Purgatorio, part I.

Francesco Miller is walking around with a wound on the side. Francesco's wound starts to close by itself slowly as it heals. Francesco puts a lollipop on his mouth. he sucks the mango flavored lollipop as he thinks about his lover. he can only hope for his safety.

on the way Francesco finds an older man sitting on the middle of the ground. the older man seems familiar as Francesco gets closer to him. the older man turns his head towards him. they stare at each other for a second.

"Is good to see you're alive young man." mentions old Albert as he seems hollow.

"The day is not over. stand up bag of bones and follow me. I am too mad to even care about courtesy. my lady needs me now." said Francesco.

the two of them move around the fog. there is a cold mantle covering the vision. is as if the fog had eaten the infrastructure around of them leaving just a path wide enough for them to walk and find their own way. it is like a trap.

they decide to stay silent. none of them has a reason to talk. Albert is not a man to make friends and to be on friendly terms with a cop is the least of his priorities. all those years breaking others left an aroma of blood impregnated on him.

"I feel empty now that she is gone." whispers Albert as he feels the absence of Olga.

there is a figure on the distance. it is unclear. soon the figure turns into two figures on the ground barely breathing. an old gangster and a young lady badly wounded on the floor.

Francesco walks towards them. he gets on his knees. he offers a cigarette to old Massimo. the old man denies the cigarette. Francesco smiles. he helps him to stand up. all of them keep advancing together seeking a way out.

out of nowhere a ghost covered with a white blanket with red and yellow stains stands at the distance looking around. it has chains attached to its feet.

Massimo, Francesco, and Beth hide out of fear. they could feel it that there is something truly sinister about that ghost. Albert couldn't care less. he runs towards the ghost. he screams lacking any awareness about the situation. 

the ghost looks directly towards his direction. it moves slowly. it is almost as if it was floating above aground as it moves. in the blink of an eye the ghost stands right behind Albert. he was sweating as he started to feel the pressure of the ghost's rage. the ghost grabs Albert from the shoulder as it starts to levitate. Albert struggles as he screams.

Massimo was only observing from the distance unable to act. the other two are too scared. Massimo feels sorry for the librarian, but there are things beyond their human limits. Massimo closes his eyes as he accepts that facing that monster is suicidal.

Albert kicks the air. he shakes violently. he is begging for someone to save him. with teary eyes he is asking for mercy. the ghostly entity whispers something by his ear. Albert cries out of desperation as he remembers his older days, his days of glory.

"Please let me go. damn it. damn you. damn it." screams Albert out of desperation unable to think with clarity under such vile circumstances. 

Beth is hidden behind a red car. she looks at the ground. she is crying silently. she keeps a hand by her mouth stopping any possible noise from leaving her mouth. she feels like throwing up at the dreadful sounds of horror.

Francesco is a man who has seen all kinds of horrors. and for the second time he feels authentic fear at the face of unknown horrors. the limitations of fear only allow for a man like Francesco to look away. he hates himself for been a coward.

Albert is exhausted with scratches all over his body and face. the ghost takes him up to ten meters above the ground before dropping him. in the fall his body turns into bones and dust. then from the corpse comes a vengeful phantom. the phantom looks like a demonic version of Albert in the days of his prime. it looks around smelling fear.

"We need to run. run now." whispers Francesco as he turns towards Beth.

"Are you sure?" asks Beth trembling in fear.

before anyone could react. the vengeful phantom runs towards Beth. it grabs her from the throat and drags her into the darkness. her screams are the last thing left of Beth. what became of her is up to interpretation. but based on those dreadful screams, it is unlikely for such an end to be anything but the thing of nightmares.

Massimo and Francesco stand up at the same time. they look at each other. then the two of them start to run as fast as possible. the vengeful phantom comes running after them. Massimo looks at an abandoned house. Massimo runs. he throws himself through the window. he drags himself covered in cuts. he starts to feel pain all over his body.

Massimo turns around looking at the ceiling. he wonders how was that his life ended like that with nothing to it. Massimo starts to laugh nervously as life has become more fun. there are a couple of tears coming out of those soulless eyes.

the door kicked open. Francesco comes inside the same house. there are scratches all over his face and all around his hands. Francesco smirks as he takes a bottle of liquor from a table nearby and drinks all the vodka. he throws the vodka on the ground. Francesco closes the door and then walks towards a wooden chair before sitting down.

"It looks bad, doesn't it? I feel at home." mentions Francesco sweating nervously.

"Tell me about it." said Massimo as he feels a void deep inside of his heart.

"The hunt isn't over. get up, we need to make it out alive."