Post by Salem Shepard on Sept 22, 2016 0:49:09 GMT -5
(Houston, Tx. 2:17am)
The walls of the bedroom looked like swiss cheese with holes scattered through the sheetrock. The mirror over the dresser was shattered; the mattress and box springs were tossed to the other side of the room. A dresser drawer was stuck inside the wall near the tile floor that was covered in broken glass and fragments of other things that had been destroyed. The whole room was a disaster. There came a loud crashing sound from the bathroom and we could see the door was only half open. Something else flew across the bathroom into the wall and shattered with a bang. Mumbling could be heard, it was the voice of Shepard. He made strange noises, said things under his breath that weren’t English…In fact, it didn’t sound like any language for that matter. He came into view of the half open door wearing a jersey and shorts, but his back was turned to us and all we could see was his bright blue hair. He stared into the mirror and put his hand on it for a moment before walking back out of view of the door. There was a blood on the mirror where his hand had been and the sound of fist breaking sheetrock came again followed by more muttering.
The bathroom door flew open and Shep appeared, and froze. He wore no contacts and anger, fury and hate could be seen in his blue eyes. The black paint that circled them seemed to bring out the blue, and you could almost see the confused, lost soul deep inside of them. In the middle of his forehead there was a circle with no paint where he had etched an upside down cross just above his eye brows. Blood ran down between his eyes, covering both sides of his nose to his chin. Drops had fallen down on his blue ZT jersey and his left hand was covered in blood. His right hand held a firm grip on a .357 magnum. Shep, seeing nothing but a tunnel of rage walked through the room, flipped the chair back up right and plopped down in it, the .357 in his lap. His eyes peered around the room before he opened his mouth and stuck the long barrel of the gun in his mouth. Sweat had beaded up on his forehead but there was no fear in his eyes…only the rage, fury and anger. He squeezed the trigger.
“I won.”
The voice came from his right. He looked over with the barrel still in his mouth, and again, it was his dearest father. He was smiling as wide as he could, given that the left side of his head was gone and his cheeks were tatters of flesh. His flesh was gray but his eyes were clearly alive with the same blue hue as his sons.
“It will all be fine now. Come on….”
The dead man extended his arm wearing the dirty, blood stained flannel shirt and held out his hand for his son. Shepard pulled the gun from his mouth and leapt from the chair and jumped at the dead man. He hit the floor hard, missing his dead father who was no longer there. Shep sat up and noticed he had several shards of glass stuck in his right arm from hitting the floor and sat there silently pulling them out.
Everything…everything is spiraling out of control. I choked at Slam, I cost us the titles…The urges to do things, …things I shouldn’t do…gets stronger. I’ve been able to control it my whole life…..my whole life has been a war, one fucking battle after another….Some of those battles I fight in my head and these are the toughest ones to beat….But I’ve controlled it. …And I’ve decided I don’t want to control it anymore. The old me would do that…The old me before I painted my face would control these urges, …these voices. But I changed, I didn’t want to be the old me, so I have to give up this last part of the old me. Fighting this battle makes me weak because it affects me in the ring. No more meds, …no more mind games. No more compassion, no more second guessing myself and no more sleepless night affecting my performance…. My WHOLE FUCKING LIFE has been a goddamn war from the day I popped out of the womb. I fucking FOUGHT my way out of the projects, I FOUGHT my way through addiction….My life is a war, and this my motha fuckin match.
Shepard got up off the floor, blood running down his forearm and walked out of the bedroom, thought the small house and out the front door. The night was warm and sticky, just the way he liked it. Not like in Michigan where the nights were cool. He was back in the hood of Houston on the streets he knew, and the night was quiet except for the sires in the background. Most the lights in the small houses were all off, as were most the street lights from being broken or shot by kids. Shepard walked down to the sidewalk and headed east to his sisters crack house.
*******
(2:44am)
He walked up the step to the front door of 1809 Dena Dr and peered into the window of the front room, leaving a blood smear and a little paint on the glass from his face. He could see lights on in the backroom and knocked on the door. He paced around the porch waiting for an answer and didn’t get one. He looked back into the window and then knocked again, and just like the first – nobody came. Then it occurred to him, this was HIS house. The house that he had bought for her when Erik Black gave them all a performance bonus several weeks back. He pulled his key ring out of his pocket, found the key and quietly turned the deadbolt on the door and let himself in.
He looked around the front room and noticed the trash all over the floor, the coffee table covered in joint roaches, cigarette butts and empty baggies. The rage boiled inside of him again as he heard noises coming from the back of the house. He crossed through the kitchen and saw the needle and tourniquet sitting on the table next to a half-eaten sandwich as he heard the noise again. It was Claire, and she was no doubt fucking her drug dealer. He opened a kitchen drawer and pulled a butcher knife; and he smiled at his repulsive reflection in the blade and admired the blood that had started to dry on his face. He silently walked down the hallway when the voices shot into his head like they were fired from a cannon
“Kill the bastard.”
“Yes! Kill him.”
“Don’t kill Claire.”
“Be careful.”
He stopped and leaned on the wall next to the bedroom. He could hear them both and the slight squeak of the bed between their moans. She shot from the wall, turned the corner and exploded into the bedroom. He could see the muscled up black skin of a man’s back, the rest beneath the sheets – on top of his sister. As the man turned around, Salem got him with a left hand to the jaw; sending him to the side of the bed. Claire screamed and pulled the sheets up to her chin as her lover rolled from the bed, landing on the floor with a thud. Shep jumped over the bed, kicked the guy in the face and then pulled him up. He slammed the man against the wall with his left hand and pulled the knife back with his right hand. Shep could see the look of fear in the mans face as he brought the knife down.
