The Desperado Undead (2/20)

1

Billy “The Kid” Henderson ran across the desert, and the NWO followed.

He didn’t have time to admire the beauty of Joshua Tree, he knew they were likely over an hour behind him at this point, but he felt the need to keep running. Not literally, but he felt as though he was running. His two .357 revolvers with sandalwood grips and six-inch shining iron barrels which were holstered in two fine leather holsters. Each of which had beautiful engravings on them, the one on the right displayed the scarlet fields of Can’-Ka No Rey with The Dark Tower standing proudly in the middle, as well as Maturin the turtle and Sharidk the bear around it. On the left was Roland Deschane with his hands crossed over his Sternum with a rose in one hand and his revolver in the other, each of these displays being inspired by the story The Dark Tower by Stephen King, which was banned months after he finished it.

He was a tall man with a powerful stature, standing at a respectable 6’ 2” and two hundred twenty pounds. He wore a tattered white shirt and a sand-stained pair of blue jeans. Not to mention his slightly cliche cowboy hat covering his longish black hair. He wandered the outskirts of the park wondering what in God’s name was he going to do. He could go to that place he’d heard about, Staria. But that was only a legend, not to mention the fact that it was supposedly on the other side of the country. But his train of thought was interrupted by a new voice, one he had never heard before.

Do you know why they’re called Joshua trees? It asked. He, in fact, did not know. Way back decades upon decades upon decades ago, Mormon immigrants named them after the biblical figure Joshua because of their branches which seemed to be reaching for God. Strange isn’t it? Have they banned the Bible yet?.

Who are you?

A fair question, one I should have started with answering I will admit.

Then answer me, who, or what, are you?

I, my newfound friend, are...well I have no real name...but I am what you would call a mirror.

So what, you’re some sort of magic mirror that has tapped into my thoughts and is now talking to me?

That’s one way to put it.

I think Mirror is just a fine name, I do. This was the first time Billy was able to properly hear his thoughts. Or anyone’s thoughts. He noticed he had a strong southern accent even in his thoughts, funny.

Mirror eh? A little...unoriginal but it will do.

Where are you?

Well Billy; yes I know your name, I already know a lot about you, I am just half a mile due west from where you currently stand.

Billy pulls out a compass from his pocket and begins to head due west. After about five minutes of walking, he passes over a hill and onto a plateau where he sees a lone mirror. The Mirror. It had the design of older mirrors, wood frame and stand with a large oval glass. It wasn’t quite a mirror though. It showed no reflection, it was pitch black inside, kind of. He thought he could see the eternal blackness moving. Flowing. Breathing.

I think we have similar desires, the Mirror said in Billies head.

Do you think so, bud?

Yes, I do. We both hate the NWO for different but good reasons. You are a criminal

against them, I have my motivations. I think we can help each other.

How’s that buckaroo?

You must think of a location, picture it in your mind, and say ‘mirror, mirror, deliver us’ and walk into me.

...Into you?

Yes.

...Ugh, so help me God if I just smack into you and you make a fool of me you are gettin’ a rock right to your trippy glass. Billy doesn’t know what Staria looks like, but he comes up with an attempt at imagining what it might be. He focuses on thinking of the name. Staria, Staria, Staria, Staria, Staria.

“Mirror, Mirror...deliver us.”

Billy walks into the Mirror and blacks out.

2

Amadeus is deep in REM sleep. He is dreaming of Alec Baldwin rising from the dead, ganging up with that kid Kyle...Smithenhouse? Rittenklouse? Something like that, Amadeus couldn’t remember. But the two of them gang up on and beat the soul out of his wife. Amadeus could have joined, he also could have stopped it. But he didn’t, he watched.

And he savored every second of it. Until-

The doorbell rings. It wakes him from his slumber. I guess I wasn’t half as out as I thought I was, he thinks, slightly annoyed. Elana is still asleep in bed, he’s surprised he hasn’t been kicked out onto the couch yet. Probably soon. He gets up, throws on some sweatpants, and walks through the house to the front door. He opens the door to find just a mirror. Except...is it a mirror? It doesn’t reflect anything, it’s just black inside. Just like Elana, he thinks and laughs. He goes back inside and hears a voice in his head.

Amadeus.

He curses, startled. He looks around searching for the source of the voice. Christ on a stick I didn’t even drink last night he thinks to himself...at least he hopes only to himself.

Whether you drank or not, I’m still here. The mirror Amadeus, I am the Mirror.

