Parable Terminus: The Parable Collection, #6

By Christopher Besonen

Behold the final entry in both The Parable Collection and The Puzzle Series!

 

A cult deals with injustice, theme park patrons face a slasher, tale about an Ohio cryptid, hazing leads to a phenomena, an alien encounter story, a woman performs self exorcisms, happy place learns about grief, fans write an author's ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Besonen Horror
• Release date: Dec 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223360308

Christopher Besonen

Horror with a purpose.

Book preview

War Against The Seen

He removed his remaining eye. They are treating him now.

The Leader didn’t have to ask who, the infamous killer had taken out his other eye previously, blaming them as having offended him. Sourcing Biblical reasons for the maiming.

We can handle him, later. We have a situation, The Leader replied, shifting his focus to The Scanner.

It never ends, does it?

The inquiry was from the newest member to join the cause.

It is why you’re here. Why we do what we do, The Leader said, never once pulling his attention from The Scanner.

They had no name, a few had titles, but they were mainly just people determined to carry out justice, and implement prevention.

You still think about her, don’t you?

The case affected me, that woman didn’t deserve what happened to her. That coward blamed his past, others blame demons. Not us, we blame the individual. Free will makes each of us culpable.

The newbie nodded to agree, then prepared for the first mission. To prove loyalty, this member was to kill the aforementioned blind party.

It needed to be done.

It was the one named by the new member as the case that solidified the decision to join up. Hearts torn from a mother and her children, it was too much. The man who had gouged his eyes out needed to see true reform.

The Leader had only recently decided that it was time to act. Internet forums had brought The Group together. Sickened by the evil that people do, they each picked a crime that disturbed them the most, then executed the culprit. The Leader had paved the way when he took out a major coward who had thrown boiling water on his once joyful wife. A kind soul who found a monster, one that used affection as manipulation to control her. Abuse was rampant, physically and mentally. She stayed, eventually it became a decision that would end her life. She would be tortured for days after the boiling water incident, her body was found with multiple broken bones, terrible bruising and air gun pellet holes. A beautiful life ended in agony. It was nothing new, the system was broken, all of them. The Leader knew this, so the cowardly husband was paid a visit. Ensuring the correct guards were on duty, the guilty was left alone in a section of the prison far from the others. An isolated cell, where The Leader was waiting with The Group. The prisoner was grabbed and immediately his tongue was nailed to the wall. Using rusty, but sharpened, surgical tools, the prisoners' guts were pulled out and lacerated in sections. Piece by piece, the contents spilled out in foul secretions as The Group, along with their Leader, attached various pieces around the cell. Later reports would state that the intestines were coming out of the stomach, mouth, eyes and anus, all while keeping the murdering wife abuser living through each painful moment. Further analysis of the corpse would notate that every single nerve in the limbs were pulled out so that their endings were sitting just beyond the surface of the dermis. The prisoner lived for a short period, enduring only a fraction of what he had done to the one he claimed he loved, the one he had vowed to.

The Group did the same to the eyeless prisoner, this time overseen by the latest recruit, who excitedly made macabre art. When they were finished, The Leader made a simple statement before they left the scene and their patient.

He’s cured.

There was a sense of accomplishment amongst The Group and their Leader.

––––––––

The Bible would tell us that a Judgment Day awaits. Meanwhile, our justice systems fail us time and time again. Why wait? The great day of vengeance can be daily, that is our purpose. Some will call us vigilantes, but others will refer to us as heroes, crusaders. My dream is to inspire forced change. Forgiveness and grace, they’re almost beyond human comprehension. For we are all allotted free will, therefore each individual is responsible for their own deeds. May God forgive our undertaking, but our mission will continue with, or without, His permission. A life sentence is granted, tell me, how does anything even out when a perpetrator that only dealt death is gifted life? There is only one word that can solve the problem, balance.

The Group felt prideful as their Leader spoke, this was the crusade they were born for.

We are warriors against injustice.

––––––––

Hi, sorry to bother you, I was wondering if I can get a ride a block over to get some gas. Mine ran out, silly me. This has never happened before and I feel idiotic.

Sure, get in, the driver behind the wheel of the running car replied.

When she was in, The Creep immediately changed his demeanor and got aggressive. His hand went to her left thigh without permission, he kept looking in the back seat, prompting an uneasiness in the passenger.

What do you keep looking at?

My four year old daughter, she has a gun pointed at your skull and is well trained in how to shoot, experienced too, the man replied with an eerie calmness.

