A Despot's Redemption

The roar of thunder filled Ferric's ears, jolting him awake. Water dripped from his brow as he rubbed the sleep off his eyes. As his vision cleared, he noticed a ray of light shining through the hole in the wooden ceiling.

His gaze shifted to the right. Several shopping carts lay overturned, their contents scattered across the wet white tiles. 

 This is the city's main grocery store?What happened to this place?

It was a far cry from the life of his previous host. The sight of the mansion remained fresh in his mind. 

 He remembered himself at the banquet, enjoying the salty tang of the foreign cuisines before being dragged to a private room surrounded by his companions. Blood dripped from his mouth as they cackled and struck him with their heavy bats. He groaned in pain, unable to move as the sharp pain coursed through his wounded back.

But that was in the past now. He had to move on.

 Ferric clutched his raincoat.

 His instincts were right, he was in a different body. 

This time it was a middle aged man dressed in a green raincoat, blue jeans and white shoes. He raised the cloth up to his nose and sniffed it. Ferric flinched. The jacket reeked of sweat and the shoes were caked in mud.

He continued to make his way through the aisles of the grocery store as the lights flickered back and forth.

 On his right was the food section. Ferric grinned. 

 I can finally get something to eat.

He turned to his right and stopped dead in his tracks.

Several bodies lay sprawled on the floor with entry wounds present on each. The scent of rotten flesh made Ferric sick to his stomach.

It reminded him of the massacre that occurred in his town several years ago.

Suddenly, memories of his past flooded back to him. 

The flames, the corpses, the screams of the dying and the roar of bullets echoing through the streets. All of this filled Ferric with unease.

He sprinted to where the teller should have been, only to be met with the rotten corpse of a female employee with a folded parchment tucked under her left armpit.

Ferric reached for the paper and began to unwrap it.

It was a message to the police from a motorcycle gang to no longer interfere in their activities.

His heart raced. It was no longer safe to stay here.

 He dashed towards the door beside him and clutched the knob. Cold wind whipped against his drenched raincoat, making it flutter like a sail. He hugged himself for warmth as the showers sent chills down his spine.

In front of him was the city street where large skyscrapers towered above the ruined mall.On one side was the sign with the words 'bus stop' etched onto it.

He waited for a few minutes for the bus but it never arrived. He had to find shelter quickly otherwise the motorcycle gang would come after him.

Ferric went to every house he could find. He knocked on every door but there was no response. All of them were locked.

The sound of revving motorcycles echoed throughout the street. In the distance were the silhouettes of people seated on their bikes. His heart raced. Ferric's instincts begged him to run but he knew it would be futile.

The gang members braked before him,clothed in dark leather jackets as raindrops streaked across their visors with machine guns strapped to their backs.

"Who are you and why have you come to our turf?!" said one of the cyclist's. 

"I'm just a homeless person trying to seek shelter."

"Search him!" said one whose voice and bodily figure were definitely those of a woman

The rest of the gang hopped off their bikes and began to examine him. 

"Well, anything of value?" she asked

"Sorry Eva. He's clean. Not even a single penny on him."

Eva sighed

"Another old hermit. Very well. Let's get him somewhere to sleep."

Ferric breathed a sigh of relief as they hopped back onto their motorcycles. 

"Well, what are you waiting for?," asked Eva "Hop on!"

30 minutes later

Eva stomped her bike's pedal, grinding it to a halt. Ferric eased his grip on one of the bikers and opened his eyes. Infront of him stood a building, similar to a fast food restaurant with cracks running down its concrete walls. On either side lay the remnants of battered cars parked near the sidewalk.

 His stomach grumbled. The savoury scent of soup caught his attention.

He disembarked from the motorcycle and rushed to the the entrance. 

Eva clutched the door handle and pushed it open, revealing several people in tattered clothes resting under makeshift beds.

"Who are these people?" asked Ferric

"They're refugees. Just like you."

"Refugee? Was there a war I didn't know about?"

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of the border skirmish."

Border skirmish. Wait, has my alternate self declared war?

"I don't think I have."

"Well it's really messed up things for me and Pike." Eva pointed to the cyclist next to her

"Let me guess," Ferric chuckled. It's harder to steal nowadays."

Pike shook his head

"We haven't always been crooks. There was a time when we had regular jobs just like everyone else."

"Then why did you leave? Weren't there other jobs you could choose from?"

"Not any that pay well," said Eva as she sat down on the floor "Everything changed since the skirmish last month. Refugees filled the apartments, the rent went up, so much that our salary couldn't make up for it. Pike and I got kicked out eventually. We had to make a living somehow , so we resorted to theft.'

Ferric bowed his head. He imagined the echo of stomping boots growing louder and louder , the citizen's shelters burnt to a crisp, all of this because of him.

"I'm sorry about that. But that still doesn't explain the bodies I saw in the grocery store."

"We don't talk about that"

Suddenly, a light began to flash in Ferric's jacket followed by the wailing of sirens echoing through the streets.

"No way. You brought them here."

"I didn't mean to. It just went off on its own!"

"Then get rid of it!"

Ferric searched across his raincoat before pulling down the zip, revealing a black T-shirt and the flashing light underneath. He pulled the collar and checked his chest.

He gasped.

The device had been implanted deep into his body. Eva rushed to her machine gun laid on the floor and aimed it at his chest.

"Sorry old timer. But we can't have you revealing our location."

 An array of bullets ripped through his jacket. He fell to the ground, blood gushing from his wounds. Pike picked him up and tossed him out into the streets.

The impact against the rough tar sent pain coursing through his body.

Ferric glanced up to the dark night sky above him as the rain poured down on his raincoat. His vision blurred as the police cars came into view. But it was too late. The shots left him fatally wounded. His body grew numb until darkness engulfed him from all sides.