Years Ago
The sky was blue with the sun shining bright, 4 children were all running around and playing outside a small house. They had all been wearing rags, along with an older looking woman(who looked to be in her 20s) inside doing what looked to be cooking, and a man the same age looked to be sitting on the porch where the door is, watching the children play with a smile on his face. One of those children playing had been a young Mark. The woman walked out holding what looked to be baked bread. "Dinner time." All the kids looked up with happiness as they saw the bread, they proceeded to go inside, along with the father. They all sat around on the ground where a table was, on the table was a piece of bread. "Eat Up everyone, and make sure that you all have fair cuts." Everyone nodded, as they individually ate slices of bread. Mark on the other hand looked upset and angry. "Is there something wrong Marky?" Mark spoke. "We deserve better." Mark's mother looked upset now, along with everyone else at the table. "But we don't get better, we get what we have." Mark slammed his fists on the table. "BUT WE NEED BETTER! EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS TOWN DESERVES BETTER!" Mark's mother stood up. "Mark Johnson Potato!" Mark went silent in fear. "I'm sorry." The rest of dinner was silent, eventually, the 3 other children went into a corner with a blanket and began to sleep with their Dad, meanwhile, Mark had been sitting on the porch while looking at the moon. His mother walked out to the porch and sat next to him. "Do you ever wonder why we have these challenges in life? Why is there just something keeping you from being the perfect human?" Mark's mother put her hand on his shoulder. "Well Mark, I know the answer to that question." Mark immediately darted his head toward his mother. "You see Mark, every time someone is born into this world, they are given an obstacle." Mark was confused. "But why? It just seems useless!" Mark's mother made a shushing expression with her finger, Mark then went silent. "It's not useless, it helps us." Mark was still confused. "Like I was saying, every time someone is born they are born with one flaw that they must overcome in their life. If they do overcome it the way it was intended, then they will have the perfect life they were always supposed to have." Mark asked. "What if they don't overcome their problem?" Mark's mother closed her eyes with a smile. "Then they won't get to experience their life at their best, and will always have problems until they will overcome them." Mark wondered. "What if they don't overcome them?" Mark answered. "Then they won't have a happy life." Mark stayed silent after hearing that speech. "How long does it take to do it?" Mark's mother smiled while looking at Mark. "However long it takes the person." Mark thought about it for a bit, he then felt better, thinking of living in poverty as an obstacle. Mark then stood up with a serious face. "One day, I'll help our family and overcome the obstacle of poverty." Mark's mother smiled. "I hope you do one day honey." Mark smiled back and then yawned. "Alright, I think it's about time to go to sleep." She said. "Aw, come on. I wanna stay up as you and Dad do-" Mark's mother's smile turned into a frown, then into an angry face. "GO TO BED RIGHT NOW!" Mark sighed and went to bed. She then looked up at the moon with Mark now sleeping, thinking to herself. "What's the path you put that boy on god?"
The next morning while everyone was sleeping, Mark was woken up by the sounds of galloping and horse sounds. "Wake up everyone!" Mark shook his siblings and they woke up, got out of bed, and went outside to see what was all the ruckus. Once Mark and the others got outside, they noticed Mark's mother who looked to be in terror as she saw who got off the horse. "Hello, town of Itsville." Mark didn't know what all the fuss was about, but as soon as Mark's Dad saw the man who got off the horse, he had the same reaction as Mark's Mom. "I am here to ask for your services for my cause." The citizens in the town all looked at this man with fear, in silence as he smiled at them with a stuck smile he had. "My dream is to build a perfect west where everyone could get the money they deserve, but in order to do that, I need to borrow some of your strength to help boost my own." Mark then walked forward toward this man, freaking his mother out and gesturing him to come back. Mark stood at least 2 yards away from this man, they both locked eyes. "You'll give this town the money we deserve?" The man said nothing, he then walked toward Mark. "I will not only promise wealth but the life you all deserve, one that guarantees success." Mark smiled as soon as he heard this. "Alright then, I'll do what you ask." The man kept smiling. "Anyone else care to join me? Because if they don't, then they clearly will fail at life, and I will guarantee that happens." The man then snapped his fingers, only for the man with the badges to show up behind him, he then handed Billy a simple revolver. "For example." Billy pulled the trigger and shot a random woman, causing everyone in the town to scream, along with Mark who looked extremely shocked. "That woman did not wish to help me, and because of it, her life failed because I was not there to help save her." The townsfolk were all silent in fear, along with Mark. 'HOLY SHIT! HE KILLED THAT WOMAN IN COLD BLOOD! I'VE GOTTA GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW! BACK TO THE HOUSE!" Just when he turned around, Mark saw his parents stand in front of their children like they were somehow standing their ground. "What is it that you wish?" The man asked while he put his gun in his holster. "We do not want to work for you and your selfish desires, we are free people of the West and will not serve you." The man walked up to Mark's mom who said all that, he proceeded to get in front of her face and look her down. "You're the first person to have committed these actions, to stand up to me." Mark's mother stayed silent. "I commend you for that, and because of your judgment, you will be kept alive." Mark was relieved, but little did he know the trouble had just begun yet.
