Choice or Destiny

Choice or Destiny

7/28/2011

word count:2358



“Why did he want to meet in this dump? I know of at least three different places that would have been safer and less conspicuous. But noooo, it’s got to be the Dirty Dragon. Yeah, the Dirty Dragon, the dirtiest, cheapest and most dangerous dump in the city. Christ, now I know I’ve hit rock bottom now.” Fred keeps talking to himself as he walks through the door with it’s cracking and peeling red paint. ”at least nobody’s going to frisk me for weapons here, because everyone carrying.”

Fred stands at the door waiting for his eyes to adjust to the low lighting. “ this is a little trick I picked up a long time ago. Stand in the open doorway with the light at your back. Sure you’re standing there exposed with everyone looking at you, but they can’t see who it is until the door closes and then their night vision is messed up as bad as yours was when you walked in.”

A man stands up as Fred walks in and lets the door close behind him. He sees a man motioning for him to come over and he seems to be nervous and scared, afraid to have anyone notice him. Fred stops at the bar, orders a drink and hands the bartender the money. As he stands there waiting for his drink. He looks around the place for any exits and dangers. “Always find a quick way out in case of trouble,” he thinks to himself. The bartender hands him his change and his drink. Fred tells the bartender to bring one more over to the table in a few minutes.

“Okay, that’ll be six bucks.” the bartender says.

Fred gives the man a ten and walks over to the table in the corner with the little nervous man. He sits down with his back to the wall and nods to the little man.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing waltzing in here like that.” the man whispers nervously.

“Look, you’re the one that picked this dump. Do you want me for this job or not?” Fred says to the man angrily.

“Yes, I do, but you have to keep a low profile.” the man says while looking around.

“What do you mean buy that? You want me walking around like you do? I’m not going to walk around down here like some little weasel afraid of my own shadow.” Fred says

“Alright have it your own way. Here’s the job. You take this scroll case to the address printed on the envelope with your retainer in it and when you hand it over the man there, he’ll give you the rest of your money, that‘s it. You‘ll recognize the place when you get there.” the man says.

Fred takes the envelope, looks at the address,96 Butteswipe road, Delaware 19814, then inside and nods his head approvingly and asks, “Okay, and how am I supposed to know that the scroll case has something in it and not just a rolled up pieces of newspaper to feel like there‘s something in here?”

“Well, you open it. I don’t expect you to take my word for it. But you have to remember that the seal must not be broken. No matter what happens, the seal must not be broken.” the little man replies.

Fred opens the case and pulls out the scroll.

The little man looks around nervously and says, “ Keep it low, you don’t know who’s watching.”

“Everything seems to be in order. How am I to recognize this guy I’m suppose to meet?” he asks.

“He has a scar running down the right side of his face. From the hairline all the way down thru his eye to his chin. He wears an eye patch with a crescent moon on it.” he says describing the man.

The bartender brings over the drink and sets it down in front of him, handing Fred his change.

He says, “No, keep it and here.” handing him another five.

“Thanks,” the bartender says with a smile.

“Ok, I guess that’s it. Let me finish this and I’ll be off.” Fred says to the man.

“One more thing, be careful. There’s…looking around, others, they want what you’re carrying and they won’t stop at anything to get it.” he says mysteriously.

Fred chuckles and give the man a little smile, “Don’t worry, that’s what you’re paying me for. And at these prices… well, you get what you pay for. Right?”

“Yeah, you better be worth it.” the little man says.

“If you didn’t think I was worth it you’d never have contacted me.” Fred says with some malice.

Fred finishes his drink, stands and nods to the little man. Heading out of the bar with the scroll case strapped over his shoulder. He stops at the door to take a last look around, the little man is gone. There’s no sign that he was even there. There’s only two empty glasses sitting on the table, both his own. He shakes his head as leaves. Crossing the parking lot to his car.

I’m glad I’m out of that dump. My back still feels itchy. That little guy was starting to piss me off. ”you better be worth it.” huh, like I ever failed to make a delivery yet. Oh, this is going to be a breeze, it’s only going to take me four and a half hours to get to lower Delaware from here in Wilmington and then after I drop the package off, I might as well head to the beach for some R&R. Fred say to himself as he gets in his car a drives off.

The drive down state was just a normal drive. Going thru two tolls and finally getting off at the right exit.

“That’s me, have map will travel” Fred says happily while listening to the radio.

As he get closer to the town of Butte he notices smoke rising in the distance. He thinks it’s just people burning their trash, like they do down here. Why take it to the dump where you have to pay for it, when you can just burn it. He gets closer and notices that it’s not trash burning, but what looks like the town.

“Daamn” he says while driving into town. “The whole place is trashed. What’s that hanging off the stop sign? Holy shit! Is that a body!?” As he continues to drive thru town he notices other bodies and body parts. “What have I gotten myself into? It looks like World War three hit this place.” he pulls up to the tavern and one corner of the building is caved in and he looks around while he parks out front. The Dirty Dragon Tavern the sign says. “I should have guessed,” he says to himself. Thinking back to what the little man said. “you’ll recognize it when you see it.” “ok, I recognize it, and I still think it’s a dump.” Fred says to the front of the building.

