Zacharia (2.0)

Warning: Currently a second rewrite of a story posted within the last 12 hours, please read this version. Same warning applies, graphic content, weird shit, and general fucked-upness


Zacharia Kirkland slowly moved along the fragmented stone walkway. Each step made a soft click from the hard rubber sole of his shoes. He reached the double doors leading into the home. The doors themselves were more ornamental than practical, each adorned with large windows, with colored opaque glass. Gently he shifted his wait and passed the case from his right hand to his left.
He felt his hands start to sweat in the rubber gloves as he reached forward and slowly turned the doorknob. A soft click came from inside the door and Zacharia pushed the door open.
To his right, the passage led to the living room. It had a large ornamental rug, and two large chairs that faced towards a fire place. A couch sat against the far wall, with a large painting above it. He turned his head to the passage towards him that passed by an alcove containing a bookshelf.
Zacharia carefully stepped along the tile, doing his best not to make noise. He made his way through the maze of furniture and excess to reach a back bedroom. The door pushed open silently and a large bed sat in the middle of the room with a man sleeping on his back.
He moved to a nightstand and carefully removed the things on top of the stand, before laying down the case. He lifted the latches, taking his time, making as little noise as possible.
First he removed a small pistol. It wasn’t loaded, but it didn’t need to be. Than he removed a small pack of extra long zip ties, followed by a long piece of cloth. Finally an even smaller case, made of wood and initials carved into it.
Zacharia looked over to the sleeping man and sighed softly. He scanned the room, looking for the best advantage. He gently picked up the cloth from the nightstand and stood over the sleeping man. With his free hand he reached forward and opened the man’s mouth, than lifting his hand, so he could wrap the cloth around the sleeping man’s head, creating a gag.
He left the man’s head go. A soft grunt came from the man, but he didn’t wake up. Zacharia stood over him for a moment before bringing his hand up and backhanding the man. A muffled cry came as he woke up startled by the sudden attack.
“Good…” Zacharia said softly. The man tried to move away, scrambling across the bed. “I wouldn’t…” He gestured to the gun on the table passively, making sure the man saw it. “I think I could fire a shot before you’d get to a door or window.”
The man stopped moving, his eyes locked on Zacharia, tears starting to form. Zacharia just nodded and picked up the package of zip ties and the gun, walking over to the side of the bed the man had scrambled to.
“Arms out front…” Zacharia said. After a moment the man didn’t comply. “Do as I say, or you will die.” His arms sprung forward. Zacharia put the pack to his mouth and gently pulled the zip tie out of it using his teeth. He tossed the package aside and slowly wrapped the tie around the man’s wrists.
“Alright.” He pushes the man back down onto the bed. “This won’t take long.” Zacharia laid down the gun and walks over to pick up the small engraved box. He runs his thumb along the crack along the side. With a gentle push the box opened, exposing scalpels of varying sizes. He pulls one of the larger ones out, stopping at the feet of the man.
He looked at the man, twirling the scalpel between his fingers. “I’m sorry I can’t make this quick.” With a sift movement he slams the scalpel into the man’s leg above his ankle. A muffled pained cry came from the man. “But…” Zacharia pulled another scalpel out and slammed it into the other leg. “You don’t deserve that luxury.” The man laid on the bed, tears streaming down his face.
He sets the case down next to the immobilized man. “Now…Where to begin…” He slowly pulled a third scalpel from the case, and stared at the man. “Well, first…” He grabbed the bottom of the man’s shirt, and ran the blade along it, flicking it up as it got to the collar, slicing into the man’s chin. “Sorry…” Zacharia said, not really caring about the wound, as he tore away the shirt.
“So…Shall we begin?” He leaned over the man and held the steel instrument like a pen. “We’ll begin with…” he made three quick slashes, forming an ‘B’ on the man’s chest, “Bethany.” Zacharia slowly cut into the man’s flesh, forming out the name, talking. “You know what happened to her? Ran away from home at age sixteen. Went to jail three times before she was twenty. Killed last week by her pimp.” He looked up from the shallow wounds forming her name. “Ten years after you had your fun with her…”
Zacharia looked over the man’s body. “Then there was…” He again made three quick slashes on the man’s stomach, making a ‘Z’. He laughs softly to himself. “I always wanted to do that…” he looked back at the man. “Zoe.” He repeated the process as before, talking slowly. “The police accused her father, and he went to jail. She currently resides in a mental institution.” He let the blade travel a little longer and deeper at the end of the ‘e’. “She is seventeen, eight years after she knew you…”
Zacharia looked at the scalpel and gently wiped the blood off of it with his shirt. “Just one more…And I know you remember her.” He moved the scalpel to the man’s inner thigh. Carefully, and deeply, he started to carve the letters into his skin. First a ‘J’, than an ‘e’. “Jessica…” he said softly. “You killed her…And her mother killed herself.” He felt his hand tighten on the tool. “You bastard.” He cried and slammed the blade down onto the man’s crotch, unsure of where exactly where it landed, but heard a new louder cry of pain from the man.
His hand trembled as he let go of the scalpel imbedded in the man. “I-I’m sorry…” He said, slowing his breathing down. “I lost my cool.” Zacharia looked at his own watch. “It’s getting late…” he said, reaching down and pulling out the scalpels from his legs. He picked up the gun and pointed it at the man, seeing the fear in his eyes. Zacharia pulls the trigger. The man cries out as the gun gives out a soft click. “It’s not loaded…” He laughs softly and walks over to his case, looking down at the man. “I’d suggest getting those wounds looked at, some of them look pretty serious.” He took one of the bloody scalpels and slashed it across the man’s throat, cutting deep.
He puts away his things and closes the case. “Goodbye…” he says softly and leaves the man bleeding to death.