He smiled, forced the stranger in his vehicle to kiss him, then pressured her to show herself to him. She was feeling nauseous and uncomfortable, even as she complied with everything he demanded from her. This wasn’t the man’s first assault and it would be far from his last. The incident would be attached to the expanding list in a string of similar situations and attacks.

––––––––

"We have agencies that swear to protect and do not, pulpits where preying wolves deliver messages of hope and security, so many that claim they want to live in a better place but prove otherwise in their actions. They state that they want to make a difference, to be the difference. They’re liars, deceitful. Hundreds anticipate Heaven, never once stopping to realize that our Earth can represent paradise. We can mirror it, the outcome of our cause will be a reflection of our Utopia. Cleansed of the wicked, the good living in harmony rather than bound by fear, pain and anxiety. Dozens of people take ownership of being alive, never realizing that the trepidation stemming from a society and world gone mad makes their existence less than death itself. There is a solution, the answer to solve the problem lies within eradication. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. We are the pivotal points for the equation.

For years, I spent life on the front lines fighting crime. All I ever saw were reminders of what had to be done. I tried to do it their way, how the others before me paved paths of reform, I went and I tried to conform and do these things legally. It was only after repeated failures, that I found my true calling. A once bubbly woman full of dreams was scalded and tortured to death, the case permanently switched on what I had always repressed. My turning point, just as each of you heard your own cases that made you want to cry out for a revolution. Too many lives are cut short, meanwhile the ones responsible breath inside a cell as if they deserve to be alive. Simply put, there is no room for patience when it comes to extinguishing evil. Turning the other cheek, grace for all, these are not plausible ideas on an irrational Earth. They are words lovely on a page, but reality beckons something else to be done. The dead scream for reckoning, and it has come."

The Group uttered phrases of agreement, each of their brains swirling with the shared desire to snuff out more flames of decadence.

The weak see Hell as a place to be fearful of, but the strong know it is a land of rectification. Admirable, Hell is a reflection of The Almighty's wrath. Such a spot must exist, just as what it is we are doing must. Our duty is to purify our realm.

They all then turned their attentions to The Scanner, there was a house nearby with a child in danger. Following the directions provided through The Scanner, they came up to an expensive house. An ideal home for most, but a habitat for nightmares to the oldest daughter. Her mother had passed away, leaving her in the care of a voyeur and pervert. A man who liked to have the ‘party house’, enjoyed having the girl's friends over, all the while he was secretly recording and abusing them once they were intoxicated.

The Scanner was The Group's most valuable asset. An individual from another dimension, one with incredible abilities. Not only were there elements of being psychic with The Scanner, but also a quality of time travelling abilities. The waves scanned were interdimensional, The Group never knew when or where they would end up, but the crime details were always precise. If there was punishment due, it would be located in the scanning.

All things have consequence, everything leaves an imprint that echoes in all planes. The choices made by us all, effect us all. It is why we scan for traumatic hotspots. Any area with residue from a traumatic event can erupt any number of atrocities in the future. We are the tongues of the deceased, the voice of reason in an unreasonable reality. Laws protect the wrong ones, therefore they must be ignored. Same with Biblical passages. We believe in Holy text, yes, but we stand firmly against the call for peace. This is our destiny, our actions are battles against flesh and blood. We honor every victim when we implement amends. Now, let us do our ritual and prevent another statistic.

All but The Scanner exited the unmarked van, they went into the two story house, then they erased the abuser. Hands tainted in stolen innocence were held up to seek mercy, but only found the pleas ignored. Just as he refused to stop night after night, incident after incident. The Group was revealing hidden things, these deletions were scriptural according to their hearts and thought processes. They were happy with a full Hell if it equated purification.

I can stop, were the only words uttered by the predator, spoken through quivering lips.

We know you can, was the only reply allotted to the former Cop.

––––––––

"Look into the eyes of survivors of trauma based happenings, the soul's gateway cannot conceal their brokenness. A lifetime of recovery is what is left ahead for the victims, while those responsible reminisce their actions, often with pleasure. The notion is unbalanced. This, of course, only has effects on those still living, countless families aren’t granted such a luxury, their loved ones are no longer with us. Layers of pain, this is what the selfish leave behind for their legacy. Legal systems are not enacted to bring order, but control and profit. The only protection against fresh offenses is to eliminate the threats. There’s no rehabilitation, that