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  “What the fuck ...”

  You select the TV on the panel and it goes down until it is suspended for the reverend to enjoy his show. Then Steve starts to broadcast the video.

  “Take it off!” Polasky screams, as the images begin to show. “You son of a bitch, take it off now!”

  You look at him and laugh, as Steve asked. The wife looks horrified at the images, all the excitement fading from her facial expression and being replaced with complete disgust.

  “I don’t know how he made those videos, honey, but I swear it's all about editing!”

  Polasky throws himself at his wife's feet, but she pushes him away, tears streaming down her face, and looks back at the television. She starts to gasp, her face goes pale, and when things get excited in the video, she vomits on the bench.

  “Holy motherfucker!” Polasky screams, trying to grab her by the arms. He even forgot you, all he wants now is to convince his wife that the images are not real.

  Steve says, “Come on, Jimmy, look at the cell phone and enjoy this spectacle of eccentric tastes!”

  You look with the corner of your eyes, wrinkling your nose at the scattered pile of feces and the reverend sneaking through them. You feel that you are going to vomit and look away when the reverend grabs one of the faithful by the waist, wanders around her anus with his tongue and begs for more feces. God must be loving this sacrificial ritual.

  “You fucker, I swear I'm gonna kill you!” Polasky makes a dash for you, but the wife vomits again, and he has to turn to her. An animated song plays in the background as the glass closes.

  You climb into the mansion, skirt the narrow path through the garden and go to the garage.

  Steve returns to give instructions in your ear and you do everything he says.

  VIII

  As soon as the limo stops, you open the glass again, pick up the gun and show it to the reverend. He's crying on his wife's lap, asking for forgiveness in the name of God, and saying that all this was just the devil’s plan. The wife vomits again when she sees the barrel of the gun.

  The reverend lets himself slip on the bench and holds up his hands.

  “Okay, buddy ... what do you want from me, eh? Let's negotiate, what do you think? I can give you a good amount of money right now.”

  “Shut the fuck up and get outta the car.”

  “Look, we could—”

  “Shut the fuck up and get outta the car!”

  “Hey, it's okay ... fine.”

  He begins to pull the wife out and you go down first, still aiming the gun at him. The woman staggers, coughs and sobs in the glare of the sun. This is certainly the last way they both thought the day would end.

  “Go inside the house.”

  Polasky pulls the wife by the arm, looking intently for the gun in my hand.

  “Come on, honey, everything's gonna be all right. I swear, okay? This is just another adversity, just God proving us.”

  And the reverend tells a beautiful story in which god decided to bet with Satan the life of an innocent.

  You are obliged to hear every word as you take the two in, walking to the living room. It’s amazing how biblical stories are always more interesting in the mouth of charlatans.

  Polasky shut up when he looks at the explosives scattered around.

  “May God forgive me,” he whispers.

  The reverend and his wife kneel with their backs to the large picture of Polasky, above the fireplace, and put their hands on their heads. The woman has a traumatized child's look and no longer emits any sound. Polasky closes his eyes and begins to pray.

  You walk in front of the two, turning the gun in your hand and repeating everything Steve tells you, “You know, reverend, there's a very interesting part in the Bible that talks about the coming of false prophets. People like you, who act supposedly on behalf of a kindly figure, but who actually use this just as a curtain to mask their true intentions. Corruption, lust, and all that kind of shit are masked so no one else finds out your identity, motherfuckers. And how do you mask all this? Taking advantage of the emotional fragility of people through an ancient book that everyone believes to have the answers to the world. And you manipulate phrases, say things like ‘Believe in God and everything’s gonna be fine', but the world is still in the same shit as ever while you stuff your ass with money and do those shits you, Rev. Polasky, like to do with believers. What's the excuse for that? Were you unfolding the hidden creation of God in the anus of women?”

  The reverend remains silent.

  You slap his face and tear blood from his lips.

  “I asked you a question, you son of a bitch.”

  “I ... I don’t know what to say,” Polasky whimpers, his eyes watery. “What do you want me to say? I’m a man like any other, I have my needs. Everyone has their fetishes, strange as they are, and this is mine. David was also a man with above average hormonal needs, but God didn’t stop loving him. David continued to be one of the most important figures in the Bible, a forerunner of Christ himself. And if David remained important in the eyes of God, why do I have to be judged? I am a sinner, I know. But fuck ... I need this, you know? I—"

  You slap the reverend again.

  “Shut up. You're just a fucking moralist who doesn’t miss a chance to enjoy the pleasures of life that you’re always criticizing. It's a shame you chose that path, reverend.”

  You lean down close to the woman, touch her chin and lift her face at the height of yours. You looks into her green eyes and says,

  “And you, my dear, why did you choose this path? You could have any man you wanted, why did you pick that piece of shit here? That's such a waste, you know.”

  You skirt her lips with your thumb, feeling the saliva on the tip of your finger. Then you kiss her gently, touching the tip of her tongue with yours. You move away, touche a strand of her blond hair and says, “Maybe in the next life you have the chance to make the right choice. It's really a shame that you have to end up like this, but I need to fix everything, you know? This is something I need to do.”

  You caress her face, get up and point the gun up.

