Matt Tron: Bounty Hunter

-Warning: This story has gore, abuse, murder, language, and the mention of guns. -

Breathe. Just breathe; Matt told himself as he was about to finish his sets of weightlifting. His body was sore from the heavy lifting he had been doing for ten hours straight with no sleep. It had been two months since the incident that took his family from him happened.

“Those damn Corrupts,” he said with a grunt. “But it was all my fault.”

Corrupts were people you didn’t want to mess with, but with Matt’s luck, he had a tangle with them a couple of weeks before the incident happened. They felt like he owed them something after he unknowingly beat up one of their members.

Corrupts were sick minded people. It was like whatever evil thought they had showed through on the outside, making their skin look blistered and rotted. They were like functional zombies, if you will.

Matt remembers sitting at the table having dinner with his wife and five-year-old twin boys. It had been a long day for him bounty hunting and he had been at home for only fifteen minutes. Everything seemed fine, and they shared smiles and laughter as he made his kids laugh.

“They miss you when you’re not here,” his wife had said, rubbing his tense muscular shoulders. “I miss you when you’re not here.”

Matt turned to her in his chair and wrapped his arms around her waist, laying his head on her bosom. He took in her scent and smiled.

“Your using the perfume I brought you,” he said.

She smiled warmly and kissed the top of his head, running her fingers through his short hair. “I love the gifts you bring me. Although, you don’t need to bring me anything. You returning home safely is the greatest gift.”

“I just want you to know how much I love you,” Matt said.

“I already know…” she said, a smile curling up again.

The twins came running up to their parents for an embrace. Matt felt happy and complete at that moment. That was, until all hell broke loose. Panic set in at the sounds of explosions outside of their apartment. They could hear shrill screams coming from all directions.

“What’s happening?” his wife asked, clinging to her two young ones.

“I’m not sure,” Matt said, walking towards the large window overlooking the city.

Peering out, Matt could see buildings and cars on fire. People were running around trying to get away from whatever scared them. Matt saw a group of people with laser guns and swords. His eyes grew wide, and he felt his heart sink. Corrupts.

“I need you and the boys to stay out of sight,” Matt said, ushering his little family into a closet. “Don’t come out, no matter what.”

After hiding his family, Matt went into the master bedroom and grabbed a weapon that was in a hidden compartment under the bed that only he and his wife knew about. He checked to see if it was loaded and hid behind the front door.

“Find that damn hunter!” a cruel, deep face barked in the hallway.

Matt knew then they were after him. He closed his eyes and looked at the closet where his family was hiding. Those damn Corrupts had the nerve to come to his home.

“Tron! We know you’re here!” the deep voice called out. “You beat up one of my men. I don’t take kindly to that kind of shit! Show yourself now and we’ll spare the people of this complex.”

Matt peered through the hole in the door to see where this man was standing. Suddenly, the door was blown in with an explosive. Matt hid behind a wall in the dining room, his gun loaded and ready.

“I can smell you, hunter,” the man growled. “I also smell something else… a woman and a kid… no. Kids.”

Matt came out from behind the wall and fired a shot in the man’s direction, but missed. He hid again and took a deep breath, remembering his training; Never attack out of anger.

“I think I hit a nerve,” the man chuckled cruelly. “Men, all we have to do is find the hunter’s family. Search the place! Tear everything apart! Burn it down!”

Matt could see the closet where his wife and kids were hiding from where he stood. He needed to get them out of here before the man found them. But how? He maneuvered effortlessly and quietly closer to the closet. The men had moved into another room, which gave Matt a chance to tell his wife to run out of the building. Just when he was about to open the door, something hit him from behind.

“Trying to run, hunter?” the man’s cruel voice burned Matt’s ears. “Or are you trying to save someone?”

Matt laid on the floor in front of the closet. He could see his family’s feet through the crack at the bottom of the door. His head felt foggy. He shook his head and tried to raise up, but the man hit him again with the object.

“It would be best if you just stayed down, hunter,” the man said with a laugh. “Open this door, boys! Let’s see what our friend is hiding.”

The man dragged him away from the door so the men could open it. They pulled out his wife, who kicked and screamed, along with his twin boys, who were crying in fear.

The man laughed menacingly. “Our hunter friend’s family, boys! This is a good day for me and a bad day for you, Tron.”

He walked up to Matt’s wife and held up the object he hit him with up to her neck to raise her face to look at him. “Man, you’re a pretty thing, aren’t you?”

Matt’s wife spit on him. “Go to hell!”

“And she’s a firecracker! Damn, hunter!” the man said, wiping the spit off of his face. “I might spare her and take her as mine.”

“Leave her alone!” Matt yelled, trying to stand, but was knocked down with a kick in the stomach. “Please.”

The man laughed. “I don’t think so, hunter. Did you leave my man alone before you beat the hell out of him? If you can tell me a reason to let these people live, I’ll let them go.”

“Please. My boys, they’re only five,” Matt said, tears already staining his face. “Let my wife and kids go. I’ll go with you. Just spare them.”

“I never thought I’d see a hunter beg for other’s lives,” the man chuckled, waving the object in his face. “Here’s the deal, hunter; I like your pretty wife here. She’s got fire and I like that in women. If you let me take her to my bed, I’ll spare her and your boys. What do you say?”

