Midnight Creek Tales

#5. Lunar Darkness / Chapter 12

As things were becoming somewhat clear from the array of confusion, I could feel a warmth around me. Slowly I opened my eyes to realize that Simon and I were trapped in a cage surrounded by the villagers and Axel in front of us. We were stripped of our clothes and a campfire was drawn.

Facing the crowd a man was thrown into the middle of the arena, and Axel had a long katana in his hand. He was forced onto his knees by the guards to bend his head over execution style, and Axel began to taunt the poor man.

Meanwhile, with Simon and I, I was trying to nudge him awake. Even though the crowd was buzzing wild, I whispered to him, "Simon, Simon! Get up! We need to initiate our emergency plan!"

"What? Where are we?" Simon awoke from out of his daze and sat upright.

"No Simon, no!"

"HEY!" Axel screamed from across the arena, putting down his katana as he walked over to us.

"Damnit Simon," I whispered.

"You guys have a good nap?" Axel said chuckling, "Well get prepared for the festivities!"

"What the fuck are you doing Axel! What kind of 'human beings' are you!"

"I'll tell you what kind of people we are!" He kicked me in the face with his army boots and started to pace around the cage we were contained in, "You bastards think it's so easy to live up here! Once the space craze stopped, funds got low, and less food was being transported to us! My people and I don't deserve to be abandoned!"

"But why? Why resort to killing your people? Why don't you just ask for help?"

"We did ask for help! But the damn space station gives us crap for food! And to feed a growing population, you need more protein! We don't kill our kind; we just kill those who want to leave and defy the state!"

"You're fucking nuts!" Simon barked.

Axel laughed devilishly and lowered himself to Simon's face, "You don't know what it's like to go hungry."

"Who have you been executing?" I said calling Axel's attention away from Simon.

"See that's the thing! Lately, we've been running out of criminals against the state to kill! So we've decided to come up with a better plan, and you both fill a sweet spot!"

"Please we'll get you more food on Earth, I swear to you!"

"Oh no, we don't need any trouble from the police! We're running just fine! And besides... we've been craving meat lately."

Axel walked up to the poor man and pulled out his long katana, "Take your last breaths you motherfucking piece of dogshit! The next time you're going to be breathing is when your head's bubbling in the stew!"

Axel raised his katana wildly and grabbed the man by his long scraggly hair, and chopped down on the man's scalp!

I could barely watch... it was the most gruesome and inhumane act I had ever seen! As the man was crying unconsciously, Axel showed the scalp to the roaring crowd. And as they boomed, Axel hoisted the dizzy and brain-dead man up like a trophy, with blood gushing all over the white sand.

"DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Axel came down hard on the man's neck decapitating him in a quick, bloody swipe.

I cringed at the sight as the man's head rolled down, and his neck splattered blood all over Axel's chiseled body.

Axel grabbed the head and raised it to the crowd, and began to bite into it, "That's fucking disgusting! And I have a feeling we're next. We need to act fast!"