Welcome to Monday Redux
Chapter One
© 2009.05.01 ChaoticWorks.com

In the beginning
Good always overpowered the evils
Of all man's sins...
But in time
The nations grew weak
And our cities fell to slums
While evil stood strong

In the dusts of hell
Lurked the blackest of hates
For he whom they feared
Awaited them... Now many many lifetimes later
Lay destroyed, beaten, beaten down,
Only the corpses of rebels
Ashes of dreams
And blood stained streets

It has been written
"Those who have the youth
Have the future"
So come now, children of the beast
Be strong
And Shout at the Devil

The rain was starting to come down heavier now, from a sky that always seemed to be cloudy and on the verge of pouring down on the population of the city below. People started to scurry for cover, or those that didn't care, or had no other place to go, stood or sat where they were. With rain always came the feeling of renewal, and refreshment. Usually. There was some grime, some dirt, and some debris that no storm or force of nature could wash away. It had been two years since the city had been taken back by the forces of law, order and civilization. New Bedlam was what it had been named, not very original, but it let those still out in the world know that what was once a great city, that had fallen to be the new Sodom, then laid to waste again and reborn, was right where it always used to be.

It was only have of the old city however. The East side of the city had been left in its rotten decayed state and walled up, enclosing it an all of it's denizens inside. Few were allowed to leave after that part of the city was walled up, for as in Biblical times, there was not two righteous men or women to be found. Those that remained in the city sized prison were left to their own devices, with only food and water provided to them. The city that had been their playground for debauchery, degradation, and murder, now became their prison, and last place they would even know before death claimed them.

Outside the walls, the reborn city was making it's comeback, and showing new signs of life, and renewal. Plants were coming back, systems were being rebuilt. Electricity and heating had been the first accomplishment in the core of renovated apartment buildings in the cities new center hub, and water had come next and with the basics of life in a civilized world regained, the other ingredients started to fall into place.

As the rain fell, a pair of nearly sightless eyes looked skyward and uttered a foul curse, and oath of revenge against an unseen God, or force of nature that he felt was singling him out for eternal punishment and misery. Well, it's not like he didn't deserve it. Anyone looking at him would guess he was a man who had fallen on rough times, that would be putting it mildly, but then again, it was a result of a life lived at the expense and suffering of others. It could be worse for him though, it could always be much much worse. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he wanted whiskey and a place to get warm and dry. None of those was likely to drop out of the sky at him, only rain, and spit from passersby and the occasional trash was directed at him. It wasn't much different than the abuse that had been heaped upon him by his bastard father, and insane mother. Life had really never been sunny, it had only been fun for a while when he was in control of the pain and suffering of others. He smiled at that memory, and a hoarse choke of a laugh came from his mouth as he thought of those days. Long gone. His compatriots in pain and destruction, also gone.

With his vision long ago lost nearly to the point of being completely blind, his hyper sense of hearing and smell had not failed him, which was the most likely reason he was still alive. But was this really living? Not really. His nose and ears picked up the sound and scent of approaching pedestrians. He was hunched near the end of an alley wrapped in a discarded blanket that was providing minimal protection from the elements. Long black shaggy hair hung down over his face, obscuring his eyes from the sun, and other elements and abuse. His clothing was remnants of what had once been leather, denim, and metal. Not much was recognizable on him as to what it had once been except for perhaps the fingerless black gloves he wore on his hands. He held one out now, palm up as he heard the people approaching. Two men. He could smell the cologne, and hear the hard leather soles of their shoes striking the concrete in quick, purposeful strides. "Can you spare some charity Sirs? Just a few trip to get me some coffee..." he said in a voice that was raspy, and ragged. His voice was another thing lost to the years and changes that had occurred. A fight in a hovel of a bar in the walled up city had nearly ended with him losing his life. A knife had been drawn across his throat seeking to cut and let him bleed out, but it was a partial success, and while he'd been wounded gravely, his throat never healed correctly and he'd been left with the raspy speech of some ancient horror movie villain.