  “Then, my dear Reverend Polasky, in the name of the justice of God and men, I declare you guilty and subject to the death penalty. May God have no mercy on your soul and hell may welcome you with open arms.”

  You lower your arm and point the gun at him, your finger ready to pull the trigger, when you notice a small movement to the left in the hallway that goes into the basement. In your ear, Steve shouts orders fast enough so that you can aim at the two shadows that emerge into the room and become solid figures.

  “Shit!” you scream, pulling the trigger repeatedly and missing the shots. The security guard, with blood drying on his forehead and the marks of rope in his hands, shoots at you. All you have left is to throw yourself to the side, as Steve orders, feeling the bullet passing a little above your shoulder.

  Everything happens too fast. The reverend gets up and runs to the butler, who also points a gun at you. He just doesn’t shoot because you rush to grab the woman by the hair and hold her against you. She screams in pain and you stand up, the barrel of the gun against her throat.

  Steve says, “I'm sorry I didn’t warn you that they managed to escape, Jimmy, but I thought things would be more fun this way.”

  “Fucking son of a bitch!” you yell at Steve.

  “Don’t be a cry baby, you little shit. You've put me in far worse situations than this.”

  “Your situations weren’t real, damn it!”

  “They were very real to me.”

  The three men on the other side of the room look at each other in confusion, as if you were crazy. The butler and the security guard still point their guns at you. The reverend has a long strain in the middle of his legs that spreads up to his thighs.

  “You'd better let her go, my friend,” Polasky says. “If you haven’t noticed, you are at a disadvantage here.”

  “Try anything and I'll blow up her head before you no
tice it. Put your weapons down and everything is fine.”

  The reverend laughs.

  “Do you really think you'll get away with it, you bastard? Do you really think you're going to get away with it after what you did to me? I'll catch you and I swear I'll force you to do each one of the things I've always had in mind, but I've never forced a faithful to do. We're gonna have a lot of fun, my friend, and after your body is completely fucked, I'll feed my dogs with it. Can you hear me, you piece of shit? I'm gonna fuck your ass and feed my dogs with your body.”

  You move slowly backward, trying to reach the kitchen arch and use the wall for protection. Any wrong move can cost your life.

  “Do your best, Jimmy,” Steve says. “Let's see how you do.”

  Bastard.

  “This is your last chance. Put your weapons down or I swear she's gonna die. Besides, look at this house, it's full of explosives. You don’t want to blow us all, do you?”

  But all you want is to gain some time. When you reach the arch, you throw the woman forward and shoot the security guard. The bullet hits his shoulder, causing the security's shot to take an arc not exactly intended ...

  As the woman falls to her knees, the security’s bullet hits the top of her head and bursts part of her brain, tossing her blood against the white pillar. Her body falls lifeless, her head covered with a pool of blood.

  “Motherfucker!”, Polasky shouts.

  The butler shoots at you, but you hide behind the wall and your brain starts to run even faster to find a way out. You look to the side, to the arch that leads to a corridor, and you go there. The reverend's hurried steps follow to the dead wife on the floor as he screams for her.

  You realize you're sweating again. Drops run down your forehead, your arm shakes and you try to keep your hand steady. You crouch down and hide behind a cupboard. Then you look at another arch that goes to the living room and shoots at the security guard. He rolls to the side and shoots at you twice, the bullets bursting through the cupboard glass. You hear footsteps in the kitchen just behind you and rush forward, then you cross the living room's arch with a quick movement and shoot at the security guard. A bullet hits his neck and blood splatters in the air. He shoots up one last time and you thank God when the bullet doesn’t the fireplace, where you left an explosive attached.

  A bullet hits the side of your belly riping your skin. The butler is on the other side of the corridor, with the reverend just behind, holding the leg of a wooden chair.

  “No need to run, my friend, you won’t escape the things I imagine for you.”

  You shoot at them, crouch down and climb the stairs, ignoring the open basement door at the side, where the security guard and the butler have escaped. One last look on the arch reveals the dead body of the security guard and the legs of one who had once been a beautiful woman with a pair of generous breasts. And Steve ... shit, Steve really left you. You even lost the wireless earphones at some point down there.

  You stop at the top of the stairs, look sideways and find a red leather sofa that you can use to hide behind and catch the two by surprise.

  Their footsteps resound on the stairs.

  You get your finger on the trigger, it's time to give these bastards what they deserve. Maybe Steve isn’t here to help you, but you're perfectly capable of doing that. At least once in your life, it's time to be the brave man Laura has always wanted you to be. You killed the security guy without Steve, didn’t you? Then you can also do this with these two. Killing in real life is not that complicated after all. A bullet, some blood and everything is done.

  Of course ... when you have bullets.

  Polasky and the butler look at you, your arms over couch pulling the trigger that’s about to sentence your death. No bullets, just Polasky's laughter.

  “Well, well ... It seems to me that the Lord is on my side.”

  He hits the leg of the chair in his hand, a hand covered with the blood of his dead wife.

  “Get up and put your hands on your head,” Polasky says.

  You drop the gun on the floor and obeys.