“STOOOPP!!!”
Not the voices in him, but his sisters voice. And he did stop, …a mere two inches from the mans chest. He could feel the voices retreating at Claires insistence to halt the stabbing. Claire had been able to calm him when he was younger and he the voices wouldn’t want him to harm Claire, and in a way, they had always listened to her. He felt her hand on his shoulder and a whirlwind of emotions came over him. But that quickly evaporated as Claires other half punched him in the gut knocking the wind out of him. Shep doubled over and the man pushed him away and started to run for the door. Claire screamed again and Shep regained his senses as he saw the man bolt out the bedroom door. Shep instantly turned to follow him, pushing Claire away as she tried to hold him back. He came into the light of the hallway and saw homeboy trying to put his shorts back on, still making his way to the front door.
Shep ran down the hall and jumped on his back, losing the knife in the process. They crashed to the floor, Claire now coming out of the bedroom giving chase – still screaming. This man was strong, but Shep locked his arm around his neck cutting off his airflow. He glanced to his left and saw a used needle on the floor. He reached over with his free hand and picked it up. The man reached over his back, trying to punch Shep and break free. Shep took the syringe and plunged it into the back of the man’s hand. Shep twisted the syringe as the man pulled the opposite direction, snapping the needle in half. He screamed with what oxygen he had left in his lungs and seconds later his fighting stopped. Shep let go of his neck and his head bounced off the floor. He stood up, the face of a man that Claire didn’t recognize and she asked, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
She no longer looked angry, she looked terrified of her brother and she knew something was wrong. Shep looked at her in almost the same light. She had a bed sheet wrapped around her, but her face was sunken in and her cheek bones clearly stood out – as did the track marks on her arms. The anger rose in him again when he saw the track marks and the voices came roaring back with a vengeance, and he listened to them. He obeyed them. With all the force he had, he backhanded his sister right in the face, sending her to the floor, knocking her out cold.
**********
Claire came to and tried to focus her eyes as her mind swam with fragments of memories or what happened. Mixed with the heroine she was a little confused for a moment until she tried to move her arm and realized that it wouldn’t budge. She looked at both her arms but she couldn’t see them because of the blanket that was draped over her shoulders. She tried to move both arms again and realized that she was tied to the chair. She looked around and saw she was sitting in her kitchen at the table. At the other end of the table was Nick, her “boyfriend slash drug dealer.” His head was slumped over and he was duct taped to the chair with his arms behind him wearing nothing but his shorts. Nick was a massive man who was in great shape and probably outweighed Shep by sixty pounds, at least. Sitting between them on the long side of the table was Shep, eating the other half of the sandwich that was there when he arrived.
“S-Salem….” She did her best not to cry, but her voice was shaky and low. Tears formed in her eyes and started to run down her deathly thin face. Shepard didn’t look up; he only sat there slowly eating the old sandwich.
“Salem?” She said again, this time a little louder. She noticed that Nick wasn’t moving.
He stopped chewing and slowly turned his head and looked at his sister. He looked at her frail figure, her eyes sunken deep in their sockets. Claire used to be a very beautiful girl before she got hooked up on heroin years ago. She had made attempts to stop using, but unlike her brother, every attempt she made to stay clean failed miserably. He took the last bite of the sandwich, never taking his eyes off Claire as he chewed it and swallowed it. He picked up the butcher knife from the table and ran his fingers down the blade, again admiring his reflection in the cold steel.
Claire’s heart began to beat faster and her breathing picked up. Shep could see that she was scared – and right now she had every reason to be. He was pissed that she was back on heroine after he had helped her get clean and bought her a house in a different neighborhood. She began to whimper as more tears streamed down her cheeks and Salem spoke quietly without looking at her. “Stop….”
She tried, but she couldn’t. “Salem….what are you doing?” Her voice trembled in fear. “What’s wrong? Please...please tell me.”
He stood up from the table and walked behind Claire with the knife, which made her shake in fear even more. He got close to her ear and ran the dull side of the knife across the side of her neck. She could feel his warm breath next to her ear, she could smell the blood that had dried all over his face and she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the searing pain of the knife to dig into her flesh.
“Nothing…nothing’s wrong with me...” He whispered into her ear.
“T-then why are y-you doing this?... Salem please untie me…please”
“Not me…” He whispered. “You…You did this to yourself.”
Claire began to cry harder, “Salem…whatever it is, …you cant listen to them.”
Shep stood tall, thinking this over as he walked from behind his sister and sat back down in the chair and put the knife on the table. The knife not being in his hand calmed Claire down a little.
“I have to listen to them Claire….I can’t fight this battle anymore. Fighting this battle is a part of the old me. Ignoring my thoughts makes me weak…I cant do that any longer…”
She nodded furiously, “Yes, yes you can!! You need your meds Salem.”
He disagreed and slowly shook his head, “No, Claire…not anymore. “
She didn’t know what to say and they sat there in silence. She watched Nick and saw his chest slowly moving so she knew he was breathing, he was still alive.
“The meds make me weak Claire. I can’t wrestle and take those; I can’t wrestle and fight this battle in my head anymore. It’s the reason I lose…it’s the reason I can’t sleep at night, it’s the reason I let my friends down.”
Claire begged, “Salem please…you have to! Please don’t lose this battle now…Not after all these years.”