Amadeus stands still in the living room, wondering how high he is and how he got high in the first place. He decides it’s best to make sure he isn’t losing what little bit of sanity he believes he still has remaining. He goes back to the bedroom, grabs his iPhone 27 (which is similar to the iPhones we have today, minus the nine cameras on the back and the computing ability of computers being used by the FBI and CIA in our modern-day world), heads back to the living room, and calls Jack.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Jack finally picks up.

“Hey Am, it’s like...8:30, and I went to sleep an hour ago so can I like...call ya back later?”

“Not a chance Jackie boy, call Joel and Amanda and get them over here, that Marie girl too while you’re at it.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, it’s important.”

Amadeus hangs up before Jack can respond to him. No more than twenty minutes later, Joel, Amanda, and Marie are waiting in Amadeus’ basement as he and Jack haul the Mirror through the front door, through the house, and down into the basement. They set it down in the middle of the room.

“So what is it,” Joel asks as he walks directly in front of the Mirror, “some sort of magic mirror?”

I guess you could call me that. They all hear it, but Joel has the most severe reaction. He stumbles and falls back onto the floor.

Wide-eyed and terrified he yells, “Amadeus! Am I losing my sh*t or...?!”

“You hear it too?”

Everyone in the room nods.

“Okay, I’m not losing it, that’s a plus,” Amadeus says.

Jack approaches the Mirror, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, I coulda swore in the middle of the night I saw you sell your soul-”

You can just say Mirror, Mirror, and I do not recall this event. Jack jumps a little at the sound of it speaking directly into his mind.

“Mirror, Mirror,” he says, “who is the hottest of them all?”

Of those of you here I imagine you are asking? Yes. I can read it in your mind, that’s what you mean. Well, Jack, using science and logic, the one of you who is most attractive would be you.

Jack turns to the others and gives a sarcastic little bow.

But in your eyes, the most attractive is-

“Oh, ohaha, okay, that uh...that’s enough outta you,” Jack interrupts.

The Mirror stops. They all stand still, thinking what they would want to ask the Mirror.

“Idea,” Amadeus says, “we all get our own little conversation with the Mirror. Sound good?”

They all agree to the idea and all but Anne-Marie go upstairs.

“Mirror, Mirror,” Anne-Marie asks.

Yes?

“What does Jack think of me?”

You two seem to have something special. You’ve known each other barely two full days and you both, especially Jack, seem to have strong emotions already developing for each other. Things will continue to grow and develop into something greater than either of you can imagine. But, after some time, one will fall into the lake of fire, the other will try and get them back. But no matter what happens, you and him will forever be separated by the boundaries of eternity.

Anne-Marie tries to make sense of what the Mirror meant as she walks back up the stairs into the living room.

“What’d you ask it,” Jack asks.

“Nothing important,” she tells him.

Jack rolls his eyes and goes down into the basement. He approaches the mirror and stands before it silently for a moment, entranced by the way the darkness inside it seemed somehow alive and breathing. He snapped out of the momentary trance and tried to speak to the Mirror without speaking to it.

Mirror, Mirror?

Hello Jack. Son of Shawn.

Howdy...how uh...how do you know who I am? Let alone who my father is?

I am practically omnipotent Jack, I can see your entire past, and that of those before you. I can also see a sort of blur of your future, not able to tell exactly what I’m looking at, but I can pick out a few things.

Well, that’s...fun. Jack takes a moment to think of what he wants to ask the Mirror. Where did you come from? What exactly are you?

Both are great questions Jack, only one of which I can answer for sure. I am a spirit, not quite demonic and not quite angelic, I am in a sort of middle ground. I was conjured by nine hooded men, I could not make out their faces but they all spoke different languages. They used me to gain information on those who opposed them, but eventually, I guess I began to tell them things they did not like. For after they began questioning me of your rebellion and what the future entailed for them, they covered me up and took me to the middle of the California desert, I could tell by the presence of Joshua trees. They left me there, doomed to rot with time. But a man they call Billy The Kid - Jack chuckled a little at this - found me and rescued me. Together we were transported here to your city.

Do you know where he is now?

No. I lost track of him when we showed up. I showed up at Amadeus’ doorstep and Billy...I’m not sure.

Okay, good talk, Russ. Jack turns and walks up and out of the basement. When he gets back to the living room Amadeus asks the same question; what did he ask the Mirror, and Jack explains. Amadeus thinks about this and why a man might have been running through the California desert all by himself. As he thought about this Amanda went down, spoke to the Mirror, and came back up with nothing interesting to say. As she was in the basement, Elana came into the room and pulled Amadeus aside to speak with him.

“I’m going out,” she tells him.

“Again,” he asks, “weren’t you just out last night?”

“Yeah? So?”

