Coup de Grâce (Sci-fi and Horror Short Story)

Surely she had already forgotten how her own face looked like, at this point, even her name was unknown to her, maybe it got lost in some of those terrified glances that desperately craved for mercy. The screen on her armband flickered, a message had been submitted, another soul to dispatch.

Leila lurked as stealthily as a leopard into a pasture under the mantle of the darkness, that certainly was one of Lothklo's darkest nights. She was still waiting for her designated prey for this day. Her instructions were so clear: to carry out an execution. This one was a terrorist declared before the nation.

In the streets painted white by the imposing snowfall, Leila managed to see, in the midst of the blizzard, a corpulent silhouette limping on the way to a staircase covered in snow, the form left in its wake spurts of blood that stained the snow of crimson red, making this a canvas painted with some abstract meaning of art that Leila simply ignored while passing through.

As she approached her target, a beeping sound echoed from the apparent platinum stick she held in her right hand, consequently, it was heard with a synthetic voice coming from the stick that stated: "objective found, releasing the cutting edge". A thin, translucent and serpentine blade was unfolded from the upper end of the stick, it shone with a faint emerald tone that didn’t hinder the sight. Holding a scythe of the length of her body, Leila accelerated her step towards her vulnerable victim and quickly fixed her vicious gaze on his weakest point.

Standing close enough to smell that intense iron smell of blood, Leila kicked the man and he fell on his back on the cold steps, with a deep wound in his kidney, the man barely gave up crawling in the snow. A few seconds before Leila executed him, he managed to pronounce:

"Condemner? No... Leila, is that you?" Then he sighed and pressed a souvenir into his hands.

But Leila didn’t hesitate, not even for a second. She raised her scythe to strike the coup de grace and in a matter of seconds, the decapitated head of the man fell down the long steps. The hand of the man lost its grip and released the object that he treasured so much. Leila saw an old polaroid. In it, she could see the man, a little girl of some 3 years and Leila dressed in a red polka dot dress.

Her eyes, which were dismal and bloodthirsty, begin to show a shine that couldn’t even be seen in her decrepit face for a long time ago. Leila took the picture and continued to watch it for several minutes, tears began to stream down her cheeks, falling like snowflakes on the inert body in front of her, which she could already recognize after all. Her mind was filled with flashbacks that evoked a life that was so far removed from what, she believed, was life back then.

Suddenly Leila's armband began to twinkle again, a new target had already been designated.

12 hours before the execution...

Detective Snow was doing the latest investigation of the case of "The Condemners", he went to an old house in a remote suburb out of the metropolis. He repeatedly tapped the door until, when he thought he should give up, a girl of 10 years and with long curly hair peeked through the crack, she looked at him from the corner of her eye, from the head to the toe, showing a mature personality that probably was instilled.

"Who are you and what are you looking for?" The little girl asked.

"I'm Detective Seif Snow, where are your parents?" Seif replied as he glanced from the corner of his eye some bruises on her legs.

"They just died," The girl said while frowning.

Seif was perplexed when he heard the girl's statements, the intuition that had given him so many years of experience didn’t make him hesitate before what was hidden behind this, –A condemner –he thought.

"How did they die?" Snow asked.

"It has been this application that is pretty cool, I told them that my parents have been very bad with me. Many other bansheers voted, they agreed with me and then chose that they both had to die, and then they solved the problem"

"Bansheers?"

"Let me show you how it works"

The girl opened the door and made him pass through the corridors with an expression of disdain on her face, and then she invited him to the living room, which was completely messy: bottles of alcohol lying on the floor, broken vases and a shattered rocking chair. Clear signs of a struggle and possibly some abuse, Snow could see in the girl's eyes that she had suffered long enough to deliberately plan a double patricide, but not alone.

Seif sat down to wait for two or three minutes while the girl looked for something in her room. Later she returned with a Qubitphone, –was that model that was on sale a few days ago –Seif thought.

"Nice toy, who gave it to you?" Detective Snow asked.

"One of those gentlemen with his elegant suits, they went to my school," She replied with a disturbing expression on her face. "This limited edition comes with the super cool application that I just told you about, it's called Banshee and it can put an end to your problems in less than a day. You should try it!" The girl gave him the phone and started to explain how “Banshee” worked.

Seif logged in with an anonymous user so that way he would not waste time filling out a formulary, he clicked the open surveys section, as the girl indicated. Then he clicked on one of the options that were displayed, "the trending zone" of that social network and then he selected a post that caught his attention.

Name: Alphonse Farron, Age: 33 years old, "he is accused of animal abuse". Number of votes in favor of execution: 8349. Numbers in favor of non-execution: 571.

"I see that you’re not losing the thread. If that man, after an hour, his survey continues that way... A spooky ghost will go for his ass!" The girl interrupted while taking him the phone off abruptly. "Oh, I see they've already put your head on sale, at least that’s what showed the last survey, and the numbers are very red. I think you're a very bad adult!" She ventured between laughs.