But wasn't he a villain after all? Some would say so. Actually, anyone that met him, if they were still alive would agree to that title, uncontested. "Sirs?" he called after them, and the only handout he received was a gob of spit that he felt hit his hair on the left side of his head. He growled in reply and wished a string of silent deaths at them. Were he stronger, better nourished, he would have lunged after them and made them pay for their disrespect in pain and blood. Slowly he reached a worn gloved hand up to wipe away the phlegm and tried to ignore the growling in his gut. How long since he'd last had something to eat? Days? How many days? It didn't matter, days passed were gone, and didn't matter anymore. He made a face and spit himself onto the sidewalk in front of him and waited for more passersby to panhandle from. It make him sick to have to resort to this, but his connections and benefactors were a world away now, on the other side of the wall, and couldn't help him now. He might be cold and starving now, but he was doing it in a far, far better place. There were endless possibilities on this side of the wall, and he could be patient for just the right one to come walking along. He was a predator after all, if a one a bit less powerful than he was in years past.

She looked up at the sky when the rain started to fall down on them before they had reached their destination. "Pull your hood up darling," she said to the young boy walking beside her. "We will be there soon, we shouldn't get too wet." he added as she pulled up the hood on her own cloak, and put her hand in his shoulder as they walked along. Husband and wife? Guy and girl on date? No, mother and son out on a walk in between supper and a visit to the recently reopened water gardens. It was an indoor display of water fountains with colored lights and jets and bubble fountains that ran on a program or on certain occasions were synched with music played through speakers hidden in the plants and indoor foliage around the atrium. They had been planning to go there for weeks, but things kept coming up and delaying the trip. Finally, the day had come and they were going out on a special evening together as a reward for the great grades he had gotten in school, and for her, it was just an excuse to get out and do something fun and out of the ordinary.

She kept a wary eye out as they walked along. She appeared to not take for granted that the streets of the newly reborn city were 100% safe and danger free. She had the look of a protective wolf mother or lioness protecting what was most dear and precious to her; her only child. The boy was nearly ten years old, with jet black hair, and eyes the color of an aquamarine tropic sea, a very unusual color indeed.

"Did you like dinner?" She asked with a smile and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "You must have, what am I saying? You ate everything on your plate and were nibbling on what I didn't finish." she grinned.

"I liked the potatoes, and the fish the best." he said with a smile as he looked up at her. "I would like to go back there for dinner tomorrow and the day after that." he said emphatically. "They have really good food, and the ice cream for dessert is the best part."

"I though that you might find that your favorite part. I liked it too. Ice cream with just a bit of the chocolate sauce on top, that's the best." she agreed and glanced from him up ahead in the direction they were heading. The corner was coming up soon and after they crossed there, it would be another two blocks to the Water Gardens. The rain wasn't a torrential down pour yet, so they should be alright. As they walked along she caught sight of a break in the wall of buildings on her right, and saw that it was either an alleyway, or a side street. No matter. It was only when they nearly had reached it she caught a glimpse of the huddled form of the beggar on the ground. She wasn't really afraid of him, she was tougher than she looked and had endured much in the recent years of her life. It never was a wasted effort to be wary however.

He was begging for money, that was obvious. She was normally pretty generous when she was able, but something about this guy just rang foul, and that instead of buying food, it would go to booze or drugs. She tried not to be so cynical all the time, but it was hard. It was all about survival for her and her son, and that was the bottom line. She didn't have any change or she would toss it at him and keep walking. In lieu of that, she would just not make eye contact and keep moving ahead at a steady pace.

He turned his head when he sensed the approach of two new possible donors. Female voice, young male voice. He waited for a sound of a third voice or pair of footsteps, there was not he could detect. No male escort. His chances here might be a bit better. As soon as they were in close enough proximity to him, he called out. "Can you help me out Miss, just a few trip for some food?" he said in his raspy voice as he held out his hand. "Just a bit of change?" he asked and looked up at them expectantly, even though they were barely black shapes before him. Contrast in tones was about all he could see from that distance. "Please miss?" he added.