Shep grunted and rolled his eyes, “You just don’t fuckin get it, that’s your fuckin problem. You don’t know how this affects me and you don’t know what my life is like anymore!! You sit around here high all day fucking one dude after another…You don’t call me. You don’t ask me how Im doing. You just care about my money...”
“No!! That’s not true!!” Claire had a look of sincerity on her face. “Salem, weve fought our own battles our whole lives…You and me…together.”
Shep laughed and looked at her like she was stupid. “No, ‘WE’ didn’t. You and the old Salem did. You haven’t fought a battle with me since I changed my ways and painted my face. Did you know I lost the other night, Claire? ..Did you even bother to watch it?”
She nodded, “I did!! I promise, it was you and Cash fighting for the Tag Titles!”
“Yeah, and I FUCKING BLEW IT!!! I blew it because I have to let go of that last part of the old me. I have WAR coming up Claire…”
“Salem, weve been at war our whole lives…Like I said, you and me, we stood together!”
“I know” He nodded in agreement. “But things chance Claire. I started fighting to stay out of jail, I fought to make sure we had food, I fought because it gave me more of a rush than drugs did. I fought to keep the voices away, but Claire, those voices love blood more than I do and Ive ignored them for years. I have to let go of that last part of my old life, I have to end the war I started here in Houston…A war isn’t a single battle, and I’ve won all the battles here in Houston.”
Claire didn’t know what to say as Salem continued.
“I beat everyone there is to beat here, …I won the battle against heroine, I got out of here…I won that war.”
“Then don’t give up now!!” Claire begged
“Im not giving up, Claire…Im fighting a new war…And at the end of the day, Im still fighting for my life…Still fighting to eat and survive… But this war, Claire, this war requires something different…I have to accept who I am to win this war. This war can’t be fought and won if Im still fighting a battle from my old life. The old me wouldn’t survive in the WCF, that one small piece left of the old me has cost me two fights. I’ve realized the voices are right…I have to be ruthless. I can’t focus on NOT doing what the voices tell me and trying to focus on the fight at the same time…”
“No, Salem…you can still be successful and fight those v---“ Claire was cut off by Shep
“I CAN’T!!!...This isn’t backyards fights Claire…The streets aint shit compared to the niggas I face week in and week out in the WCF. I have to be stronger, I have to be more mean, I have to be more ruthless. …Im done with this conversation Claire. Im no longer second guessing myself or holding back the urges that I have…NONE of the urges.”
Claires eyes grew wide as she knew exactly what that meant. He had killed a guy in Sullivan’s backyard after a fight when they were younger. Salem setting up fights was the only way they kept food on their table, and fighting was more fun than any real job. He had admitted to her later after killing that guy, that killing him gave Salem a rush that neither fighting nor drugs had given him before. And as far as she knew, he had never killed anyone again. He had fought the urges his whole life and that’s why he wanted to be a wrestler. He had hoped it would keep that one urge hidden away. Claire was the oldest of five siblings and Shep was her only brother of the bunch; they had a bond that none of the other siblings had. They had a lot in common and even though Claire wasn’t strong enough to fight off her addiction, she was just as tough as he was.
They picked each other up when they were down, they provided for the rest of the family after their father had committed suicide. Until she got addicted to heroin, she had been there by his side all his life trying to lead him away from the streets. After Shep had accidently killed that guy and he expressed his fascination and excitement afterward, Claire went to all his fights determined to step in and make sure he never killed anyone EVER again. Knowing that if it happened a second time, ...it wouldn’t be an accident. She couldn’t lose him, not at that point in her life. A sense of relief came over her when he had signed up for the ZT wrestling school and eventually signed with the guys at ZT several months later. She knew they would keep an eye on him, and she had hoped that wrestling and fighting the best people in the world would keep his urge to kill satisfied.
Claire, If I have to kill one of these mother fuckers in the ring to win war, then that’s EXACTLY what Im going to do... Im tired of letting my boys down, Im tired of looking like the weak link of Zero Tolerance.....This is the week that I have to prove myself. Ive been teamed up and learning from Crazy J and Cash in every fuckin match that I’ve had in the WCF....And ya know, that’s been great. Its allowed me to learn while I work because they can help me in the middle of the match; cause it’s kinda like having a coach on the sideline when Im in the ring....But I don’t get that luxury this week because in this match its every man for himself.
Even though there’s going to be like seventy-five guys in this match or something, this is going to be my first singles match in the WCF and I have a FUCKING POINT TO PROVE!!! Word on the street is there’s going to be some fucking legends of the past coming back and fighting in this match; people that I’ve heard of but people that I’ve never seen in the ring since we got to the WCF. And let me tell you Claire, none of those mother fuckers are gonna stop me. They laugh because I got pinned...They laugh because Cash and I didn’t walk away with the Tag Title belts last week, ...and it’s not ok. That doesn’t sit well with me.
"I know, Salem." Claire looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. "Let them underestimate you, they don’t know what you are capable of. Now, if you could just please unt---"
NO!! Im not untying you, ...yet. Do you know how many fights I lost on the streets Claire!? ...ZERO!! ...NONE!!! I don’t know how to lose and I've learned that I don’t deal with this very well. I can’t accept being a fucking LOSER!! That’s why I have to let go, give in, and be who I really am. I can’t pretend I don’t hear voices, I can’t pretend they don’t effect the way I fight when they talk to me during a match. I have to focus on this fight, I have to be in complete control....and I haven’t been in control Claire...Fighting these fucking idiots in the street for their money was easy - I beat all those mother fuckers without breaking a sweat most the time. Losing to Battle was tough, but I accepted that he’s one of the best in the world and put that behind me.
