Almost Full (1409 hits)
Category: UberMadness!Rating: 0.3 on 37 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by UberMadness! (View user info) at 2006-11-23 15:31:31 EST
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Entry 1
(10 bytes) [text/uberhtml]- VS -
Entry 2
As David Coleman drove down the dusty state road in eastern Texas, his thoughts trailed back to bloodshed. With one hand lazily draped over the steering wheel, images of red liquid cascading across his body drifted through. He had allowed himself these memories to come during his trip. So often, he had been forced to keep the sensations buried deep, least they consume him.The e-mail. The first sign that things were growing dangerous. His first signal that he was not as in control as he had told himself. A message from an unknown source, that when opened, had contained one simple sentence; "We know what you've been doing."
David had gone through quite a series of emotions during the next few days after receiving the message. It had almost even caused him to break character at his job at the library one day. That would have been counter productive, to say the least. As he considered his next move those following days, his fear and anger grew into curiosity. His patience paid off when a week later he found another cryptic sentence in his inbox.
And so the game began.
The trail of clues and commands were followed so intently for the next few weeks, he almost forgot about his other activities. Finally, he had pieced together enough information to lead him to an address in Texas. Knowing this matter could not be left unresolved, he took a sabbatical from the library with the excuse of a family illness.
The decision to drive all the way down from Seattle had been a calculated one. It afforded him time to consider many of the more puzzling factors in his situation. How had this person or group deduced his movements? Why had they not contacted the authorities? (He had no wealth or power to be blackmailed with.) Why the elaborate game of clues and puzzles? What interest would those in Texas have in him?
His career had lent him a great degree of knowledge when it came to research. David had pieced together an address, but no formal record existed of the residence. In fact, he could find no trace of even who owned that area of land. He had considered himself relatively computer savvy, but all attempts to track down the owner of the e-mail account had come up empty. David was being manipulated and he did not care for it.
The flat expanse of Texas nothingness suddenly changed before him in the car, and he saw a small hill in the distance. Upon its top, David could make out a house. No, he realized as he grew closer, a mansion. So baffled by this structure he had imagined for days now actually existing, he didn't notice the gates until he was almost upon them. A man had stepped out of a guard's booth and was waving him down.
David frowned and began to slow his his vehicle, while concocting a tale in his head. He had made a crucial error. He had not planned on being spotted, a number of items packed securely in his trunk for surveillance and...
"Mr. Coleman, sir," smiled the guard as David came to a halt beside the man, "We've been expecting you, sir."
David could only stare blankly at the guard, completely unprepared for this development.
"House, this is Sentry One," the guard spoke into his walkie-talkie, which was followed by an intelligible response. "Mr. Coleman has arrived, please confirm." More static filled squawking which the guard could somehow decipher. "Affirmative."
The guard stepped back from David's car. "The House has been expecting you, sir. Right through the gates and up to the top, if you please."
David mumbled a 'thank you,' but the guard had already returned to his little outpost and was releasing the gates open. David tried to regain his composure as he slowly made his way up the slight paved incline. This was not going at all as he had planned. However, he had been forced to improvise before, and he saw no reason why he wouldn't be able to get his way out of this unscathed yet. Perhaps it would be best to discover something of what was at work here first.
At the peak, he pulled his car around to the front of the mansion and put it in park. It was a beautiful gray stone structure with multiple wings and four stories tall. He was far from an expert, but it looked almost european in its design. He shook his head at the increasing strangeness of it all and climbed out of his car.
Within feet of the porch, its wide wooden double doors burst open and four men spilled out holding machine guns aimed directly at him. David froze, his eyes blinking at the men in expensive suits wielding their weapons. He thought about the revolver at his breast and the blades hidden all about him, realizing how utterly useless they all were. As a sneer grew across his face, the rage boiling inside of him, an older man with white hair and a cane walked across the threshold.
