Headless Horseman's Story

Jake was simply writing away in his notebook. Pit seemed like trouble kept following. He was on resurrection number four now. Still no clue what it meant, or the symbol that translated into Vessel being inscribed on his arm. He looked over into the sky, wondering one thing.

Who would want to use him as a vessel for anything?

Trotting through the forest on horseback, the dying sunlight at his back, the Horseman scoured the deep woods for his target. It was an anonymous client, calling for the death of a mysterious and apparently immortal individual by the name of Jake Bohm.

"Immortal." Right. He'd put that claim to the test.

The heavy clip-clop of the beast's hooves reverberated through the legion of the sharp towers of bark, leaves and sinew, the sound absorbed within the rough embrace of the large oaken pillars. He heard the faint caws of black birds deep in the forest; a lame echo that barely reached his person. Crickets sang their monotonous song to the star-laden sky, the stars themselves fighting the evaporating rays of sun for dominance over the heavens above.

He came to a bridge. It was a sturdy contraption of metal frame and wooden ground. Beneath it roared the white and chilling waters of a vehement river, threatening to take any that dared fall within to their swift and miserably freezing death. However, the Horseman's attention was not on the water; no, it was on the boy across the way.

A quick, er, glance, at the photo he kept assured him of his intention: this was his target. Giving no warning, he charged the boy. At his side, he carried a lengthy and very sharp spear. He strode onward, holding the weapon out in front as if he were jousting. The boy barely had time to react before the Horseman was across the bridge, impaling the poor child and pinning him into the soft soil beneath them. The boy ceased movement, and the Horseman raised his hand in victory.

He slid from his leather throne atop the stallion, sauntering over to the lifeless body that was depressed beneath his weapon. He retrieved the spear, standing over his kill as its blood drained from the razor-sharp blade.

If he'd still had a mouth, he would have chuckled.

Alas, he resigned to picking the boy off the ground and throwing him over his shoulder, carrying the cadaver over to his horse so that he may carry the boy back to his client, and reap his reward.

The lifeless body spring to life, breathing again. All of his wounds were now healed. "WHAT THE FUCK DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!?!?"

Those were Jake's only words before he noticed the Headless Horseman was the one who killed him. "Shit..."

He tried to get out of the Knights grasp and run in the opposite direction, towards the water under the bridge. He really hated it when someone tried to kill him.

The boy squirmed on the Hessian warrior's shoulders. The lumbering, decapitated bounty hunter struggled to retain his grasp on Jake, but he slipped from his perch on the Horseman's shoulder, slamming into the ground hard. As the boy clambered, struggling to crawl away, the Horseman reached down, grabbing both of the boy's ankles. With inhuman might, the Hessian swung the boy, like a ball and chain, head-first into a nearby tree; he listened as a sickening crack emanated from his victim's small frame.

Limp once again, the boy was in no position to get away. As roughly as he possibly could, the Horseman threw Jake onto the ground, face up, his spine rammed into a jagged rock protruding from the leaf-ridden forest floor. The Horseman stood beside his kill (again), producing one of the Beretta M9 pistols on his hip. Gun in hand, he commenced to shoot Jake in the face -six times- before reaching down to saddle his target once more.

Hopefully the child would stay down this time.

Jake awoke grasping for breath. "Exactly, what did it do to you to deserve this?!?" He yelled once again trying to struggle, squirm, and then run away from his attacker. Notably, every time he resurrected, all his wounds healed. The exception being the mark on his arm.

He ran, faster then he even thought possible, all the while hoping this assassin would just give up.

Being without a head put one in the rather annoying position of being unable to voice their frustrations. As the boy hauled his weight as fast as he could away from the Horseman, the latter of the two looked skyward (if one could consider it looking) and spread his arms, as if asking the gods "why?"

But, as the boy sprinted away, the Horseman had no choice but to resume his work. Producing a crossbow from his saddle, he took aim. Pulling the trigger caused the loaded bolt to sing through the air and through Jake's heart, dropping the little man instantly. This time, the Horseman took precautions to make sure he wouldn't escape.

Bounding over to his (three-time) kill, he took rope to the boy's arms and legs, effectively binding his limbs. The next step involved dragging him along the dirty ground, making sure to aim for every rock and root he could come across from where he was to where he was walking.

He finally manned to lug the boy onto his saddle, taking his own place atop the horse and commanding it to stride at a brisk but not at all swift pace.

When Jake resurrected to being tied up, he tried to get free. Persistently. It didn't matter if it seemed pointless, he kept trying, over and over again to get his bindings off. He just wouldn't relent, wouldn't give up.

And he wouldn't die.

"Listen, eventually you will have to get tired of killing me. Why not just quit while your ahead?" Jake then realized saying the word "ahead" or "head" might not be the smartest idea. "Please don't kill me again".

