BLOODWORTH by Tai Goodman (fiction novels to read TXT) 📖

Chapter XXI: The Strength of Gravity

 Phoenix was hovering in the air on a headless corpse with a jetpack. He looked down and saw a huge portion of Louisiana's crust. 

"High as hell up here. One twitch and I'll fall to my death. Alright Phoenix, quit playing around, use the dead guy's corpse to get back on the-"

 

The zeppelin exploded. Big pieces of metal, bars, and grates fell towards the ground in flames. Cloth burned into tiny pieces. The frame of the aircraft then soared into a place in Louisiana, killing a big group of people. Phoenix had a front row seat to this event, traumatized. 

"Nevermind. So how the hell am I gonna get down?"

 

He then noticed the jetpack on the Nazi's back. "Well well well. Opportunity right under my nose." With his weight, Phoenix tilted the body upside down and forced the jetpack into a high speed. Phoenix flipped over the body and was hanging from it, as the two were flying towards Phoenix's neighborhood. Phoenix then positioned himself back on top of the body, flying with it head-first at the ground. "Holy SHIT!"

 

Before the two hit the ground, Phoenix pulled the body up and the two were traveling at a high speed down the street. From his place, he noticed a car in his path. Phoenix dodged around it. Then a truck turned into the lane he was in. "Goddammit." Phoenix crashed into the truck, and flew into the trunk on his back. The driver stepped out and said, "Oh my GOD. Sir, or... Ma'am? I'm so sorry, are you alright?" 

 

Phoenix laid his head up and took out his wallet. With two fingers, he pulled out a random dollar. $100. Handing it to the man, he said, "Get out of here. And you never saw me, got it?"

The driver nodded. Phoenix limped out of the trunk, and continued down the road of his neighborhood. Once he arrived at his house, he noticed the front door was peeked a little bit open. "Oh SHIT!"

Phoenix kicked the door open and found Stanley, Peter, Abhy, and Hans taken hostage by Phoenix's neighbor, Mr. James. "Take a seat, PHOENIX. Or I'll put a bullet into one of your friends."

 

Phoenix pulled out his pistol and James pushed the barrel of his revolver against Abhy's head. "You put your weapons on that fucking table over there. You think I'm playin' then why don't you try and shoot?"

Phoenix placed his shotgun, pistol, rifle, and handlebars on the table. "There. That's better, ain't it? Now sit your ass on down, I'm sure you're exhausted from what you did."

 

Phoenix plopped himself down on a couch, leaning forwards in case anything happened. "James. I'm your buddy, remember? You don't wanna do this."

"I DON'T CARE PHOENIX. THE REICH'S IN CONTROL. NOT THE STUPID GOVERNMENT WE ONCE KNEW. Times have changed, get with the program!"

 

"They took the country by FORCE. I'm not giving into a bunch of racist commies who think jews, blacks, and gays breathing is ILLEGAL. I'd rather not be ALIVE knowing that."

 

James aimed his gun at Phoenix. "I can take care of that right now if you want me to."

Abhy squealed, "Please, don't!"

 

"SHUT UP! Not another word outta you or I'll pop him and the rest!"

 

Peter slowly dug around in his pockets. He was the furthest from James. "Tell me, which of these people do you value the most?"

 

Phoenix laughed and said, "I ain't telling you."

 

"Alright, so shoot all of them?" James said, putting his gun into Stanley's hair.

 

"YOU BETTER NOT."

 

Peter pulled out his derringer from the gunstore and quietly aimed it towards James' head. Phoenix noticed it, nodding his head slowly at Peter. Once he pulled the hammer backwards, an audible "tick" could be heard. Right after that tick went off, James turned his head, noticing the barrel of the pistol, and BANG!

 

And then another gunshot went off. And another. Phoenix opened his eyes. Stanley was dead. Peter was shot in the throat. Hans was on top of James, choking him with his hands. Peter finished James off with the last bullet in his derringer. BANG!

Phoenix walked over to Stanley's corpse, holding him in his arms. "S-S-Stan? Come on man! Don't leave me!"

 

Stanley did respond, nor react. Abhy treated Peter's wound on his neck with a towel, crying about the death of Stanley. 

 

"I took about a hundred lives today. All because I wanted to kill a son of a bitch. I didn't do it myself, but I caused it. Because of me, children might not have parents to go home to anymore. Parents might not have kids anymore, or pets. All the things I've done- It's led up to this point. United States of America liberated by a bunch of racists, tempest-tossed into a whirlpool of carnage for no good reason at all. It wasn't just the public that suffered. I suffered the consequence of losing one of my friends. And I'm not gonna just let that slide.

 

ADOLF. I'M COMING FOR YOU, NEXT."

 

 

BLOODWORTH

WRITTEN BY TAI GOODMAN

 

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Publication Date: 02-05-2019

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