All The Good It Does...: Horror_Show and Ser Issac

[Archmagos Issac]

Donovan Maddox had been preparing a long time for this night. For years he'd been saving up money, keeping his head down, and simply gathering all the things he needed. Thousands, perhaps millions of dollars had been put into this night and now he could finally make good on his plans. There was a half-hour before the Purge would commence and New York was in more of a hurry than normal. Don was simply going through his check list:

- Medical Bag? Check.
- Medical Supplies? Check.
- 2 Cans of Gasoline? Check.
- Bulletproof Vest? Check.
- Infrared Scope? Check.
- 1 Trench Knife? Check.
- 2 SPAS 12s? Check.
- 1 Sawed-Off Shotgun? Check.
- 120 Shotgun Rounds? Check.
- Fully Automatic M4? Check.
- 1250 5.56 NATO rounds? Check.
- 2 Fully Automatic Hood Mounted M60s? Check.
- 2000 7.62 NATO rounds? Check.
- 2 Beretta 9MM handguns? Check.
- 4 M67 Hand Grenades? Check.

All in all, he was ready. After doing a few quick checks of his car, he found that he would be ready to go out for the night. Then again, this was his first time. Did he really have enough when he was going up against a city full of psychos? He didn't know. All he could do was hope it was enough and that everything went off without a hitch. His Mustang wasn't the biggest car out there. Sure it was bulletproof, armored, and fully gassed, but people would be driving their own tanks. His only redeeming qualities were training, plenty of ammo, and a goal. He was going to get rid of the psychos and the truly despicable human beings that graced this earth. He finally had a chance to change it for the better. Maybe his methods were a bit excessive but maybe excessive was what he needed. He ran a hand through his short hair and began to lock up his house. He would be out of time soon and he needed to be on the streets.

The Purge was good for the American people supposedly. Clearly the statistics showed that they did something for the country but good people died regardless because of these very same scumbag assholes. The Purge gave everyone in America the power they needed to take care of the dirty business. It gave regular citizens the power of being able to become a vigilante and to kill those very same criminals.

 

[Horror_Show]

Alex ran up the stairs of her porch and opened the door to be greeted by the smell of dinner already on the stove. She shut the door and threw her backpack on the couch and sighed kicking off her shoes as if it was any other normal day. She walked into the kitchen rolling up the sleeves of her flannel and saw her mother over the stove stirring sauce, pasta was boiling and another pan had meat being sautéed. Her mother smiled and handed her the wooden spoon to have a test bite and Alex licked it nodding and smiling.

“I wanted to start dinner early so we could get a head start on locking up the house…. everyone get home from school all right?” she asked and Alex pulled her iphone from her jeans texting. “I think so…they let school out an hour early to give everybody extra time to get home….I gave Susan a ride.”

While her mother finished cooking and setting the table Alex locked the doors, the windows and started barricading the front and back entrances. They lived in a nice medium class one level three-bedroom house with a basement but they didn’t have enough for a security system for the purge. There mother worked a full time job at a doctors office as a secretary and a part time job at a local retail shop on the weekends. They were in the process of saving up for it and hopefully would be able to purchase one and have it installed within the next few years. For now they blocked all houses and pretty much locked them selves in the basement. They had fixed the basement up so it was livable for a night. One side was carpeted with a long couch that pulled into a bed and there was a TV set with cable and they filled a cooler with beverages and snacks. They kind of pretended it was like a camping out. They didn’t have any real enemies and did there best not to make any.

Two Hours Later 6:59 P.M.

Both Ale and her mother were downstairs in the basement with the television on both sitting on the couch. Alex was curled on her side holding up her head with her elbow propped on the armrest. They had no reason to be too fearful because it had been years since anything dangerous had happened to them. But Alex wouldn’t remember when the purge had taken her fathers life when she was only five. They had lived down town in a small shitty apartment and someone had decided to target him.