Had he any eyes to roll, the Horseman would have them staring at the back of his head. It was the most inconceivable thing, this boy's inability to stay dead. What would it take? Crucifixion? Silver bullets? A rather grotesque but curious scenario involving a grenade, surgical tools, and a rubber duck? The Horseman would think of some way to get this boy to die and stay dead.

For now, however, strangling him to death would have to do so he could finally load Jake's bony ass onto his horse's, well, ass.


They strode through the forest in relative silence. The Horseman "looked" around the wood, nonchalantly and for no apparent reason. It wouldn't take long for Jake to wake back up. He thought of tying the boy's arms to a tree, his legs to the saddle, and making the horse run as fast as the animal would go.

The thought alone amused him.

Jake resurrected, again, and looked at the horseman. "You know, eventually you will get bored of this and let me go. C'mon, I ain't dying any time soon even if I wanted too. Hell, I don't even know what I did to make me immortal in the first place. But this is just rediculas".

"Seriously, just stop please".

The Horseman would very much have liked to explain that his persistence in killing the boy was no more than a hefty paycheck cashed in his name, but he doubted he had enough skill with body language to tell the boy "it's just business." That, and being without any paper to write on at the moment, lest he took the time to chop down a tree and procure his own parchment through a process that would be far more constraining then just offing the child with no explanation whatsoever, it made conveying his intentions rather impossible.

Still, they rode through the forest; the Horseman sat quietly while Jake continued to prattle on about wanting the headless bounty hunter to "let him go" and that "[he] didn't do anything to deserve this."

A quick bullet to the boy's head afforded the Horseman a brief, but oh-so-satisfying, moment of silence.

When Jake woke up again, the place where he had been shot was somewhat itchy. "Great, I think some gunpowder got into my skin while I was resurrecting. It itches like crazy".

He continued to struggle to break free. It was only then he realized he was asking a headless person various questions. "Right....no head to respond with....okay then. This is a rather one sided argument. You know, if someone is paying you for this, they are probably just trying to screw with you. Send you after someone who keeps resurrecting? That really does sound like a horrible joke to play on someone".

'Hardly,' the Horseman thought...somehow, 'It's a serious job that requires serious work. Not that I'd expect you to understand.' If only he had his head. He could calmly and reasonably explain to the boy that his life actually is worth something -namely a hefty sum that the Horseman wouldn't even be able to fathom even if he had a brain to fathom it with- but only if that life ceases to exist. He'd have to get creative but he'd find a way to make the boy dead, and make him stay dead.

He hadn't tried decapitation yet...

Jake wasn't sure what to say. In retrospect, this conversation was extremely difficult to maintain. "So, are you going to let me go then? Or are you just going to kill me in various ways for a few hours first? Because the latter is just going to waste your time, which I imagine is rather very valuable".

His backup plan if he couldn't convince him to let him go was to be EXTREMELY irritating so he would just get so annoyed he would leave Jake alone.

The woods seemed to be getting thicker, as trees multiplied as the further they rode on. Surrounded by an empire of bark and leaves, it was almost a scene of serenity.

Almost.

Jake would not shut up. The Horseman, despite his cold exterior, had a side of him that enjoyed the little things in life, such as a nice horseback stroll through the woods, and the boy's incessant chatter proved to lessen the satisfaction achieved in such a moment. Killing him would offer a few moments of silence, but only just. He thought of several ways to kill Jake, but stayed his hand as the effort would ultimately be in vain, just as the last ten attempts had been.

Nevertheless, the talking was driving him to the point of rage. Retrieving the short sword from the sheath on his saddle, the Horseman impaled the boy through the throat...

And left his weapon there.

The weapon stuck in his throat would start to shake. Then, it would shake more. Then, it shattered in half, both ends flying in opposite directions, as Jake resurrected again. "Owww. That hurt. You know, if I am annoying you that much, maybe you should just let me go? You know, have fun and make money and not be around me?"

He hoped that this would convince the horseman to release him.

Well, that was interesting. He turned in his saddle to watch the pieces of his sword fly away in opposite directions, broken in half. After that fascinating spectacle, he turned to "look" at Jake, punching the boy in the face for allowing the short sword to succumb to such a fate.

After that, he turned around, drowning out the sound of the boy's voice with his own thoughts. They continued going, the woods getting thicker and thicker, an army of trees encompassing their location. All the while on this magnificent ride, the Horseman was formulating a plot to stamp out Jake's life once and for all.

He would probably need a lot of rope.

"Ow! If you didn't want your sword to break, you shouldn't have stuck it in me" he noted, looking at the scenery. "This is a really nice forest". It was in fact a very nice view. There were a lot of hummingbirds.

He then looked over in front of them. "Where are we going exactly?"

