Chapter 19

Ramses wanted us to help in the discarding of Helen and father's body, accomplices in murder. Not by choice, but I think collectively, we deduced that the corpses couldn't remain on the boat. Helen was stone dead, but father twitched every now and again. We all huddled in the meeting room below, with the departed lying on the main deck, weathering the storm outside. Praying that wind and rain would sweep them, swallow them, wipe clean our conscious.

With the change in power, to a degree, I became the new Apollo, and deep down, I knew Aries would be safe now. I was temporarily blindsided when lightning struck near the boat, causing a white flash to burst inside. Raena leaped to heights unknown from the thunder that followed.

"The Great Old One is punishing us…" muttered Hoover, quickly under his breath, like chanting a password.

"What The Old what What are you talking about None of that shit is real. Give it time, I'd say in two days, you, matter of fact, all of you, will get your mind back. Ken's main problem with his conditioning is that the process never ends, and the drugs don't stop flowing inside you."

"I saw him inside the chamber. The Great Old One. He's an entity older than God, who governs all Gods. He spoke to me."

"LSD, mescaline, and whatever else makes you see things. I wouldn't be shocked if you saw the fucking Grateful Dead bear limbo-ing. Listen to me...what's your name" Ramses questioned.

"I...I don't remember," replied Hoover.

"Does anyone remember their names"

"My name is Dimitri," I answered, proud to be of sound mind and almost body.

"See, there's someone to be proof for the rest of you guys."

"I've always known my name," Apollo mentioned.

"Yea, but no one cares about that. You got fucking gangrene spreading all over your arm. Soon, you'll be 'dead man number 3' floating in the water."

"Don't say that, father will punish you," blurted out Raena.

"We fucking killed Ken. Ken is father. Father is dead, Zeus is dead. Ankh is dead. Got it Jesus, look when the storm stops, I'm going to check the engine again. Dimitri, grab one of these zombies and check the bodies on the main deck."

A man of many names, like someone else with a million names…

Sparkles displayed in Aries' beautiful eyes every time she heard my name. The old her remembers me subconsciously. Hoover sat on the chair nervously, rubbing his hands, with eyes laser-beaming the floor.

"He is real…I can see him when I close my eyes."

I gently took Aries by the hand and walked her towards the top deck. She resisted slightly and silently rebelled against me, typical Aries.

It sounded like marbles were being hurled down from above. Either the raindrops grew in size, or it had begun hailing. When I cracked opened the door, a mini whirlwind of debris shoved the entrance wide open. Helen's body slid right into view, bluish skin, mouth, and eyes open, water splashing on her face, no movement.

"Oh god, father is upset," shouted Aries, as the boat tipped from the waves, and glided Helen's body straight into the water. One down. I shut the door quickly. If Aries saw father's dead body, she might pass out.

Upon re-entering the meeting room, Ramses was frantically ripping open duffle bags full of canned goods and spices, hunched over, animal-like. He mouthed a calculation of the contents inside.

"There's only enough for three more days. Gilfoy shorted us, that goddamn idiot."

"We can fish once the storm is over," I advised.

He turned to me with freaked eyes, wide enough to fit a planet, and went into deep logical thought. Upon completion, he released his held breath.

"You're right, we just need the storm to stop."

He looked at the spike-less iron maiden with malcontent.

"Let's get rid of this too, I'm tired of looking at it."

He tipped one side, and I caught the other, disconnecting the straps that balanced it when the boat would tip. Together we hustled it to the main deck. Sharp rain ripped my face, and I could no longer see where we were going. The waves were nearing four or five meters, and the darkness reached a new shade of black.

"You alright back there" Ramses screamed.

"I can't see anything, let's drop it for a second."

The power of the rainstorm was just getting started, we didn't realize that. No one gathered just how the story would end. I desperately covered my brow to gain vision, as the water rocked my feet.

"Grab onto something, the waves are getting stronger!" yelled Ramses, holding the rail to refrain from falling over.

Five, six lines of light appeared under the canopy of my hand, I saw lightning striking the water dead on. Providing the only light in a cocoon of pitch black.

