The Deadmen

As I leave the coffee shop behind him and the woman, I sense a smirk on his face. He knows he has found his next victim, and he aims to show the world a new way of murder. My calculations from before have told me he acts on the first date, and this seems more of a whittle them down type of date. Like hes taken his time bellowing this woman. Maybe he cares for her more. Or perhaps he thinks this woman is a masterpiece for him, like a big score for a Heist man or a diamond jewels for a thief. This is his big one. He walks her down the street to his car; I fall behind and wait.

I tap on my steering wheel. Maybe Im overreacting; perhaps Im wrong about this whole thing; maybe Im the crazy one. I mean, hunting down murders for what purpose just because I get a rise out of it. How can I fall this low? As these thoughts race through my brain, they move into his car and are off. And I tail. In todays age, your driving is so clouded by other things. You have music; you have to stay focused; you have got company and different distractions nowadays. Youd never know when someone is behind you unless you reek of paranoia. Unless you have something to hide. I consider that as I follow behind, never too close to be noticed and never too far to lose sight. The roads he takes are similar to the routes I take. Please wait a minute; they pull into my apartment complex. You mean to tell me Ive lived near a crazed, insane maniac, never known it. How could this be? I park and watch as he exits his vehicle and moves up the stairs. Hopefully, time will tell when he moves.

I prepare myself for a stakeout; this will be a long time. The time now is noon, early for some people, early for me. I wouldn say I like the day; it only masks what truly comes out a night, seemingly a grace period for us demons to hide. I hit the radio till it reaches the news and I wait. An hour. Two hours. I get more and more tired as time passes on. So I think maybe its time for me to nap. I don know the exact time I awake, but the slight noise awoke me. Hes leaving. I jolt to my sense and hide under my steering wheel. He slams open his door, a very sloppy play, and drags out a black bag. So much for an extravagant ending. This is the sloppiest murderer Ive ever seen. In the shadow of the night, hes dragging the body bag out of his front door down some stairs. He slams the backdoor shut and hops in his car. I start to lose all sense of excitement when he pulls off. The news made it seem like he was some mass murderer, but hes an amateur.

A beginner at best. I begin to grow soft as I follow him. Where is my happy ending? No lights were on, and I am seemingly dragging myself behind him. I follow him deep into the woods. He never takes the chance even to look back as hes doing this. He pulls up to an old abandoned house. I turn off my car further down the road and jump out. I hide alongside the trees. I was blending in with the wildlife and noticing something. Giant wolves began to follow. They know him; they obey him. This is the man at which I seek—the Animal. As the dots become more and more connected, I start feeling woozy. My mind begins racing back and forth as I grab onto the tree. I nearly fall over.

”Ive found him ” I jump happily once more. I peek over to get a glimpse of whats happening in that house: a scream, a loud one, bellows from inside. The woman is being tortured. Maybe hes beating her or even burning her or roasting her, preparing her to be eaten by the wolves that followed. He could be piercing her skin. Making her suitable for the flames, or he could be taking advantage of her again. Mayhaps once wasn enough. The thoughts run through my brain as her screams of plea continue. I wait and wait; I continue this for what feels like hours, years even to the component man. Thats how it always is; the killers never wish things would be fast.

They take their time carving out their art for the human world. They want to be known to the world, which is their big moment. Hes taking his sweet time making a masterpiece. Hes enjoying this moment. I continue to wait, and it begins to bug me. I lean on the tree and start to fall asleep. I believe I did when he opened the door and carried her to the front yard. Her silent pleas echo throughout the woods awake me. I peer into this soulless monster and what hes done. The woman is bout to a stake and tilted upright. Her thighs cut open and flailed downward, exposing her skin. Her entire arm peeled back. Her cheekbones have been broken, and her jaw falls loosely. Both her ears and nose have been torn off seemingly forcefully. I can barely make it out, but her fingernails are bleeding. I can only guess he ripped those off too. Her left-hand hand hangs, and she is missing fingers. She has no toes, and the last glint I see is that her neck has spikes. He tried his best to make it easy for the wolves to devour her. He even added some seasoning to her. This animal is terrible. He whistles, and just like that, the show commences. He finds a chair and unzips his pants, and leans back. It didn happen instantly, but slowly wolves started to appear. Even more, than I guessed, to begin with. Too many for me to count. I creep around, aiming to get behind this man as he watches on to the show—the wolves inch closer and closer to her, but no one attacks.

Then a giant wolf appears through the trees. Most likely the alpha, he asserts dominance by being the first to attack her. She can even cry for help as the alpha knocks her over and gnaws at her heels. Once the alpha takes the first bite, they all jump in. I was tearing her limbs off one by one and taking chunks with them. Unable to fight back, unable to even cry out. They tear her apart. And the murderer sits atop the chair. He was watching, releasing himself in the direction of her future corpse. A soft moan cries out as he leans forward. I am behind him now, close enough to feel his skin. I don show mercy as I shove the blade into his throat. No reason for me to even leave my signature mark; theyll know. His body falls to the ground without making any other noise. He dies there along with her. I get in my car and drive away; the police will soon find what they need. And theyll know its me. As I pull off, I think if I shouldve saved her. That thought lingers as I turn on the radio. The hottest star plays as I remain down the road—another day saved.