Zacharia reached the front door and saw a blonde haired woman standing in it’s opening. He slowed his steps, looking her over quickly. She wore blue jeans an a white shirt. She smiled at him.
“How did it go?” she asked.
He stopped. “Did you drug him Janice?”
“No…” she said, stepping outside. “He’s just a heavy sleeper.”
Zacharia shook his head, following her. “I’m not sure he even understand what was going on, only felt the pain…”
Janice stopped and turned to look at him. “Isn’t that the point?”
“No…” he stepped passed her, walking to the sidewalk. “This is justice, they must know their sins.”
“Good.” She laughed softly, following him. “Now, go home, get some rest.”

The next day came and Zacharia sat at the edge of his bed, in the small one bedroom apartment, staring at his left inner forearm. The radio was on, and playing some inane pointless soft rock. He gently picked up the scalpel beside him and carved a random design into the skin, before filling it with the name Joseph Harper. He stared down at the blood covered skin.
“That’s pretty sick.” A voice from the behind him on the bed.
He looked over his shoulder at Janice. “That doesn’t matter…”
She sighed and sat herself up. “You’re doing the right thing.”
Zacharia looks down at his arm. “I know…”
The radio started to crack with the top of the hour news update. “Hospital director Joseph Harper was found dead in his home. Witness reports have a man leaving her home about four in the morning. Police are keeping a lot of details under wraps, but sources say they have a suspect.”
Zacharia looked back at Janice. “Do you think they know?”
Janice shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” She smiled. “You won’t be caught.”
Someone knocked at his front door. He walked over and opened the door, seeing a woman, in her early thirties, on the other side. “Hello, ma’am.”
“Are you Zacharia Kirkland?”
“I am…” He frowned. He didn’t recognize the woman as a tenant.
“Is something wrong?”
“Have you been in contact with a Mr. Joseph Harper?”
“Yes…He had a job opening at his hospital…”
“Did you go see him last night?” She asked.
“Look, who are you? What is this about?” Zacharia felt his fists clench.
“I am Detective Andrea Daveys. Mr. Harper was killed in his home last night.”
Zacharia’s hand tightened on the cheap wooden door.
“Where you at Mr. Harper’s residence last night?” She asked again
“No…” He said.
“You were a surgeon, weren’t you?” She asked.
“I was. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Your daughter, her name was Jessica, correct?”
His felt his finger nails dig into his palm. “What is this about?”
She smiled softly. “Just checking on a few facts.” She bowed her head slightly. “I’ll leave you be for now.” He watched her walk away from the door. Zacharia slammed the door shut, making the room shake.
He turned his head to see Janice in the doorway. She frowned. “She knows…”
Zacharia nodded.
“She’ll need to be taken care of.”
“I can’t.” He said.
“It has to be done.”
“She’s not a bad person…” He stood, staring over the empty room.
Janice grabbed his shoulder, turning him to her. “Look, I know what I’m talking about. Who told you how to kill the lawyer, and make it look like a surgical accident?”
“You did…”
“That’s right, you’ve got to trust me. I know what is best.”
Zacharia didn’t say anything, he just looked to the ground.
“Think of it this way. She’s stopping you from getting the bad men. That makes her a bad person.”
“I…I…guess…” He said.
“You guess? It’s true. She’s stopping you from doing the right thing.”
“You’re right…”
“Good…Now, you’re going to have to do everything I say, understand.”
He nodded and looked up at her. “Yes.”

