LH Harrison clutches the note in Jessica’s blood to his chest. He re-reads the note scouring it for more information on the whereabouts of his daughters.

”Harrison, dear Harrison how I spilled her blood for thee. Don’t despair, I have come to give you everlasting PAIN and TORMENT! To suffer unlike any other And to feel the pain of those you could not save! Harrison, don’t beseech me to show mercy, fore I will not. Do not waver in the deeds I request, the outcome will be everlasting in suffering. Read carefully because once it is said and done you will just have one… One is the meaning of what you have for here and there, one is everywhere You will have just one and only. Forsaken as I may be, chances I give like the ever fading sun…just one One chance to save a daughter so dear, a daughter so near…nearer than you think. Do not hunt like they are prey, do not think I will stray from the path…of vengeance! Bring me the skull of Adolf Hitler and I will allow you to choose a daughter to keep and one to die. Fail me and you get no choice and I allow the dead to die. In the end, life is a mere game to amuse me, join the circus and perform like an articulating dummy in order to save what family you have left! You will thank me one day, Harrison. “

He stares straight ahead at the wall after what transpired while he was unconscious with Morbid. The world around him revolves but he's not responding at all. He moves around the house and finds the table and can't take his eyes off the wreckage. He gazes at the dented silver platter that had been given to him by his mother with no hint of change in the face of LH. He looks at the devastation that is his daughters’ bedrooms with sorrowful eyes. He then comes back and can't take his eyes away from his wife’s body as the cops remove the knives impaling her to the wall. His gaze is unwaveringly ahead as the officers interview him on the murder. Once the cops had left, LH searches through the internet as he picks his ticket for a trip to Russia. He sighs as he starts on the road as he drives to Little Rock.

He keeps staring ahead as he goes through the motions of getting himself to Russia as quickly as possible. He gets a flight from Little Rock to Chicago and from Chicago he walks blind forward as he finds his seat on the plane to Moscow. According to the research he did, the skull of Adolf Hitler was kept in a secure base north of Moscow, Russia. LH Harrison knew it was an impossible mission, but he couldn’t bear to think of life without his two daughters. He had felt the rejection and sting of loss when Jessica had asked him for divorce. Eventually they would get back together, but the feeling of emptiness he endured was absolutely gruesome.

Now?

LH Harrison felt hollow. He didn’t remember seconds or minutes at a time because he was dead inside. He stares straight ahead in the plane as he sees a family of four, five rows in front of him. A father. A mother. Two little girls. A sick feeling comes to his stomach. He feels tears well up in the corners of his eyes. His wife was gone… now this monster was going to kill one of his daughters? And both if he didn’t retrieve Adolf Hitler’s protected skull. He stared ahead at the father as the man strapped his two daughters into their seats. LH met the eyes of the man, they kept their eyes fixed on each other for an awkward couple of seconds before the man took his seat. He would throw a few fleeting glances over his shoulder as he seemed worried by LH. LH looked at the seat in front of him as his tired eyes began slowly drooping.




Henry…





Henry…




The voice.


It sounded so angelic… almost as if her vocal chords were actual musical notes.



Henry…


Now it’s a little rougher…


Henry.


More definitive… louder… angrier.



HENRY.



Fury…




HENRY!


The blood-curtling scream! She needs help, she needs protection! She needs me! But… the darkness surrounding… I can’t see anything…


Mr. Davis?




LH Harrison’s eyes shoot open. He stretches and looks up. The stewardess is standing over him with his suitcase beside her on the aisle. He looks up at her and looks at his watch. He’s surprised to see that he has slept the entire trip. He stands up and looks around to notice that the entire plane has been emptied except for a few older people in the back and front.

Thank you… did I really sleep the entire trip? That has to be a record…

The lady adjusts her vest and looks at him strangely. She smiles and brushes a hair behind her ear as she fidgets with her feet and hands.

Well no Mr. Davis. You walked around the plane several times during the trip. You asked for peanuts and water as well. You fell asleep about an hour ago.

She hands him his bag. He takes it and stares at the handle. More seconds… more minutes… lost to this void of nothingness that has enveloped him.

Is there any way I can assist you further, Mr. Davis?

She seemed to lay the ‘assist’ portion of the last question on thick. She giggled afterwards and gave him a slight smile. LH looked at her and sighed. He reached down and went to point at his ring but… it was gone. His eyes grew wide as he began looking around the seat for his ring. The lady’s face began to flush.

Is everything okay, sir?

I… I lost my wedding band. Can you help me find it?

The lady flushed to a deep crimson before she slowly lowered to her knees and assisted in looking. A few minutes pass, and the ring is nowhere to be found. LH runs his hand through his tangled hair before letting out a sigh.

Morbid…

LH knew that that monster must have stolen it. He last had it the night that Jessica had been….

He doesn’t want to think about it. He thanks the lady with a hug that she awkwardly accepts before fleeing away. LH Harrison departs the plane with a sense of purpose and venom. He was going to nab that skull and take home his daughter… both of them.





What the fuck?

...is what anyone else would’ve said if they had seen the place that was secured so 'thoroughly.'






This enormous base was being guarded by two men on the outside. LH Harrison watched surveillance for roughly 30 minutes and, in that time, only saw the two men once. One walked around the edge of the compound and looked for threats while the other one sat/slept at the front entrance. LH brought up his binoculars and surveyed the misty early morning on the compound once more just to make sure. Seeing nothing new to add, Harrison places the binoculars into his satchel and pulls a ski-mask out and over his head. He’s wearing nothing but black, skin-tight apparel to be able to move quickly and silently. He sneaks slowly around the side of one of the walls. He edges closer to the front entrance and is able to slip by the loudly snoring Russian.

