A Codex of Malevolence

By Matthew Sawyer

A Codex of Malevolence by Matthew Sawyer is a short story collection that tracks the spread of weird and unholy evil from Wister Town, Wisconsin. In both compilations, the tales are presented in an approximate chronology. This codex continues a record of chimeric eruptions within the United States Midwest and documents their more recent origin on the West Coast.

“Babies Kill the Unborn: A Rockumentary” - the launch of the world tour by the rock band “Venger of Unborn.” Father Mackis knows a demon drives the success of the band and the pious clergyman ensures fiery ruin at their concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Circular Heir- Mary Gantz wins a contest for her unborn son to inherit eight billion dollars upon the death of a rich benefactor, Aido Yasu. To qualify for the fortune, Mary must consume the ashes of Mr. Yasu's brain before her baby is born.

Bullish Flavor - Reporters from the Binger Evening Times printed newspaper attend a tour of the Minotaur Meats slaughterhouse and meat packaging plant. Despite specifying she doesn't want to witness the slaughter and butchering of mythical minotaurs, Erin Hofstetter and her photographer, Pat Hendrickson, Pat still needs to get her photographs!

Garnish - A middle-aged farming couple, receive the ashes of a dead friend, Donny. Donny requested he be disposed in the Nile River – too far for the Mottes to go, so the Mississippi will have to do.

Disaster at Minotaur Meats - Mr. Brinks, the owner and operator of Minotaur Meats, has work for his two adopted nephews. The teenage boys, Doug and Donald, are given jobs hunting escaped a newly discovered rat-like species butchered for its exotic meat.

The Fevered Possessed - Fourth-grader, Jerry Lacter, strips to his waist during a noon recess on a January day in Wisconsin. He complains he's hot but the playground supervisor sends him to the principal's office. Tina, Jerry's friend, redirects the boy to the nurse's office instead. His body exudes an enormous amount of heat.

Ghoulish - Someone has been breaking into Milwaukee morgues and stealing body parts. The police find their suspect when they apprehend Sam Pechinski, lapping up blood, at the scene of a fatal traffic accident. The suspect admits guilt, claiming he is on the verge of “transformation.”

Pagan Exorcist - Annie, a millennium-old witch, is disturbed at dawn when a teenage boy knocks on her door. A demon has possessed the boy and now asks the witch to exorcise him

Preternatural Valentine - Charlie gets an anonymous Valentine's Card at his job in Santa Barbara, CA. He's instantly suspicious and thinks his boss and coworkers have conspired against him. After he leaves work that evening on Valentine's Day, Charlie is introduced to his genuine secret admirer. Despite renewed hope and expectations, it ends badly.

Heart of the Snowman - Two young sorcerers in Southern Wisconsin have an opportunity to animate a snowman with a dead man's heart. Rob first must know why Mr Jelinshek showed up at Tim's house, he distrusts his friend and fellow alchemist while they explore the Dark Arts.

The Unburnt Bush - Donna Montanay interviews Marsha Pinot, an old sorority friend and internationally famous multimedia artist. She accompanies the artist to a gallery in La Crosse, Wisconsin to see a paper mache labia and mysterious pool of shadow, both components to the piece of artwork called The Unburnt Bush.

The Unbreathing - Paul Murry rushes his unresponsive wife, Barb, to the hospital after the woman collapses and stops breathing. While traveling, the Murry's are in an accident caused by a man an EMT, named Allen, suspected suffered road rage.

Portal Painter - Debbie Menon hopes to become a professional painter in Los Angeles. Her mural in a pizzeria catches the interest of a local screenwriter, who pays Debbie thousands of dollars to paint a pattern on his concrete patio. The screenwriter tells Debbie the design is a portal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matthew Sawyer
• Release date: Mar 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781301090570

Matthew Sawyer

I hate talking about myself. Like everyone, I suppose, I am a bit narcissistic, but not egotistical. My own failure for success is that I just do not think much about myself. That is not to say I spend too much time thinking about others. In truth, I should think more of everyone; and there is a dull guilt attached to that confession. There is something of who I am, I am old enough for regrets.At my age, I am prone to think about immortality And being an atheist, there seems no alternative but science. Even so, I know that science is beyond my lifetime. I have no faith nor hope, nor do I believe in ghosts, elves, unicorns...In that hopeless disbelief, I write so there remains a record of accomplishments in my life. Unrecognized and even scorned, I continue to tell stories so I will be remembered after I am dead. My struggle with grammar and punctuation are evidence of my effort to make my writing decipherable. Because, what success means to me are hieroglyphics upon a Pharaoh's tomb.

