Jackal’s Journals – Prelude 1

Look it up and you’ll find that a nova is a faint star that suddenly increases in brightness by 10,000 times or more. Gases from nearby suns disrupt the surface of the star and are ignited and thrown off into space. If the explosion doesn’t cause the star to collapse the reaction will eventually subside and after a time, maybe a few months, maybe years, it will return to its previous state.

I don’t know who came up with the analogy but it’s a good one. The only thing is I don’t think we’ll ever go back. None of us will relinquish the gifts that we’ve been granted, not now. You would have to prise them from our cold, dead fingers and we’re not that easy to kill.

This is a second chance for us, an opportunity to make up for our mistakes, to put things right, but now it’s different. Take me for example, I messed up my other life. I wasn’t very good at being human. I wasted it, threw it away. I was nobody back then. I had a dead end life, in a dead end town. I wasn’t going anywhere. The only good thing I had was Zoe, and I didn’t realise that till they took her away from me. She wasn’t the prettiest of girls, or the smartest, but she stuck with me when I don’t think anyone else would have. When I think about her I know that I should have found a way to let her know that I loved her before it was too late.

The sheriff said they’d cornered her in an alley on her way home. He said she’d had guts, that she’d fought them but in the end they’d raped and beat her till she died. I wondered if maybe she hadn’t fought so hard, she’d still be alive.

Everything seemed empty after she’d gone. I hadn’t realised how much she’d meant to me. When the case against Zoe’s murderers was thrown out on a technicality I found new direction. I knew that the scum wouldn’t pay for what they’d done, so I tracked them down myself. Can you imagine that? Boy I was some kind of fucked-up arsehole back then. I just walked right in and confronted them. Must have thought I was Charlie Bronson or something. I don’t know what was going through my head…. Which is funny really because I can remember all the other details. I can play it back in my head exactly how it happened but I can never remember why.

Solomon, their leader, looked me up and down.

“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded.

I glared at him, glancing quickly around the others in the room.

“Have a seat boy” Solomon grinned, ignoring the lack of response. “Have an egg-roll”

I hated his smug smile.

“No thanks” I mumbled.

Solomon cocked his head mockingly.

“No thanks? What’s that mean huh? Guess you’re too scared to eat.”

I eyed him warily, but said nothing. Solomon did not allow the silence to continue for long, he was too fond of the sound of his own voice. He smiled a wicked smile.

“You’re making a mistake boy. You see, I might have been ready to negotiate but you’ve already given up your shit”, he said smugly. “Now, I’m still a mystery to you but I know exactly where your white motha-fuckin arse is coming from. See when I ask you if you want something to eat, if you take an egg-roll an’ chow down I say to myself ‘this motha-fucka is carrying on like he ain’t got a care in the world, maybe this fool is such a bad motha-fucka he don’t have to worry about nothing.’ But you haven’t even sat down yet. You’re just standing there clocking me. That tells me everything I need to know. You’re out-matched boy and you know it. You’re scared.”

They laughed at me then, Solomon and his goons. They didn’t realise that I didn’t give a shit about dying anymore. They’d already taken everything that mattered.

They stopped laughing when I pulled the gun.

“You’re some fucking arse-hole boy” Solomon spat threateningly. “That’s just plain rude. You’re so god damn impolite I don’t think I’m going to let you live.”

“Let me explain a few things to you Solomon” I snarled. “I’m not eating because I’m not hungry, I’m not sitting because I’m not here to negotiate and I’m not scared of you… I’m going to kill you.”

“You’re all fuckin talk”

I squeezed the trigger.

Just then one of Solomon’s goons jumped me from behind. The gun went off…. CRACK

I was wrestling on the ground and I could hear Solomon screaming.

“You fuck, you shot me you little fuck, you’re dead, you’re fucking dead”

Someone was pounding on my head and then I got drop kicked in the ribs. I tried to stand but they were just beating and kicking me. Bones cracked. My head was spinning and there was blood in my eyes. I couldn’t see. There were too many of them.

I thought that maybe they’d fractured my skull because my head suddenly felt like it was going to split open. It hurt so much that I couldn’t feel them beating me anymore. I thought of Zoe and the anger boiled up from deep inside of me, burning through my body like liquid fire. I was vaguely aware that somehow I’d managed to get to my feet. One of Solomon’s goons swung a pool cue at me and I dodged it and broke his arm in three places. I’m not sure which one of us was more surprised. One of his buddies was so surprised that he made the mistake of pulling a gun on me. There wasn’t time for him to fire before the tip of the pool cue passed through his left eye and on into his brain.

And so it continued right down to the last.

When all the damage I could do was done, when all the guilty had been punished, my purpose there had been fulfilled. I slumped to the floor and waited for the authorities. I sat there looking around blankly at the bodies of the slain unable to refute their silent testament that what had happened was real. I still couldn’t believe it.

After the cops showed up I was taken into custody.

I’m not sure how long they held me, it seemed like a long time. I was kind of hoping they’d convict me and get it over with when this suit showed up. He said he was with the government and that there were opportunities for individuals such as myself working for the department he represented. I pointed out that I was a little busy getting convicted for multiple homicide right then, but that after the trial I’d be happy to come and work for him. I thought I was being smart but the suit didn’t bat an eyelid. I began to wonder who I was dealing with. He seemed pretty confident that he held all the cards, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and dropped the attitude. He asked me if I was a patriot, and after he was satisfied with my answer he mysteriously assured me that a little thing like a murder investigation wasn’t an obstacle to men such as his associates. After all the deceased were known criminals, the authorities ought to be thanking me. I had to admit I liked his perspective. The suit said that if I were to take up his offer there didn’t have to be any trial. After weighing up all the available alternatives, I signed on.

Shortly after that I was released into his custody and transferred to some kind of secure installation where I was told that I was a nova. I joined a handful of others. They trained us, showing us how to control our enhancements, giving us purpose and direction. For the first time in my life I felt like I belonged. I was actually good at what I did.

When our training was complete we were instructed to go out amongst other novas and represent the interests of the United States. As US government covert operatives attached to an organisation known as the Directive we were required to gather intelligence on the level of threat posed by nova groups such as Project Utopia, the Aberrants and Teragen (particularly Project Utopia). We were provided with cover identities and then sent to join Utopia inductees at a nearby Rashoud facility. After that we were given a free hand and allowed to pursue whatever avenues of investigation we saw fit.

Eventually I decided to don a mask and become the Jackal.

You may be wondering why I would choose such an epithet, but there is much that the jackal and I have in common. Jackals are nocturnal; in Egyptian mythology they have close associations with death and are said to guide souls from this world to the next. They are sacred to Anubis who weighs the souls of the dead on the Scales of Judgement.

So let the guilty know that the Jackal is coming for them and that they shall be judged.