Seif began to sweat cold before what this sinister application’s supposed to be, he knew that it was clearly related to the strange murders that have occurred throughout Lothklo.

13 hours later...

Leila was hiding in the shadows of an alley in front of the Lothklo Police Station, she saw her prey coming out of the building, he seemed upset while arguing with the head of the homicide department. Seif shouted vociferations about an application that have killed people.

"The Banshee social network is a fact and it is strictly linked to the murders that have occurred in the last 5 months!" Seif exclaimed.

"I don’t know Seif, I think you’ve gone too far this time. The high spheres have set their eyes on you, and it’s not on the positive form of the expression,” Steiner replied soberly.

"I have enough evidence to support my assertions. All the findings indicate that the murders of the case of "The Condemners" have been perpetuated by people who must be related to civilians who have died or by those very "persons" who don’t seem to be dead at all. I know this sounds so fucking crazy, but I’m almost sure that people like Roger Diamond, Illynka Stuart, Harrald Germanotta, Leila Smoke, among many others who have supposedly perished in tragical circumstances, before the homicides began, are intrinsically related to the murderers. Apparently, it is some maniac psychopath that leaves some souvenirs in each of the victims. A replica of Leila Smoke's cameo was found in her husband's mutilated corpse. There's something so strange and dark behind this. Believe me, Steiner, this case is just beginning"

Leila, after hearing her name among the list of perished persons, rapidly felt a sort of catatonic state caused by the realization of her fateful reality. She looked at her face in a muddy puddle on the road, and then she could finally see her face: decrepit features, grooves that mutilated all the vigor that once was in her already emaciated body, an ethereal helmet was attached to her skull as if it were part of her, but Leila knew that it wasn’t part of her.

Leila dropped into the puddle and could feel, as if it were the very first time, the moisture of the water running down her body. Leila sat up and, despite the commotion, she paid more attention to the conversation between them.

Steiner took a few minutes to respond to Detective Snow's assertions, but quickly cut the conversation:

"Those are just mindfuck theories, mere conjectures; one could say that you went crazy since the death of your beloved sister, Faith. The commanders have already told me what I should do, I'm sorry Seif... You're out of this case," He retorted curtly

Seif left the police station and then he walked on the desolate roads. Leila took advantage of Seif's solitude to approach him and make contact with the only person who could clarify all her doubts. Seif was stunned to see what was in front of him. Her body was extremely mistreated and certainly looked like a zombie, but it was the very same Leila Smoke in person.

"Don’t be afraid. My scythe was sent to decapitate you tonight, but after having heard that, I discovered that it had never been my true intention,” Leila said with a sad expression on her face.

"B-but, but... You were dead," Seif replied, overcome by perplexity.

"You made me question my own existence, now I know that I have actually died"

"You're clearly not dead, you just have some terrible wounds. You urgently need medical assistance," Seif replied, he kept himself skeptical of what he was facing.

"No, now I remember all too well, and it makes my life more miserable. I died that afternoon, in that factory where I worked, in that fire, I was burned, not even my bones were left and now they’re just ashes on the ground," Leila replied nostalgic. "I want you to take me to my house, I want to see my daughter once more again"

"Your house isn’t far away from here, I have no problem in giving you the ride," Seif replied with a confident tone as if he already were giving more validity to what Leila was telling him.

When they were crossing the street where Leila's house was, a stylized black ship lands in front of Seif's anti-gravitational sphere. Three subjects got off the ship and then approached the sphere.

"The model L-304990 is a property of the Lothklan Empire. You are an official of the Empire, so you must follow the orders of Emperor Laxus," One of the men said.

"Model? Are these zombies being patented?" Detective Snow asked as he looked at Leila. "Just calling them in some way," He muttered.

"These matters are strictly confidential, a simple civilian does not have to question the decisions of the Empire," A bald man answered as he pulled out a plasma pistol. The man pointed to Seif and fired a superheated plasma projectile that reduced him to ashes.

Leila started running towards her house, but quickly one of the men stopped her by introducing a command that reactivates her old state of predisposition to follow orders. Leila was completely paralyzed, lasted in that state some 5 minutes until something in her woke up violently: the desire to see her daughter. The ethereal helmet disappeared and she managed to free herself from their control, quickly Leila destroyed the device that was locking the blade of the scythe, then she jumped and turned with her scythe, and with the same hack, she cut in half to the three imperial agents.

After the bloodbath she left on the pavement, Leila ran anxiously towards her house. Passing the door, she found her sister Penelo resting in a rocking chair while her daughter Jessabelle was sleeping so peacefully in her lap. Leila contemplated that image for hours and hours, sobbed all that night while treasuring that nostalgic scenario.

The next morning, Penelo and Jesabelle got up to make the breakfast together, but then they both got terrified and perplexed at what awaited them in the dining room.

"I'm back," Leila said with a smile on her face.

Image Source

This is my entry to @calluna's contest Tell A Story To Me - A 'Fair' Trial.