Claire sat there in silence, knowing that it was better to let her brother ramble on. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of her little brother - but she would never tell him that.
But losing to Cap Condom and Tomohawk!?!? My mind hasn’t slowed down since that match, the rage inside of me hasn’t settled or gone away since I got pinned. I’ve never been a loser, Claire, and Im not about to fucking start now. ..They laugh at me now, but they won’t be laughing when I win War and get my World Title shot at One. I have to go against guys like Oblivion, and if you haven’t seen him Claire, he’s a big bad mother fucker like Jaymz. You don’t want to cross paths with a guy like Jaymz, and I have the feeling that Oblivion is the same way...I have to go against ZMac who is one of the legend of the WCF....When people talk about the WCF, you can count on them bringing up his name.
They tell me this place wouldn’t be shit without him and the WCF wouldn’t be where they are without guys like Corey Black leading the way…. Yeah, I give props to those guys for carrying this place on his back and winning all those titles.. But ya know, things change. Champions come and go, legends get old and lose their skill. No, these guys aint at the point where they old and losing they skill set...But things ARE about to change. These bitches have a lack of respect for the new guys in the business, and that’s fine, because respect has to be earned...I get that. Corey Black aint in this match, but ZMac and few others are…Losing to Cap and TomOhawk isn’t going to earn me any fucking respect around here, Claire....But Im gonna get it…
Claire agreed, “I know you will Salem” She kept her voice low, “I believe in you, brother. You are stronger than people give you credit for...”
You always have….and Im gonna do what people don’t expect. Im the underdog here that’s going to show my worth at War, Im going to have the biggest turnaround they’ve seen. From losing our match for the Tag Titles last week, to turning around and showing the world that I, Salem FUCKIN SHEPARD am going to be the last one standing in that ring with piles of bodies at my feet. None of these mother fuckers want to take me seriously, they want to joke about me painting my face....That’s fine, they can keep taking me lightly when I shock the world at War and scream to the universe that Zero Tolerance is BACK!!!! They all want to mock me and take more as a fuckin afterthought around here…but no longer.
No Claire, you see, its time the world knows my fucking name, its time I step away from Jason Cash and Crazy J and cement MY name in this business. They brought me here because they saw I stood out from the rest and I was the best of the bunch. I knew they were only going to take two guys with them to the WCF so I had to prove everyone else in that school wrong….and I beat them all. And here we go, I get to do it all over again just in a little different fashion….
“Salem, …let me help you.” His sister pleaded.
“HELP ME!?!?” He slammed his fist down on the table and Nick started to move, coming back from being knocked out. “You can’t help me anymore!! Tell me how in the fuck you’re going to help me!? Look at you, you’re a fucking mess!! You weight like ninety fucking pounds and you have track marks all over your arms….And you’re gonna help ME!?
Claire only started to cry.
“I don’t need help Claire…For the first time in my life I feel whole…Or uh, complete…as they would say. Im stronger now than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
Nick started to come around and moaned as if he was in pain. He lifted his head and noticed that he was duct taped to the chair with his arms behind his back. You could see the massive muscles in his shoulders and upper arms trying to pull his arms free. He looked at Shep and then Claire in panic, then looked down at himself and screamed. Claire got worried and started asking him what was wrong. Shep only stared at Nick, smiled and relaxed back in the chair. Nick continued to scream as he looked down at himself and Claire started to cry and look around the table, trying to see what had Nick so freaked out. But she couldn’t see, he sat across from her at the table. She glared at her brother,
“What have you done!?!”
Shep picked up the butcher knife, stood up and kicked the table. It shot across the room and slammed into the wall. Claire now saw Nick’s full body in the chair across from her and began to scream. He wore only his shorts that he had put on earlier trying to flee from the Schizo, but in the crotch of his shorts were used syringes. There had to be more than fifteen of them all poking out from his shorts, like his junk was a giant pin cushion. Small stains of blood appeared sporadically over his shorts and every time he tried to move his legs that were taped to the chair the syringes would move back in forth, bringing a new scream from our friend Nick.
Tears streamed down Claire’s face, “Salem!!!! Why?? WHY!??” Then she paused and the color seemed to drain from her face, “Are…are you going to kill us?”
Nick stopped screaming and looked directly at Salem for an answer. Salem stood completely still between them with the butcher knife in his hand. The dried blood from the upside down cross carved into his forehead and finally stopped bleeding and he stared at the wall with a blank look on his face. He seemed to come out of it a moment later and looked at Claire
Shep said flatly. “No. We’re not going to kill you.”
“Who is we?” Claire asked cautiously.
“We? All of me. Every part of me is ‘we.’ There is no more ‘me and them’ or ‘me and voices in my head.’ …No, it’s WE! WE make the decisions now, there is no more separating my skin from my brain. No more trying to live with…them.”
Salem walked over to Nick who started to scream at Salem. Shep only tilted his head sideways and mumbled to himself. Then, as if being shocked, he jumped up and ran into the living room and immediately ran back into the kitchen with a roll of duct tape. He pulled a piece out and ripped it with his teeth and quickly shoved it over Nick’s lips.
“WE….We don’t like Nick.”
“Oh please, Salem!!” The waterworks started again. “Don’t hurt him!!”
“Who said it would hurt? …You know what they say Claire: Chainsaws are nice, but knives are more precise.”