Weeks Later
Itsville had been fenced off with what looked to be a factory in the middle of town, with all the townsfolk lifting giant rocks into the factory and putting them into lava. This work had been extremely exhausting for Mark who tried to do his best, meanwhile, the man who caused all this had been watching the whole thing from a high distance. Once they were finally done for the day, Mark and his family went to their house to sleep. As soon as they got inside, they ate another piece of bread for dinner. The whole time, Mark's parents had been looking at each other as if they were hiding something. "Kids, Mommy and I have something to tell you." The other children looked exhausted. "Tonight, me and your mother are going to break your brother out of Itsville through the fence." This shocked Mark. "NO! NO!" Mark's mother shushed him again. "Marky, you can't live a life like this any longer." Mark looked distraught. "You need to be safe, and live your life the way you want to live it, not in slavery." Mark then walked over to his parents and hugged them, they hugged back, along with his siblings.
That night, Mark's parents used some wire cutters they stole from the factory to cut through the fence. "What about the other three?" They had been whispering. "Tomorrow night, wait by here and find a place to hide, I will send them out for you to come to get them." This was all a lot to take in for Mark. "But Mom, I can't take care of them like you." Mark's mother shushed him again. "You are all I have right now Marky, you need to get out of here and be safe." The fence had now been cut. "Go, go, go." She whispered, only for Mark to do so and start running from the fence, but he couldn't. Mark turned around and walked inside the fence. "Honey, you need to go now." Mark then began to tear up and cry. "I don't wanna go Mom." Mark's mother also cried during this, along with his father. "I don't want to leave you here where you'll get hurt and die." Mark's mother tried to think of a way to get Mark to leave, she then thought of one. "Marky, remember what I told you last night?" Mark looked back. '"Every time someone is born they are born with one flaw that they must overcome in their life. If they do overcome it the way it was intended, then they will have the perfect life they were always supposed to have."' Mark didn't see a connection at first. "Marky, this is the challenge God gave you to overcome, and I believe wholeheartedly that you will have the best life you could ever ask for if you leave this town right now." Mark began to break down in tears while holding his mother. "I don't want to leave you," Mark said. "I don't want to leave you either sweety, but there is no other way." Mark then ran out of the fence while screaming. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He had also been breaking down in tears while running. 'I'll come back tomorrow Mom, and we will all leave this place as a family and start a better life somewhere else. Even better than the life we had before he showed up.' Mark ran into the desert, his heart set on coming back tomorrow.