The boy slowed down just a bit, to look at the poor raggedy being on the sidewalk and this caused her to collide with him. "Keep going sweetheart. Don't stop." She said to him and pressed her hand against his back to urge him forward.

As they hesitated in front of him, it gave him the opportunity to inhale more of their scent, listen to their voices. The scent of the woman, the timbre of her voice... It was familiar, very familiar. His mind spun through memories, years, places, events that then it clicked. "I know you...." he rasped as he turned his head in the direction they were walking. They were already too far past him to hear, but that was of no consequence. She would hear, soon enough. In the blink of an eye he'd disappeared from the corner of the alley and down into it's fetid darkness.

Her heart was pounding from the encounter with the homeless man and she wasn't sure why. There was just that gut feeling of danger, and she never second guessed her gut. When they reached the street corner, they checked for traffic, crossed and continued on down the block. "Why didn't you want to give that man money Mom?" He asked her once they were on the sidewalk again. "I didn't have any change and we don't want to be talking to people like that. They could be dangerous." she said trying to sound more educational, then judgmental or afraid. Reason always worked best when trying to instruct people she had learned. A block farther down there was another alley, and she was relieved to see that no one was sitting at the entrance of this one begging. She relaxed just a bit and let go of her son's shoulder as they continued onward. As they reached the opening for the alley, she gave a glance down it just as a precaution, but that did little good.

Like a viper he'd sprung from the shadows and grabbed her around the neck with his arm and dragged her back into the darkness of the alley. Fear gripped her so hard she couldn't scream, it just caught in her throat. She struggled with him, but when she felt the cold sharp point of a knife at her neck just under her ear, she froze. "Don't hurt me, please. Just let me go..." she managed to get out in a strangled whisper. "I remember you....." he hissed near her ear as he held her tightly, and kept an ear out for trouble or other persons intervening.

"Mommy!" came the first alert of trouble from the boy, who's noticed his mother was no long behind him and had turned to find her gone. "Mommy!" he called again, panic in his voice, and looked down the alley to see a glimpse of his mother being dragged away by the beggar they had seen earlier. "Mommy!" he screamed and ran after them.

"Tell him to shut up or I cut his throat." he hissed in her ear. "You get one chance, you say anything, he becomes an orphan for ten seconds and he's dead!" he said in her ear, his breath so bad it made her eyes water.

"Trago! Come here!" she called out. "It's OK, it's going to be OK." she called out to him, and then she heard him laugh near her ear.

"So sure are you..." he hissed and when the child stopped shouting and moved to his mother's side. They boy grabbed hold of her hand, as if he was going to try to pull her away from the attacker in the alley.

He continued to move her down the alley until they turned around the side of a storage shed, and were hidden from being seen from the street. Once they were there, he ignored the crying boy and turned his attention fully to her. "You don't remember me? I'm crushed... I can still hear you screaming my name, over and over..." he growled as he touched his nose to the side of her neck and laughed when he felt her shudder in response.

"No... No.. I don't remember you, I'm sorry, I don't..." she stammered as he had let up on the choke hold just enough to allow her to speak.

"I'm genuinely hurt..." he whispered as he slowly leaned around so she could see more clearly in the dim light, his face. He leaned in until their noses were barely an inch apart, and he grinned. "How about now?"

As soon as he'd asked that question, and she saw what she could of his face, her heart caught in her throat. Terror washed over her like a cold ocean wave. "Oh dear God.... Phaeton?" she asked in a panicked gasp, but she new the answer, she knew it was him. For months she'd been his captive, his prisoner, his slave. She shuddered again and felt tears welling up in her eyes as this horrible realization struck her. How had he escaped? Surely he and the rest had been locked inside the walled city? There is now way they would have not locked him and his brothers in pain up, or even let them out?! He laughed wickedly when the reality hit her as to his identity, and he continued to hold the knife at her neck. "Long time no see... sweetheart... I know you missed me." he said that in such a way that had his voice not been damaged, it would have been a purr. "TELL ME!" he suddenly shouted in her ear as he returned to hovering on the side of her face. "Tell me you missed me! Tell me you missed me!" he repeated over and over, a scary madness taking him over suddenly.