Claire screamed again as he raised the butcher knife and pointed it at Nick, then ran the blade across his bald head.
“Claire, dad would have not approved of you fucking a black guy.”
“Dad was a piece of shit!!! And you know he was!!!”
Shep only nodded in agreement as he got closer to Nick and took the knife and hit it on the syringes stuck in his junk. Nick tried to scream out in pain but it was muffled by the duct tape on his mouth. Shep could see every muscle in his body tighten every time he brought the knife down.
“What’s wrong Nick? You been stickin my sister haven’t ya? …You been shootin her up, right? …But those needles aint the only thing you been sticking her with, is it?”
He tapped the knife on the syringes again. As nick tried to scream, Shep only laughed, “Haha….Gives a whole new meaning to the word Needle Dick, don’t it!?” He pulled out his cell phone and took of pic of Nicks shorts. “Crazy J gonna love this!”
“SALEM!!!” She screamed louder than she had before and Salem picked up the duct tape off the floor and quickly taped her mouth shut too.
“Claire, if the neighbors hear you, …were gonna have a problem.” He tapped the flat side of the butcher knife on her head and scorned her like he was her mother. “We don’t want that now, do we!? …I don’t think Nick wants that, do ya Nick?”
Nick violently shook his head NO! Salem could see the man thought he was going to die. And there was a chance he was right. “I think she wants you to die Nick! Yeeaaahhh, she does!!”
He wiggled his fingers on the handle of the knife and they both protested from beneath the duct tape and he took a step toward Nick. He paused as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw he had a text from Erik Black. “FUCK!! …FUCK!!!” Salem stabbed the knife into the wall and left it there. “Claire. Change of plans. I have to be back in Detroit tomorrow morning. Your friend Jaymz is coming to pick us up.”
Claire kicked her feet and protested to this - she hated Jaymz.
“Im glad hes coming though….Jaymz will know how to clean this up. ..oh, and were sorry about the tape.” He walked over to Claire and pulled the tape off.
“FUCK YOU!!” Her voice made his ears ring. Shepard whirled around and pulled the butcher knife off the wall and stuck it to her throat. She cried, she apologized.
“We have to be leaving soon, but we still have some things to take care of Claire. You’re coming with me, you’re coming back to fucking Detroit whether you like it or not. I guess when Jaymz took care of Royce you just didn’t figure it out did you?...You just keep running back to these fucking dealers who only wanna fuck you in return…You’re nothing but a crack whore. And you stupid bitch, you just don’t fucking learn….I got you out of there, I had your dealer taken care of, I pay your fucking bills because you PROMISED ME you were clean… Claire, Claire, Claire….Royce died because of you…”
Claire whimpered and would barely be heard, “please…no…please”
“…And Nick is going to follow his lead.”
Claire could only sob as Shep turned to Nick and smiled at him. “Were not sorry, bro…”
The final few things that Nick remembered was the upsides down cross on Salem’s forehead and the dried blood that ran down both sides his nose and down his chin. He wasn’t a religious man, but he was sure that this man was a demon and he must have done something horribly wrong in this life to deserve the situation that God had put him in tonight. As the searing pain entered his body the heroin dealer silently prayed and thought of his little girl, who was at home sleeping in bed with his wife.
(4:55am)
“Jaymz will be here soon to take us to Detroit.” Salem’s voice was low and calm.
The house was dark, he had turned all the lights in the house off except for the one light over the kitchen sink. Claire was no longer taped to the chair, but she was in so much shock that she couldn’t move. Salem Sat hunched over the kitchen table, and through the little light that showed, we could see that his face was dark red and seemed wet….It dripped from his chin and was all over the table. He wiped his hand in it and added it back to his face. Claire could only watch on in horror as he continued to paint his face with the blood of Nick. Salem turned his head slightly where only one eye could be seen; and for the first time tonight there was clarity in his eyes. He seemed settled, he seemed at ease.
“…Were sorry Claire, but we couldn’t hold it in anymore…We’ve wanted to do that for over ten years now. Wrestling the best in the world still couldn’t keep that urge held down liked I had hoped it would….”
Claire didn’t even move, and she may not have registered anything he said. But he didn’t seem to be aware.
These mother fuckers don’t know what’s coming for them Claire…I told you they took me as a joke, and Odin is one of those guys. That fucking guy with his little peanut sized brain bout bored me to fuckin death with the same old shit I’ve been hearing from the WCF since day one. And every one of those bitches have fallen at our feet, …or have run away. What am I talking about, you ask?…another juggalo reference…wow…Im intimidated. I guess if I was keeping track, Odin would probably be the eleventeenth fucking moron to say that stupid shit. He talks like he’s Gods fucking gift to wrestling and he doesn’t even know a damn thing about us. He doesn’t know what Zero Tolerance is or what were about….Hes just another dipshit that walks around thinking he can just show up and win….
Yeah, maybe that works against some people like Skittlez, but that don’t fuckin happen when ZT gets in the ring. All these mother fuckers wanna come back for this match, like this Flash guy, and act like they gonna wipe their feet with us. …Am I supposed to be intimidated? Am I supposed to just fucking bow down to these guys like I don’t have a chance in hell at winning this thing? …How embarrassed are they going to be when they see they lost to the rookie here? Hell, if you ask Odin he talks about other places I wrestled in!!! This is the first fuckin place that I’ve EVER wrestled in!! See, that fuckin tard doesn’t know a goddman thing about me – but that’s fine. That’s just the way I like, because when you can sneak up on people and take em out – that’s the most satisfying win.
