The Writers Guild Presents: 8/16/13

"Meet the New Guy"

No one really knew his real name; they all just called him Johnny if he knew their name or sir if he didn't. Most of the people surrounding his desk, even though he knew their names, just called him sir out of both respect and fear. They had all seen the things that he was capable of and knew that they didn't want to see it happen to them.

So delivering the news they were carrying was pretty damn hard.

Johnny leaned against his chair, tapping his fingers and waiting for one of the four men to speak. Finally, though, his patience ran thin and he suddenly demanded, "Well? Spit it out!"

Tom, one of the oldest men out of the four, elbowed Rob, the youngest. Rob looked back at Tom, a scared look in his eyes that begged the elder for him to be excused, but Tom quickly pushed Rob forward and left little choice for the younger.

"Uh, well, uh…sir-"

"I said spit it out!"

The others could have sworn that Rob shrank an inch at Johnny's outburst, but Rob quickly recovered and regained his sense of speech.

"It…appears that the other gangs are movin' in on us sir…well, more specifically…they're moving in on you."

"'The hell's that supposed to mean?"

James, another of the four, stepped up from the line and quickly answered, "Word around town is that the bounty on your head has recently gone up quite a lot sir-"

"How much is a lot?" Johnny demanded.

"It's…tripled boss," James said, "making it around 3 million dollars."

Johnny stopped tapping his fingers at the sound of the number.

"…damn."

Rob stepped up from the line and continued the report. "We got word of the hit when we were runnin' some errands around the docks, bunch of Malone's guys were talking about ya and how your head mounted on a wall would make for a good retirement."

Johnny leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk. After a moment of silence he asked, "Who shoveled out the money?"

"We got some guys lookin' into it sir, no hits yet though." Rob said, "We're thinkin' it's Tuskey, after the job we did last month he'd have good reason to want you gone."

"Havin' your son killed can make you want revenge," Johnny agreed. He looked at Terry, the only guy having not spoken, and said, "What are my options here Terry?"

The fourth man stepped forward, the look on his face showing the gears turning inside his head. "'Way I see it we need to get you outta town before someone looks to collect."

"Obviously." Johnny said.

"But we don't want to make it look like your showin' tail," Terry continued, "We can make sure that the show keeps on runnin' while you're gone, but we're gonna need to take some…precautions."

"Like?"

"Caroline's gonna have to stay here."

"No way in Hell!" Johnny said, suddenly standing up in anger. "There ain't no way I'm leavin' my daughter in this mess while I hide from a bunch of lowlifes lookin' for a paycheck!"

Terry, choosing his words carefully, explained: "If Caroline disappears then everyone'll assume you're gone too and then they'll come lookin' for the two of ya…and that outcome doesn't look good."

Johnny's anger slowly calmed down and he sat back down into his chair. Everyone relaxed as they saw Johnny begin to massage his forehead and finally Terry spoke again-

"You know as well as I do that I don't want to see that little girl gone. I've got the best guy in mind to watch over her while you're gone sir. He's the best, I guarantee it."

"He'd better be," Johnny said, looking at Terry dead in the eyes, "Or so help me God you'll wind up at the bottom of the river in pieces."

The Next Day

The school bell of Wesley Middle School rings, followed closely by the crowd of children as they go towards their awaiting parents' cars.

Caroline, a small, dark haired little girl, walked, not ran, to a large black SUV parked farther away from all of the other cars. As she neared the car the left back door opened and Terry stepped out, smiling at the little girl. Caroline returned the smile. Of all of her father's associates he was the only one she liked. Terry had been with her ever since she was born, and so there was a very strong bond between the two.

"Hey there beautiful," Terry greeted her.

"Hi Terry," Caroline said as Terry helped her into the car.

Normally there were three people in the car, two guys, dressed similarly in black suits, sat up front, always silent; the other was Terry, always there to pick her up. Today however, there was something different. Up at the front of the car was the usually driver, a bald man in his mid-forties, but instead of his partner, who was a blond headed man in his thirties, there was a man in a black coat, wearing a hood over his head so that Caroline couldn't see his face.

Caroline slid into the back seat and Terry followed suit. Like a well oiled machine, as soon as Terry closed the door the engine started, the driver shifted into drive and the car proceed away from the school.

