Carnival of Death

To the Man Who Had It All
By Eric H. Emma

For a few futile moments, Sam Sheppard is allow to think while he and his imprisoned brethren wait on the tarmac in a perfect line. They await the Red Beast, as it was affectionately known, the abrogation that delivers them to their prison work. However, today was not a normal day, his fellow inmates were not familiar to Sam and the Red Beast was no where to be seen. The guard who escorted Sam to the tarmac is relieved by what seems to be another dull and nondescript guard except something about his eyes irked Sam. A futile thought creeps into Sam’s mind, it’s of the letter, it’s the same thought every morning, much to Sam’s chagrin. (In this sanctum, being a mindless drone is what one strives to become.) This line of thought, however, was interrupted by the intrusion of a decrepit beige van, it pulls up to the tarmac with two more guards in it. Sam steps into the van, he takes his usual position, alone and in the back. When he sits down he carefully examines the ground, it doesn’t have any glaring holes like the red beast had, the van’s engine doesn’t sound like it has cancer either, and it rides semi-decently. Surprisingly, it’s an improvement except for one tiny detail, it’s smaller than the beast, it’s packed to the brim. The ride wasn’t bad, ignoring the acrid stench of ten prison inmates crammed into a small van on one of the hottest days in the year. The van finally stops at a nondescript location, full of anonymous trash, on a dull, excessively hot, and monotonous day. Everyone gets out, Sam simply gets to work, alone.

The usual beat of monotony, then that horrible sound shatters it, a sound heard only once before in Sam’s life, a guttural cry for life. One of the guards was falling on to the dead grass, a knife protruding from his back. A second guttural yell, the other guard has fallen to the dead grass, impaled by a pick. The barbarians were now encircling the irksome guard. Sam was mortified, he knew he had to make a choice, either go along with these barbarians or take a stand, not to be hero because it doesn‘t matter, he’s already dead. With a pick, Sam walked nonchalantly to the gun-totin’ ringleader, stuck the pick to his neck, and said, “Drop it”. Sam is confused, nothing is happening, then the irksome guard starts speaking, “All right men that’s enough, you did good, now pack everything up, and I’ll meet you in the van.” To Sam’s horror, all the prisoners and supposedly dead guards, are gone, just leaving the man, Sam, dead grass, and anonymous garbage.

The man walks up to Sam, sticks out his hand and says, “Sam, the name’s Jack Stratton, head of secret projects at the pentagon”. Then it comes, that unbelievable phrase which always has to come, “Sam, we need you for something very important”. Sam thinking, important, he’s a convict, a word synonymous with worthless. Sam‘s response, “What’s the catch?”. Jack tells him that he will die but it will be of national importance. Sam laughs, these bastards locked him up for the last twenty five years for one simple mistake, and now they want him to die for this god-forsaken country? Sam then realizes why this ordinary looking man is chief, he’s holding all the cards. Jack says, “Tell me, how are you going mail that letter, if you don’t know where your daughter even lives?”

Jack had shot Sam, a wounded animal, point blank, Sam lets out a hearty roar in the hopes of scaring the poacher away, “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY DAUGHTER!”, but Jack sees right through this. Jack lights up a cigarette, and then says, “Everything, here’s the deal, you do what I want, I’ll deliver that precious letter and your diary to your daughter? Or you can go back to rotting away in that cell of yours, and be completely forgotten, if you care to join me, get in the car”. Sam gets in the car, the man holds all the cards, what does it matter.
As Sam awakes, he feels the chill in his bones, his mind teetering on the brink of sanity. Remembering only his name, indiscernible images of chaos & imprisonment flash through his mind’s eye. He starts to try and get up, but he’s brought crashing down by an intense gravitational force, as if the world beat upon him. Sam looks around he’s in a cemetery, he feels the robes of death that imprison him A thought manifests in Sam’s mind, he breaks into a run with the burden of the world beating upon him, his muscles moan in agony. With instinct as his guide he passes marble angels, squirrels, cars, and other oddities masquerading as tombstones, finally he escapes the eerie cemetery. Sam glides down a road in his deathly robe, it’s quiet, too quiet, as if the world had died while he slept. Left on North Street. His memory starts to trickle down, the screams of delirium and pain of his bedridden mother, the absence of his two-bit gangster father, and his will to be a better parent. Right on Second Street. He remembers the cold concrete of prison. Left on Wonder Street. A number blazes in his head, 616, he’s close he can feel it. He stops, he’s found the number, the house, he’s found his daughter.

