Strangetown: Chapter Fourteen

[strangetomato]

 

Warnings: violent situations, sorrow, and death.


Chapter Fourteen





Buck had been waiting for about a week.




He had been waiting ever since the General had left. One evening, Buzz had received an unexpected phone call. He had quickly hung up the phone, and left the house without delay, telling Buck that he was going to go out and pick up some groceries. He had yet to return.




The call had been from a woman, and she had said, "Good evening, General Grunt. I have some information that I think you'll be very interested in." After a pause, she said, "I know where your wife is." That woman had been Olive Specter.




Olive Specter, like most serial killers, had started young.

She sought knowledge of the one thing that people knew the least about, which was death itself. Her curiosity about the great beyond led her to kill things, small at first, but her need to explore the boundaries of life and death grew over time.




She had always lacked sympathy and emotion for others, but she had learned to mask this very well. Her social talents had led her into a career as a professional party guest. Nobody would ever had guessed that her charisma was a trained act, and beneath her poise was an empty soul, which did not relate to normal human emotions and pain.




Some of her murders were pragmatic, like those of her husbands, and the ocassional service worker who saw or heard too much, but others, like Willow and Creon Nigmos, were merely for her own enjoyment. She didn't understand and feel those emotions herself, but did draw a great deal of enjoyment from observing and recording the misery of others.




Somewhere along the line, after she had murdered a great number of victims, she became fixated on death itself. Death, the entity.




Death was beautiful, calm, and efficient. A powerful figure that did exactly what he existed to do, and nothing more. He didn't overstep his role by making judgements, feeling emotions, or even choosing who would live and who would die. He just showed up to collect you. He did his job without pity or waste.

It was a thing of beauty, and Olive fell deeply in love with the very essence of death.




Death returned her affection. After some time, he became fixated with Olive too, since she was such a repeat customer. After she had killed her second husband, Death finally approached her, and spoke frankly with her, as an equal.

Death, for his part, wanted offspring. A legacy in the living world. Olive agreed to do this favour for him, and they consummated their love for each other.




And so, Osiris Specter came into the world.




Taking in Ophelia had put a stop to Olive's normal activities, and she resented her greatly for it. There were many days when Olive had regretted letting the girl live, since her first instinct had been to kill her too, when she had killed her parents. But no, adopting the girl had been such a good way to remove suspicion from herself after the "accident". Olive really had no choice but to do it.

With Ophelia around, Olive had to be very careful. She had to cut back on her murders, though she still manged to fit one in here and there, but nothing really worthwhile. Nothing exquisite. Olive instead, spent her days preparing for her magnum opus. Her finest death of all.




She had known that her activities were beginning to draw suspicion from Ophelia. The girl was clever, afterall, in addition to being disgustingly sweet. She knew that Ophelia was concerned about the plants that she was growing and the potions that she was concocting, but she knew that the girl was too afraid to do anything about it, and soon, very soon, she would leave the mansion forever.




Yes, Ophelia was far too afraid. Olive savoured her fear like a fine wine. Ophelia feared death, feared life, and feared being alone. She was haunted by the ghosts of the mansion, but also by the terrible ghosts of her past. Olive had always hoped the girl would finally succumb to her fears and kill herself. What a beautiful death that would be, and one that Olive was unable to fully create herself. That type of death made Death himself weep.




Her next victim, who would be one of her very last, would be her greatest achievement. A most worthy opponent.




General Buzz Grunt. She had initially targeted him as her next husband, but that plan hadn't worked out.




She had watched his marriage dissolve with great interest, and then, when it seemed as if Lyla would go back to Buzz, she had insured that this would not happen.




After a respectable amount of time had passed, Buzz found himself back on the dating scene, and Olive prepared to make her move. She knew that Buzz was highly sought after, and she was hardly a young woman, but her charms had served her very well in the past. She had always been able to take whatever she wanted.




She started out slowly, by talking to him. Buzz was polite enough about it, and seemed genuinely interested in learning more about Olive. He was curious about her reputation, she could tell, but he avoided any mention of the rumours that surrounded her. He was a smart man.




Olive had thought that she was doing very well, but when she finally made a romantic overture, she was quickly shut down. Buzz didn't just reject her, he humiliated her in front of the entire bar. Olive was filled with rage.

Buzz would pay for rejecting and humiliating her. He would pay with his life.




It took the General almost no time at all to show up at Olive's home that evening, after the phone call had been made. Olive had known exactly what to say.

