When Tom got back into Michael’s car, he could see the body of Sofya lying on the drivers seat. Sighing, he placed his finger on her head and blanked out, before entering her own body again. Tom jolted awake, having been woken up from being blacked out.
“What happened?” Tom asked nervously in a growly voice.
“We successfully baited the mayor” Sofya replied, as she pulled her seat back into an upright position.
“Great. So can you get rid of this horrid disguise now? I look and feel awful.”
Sofya groaned, before she cast a spell to remove Tom’s hideous disguise. In an instant, his body returned to a normal posture and his face rejuvenated. Tom was not an attractive person by any standard, but the return of his regular looks made him gasp in excitement.
“Finally” Tom said in his normal voice, as he patted around his face, happy about the lack of warts and wrinkles there.
“See” Sofya said “that wasn’t so bad.”
“That was very creepy. I don’t remember a thing. It’s like when I got my wisdom teeth pulled out. They injected the sleeping gas into me and then I just passed out.”
“Let’s give Freddy, Michael and Chris the signal to meet us now. Please text p ware co, Tom.”
“Ok.”
Tom sent out a short, coded message to Freddy, Michael and Chris’ communication devices. Freddy did not have his in the car, as he was still Buddy, the German Shepherd dog. However, both Chris and Michael had theirs, so they received the message almost immediately after it was sent. Driving through the foggy roads, with an extremely poor visibility, Chris received the message first.
“She’s ready” Chris said, as he turned the wheel with his gorilla hands and headed off in the direction of the warehouse.
“This is it” Michael muttered to himself, as he got the message a second after Chris. “This is do or die time.”
Chris found he was only a few miles removed from the warehouse, so the odds were that they would be there first. While he was driving, he noticed that Michael was fidgeting in his seat. Wanting to comfort him, he placed an oversized gorilla hand on Michael’s knee and gently pat it.
“It’s going to be ok” he said, trying to be reassuring.
“Chris” Michael replied “I’m so nervous right now. You know that feeling you get right before you do something really scary or nerve wracking? That kind of goosebumps, out of body experience feeling? Where you feel that pit in your stomach and you’re ready to throw up?”
“Yeah, I may have had that happen a few times in my life. What about it?”
“Well, I’m feeling that way right now. We’ve locked in our choices now. I’ve gone over the possibilities in my head over and over. I’ve done what I could, so now all we can do is hope we’ve made the right decision here.”
“Well, what’s done is done. All that matters now is hyping ourselves up for battle. This is where we will take out that rotten mayor once and for all.”
Buddy barked happily from the back of the car.
“That’s right” Freddy thought to himself, as Buddy panted happily.
“Freddy seems confident” Chris said with a chuckle.
Buddy nodded his head in agreement.
“I’m not” Michael replied less confidently.
“Cheer up, Michael.”
Chris continued to rub his gorilla hand on Michael’s leg, while Buddy nuzzled his husband’s arm. Despite the attempts of the men in his life to comfort him, Michael still had a bad feeling about what was to come.
“I can’t shake the feeling that we overlooked something” Michael thought to himself, as he stared at Chris, who was trying his best to comfort him. “I just know something is going to go wrong, but I don’t know what. I thought through every possibility here, but it still seems like we should have made another choice. I hope I’m wrong about this, but I just can’t shake the feeling that someone isn’t going to make it out of this warehouse alive.”
Before long, Chris spotted the abandoned road that led to the warehouse.
“There it is” he noted aloud, as he turned the car and headed up the road.
As they approached the warehouse of the former Home Paper Good Co. factory, Chris made some notes to himself aloud.
“Not the best paved roads I’ve ever driven on.”
“Did you expect them to be?” Michael asked.
“I guess not. Still, there’s so many potholes and it’s so muddy. I’m nervous about damaging your husband’s car, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry about that too much, Chris. Just make sure you don’t blow a tire and we should be fine. All of this can be fixed with money. Our priority is saving Freddy’s life and ending this horrible curse once and for all.”
Buddy barked in agreement.
“You know” Michael continued “I wish Sofya hadn’t undone that communication spell on Freddy. It would have been nice to hear what he was thinking right about now.”
“Me too” Freddy thought to himself, as Buddy whimpered loudly. “I was just thinking that a little while ago. Michael and I sometimes think on the same wave length…at least, when my dick isn’t doing the thinking for me.”
