boy's presence. he is an evil that leaves a trail of rotten things. I am afraid."

"dad, please promise that you will come back whole and breathing."

"mmm..... see you later baby girl."

.....

Rigoberto gets out of a car. he walks into the woods trying to find the cabin in which Martin is staying. he hears voices around of the woods. he hides as he walks farther deeper on the woods. he is nervous. his freedom is on the line.

Rig receives a call from Martin. by his voice is easy to tell how desperate he is now. Rig tells him that he is on the way. he lets him know that he saw cops on the woods. Rig ends the call as he keeps walking.

Rigoberto hears a noise. he jumps to the floor. he looks at two cops walking in front of him talking to each other. Rig tries to hide. he drags himself slowly. his breathing becomes louder as he tries to take his knife out of his pockets.

after some time the cops move. they are talking about soccer. Rig feels relief for two seconds before moving. he moves as fast as he can. he tries to avoid most of the cops. there are too many cops. some seem to be going in direction towards the cabin.

Rig runs as fast as he can. Detective Williams was close by. he looks at Rig. and then he follows him running without stopping. he looks at an old cabin falling on pieces. Rig gets inside of it slowly. Detective Williams follow slowly with gun out.

once inside Rig says hello to Martin who is paranoid. he then says hello to Jonathan who seems to be fine even if he is tied to a chair. Rig is out of air after all the running.

Martin didn't slept last night at all. he is so paranoid the smallest noise provokes fear on his heart every five seconds. his hands are shaking. his eyes are red.

Rig cuts the ropes in Jonathan's wrists. he let's him go, even if Martin is against that. but they are short in time. Jonathan walks away slowly and smiling like a phantom.

detective Brandon Williams calls to his partner. he tells him that he found them. the Detective enters in the cabin. he is holding a gun aiming at Rigoberto and at Martin. for a moment Rig feels how everything is about to fall in pieces.

the Detective calls for other cops. he smiles nervously. he is sure that Rig is finally in the way that he was suppose to be. there is no more denial now. Rigoberto is the infamous Midnight Reaper. justice will be given at last.

"I always knew that you were the real killer and it costs me a lot. but finally here I am ready to take you to your new home. the place where people like you belong, prison."

Martin is shaking nervously. he looks at Rig hoping for a solution. there is nothing. then he runs towards the detective. Martin gets shot twice. Martin falls on the floor badly wounded bleeding. he is in a lot of pain. he is afraid of dying.

"can we talk about this, or are you going to just kill us."

"there is nothing to talk about. I am just doing my job. to be honest I don't care about neither of you. I am just trying to do the right thing in here."

Detective Williams aims at Rigoberto. he is feeling many conflicted emotions. he can just end the life of a sadistic beast once and for all. or he can take him to prison to pay for his sins. but the most probable outcome is Rig getting out of prison once more.

this is his final case. this is the last criminal that he has to face on his entire life. every second that passes is important. if he doesn't make a move now. everything can go to hell on seconds. on the last second Williams comes back to his senses.

he can't commit the same mistake that he committed on the past. ever since his first time fighting against evil. ever since he killed his own uncle. Rig has never crossed that line before with any other criminal. once again Rig is worse than the previous criminals.

Rig is like the devil himself. Rig is true evil hidden behind the veil of 'good intentions.' Detective Williams tells himself to not commit the sins of the past. he is going to take him to prison and end all the chaos that begin when he first took the case.

in that moment Detective Wayne Anderson enters in the cabin alone. Wayne is holding a pipe with tobacco. he takes his gun out. he looks at Rig. he then looks at Martin. Detective Anderson tells Williams that he saw a criminal running on the woods.

"where are the others? I had the suspects in custody the nightmare is over detective soon we will..."

"I was thinking between going after that child killer. probably doing some justice with my own hands. I am so sick of that freak. or coming here. it turns out that I couldn't leave."

Detective Anderson puts the pipe on his mouth. he takes a lighter from his pockets. he lights the pipe. he starts to smoke slowly. he then stands behind his partner detective Brandon Williams. he aims at his head.

"did you just betrayed your own? did you sold your soul to the devil? how dare you to call yourself a poli...."

detective Anderson press trigger. a bullet gets through detective Williams' head. leaving his brains all over the place. the body of the great detective Brandon Williams falls on the ground after a few seconds. the 'Mallet of Justice' was no more.

"sir, your partner is wounded. leave him to take the fault for the crimes. let my partner's death to be a glorious one, even if its false. I need you to leave now sir. before the others arrive. go now good sir."

"how did you know? and why?"

"there was some bastard whom cause my sister's death. because he was wealthy my sister never got justice. but you took care of that bastard. the man that you kidnap last night was a well known child murderer, a complete psycho whom never touch a prison for lack of evidence."

Rig looks at a wallet in the floor covered of blood. he took the wallet. he looks at Martin who is crying for help. he then looks at the lifeless corpse of Brandon Williams. Rigoberto leaves running. Detective Anderson has a sour smile.

.....

the next day.

in all the local news channels was the aftermath in which a righteous cop died as a hero while the monster that caused his death was in a hospital.

for Rig it was all over. but was it really the end of all the chaos, or is there more to come? in the wallet that Rig found on the cabin. there was a picture of Detective Williams's daughter, she was Nina.

.....

in the following days Rig notice a change in the mood of Nina. she was in pain after losing her dad. he didn't know what to do, nor what to say. he committed a really stupid mistake and now she is in pain.

in those days Nina was in pain and lost. she felt guilt for loving the Reaper, she was starting to doubt the man she loves. the only thing that she knew, is that Rigoberto was there when he died.

Nina wanted to know if it was Rig whom killed her father. Rigoberto wasn't stupid. he knew that Nina suspected of him. he felt guilt and he wasn't able to tell her what happen that day.

.....

days later Rigoberto saw Sydney. she was leaving town.

"I hope that you are able to find peace after all those atrocities that you had seen, even if not all of them were your doing. it is haunting you." those were her last words to him.

she left with a smile that day. no one ever saw her again. Rig feels deep down on his heart that she might be somewhere living a peaceful life, somewhere were happiness is a fact and not a fake dream.

.....

the following days.

Nina helped Rig to continue with his work as a Midnight Reaper's copycat. the flames on Nina's heart are growing. until some point in which even Rig was afraid of what she could do, if she doesn't stop her anger. her grudge. her wrath.

Rig tried to convince her to stop. but she wanted to kill at his side. Rigoberto started to understand something important that he ignored when others tried to stopped him, he now understands the reason why they wanted him to stop. it was because of the damage his soul has taken.

Rig is a man of logic. he can't understand things that aren't logical. but he could understand one thing that his father told him once. "is said in many cultures that crying is weakness for men. but there are times when a man has to cry to free himself."

Rig cries thinking about those words. he realized how dark is his room, and also how empty it is. it is almost as empty as his heart.

"what am I suppose to do to fix this. answer me, how?"

there is only silence to answer. nothing else.

"well I brag about how smart I am. how the law haven't touch me. how stupid I truly am that I wasn't able to see the whole picture. I can confess that I am not smart, no. I am stupid to let myself being part of this twist of life."