"Who's the new guy?" Caroline whispered into Terry's ear.

Terry smiled at Caroline and said, "Caroline, I want you to meet the new guy, his name's Argus. He's going to be watching over you for the next few days."

From the front seat Argus waved his hand to the girl, saying from his hood, "A pleasure Ms. Caroline."

"Hello," Caroline said and then whispered again into Terry's ear, "Why is he here though?"

"Because your father felt it best that I was to watch over you," Argus said, surprising Caroline that he heard her question.

Terry's smile grew larger at Caroline's surprise and remarked, "You can't get anything past this guy Caroline, that's why I volunteered him to watch over you."

The car had now entered the downtown area, making Caroline stare out the windows and look at all of the shops.

"Sorry Caroline, not today," Terry said, knowing what the little girl was thinking.

Caroline pouted slightly and continued to until they passed the last of the shops and began down a neighborhood of apartment buildings. Terry carefully began looking out the windows. He had never liked this road, too many buildings, too many areas you couldn't see, it made him too nervous for his own good.

And he was right to be so.

From the front, Argus grabbed the wheel from the bald driver and caused the car to swerve to the right. In the time that it took the car to drive onto the sidewalk and hit the wall of one of the buildings, a wave of bullets bombarded the car, piercing the side of the SUV. The poor driver, so taken aback by Argus' sudden motion, was caught in the bombardment. Terry however, getting the split-second that the driver didn't, was able to dive to the other side of the car, away from the bullets.

Argus rushed out of the car and basically ripped the door off of the SUV.

"OUT!" He commanded, ushering them out as quickly as possible. Argus scooped Caroline off of the ground and held her close to his chest, picking up the pace as they got farther away from the car.

Terry looked behind them as they ran and to his horror saw a missile coming toward the SUV. He hastily ran closer to Argus and yelled, "GET DOWN!"

BOOOOOOOM!!!

The shock of the blast sent them all crashing to the ground. A piece of the exploded car hit Terry on the back of his head and as his eyes slowly closed, his eyes focusing on one thing- the still face of Caroline.

To Be Continued

Malcolm Stone is back. This is an original fic set in the present, I own the characters and this fic is rated T. If you have never read the series before go here http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic-8/s-inc-comics-malcolm-stone-vol-1-cold-fear-1478523/.

The Diary Of Malcolm Stone April 16^th, 2013

I died 71 years ago today, It felt good. I was placed in limbo for awhile, now I’m back on earth. God didn’t want to deny me salvation but he had to, there was work to be done.

My soul mission is to find ghosts and help them get where they belong; most the time they go to heaven. I pose as a P.I., It’s a good job. The big man upstairs looks out for me, makes sure I have enough money, and that I’m taken care of.

Today a young man came to me and told me he owned a nightclub. He said people have been disappearing and their last known location was the club; fifteen people went missing within the last month. The cops are coming down hard on him but he swears he didn’t do it; I can tell he isn’t lying.

I asked if I could go to the nightclub, he told me it was fine and gave me a ride to the club. We pulled up and the first thing I noticed was how mundane nightclubs looked in the day. I had my share of jazz back in the day but I only saw them at night. Now all I see is corruption.

“You’re going to look out of place,” Todd told me. I always preferred my Brown coat and fedora. ‘The times have changed’ I thought to myself. Todd handed me a pair of ripped up denim trousers and a plaid shirt.

“These pants have holes.” I replied.

“It’s the style; you can’t look like you’re from the 40’s in a nightclub.” Todd said, “Well you can but I don’t run that kind of club.”

The sky grew dark and people started flooding in. ‘This isn’t music,’ I think to myself. ‘Real music is Buddy Holly or Benny Goodman, not music that sounds like a malfunctioning robot.’

I realized I must have looked out of place, so I tried to wave my arms around like these whippersnappers. I look up and notice that the master of ceremonies has this green glow around him. He realizes that I catch his eye and the glow gets more intense with the music.

The Diary Of Malcolm Stone April 17^th, 2013

This morning, Todd woke me up and told me that three more people disappeared that night. Damn that god awful rock n’ roll music!