“Well, what’s done is done” Chris replied, as he pulled over the car. “She probably didn’t want to risk other people hearing him. Maybe she wasn’t quite sure of how loud his thoughts could get or who could hear them. We don’t want them to ambush us. The point is for us to ambush them.”
Chris found a spot behind a large tree to hide the car. When he parked, he motioned for Michael to wait, so he could get out first. Getting out of the car, Chris took in the forest, a dozen or so yards away from the warehouse.
“We can wait here until Sofya and the mayor’s posse arrive” he said quietly.
“Won’t they be able to spot us here?” Michael asked, not getting out of the car.
“No. If we stay behind this tree and peer over, they are less likely to see us.”
Michael sighed, as he got out of the car and walked over to Chris. Buddy barked loudly, as he tried to make his way to the front of the car.
“Wait in the car, Freddy” Chris said. “Let’s keep you hidden for now.”
Buddy reluctantly nodded, as he peered out the front window of the car. Chris threw his hairy gorilla arm around Michael’s shoulder, as they staked out the entrance to the warehouse. It was still very foggy in the woods, with the winds causing them to shiver at times. They waited in silence for their enemies to arrive. It took several minutes before the first battalion of the mayor’s army arrived. A squadron of police cars, nearly every one still left in town, drove up to the warehouse. They had their high beams on, as they parked their vehicles by the entrance. Getting out of their cars, the officers scoped out the immediate area, while they chatted amongst themselves.
“What do you think they are saying?” Michael whispered.
“I have no clue” Chris whispered in response. “But try to stay quiet. I don’t want them hearing us.”
Closer to the warehouse, several officers were discussing their mission.
“Where’s the commie and his husband?” one officer asked.
“I don’t know” another officer replied. “I don’t see any sign of them so far.”
“Think we should go into the woods?” a third officer asked. “In case they are trying to trap us or ambush us?”
“No” the second officer replied. “Orders were to wait in the warehouse until further instruction. Besides, this fog will make it impossible for us to see them.”
“I don’t fucking like this” a fourth officer said. “I have a really bad feeling that the batshit mayor is being played for a sucker here. Freddy may be a fucking commie scumbag, but he’s not a complete fucking moron. That fag husband of his went to Harvard, which means he’s really smart. They may be setting us up here and we’re just sitting ducks.”
“I think you’re being paranoid” the second officer said, as he noticed the commander’s vehicle approaching the warehouse. “Hold up a second. The commander is here.”
When the vehicle was parked, the commander kept his lights on, as he got out of his car and approached the officers.
“Well?” he asked them gruffly.
“No sign of them yet, commander” the second officer replied.
“Did you check inside?”
“We did” the third officer replied. “They aren’t in there. All that’s in there is a bunch of ripped up boxes, some weeds, some mold and some dust. No sign of the commie or anyone else.”
“Well check again.”
“Yes sir.”
“Sir” the fourth officer said. “I really think this is a bad idea. I think the mayor is being played here.”
“It’s not for you to question orders!”
“I’m just saying—“
“Well don’t!”
The commander paused, before he continued.
“Look, I get it. I agree with you that I think the mayor has lost his damn mind. I also think he’s acting recklessly here, to the point of endangering our officers.”
“Endangering?” the first officer asked incredulously. “Sir, the mayor is responsible for the deaths of nearly our entire force today. Several of my closet brothers died because they were following orders of the fucking scumbag, anti cop mayor.”
“Their sacrifices were not in vain. I wish I could tell you that we have someone else we can rally our troops behind on election day, but we’re in a situation where it’s a choice between shit and more shit. It’s either the mayor who has lost his mind or the commie who wants us dead.”
“The mayor wants us dead, too” the fourth officer remarked.
“No. He may not give us the full support we deserve, but god damn it, we have to choose the lesser of two evils here. If the mayor fails to stop Freddy Benson, then imagine what’s going to happen when that commie gets sworn into office.”
The officers gulped nervously, before the commander continued.
“We don’t have the privilege of being too critical. It’s too late to remove the mayor from the ballot and replace him with someone we prefer. We tried, we failed. Now all we can do is help him win re-election and then put up one of our own in the next election. Hold his feet to the fire until then.”
In that moment, another vehicle pulled up to the warehouse. Stepping out of the car was Peter McDonough, the head of the police benevolent association.