This is not a test
This is your Emergency Broadcast System announcing the commencement of The Annual Purge, sanctioned by the U.S. Government.
Weapons of Class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted.
Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed.
Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours.
Police, fire and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning at 7 am, when the Purge concludes.
Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn. May god be with you all.


Alex checked her phone to see it was exactly 7 pm, and looked up at a small window that was now boarded up with a metal plank. They couldn’t see outside. The Sirens sounded, she hated that sound. She sometimes had nightmares about them randomly starting. There was exactly seven cycles of it and she gulped closing her eyes.

 

[Archmagos Issac]

Donovan sighed as he climbed into his car. He put the key in the ignition and then put his flash drive into the cars system. The flash drive wasn't very special. It simply had his music to keep him in a confident and fighting mood. Just like how it was for the PMC he had once been a member of. He turned the key as the engine revved to life. The first song to hit him was rather melancholy but it fit his mood perfectly. This was gonna be one bloody night. As the song reached the lyric 'Don't go around tonight. It's bound to take your life, there's a bad moon on the rise', he began to second guess himself. Was this what he really wanted to do. He took a final moment to think about it, finally deciding that he wanted to do this. It was his duty now. He was going to die anyways. Why not die on his own terms? Opening the garage doors, he rolled out of the garage, closing it and engaging the heavy duty locks on the doors. Don drove through the now empty streets as the sirens began to whine. As the second song was beginning to play, he could feel himself ready to do what needed to be done. He engaged the tint on the glass and drove through the streets, his trunk full of weapons, his trench knife and Beretta's on his person, his sawed off in the glove box.

In Alex's neighborhood, whooping and shouting could be heard. The occasional gunshot popping off or the sound of a car rushing away. In the street outside the house, you could see a large delivery van stopped outside of her home. Who were they there for? Who did they want? The house across the street or them? The back of the delivery van opened and armed thugs climbed out of the van. Some had guns, mostly hunting shotguns or other run of the mill small arms. The others had fire axes, bats, machetes, knives. Then behind them came the more threatening of the group 5 men in full body armor and carrying military equipment climbed out. "That house and this one" said one pointing to the house across the street and then Alex's house. They were coming for them.

 

[Horror_Show]

It least for the first forty minutes nothing was out of the ordinary other than the distant echoes of gunfire. Their neighborhood in particular wasn’t very active during the purge but it still wasn’t safe to sit out on your front porch. Alex had fallen asleep on the couch as her mother was pulling laundry out of the dryer and putting it into a basket. She looked over at Alex admiring her with a slight smile. Alex was her pride and joy. She was doing the best she could working two jobs to keep them afloat and in the current house they were in. It wasn’t great but it least it wasn’t a shithole. It was in a fairly nice neighborhood, they kept there bill paid and they were saving for security and Annie was doing her best to work on the college fund her father had started her.

Everything was completely normal except for March 22nd every year when the purge happened. That night seemed surreal compared to the other 364 days. They had been blessed. For years they had been safe, unharmed by the vengeful night. She put the basket on top of a makeshift table she used for folding and started hanging clothes on hangers. She wanted to sleep but she knew she couldn’t, not until 7 am hit the clock. Despite them being safe she wanted to always be away to make sure. That was when gunfire was heard right outside the house startling both Annie and Alex. Alex jolted upwards gasping out and Annie rushed over to her daughter as they continued to hear the chaos out side.

“What’s happening…. there people outside?” Alex whispered as her mother held her on the couch.

“I-I-I don’t know….shhhhhhh.” Annie said holding her daughter close while brushing her bangs back resting her chin on her head. She prayed they was just passing by and they wouldn’t enter, they couldn’t. That was until they heard a huge noise and Alex tried not to cry out as Annie put her hand over her mouth silencing her. They had broke down the barricade upstairs and were now filing inside the house calling out demands. Everything at this moment was out of perspective as it felt like time slowed as they could hear them slowly knocking down the shields to the lower basement.