Andrea sighed, walking across the vacant parking lot of the police station. It was well passed midnight, she had spent most of her time doing research on her case. She reached her car and stuck her hands into her pockets for her keys.
“Miss Daveys…” a voice came from behind her.
She spun around and saw Zacharia standing about a dozen feet behind her. “Mr. Kirkland.”
“You shouldn’t have come looking for me…” he said softly.
It was then she noticed the gun in his hand. “Oh lord…” she felt like kicking herself for forgetting her side-arm at her desk. “Now…calm down…” she said.
“He was a bad man…” Zacharia said, taking a step forward. “He deserved what he got.”
“I know…” she said. “I read the case file…He killed her daughter and went to trail.”
“He got off!” He cried. “The bastard lawyer of his got him off!”
She stared at him as he started to laugh softly.
“But the lawyer got what was coming to him. It was lucky me. Half a year after the trail, he was under my knife, under my will.” He laughed.
“You killed him…” she said.
Zacharia laughed. “I did! And dozens more. One after another. One bad man after another. Each came under my knife.”
“That’s why you were discharged a year ago…”
“No!” He laughed even harder. “They felt bad for me. They thought I had the worst luck in the world, after the death of my daughter, my wife, and then having so many patients go south. They never thought I killed them.”
Andrea stood and nodded slightly. “I understand…” she said.
He took another step forward. “You can’t possible understand!”
She didn’t respond.
He started to cry. “Why did you have to come…”
“I…” she said softly, watching him.
“Why…Why…Why…” he said, tears now obscuring his vision.
“Zacharia, put the gun down. Is this what Janice would want?”
“Shut UP! You aren’t my WIFE!” He cried, putting his hands to his temples, as if trying to block something out.
“I never said I-”
“You aren’t her! She wouldn’t have me do this.”
“I don’t understand.” She said, watching Zacharia.
“Stop YELLING! Why don’t you just leave me alone!”
“What?”
“I can’t do it…” he said, tears streaming down his face. “I can’t kill her. She’s not a bad person…”
“Mr. Kirkland.”
“Stay back!” he yelled, waving his hand that held the gun. “Stay back!”
“Okay…” she said, backing a few steps away.
“Please just leave me alone!”
“I can’t do that.” Andrea said.
Zacharia laughed. “Ha…I get it…” He gently pressed the barrel of the gun to his temple. “You’ll never leave…never…”
“NO!” Andrea cried, leaping forward.
A shot fired.
Zacharia fell to the ground, a gentle stream of blood coming from the hole in the side of his head. “Oh My God.” She dropped to her knees, felt his wrist in a vain attempt to find life. “No…No…No…” Andrea kneeled over the dead man, unable to save a life.