“Where is that fucker?!” he asked the commander in a harsh tone, as he slammed his car door shut.
“So far no sign of him” the commander replied.
“Son of a fucking bitch! This is a trap! Why did we come here?!”
As Peter and the commander talked amongst themselves, Sofya approached the turn onto the road towards the warehouse in Michael’s car. She could sense a large amount of human activity, so she needed to think of a way of avoiding their attention. As she turned and drove up the road, she had an idea. Using her magic, she made the car invisible, though it took a considerable amount of energy to do it.
“This may have been a mistake” Sofya thought to herself, as she strained to keep up the spell. Approaching the warehouse, she immediately spotted Chris and Michael staking out the officers from behind a tree. “Not the best hiding place. I could easily see them, even in this fog, which means other people might as well.”
Sofya drove the car over to just behind Freddy’s and parked. She undid the invisibility spell and then got out of the car, with Tom following her from behind. Sneaking up behind Chris and Michael, Sofya thought she would scare them, before Buddy noticed their presence. He let out a woof, muffled by the closed car door. Startled, Michael turned around to see Sofya and Tom walking up to them.
“Took you long enough” Michael grumbled, before turning back to continue watching the activity in front of the warehouse.
“Not exactly a great hiding spot” Sofya remarked, as she peered out along with them. “I could easily spot you guys from the road. I’m sure I won’t be the only one who does.”
“No one has noticed us so far” Chris commented.
“It’s only a matter of time. I think we should move.”
In that moment, another vehicle made its way down the broken road, followed closely behind by ten other unmarked vehicles.
“Jesus” Michael said quietly. “The mayor came with an entire army.”
“He means business” Sofya replied. “So does my father.”
Parking near the squadron of police cars, the driver let the mayor out of his vehicle. The mayor surveyed the scene before him, while the masked men got out of their respective vehicles. They all went inside, as the mayor approached the commander and Peter McDonough.
“Commander Mann” he said gruffly. “Peter.”
The commander shook his hand, but Peter refused to do so.
“You’re responsible for killing my officers” Peter spat out gruffly.
“Fuck you, Peter” the mayor replied. “You’ve been more trouble for me in my career than you are worth. You’re lucky I haven’t had the district attorney investigate you for pension fraud and theft.”
“You wouldn’t dare, Mr. Mayor! You know what I’d command my officers to do if you tried to go after me!”
“Well, then fucking know your place in this town, runt!”
“Enough” the commander said sternly. “Where is Michael? You said he was already here.”
“I don’t know! Some old man came by my house and said that Tom was being held hostage here by Michael.”
“You sure you weren’t being played, Mr. Mayor?” the fourth officer asked.
“Fuck you!!!! Don’t—“
“Enough” the commander interrupted. “Boys, go inside the building to wait for further instructions.”
“Sir” the third officer replied nervously “we don’t want to be in there longer than necessary. It’s full of mold and dust. It will do severe long term damage to our health.”
“I don’t fucking care!” the mayor replied angrily. “Do your fucking job and go in there already!”
“Fuck you, Mr. Mayor.”
“My boys are not going in there” Peter replied “until we know for sure that the pinko commie and his husband are inside! I am not endangering the welfare of my officers—“
“My officers!” the mayor corrected angrily. “In case you forgot, Peter, I am their boss, not you! You are just a good for nothing thug who is loud and likes to hear the sound of your own voice!”
“I could say the same thing about you, Mr. Mayor! I would say you are just as dangerous of a demagogue as the commie we’re going after!”
“Then pull your boys out of the warehouse and let the fucking marxist win on election day!!!! See how you like doing your job with Freddy Benson in charge!!!!!!!”
“Enough!!!!!” the commander boomed out, causing birds in the sky to caw out in fear.
The mayor and Peter got silent, as they stared at the commander, with a mix of anger and confusion in their facial expressions.
“Enough” the commander continued gruffly. “This isn’t the time to be fighting each other. This is the time to put aside our differences to unite against a common enemy. We have a mission here and we must be successful. We cannot afford to lose. We cannot afford for our disagreements to be exploited by those who hate all of us equally. To Freddy Benson and his commie kin, we are all the same.”
“I’m nothing like this scumbag mayor!” Peter spat out.