Sam’s instincts have gone cold, he knows he’s never seen his daughter, he’s paralyzed with fear. The fragmented memories continue to rush through his head, the divorce notice was the last he heard from his wife, she had taken his daughter to some obscure nook of the country, his will to live slowly faded away. He decides to head into the house, the door is open, he’s found the master bedroom, he slowly peers into the room. He remembers being ushered into a huge auditorium, donning the robes of death, and sitting in death’s chair. His daughter is sitting at her desk doing work, a grown women, she is completely frozen in time as if a real live photo, and then his memory hits him like a sledge-hammer.

Sam remembers everything, the shroud had been lifted. Sam is moving at incredible speeds, time has stopped for him, and as a safety precaution, he will die in three days due to a poison in his system. In his daughter face he read a story of pain and anguish, a story he knew well, not having a father. Her husband is in the room, he has an ID tag, “Oliver Lance - Resident Doctor”. Sam in self-pity, thinks good for her, she married rich, if only he could have had that option. However, Sam quickly spots Dinah’s ID Tag, “Dinah Lance - Resident Nurse”. For a moment Sam can forget his plight and bask in pride. Sam conjures up a fantasy involving a big lonely hospital, ironically their love had nothing to do with their professions, it was over a cup of tea at the local Asian market.

Sam begins to pace the room, pondering about the mission at hand. National security had nothing to do with him, he could spend his time figuring out on how to rid himself of this suit. Sam turns to his daughter, how many lost years did he lose because of this frickin’ government? Sam hope she‘ll understand, life was unkind to him. Sam knows he has to carry out the mission he’s just been deluding himself, she needs to get that letter, for his sake.

Sam begins to go over the particulars of his mission. His mission is to stop a man who’s out assassinate the president and is using a similar suit as his. His name is a Dr. Shawn Freedman, 45, same age as Sam except the doctor was born with a silver spoon. The doctor’s story reads like one of those fluff pieces you find in the back of a society magazine, wealthy family, best schooling, renown scientist, marries his high school sweet-heart, and has a family. What they don’t mention in the society pages is that the doctor became obsessed with his work, neglecting his wife and family, till one day he woke up and his wife had cancer. Jack Stratton met the doctor locked away from the world, slaving away at “cure”, offering a way to conduct his research in the blink of an eye. The doctor went astray and has been causing mayhem all across the United States, and is heading straight for the white house. Sam laughs bitterly, thinking serves them all right for playing God. The doctor’s been given everything and he just threw it away, Sam needs to know why.

Sam, knowing what he must do, steps out of the house, he walks to the end of the street. What he’s about to do might just kill him, however, he has no choice. Remembering his training, he opens a concealed layer of his robe, pulls out a compass, ruler, and map. He puts the map on the ground, drawing a line from Arlington to Fairfax, the home of the doctor, he determines it’s a eleven miles in a straight line to the west. He opens up another flap in his suit to reveal a button. Basically when he holds down the button, the suit will begin to rack up huge amounts of kinetic energy, for every ten seconds he holds it he can go a mile, in theory he’ll be moving so fast, he’ll essentially vibrate through anything in the way, and hopefully he won’t disintegrate in the process. Sam doesn’t really understand much about the suit, they don’t explain things to a rat. He begins to hold down the button, the pain is gradual at first, then he starts to feel his organs tearing at the seams, then the nose-bleeds starts, he can taste the blood on his lips, he starting to lose consciousness, needs to hold on for twenty more seconds, there’s blackness. When he awakes, he’s in Fairfax, VA.