"Welcome, Mr. Coleman. I assure you, we mean you no harm. Indeed, these men are present to ensure my safety for the moment. I am well aware that a man of your... skills... could easily defeat someone of my advanced age. You must trust me when I say you are among friends. Hamilton, if you you would be so kind as to assist Mr. Coleman in unburdening himself of the weapons about his person."
One of the four men placed his gun on the ground and calmly walked towards David.
"Do not think of trying to act in an aggressive manner towards Hamilton, Mr. Coleman," said the elder man in the doorway, "he is well trained and these other gentlemen would not hesitate to fire upon both him and you."
Doing all he could to control himself, David allowed the man to search him. Hamilton was indeed well trained. Besides the obvious revolver and knives at his waist and ankle, Hamilton found every other blade David had concealed on himself. Stripped of the tools of his craft that David Coleman placed so much faith in, he was near shaking with indignity when Hamilton deposited the items in a metal case. So much in fact, he missed what the old man had said to him.
"What?" asked David through gritted teeth.
"I said my name is Alexander Welsh. Welcome to The Ripper Guild. Please follow me."
The Ripper Guild? Wondering if he had heard right and against his better judgment, David followed Welsh inside. The interior of the mansion was beautiful and immaculent. Twin marble stair cases lead up to the next floor and the polished floor reflected the light from the chandeliers. As he stared in awe, he heard a polite cough and saw Welsh gesturing to one of the rooms off to the left. David crossed the floor and stepped in behind the old man into large but comfortable study. Bookshelves lined most of the walls, accompanied by an occasional piece of art here and there.
Welsh hobbled behind a desk stationed at the end of the room and pointed to a small bar. "Would you like a drink?"
David said nothing.
Welsh let a small smile play on his lips as he opened a folder in front of him. "David Richard Coleman, born in Seattle on March 13th, 1979. Second son to Robert and Dorothy Coleman. Social Security number is..."
"Who are you people? What do you want?" asked David, still standing.
"Please, have a seat. No? Well then, perhaps this information is more relative to our conversation. Angela Montgomery, age 17, disappeared on April 23rd, 2006. Katie Jackson, age 19, disappeared on November 12th, 2005. Melissa Pennington, age 19, disappeared..."
"How... how do you know..." asked David in a hollow voice.
"It's our business to know, to keep track. And who better to do that than your brethren?"
"What?"
Welsh smiled and closed the folder. "Over one hundred years ago, a section of London, England called Whitechappel was home to the most celebrated, the most controversial, most feared murderer of the modern era. We are his legacy; the scions from hell, the bastards of Saucy Jack. We are The Ripper Guild, Mr. Coleman, the society of serial killers."
For a moment nothing was said. Then David burst out laughing.
"Are you being serious?" he asked, thinking he was losing his mind.
"Quite so," said Welsh as he pushed a button on his phone. "Amelia, prepare number twenty-seven for me, my dear."
Welsh got up from behind his desk and made his way past David to the door, beckoning him to follow. David got to the door to see a young woman in a nurse's uniform ushering another girl forward. The girl was young, probably just out of her teens. She was in a hospital gown and seemed to be drugged. Before David could register anymore in front of him, Welsh pulled a straight razor out of his pocket and expertly drew it across the girl's throat in one swift motion.
Both Welsh and the nurse stood there at ease as the girl fell to the polished wooden floor and bled out. They showed no more emotion than one would watching a plant grow. David, on the other hand, was shocked by this spectacle. It was surreal. He had never seen a murder committed by another, and it in these surrounding, a nurse of all things standing by.
"Such an act without the hunt is... unsavory. However, I hope this proves the validity of my statements. Amelia, please contact the janitorial staff. Come Mr. Coleman, we have things to discuss."
David stumbled after Welsh, looking back to see Amelia the nurse on a cell phone, presumably calling for clean up. He moved back into the study, this time taking a seat across from the desk. The older man sat back down in his chair.
