Dead Dog's Tale

The sun had long since dipped below the horizon, leaving the Arizona desert to the night and the cold that seeped into Kevin Wikse's bones like an old, familiar ache. He limped toward his battered trailer, a solitary figure against the vast, indifferent sky. The structure itself barely stood, a forgotten relic in a world turned hypochondriac, gripped by the phantom of a pandemic. The desert around him lay silent, an expanse of shadows and stillness, where time moved slow and the land remembered everything. Kevin's dogged steps were heavy, each one a reminder of his mortality, but the pain was a testament to his unyielding resolve. Kevin's body was a canvas of bruises, each one a testament to battles fought and survival won. His latest wounds, fresh from a hunt along the border, spoke of a relentless pursuit of a member of El Salvador’s MS-13. From Nogales to Tubac, he tracked his prey with a single-minded fury, a wild pursuit ending in a brutal confrontation that left his q...

As I stumbled off the Greyhound and into the inferno of Los Angeles’s Figueroa Street, I was immediately assaulted by the pungent cocktail of sweat, sex, and hopelessness. The air reeked of unwashed pussy and bad decisions, a sugary stench that clung to your skin like the ghost of sins past. I could feel the spirit of Dirty Harry gripping my soul, whispering dark truths about this forsaken stink of urban decay. This wasn’t just another day in the city of Angels; this was a plunge into the gut-wrenching bowels of the beast, a reckless dive into the chaotic underworld where the polished facade of civilization cracks wide open, exposing the raw, throbbing nerves of reality. The sun hung low, casting an eerie glow over the sprawling mobile meat market, a fitting backdrop for the madness I came to unleash. The streets were a twisted tapestry of human folly, each thread woven with tales of survival, ambition, and relentless vice. The gutters ran with hard-cried tears and the kind of piss tha...

  I had long left the evening dark behind me, a filthy cloud of Arizona's crumbling asphalt and desert dust trailing in my wake. My mission was clear: outrun the night and put as much time and space between myself and Tucson as possible. But Nevada's 93 North, with its pitch-black void, finally cornered me. Phantoms of rime and rain swirled around my truck, thick tendrils of chilled fog closing in from all sides. Eighteen-wheelers haunted the road, behemoth ghosts roaring out of the shadows, ripping past at break-neck speeds, shaking my U-haul and rattling my frayed nerves. Exhaustion finally kicked its way in and grabbed me by the collar. With my focus wavering, drifting over the white line as the fuel gauge needle drifted uncomfortably close to E, I conceded to the night. I searched the horizon for the faintest glimmer of city lights. I found salvation in the small, unincorporated town of Alamo, Nevada. As I slowed from 70 mph to 25, the truck vibrated and shook, tires slippi...

I chose this rural fortification in Marsing, Idaho, for the privacy it offered and the particular energy it exuded. The walls were a canvas of messy graffiti tags, quickly scrawled upside-down pentagrams, and sloppy spellings of "Satan" alongside the ubiquitous "666." Holes were kicked and punched in the walls, and the shattered glass from broken windows and beer bottles crunched beneath my boots. My intuition was correct. This space was steeped in a rich history of emotional angst, pangs of helplessness, and unfettered rage—the exact flavor of mana I required. But I wanted more. My familiar spirits whispered that the prime location was yet to be discovered. The upper floor needed to be tactically unsound. While this was a lonely place, the flickering candlelight visible from the windows could still pique the curiosity of uninvited guests. Who or what roamed the Idaho farmlands in the pitch of night was not the equation I was here to explore. However, cocking b...