The Good Mercenary

Ben R.
Ben R.
Jul 23, 2017 · 3 min read

They ran through the forest as branches and vines thrashed and beat against their bodies. Thorns ripped at their exposed knuckles as they pushed into the brush. Then, Percy and Ko came to a field. Relieved, yet frightened, they stopped and scanned before moving again. A barn was on the other side of the field. Ko sprinted leading the way looking at everything except the barn.

Once they reached their destination, they gathered their wits gasping for more than air. Percy found a hay bale to sit on while Ko checked the windows.

“Will you relax?” Percy said while watching Ko check the same windows over again.

“I don’t do that in my own home.”

“You know how it goes from here. And you and I know we lost them before even getting to the tree line.”

“I suppose.”

“Now we just wait it out until the pickup comes to take us to the safe house.”

Ko sat down on another hay bale and his eyes were locked on Percy. “Why’d you do that?”

Percy curtly responded, “He was our contract.” After noticing Ko wasn’t amused, he continued, “Oh, and the boy was in the way. We should’ve killed the girl, too.”

“If the contract goes bad because of your bloodlust, then I’ll kill you myself.”

“Please, it’s their fault. If they wanted a cleaner job then they wouldn’t have hired mercenaries. We’re good.”

They both lit cigarettes and their shoulders sank. Ko began cleaning and sharpening his knife.

“What kind of mercenary name is Percy? You shoot with your pinky up?”

Percy smirked. “It’s short for my real name — Perses.”

“Same.”

“What’s yours? We’re not gonna run into each other again.”

“I know. Koios.” Ko took another long drag on his cigarette. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Will you let it go already? We got the job done.”

Ko scoffed.

“Don’t do that. If you’re in this line of work, I know you’ve killed a boy, girl, woman — hell, maybe even a dog.”

Ko’s eyes locked on Percy. “Yes, even a dog.”

Percy leaned in with his elbows on his knees and his eyes glaring at Ko. “Well, I was brought up that a good man does his job. I know what I am.” Percy gave a grim smile.

“A good man knows that he isn’t.” Ko coolly exhaled his smoke from the corner of his mouth. Their eyes remained locked — they hated each other.

“Well, then, what are you?”

“I am nothing.”

Percy’s eyes narrowed, slightly breaking his sinister focus allowing a very unwelcomed perplexity to trickle in. “What?”

Ko took a long drag of his cigarette. “I am nothing. That’s what you are, too. Stick around doing what we do long enough, life gets grey. One man’s good is another man’s bad. A contract is good for me, but bad for someone else.”

“Quit talking.” Percy said and started cleaning his gun.

“Take the girl, for example. Killing her father and brother — good for us, bad for her. Maybe bad for us later.”

“You think too much, Koios.”

“And you think too little, Perses.”

Percy’s eyes snapped at Ko and slowly went back to focus on cleaning his gun.

“I don’t want to kill three people tonight.” Percy said through a crooked smile.

“Me neither.” replied Ko as he was sheathing his knife.

Silence became tension and tension into action. Percy started for his gun, but Ko’s hands moved so fluidly and quickly like cloth caught by a sudden gust of wind disarming Percy with one hand and sinking his knife into Percy’s thigh with the other. Percy snarled in pain and grabbed Ko’s throat and Ko returned the favor. Ko stood up and pinned the back of Percy’s neck on a wood beam. Percy whimpered as he felt the cold steel obstruction in his leg.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Ko growled.

Percy smiled menacingly.

Ko looked into Percy’s eyes and examined each scar and crease of his face with resentment.

“You’re nothing.” Ko’s free hand swiftly pulled the knife out of Percy’s thigh and drove it in his stomach and dragged it from one side to the other. Percy’s grip on Ko’s neck loosened and Ko threw the body aside and wiped his knife with his sleeve before sheathing it.

As he was walking away, Ko stopped and looked over his shoulder back at the barn. His brow furrowed as he exhaled the last of his smoke through the corner of his lips.

There was no wind in the trees. No rustling of brush. It was silent just as it is after every invitation is accepted by death.

Koios walked away knowing what he was not.

Ben R.

Written by

Ben R.

Writer of short story/snippets/episodes.