“I’m nothing like this blowhard buffoon!” the mayor hissed. “This smelly ass baboon!”
“Regardless” the commander replied “to Freddy, were are the system he is trying to overthrow. We need to act like a unit or they will topple us all. Do you understand me?”
The mayor and Peter groaned, but did not give an indication of their thoughts one way or the other. The commander angrily stared at them, before he noticed an unusual sight in the sky. Levitating down to the ground, at a slow speed, was the wizard.
Behind the trees in the woods, Chris, Michael, Sofya and Tom spotted the wizard approach from the sky. Earlier, Sofya had helped them decode some of what the group of officers, Peter, the mayor and the commander were saying, but not all of it was made clear to them. They got the gist of the conversation. They were trying to gain clues to see when they should strike.
“If they leave” Chris noted ‘then this will all have been for nothing.”
“Too exposed out here” Sofya replied dismissively. “They have all this open air and space. It makes it harder to fight them. The point is to contain them, limiting their space to move around and bring in more troops.”
“Hold up a second” Michael interrupted, as he spotted the wizard levitating up in the cloudy sky. “He’s here.”
Sofya gasped, as she saw her father up in the air. As he landed, she laid her eyes on the man who had caused her so much anger, hurt and pain throughout her centuries of life. He denied her the right to grow up. He erased most of her memories against her will. He beat her unconscious, leaving her for dead in that cabin twenty one years earlier. She had to use every bit of strength she had in that moment not to charge at him right that very second. She knew she had to restrain herself, deep down, because ambushing him now would be a fatal mistake.
“That fucker” Sofya hissed quietly, as she shook in anger upon seeing the sight of her father.
Chris put a sympathetic gorilla hand on her shoulder, as they watched the wizard approach the group by the warehouse.
“Gentleman” the wizard said calmly, as he landed on the ground and approached the assembled group.
“Where the fuck have you been?!?!” the mayor spat out.
“I had to take a little detour first, before I arrived.”
“There’s no sign of him in there” the commander said. “I think this is some sort of trap.”
The wizard used his mental prowess to scan the immediate area. Immediately, he noticed the presence of his daughter and her companions. Using a sort of set of metaphorical eyes in the back of his head, he honed in on his offspring, angrily watching him from behind a tree in the forest.
“She’s not happy to see me” the wizard thought to himself. “She sure picked a terrible hiding spot. It’s amazing that none of these men have spotted her yet. This is the best this foolish, small town mayor can offer me in terms of an army? He’s lucky I’m more powerful than all of his men combined, because if I wasn’t, this would be a big problem.”
The wizard stared quietly at the commander, before he spoke up.
“Let’s head inside the warehouse.”
“Why?!” Peter asked. “It’s dangerous in there!! My officers—“
“I will clean out the dust and mold, so it is safe for them to go inside.”
“How do you plan to do that?!”
In an instant, the wizard used his magic to remove the dust, mold and other health and safety hazards from the exterior and interior of the warehouse. In amazement, Peter and the officers let out a gasp.
“Better?” the wizard asked.
Peter nodded in amazement.
“Good. Commander, Mr. Mayor, let’s head inside.”
“They aren’t in there though!!!! the mayor shrieked.
“I think you should reconsider this” the commander said. “Uh, your name is—“
“Victor” the wizard said, as he extended his hand to shake the commander’s. “Victor Roshkovich.”
“Huh, ok Victor. Yeah, there’s no one in there. I think we’re making a mistake going inside without having any confirmation of their presence first.”
“They will be here. Just head inside.”
The wizard used his magic to force everyone inside of the warehouse. Begrudgingly, the group of officers and a group of assassins, followed by the mayor’s advisors, who had just arrived in that moment, marched into the abandoned warehouse. They were followed by Peter McDonough and the mayor. Before the commander went inside, he spoke to the wizard.
“You better not be setting us up” he said gruffly.
“I’m not” the wizard replied. “They’ll be here.”
“I’m taking your word for it. Don’t let us down. A man is nothing without the honor of his word.”
The wizard stood silently, as he watched the commander enter the abandoned warehouse. Before the commander walked inside, he called out to him.
“Wait” the wizard said.
The commander turned around and let out a smirk.
“Having second thoughts?” he asked.
“No” the wizard replied coldly. “Send two of your men out here to serve as lookout, just in case.”
“I thought they were supposed to be inside.”