Book preview

A Codex of Malevolence

Third Revision

Matthew Sawyer

Published by Matthew Sawyer at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Matthew Sawyer

ISBN: 9781301090570

The stories in the collection titled A Codex of Malevolence are fictional. All characters, names and locations are the creations of Matthew Sawyer. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.

A Codex of Malevolence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Please contact the author for permissions beyond the scope of this license.

Hardcover and Paperback books available from Matthew Sawyer's Storefront at Lulu.com.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Isylumn

Discover other titles by Matthew Sawyer/Mr. Binger at Smashwords.com

The Strange Apocrypha of Mr. Binger

Horrid Tales of Wister Town

A Codex of Malevolence

Third Revision

Babies Kill the Unborn A Rockumentary

Babies Kill the Unborn: A Rockumentary documents the launch of the world tour by the rock band Venger of Unborn..

Circular Heir

Mary Gantz wins a contest for her unborn son to inherit eight billion dollars upon the death of a rich benefactor.

Bullish Flavor

Reporters from the Binger Evening Times printed newspaper attend a tour of the Minotaur Meats slaughterhouse and meat packaging plant.

Garnish

Donny requested he be disposed in the Nile River – too far for the Mottes to go, so the Mississippi will have to do.

Disaster at Minotaur Meats

Doug and Donald, are given weekend jobs hunting escaped tomga, a newly discovered rat-like species butchered for its exotic meat.

The Fevered Possessed

Fourth-grader, Jerry Lacter, strips to his waist during a noon recess on a January day in Wisconsin

Ghoulish

Someone has been breaking into Milwaukee morgues and stealing body parts.

Pagan Exorcist

Annie, a millennium-old witch, is disturbed at dawn when a teenage boy knocks on her door.

Preternatural Valentine

Charlie gets an anonymous Valentine's Card at his job in Santa Barbara, CA.

Heart of the Snowman

Two young sorcerers in Southern Wisconsin have an opportunity to animate a snowman with a dead man's heart.

The Unburnt Bush

Donna Montanay interviews Marsha Pinot, an old sorority friend and internationally famous multimedia artist. They speak of a piece of artwork called The Unburnt Bush.

The Unbreathing

While traveling, the Murry's are in an accident caused by a man an EMT, named Allen, suspects suffered road rage.

Portal Painter

Debbie Menon hopes she will become a professional painter in Los Angeles.

The Alliance With Wild Men 500 AD

"Wild men," Ansel tells his hunting party. The middle-aged man is one of five warriors who cross the Swiss Alps.

Crushed In Flight

Tony Joneston always wanted to jump out a flying plane...

Babies Kill the Unborn: A Rockumentary

The Studio feels hot this afternoon, as studios typically are. The band called Venger of the Unborn – a music group internationally known by their heavy metal fans as the Venge, unofficially – they sweat and slip inside their leather clothes. This fact is despite the numerous holes torn deliberately in their stylish pants and jackets.

The band has come to a radio production and promote the launch of their new album and world tour. Both are called, Babies Kill the Unborn. This past week in November, tickets have been for sale everywhere worldwide.

Now, that’s quite a name for an album, says Greg Hill, the host of Tomorrowday. The production is made by a Milwaukee-based, affiliated entertainment show. The thick, black man wears a nondescript brown suit, a white buttoned-up shirt and a pink tie. Standing next to his guests, the band, he speaks into a microphone while they sprawl over his desk and studio chairs. They're all white guys, accept the new female vocalist; her family name sounds to have originated in the Middle East.

Babies Kill the Unborn is actually the name of one of the songs on the album, too, but it sounds real good, so that’s what we call the album... says Time-bomber, the vocal drummer for the Venge. His black, handle bar mustache sheds a gay from-the-seventies impression.

Razorwere, the lead singer of the band, interrupts the rambling drummer. He tells Greg, People still don’t get that this really happened.

The skinny, young, blond guy looks gaunt yet well-muscled. Prepared for his narrative, he says, In nineteen-ten, there were babies who sweat poison, and they passed poison through their lips when they suckled their moms’ teats. The poison killed any fetus in their mother’s womb. It happened, man. Look it up on the Internet!

Siblicide, man, in the womb, shouts Grant. He's one of the bass guitarists in the band. Sheer noise mars this bit of the recording destined to be spliced out.

The young man is indistinguishable from the other bassist. The pair of female guitarists also looks alike. Greg thinks the Venger of the Unborn metal band must have some unpublicized gimmick – they have two sets of identical twins in the band. The radio show host doesn't ask and misses his opportunity to reveal a mystery to the world.