"I had quite the appetite back in my day, a respectable count of bodies. Ah, but for the injury I received to my leg... well, that no longer matters. I leave it to those younger than I now."
"Everyone," David started, "everyone here is... is a serial killer?"
"Hmmm, for the most part. Every single person in this house has shed the blood of another at some point. It's a matter of degrees," replied Welsh.
"How did you find me?"
"Oh, we have some of the most well trained pathologists, investigators and forensic technicians in the world working for us. We have over a century of perfect methodology cataloged. We know what works, how it works and how to look for it."
"But," asked David, "but... why?"
"Why?" asked Welsh, genuinely perplexed. "Because it is the way. It is his legacy to us and we must..."
"Yeah, great. But what do you want?"
"Want? We want to help you!" exclaimed Welsh.
"You want to help me be a better murderer?" asked David.
"Exactly!"
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" asked David with a frown. "I've been doing all right so far on my own."
"Once your part of The Ripper Guild, you will have full access to all of our facilities, equipment and operatives. This will greatly increase your ability to carry out your deeds with efficiency and without fear of detection. Your proficiency will increase tenfold."
"How has no one found out about this? Nobody has let it slip or made a deal with the authorities to get out of some jail time?" asked David incredulously.
"We'll get to that," smiled Welsh.
"What, do you pay off the feds or something? Or maybe that's why Dahlmer was shanked in prison."
"Jeffery Dahlmer was never a member of The Guild. Chances are, any serial killer you've ever heard of was never a member. Gein, Rameriez, Lucas, Gacey, and that fool Manson. Bundy never bothered following the clues we left for him, and we see how that turned out. However, the Black Dahlia and the Zodiac are ours. Unfortunately, so were Fish and BTK," mused Welsh.
"And those two never turned on you?"
"Of course not. They have no memory of us," stated Welsh.
"How does that work?"
"Do you believe in God, Mr. Coleman?" asked Welsh quietly.
"What?" replied David, suddenly thrown.
"If God is a force of all good, then there must be a force of all evil. And have no illusions, Mr. Coleman; what we do is evil. We do the devil's work and it pleases him so. We are 'From Hell' like our founding father said, and we must always remember that."
Alexander Welsh and David Coleman stared at each other for a few moments until David finally spoke. "I believe in flesh and the sound it makes when I take a blade to it. I know the feeling I get in my head and in my cock when blood spills across my hands. It's power. That look just as the light is going out of their eyes, just as they realize their God has failed them, I feel powerful."
Welsh smiled. "So you do not believe in God or Satan?"
"I believe in myself. I find the other two irrelevant."
"And yet no Guild member ever captured has ever uttered our name. We have infiltrated prisons to question them, individuals who those incarcerated have known for years, and they look upon our spies with blank faces. What do you make of that?"
David said nothing.
Welsh rose from behind his desk and ambled over to the small bar. He retrieved two glasses and began to pour whiskey into them. He cocked his head to look back at David for a moment, then gestured to him to come.
"As a reasonable, logical man," said Welsh handing David his glass, "I suppose a bit of prophecy would be ridiculous to you."
"Prophecy?" scowled David as he swirled his drink.
"It was said that when our ranks swelled to triple digits, he would return to us."
"He?"
"The Ripper himself," replied Welsh with a quiet reverence.
"I see," said David taking a sip. "How many are there now?"
"Once you're sworn in? There will be ninety-eight full fledged members of The Ripper Guild."
"Almost one hundred serial killers in secret operation," whispered David in awe.
"Yes," replied Welsh, "it's taken a long time."
"Well," said David, pouring the two glasses full again. "A toast."
"To what?" asked Welsh.
"I may not entirely believe in what you say, but to fulfilling your goal."
"Yes," said Welsh, smiling behind his drink, "we're almost full."