When they don’t think that you have a chance, and they have to look up at you wondering “what the fuck just happened!?” …yeah, that’s the best kind. People like Flash just walkin up in here talkin bout how easy this gonna be …but guess what? I’ve heard all that shit before – and people started to change their tune around here after a few matches. But I don’t have a few matches to convince people like Flash that I belong here. I have one shot, one chance…The shame that people like Flash and Odin will carry around when Salem Shepard comes out of the battle the winner – those guys will never live that down… How they talked all this big game about how many matches they’ve won, or how many titles they’ve won…that’s fuckin cute, but it’s all about to be followed up with a loss to Zero Tolerance.
How embarrassing, right? To lose to the guys that you’ve just tossed to the side? Oh I know, Flash is sorry for Logan, he’s sorry for Oblivion and so on and so on. Im just sorry I wasted all my fucking time watching that mini series of a promo…That’s time I’ll never get back. Im also sorry that the world is going to see him cry like a little bitch as it sets in that ZT outlasted his ass at War. He’ll be no different than Bishop, or Lilith, Archer or Twilight…people who have all been defeated at the hands of ZT or run away from us. People who thought they could just roll us up in a matter of seconds. Crazy J beat more of these legends for his Hardcore Title, and were the joke? We turned heads faster than most people do, so will it be any surprise when we run them over again?
Does Archer finally have the balls to come in and stand face to face with Zero Tolerance? A guy who issued a challenge to us a while back only to turn and flee? I even called him out after that, challenged him to a match – and what did he say? “oh you just focus on your matches and I’ll focus on mine…because well, that’s what Twilight wants me to do.” All I see is a scared little bitch, I see someone who’s too fucking scared to take that loss to ZT. He talks about wanting to be the best and be remembered around here, …but you run and hide? What’s gonna happen when someone like Oblivion gets in your way? Or Zmac? Guys who are respected around here? You say we aint shit, yet you run from us…..
This aint the type of match for a guy like Archer - a guy who turned down my challenge after he saw us up close and personal in our match with him and Twilight. He would rather tap on his phone screen all day, talkin all that shit online that he aint ever able to back up. How many times have I made that guy my bitch on the internet? ..I lost count…Go ahead and stay home Archer, I aint no legend here...yet…but my ass belongs in the ring with those legends. I belong in the ring with the guys that make the WCF what it is today. I’ll be in the ring with the legends of tomorrow, and a year from now, people will realize how great this match really was. Not because of the old fucks coming back thinking they can walk right through this match.
…Because the next generation of talent is going to prove that were better, were more talented, were more athletic and we have more of a reason to fight this match than some old fucks just coming back to be in the light one more time. Hoping that the younger generation will be intimidated by them and fear them. Hoping that they can relive the glory days of a past WCF before ZT was around, or the other guys who are only fighting in their first or second War like us. There are future WCF legends that will be stepping into that ring, but it won’t be Adam Young, it won’t be CJ Phoenix or midget Kaine…People like them, people like Dion Necurat – don’t even waste my fucking time.
I shouldn’t even have to expend my energy on people like you; because it’s clear that Zero Tolerance is out of your league and some of you have fallen victim to us several times now….And some of you think this is going to be any different? Fuck, guy like Odin would step on Kaines little ass and smash him like the insignificant little insect he is. He wouldn’t last---
Shep was cut off by a knock at the door. “That’s Jaymz!” He said excitedly as he jumped up from the table and ran to the door.
**********
Meeting Pt.1
(The Next Day. ZT Headquarters. Detroit, MI)
The feed cut into a dark room, whispers could be heard and someone silenced the voices with a loud "SSSHHHH!!"....It sounded like Crazy J. The dark room went totally silent and the only light coming into the room was around the windows where the shades had been pulled closed. Moments later the door to the room opened and light flooded in. A small female figure appeared in the doorway and we could see someone else, an extremely large figure behind the female. As she reached for the light switch she spoke, "Mr. Black will be with you in a few moments. Just make yourself at---"
She was cut off when she turned the lights on. She jumped, startled at the reception. "SURPRISE!!!!!!" Everyone said as they jumped out from behind Erik Blacks desk, other furniture and closets. Confetti fell from the ceiling, balloons filled the room and there were people everywhere. Most of them were strippers that had no tops on, but wore star pasties over their nipples. Most were dressed in leather and had whips.
Jennifer, Erik’s stunningly beautiful secretary looked around the room, wide eyed and slightly disgusted at the strippers that filled the office. She looked at the person behind her, Thomas Uriel Bates. "Im sorry Mr. Bates, I wasn’t aware this was going to happen...."
"It’s quite alright" He said with a smile.
"Mr. Black should be up here in a moment. I'll call him right now, Mr. Bates."
"It’s fine. No Rush." He smiled at her again as he walked in the office.
The strippers filled the room with Jason Cash sitting on the couch, not looking the least bit interested in this surprise. Crazy J and Shep had huge smiles on their faces; both of them wore the same red ZT FrEeKsHoW jerseys and painted up with the same white face and intricate black designs. They held a huge rolled up banner that started to unroll as they walked opposite directions across the office. Bates stood there and watched as they stretched it out and it read "HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!!!" As they pulled the banner all the way out the two men both pointed at it with their free hand. Their smiles were still huge and almost seemed to stretch ear to ear.
Bates laughed and shook his head with amusement, "Gentlemen....My Resurrection Day?"
