The Mark

By Preest 

Chapter 1

I always get my mark. I will go to Hell and back to get my mark. I took out Montoni on Witness Protection for droppin a dime. I did the senator and the police commish...the Priest with the guilty conscience and the judge with shallow pockets. I've never missed my mark and by fuckin god I have never let a mark slip me and this wasn't gonna be no exception.

Arty "The Clam" Fein is 38 years old and single. He lives on the eastside in some fuckin dumpy little Jew slum village. He owned a car but I rarely saw him drive the piece of shit. He had no lady friend because he was horribly obese and he tended to smell like chicken noodle soup. You know the kind...big sweat patches under his arms and ass crack hanging out of his pants. Every morning at 8 he would step out on his steps and get his newspaper...my finger would always itch but I had to know this bastard first. Every move he made I had to anticipate. No surprises, I didn’t like surprises. They could end a career and in some cases...breathing.

He'd read his newspaper, drink coffee and would dress and be on his way by 10.He'd make a quick stop at the local deli on the corner and grab himself a pastrami on rye on his way to work. It was usually gone before he got there. Friggin pig. I wonder what the little fat fuck would do if he found out Salerno contracted me to dead his fat ass for snatchin money? Probably run...it was so predictable and unoriginal. I remember I looked for weeks for Rubinstein and couldn’t find him...the heeb was dressed like a friggin woman...now that’s fuckin original! Oh well...let him run if he catches on...I was born for the chase...it was what I was put here to do. Ever since I was a little whap punk I knew pain was gonna be something that only I could give the way it was meant to be. Sure I may take the occasion to torture a mark but normally it was wham, bam, brain spam and I'd be on my way to Reno to catch Tony B's first set. Not this time though. I hadn't done any real damage in awhile and I really fuckin hated the little scumbag, I mean he was no purse snatchin nigger but the man turned my stomach and that wasn't a good thing.

Hunting a mark is all part of the game...it's all in how you see humans. See, humans are creatures of habit. Mostly filthy. Arty was no goddamn exception. With 420 grand stashed somewhere Arty had the world at his fingertips...he better enjoy them while they're still attached.

Everyday after a long hard day of laundering Salernos money he would pocket his slice and a half and be off to the local "Spank my Ass" for a bit of cruelty. A real fuckin basket case this one was...I mean sure don't get me wrong, guys don't mind a little rough play and some tough talking from a broad but gettin beaten about the body with bamboo while some little chink bitch crams a 12 inch dildo up your ass is not any sane mans idea of rough play. It was sick, period.

I better cross myself. Mother Mary forgive me for even steppin foot in this joint but today is the day and Artys last hoorah. Salerno gave me the thumbs up today because he suspected Arty may have heard my checkup call with Salerno today and it was assumed he would run. Not before his self-inflicted rape though. Sick friggin fuck.

"Take him out quick like, Capeche?" Salerno says

"yeah Boss, no problem."

Man I'm a fuckin liar....boy am I gonna be in confession for awhile! I'm like venial friggin king!

First thing I see when I walk into this joint is some old toothless bitch with tits tryin to go as south as possible for the winter. I slap down a c-note and she slides me a key with a number on it. I take a quick glance at the key hooks...all of them are in but one. Room 3, Arty.

Smiling at the hag I make my way down the dingy hall looking for number 3.Jesus Christ on the throne! Place smells like shit! Probably one of the many pleasures Arty likes. I don't even wanna think about the runt pinchin a loaf on some little whore...jeez. I'm gonna peel his kneecaps off for making me come in here after him and I'm gonna puke if I gotta keep walkin any farther.

Room 3. Came up on it just in time. Better swallow that linguini sauce and make my move. I shoot a look over my shoulder to see if the old lady can see me but this far down I can't even see the neon signs. How fuckin far does this fuckin place go? I slowly turn the doorknob carefully, if it's locked I'm just gonna go snuff the old lady and close shop for the night then come back and do some door and ass kickin.

Click!

Not locked? The man has no shame before God!

I push the door open slightly just to peek in and see if I can catch him sleeping. The room is lit up blue probably from the neon signs or something. I slide in further aware that somebody might be waiting to jump me or somethin. I silently walk up to the bed but it's fuckin empty and from what I can see...Arty must be into cutting now. The sheets look like the ones we used to wrap up Shane Donovan from that mick gang...shit looked like somebody threw paint all over the place. Actually, this room looks a bit worse. Maybe Arty made a break for it? Maybe an ambulance came because the little Chinese slut shoved the dildo too far up his cakehole and ruptured something? Whatthefuck...I gotta make a book when I retire.

