Into the Dark

Prologue

Darkness. Darkness was the first thing I saw. A light. That was the second thing I saw. The light, though terrifying, was warm and gentle at the same time. It came to me. As I saw my entire life play right in front of my eyes, I noticed that I did terrible things my entire life. I saw the lives I destroyed and the governments I brought to their knees which then also destroyed millions of other innocent lives. I also saw how I always fell to my more primal desires. A monster most called me. A killer. A destroyer. My life, as I lead it, drove me onto that road where I crashed and where my lifeblood fell upon the pavement. I may as well bring you up to speed.

My name is Cody Payne. I am a Mercenary. Mercenaries like me are considered ruthless and cold. They are not far from wrong. I have taken contracts from many countries to take sides in many different wars. From shadow wars that governments were waging to obtain resources, to wars that could literally change history. I played a part in a good portion of them. The things I did would have been considered, well, at the least, unethical by the common human. "Get the job done at any cost" said each of my employers; and I let nothing stand in my way. If a family needed to be killed so my work would be done, then they would die. If but a child stood in the way of my completing my mission, the child would die. Cold and merciless some would call me; a monster as most would call me. They aren't wrong. I am a monster, a killer.

Because of the work I have done for most of the governments on this planet, I stay on the move. I stay on the move because I know, I know, that I have many enemies. Hell, even some of my enemies have hired me to take out a person or even a family. Enemy of my enemy is my friend type of thing. Some of those who hired me would dare not pay me. I am usually forced to kill those who stray from paying me for a job, which is why I get my money up front. I have done all kinds of work that would disgust the normal human being.

One of my latest jobs was to kill every single living human that lived in a small town in the state of Texas. The United States government feared a rebellion and located a town of people that did not like the United States government. Other than the fact that these people were rebellious against their government, I had no idea what I was getting into. I never usually asked questions about the job, it builds an unhealthy relationship with the employer. However, asking me to kill every single person in an entire town really is not far from my normal line of work. Toppling governments and rebellions is one of my specialties. I enjoyed killing and I thought that this was no different from my regular line of work. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

It was late at night; I usually approach my jobs after dark. I drove up to the town and stopped at a convenience store to get something to drink. I greeted the cashier, whom I assumed was the owner, with a grunt. I walked to the back of the store and got a beer to calm my nerves. I am not normally nervous about a job, but this one seemed...wrong somehow. As I walked up to the counter to pay for my drink, I noticed something strange about the cashier. Other than the fact that he looked nothing more than another white, middle aged man with a long haircut, his eyes looked strange. His eyes were glowing red for a split second then I blinked and the glow was gone. Heh, I assumed it was just my nerves stacking up on me. "Are you okay?" I asked the cashier, concerned about what I just saw. "I'm fine, that will be $4.05." I paid up and walked out.

Walking up to my truck, I got things ready for my job. The United States government paid me and gave me the materials needed to take out each and every person in the town. I was to set bombs in the area and on each building and home and blow them all at once. The government was to blame Islamic terrorists for the attack. A win/win for them I guess. Keep the people scared and you'll have them bowing to your every move sooner or later. The longer you work for governments, the more likely you'll get to see how they really work. I got a bomb out and placed it upon the back of the store and I placed another at the gas pump for a bigger explosion. I hopped in my truck and drove onwards towards the rest of the town.