Well, your previous album… Greg begins to say before Razorwere interrupts him again.

Nah, man. They dug-up fetuses that had been killed by the poison, and they even found one of the kids who murdered their brothers and sisters – nobody can talk to any of the, uh, living – poisoners, because they’re all dead now.

Greg waits until Razorwere apparently forgets the point he wants to make. After a moment and when he's content with the dead air, Greg returns to his original topic.

There was controversy with your previous record, Greg states to the band in general. The Unborn are the Unliving.

Razorwere vigorously bounces his head and Time-bomber calmly nods his own. Greg shrugs his shoulders while the other five members of the band wipe sweat and makeup from their faces.

There's a song on that album called F, star, star, K You Christians, Greg says as neutral and flat as possible.

That can mean anything, like fork, Time-bomber confuses.

That doesn’t sound so good either, one of the two female guitarists advises the drummer.

All right, fudge or fuck. I don’t know what the stars are, dammit, Time-bomber shouts.

All right, Greg says when attempts to salvage the production. He turns toward the latest female addition to the band. Renti, you’re new to the Venger of the Unborn.

Yeah, they needed talent, Renti says in regal smugness. The Middle Eastern girl looks exotic and psychotic, exactly like a suicidal terrorist as represented in newspaper cartoons. She gestures at the plain guitarists. These girls don’t cut it for the Venge.

The host repeats old news. I have heard, you were a fan before you joined the band.

Yeah, big time, Renti tells Greg. Where did you hear that from, the wire coming out of your ear?

Greg subconsciously checks the wire running over his shoulder and hanging against his neck. He clears his throat and whimpers a chuckle.

Yes, he replies and tries to laugh-away the comment. The interview is lost and Greg wants to, minimally, peacefully end his show. Life is again unfair – this band’s concert will sell-out tonight and tomorrow, but surely, Greg's just lost permanent listeners to his modest regional radio program.

The members of the international rock band called Venger of the Unborn had come to the studio today hung over, stoned and amped on caffeine pills. And today's show started late because of their lack of coordination. All eight of them had run through the studio, breaking into locked rooms. Now, most of them crash in the studio on the host's furniture well within the half hour of recording.

Greg wraps the show early and wishes to God he worked at a commercial station. Before he's done, the host reminds his listeners, Be sure to go to the concert tonight at the...

He pauses and realizes he's never gotten the location of the band's concert. He asks Time-bomber. Do you know where you're playing tonight? You know it's not on your fliers or posters, right?

Time-bomber shouts, It's Milwaukee's southernmost forum. Go south until you're not in Milwaukee anymore then turn around.

Chicago is too far, adds Grant.

Good, Greg says. And be sure to see the rockumentary after the tour. It's called Babies Kill the Unborn.

Maybe before, if we quit early, Grant clarifies.

Had enough, Greg signs off. All right, good day from Tomorrowday.

I wish it was tomorrow today, Renti complains before her mike switches off. She does not wait for the technicians to kill the feed. Strictly by coincidence, the recording quits the moment after she speaks.

That way, we'd already be done with this cold-ass town, she says for posterity.

Their host leaves the sound bite to the editor. Out of curiosity, Greg asks the female performer, Where are you going after this?

The rest of the band stands, waving body odors from their jackets.

Texas, man, Razorwere injects. Bye, bye cheeseheads.

Well, they got cows down in Texas, Greg tells the lead singer. They got that saying about the other down there, don’t cha know?

I don’t get you, man, Razorwere tells Greg. That’s why everything crashed and burned today. We’re not in sync.

Okay, fine then, Greg says upset. It was nice to meet you, but there’s the door.

Bummer? Grant asks the air.

Let’s get to the southern part of Milwaukee, so we can turn around, Time-bomber rallies as he takes the band out the studio door.

After a second set of doors, the members of the Venge step outside the extra wide double-trailer and stand together on an icy parking lot. Everyone shivers simultaneous then race to their eight rented vehicles. Most of the band members drive SUVs.

Renti has leased a luxury sedan and a chauffeur for the weekend. Everyone spins their wheels in the ice, but eventually leave the parking lot in single file. Renti’s luxury sedan leads the convoy. The train of vehicles join traffic traveling southward on the 43.

Occasionally, an SUV driven by a band member races ahead of the convoy and shows-off then falls back behind the sedan. The gunning drivers remember they have no idea where they go. Renti's chauffeur knows exactly where the band plays tonight.