Entry 1:
DonkeyOnTheEdge
Fungah
iddqd
joedaddy
kuroneko_sama
thorpe
5 eligible votes (6 total) *
Entry 2:
Amontillado
bart
Bubba2341
coley
Crystle
domenad
Doodles
DrogoRoch
FunnyAsCancer
ghola
Hirilnara
Jack_McCallum
kaos-king
Magicaddict
MandaPanda
orph
rad1101
Sacrilicious
Snark
sparkle_pink
SPECIALk
Stagger_Lee
The_taste_of_Monkeys
yhywstudios
24 eligible votes (24 total) *
* Eligible votes are those made by users who had either (A) posted 3+ messages OR (B) written 100+ [lowered from 750+] reviews as of the beginning of the UberMadness! competition.
User Reviews
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2006-11-25 20:44:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/96017
Mine was a technical forfeit. I cut my submission too close by 1:03... because I'm a jackass.
Congrats Kaos, go and win this thing. But bring the better-than-this-one stories that you're forever capable of.
-Coleslaw Murphy in 2008
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2006-11-25 18:01:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
So this is kaos'? I gotta say man, not your best work. I can't explain why, though...it just didn't grab me. Seemed rushed. Though I like the idea of a secret killers' guild.
Submitted by EchoBoxing (user info) at 2006-11-24 12:53:30 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
apparently i can't vote anymore : (
Submitted by yhywstudios (user info) at 2006-11-24 09:59:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Hirilnara (user info) at 2006-11-24 07:52:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Definitely worth the wait!
Submitted by Magicaddict (user info) at 2006-11-24 06:35:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
#2 could have developed more. Coleman went from being highly sceptical to jumping in with the "crowd" very quickly. However, it was miles better than a forfeit and deserved to be up against something competitive.
Submitted by DrogoRoch (user info) at 2006-11-24 06:29:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Easy choice, and I enjoyed it as well.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2006-11-24 04:25:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
whoops-e-daisy
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2006-11-24 04:21:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
$10.00 says Rad1101 is close by
Submitted by orph (user info) at 2006-11-24 03:48:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2006-11-24 03:22:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
*sigh*
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2006-11-24 02:52:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
So this is Kaos and Coleslaw's right?
That's kinda gay.
I'm voting for Coleslaw's not to vote for a forfeit but just in case for some reason this vote counts and it should be as even as possible considering the circumstances.
Submitted by kuroneko_sama (user info) at 2006-11-24 01:07:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
*likes to cheer for the underdog*
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-11-24 00:42:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-11-23 23:44:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I think you were most likely correct to assume that.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2006-11-23 23:26:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
ooops? I thought everyone knew who had "forfeited" because of the technical difficulties....
-2DIE ME!!
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2006-11-23 23:23:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Kaos, you never cease to amaze me.
I loved this.
Submitted by SPECIALk (user info) at 2006-11-23 23:17:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-11-23 23:16:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-11-23 21:23:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-11-23 21:19:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
hahaha a forfeit.
for fuck sake, just have a simple "if you lose youre out" bracket. fuck all this complicated shit, it just drags it out and makes it boring
Submitted by DonkeyOnTheEdge (user info) at 2006-11-23 20:57:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Johnny Depp did it.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2006-11-23 20:16:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Fungah (user info) at 2006-11-23 19:12:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Best UM post of all time.
Submitted by Fungah (user info) at 2006-11-23 19:12:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by bart (user info) at 2006-11-23 17:54:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2006-11-23 17:53:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by sparkle_pink (user info) at 2006-11-23 17:41:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by MandaPanda (user info) at 2006-11-23 17:13:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2006-11-23 17:13:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-11-23 17:03:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by FunnyAsCancer (user info) at 2006-11-23 16:40:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I still don't know what happened.
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-11-23 15:59:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
well, at least the forfeits havent been as rampant this round
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-11-23 15:54:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I think #2 would have been better without the prophecied return stuff at the end. Still good stuff though.
Who forfeited?
Submitted by domenad (user info) at 2006-11-23 15:43:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-11-23 15:43:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2006-11-23 15:37:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Entry one was WAY better
By far.