Prosperity

This story contains violent imagery and some explicit language.

I never expected to be sheriff of Prosperity. In fact, I had always been under the impression that killin’ a man put you on the opposite side of the law. I guess I was in the right place at the right time. But when Delilah came bustin’ through my door, her chest heaving heavy and an ill wind at her back, the scar on my forearm started to throb.

“Sheriff! A strange man just walked into town!” She said, her eyes wide and panicked. 

“Strange how Delilah?” 

“He’s…He’s draggin’ a box. It’s got your name on it.” I went to the window. I couldn’t see the man, but people had already gathered on porches and at their windows. Father Bridges was already at my doorstep, his hand wrapped around his cross. But most disturbing was the silence. Dogs didn’t bark, nothing creaked, and no voices carried. A silence I knew all too well. 

“Are the children in the schoolhouse?” I said to Delilah as a went to my cabinet and grabbed my rifle and ammo belt. 

“Yes sheriff.” 

“Good. Stay inside.” 

“Sheriff, there’s one more thing. People are saying that he came from the wastes.” My eyes closed as the words sunk in. I put my rifle and ammo belt back in the cabinet and grabbed my black single shot revolver instead. I opened the chamber and made sure the butt of the round was in, its red sheen calling.

“You been practicin’ your shootin’ Delilah?” I said. She hesitated. 

“E’rry day sheriff,” she said, nearly whispering. 

“Take the other black revolver from my cabinet. It’s already loaded.” Then I walked outside. 

Except for Father Bridges, Town Road was as deserted as the wastes which surrounded Prosperity. The sun turned the sky into a wine-red canvas as it fell behind the horizon. Then my eyes fell on him. 

I hadn’t expected him to be so tall. Every step I took towards him made him grow by an inch, and I guessed him to be close to 7 feet by the time I got within 25 paces of him. His long trench coat touched the ground, making it look like a long leather robe. The dying light of day gave me only half of his face, the other half obscured by the shadow of his black hat. His eyes glowed like two blood moons. My hand dangled next to my sidearm, my fingers tingling. 

“Where you comin’ from stranger?” I said, loud enough for listeners to hear. No answer came as he stared me down with unblinking eyes. 

“You come from up north?” No answer. Only stares. I took a deep breath. I prayed to whoever might be listening that what I did next didn’t illicit a response. I rolled up the sleeve on my right arm and let it hang, the mark clearly visible. 

“Filii aeterna” Eternal Children I said. He smiled. Fuck. He lifted his own sleeve, revealing the mark, the blisters still fresh. 

“Incorruptionem vincula,” The undying bonds he replied, his voice like old leather. “I have finally found you, brother Victus.” He said. The mumbles of the townsfolk reverberated through the creaky dry wood of the buildings. I tried not to pay them any mind. 

“It’s Samuel now.” I said. The stranger chuckled, his laugh like rolling coals. He moved his hand to the inside of his trench coat. My fingers wrapped around my Smith and Wesson. He pulled out a scroll. My gripped tightened. He opened the scroll and began to read. 

“Victus Sarcum. The council has invoked the oath of blood upon your name. You are to surrender your body to me, to be brought before the council for judgement.” My mark flared. 

“And if I refuse?” His true smile showed itself, stretching the farce of human skin to unnatural horror. 

“Then we will take all the souls of this place with us. Then, we will come for you again. There will be no negotiations.” 

Negotiations. I’m surprised he can even stand to say the word. Footsteps joined me to my right. Father Bridges. He held his cross tightly against his chest with one hand, his crystal flask of holy water held forward in the other.

“Whatever Samuel has done; the lord has forgiven. He is a good man.” I tried not hide my terror. I’m not sure I did such a good job of it. 

“Father, get back inside. Now.” He didn’t listen. He pushed his cross out. His hand was shaking. He began to chant the ancient words of exorcism.

“Deprecare deumpacis, ut conterat satanam sub pedibus-” By the time my hand had reached out to him, and the word stop came to my throat, he was taken. His arms thrust out and his head nailed backwards, letting out a gurgled gasp as his spine and muscles were pulled to their limits. Prosperity screamed as it watched Father Bridges be slowly lifted into the air and slowly flipped around, his body now an upside down cross. The stranger licked his lips. I pull out my revolver and pointed it at the stranger.

“Let him go.”  

“This is what will happen to all of the people here if you do not come with me, Victus,. I have marked the location with a sigil, to activate upon my death. They will be taken to our world…and you know what happens then.”

I remembered the day I arrived in Prosperity. I was running. Sheriff Calloway took me in. I just wanted to leave, to hide on this planet. Then I felt it, what he had done, what he was still doing. His aura glowed like the prisoners which occupied our hellish cells. My instincts kicked in. I had enough time to find the evidence before I let the townsfolk know. They made me sheriff. Maybe, I thought, this could be a good subterfuge. But then I came to know vulnerability, compassion, and love. Delilah, Father Bridges, the doc…they all showed me love despite it all.

Love took a hold of me. And now, for its own sake, I must let love go. I chucked the pistol to the ground.  

“I abide the council’s command!” The stranger’s smile dissipated. Father Bridges fell. I barely caught him in time. I brought him to the doc’s balcony. 

“Give him laudanum and holy water” I said to the shade in the window as I left the priest’s body on the step. As I walked away, I heard the door open, then close a moment later. Thanks doc. 

I went back to my position. The stranger brought his bony hand up and clicked his fingers. The box opened with the creak of a coffin. I looked around Prosperity and saw all eyes on me. I felt my eyes water as I looked on towards the humans that I had come to love and respect, things I never thought a devil like me could ever know. I started walking towards my fate when a slender hand grabbed my wrist. Delilah. I had almost forgotten. 

“Please Samuel…don’t go…” she said. I turned towards her and smiled. I unpinned my sheriff’s badge and placed it in her hand. Then I pointed to my heart. 

“Remember. The chest is a bigger target than the head. Right here, just like we practiced.” She nodded while tears rolled down her cheeks. Then I turned and walked to the stranger, stopping 5 paces from him.

“By the laws of our world, your word must be kept. Prosperity will be spared.” I drove my thumbnail into the mark on my arm until blood poured out. The stranger did the same. We locked arms, blood in blood.

“Prosperity…will be spared-” The bullet entered the stranger’s chest with a thick thud, and the roar of the canon came a half second later. The stranger’s eyes went wide and he started to scream, his shape slowly disintegrating into ash.

No. Please god no.

I turned around to see Delilah still holding up the pistol, smoke still pouring from the barrel. The stranger’s hand grabbed my arm and I looked down. He had a twisted smile on his melting face.

“Suffering…is coming.” He became dust. I can’t breathe. I turn and see the people of Prosperity, coming out of hiding.

We all looked up as the night sky turned blood red.

Delilah. What have you done.