Hmmmm...his shoes are still here so he's gotta be here somewhere in this place. I'd have figured him for the kinda guy who keeps his shows on while some 15 year old illegal damages his sexual outlook. Guess not.I scan the room an catch the glint of a fancy lookin rubix cube or somethin...I used to change the stickers on that so I always won but this don't look like it's got any stickers. Probably some incense thing to burn cow dung in or whatever these chinks do. Sure its high class though...probably fetch a few bucks from that nutbag down at Jimmy’s Pub...guy talks like he’s a fuckin limey. I remember him sayin he collects art. Hey, I'll bring it with me what can I lose.

I may as well kick back and try this thing out while I sit and wait for him to come back in I mean it is a fuckin puzzle after all and I can't ignore something when I think I can't do it. I close the door and grab a seat on a chair by the closet. Boy has this piece of shit seen better days after rubbing it a few times on my pants the friggin thing jumps from my hands and flies halfway across the room making strange shapes and sounds as it goes. I don't need no handwriting on the wall...I jump up to make like a ghost out the door when the closet lights up all bright blue. Arty, hidin in the fuckin closet you sneaky fat fuck! I grab the handle and whip the door open...

"Time to pay Salerno his money back Arty!" I shout into the closet...which turns out not to be a closet but a tunnel behind the closet door. Don't seem to have an end. That can't be right I'm almost to the back of the building...this would have to run right into the street. The thick smell of decay hits my nose. Yeah, I know that smell...

I walk a few feet into the tunnel...

Vomit comes spraying from my nose and forces my clenched teeth to open and food from hours ago makes some surprise appearances. Emptying my gut onto the ground I wipe my face off as I look down the tunnel at the strange moving shapes and I know I'll never shake the smell of of death...this is my nightmare.

"I always get my mark", I whisper to myself.

"I always get my fuckin mark Arty!!" I scream into the tunnel...no echoes...I just keep telling myself as I walk further that after Arty maybe I'll just quit altogether and just go into being a hired thug. I'm gonna get an ulcer this way...that shit can kill ya.

Chapter 2

I slowly saunter down corridor after corridor hopin to catch a glimpse of somebody but no such fuckin luck. It's fuckin empty...I wonder what this place is...some kinda warehouse or something…sure warehouses don't have mazes and shit in them but then...I never worked an honest day in my life so I don't even really know what a warehouse looks like. I'm assuming of course they don't look like this.

I keep movin when I catch a shape move off around a corner and disappear. I take off like a bat out of hell after it...whoever it is I'm gonna make them take me to their boss to explain why they're holding Arty.

"Hey!", I yell.

The figure slows down and stops in the middle of a hallway...

"Lemme talk to your boss lady I got some questions to ask and I want answers to them now!"

The "lady" turns to reveal in the light something that can't be accurately described by anything I know...it had long sharp hooks pulling back its mouth and eyes...everything after that was a blur. I remember seeing a white light and a huge pain in my friggin head explode then everything just blacked out.

Chapter 3

I remember havin a dream about running thru hills made of dead bodies and the sky was red and was raining pastrami sandwiches...I hate pastrami.

I wake up to voices and once my vision starts clearing I see figures standin in front of me. Whoever runs this joint must have dragged me into the office or something and got whoever runs this place.

"Yeah who runs this place?" I ask wondering if the pain in my head is gonna go away before I gotta shoot Arty cause gunshots usually aggravate my headaches. Migraines is what they are.

"If you are asking who keeps Order, I do." Says the blur in front of me...

The fog in my eyes starts to clear and so does my situation...I remember the hooks in that things face! Jesus Christ! I look up into the face of death itself...and it looks down on me with a smile that can melt steel.

"I presume you have come to taste our pleasures" The Leader thing asks...its head is stripped of all its skin and he has some fuckin skin mask face stapled to his own…My God this can't be no friggin warehouse. I'm pretty positive that ain't no fuckin foreman.

"I come here looking for Arty Fein," I says, "I hope you ain't hiding him from me".

That’s right talk tough maybe they won't hurt you, I think.

"The one you call Arty is experiencing complete Order being applied to his chaotic flesh", The thing said, "Why have you come, certainly not to hear my speech"

"To ask Arty some questions"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH questions...I so hope you remember them after we've removed your skin." The smile was back. His eyes were like pools of dried blood and he deftly reached for a knife that kinda looked like the ones you skin deer with.