“Just in case, commander.”
The commander stared for a moment, before he ordered two of his officers to stand guard outside. Relieved, two of the officers made their way to the front of the warehouse and stood in place, while the commander walked inside with the wizard.
“It’s do or die time” Sofya said, as she tried to walk over the warehouse.
“Wait” Chris replied, as he grabbed onto her arm. “We need a game plan first.”
“What do we need a game plan for? We take out those officers and then we bust our way inside. What’s so complicated about that?”
“She’s right” Michael said. “That’s the only way this is going to work now. Let’s just make sure we have everything we need to start this battle. Chris, check our inventory.”
Chris reluctantly nodded, as he scanned through the utility belts on everyone’s waists, counting up the number of guns and checking if they had enough bullets. He looked through the other items, making sure they appeared to be working. Finally, before they headed off, Chris asked a question.
“Should we bring Freddy?”
“No” Michael replied harshly.
“Yes” Sofya disagreed.
“What?!”
“You heard me.”
“Sofya, you can’t be serious?”
“Michael, how else are we supposed to know if the curse is broken if we don’t bring Freddy inside with us? Plus, we can’t keep him in the car without air and we don’t want to leave him unattended like this. Someone could kidnap or kill him.”
“But if we bring him inside, the wizard will kill him!”
“He won’t. I promise.”
“Sofya, your father nearly killed Freddy once before. I don’t want to give him another opportunity to do it again.”
“Michael, look at me.”
“Sofya—“
“Look at me!!!”
Michael teared up, as Sofya held his face in her hands.
“Look” she continued “I get it. I know you’re worried about your husband’s safety, but we’re running out of time and we have no good options here. We can protect Freddy, plus he can help us fight, if he comes with us. Five against them is better than four. We have to let him out and bring him in the warehouse. We don’t have another choice.”
“I don’t want to lose him” Michael replied, as tears fell down his cheek.
“It’ll be ok” Chris said, as he wrapped his arms around Michael’s waist.
“We have to do this” Sofya stressed again.
Michael paused for a moment, as he considered the possibilities in his head. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. If he left Freddy alone outside, then he could attacked, kidnapped or killed. If they brought him inside, then he was in the direct line of fire of the wizard, who would kill him in an instant. There were no good choices here. So, with a sigh, he reluctantly agreed with Sofya.
“Fine” he concurred with uncertainty, as Sofya went over to open the car door.
“You know” Tom said, as Buddy jumped down to the ground. “I could have stayed out here and watched him, while you guys went inside and fought.”
“Leaving you out here all alone?” Sofya asked with a sneer. “I don’t think so.”
“Hey!”
Buddy nudged his head into Michael’s leg. Michael let out a weak smile, as he bent down to scratch him behind the ears.
“It’ll be ok, Michael” Freddy thought to himself, as he watched the tears fall from Michael’s eyes.
Buddy whimpered, as he licked the tears off of his husband’s face. Michael squirmed, before patting him on the back. Getting up, he looked to the front of the warehouse and drew out his gun.
“I’m ready for combat” Michael said, as he began to walk over to the warehouse.
Michael and Chris, with their guns drawn, approached the officers standing guard in front of the warehouse. Sofya followed closely behind them, Buddy trotted next to Michael and Tom lagged behind them all in fear of his life. As they got closer, they were spotted by the officers standing guard.
“Freeze!” one of the officers yelled, as the police guarding the warehouse drew their weapons.
Sofya used her magic to take their guns into her possession. Once she received them, she used her magic to send them into a coma.
“How come you couldn’t do that all of the other times?” Michael asked, as they walked over to see the bodies of the officers lying on the ground.
“Hmm” Sofya replied, as she felt up the officers to see if they were still alive. “Whatever. They’re still alive, I guess, though death is what they deserve.”
A few feet away, they spotted the entrance to the warehouse.
“I can’t do this” Tom said fearfully, as he walked up to the assembled group. “I’m too scared. I’m going to die.”
“You’ll be fine” Chris said assuringly. “Just stick with me.”
“Michael?” Sofya asked. “Are you ready now?”
Buddy looked up at Michael, awaiting his response.
“As ready as I’ll ever be” he answered with a sigh, as the group walked towards the entrance of the warehouse. “I’ve waited long enough. Let’s just get this shit over with.”
Inside the warehouse…..