Oh boy if only the Mirror could grant wishes. HA, even if it could just take me back in time. Hey, mister genie! I got one more wish to make, you see I had this little lady but that b*tch, she ran away. So in the middle of the night, I found her sleeping in her bed, and I took a sawed-off double barrel and blew her straight to Hell! Now the law’s tryin’ catch me, they won’t stop until I’m dead. All the cowards wave a white flag, and I’m the only one waving red. Now the soldiers have an army and it feels as if I’m stuck, though I’m outnumbered, I'm the Desperado! I’m going home now, no ones gonna stop me! How can they even test what’s inked across my chest? ‘Not even kings can hold me back’. Well, I suggest I think it’s best you send me back into the future to the wild, wild west!

Amadeus chuckles.

“What’s so funny,” Elana asks him.

“Oh,” he says, “Oh...nothing, just...just go.”

She rolls her eyes and leaves. Amadeus returns to the group and asks Amanda the usual questions, nothing interesting though. Now it’s Joel’s turn. He goes into the basement, approaches the Mirror, and says the classic line.

“Mirror, Mirror,” he says.

Hello Joel.

“...So...what can you tell me about my future?”

Is it a burden living in fear of what may come? Or are your decisions tunnel-visioned by the wrong you’ve done? But when you’re dying does it matter if you’re right or wrong? You’ve got to follow your heart son, after all, you’ve only got a couple of days to live.

“Wait, what,” Joel asks, panicking, “what do you mean? I only have a couple of days? What?”

You heard what I said. You only have a couple of days to live.

“No...no, no, no, you’re lying.”

Believe what you want. I gave you what you asked for.

Joel thinks for a moment then runs up the stairs. When he bursts into the living room, he notices Amadeus is gone.

“Where's Am,” he asks.

“He went to find out who his wife is cheating on him with,” Amanda tells him, “What happened down there?”

“I...I’ll tell you at my place.”

He quickly leaves the house. Jack, Anne-Marie, and Amanda give each other confused glances. Amanda shrugs and leaves as well. Jack and Anne-Marie follow shortly after.

3

Jack walks from Amadeus’ front door and gets to his home in no more than a minute and a half. He reaches into his pocket for his keys, thinking of what he was going to make himself for lunch when he feels a hand close over his shoulder. He jumps, quickly swerves around, and raises his hands, as if to defend himself. Just Anne-Marie...good, no fights this morning.

“Hey there karate kid,” she says.

He laughs, “what can I say, you startled me.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Anne-Marie says.

“Well, what’s up,” Jack asks her.

“Well...okay...feel free to say no but...well I’m about to be evicted. Me and my landlord were in a relationship for a bit and that just ended the other day. He’s mad and is about to kick me out so…”

“So…,” he asks.

“Do you mind if I stay with you,” she asks.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, “Of course,” Jack yells, trying to hide his excitement. She smiles and thanks him, but he barely hears the thank you. He’s too lost in her smile to hear it. This was the first time he has seen her truly smile, and by God did a smile ever look good on her. Jack tried to mentally slap some sense into himself, he’d known this girl for what, two and a half days? Maybe? But he couldn’t help it, he could admit to himself that he was in love (unbeknownst to him she was admitting the same thing to herself about him at the same moment), but he couldn’t accept the whole love at first sight idea. Too cliche for Jackie boy.

We’ll say love at...second sight...yeah, yeah that works. Fitting enough, just one sight off from the truth, but hey, I gotta feel special somehow right! Jack thinks to himself. He wonders if the Mirror can hear his thoughts from the house over. How far-reaching are its abilities? Jack wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to know.

Let’s pan away from our little Romeo and Juliet for a moment to pay a visit to the coward. Joel paces back and forth in his living room. It has one couch, able to seat three people, with a coffee table in front of it and a thirty-inch holographic TV mounted on the wall. Amanda sits on the couch before him, he just explained what the Mirror told him.

“Joel...I-...,” Amanda says, being very careful with her words, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything maybe,” he almost shouts, passive-aggressively, “there is nothing you can say. I’m dead in a couple of days; it’s that freakin simple. Three days tops, then, poof! God only knows what then!”

“Well...didn’t a group of scientists prove Christianity right like five months ago?”

“I don’t care if there is an afterlife! Still the idea of just...I haven’t finished life y’know?!”

Amanda didn’t know. She thought of her life as complete since she was around eighteen or nineteen, now she’s in her mid-thirties practically begging for a purpose, one she was going to find later tonight. But she remained silent.

“I haven’t really...accomplished anything,” Joel continues, “anything big at least. I played a helping hand in the death of one Judicator but I sat and watched as around thirty men on the opposite side of the world risked their lives fighting. All I do is sit here and plan. Half the time my ideas aren’t even the ones used!”

