The Vigilante’s Heart

Prologue

His screams echo off the walls of the empty building.

No one can hear him, no one ever hears any of them; it doesn’t stop him from crying out for help though.

Not that this one's cries will do him any good with me. I feel nothing, my heart died a long time ago. Ten years to be precise. He can beg all he wants, but I’m not stopping, not until the last drop of blood leaves his tortured body and his last exhale ghosts his lips.

The chains rattle as he shudders, his sobs heaving through his battered body… well, what’s left of it. I’ve slowly carved him up piece by piece; he’s not going to last much longer, not if the pool of blood underneath him is any indication.

“Why?” he wheezes as his body begins to shut down.

“Because I can.” They always ask when they realize they’re going to die; when they know that no one is going to rescue them. Once they finally accept their fate; it's then that they always ask. My answer is always the same, and it’s true. I do this because I can.

“Bu-but I don’t know y-y-you.” The words barely manage to leave his lips.

“No, you don’t, but I know you. I know everything about you, Gerald.” Enough, I think to myself. I step behind him, raise my knife to his throat and slice.

Another one gone. Another one to find.