The Horseman merely looked back at the boy. Honestly, asking a man with no head a series of questions was the most idiotic thing anyone could do. Unless of course, his questions were intentionally rhetorical just to get on the Horseman's nerves, in which case, he would just shoot the boy again. However, he figured shooting was too quick, too painless. He'd need to devise a more painful method, a deterring method to keep the boy quiet.

Avoiding pain was a very natural human need. Pain is unpleasant, unless you are a masochist, and somewhere in the Horseman's "mind" he doubted this boy was anything like that. Still, striking the boy in the face was always satisfying, especially with a closed fist. Suppose that makes the Horseman a sadist.

Oh well...

"You know, if you think your annoyed, if you are. Kinda hard to tell when you don't have a head. Anyways, if you are, think about how I feel? You think I enjoy dying repeatedly? Just wait till I get older. What if I have a heart attack? I might just keep repeatedly having heart attacks over and over every minute! Imagine how painful that is going to be?"

Jake sighed. "I'm talking to a man with no head. For all I know you can't even hear or understand me. Why do I keep trying?" He looked at the horse. "You have a mouth. I don't suppose you can speak?"

Toning out the sound of Jake's voice was easier than he thought it would be. He just thought about all the wars he'd fought in, both while alive and while...headless. The screams and shrieks of those that were slaughtered and set aflame as he stampeded across the battlefield in the name of glory and money brought back a nostalgia he hadn't felt in a while.

It was a great feeling.

The horse kept striding along, trees passing by. When did this forest come to a fucking end? He liked nature as much as the next guy, but for God's sake, he just wanted to make his way out of here so he could lock the boy up and think of how to dispose of him. Suddenly, his thoughts were once again broken by Jake's chattering, causing him to metaphorically huff in annoyance. It was then that he had an idea so obvious he was both giddy and astounded at the same time that he hadn't thought of it until now.



He continued riding along through the woods, with Jake being dragged along behind him, face down and anchored to the saddle by a sturdy rope. His limbs were still bound so he couldn't move around too much. If the Horseman were able to smile, he'd be beaming from ear to ear.

God help the boy if the horse decided it needed to take a shit.

Jake was now extremely irritated, being dragged along side, which only made him complain further. And the forest went on for hours. However, it did let him do one other thing. It let him pick up a sharp rock on the road. Of course, it wasn't like he could just cut the binds quickly, so he did something else instead. He weakened them, slowly over time as they trotted and he was dragged down this never ending forest road. At least it seemed never ending.

So when the time came, and he saw a deep looking river, he finished off the rope that was keeping him tied to the horse, and rolled down the side of the hill. Hopefully, the horseman would not look back and think he just was knocked unconscious or something. He broke the weakened rope around his limbs as he fell into the river.

There was just one kink in his plan. The river led to a waterfall, and the rapids were too strong for Jake to fight. So, he fell and hit a rock at the end, breaking his neck. About 12-14 seconds later, he woke up underwater, and quickly swam up before he drowned.

At the very least, the horseman would not track his scent. Maybe, if. Jake was really lucky, he would just give up...

The Horseman stood over the weird hybrid individual as it stirred from unconsciousness. Pistol in hand, the Horseman was ready to put this strange creature down if need be. Peculiarly enough, it looked like a man, but it bore characteristics of a dog, or a fox; a strange creature, to be sure. Then again, he was a walking, decapitated bounty hunter that still rode a horse among automobiles, so he figured he didn't have much room to judge others for appearing strange.

Still, as this thing roused from its lifeless state, he took caution, stepping back in case it lashed out at him. Finger on the trigger, he was prepared to put some bullets into this strange person --if they were indeed a person-- if need be.

Johnathon look at the strange man holding a gun at him and asked "what have i done this time, did i break the law?".
He slowly stood prepared to bolt at any given time, and then realized that this man had no head!!
Now Johnathon was really scared, and for the first time in his life, he had no clue what to do.........

As the poor kid stood up (the Horseman realizing he was just a young boy after all), he began to panic as the Horseman kept his gun trained on him. When the kid started questioning if he had broken the law, the Horseman resided to holstering his weapon. Had he a head, he would have laughed. Crossing his arms, the Horseman sized the boy up (somehow), gauging his stature. He wasn't too tall; about average height for a kid as young as he.

Using his hand, the Horseman gestured at the scene before them, as if asking "Just what in the hell happened here?"

Johnathon, realizing what he meant walked over to it "there was a semi truck here that hit the jeep, but now it was gone and so was Alana, I hope she is ok" He explained
and then he proceeded to lift the vehicle to check and make sure she was not still trapped inside he then saw a note underneath the passenger seat that read something like this: "if you found this it means your alive at least, im fine as well just gone to pick up a tow truck, I've got nothing but a few minor scrapes". Now whether or not this was true has yet to be seen.......