"Look I don't want no trouble I just come to give Arty what he deserves and be in Reno by morning"

"Do you pretend to know what any man deserves?"

"I say we slice him up and string his innards from our chamber walls", Another thing to the right of me said.

"Hey fuck you! I'll hurt somebody if I got to you fuckin weird Goth freakos!" I said jumpin up with my back to the wall. They wanted a fight I would give it to them. Sure, with all the shit they did to themselves slappin them around probably wouldn't do much damage but I wasn't gonna go out like no pussy.

The guy with no skin walked forward with his hand up to hold off the violence.

"Such struggle in the face of futility. We would also like to see that Arty gets what he deserves. What have you planned for him?" It asked, "While he is here he must be given all that is due."

"Good when ya finished with him I'm gonna pry off his skull cap and stick a crocheting needle into his fuckin brain and..."

"You enjoy giving pain?", a smile that would send the devil himself packin spread on its face.

I looked deep into it's eyes....There was no malice or hatred. There was the inevitable...and It just crammed it's dildo up my ass.

"What is your name fleshbag?" The skinned one asked

"Hey fuck you leper! I happen to like my flesh."

"Desire to keep it?" It asked

"Mario...Mario Muscolini. What's yours?". Do things like this even have a name?

"I once had a real name...now I am called Face"

"Look...Face or whatever...I gotta have Arty."

"This seems to be your obsession Mario?"

"I always get my fuckin mark understand? Always."

It slowly walks up to me and I can smell the decay coming from the mask he wears...he leans in toward my face and I try to back up but one of the things comes up from behind me to block my way out.

"Oh Mario...I completely understand."

Chapter 4

"Help me dear Jesus help me please!!! Somebody help me for Christ sakes!" The short balding man screams, the chains on his ankles and wrists keep him almost immobile. The small lifeless and bloody body of the oriental girl lies next to Arty. He doesn’t remember much but he recalls chains and hooks and screaming. He seemed to have made out alright though. Too bad for her.

"Somebody fuckin help me! Heeelllp mmmmeeee!" He screams

"My...how loud and disturbing. Order cannot be built overnight. Settle in Arthur"

Arty screams in terror at the monster that stands before him. Completely bald the thing has thousands of steel threads weaved thru its skin and its chest is laid wide open and the flesh is draw back by hooks to reveal its ribcage. The steel threads glint as it slowly moves into the room and to a wall sporting hundreds of knives and instruments. They’re all for pain, Arty thinks.

It carefully fingers each knife as if the choice would make more of an impact.

Arty's bowels quickly discharge loudly into his boxers and the smell of his own shit makes him cry even harder.

"No, no don't waste good tears Arthur...Arty...they just dull the senses", It selects a serrated blade and begins to make its way to Arty. His bowels blast away in fear and shit slides down his leg to mix with his steaming piss and chicken noodle soup sweat all puddling to the floor.

The being walks up to Arty and drags the serrated blade down the front of Arty's bed clothes deftly slicing them off with no effort. Arty was long past screams...shock had set in and he knew this was it...why had he even opened that fuckin box!

The second swipe of the blade opened Arty's gut and his intestines bulged and sagged from their own weight slowly widening the opening.

"Gah! NNNnnnnoooooo...." The resistance was gone...Arty had resigned himself to whatever would happen.

"Oh Arty think about how correct you'll be to have given up worldly pleasures in exchange for true pleasure and indescribable Order"

"I don’t want it" Arty whispered

"Arty how can you not want the treasure we offer you?" It asked, "Just look around you...is this really so bad?"

"YYYYYYYYYEEEESSSSSS!!!!", Arty screamed finishing up with uncontrollable sobs.

"Why so upset? Wasn't this your desire...pain…pleasure...together as one?"

"yes yes...no no no no nononononono...I don’t want it" Arty sobbed

"Arty trust me...I have found everything I could possibly need here" it said ,"I don’t want to wear you down just yet so I'll come back later"

It walked to the wall and replaced the blade and headed for the chamber door.

"Wait!" Arty hollered. God the pain was unbearable, he thought.

"Please Arthur no more begging"

"NO NO wait...what have you gotten from all this? What the fuck did you desire that this fuckin place got you?"

Silence filled the room and the being stood motionless for a moment and slowly turned with an immense grin on its face....

"I got my mark Arty...I got my mark"

The End