Short story

Hey all! I decided to post a short story for you guys. Enjoy it!


                                                 Stains


     Stains, they taint everything. You are probably most familiar with the stains that occur on clothing. Well, all the same, they taint everything. Every aspect of man’s existence can be tainted with stains. Sometimes people will have stains on their mind that make them not think clearly. Stains can give people a distorted view of reality…


     As I walked along the sidewalk next to the crowded downtown street, my sense of fear increased. I don’t know what it was, but it felt like I was being watched. I repeatedly scanned my surroundings only to see the expressionless faces of the surrounding pedestrians. I continued walking. I eventually came upon the entrance to an alley. It looked like a pitch-dark tunnel with a small dot of light at the end. For some unknown reason, the alley appeared strangely attractive to me. After serving in the military for five years, you develop a rather large sense of adventure. “I could use a short-cut,” I figured as I entered into the alley. I regretted my decision after I got about half-way through. In reality, the alley was much larger than it seemed. I continued walking for what seemed like forever. After my eyes adjusted, I examined my surroundings. The alley was full of refuse and litter. I noticed a shadow crouching behind a dumpster. Before I could react, the figure pounced on me and pulled a bag over my face! The last thing I remember was slowly falling to the ground.


     I awoke tied to a chair. The bag was quickly whipped off my face and I squinted from the lights in the room. I was in a large room, probably a warehouse. Before me stood a built, wiry man with his arms crossed in front of him. He had many scars across his face.

“It’s about time you woke up,” Said the man in a rough voice.

“Who are you? What do you want with me?!” I replied harshly.

“Now now now, don’t worry. All your questions will be answered,” He said in a calming tone. The man started pacing around me. I craned my neck to follow him.

“You are rather fortunate. You have been chosen,” He spoke up.

“Chosen for what?” I replied irritated.

“The hunt.”

“What hunt? You’d better tell me what’s going on right now!”

     The man charged towards the chair and leaned close to me. His words came out like ice. “You, Jake Greyson, have been given the honor of being chosen for the hunt.”

     He backed away and started slithering around me again. I had been captured, interrogated, and much worse throughout my service in the war, but this guy had an air of terror around him that put me on edge.

“The human race is due for further evolution. We are destined for so much more, physically, and mentally,” The man hissed. “Few people have realized this. I’m one of those people.”

     This guy was talking nonsense. I examined the room further for a possible escape, but he continued with his monologue.

“I find people who show potential in becoming superior, and then I test them. You, Jake Greyson, show potential.”

“And what kind of test is this?” I replied.

“The hunt is the test. I will release you into the “arena”, and then I shall test you to see if you truly show potential. Your extensive military background shows promise…”

“And what if I pass?”

He scoffed. “Well, no one has passed yet…” The man said. “If you fail, then I was wrong, you are not fit to be superior. Those who fail are terminated.”

     It finally hit me; this man was a lunatic who believed himself to be higher than everyone else. He hunted people for sport and backed it up with a hollow theory he convinced himself to believe. I could only think of the countless other people that had to go through this torment before “failing” the “test”.

“You’re insane…” I whispered harshly.

“Am I? Or am I the only one that see’s the human race how it should be?!” Those were the last words I heard before he pulled another bag over my face and knocked me out cold.

     When I awoke (again), I was crumpled on the floor in another room. A set of doors were wide open and the man stood in between them. I weakly got to my feet and tried to clear my head. “You have ten minutes before the hunt begins,” The man said as he pulled the two doors closed. I heard a lock click. The room was plunged into absolute darkness. Single light-bulbs flickered to life, lighting the room eerily. They were spread across the room leaving patches of darkness in between them. After I got to my senses I saw where I was. I was inside a huge warehouse building that was scattered with shelves full of random boxes. I started weighing my options in my head: fight, escape, or hide. I couldn’t fight, despite his going on about how he was superior, he was likely armed. Escape probably wasn’t going to work out. The building’s entrances were most likely locked and blocked off. That left hiding as my only option. He said that I only had ten minutes, and I had spent three pondering my options. I sprinted down one of the many aisles in the warehouse. I found a nice dark space in between some crates. I nestled myself in and waited. A gunshot rang through the entire warehouse. My first thought, “Crap, he’s got a gun.”

“Mr. Greyson, your test has officially begun!” I heard the man yell.

     I sat behind my crates in a cold sweat for what seemed like hours. I heard footsteps slowly approaching. I gasped and held my breath. The footsteps stopped. I slowly peeked around the corner of the boxes to see if he was there. Nothing. I turned back around only to come face to face with the man. “Mr. Greyson, I expected much more from you…” He said in a hypnotic tone. I yelled and swung my fist at him! He dodged it with ease and backed up. He grabbed me by the arm and swung me out of my hiding place. I flopped to the ground and started fake coughing, acting as if I was really wounded. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him approach me slowly. “Mr. Grey---“ He started, but I quickly lunged at his feet and toppled him to the ground! We struggled back and forth for the upper hand! The man was surprisingly strong for such a wiry build. He eventually squirmed out of the melee and climbed up a pile of boxes like a monkey. He pulled out a handgun and pointed it at me. I looked up at him with resignation. I could tell he was arguing with himself in his mind. He holstered the gun at his side and looked right at me. “Mr. Greyson, you have pleasantly surprised me. You’re different from other people. I’ve elected not to fail you just yet. I could use a challenge,” He said as he ran off deeper into the warehouse. My fear of this man diminished slightly. I knew now that he was no longer the dominant predator. My brain switched from defense to offense. There was still a chance of me getting out of this mess. I trotted down an aisle of shelves to start looking for a weapon. Finding a firearm was unrealistic, so I would have to make do with what was around me. I crouched down and looked under a shelf. I pulled out a two foot long steel pipe. Upon examining it, I found a small patch of dried blood on the end of the pipe. I looked around myself at the floor and noticed something I hadn’t seen before, red stains were everywhere. Blood stains, more specifically. My stomach turned at the sight. This man was a monster, and he had to be stopped. I moved a few boxes and lay down on a shelf. When the man came by, I would be able to ambush him.

     The lights in the warehouse flickered. I could hear shelves around me shaking. He was leaping aisle to aisle looking for me. I found a small screw and flicked it down on the ground in my vicinity. The whole warehouse grew silent as if it was holding its breath. A few moments later, the man leapt down from above and looked around slowly. He started stalking up and down the aisles getting ever closer to my location. I remained as still as a statue as he walked past my location. I rolled off my shelf and swung my pipe right at his head! He raised his hand with lighting speed and caught it! With his other hand he pulled out a huge knife and swung at me! I barely dodged the razor sharp blade! I wrenched the pipe from his grasp and sprung into a defensive stance. “

“Can’t you see it? We’re superior to others. I simply separate the wheat from the chaff. And you have certainly proven yourself to be among the wheat,” The man said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“You’re wrong. No one is superior to anyone. No matter how strong, or how smart, no matter what cause we fight for. We’re all sinners, we all have faults,” I replied trying to pacify him.

The man sighed. “It’s a shame. You were almost the first person to pass…” He pulled out his handgun and took aim.

    Right before he fired I lunged through an adjacent shelf avoiding the bullet! I started running for my life through the warehouse maze. I looked back and saw the man starting in pursuit! He fired a couple more rounds at my back, which missed by a great distance. I slowed down and cut a corner into a new row of shelving. The man dropped down from above right in front of me! I shoved his gun away from me as it fired again! We both wrestled for control of it! The muzzle wavered in between me and him repeatedly. A flash, a bang, another stain was added to the floor.



The End.