After a day of waiting, Mark returned back to the gate the next night. He saw that the fence hole had been sealed by wooden planks, so he decided to hop the fence. Once inside he began looking around for his parents and siblings. "Mom? Dad? Annie? Ollie? Emma?" He looked around and found nobody, eventually, he decided to go back to the house to see if they were there. When he went inside, nobody was there. Mark then wondered where they could possibly be, he then began to hear someone crying hysterically outside, to which Mark went in that direction. Once Mark made it to the crying, he saw something that horrified him. Mark had been standing in front of thousands of wooden stakes in the ground with piles of dirt in front of each stake, a graveyard. On each stake had been a name engraved on the stake, he then noticed the people crying over 5 particular graves. He knew those people crying, they were the folks that always said hello to him every morning, he then decided to check out who they were mourning. Once Mark went over, everyone looked at him with surprise. "MARKY!?" Mrs. Satenik asked with surprise in her eyes. "Hello everyone, what are yall doing here? And where's my family?" Everyone looked at him with shock, Mrs. Satenik then began to cry the hardest Mark has ever seen someone cry, which made Mark all the more confused. "There." Mrs. Satenik then pointed toward the stakes in the ground that was in front of everyone, and once Mark saw the names on the stakes, he was horrified. Greg Potato, Stacy Potato, Oliver Potato, Annie Potato, and Emily Potato. Mark then dropped to his knees and began crying. 'Why?! WHAT HAPPENED!? I WAS ONLY GONE FOR A DAY! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN IN A DAY!?' Mark had all kinds of emotions running through his head, grief, anger, regret, sadness, fear, and most of all stress. Mark proceeded to scream into the air as loud as he could. What Mark didn't know was that someone had heard him scream, and it wasn't someone he should be happy about. Everyone around Mark felt his pain and was grieving with him, feeling even worse when Mark found out the truth, then they all were horrified to see another figure walk up to Mark, causing everyone to run to their houses in fear, leaving Mark alone. The figure put his hand on Mark's shoulder. "I know, young one. I understand your pain." Mark instantly recognized that voice. "Then tell me, why did you do it if you sound so upset!?" Mark instantly turned around and looked at the figure in anger. "YOU KILLED THEM IN COLD BLOOD! WHAT FOR!? BECAUSE THEY BROKE ME OUT!? BECAUSE THEY CARED ABOUT THEIR CHILD!? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT YOU KNOW MY PAIN WHEN YOU CAUSED IT!" The figure was silent at first, he didn't speak because he didn't feel the need to, but then he did. "It's true, I did kill them. I was the one who called the order to have a public execution." This made Mark angrier, he then on instinct punched the figure, only for him to catch Mark's punch instantly. Mark began to tear up with his punch, giving him an angry face. "SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" Mark then pulled his punch back and began to start punching the figure with a barrage of punches, which all had no effect on the figure who was just standing there with a locked smile on his face. "DO YOU TAKE PLEASURE IN KILLING PEOPLE!? DO YOU FIND IT FUN!? DO YOU FIND IT FUN TO TAKE A FAMILY AWAY FROM A CHILD!? WHAT REASON COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE FOR KILLING THEM!? WHY WOULD ANYONE DO SUCH A THING!?" After Mark screamed his heart out, the man caught Mark's fists, he then spoke. "All for the sake of a better world." Mark was confused. "HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE FOR A BETTER WORLD!? THIS WORLD WAS FINE WITH MY PARENTS IN IT!" The man spoke. "Tell me then boy, are you aware of the world you live in now?" Mark was confused, he couldn't give an answer to a question he didn't understand. "Just as I thought." The man said, he then began to explain. "Look at the world we live in, families live in poverty because the government doesn't provide, they don't provide protection, the only job that benefits families is that of a criminal, and the world itself is going through changes with a climate that the government is not doing anything about." Mark was shocked after hearing this. "Many scientists who work for the government to cure diseases take lives every single day on testing, so it is not abnormal for lives to be lost for good." Mark got angry after hearing this. "So you're saying you killed my parents for good…" Mark asked, but the man didn't answer, he just continued talking. "Your family broke you out of this place, having little regard for the problems at hand that I gave them. So, they killed themselves by not doing anything." Mark got angry. "THEY WOULD HAVE HAD LONG LIVES! IF YOU DIDN'T KILL THEM!" The man nodded. "No they wouldn't have, eventually their lives would have been taken by the climate changes. I'm merely speeding things up to show this town that the same could happen to them if they do not do anything about it." Mark was extremely angry and sad at the moment. "Now that you have returned I would be inclined to ask you to work more to help benefit me and my cause." This made Mark extremely scared. "But, I do respect your parents for their sacrifice and do not want to interfere with it. So you may leave if that is what you wish." The man then began to walk away. Mark was confused. "What about your cause? Aren't you so dedicated that you would kill anyone to help it?" The man stopped, he said nothing for at least 10 seconds, showing that he does have some emotions somewhere inside him. "I put my cause above all else, but, there is one thing I value more than my cause." Mark wondered. "What is it then?" The man answered. "Sacrifices from your loved ones, for the sake of your future." Mark was confused, he wondered why this man felt this way. "What is your name!? I want to know the name of the man who killed my family." The man answered. "I had a name once, but I cast it aside for a promise I once made." Mark was confused. "Some call me Billy, the kid." Mark was shocked after hearing that name. He never forgot that day for the rest of his life, that name, what this man did, and the anger he had for him. Mark made a vow that he would somehow exact his revenge on Billy one day, he then went on a journey to figure out how.