"I DID! I missed you! I missed you!... I missed you the most..." she suddenly cried out, not meaning a word of it, and feeling nausea well up in her gut as she spoke the words. She added the desperate stroke to his ego that she hoped would calm him down from what she knew only too well was a rising murderous rage.

Phaeton laughed and looked down at the sobbing child clinging to his mother. He was only a change in density in the dark, anything farther than an inch from his nose he wasn't able to see. He relied on sound and smell to navigate around. "Where's your daddy boy? Why isn't he here?" he growled at the child. The boy was too terrified to speak. He'd never seen a horror like Phaeton, and have never experienced such a frightening encounter in his entire life.

"He's dead!" She wailed, tears running down her cheeks. "He's dead Phaeton." She answered and then wondered if that was the right lie to tell right then.

"Dead.... Well, that sucks...." he laughed in her ear. "I guess that means you are looking to replace him so you don't have to sleep alone..." came another attempt at a seductive tone, that was more like nails on a chalkboard.

She tasted stomach bile in her throat as she heard him say that and the thought of that coming to pass. If it weren't for her son, she would taken the knife from him and cut her own throat to escape his sadistic touch. That had ended so many years ago, and the nightmares had only stopped more recently.

"I could play daddy..." he growled as he pulled himself closer to her. He was so close she could feel the heat coming off of his body even in the falling rain, and the rain did nothing to dilute the stink coming off of him. "I could play that role real well for you and the whelp." he continued. "We could be one, big... happy family." he said as if he was seriously considering that that was a possibility.

She didn't answer him, she stood there trembling, trying to think about "I like that idea..." he continued and started to pull her down the alley farther. "Come on, let's find a flat spot and we can do it family style." he growled.

"Let go of my Mommy!" the boy suddenly screamed and charged at Phaeton. He started to hit him with his small balled up fists and screaming for him to release her. She alone knew how dangerous this could be for both of them. Phaeton would fly into a rage for people casually touching him. "Trago! No!" she shouted at him. "It's OK, I'm fine. I'm not hurt. Please stop honey, please stop." she tried to reason with him.

The boy paused in his attack and looked up at his Mother. "Mommy...." he said in a trembling voice and stood there shivering in the rain. "Mommy I want to go home..." he started to wail.

"Me too Mommy...." Phaeton mocked the boy in his raspy voice. "I want to go home and go to bed...."

"Phaeton, please... I'll give you money, just let us go. Just let us go..." she pleaded with him quietly and knew that stood a slim to no chance of success. "I'll give you all I have on me, just let us go. It's money you want... You don't want us." she tried to bargain with him.

"Change in plans." he growled, and suddenly released his hold on her, and grabbed hold of the boy and held the knife to his throat. He moved so fast there wasn't time for the boy to scream before he had him in a deadly embrace. "What's it going to be Mommy..." he hissed. "Do we go home as three, or two?" he asked as he pressed the tip of the knife into the boy's skin.

"Phaeton! Don't!" she shouted and reached out to grab hold of Phaeton's arm that was holding the knife. She leaned in close to him, close enough for her eyes to meet with his. "Don't hurt him. You win. You win. Tell me what you want. Just don't hurt him. I beg you." she pleaded with him, and hoped there was some shred of logic in that twisted mind of his. She knew better than to hope for sympathy or pity.

Phaeton stared back at her, and he rolled his eyes around as he thought, then he smiled and gave her a smirk as he answered her. "I want dinner, and I want a bath." he growled. "Now." he added and moved the knife just enough so that the boy let out a terrified yelp.

"Fine! Fine! Just let go of him! Just let him go Phaeton. He's just a little boy, let him go..." he tried to coax him. Phaeton thought a moment then released the boy and shoved him back toward his mother. "You have a deal. He lives, for now." he said and turned so he was standing next to her, and wrapped his arm around hers. "Lead on darling, it's time to go home..." he growled, and took the first step forward, dragging her out of the hiding place and back toward the main street.