He pauses for a moment, “...I need some time to think. I call you or Jack or somebody when I come up with something ok? Just, for the time being, I need to be alone.”

She understood completely, and she actually really wanted to leave, she didn’t even want to come in the first place, but hey, she was a good friend. She told him she understood and left without saying anything else.

Joel’s mind was a terrified jumble of thoughts, ideas, and fears. He thought maybe he should show that stupid Mirror who is in control of Joel’s life and bring about his own death a few days early. Maybe he should assassinate Amadeus and go back to the comfort of the NWO. Maybe he should shatter the Mirror because what does it know?

No. Those were all terrible ideas for differing reasons and he knew that. They were just thoughts though, who you are is based solely on what you do, not the thoughts you have, the ability to withhold yourself from doing whatever your brain comes up with determines who you are as a person. At least that’s what his grandmother once told him, he hoped she was right.

Joel didn’t know how, or what he was going to do, but he knew one thing. He knew he wanted to go out with a bang.

4

Amadeus is smart. Not a stupid man by any means. Sane? Well...it’s funny how genius and sanity - or rather the lack thereof - seem to coincide so often. He used this psychotic intelligence for many things; getting an edge over his opponents in war, learning to read the first and last words in a sentence and somehow be able to perfectly fill in the middle, developing a slight addiction to checkers and a deep hatred for chess, among other things. But on this day, he used it to try to figure out where his wife had gone.

For one he knows she has standards, and that she likes to meet up with people at bars. Not restaurants, bars. Restaurants made it seem like she was “trying too hard”. So, an at least semi-decent bar that she wouldn’t have to travel much further than five minutes to get to (she hates driving). That leaves one for sure and one possibly. She most likely went to Paddy’s, it was the closest, nicest, and her favorite. But she might not have wanted to be so obvious, so, depending on traffic, she may have gone to Adams’ Bar and Grill. That one was also a tad trashier than Paddy’s though, so he decided to try Paddy’s first.

He drove to the bar, thinking the whole time about who he would kill; his wife or the guy she’s cheating on him with? Probably Elana. The poor guy would have no idea what’s going on. He pulls up to Paddy’s and parks right out front so he can get out as easily as he goes in. He leaves the car and walks into the bar. He looks around but sees Elana nowhere. He walks up to the bartender who is currently serving shots to a group of five men.

“Hey,” Amadeus says in an attempt to get the bartender’s attention.

She gives him a passing glance but ignores him. She is a staggering 6’ 1” with short-ish red hair that is tied up in a ponytail.

“Hey,” he yells again, raising his voice.

“I’m busy,” she responds.

“And I’m the leader of the free freakin world, tell me which is more important. I just have a question.”

She looks at him, seemingly analyzing him. Her face slowly becomes more and more shocked and slightly afraid.

“Oh! Amadeus, sir I am so, so sorry, I-”

“It’s fine, really, just tell me if you’ve seen a woman,” he describes Elana.

The bartender thinks for a moment and nods, “Yeah, I served her and some guy with a strong southern accent a little bit ago. I think they left but she mentioned going to Sal’s-”

“Son of a b*tch,” Amadeus says. He thanks the bartender, gives her a ten-dollar bill (of NWO currency, which is almost exactly the same as our modern-day American money, just with Judicators on the money instead of presidents). He leaves Paddy’s and walks across the street to the pizzeria named Sal’s. Kind of a cliche name wouldn’t you say? Why yes Amadeus I would! Hahahaha we all laugh and have good times, it must be nice. There he goes again. He realizes this is the first time he has had an internal conversation with himself in years, and the last thing he wants to do is start that habit again.

He goes into Sal’s and is smacked by the smell of everything Italian. Mama-mia! He laughs out loud at this thought. The walls in Sals are tiled, mostly white but four lines of green-red-green-red in that order going down the middle horizontally. There are several tables and no booths in the dining area as well as the counter where he, or a cheating woman with some country boy, could order food. He scans the room and sees Elana sitting with a tall cowboy wannabe with messy black hair.

Billy, he thinks. He doesn’t know how or where he got the name but it just feels right. He walks through the dining area and to the table. Before Elana can give any reaction to seeing her barely-a-husband husband beyond a shocked look, Billy’s chair has been yanked out from beneath him. Billy falls to the ground and lands with an oof! He quickly stands up, whirls around, and hits Amadeus.

“What in the good lord’s name is your issue bud,” Billy yells at Amadeus.

The whole building has gone silent in anticipation.

“I’m not mad at you, ok?”

“Well, then why’d ya pull the chair from under me?!”