"Well yeah!!" Crazy J was bouncing around, "I can’t tell you how excited I am! I’ve never met a man that died and came back to life before!!!"
Shep gave Bates an odd look and seemed to study him, "Soo, Champ...can you still talk normal, or is it all 'uurrr AARRHHH uuurrrr...glack glack MWAR yar yar yar uuurrrhh!!!"
"Yeah, yeah!!!" J said with excitement, "It’s like uuuhh, ...ohh... what’s that show!!?? ..The Walking Dead!!!"
"Guys..." Bates found the humor in all of this, "Obviously Im not dead!"
"Well no shit Sherlock!! We’re not dumb!" Crazy J rolled his eyes.
Bates wasn’t so sure about that.
"We know you isn’t dead, homie!! You been resurrected!!!"
"LIKE JESUS!!!" J put his hands together like he was praying.
Bates decided he wasn’t going to argue and shook their hands. Cash looked up from his guitar and it was clear he wasn’t thrilled about Bates being here – but he nodded at Bates and the Champ returned the nod with a smile as Shep spoke up, "So I see you’re here to discuss business?"
"Yes sir, I am. I was supposed to meet with a Mr. Erik Black."
Shep waved that thought off, "Naw, you don’t need Erik for this. Were just glad you thought it over and came by. We still have the contract that says we can have the World Title the next time you die."
Crazy J seemed unsure, "Yeah…but like....Do you have nine lives like a cat? If so we'll have to re-write the contract thingy a little."
"Guys please....Give it a rest. If you guys want this Title, one of you is going to have to win War so you get your chance. In fact, that’s what Im here to talk to Mr. Black about..."
Just then the office door opened and an even bigger person stepped into the room. It was Jaymz, the closest thing to the devil himself. He wore his long black coat, and like always, he had that mean look on his face that was full of scars. He didn’t say a word as he closed the door behind him and turned around and saw Thomas Bates. Jaymz froze, his lips pulled back into a snarl and we could see him clinching his teeth together. Jaymz didn’t like outsiders, and he liked Bates even less because he was the competition. Cash noticed the look on Jaymz face and jumped up from the couch. He knew that Jaymz could explode at any time and the windows would shatter, the building would shake and the evil that resided in the giant would be loose. He didn’t care for Bates being here either, but he had to act. Jaymz took a step toward Bates and Cash stepped between them. Jaymz standing over seven feet tall towered over Bates, but the Champ was a massive man himself, and Cash realized this was the first time he had ever seen anyone that was thicker, wider and more muscled up than Jaymz. Cash found this impressive.
"Champ...This here is Jaymz. Guy is a fucking legend; we calls him the ZT Enforcer. ...He was Crazy J's tag partner before Shep came along."
Bates looked up at the face of Jaymz, and not a single drop of fear or intimidation could be seen in the Champs eyes. Most men feared Jaymz as soon as he walked in the room; most wrestlers feared him when his music started up - before he even came down the ramp. But not Thomas Bates. Jaymz was fifty now, but he could still fight with the best of them. Bates extended his hand toward Jaymz, but the giant only glared at him, never moving a muscle in his arm to shake the Champs hand. Bates' smile faded and he returned the same look that Jaymz gave him. Cash put his hand on Jaymz chest and turned away from Bates, saying something quietly to the ZT Enforcer. Jaymz nodded his head at Cash and turned away from them. He opened the door to leave and walked out office leaving the door wide open.
"CLOSE THE DOOR!!" Crazy J screamed, "YOU RAISED IN A BARN OR SOMETHING!?"
Instantly the door slammed closed by itself and J laughed, "I love it when he does that!!! I wish he would teach me that trick!!"
When the door closed, Bates look at J and Shep, "Hes not the world’s most friendly guy, I see..."
J agreed, "Nope. He sure isn’t. That’s my boy though, I’ve known that guy most my life. He would die for us if he had to."
"...If he could die..." Cash said as he sat back down on the white leather couch, now flirting with the strippers.
Crazy J told Thomas Bates to have a seat in the chair in front of Erik’s beautiful wood desk and he did. They had small conversation until Erik walked in the room, looking his best in his white suit.
"Are yall fucking kidding me!?" He looked around his office and saw all the tits, confetti, balloons and put his hands over his face. "Jesus Christ....Yall are embarrassing. Yall act like a bunch of fucking four year olds."
Crazy J disagreed, “Four year olds can’t rent titties!!!”
Erik walked across the office and Bates stood up from the chair as he did. Erik introduced himself and took a seat behind his desk. "Ok, I need everyone to get the fuck out, NOW!!! J, Cash, Shep...yall stay here. Get the hookers out."
Crazy J was disappointed, "WHY!? We paid for three more hours!!"
"I don’t care, J!! We’re having a meeting!!"
J shrugged and spoke where Erik couldn’t hear him, "...fine...it’s your money anyway, not mine.....ALRIGHT SLUTS!!! Get the fuck out!! The boss wants yall gone!!!!"
Erik apologized to Bates, but it wasn’t in the friendliest tone. Bates could sense that he wasn’t really welcomed here; but he wasn’t going to leave until he said what he had to say. Erik waited until all the females were gone from the room before he started talking. “Alright, let’s get down to business…”
The two men talked as Jason Cash continued to play around with his guitar and Crazy J walked over to Shep, who was looking over the Detroit skyline out the window. J could tell that something was wrong because Shep had been acting different since Jaymz brought him back to Michigan early this morning. J stood next to him at the window and he could see dried red spots and flakes around Shep’s hairline and into his scalp.