(Music I could picture playing as they bust in and take them)

Annie got off the couch pulling Alex with her trying to run to the other side of the basement to start ripping off the metal sheets on the window. Just as she grabbed a screwdriver they busted down the door and shined bright lights and Annie grabbed Alex crying out. The men grabbed both Alex and Annie restraining them by tying their hands behind their backs and putting duck tape over their mouths. As they were forced upstairs and through the house Annie attempted to head but one making her own eyebrow bust open but was only hit with a baton making her fall to the floor, having to be carried out. Alex could be heard crying out muffled from underneath the duck tape and fell to her knee’s as she was pushed down onto the grass in her front yard. She bent over looking over to see her mother in pain and bloodied in the face.

 

[Archmagos Issac]

The men in armor made their way to the front door, shotguns ready as they stopped at the front door. The three men eac put a shotgun to a location on the door. 2 at the hinges, and one where the lock would be. They nodded and all fired at the same time, blowing the door off it's hinges. They immediately got to work on the barricade. "Remember, the High Rollers want them alive and unspoiled" called one of the armored men. They came like a flood that couldn't be held back, breaking through the barricades, the locks the doors. They made their way down towards the basement. The moment they found them, they were trying to escape through a boarded up window. They quickly restrained them and began to make their way up the steps towards the van.

From down the street, the sound of a muscle car engine could be heard as it approached. The men looked at each other and then looked to the armored men. "Take care of it" they said. The thugs nodded and began to make their way towards the noise.

The noise was coming from an armored Mustang. It was painted a sleek black, the windows tinted. On the hood was 2 M60 machine guns. Inside was Donovan as he drove quickly down the road. He watched as the thugs got on dirt bikes and drove towards the car. Donovan smirked and flipped a switch on his steering wheel. With a quick press of the buttons on his steering wheel the guns chattered to life. The firing rate was slow but loud. The thugs didn't stand a chance as he mowed them down. His car screeched as spun to a stop. He grabbed his M4 and jumped out of the passenger door as the thugs began to open fire. He cursed to himself for not investing in a couple flashbangs. He needed to think for a moment and knew immediately how to get the upper hand. He rolled onto his belly and slipped under his car. He popped off a few rounds quickly, dropping the thugs and putting the mercenaries on their ass.

Donovan quickly rolled out from under the car and shouted. "Get in! Get in now!" he yelled to the women as he continued to fire, keeping the mercenaries out the fight so the girls could run. He kept shooting, careful not to hit the girls as he opened the passenger door and pushed the seat forward so they could climb into the backseat. He prayed they moved quickly, this was gonna be a quick getaway and something told him this was just the beginning of a long ass night.

 

[Horror_Show]

Annie was able to push off the ground and start running for the armed mustang behind her daughter, as it was there only hope. They climbed in the back seat and Annie was trying to untie the ropes that binded her hands together. They both had duck tape over their mouths with there hands restrained. More gunfire and explosions went off and Annie leaned closer toward her daughter already being snug in the backseat. She broke out of the ropes and ripped off the duck tape breathing out and started undoing her daughter’s restraints. Alex gasped out crying out looking behind outside of the car. There was no site of the man that had saved there lives until they saw him swiftly shut the passenger door and round around to the drivers seat to slide in. The car came screeched as it sped off down the street leaving the van and taken down men in the neighborhood.

Annie with heavy breath looked in the review mirror trying to get a good look at their savior as Alex had a better view being on the right backhand side. Annie didn’t even know what to say, this was a nightmare. She leaned back making sure Alex was ok, she was trembling and in shock. They literally had eleven hours to survive until the purge was over.

“T-Thank you.” Annie said in a humble tone and nodded at him from the back seat. Alex was breathing hard with silent tears streaming down her cheeks. All she could think about was when her father was killed, how she remembered men breaking down their apartment years ago and her mother grabbing and sheltering just as she heard the gunfire go off that killed her father.