The Plague Logs

[Marburg]

"The Festival of Blights" (Part XVII)


"You don't just RESIGN Boy!" Phage says in a menacing whisper through gritted teeth."

Marburg gnashes his own teeth & replies: "Ah'm prepaired ta loose"

"THAT'S the problem innit?!" Phage barks back at him.

"You're pepaired to loose...which means your crazy a** is prepaired to DIE. THAT, LAD...tells me you're not prepaired to WIN, & why I NEED to put you DOWN.

I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THIS!! He Roars.

Marburg has no idea how to reply to that, & for a split second, feels his stomach sink.


"This is not how I imagined our reunion Dimi..."

The Robot standing between the two men continues to recite fight rules & conditions that honestly, neither man is listening to, & would ignore anyway, even if they had.

Caul looks at the beast who has called him out, & doesn't see the rabid dog that now shows itself to him...he sees a boy of eight, washing glasses in a sink behind a bar somewhere here on Islay...all smiles, & pretending to run the place.

He remembers back further... four years further, when the feral freak was a toddler, & Caul became his Guardian.

Phage's memory continues to jump sporadically as he stares into eyes that reflect a creepy green light, like a mad dog caught in the headlights on a dark crossroads.
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Marburg has a headache.

The same type of headache when woke up somewhere in the bowels of Manhattan's Undercity.

He stares into the eyes of an old man that taught him how to tie his shoes, how to shoot a gun, fly a ship, respect the dead, recognize the Universe, & honor a little tradition here & there.


Finishing the rules, the robotic referee moves out from between the two combatants, & the fight begins; as both Plague Dogs toe the line, & simultainiuously throw the first punch....

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