He sees some movement down the street, near the corner where a dumpster lays fallen over. A bicycle lays on the sidewalk with a little kid under it. Fred runs down to the little kid thinking the kid was hurt, but when he gets to the little girl he sees that it couldn’t have been her, she was dead. It must have been her dress blowing in the wind. Then he hears a voice moaning down the alley where the dumpster usually sits and he see a man moving, “Hold on buddy, I’m coming!” Fred hollers to the man. He runs to the injured man and says, “What happened here? Who did all this?”

“It wasn’t a who, it was an it.” the man says grimacing.

“Are you going to be alright?” Fred asks, knowing the answer. Seeing all the blood pooled around the man. He grabs for his cell phone, but the man stops him.

“I’m dying, I know it. When they attack, everyone dies. Even if they just scratch you, you die. So be careful. Get my satchel over there.” he says pointing.

Fred picks up the satchel and notices how heavy it is for it’s size.

“You keep it.” the man says. “It’s your payment, and there might be something you can use to help yourself in there. I wasn’t quick enough to do anything. I wasn’t expecting them to attack the whole town to get to me. To get the scroll. Go to my place, there you will find my wife. Give her the scroll and tell her what happened…she’ll take it from there.” the man says with his dying breath.

“Aww great.” Fred says. “nothing can be easy in this business. I did my job. I got it here. But, nooo.”

Fred grabs the satchel and heads back to his car and starts it up. Looking around and seeing nothing alive or coming after him. He looks thru the satchel and finds the mans drivers license in his wallet, then looks at his map for the address.

“Not too far away.” he says to himself as he pulls out. “Let’s hope this goes better.”

It takes him an hour to get to the mans place, when he pulls into the driveway a little boy and girl are playing in the front yard.

“Oh great!” Fred says to himself, “now I have to tell his wife and kids that Daddy’s dead. This isn’t going to be good.”

A woman comes out of the house and see Fred sitting in his car. She calls the kids in the house and stares at him with a worried look on her face. She walks down the steps as Fred gets out of his car with the scroll case and the satchel. He drops the satchel on the ground at his feet. She starts to cry.

“I’m sorry, there wasn’t anything I could do for him. He told me to bring this to you. That you’d know what to do with it.” Fred says handing the scroll case to the woman.

She doesn’t move, she just stares at the satchel sitting on the ground at his feet.

“He said for me to keep it, that there may be something in it that would help, but you can have it. I have other things, other tools of my trade.” he say remorsefully.

The woman speaks, “So you’re a mage?”

“Umm, yeah…” Fred says hesitantly.

“Then you should keep it. He’s right, you may need what’s in it. I have some other things that you might be able to use to fight them off in the house. Won’t you come in?” she says kindly. “I knew the would happen one day. It’s a little hard to… to accept right now. And the children will take it hard, but we’ll deal with it in time.” she says with tears leaking down her checks. She wipes her eyes as she turns to lead Fred into the house. In the house she indicates for Fred to sit down.

“Would you like something to drink?” she asks.

“Um, a beer.. If it’s not too much trouble?” he says.

She goes into the kitchen and comes back in with his drink and hands it to him.

“I’ll just go upstairs and get those other things for you.” she tells him as she walks upstairs. Where he hears the kids playing. Then everything goes quiet. Suddenly he hears children crying and their mother trying to soothe them. He hears her talking to them, but doesn’t really hear her words, just the quiet tone of her voice. After a while he hears her moving about. There’s still sniffling from the children, but that’s all. She come downstairs carrying another satchel, this one larger.

“Here, these are the other things he used in his work. His tools of the trade as he use to call them. I guess your taking over for him.” she states flatly.

“What do you mean by, taking over for him?” Fred asks with some trepidation.

“He always told me that one day this would happen and that the person that he sent back would be his replacement and for me to give that person all of his tools.” she explains.

“Hold on here, I’m just hired to deliver this scroll and go on my way. I don’t get involved with anything else that I’m not contracted to do. I’m no ones replacement. I have a business to run.” Fred says excitedly. “I’ve done my job and delivered the scroll, twice!”

“The scroll is now yours. With it you will gain the power to defeat them and wipe the scourge from this world and other worlds. Randell always said that it wasn’t his job to do this, but that the person he sent would be the one.” she tells him.

Fred just sits there flabbergasted staring at the woman. Shaking his head, “I… I…I can’t do this. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“You can, and you will. It was foreseen that someone would come along to do what others could not. Do you think that you’re the first person that has been sent with the Scroll of Destinies? No! you haven’t, but you are the last. No matter what you do for now on the scroll will be with you until you read it and fulfill your destiny.” she says all this with a heavy heart. “You will do this. There is no way around it.”

She walks away to leave Fred to contemplate his dilemma. He grab the scroll case and opens it, dumping the scroll into the palm of his hand. Staring at the seal he tries to read what it says. After some twisting and turning in the low light he stands and walks toward the door and opens it. “That’s better.” he says to no one. He looks at the seal again. It says, Choices are given, Destinies are made. “Oh great.” he says as he picks up his beer and finishes it in one long swallow.





Word count: 2358