The Last Goodbye, Part 3


HumanMiracle

 

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The Last Goodbye, Part 3
By Mark Piggott (Bone the Head-Hunter, Liberty Server)
Bone slowly lowers his bow. He realizes the truth in the Eidolon’s words, but refuses to believe it. “No, that’s not possible,” he says.
The Eidolon peels back the leather bindings that encase its body, removing its mask, exposing its face to Bone. Though bald, Bone recognizes the eyes and lips – even the little mole on her cheek – of his wife.
“Val?” Bone asks. “Can it really be you?” The Eidolon smiles, as if she is enjoying tormenting Bone. “It’s me, Teddy, the wife you abandoned and left for dead.”
“I didn’t abandon you,” he explains, peeling his mask back to look at his wife, eye to eye. “I searched for you for days with Positron. We found no trace of you or Daniel.” Bone’s voice trails off at the mention of his son’s name.
“Don’t you dare say his name,” the Eidolon screams. “You have no right to speak his name. You have no idea what they did to him.”
“Yet here you are, one of them,” Bone rips back at her. “How could you do that? How could you join the Vahzilok?”
“I did what I had to survive,” she yells at Bone. “They were going to kill me, just like they did Daniel. I offered myself to them – to Dr. Vahzilok himself – to become one of his Eidolon. I did it to save my life.”
Bone can’t believe what he’s hearing. She willingly gave herself to the Vahzilok, after what they did to their son.
“The Valerie I know would never have done that. She would have died before joining these monsters,” Bone argues. “What do you know about life and death,” she snaps back. “You have your precious medical transporters to protect you. I was on my own. I had a choice to make and I chose to live, no matter what I had to do.”
“You’re right about one thing,” she says as she pulls the mask back over her face. “Valerie Johnson is dead. I am Black Mary.”
Bone realizes the truth in her words. “Then this is good-bye for the last time,” he tells her as he puts his mask back on. “But know this, Black Mary. The next time we meet, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Black Mary just stares at him. “Neither will I, Bone the Head-Hunter,” she says. “Neither will I.” Without hesitating, Bone pulls back his bow and fires a flaming arrow at the body bags, making the body parts unusable to the Vahzilok. Black Mary doesn’t flinch. She just stares at Bone. He just turns away and leaps into the air, heading towards the Faultline exit back to Steel Canyon.
Suddenly, the sewer grate opens up and a group of Vahzilok step out. The Mortificator walks over to Black Mary. “Black Mary, what happened here?” he asks her. She continues to stare off into the distance. “We were ambushed by Bone the Head-Hunter,” she explains. “He destroyed the body bags, but I got him… I got him right through the heart.”
The Mortificator smiles, knowing that the Eidolon hurt the Vahzilok’s feared enemy. As they gather up the remains of their fallen, they are too busy to see a tear rolling down Black Mary’s cheek. It is the last tear she will ever shed for her husband.
Across town, as Bone leaps through the air, he also sheds a tear. He hasn’t cried since he lost his family the first time. He’ll never cry for them again.


 

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Whoooooa....dude that was intense...Well done!