“I-...good question.”

Elana tries to silently stand up and leave out the back but Amadeus notices her before she can even fully stand up.

“No, no,” he says, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Look bud,” Billy says, “I don’t know who you are or what your issue is-”

“I am Amadeus Wright! Ring a bell?! That right there is, for now, my wife,” Amadeus screams at the top of his lungs.

Billy looks back at Elana and she sees a look of pure disgust that breaks her heart. He looks back at Amadeus and reaches out his hand.

“Look friend,” he says, “I didn’t know, that lyin good for nothin sl*t told me none of that. If I woulda known I woulda moved on and found myself another woman. I truly am sorry, and I hope we can put this behind us.”

Amadeus looks at Billy, bewildered. Friend?! Who in the Devil's name does he think he is talking to?! And to think I would forgive him! The audacity, the-. Amadeus stopped this crazy train of thought before it could go too far off the rails. He really didn’t know, Amadeus supposed he could forgive Billy. He shakes Billy’s hand.

“All right,” Billy says, “now that’s good. Maybe I can buy you a drink over at that Irish place?”

Amadeus smiles a little, “sure, after a drink or two all will surely be forgiven.”

They both chuckle and leave Sal’s, leaving Elana alone with her thoughts. Might Amadeus finally gain the courage to leave or kick her out? She couldn’t live on her own, the idea was ludicrous! Yet she felt it was inevitable.

5

Over several drinks, Amadeus and Billy get to know each other. Amadeus tells him of how he formed the Desperado Undead, and Billy tells him of how he learned to be good; no, not good, great with his revolvers. Amadeus tells him of how he met Elana and Billy tells him about how he’s always been alone in life.

Eventually, the conversation turns to the Mirror when Amadeus mentions that it just showed up that morning on his porch.

“No way,” Billy says.

“Yes, way,” Amadeus responds, thinking it’s much more clever than it is, “why no way?”

“So you’ve heard of how one of the Garrison twins was just assassinated?”

“Yea,” Amadeus agrees.

“Well, that was yours truly. Now right after I did that, I just started runnin, I ran into the desert and just kept on runnin for a solid hour I’d say. Now after so long I came across that Mirror you was tellin me about, and it told me it could help us both if I imagined a place safe from the NWO. I thought of here and, well, low and behold it was a good idea.”

Amadeus was amazed, to say the least. Not so much about the Mirror story, but more so about the fact that Billy The freakin Kid Henderson, the very man that stood before him, managed to single-handedly assassinate a Judicator.

He began to think that maybe Billy wasn’t that bad of a guy after all, and he may even be a good addition to his little group at the top of the Desperado Undead.

6

Joel knocked on Jack’s door for the third time. What was keeping the man from opening the door? Good lord, he already knocked four times, would he have to again? As soon as this thought finished in Joel's head, Jack opened the door shirtless and with messy hair. Joel didn’t even bother to ask why.

“Hey Jack, can you find me the other Garrison’s location,” Joel asks.

“Uh, yeah, for sure, when?”

“Preferably no later than midday tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I can do that. That it,” Jack asks, hoping it was.

“Yessir,” Joel says.

Jack nods and closes the door on Joel. Joel was nervous, but he always was, he was a coward after all. But at the same time he felt odd anticipation, he was going to do what only one other person had done.

He was going to single-handedly kill the remaining Judicator Garrison.

7

After a long day of magic mirrors and cheating wives, Amadeus came home wanting nothing more than to relax. But as he threw his keys onto the kitchen counter and went to sit on the couch, he realized he had yet to have his little conversation with the Mirror. He tried to talk himself out of it. He really didn’t feel like going and talking to it now, but he felt it was necessary.

After about a minute of internal debate, he finally decided to just get it over with. He walked into the basement, down the stairs, and to the Mirror.

“Mirror, Mirror.”

Hello Amadeus. I have been quite excited to talk to you.

“Don’t get too excited, I only wanna ask one question then I’m gone.”

Ok, ask away.

“Simple, what does my near future hold?”

The Mirror remains silent for a moment before the black inside it begins shifting. It moves, flows like water, and begins to take form. He sees the image of Ripley form in the Mirror, looking as emotionless as she has in recent times. She stood completely still, Amadeus didn’t know what to make of it until the things around her began to take shape. Bodies. A lot of them. And on the bodies, bodysnatchers, countless numbers of them. The bodysnatchers were ripping them apart, doing what they do. Some of the bodies he thought he could recognize, one even looked a little like Elana, he thought he was probably just seeing things though. The bodysnatchers made no reaction to Ripley and vice versa.

Amadeus had no idea what any of it meant. But he would in time.