Siege At Freaktown Ch. 22

The south side had been retaken and Bennett's people were rounded up. Weapons were surrendered without resistance, and all were forced down on their knees with hands behind their heads. Soon they were greeted with victory cries, adding insult to injury to what turned out to be an embarrassing defeat.

Carlos' chest wound had fully healed but he would have to deal with the latest cuts and burns on his body. He took his time getting up, clearing away the debris of the wrecked chopper that buried him.

"Carly!" Shouted a familiar and soothing voice. "Carly!"

"Hel?" He answered, receiving a pretty painful hug. "Take it easy, I'm hurting."

"Hey, love hurts, get over it."

"Si, carino. Where the hell is Bennett?"

Eventually his new wounds would heal, but Bennett was a whole different story. He crawled out from the debris, struggling to get back on his feet despite the pain his body was in. Once the vampire couple got a good look at him, they were in disbelief at what was standing before them.

Half of Bennett's face and left hand were peeled off and suffered some burns. What was dangling from his body was not human flesh, but heavy use of latex rubber and prosthetics to disguise his true form. His body was green, scaly, and thick skinned. One of his contacts, used to disguise his reptilian eyes, had gone missing. The other thing missing was a tail he had removed to blend in with the human population.

"You gotta be kidding," said Helena. "You have got to be fucking kidding."

"Puta di madre," said Carlos.

Bennett realized his identity had been revealed for all to see. Kerry Starr's news chopper made perfect timing getting the live coverage needed to expose him to all who are watching. Those that fought against him showed up taking out their camera phones. Tek and Stax arrived seeing for themselves who they were really fighting against. Dragona landed right behind them getting a closer view herself.

"I don't know how to explain this further," said Kerry, "but from the looks of it, the leader of the terrorist group... is a freak."

"Unbelievable," said Helena. "This whole entire time you were one of us?"

"I am not one of you," said Bennett, spitting on the pavement, "and I'll never be anything like you."

"Why? How could you do this to your own people?"

"My people? My fucking people? You are nothing to me! Nothing! You're all mistakes. Every last one of you is a fucking mistake."

Bennett's whole life as a freak had been a nightmare. His mother died giving birth to him while his father treated him like a monster, pointing the blame for her death.

"Any of you had parents," Bennett asked, "who wanted nothing to do with you?"

School was no better for Bennett when it came to the children picking on him and throwing insults everyday. The bullies called him lizard boy, and for their own enjoyment forced the poor lad to eat dead flies. When he came home crying, his father completely ignored him. Then one day Bennett was pushed to the limit when he sent two boys straight to the hospital for throwing trash at him. Bennett was expelled and never set foot inside a school again.

"You ever had children," he said, "who poked fun of you and treated you like garbage? Called you names all day long?"

Bennett's father abused and locked him up in the basement, never to see the outside world for many years. When he reached adulthood he grew strong enough to bust out of his prison and confront the man who put him there. He was denied any kind of revenge when he found the old man lying on the floor dead, with the maggots already feasting upon his corpse.

"I was treated like an animal," Bennett continued, "and beaten and locked up like an animal."

"So," said Carlos, "because you had a hard life, you wanted to take it out on us? Was that really the plan all along? You think you're the only one who has ever been ridiculed or humiliated? You want us to feel sorry for you?"

"I want nothing from you or any of them."

"You could have had a life out here. We would have welcomed you with open arms without question. We could have avoided all this."

Bennett spent years posing as a human, studying their instincts, and discovering what makes them tick. When he heard about Freaktown he was disgusted and unimpressed. It was a community he wanted no part of or had any business in existing. He took it upon himself recruiting and grooming many by his changes in disguise until he stuck with the one identity people grew familiar with. He became an internet darling after the formation of the Soldiers of Human Liberty.

"I wouldn't live in this piss ass town," he said, "if it were the last fucking place on earth. I'm disgusted with all you fucking freaks; every last one of you."

"Looks like your boys are disgusted with you," said Carlos.

Bennett turned around, seeing the look on his men's eyes after discovering they had been used all that time. They dropped their weapons and turned their backs on him.

"You're cowards!" He yelled. "You're all fucking cowards! Crawl back to those trailer parks where I found you!"

