A TOWN CALLED HELL

By Tobias Christopher

Chip’s shirt lay on the floor as he engaged in a heavy make-out session with Anya while standing in the house the two had broken into. The second the two recognized each other, the feelings they once had as children came rushing back to them, having not seen each other in a good fifteen years.

“I never thought I’d see you again,” Chip told her. “Where did you go?”

“I became an assassin,” Anya told him. “You?”

“Computer hacker,” Chip said. “I got shot by a mob boss and spent six years in a coma.”

Chip tapped the metal plate in his head. “How do you know Benji?”

“He’s my nephew,” Anya explained. “I came to rescue him.”

“He’s kind of like a nephew to me, too,” Chip told her. “The problem is that even if we find him… where’s he going to go where he’ll be safe? Anyone who wants to target Frank Castle will have a bounty on the kid. Castle obviously can’t keep him around.”

“And neither can I,” Anya realized. “He’s the last family I have. He has to survive at any cost.”

Convict #6

Alex Cooke

Crime: Breaking into the homes of women he stalked, where he would blind, torture and kill them over a few days. He’d killed over twenty women in three states before he’d finally been caught.

Convict #5

Michael Trenton

Crime: Insinuating himself into the lives of families by renting out rooms to have “the perfect family”. When someone in the family would upset his perfect life, he’d snap and murder everyone that lived in the house. He’d done this for years until one would-be victim escaped to get help, leading to his eventual capture.

Both men silently snuck up on Frank Castle, who had Barracuda in the sights of his gun, armed with blunt instruments. As they ready to strike, Frank quickly turned and blasted Cooke’s lower left leg clean off. As the leg flew backward, Cooke quickly followed. Before Trenton could react, Frank shot and fired, taking Trenton’s weapon arm with it. As the two men were heavily bleeding out, Frank stood over them.

“Where. Is. The boy?”

“Go fuck yourself,” Cooke said as Frank fired, blowing his head clean off. Frank calmly walked over to the other man. 

“You won’t die that easy because I’m going to use a good old fashioned knife,” Frank said. “I can make this last for a long time, and I’m to make sure you feel every piece I cut off. Now talk.”

“I don’t know! Barracuda’s got him somewhere in the town, he’s using the kid as a bribe for whoever brings you in!”

“A prize? You were going to kill my boy?”

“No, I was going to raise him as a son,” Trenton said. “I wouldn’t kill him unless he pissed me off.”

Frank fired and shot the man’s testicles off before leaving him to bleed out. By the time he went back to where he spotted Barracuda, the enemy was already gone, having heard the gunshots.

Benji climbed through the window of a small house, not with the intent to hide, but to find better clothes and shoes, and maybe something to fill his stomach. Having found a child’s bedroom, he saw the corpse of a child a few years older than him with a broken neck.

“I’m sorry,” Benji said as he closed the boy’s eyes before putting a blanket over him. “I’ll bet you were a normal kid. You probably got to play baseball and ride your bike. You probably even had a girlfriend that you were protective of. I’ll bet you were the kind of guy I’d be jealous of for having the kind of life I always wanted but could never have.”

Benji wiped away a tear as he searched the dresser for a new outfit. “I’ll make them pay…,” Benji said as he found a student ID with the boy’s picture. “Jackson. I promise. I won’t let any more kids die because of me.”

Chip pulled on his shirt after several minutes of awkward silence. “There’s someone else.”

“Do they treat you well?” Anya asked.

“He does,” Chip told her. “I just can’t be with him. Not in this life. I had to send him far away to keep him safe.”

“You intend to fight in Frank Castle’s war until you die in a pool of your own blood?” Anya asked.

“I have to,” Chip told her. “The second I took a bullet to the head from Howard Saint, my life was pretty much over. I avenged my family, but I still never felt whole, like I didn’t deserve to have another family or love.”

“I feel the same way,” Anya told him. “After I lost my sister and my father, I didn’t think I’d ever love anyone again. Then I heard about Benji and something happened. I had to find that boy and make sure he was safe. He’s in this town and I have to get to him before it’s too late.”

“Then let’s stop wasting time,” Chip told her. “We have to take down everyone that’s out there to get to him. There were 12 escaped convicts that Barracuda let loose. I think it’s safe to say that some of them are already dead.”

“Then let’s make sure they all are,” Anya said as she loaded a gun.

Barracuda returned to the house he’d stored Benji, looking at the camera feed from the basement. The boy wasn’t there and the door was standing wide open.

“That little motherfucker,” Barracuda said. “He’s dead.”

“I’ll burn down every house in this town until I find my son,” Frank said as he searched another house. “If Barracuda’s hurt him—“

The PA system in the center of town squeaked as Barracuda came over the loudspeaker.

“Attention anyone that’s still alive,” Barracuda said. “Apparently you idiot motherfuckers are so incompetent that you can’t even stop one man and his sidekick. So fuck it, anyone who finds the Punisher’s brat, he’s all yours. Do whatever you please with the punk, and if possible, make sure his Daddy gets to see whatever psychotic thing you come up with.”

“Shit!” Chip said. “Our time just ran out. We gotta find Benji NOW.”

“Here, you’ll need a bigger gun,” Anya said as she handed him a larger hand cannon. “Kill anything that’s over four feet tall.”

“Uh oh,” Benji said as he heard the announcement while making a sandwich in the kitchen. “Okay, there are a dozen murderers wanting a piece of me. The only advantage is they don’t know where I am, I have to use that until I can find my Dad. In the meantime, and I really fucking hate that movie, I have to… ugh… go Home Alone on this place.”

“By my count, there are four of those assholes left,” Frank said as he added a few knives to his armory. “And then I have to go through the big man himself. But the kid’s worth it. I’ll make sure he survives this. I won’t lose another son.”

“Well, well, well, what do we have here,” a man said as he stepped out. 

Convict #4

Piotr Chikatilo

Crime: Slaughtering and raping over 100 women and children throughout Russia and the United States for two decades before being caught and sentenced to death row before escaping thanks to Barracuda.

“I don’t have time for this,” Frank said as he pulled out his gun.

“Weak American, are you too cowardly to face me hand to hand?”

“The pot’s calling the kettle black here,” Frank told him. “After all those women and children you slaughtered.”

“They were weak, they were doomed to die anyway,” Piotr told him. “Come, Punisher, face me like a man if you dare. It’ll be a good story to tell your son as I peel the skin from his bones.”

Frank put his gun away and tilted his neck to crack it. “You’re not going to have a head to tell stories with, boy.”

Convict #3

Raymond Marble

Crime: Kidnapping young women and Imprisoning them, then impregnating them and later selling their babies on the Black Market.

Convict #2

Danny “Crackers” Johnson

Crime: Luring young boys into his van, then killing and cannibalizing them, selling their meat at a local taco stand.

“Did you see that light?” Raymond asked as they looked at the old house up ahead. “Someone’s in there. I think it might be the kid.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Danny asked as he licked his lips. “Soup’s on.”

“The announcement  came from that station,” Chip said as he pointed toward the small building. “Barracuda’s there. If we take him out, the rest of those assholes should fall easily.”

“Like a row of dominos,” Anya said as they got closer to the door. “I’ll kick it on three. One… two…”

“Three,” Barracuda said, having already sent Chip to the ground, choked into unconsciousness. Before Anya could turn around, Barracuda shoved a machete through her stomach as he smiled, flashing a ‘Fuck You’ to her.

TO BE CONTINUED…