"We better go back inside, it's too dangerous," yelled Ramses.

I wanted to yell back, but he was no longer in my field of vision. Did he leave me out here to die Another strong wave pushed the boat hard on the right side. The spikeless iron maiden slipped down with it and plunged into the water.

I was relieved, until I saw a man standing in the ocean, Jesus-like, looking back at me. It was father. Am I still drugged He opened his hands, and lightning struck him dead on, illuminating him in that familiar pearl-white aura. Dark green, slimy, long tentacles began protruding from his chin, slowly covering half his lower jaw. Suddenly, a firm grip at my collar pulled me backward, and I crashed into the meeting room, as thunder mightily roared.

"Didn't you hear me It's too dangerous out there. If I didn't grab you right now, you would've been dead," said Ramses, genuine concern coating his words.

In my dazed state, I glanced over at Hoover, who met my eyes with complete understanding. A bond formed in that intense stare, and he confirmed it.

"You've seen him too"

"Do you know the creator of 'The Great Old One'"

JOURNAL ENTRY OF JOHN VINSON #020

Doctor said if I keep going like this, their aint no quitting. I tell him I ain't no quitter. And I retold the story to Dimitri's shadow officer, the one portraying his brother, goes by the name Garret. Solid dude, I see myself in him. He tells me about how much weed he smoked as a shadow officer, and how lovely it was to tell the local police to fuck off. I mean, it's pretty much legal now. But that's the FBI, and the CIA for you, always finding ways to escape the long arm. He claimed it was to 'stay in character,' regardless of the excuse, it worked.

Garret divulges the reasons behind Dimitri's motives, and it completely re-wrote the story I heard about Cyrus and Ken. Not only that, he reveals that he knows the code word. So if they ever find them, he can at least save him.

I hit him with some good news of my own, someone involved with The Black Horse was captured yesterday and turned out to be a U.S. Coast Guard. People are triangulating the coordinates of that Coast Guard's route, hoping to find the boat. We're that much closer. Look at me, writing the word 'we' like I'm on the force. Vodka does that makes you wanna be a part of something. I could tell Garret was happy, he gave me a cheers that was to hard and spilled the shot everywhere. I wanted to cry.

The truth behind Cyrus and Ken isn't that they held a contest to exhume the dead, it turns out that Ken lured Cyrus there purposely to kill him. He was following orders. There was no contest. In fact, the two of them joined The Black Horse together. Using 'A snail's pace' as a cover-up, and secret recruitment base. The 'Agenda' was used to weed out undercover Black Horse members in the area.

Garret tells me of reports that Cyrus was Ken's legal guardian after losing custody of his own child. Cyrus raised him in his image, experimented on him. Took him to cult parties, where small animals were sacrificed to some unknown alien god. He did a number on him. Reports say it wasn't too hard for Ken to do it. He'd been waiting to gain control of his own life.

Apparently, the murder happened five years ago, right around the time Dimitri underwent genealogy to find his real father. He had spent a large portion of his life in a foster home, having only met his biological mother just days after her death. His wife said she'd never seen a man so broken. Dimitri had to say "Hi, Mom" to a tombstone.

Determined not to miss another opportunity, he jumped on the chance to meet his real father, and that's when lightning struck twice. Soon as Dimitri got an address, his father went missing. His wife kept his spirits up best she could, but when the news arrived that they found him buried in a cemetery, minus the casket, Dimitri lost it.

Garret was the first to make the connection between Ken, Cyrus, and The Black Horse. After the first voyage, and the rampant growth of the darknet, openings for the sleeper cell project were offered. They had to protect the political figures who were at risk, once targeted by The Black Horse. Dimitri's involvement, his motive, was to catch Ken. The man who killed his father. The man who killed Cyrus.

We knock another shot down, and I tell him a joke.

"What's the best thing about 25-year-olds"

"What" he says.

"There's twenty of em."

Took about a minute for him to get it. Afterward he laughed so hard that he threw up on the bar. I think I just made a new drinking buddy.