Back on the south side, Goliath received videos of Bennett's identity on his phone. He shared it with the human prisoners, seeing how shocked they were that their fearless leader was a freak the entire time. This was now more embarrassing than their crushing defeat.

The internet was buzzing over the shocking development. A freak being leader of the human terrorists became the biggest story in town. Bennett's men saw the videos on their phones, contacting their comrades right away. They alerted everyone to gather their people and leave the town while they still had the chance.

"It's over, Lloyd," said Carlos. "After tonight, you're gonna be a bigger star than you are already. Everyone will know the real you, puto, and there's not a fucking thing you can do about it."

"You think you're pretty smart." Said Bennett. "You think this is over?"

"Look around you. All this for nothing."

Bennett was surrounded by every citizen in town, all with their camera phones pointed directly at him.

"What are you all looking at?" He shouted. "You think you're better than me? Huh? You think you're smarter than me? Fuck all of you! Fuck every last one of you!"

"You're all alone, Bennett," said Carlos. "You got no one to back you up this time. Do yourself a favor and give yourself up."

It was like getting picked on in school all over again. They pointed fingers and threw debris at him just like the children from school had done before.

"Stop it!" He yelled. "Stop making fun of me! I'll kill all of you! I will kill all of you, you fucking freaks!"

Bennett screamed and yelled, experiencing those old painful memories he couldn't leave behind. The sounds of laughter and name calling had driven him into madness. He heard the voices of those who called him names, and his abusive father who refused to love him even for the sake of his dead mother.

"Lizard boy! Lizard boy!" Said the children who tormented him.

"You're no son of mine," said his father.

"Shut the fuck up!" He yelled. "All of you shut the fuck up!"

Riddled with grief Dragona lunged at Bennett, raising him off the ground by the throat. Killing him next would not bother her one bit after the recent warpath she was already on.

"Go ahead," said Bennett. "Get it over with, you bitch. Do it."

The anguished gargoyle was ready to deliver the killing blow, that is until someone decided to intervene.

"No," said Helena, surprising Carlos in the process. "Let him go. Death is too easy. Let him live in shame for what he did, and hide in the shadows for the rest of his life. That's punishment enough."

Helena would be the one to interrogate a prisoner and scare them as much as possible. Tonight, she thought Bennett didn't deserve to be interrogated nor receive the death he craved for after all the pain he inflicted upon the town. Dragona reluctantly loosened her grip, dropping Bennett onto the pavement. Everyone looked down on him, making Bennett uncomfortable. One of the things he hated the most was being stared at for long periods of time.

"You better go," said Carlos, "before she changes her mind."

"And that's never a good thing," said Helena.

Bennett got up and ran off without looking back, covering his reptilian face, and almost to the brink of tears. He could still feel eyes staring right at him while breaking through the crowd.

"Correr, Forrest!" Carlos yelled. "Correr!"

"Is it over?" Stax asked. "Did we win?"

"Yeah, Stax, we won."

"We won! We won!"

Everyone responded in cheers, but not all were happy after losing everything and those they loved in this senseless war.

"You sure that was a good idea?" Carlos asked. "What if he comes back?

"He won't come back," said Helena.

"Oh, really?"

"We beat him and embarrassed him in front of everyone. You think he'd come back after that? I think all his life he really wanted to die. All he needed was an excuse to make that happen."

"I guess suicide was not an option."

"And where are you going?"

"I'm going home."

"You know you could fly there."

"Nah, I'm done flying around for one night. I think I'll walk."

Carlos took that long walk home, knowing full well he could do it for miles without getting tired or breaking a sweat. Helena caught up to him wrapping her arm around his, taking that long stroll home together.

"I need a new teddy," she said. "The old one is dead."

Carlos could only imagine the tragic fate of his favorite lingerie item after being sniffed at by a total stranger.

"When is the funeral?" He asked

"No coffin," Helena giggled, laying her head on his shoulder. "Cremation will suffice."

"I'll get the lighter fluid," said Carlos. "So, what kind of teddy should I get you next time, silk or see through?"

"Anything that gives you a hard on is fine with me."

"I'll always be hard for you, Blanquita."

"I love it when you talk Spanish."