When Sam opens his eyes, he wonders if he’s finally free but he quickly remembers the grim reality. He stands up wondering if he can truly knows if this is Fairfax, VA, then he sees the horror. A line of carnage lies before Sam, cars, buildings, and people ripped in half by the wake of destruction left by an unforeseen force. The faces of the poor souls ripped in half were the most ghastly, for they were still smiling. Sam trudges on, following the path of carnage, it leads him to a house, the door is open.

Crossing the threshold fully conscious there‘s no turning back, Sam wheels around the various rooms, retaining a glimpse into the life that the doctor had missed. Children of all ages graced this house of death which in turn constantly plagued Sam’s mind with the question, “Why did the doctor throw it all away?”. Sam finally makes it to the end of this labyrinth of lost dreams, the master bedroom. He hesitantly peers in, much to his surprise, he sees a man staring at his dying wife’s face and truly knowing there’s nothing he can do, even stopping time wasn’t enough to save her. The doctor had known of Sam’s presence the minute Sam stepped into his home, though the doctor was still pondering his next move. The doctor didn’t believe in prolonging the inevitable and the trespasser had already made it to his inner sanctum, so he would make the first move

The doctor finally acknowledges Sam’s presence, they look each other straight in the eye, measuring each other’s grit, silence pervades the room. Finally the doctor says, “They sent someone to take care of me, did they?”. Sam is dumbfounded, realizing he’s not ready to throw his life away. The doctor further pushes, “Are you mute or simply plain stupid?”. Sam quickly shifts from being dumbfounded to indignant, Sam lashes back with, “Who the hell do you think you are?”. The good doctor simply laughs and turns toward the window. Sam presses on, “Don’t laugh at me, I’m talking to you!” The doctor, not as a murderer but as a human being, turns around and softly replies, “Have you ever loved anyone before?”. Sam ponders this, for the first time in his life, he has never consider the fact that he was never given the chance to truly love someone. Sam’s silence is the doctor’s answer. The doctor further presses on, “If you had, perhaps you might know the pain of sacrificing everything and having it mean nothing”. Sam become enraged at this and responds with, “YOU THINK THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MASSACRE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE BECAUSE YOUR EGO COULDN’T HANDLE THE THOUGHT OF FAILURE!” The doctor can no longer keep his cool, he responds with, “How dare you judge me, you presumptuous cockroach, I am a god! If I choose to take the lives of more insignificants then I shall!” The doctor sighs, regains his composure and takes a walk toward the window. Sam knows he could complete his mission now, a simple punch would yield enough power to kill them both, however, he needs to know why, why a man who had it all, threw it all away.The doctor’s looking out at his frozen world wondering where it all went wrong, a battle rages inside him between an angered god who hungers for blood and a man, the man his wife had once fallen in loved with. The doctor, the man, turns toward Sam as if trying to reach out to another soul for some pity, he asks, “Look at her, she’s dying, she was the love of my life! What was I suppose to do just stand by and watch her wither away!”. Sam won’t grant this poor soul his pity, he replies back in anger, “WHAT WERE YOU SUPPOSE TO DO? YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO BE A MAN AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY!”. The doctor can no longer contain it, the god has taken over, there is no time for small pleasantries, the cockroach must be squashed, he lunges at Sam, Sam dodges, the doctor punches a wall, the wall trembles. Sam knows he has to get out, lead the doctor somewhere desolate, he runs out of the room, the strain of the earth still beating upon him, the doctor is in hot pursuit.

Outside, Sam knows he’s got to get as far away from innocent people as possible, before. Then it hits him, he remembers that during his training they told him to never to jump because every force gives off an equally powerful reaction. If he jumps it should sling shot him out of the city but at the risk of causing a seismic earthquake. The doctor comes bustling out the door, Sam needs to make a decision, he jumps, he screams in pain as he’s hurtled at super speeds out of the city. The doctor quickly follows, they both end up falling hard in a forest right outside Fairfax, they both lose consciousness.