Matt looked up at the man through his sweat and tears with a hateful look. The look of fear on his boys’ faces broke his heart. Although his wife seemed tough and strong, he could tell she was frightened.

The man bent down to get a better look at Matt. “I don’t like the way you’re looking at me, Tron. Do we have a deal or not? I’d hate to waste a pretty lady.”

“Go to hell,” Matt’s wife yelled, kicking the man behind her and grabbing a knife from his belt.

The man stood up quickly and turned, grabbing her wrist that wield the knife. He laughed as if it were a game and struck her in the face with the object he was holding. The twins started crying after watching their mother being struck and hitting the floor.

“Shut up, brats!” the man holding the kids yelled, slamming them into each other.

This only made them cry louder. The leader closed his eyes and rubbed his temple with the object. He seemed agitated. He turned to the boys and yelled at them to shut up, but this made things worse.

Suddenly, he grabbed a gun from his belt and pointed it at the boys and shot them one at a time. Matt yelled and tried to stand, but someone was holding him down. But his wife stood up and gripped the gun the man was holding and they fought over it. A shot went off, then another.

The man finally got Matt’s wife off of him and pointed the gun at her. She held up her hands in surrender and looked at her lifeless children laying on the floor in a pool of blood. She fell down to her knees and cried.

“You murdered my children, you bastard!” she cried.

“Hey, two fewer mouths to feed,” the leader laughed.

Anger was already there in Matt’s mind. But seeing his children murdered in front of him was something that made him completely forget his one rule in combat; don’t attack in anger. In doing so, the outcome would never be in your favor.

As if the man just remembered something, he held his hand up in the air with a cruel smile. “I forgot we were going to burn this place down.”

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, hunter,” the man said, patting Matt on the face and turning to his wife, who was still on her knees crying over her children. “Immobilize him and set this building ablaze!”

The men laughed and starting setting small pieces of furniture on fire. The leader grabbed the woman by the arm, making her stand to her feet.

“No! I won’t go with you!” she yelled, hitting him with her free hand. “Let go of me! Monster! Bastard!”

Since no one was holding Matt down, he rushed at the leader, aiming for his feet and knocking him over.

“Run, Selena! Run!” Matt said to his wife.

He fought with the leader on the ground, trying to take his gun from him. But weakness overcame the hunter. A weakness he never thought he would ever experience. But looking at his lifeless children distracted him, allowing his opponent the upper hand.

Matt remembers seeing Selena running for the door through the smoke from the fire the men had started. The leader abruptly interrupted his hope for her escape as he aimed the gun and fired a shot. The laser seemed to fly in slow motion until it went through her. She fell down, motionless. The ceiling suddenly caving in on top of her.

“NO!” Matt yelled, pain wrenching his heart.

“Shit,” the man said, quickly standing up. “Let’s get out of here!”

***

Matt shook his head, getting back to reality. He hated remembering that dreadful day when he lost everything so fast. He sat on the bench and ran his fingers through his now long hair. His body shivered. His muscled ached just like his heart. He needed to regain the strength he had lost that day. Revenge wasn’t in his criteria, but those Corrupts were a principal cause of the world being the way it was this time and age. He must eliminate all Corrupts.

Matt looked out the window at the flying ships and the futuristic city before him. Everything had changed since the new leader was elected. He was also a person of corruption. Ever since he had become the leader of the new world, all hell broke loose. Everything that had been illegal for years was now legal. Murder, rape, kidnapping, stealing. As long as you had a chip inserted in your forehead, this allowed you to do any illegal act without getting arrested. Any justice; frowned upon. They ridiculed any good deed and did away with whoever sought justice. Good did not triumph over evil. But Matt wanted to change this. He wanted whatever evil and corrupt person who to fall.

Matt rubbed the sweat from his neck with a cloth and stood up. He heaved a sigh and walked into the bathroom to clean up a little. Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t recognize the person staring back at him. His once sparkling blue eyes seemed darker with sorrow.

The humming sound of the hair clippers was loud in the quiet room. The beard he had grown out was unruly and bushy. Soon his face revealed a deep frown that was hiding under the beard. Matt took the clippers to his head and hovered them there. Selena loved his hair, but she wasn’t here to run her thin fingers through them after a hard day’s work. He choked back tears and shaved his head, throwing the clippers in the sink after he finished.

Revenge? That wasn’t in his nature. But the way he was feeling right now, the flashback of his children being shot at point blank and seeing his wife shot as she tried to escape; well, that was enough to send even the sanest person off.

Matt leaned over the sink, looking at himself in the mirror and cringing. The grief kept coming at him in waves. Wonderful memories mixed in with terrible memories. Matt hit the corners of the sink with such force that it caused it to break. He sunk to the floor, pulling out the only remaining photo he had of his wife and kids. He sat on there, an ocean of tears bleeding from his eyes. When will this pain end? He wondered. He couldn’t just end his life when the world needed him to save it, even though the world had no clue what was at stake.

He wiped his tears and stood up. Matt couldn’t just sit here in his grief when he had work to do. After all; who else was qualified enough for this job?