TEARS OF RAGE

Chapter 37

In the midst of the madness, a man understands that there is a certain rush of emotions that consumes him.

When that aspect of danger becomes the threat that makes a person restless, fear of failure compels him forward to complete his mission.

As the bubble of corruption comes closer to consuming a person's sanity, the awareness of danger and fear makes the person survey the path before him like a scientist.

Every outcome gets weighed upon the scale of reason, to assess all available options.

After he drove to the rear of the cul-de-sac, Swaylo found the house that sat to the back of the location that he was supposed to hit.

There was no sign of anyone within the residence.

He parked at the curb and took a moment to survey the area around him.

He switched off the engine and sat in darkened silence; watching the house before him.

A bicycle and an electric four-wheeler sat alongside the house.

There was no movement from within the front windows, and only the porch light was on.

Swaylo hit the lights, left the engine running, and stepped into the rain.

The swirl of wind whipped at his hoodie.

He walked through the yard, moving with a purpose...

At that point, it wouldn't have mattered if he was strolling through the governor's foyer, there was no stopping.

Beyond the property line, he saw where the community had gotten its name.

Fox Creek was a small body of water.

With the downpour of rain, its thirty-foot-wide banks were swollen with water.

A rickety bridge connected the two banks of the ten-foot depths of the earth that made up Fox Creek.

The yard that he was walking through did not have a fence around it.

Swaylo began to trot across the bridge and leaped over the wooden gate of the fourth house.

He followed the trail of darkness along the rear landscape, mindful to keep his eyes focused on the house.

When he reached the rear corner of the house, the door to the garage was open.

He stepped through its threshold and pulled the pistol from his waist.

With the bandana covering the lower half of his face, Swaylo entered the house through the kitchen.

The gas and oil smell of vehicles mixed in with the aroma of food being cooked.

He could hear the voice of a woman talking.

"I can not believe how disrespectful Jennifer has become. She had the nerve to tell me that she would rather eat dog shit than sit at a dinner table with Percy." the woman spoke into her cordless phone. She was leaned into the refrigerator, with her back to the doorway.

"I had to send her to her room, Carolyn. You have no idea how embarrassed I was...He went to grab something from his car." When the woman rose from her rummaging through the refrigerator, she turned to find Swaylo stepping through her garage doorway.

Her scream of terror was drowned out by the bark of the pistol. The cordless phone dropped from its cradle, between her jaw and shoulder. Her body thrashed against the stove, toppling over a pot of mashed potatoes.

A movement from his peripheral drew Swaylo's attention to the white man, walking through the front doorway.

There was no hesitation, Swaylo fired into his back as he tried to make a breakthrough the front door.