User:Barney trubble/A broken city

This story is part of the Malton Chronicles. This story is fan-made, and is not officially part of any background history for Urban Dead.

- a note from the lost -

The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke said that. I used to believe it, I used to indulge myself that I, I was a good man. There is nothing good about the things I have done. I do not know how much blood has been spilled at my hands, I don’t care to remember.

In these expiring seconds that march towards my inevitable demise, I recount my story. I do not fear how you will deal with this; judge me, condemn me, and dismiss this as the ramblings of a demented soul; all I pray is that you remember me…

I came to Malton in the spring of 2000, there was such a buzz around the city… Necrotech was pouring literally millions of dollars in to the local economy and nobody was immune to the pervading optimism of that time, it was infectious. I can remember the train ride as if it was yesterday, weaving in and out through peaceful suburbia until we descended in to Malton. The huge sprawling Metropolis was breathtaking, as the train pulled to a halt at Gass Plaza Railway Station I was taken aback by the magnificent Clapton Stadium towering above the surrounding urban jungle.

I was to meet with my new boss in the Younghusband Arms before catching the game, as I walked the crowded pavement down towards the Pub, I noticed a funeral taking place at St. Timothy’s, a marvelous Gothic building wrought in marble, flanked with mossy gravestones. As I passed the voice of the priest seemed to carry further in the humid air of the city,

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to seek, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time for war, and a time for peace.”

A time for peace, here in the heart of a restless city, I found it hard to feel at peace.

The smoke-filled atmosphere of the bar accosted my lungs, it was hard to see through the haze of smoke. As my eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room I was shocked at how empty the establishment was. Apart from two old men engaged in an absorbing game of chess, the place was practically empty. I sat down at the bar and ordered my usual a double of Morgans' spiced rum. Sitting there feeling the alcohol burn it's way to my stomach, I tried to rid myself of my nervousness.

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, well my first impression of Dr. Langsing was startling. His skin was so pallid it almost seemed green in the dim light of the bar, he wore sensible square-rimmed glasses and behind them his eyes danced with excitement. But it was his smile that made me shudder, a crooked smile showing only a few teeth in the corner of his mouth, he did not seem like the noble prize winning scientist I knew him to be. He looked crazed.

The line between genius and insanity, is a thin one. Little did I know that this man had crossed that line long ago...