"Well, hello, General Grunt." Olive said as he passed through the door.

"Well, Olive, I'm listening." Buzz said, abruptly. "I want some answers."

"What's your hurry, Buzz? Don't you have any manners? Come in and stay a while. We have a lot to discuss."




"Would you care for a drink, Buzz?" Buzz hesitated. "You're not going to be like that, are you? I'm only trying to be hospitable. If we're going to be civilized about this, you must at least share a drink with me." She left the room and went to the kitchen, and returned with two glasses.

"I know what you're thinking. I've heard those rumours about me too, but don't worry, Buzz." She smiled and gestured to the glasses in her hands. "Here. Take your pick. I'll drink the other one." Buzz reached out and took one.




"There. See, it wasn't so hard, was it? Despite what you may have heard, I don't actually bite." She smiled, while Buzz remained somber.

"Now, let's have a little chat, shall we?"




"Olive, I hope you're going to explain yourself, and soon."

"Yes, about your wife..." She smiled. "I'm afraid that I had to kill her."




Buzz felt an odd feeling come over him. Olive noticed the brief look of shock which swept over his face. She smiled, and explained it to him. "You were right, Buzz. You shouldn't have drank it. Yes, I drank it too, but I have already taken something to counter it."




Buzz suddenly found himself with no control at all over his own body.




"That's better." Olive's voice was even and calm. "You won't be resisting me this time, Buzz. We're going to get right to business here. I have no time to waste. There are plenty of things I'd love for us to do if we had more time, but time is something that I'm running out of, I'm afraid"




Even then, having lost control of his body, there was a part of the General's mind that resisted it and was aware of his situation. He knew that what Olive said was true, though. He would do whatever she told him to do.




"Here's how this will go, General. I will direct you, and you will act." Her gaze was unwavering, but a smile crept across her face. "I have some garden shears here, and they are sufficiently sharp to do the trick. You're going to pick them up, and then you're going to kill yourself with them. Is that clear?"

Buzz couldn't respond. Olive knew that. "It's really quite simple."




She led the way into the room where she grew her plants and directed Buzz to pick them up. He knew that he would obey, and he did. They walked back to the dining room.

"And now, raise them up nice and high." Olive grinned. "We want to make sure it's nice and dramatic." Buzz did this. "I'm thinking that plunging it directly into your heart would be the way to go, if that's alright with you, Buzz." Buzz struggled with all his might to resist.




Buzz wasn't ready to go without a fight. Like the General that he was, he would fight to the very last breath.




He concentrated and focussed all of his strength to resist her, and finally, after moments seemed to stretch on for hours, it worked. His hand opened, and the shears fell to the floor with a loud clang.

"Very impressive, Buzz." Olive smiled. "Nobody has ever defied me quite as well as you have." She picked up the shears.




She leaned closer to Buzz and looked deep into his eyes. "Your wife was pretty resistant too." Buzz looked down at Olive's hand gripping tightly to the shears. The shears that were now lodged in his torso.




He closed his eyes to the pain, and to the reality of what Olive was doing to him. It wasn't something he'd want to be aware of, since she was hardly satisfied to leave well enough alone. Olive took pride in her work. He could feel it, but he wouldn't acknowledge the details. Even as he felt himself fading away completely, there was still some small part of his mind that was conscious. This part of him looked back on his life, and reflected.




He thought about Tank, and hoped that he would be better able to express himself than he had been, that he wouldn't make the same mistakes. He hoped that Tank would make it to General, and also that it was what he really wanted out of life. He thought he knew, but he'd been wrong before.




He thought about Ripp, and hoped that he would eventually be able to forgive him all his shortcomings as a parent, all his mistakes. He had never understood Ripp, just as he had never really understood his mother, but he had loved him every bit as much as he had loved Tank, and he wished that Ripp would see that. He hoped that Ripp would find real happiness one day, and actually have the sense to go after it.




He thought about Buck, and wished that he had been able to tell him that he was proud of him for being able to just be himself, and for having such a warm spirit. He no longer had any worries about Buck. He knew that he could handle himself, but he wished he could have told Buck that, just once. Why hadn't he been able to just say that?




He thought about Lyla, and wished, as he had a million times before, that he had done things differently. Why hadn't he been able to give her what she needed? He had loved her, but it never seemed like enough. It hadn't been enough, and then it had been too late to take it all back.

Now, he would never see any of them again.

"Yes, your wife, Lyla, put up a good fight too, Buzz." Olive said.