When Sam awakes, he’s reminded of a memory, a memory he hasn’t thought of in many years. It was the catalyst which led to this moment and why he is here. Sam is reminded of being at a high school party, he remembers the smell of booze and marijuana so well. He remembers sleeping with the hottest chick at the party, on his friend’s pool table no less. Then he remembers her gorilla boyfriend coming in and beating the shit out of him, that is how he feels right now. That girl would later become pregnant with his child, and he would marry her out of a sense of chivalry long dead in this day and age. It wasn’t love, it was honor, but he needed money and he needed it bad, which led to his diamond heist. Sam thought about that poor police-man and his family, he still remembers the look on the cop’s face when he had shot him, and for once Sam truly feels sorry for what he did. It is then Sam understands, him and the doctor are the same. Sam starts to get up, he understands how a man could abandon his family, he did it with the diamond heist, he is no better, he killed an innocent, but it’s time to stop running and face himself.

Sam stands, it hasn’t gotten any easier but he has a will to live now, for he knows he has to stop the doctor. The doctor isn’t hard to find, considering the thirst for Sam‘s blood has taken hold of his mind, the doctor continually thinks how dare such a cockroach judge him. They both meet in a clearing in the forest, it’s a showdown, they both could run, but they know the end is here. As if in an old western, they both stare each other down, both waiting to see who makes the first move, the doctor is impudent and beings to run toward Sam. He underestimates Sam, Sam dodges and pushes the doctor with so much force, that his body is scattered all over the great state of Virginia, of course Sam is hurdled quite a distance as well but he survives.
Sam’s first thought is to race back and try to find someway to talk to his daughter, but he realizes that he’s been handed his redemption but at a high price. The poison has started to kick in, he only has a day left at the most, he remembers the faces of those ripped in half by the doctor. It’s going take at least a day, even at super-speeds, to repair all the damage that madman has created. There was no way he was going see his daughter again and that’s the price he needed to pay, because there was more to the world than just himself. So with that thought, Sam sped off with his duties as a glorified janitor.

The next day Dinah Lance awakes from her dreamless sleep, it is morning, though that has no relevance to her All she knows is that within moments she will begin the day’s monotonous tasks, little does she know what today has in store for her. She is finally fully awaken by her radio alarm clock, a news reporter is reporting on a strange occurrence in Fairfax, VA, it seems a small earthquake befell the town, luckily no one was hurt. She quickly turns it off, she then notices her husband in the chair across from the bed with a shot glass, and some gin. She instinctually knows something is wrong, yet it hasn’t occurred to her that this is the day she’s waited for all her life, the day she learns about her father.

When Oliver Lance first saw Jack Stratton earlier that morning, he thought he was being accosted by a traveling bible salesman. However, as Sam had found out, when Jack opened his mouth he learned he was anything but what he seemed. When he had explained that he was carrying Dinah’s father’s diary and a letter, he thought it was a joke. But he quickly dismissed the thought since anyone who knew Dinah would never pull such a thing, it’d be just too hurtful, based on Dinah’s own thoughts toward her father. Oliver had always urge Dinah to go meet her father, he even one year tract him down, some prison in North Carolina, but still Dinah chose not to. Oliver understood, he was a wise and caring man, and knew the decision was her, he figured that deep down she was in many ways the little girl waiting for her father to ride in on a white horse. Which is all the more reason why this blew his mind. He gave Jack a quick thanks and Jack was on his way. He quickly glance through the diary and the letter, just to make sure it was legit, then close them quickly, as to respect Dinah privacy. For the most part they seem to be the real deal. So in such baffling times as this, there was only one thing to do, which was take out a good ol’bottle of Jack Daniels, and drink. “What’s wrong?”, Dinah says instinctually. Oliver gets up very nonchalantly, walks over to Dinah, kisses her on the head gently, hands her the letter and the diary, “Don’t ask questions, honey, just read and be happy, I’ll be downstairs” Dinah is baffled, but simply takes the book and letter. She opens the letter and begins to read, it wasn’t a white horse but it was pretty close.