He tiptoes by and walks up to the first building. Nothing looks to be out of the ordinary about it. It appears to be an old bunking building, but has been long abandoned. He edges along the wall and crosses the short courtyard to the next large, light green building. It appears to be the same exact thing. Building after building, LH checks out to see they’re all the same. Until he sees it. He looks behind one of the large, light green buildings and sees a small shed. Normally no one would’ve taken a second glance at the small building, but something about it seemed peculiar. He studies over the blackened windows, the tin walling, the large metal door, and… that’s when he notices that the large metal door has a huge lock on it. LH steps over to the building and examines the rusted golden lock. It’s literally the size of a frying pan and looks incredibly thick. LH ponders over this and hears footsteps.

Thump, thuthump, thuthuthuthump.

LH Harrison’s heart begins racing at the sound. He looks through the haze and notices the outline of the man walking around the outside of the shed between it and the fence. LH clung to the door and stayed there until he heard the footsteps go past the shed. He edged to the corner and peered around to see the short Russian soldier walking with the gun resting on his shoulder. LH Harrison then heard the clanging. Not of the bells, but of the keys on the key ring connected to the waistband of the soldier. He looked carefully and noticed a huge golden key. He bit his lip for he knew what must come next.

LH Harrison had to confront the soldier. LH reached down into his satchel and placed something in his hand. However, whatever it was, was unseen by the camera’s vantage point. LH Harrison got into a crouching stance and slowly stalked the man. Before long, LH Harrison was directly behind the oblivious man. LH Harrison reared back and smashed the man in the back of the head with his fist. The man falls to the wet ground on the early morning frost-covered ground. The fist is revealed to have brass knuckles on it. Perhaps the same brass knuckles from his fight with Enigma.

LH wastes so time as he reaches towards the man’s key ring, but, as he does so, the man comes back to life and grabs his wrist. LH’s heart begins racing as he hadn’t expected the soldier to respond. The soldier rolls onto his back and stares into the eyes through the ski-mask.

Что ебать ?


LH has had no knowledge of the Russian language so he proceeds to communicate in the one way that breaks all language barriers. His fist. LH continues to rear his brass knuckle-laced fist back and clobber him again across the bridge of his nose. Blood squirts out as the man slumps back to the ground. The red… crimson blood… it sends chills down the spine of LH Harrison. He thinks back to his wife… a gory mess… he begins to stop breathing with small, shallow breaths. He loses his footing and falls back to the ground. Short breath… after short breath. He begins seeing stars… Slowly… he gains his composure and sits back up.

He thinks to himself… Eva… Grace… they’re counting on me. I can’t fail them… I can’t… fail again.

He finally regains his composure fully as he massages his temple and staggers to the soldier’s body. He takes the key ring off the soldier and gets to his feet. He walks to the door and pulls the enormous gold key. He inserts it into the lock and gives it a turn. At first the lock barely budges, but he turns it again and it clicks over. The lock clicks open and LH Harrison gazes into the room. It’s empty… except for a ladder leading downwards into the ground. LH walks over and stands over the hole. It’s dark all the way down the chute, but at the very end is a light. LH slowly descends the ladder until he eventually reaches the floor. The ground is concrete and the walls are also concrete. He looks down the long corridor and sees a wooden door at the very end of it. Some 50 yards away. Something doesn’t feel right. He begins walking and the paranoia begins to set in.

Are there traps? Is there something deadly behind the door? What if I step on a switch of some sort? What if? What if I get trapped?

He begins slowing his pace until he reaches the end. He eyes the door suspiciously. He touches the handle slowly as if fearing it would be hot. The handle, however, is cold. LH takes a deep breath and opens the door. What he sees next catches him by surprise.


































It’s a well-lit room that has the appearance of a study. Books align the walls and in the center of the room is a large glass case with a skull on display inside of it. LH Harrison walks to the center of the room and stares down through the glass at the ancient skull. The burn marks are evident from when the body of Adolf Hitler was burned after he committed suicide. LH reaches up and is about to touch it when….

Are you sure you want to do that?

LH’s head turns to see an older Russian man with a white goatee, a Russian uniform on, and glasses slightly obscuring his eyes. His arms are behind his back as he steps forward.

Any man who has ever touched that skull has been cursed. Are you sure you want to touch it?

LH looks at the skull, looks at the old man, and looks back to the skull and shrugs.

You want to talk about cursed? How about me? I've believed I had split personalities. I am one of the causes that my mother died. I've lost almost every big match I've had. People, who I thought were my friends, have talked about me behind my back. I've been kidnapped and tortured. I've been kicked out of my church. I've been headbutted in the balls. I got picked by a homicidal maniac to be on his team. That same maniac murdered my wife and has my two daughters kidnapped unless I take him this skull. You think I'm worried about a curse? My whole life is a curse. Now shut up and let me save my children.

The older gentleman nods and watches. LH smashes the glass and lifts the skull. Then something happens.



You know how in movies where the music changes to an almost Hallelujah chorus and there’s a light shining on the object as the hero lifts it up into the air?

Yeah well that didn’t happen.




LH lifts the skull up and it crumples into a million pieces. LH’s mouth is agape as he stares at the shards on the ground. He looks back to the old man and the old man shakes his head.

I told you… bad luck.

LH looks at the pieces and for the first time since his wife passed away… LH falls to the ground and sobs.

To Be Continued