"The last thing she ever said was your name, you know. I keep track of these things. I thought that hers was just an exquisitely moving death." She smiled, remembering it. "Now as for you, you probably can't talk, can you? Would you like to at least make an effort at a parting line?"

Buzz did have something that he wanted to say, and managed to force the words out with his last ounce of strength.




"Stay... away... from... my... sons."




"Is that what you're afraid of? Well, don't worry, Buzz. I have no interest in your pathetic offspring. I'm only concerned about my own son."

Buzz fell to the ground, while Olive continued to speak to him.

"Yes, my own son. Dear little Osiris, the poor thing. In a way, it's his fault that you're dead, Buzz. If he had more of a backbone, like he should have, I probably wouldn't have had to kill you to find out where he is now. He'd still be here." She laughed.




"No. Certainly, I would have probably killed you anyway, because you make such a handsome corpse. You were just asking for it." Olive chuckled to herself.

She paused, sensing a familiar presence in the room.

"My beloved, you're finally here." She turned to face Death.




Death entered quiety and surveyed the scene, while Olive stood by.

"It's been a long time, Olive."




"It has been, my love. Too long." Death smiled at her.

"I always look forward to seeing you, Olive. You will come with me soon, won't you?"

"Yes, it's not long now before I join you. But first, I have some business left to do, as you know." Death nodded in agreement.




"I called you here for a reason tonight. I need your help."




"Yes, Olive? What is it?"

"I have lost Osiris. I went to retrieve him, but I don't know where he is."

"You lost our son?!"

"Yes, I am terribly sorry, my love."




"Well, that's very disappointing, Olive, but I'm sure that we can work something out."

"You will forgive me?"

"Well, I would have hoped that you'd be more careful, but I am sure that the situation can be dealt with." He sighed. "Let's take a look..."




Death held out his hands to reveal a small glowing flame. Inside, Olive could see her son, lying in a dark room with stone walls. His head was shaved bare, and he was cold, lonely, and afraid.

"Our son is located at 1 Tesla Court, in the home of Circe and Loki Beaker. You must go to him, Olive, and bring him home. Also, I must ask you to punish the Beakers. You must take revenge on them for what they've done to our son." Olive simply nodded. She would have her revenge. Of that there was no doubt.






She had completed one of her final tasks. The tools of her undertaking were left to rest on the cold stone floor. From here, she would move forward to meet her final destiny.




Across town, Nervous Subject jumped up out of his bed, and filled the Beaker mansion with screams of pure terror.




Buck slept fitfully on the recliner, waiting for some noise to alert him of his father's return, but none came. A week had passed, and Buck knew what that meant. The full impact of the situation had revealed itself to him. He'd been through the same thing with his mother.

His father wasn't going to come home. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew that Buzz would never come back.




Buck knew it was time. He knew what he had to do. The phone hadn't stopped ringing. Calls from the school, Ripp, Tank, Elise, Jill, the military, and maybe even the police. Buck hadn't been answering any of the calls. He had been lying there alone in despair, hoping that somehow, there was a logical reason that it was taking his father a whole week to pick up groceries.

Finally, he had accepted it. He would call the police. First, however, he would call his brothers. He had held off, hoping that it wouldn't come to that. He did not look forward to the task before him, and how real and irreversible it would be.




With great apprehension, he picked up the phone. It was time to do it. With every ounce of courage and strength that he had, he forced his fingers to press the numbers. It was hard, but he could do it. He had to do it.




He dialed Tank's number.





(Continue to Chapter 15...)

---

A/N: So, dear readers, did you see it coming? I thought that I was dropping some significant hints, but I didn't want to come right out and say it, so I hope it didn't come as too much of a shock.

I feel like I should apologize to those of you who are Buzz fans. This wasn't easy for me to do, believe me. I did feel strongly, from the beginning, that Olive would target Buzz as her next victim (there are a number of really good indications of this in the game), and I have been planning for this to happen, but it was still really hard to see it through. In the end, though, Olive Specter always gets what she wants.

Let's have a moment of silence for the General please.







 

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I thought of you when I wrote this part, since I know how much you love General Buzz. I hope you can forgive me for the terrible end he came to here. All roads just seemed to lead up to this, as I worked on the story of Olive and Nervous.

Well, the thing about Death, at least in this story, is that you can't possibly see him and speak to him unless you're there when someone dies, thus leaving Olive with only one option: kill someone. Olive Specter, the serial killer, has no problem with that. She enjoys it.