“What’s up homie? You been quiet since you got here.”
Shep didn’t even look at J; he just continued to stare out the window and muttered “nothing.” J let it go for a minute, but he had an idea of what had gone on because Jaymz had told him pieces of what he found in Houston when he got to Shep.
“Soo uhh, Jaymz tells me your sister came to Michigan with you?” J knew what really happened…He knew Claire had come against her will.
“Yeah…she did, …she’s gonna stay with me for a while so I can get her cleaned up again. She can’t stay straight in Houston. J, man….I had to give in and quit fighting who I really am…I can’t ignore them anymore.”
Crazy J nodded, “The voices?”
“Yup…we are one now. But we like you J, you our homie. Cash, we like him too!! And Erik. But Jaymz? Sometime we don’t like Jaymz. Sometimes he’s scary.
J had a huge smile on his face and he liked where this was going, “naw, don’t fight them voices…You’ll have more fun in life.”
“Im not. I already quit taking my meds. “
Crazy J looked over at Erik and Bates, he could see that Erik didn’t like whatever Bates was telling him. “Maybe you should slip Twilight your meds. You remember what happened when we gave them to Cash at my bachelor party!!”
Shep smiled and then laughed. It was the first time he had laughed in almost two days. “She gonna be in that match with us, dawg!! I can give them to her then!! I’m excited to get in the ring with my honey. I know she been missing me, she may not admit it, but I know she got her some Schizo Shepard posters hanging on her ceiling above her bed….She see this sexy looking face and get all wet.
Crazy J’s tactic had succeeded. He wanted to pull Shep out of his funk and talking about Twilight did the job.
I don’t wanna give those meds to Lilith though, she’s already annoying as fuck! Hey, J!!! Think about it, our boys Joe Cameltoe, Big Dick Daryl and Jiggaboo Jerome on WCF News gonna try to hook us up with a titty match!! That’s cool and all, but Im gonna try to cop me a feel of twilight titty. Feelin it is better than seein it!! You know, she been playing hard to get but I think she gonna have a different attitude once she sees that Im gonna win War.
“uuuuhhhh…” J wasn’t sure what to say for a moment, “I was planning on winning War, dawg.”
Oh…well shit…I guess when it’s just you and me and Cash left in the ring at the end we gonna have to play Rock, paper, scissors or some shit to determine a winner. You know we got the upper hand in this match though, right? Who else has a fucking team like we do? What, the Brotherhood? ..yeah right… These mother fuckers aint just gonna fight one of us, they gonna have to fight all three of us!!
Yeah, this is basically a big singles match, but we got each other’s backs until the very end when its just us left in the ring. …That’s why one of us is gonna fuckin win this thing, J. I really hate the thought of having to beat you guys at the end in a game of rock, paper, scissors but that’s gonna make me the War Champion AND the rock, paper, scissors Champion AND I get a World Title shot at One!!
Shep looked back over at Bates and Erik, “What you think they talkin bout?”
J grinned, “Don’t really matter…Erik won’t make a decision without talkin to me and Jaymz. ..That’s how it works homie. Erik makes the deal and we get with him when they ready…This might have to do with wrestlin, and if you and Cash don’t like it – then we won’t do it. There aint no leaders here in ZT, we a fuckin team all the way to the top and everybody got a role to play.”
Yeah man, yeah…I know! It’s just, I’m still pissed that we lost to Tomohawk and Cap Condom...And I hope those two guys enjoy the one win that they have over Zero Tolerance because it’s going to be the only one they fuckin get. I don’t know when Im coming into the ring at War, I don’t have any fucking idea when those two guys gonna be in the ring….But they better fuckin hope that it’s not at the same time that Cash and I are in the ring because I got my eye on those two. You don’t get over on ZT and walk away with a smile on your face, ..No sir, that’s not how this shit works!!!
I’ll find you in the mess of bodies and blood, and Im going to hurt the two of you soo fuckin bad that you’re going to feel it down to the marrow in your bones….Have you ever broken anyone’s bone before? Not like a pinky finger or shit like that, …but like a femur. And you know that dull sound that it makes? It almost sounds like a POP but its muffled… then screaming starts instantly. Have either of you ever heard that sound before? …You will at War, because it’s my goal to break every fucking bone in both of your bodies. I would like to stomp on your skulls until it looks like a BROKEN BOWL OF SPAGHETTI!!!!!
Crazy J jumped back, “Oh Gosh!! Well bless their little hearts!!” he said sarcastically. Erik and Bates had both turned around and looked at Shep. He kinda smiled and turned away as Erik rolled his eyes.
Sorry….I’ve gotten a little carried away since we lost that match…I just, …I haven’t handled it very well, and I need to get my ass back in the ring and take these aggressions out. I’ve always loved to fight but this week I’ve just felt the deep, burning urge to fight, ..and the urge to do more than just fight. And all I can see is blood when I think about Cap Condom or Tomohawk. I dream about killing them.
J smiled, “I dream about motor boating Lisa.”
That’s gross. …I just want to win this fucking match man. I want to be able to walk around that ring and laugh in all of their faces and see the pissed off looks and the shame in their eyes. Nobody here wants to take me seriously J. You have a Title, Cash has a whole fucking career under his belt and all I have is a handful of fucking matches. No, I don’t have a ton of experience, but Im just as good as ANY of those bitches in the ring. I know you wanna win this match J, but this is my fuckin time to come up. It’s my time to show the world what Salem Shepard can do.
**************************************