  Polasky looks at the butler, who walks over to you and hits the butt of the gun on your forehead. You fall to the ground, screaming in agony from the pain that rises up to your brain as if they were sticking an iron bar in you. Hot blood comes out in abundance in your hand and through your fingers. Your vision fades, and the last thing you see is Polasky brandishing the leg of the chair against your head.

  Then the darkness engulfs him.

  IX

  The cold water falls on my body and I open my eyes with the heat shock. My head is throbbing like hell, I can hear and feel my heart beating in the brain. I blink a few times, but the blurred vision allows me to glimpse no more than a figure above me. The figure speaks, but his voice is distant and grave, an echo in a dark and terrible nightmare.

  “James,” the figure says, after a moment when words begin to cease to be noises to become a little clearer. My heart continues to pound in my head, a funeral march out of a horror film. “Wake up, James, I know you're there. James Gibson, isn’t that what your identity says? Talk to me, my friend, we have a lot to do and I don’t wanna waste time when I could be having fun.”

  I try to move and feel my arms pinned above my head. I raise my eyes and see gray spots that gradually take shape until they become chains tied at the headboard. My lungs close, suffocating me, and I try to scream, but the cloth tied in my mouth prevents the sound from coming out. I move my head to the man above me, who was once just a figure.

  “Oh, there you are,” Polasky says, slamming a piece of iron in his hand, the tip of which is burned. He's wearing no shirt, only with pants and its zipper is open. I look down at my naked body. “I didn’t do anything yet, buddy, 'cause I wanted you awaken to have fun with me. I wanna hear you groan as I feel my cock inside your ass, see the tears streaming down your face and the despair in your eyes. I'm sorry, man, but this is how the world works, isn’t it? You pay your bills.” He shows his index finger to me. “You pay your fucking bills.”

  Polasky puts his finger in my anus and I feel it burn with the ardor. He turns his finger, putting it deeper, and lets out a moan.

  “Why did you have to do this to me, James?What did I do to you, huh? Did I fuck your little sister? I'm sorry, but women love what I do with them. They may say no, but they love it when I force them to sit on my face and shit in my mouth. They complain, some cry, but in the end they always moan with their wet pussy and beg for me to kiss them with my dirty mouth full of their own shit. Women are like that, tired of their pathetic relationships with men who only think about working and fucking once a week, always in the same position that doesn’t last more than five minutes. They are tired of this shit, just tired. So when a man like me appears and shows a new world, where anything is considered wrong, they just go crazy. They want me, James. They want what I can offer.” Polasky chuckles and his face writhes in a reddish tone. “And I intend to do so many things with you, my friend, that I swear to God you will want me too.”

  He takes his finger off my anus, sucks it and then wets his lips with his tongue. So he squeezes my balls and climb up to my dick, pulling it. Twinges reach my kidneys and tears fall down my face.

  “I'm gonna fuck you every day of your life, James. I will keep you chained, make you my puppy and do with you every thing I have in my mind. So when you cannot put up with it and die, I'll cut your body and send it to your house. Then I'll go there and fuck your wife. And if you have a son, I'll force him to watch everything and then I'll fuck him too. I'll fuck your kid while he eats your remains, sucking his fingers and moaning with my cock inside him.”

  Polasky drops my cock. He runs his hand through the iron bar, the light from the ceiling being reflected on it. I try to scream until my throat starts to throb too, but the sounds just do not come out. I'm trapped, stuck forever. It's time to pay for your sins, Jimmy.

  “Smile, James,” Polasky says. “It’ll hurt at first, but the pain
will intensify so much that it will turn into pleasure. And you'll love it when that happens.”

  He prepares the iron bar and slowly approaches it to my anus. Polasky laughs and lifts his head up. Now I know how women felt at the hands of this bastard. The tip of the iron touches my anus and I feel the burning again. Polasky looks at me and places his hand on the iron bar, ready to shove it deep.

  And then the door opens and the reverend turns quickly back.

  “Sorry to interrupt, sir,” the butler says, “but we've got a problem.”

  “I thought I said I didn’t wanna be interrupted.”

  “Yes, sir, but I think you’ll wanna take a look at it. There was a small problem with your wife's body down there.”

  Polasky sighs and looks up. He throws the iron bar on the floor, gets up and straightens his pants.

  “I hope that it's really important, or I swear I'll make sure you're buried along with her.”

  The butler nods.

  “Yes sir.”

  The two go out and the door is closed, leaving me alone in the room.

  I look sideways, my mind working in search of a way out. There must be some way to get out, I just need to think. I move my legs, but they are tied with ropes that go to the floor, being tied in something I cannot see.

  Shit. I need to be quick or Polasky will find me and that will be the end. He will pick up that iron bar and dig it deep into me. Then he will return every fucking day to do with me all the filthy things that sick mind can imagine. And, for God, he will find my family because of me.

  All right, I wouldn’t mind if he taught Laura a thing or two. You know, lessons from a pig to a pig. But Peter ... No, my son has suffered too much because of my bad nature as an absent father, I can’t let him go through any other problems I've caused. Elise may not even believe it, but I worry about my son and his love, maybe even more than she does.

  And it's for Peter that I'm gonna fix it.