He gets the Venger of the Unborn to their concert before sundown; a miracle in any other city besides one in the Midwest – that is, if a traveler was not on the road by the time the sun came up. Traffic isn't a problem the natives suffer. Farming and hunting had been bred into them, everyone from Southern Wisconsin was usually awake before the rooster crows.

Campers already fill the concert parking lot. Clouds of warm vapor float from the exhausts of idling vehicles and from gluts of people moving between cold weather tents. Most concert goers wait for the show in the warmth of their vehicles. Many others pretend they're Eskimos.

Everyone in the band is grateful their date in Milwaukee has booked the brand new amphitheater. The Venge collectively remembers hearing this one had been erected after some really old crap had fallen over.

A gate restricts entry into the parking lot reserved for the band and crews. A preacher blocks the entrance. Obviously a priest, the man wears a gold trimmed white frock over his padded winter jacket. The freezing fellow resembles draped furniture. His face is flushed red by the cold and a chilly wind inflates his hallowed raiment.

Renti's driver honks his horn, but the preacher refuses to budge. The man then inexplicably approaches the band's convoy along its side, allowing the sedan and its tail of SUVs to pass through the gate.

Before he passes the preacher, Time-bomber stops his car and talks to the man. Behind him, Razorwere immediately lays on his horn. The other three obstructed band members join the blare of the their singer. Responding to the message, Time-bomber leans his entire upper body out his driver's side window and flips-off his colleagues.

What are you doing here, monsignor? Time-bomber asks the priest. He has no idea what the title means, but it sounds formally religious.

You are devils, the preacher says, as articulate as his thick numb lips allow. Father Mastic swears he's become, literally, allergic to the cold. Unconcerned with himself, he tells the musician Sin and promiscuity breed evil.

All right, man, Razorwere shouts from his SUV. He pokes his head out of the vehicle. That establishes sin and screwing are two different offenses to God. I've just heard something else about sex is bad, in a new category or something, so I'm still doing that.

You all need to confess, Father Mastic tells Time-bomber. Tell your real friends and your real Christian family, tell them your sins and secrets.

Time-bomber yells his answer. Fuck that, preacher. You're taking the Act of Contrition a couple steps too far.

What are you talking about? Razorwere shouts to the drummer. He's not answered.

Time-bomber drops back into the cab of his vehicle and rolls up the window. He feels as cold as the preacher looks. Finished with the freak, he goes to work and drives into the reserved parking lot.

As the remaining band members drive past, the priest stays clear of their vehicles. Once everyone allowed inside the lot have parked, the guards, bundled in fat coats and winter gear, seal the portable chain link fence with a padlock. The preacher stays outside.

Pazuzu is not the Living God, Father Mastic shouts. No one lingers and asks what the crazy bible-thumper portends. The man shouts unheard You will burn.

Roadies have already prepared the stage and are ready for the show. The band only need pretend they play their instruments and lip sync their vocals. After the Venge had become famous, making hardcore music evolved a whole process. Their band had forged a new path.

Their work entails tours and recording everything in rehearsals, and presenting the edited studio riffs raw to adoring fans. This way, audiences hear how the band truly sounds, Razorwere repeats millions of times on DVD covers. The lead singer of the Venge especially likes the way live music is presented in this day and age.

The duplication of drummers and guitarists are all a part of the show. When the band isn't touring, both people playing identical instruments, work only part-time. A single musician is all the band needs to lay tracks. Having such a large group on the road, with really nothing to do, makes their tours so less complicated.

The Binger Memorial Forum is huge and holds thousands of fan a – and a good chunk of the Midwest Venger of the Unborn fan base attends the show this evening. The other half will turn up tomorrow night. Shows in Milwaukee always constitute the largest tour returns.

The one thing the whole band hates is fans here only come and see their shows during the winter. Time-bomber once guessed their real fans come and see the band only when they've got nothing better to do.

No special props come along for this tour, just lights, top-of-the-line sound system and good old rock and roll music. The Babies Kill the Unborn world tour shapes up to be a yearlong vacation for the group.

Band members don't even write their music anymore, because Venger of the Unborn has made-it into the Big Time. Finally on Easy Street, the band only buys their songs from now on. They buy and perform hit songs.

A little after eight o'clock, the forum's announcer, an obese guy named Bill, introduces the band. Red stage lights then come on. Music actually starts to play before the entire band walks on stage – and that's a glitch.

Luckily, everyone in the band is prepared for accidental miscues. Razorwere pretends he sings when the vocals begin, which lies on a separate tape and cued and ready to go at the exact moment. He wonders what-the-hell is up with their sound producer, a young guy named Kwon.

The kid talked the band into throwing away over a hundred thousand dollars for digital sound software; and more cash on