Nightside 09 - Just Another Judgement Day

women,” I said. “Isn’t that enough?”
    “No,” said the Walking Man. “It’s never enough.”
    “We’re just businessmen!” protested Paul Hellsreich. “We provide a service, we protect our customers from the vicissitudes of fate!”
    “We’re insurance men!” said Davey Hellreich. “We never killed anyone!”
    “We’ll go legitimate!” said Paul. “We’ll pay taxes! We promise!”
    “You don’t have to kill us!” said Davey. “We’re not worth it!”
    “It’s always worth it,” said the Walking Man.
    “You should turn them over to Walker,” I said quickly, as he started to raise his guns again. “They have surrendered.”
    “To Walker?” said Paul. “And end up in Shadow Deep? I think I’d rather be shot.”
    “No problem,” said the Walking Man.
    “To hell with that,” said a new voice. “I’ve never let a client down yet.”
    We all looked round in surprise as the owner of the charming French accent came forward. God alone knew where she’d managed to hide, but Penny Dreadful had survived the massacre without a drop of blood on her. She moved carefully through the carnage, stepping daintily over dead bodies, and came to a halt facing the Walking Man.
    “Penny,” I said carefully. “Get out of the way. You don’t have anything that can stop the Walking Man.”
    “I took their money,” she said. “Swore to guard them against all dangers, to put my body between theirs and all harm. That’s the job.”
    “She took their money,” said the Walking Man. “Even knowing where it came from. That makes her as guilty as them.”
    “No it bloody doesn’t!” I said. “She’s a professional, that’s all! Just like me. And Chandra.”
    “You side with the sinners, you die with the sinners,” said the Walking Man. “It really is that simple.”
    “No it isn’t,” I said. “Not here. Not in the Nightside. We do things differently here.”
    “I know,” said the Walking Man. “That’s the problem. Sin is sin. You’ve lived here so long you’ve forgotten that.”
    “She is brave, and honourable, and trustworthy, in her way,” I said. And I moved slowly and deliberately forward, to stand between Penny and the Walking Man. “She’s done good things.”
    “I’m sure God will take that into consideration,” said the Walking Man. And he shot right past my ear. I spun round, but it was already too late. Penny was falling to her knees, a dark and bloody third eye in the middle of her forehead. I caught her before she hit the floor, but she wasn’t breathing any more. I knelt before the Walking Man, holding my dead friend in my arms. I heard two more shots, but didn’t look round to watch the Hellsreich brothers fall. I didn’t want to let Penny go, even though I knew there was nothing I could do. Her body leaned heavily against me, like a sleeping child. She didn’t deserve to die like this. Even if she had been the infamous Penny Dreadful, and done all the things she’d done, she didn’t deserve to die like this.
    I finally put her aside, got back on my feet, and glared at the Walking Man, who stared impassively back. I started towards him, and Chandra was quickly there to grab my arm and stop me.
    “No, my friend! Not now. We’re not ready.”
    “Let go of my arm,” I said, and he let go immediately.
    I was breathing hard, my whole body tense with the need to do . . . something. I knew he’d kill me if I took another step forward, but right then, I wasn’t sure I cared, as long as I took him down with me.
    “What about God’s mercy?” I said finally, in a harsh voice I barely recognised. “What about his compassion?”
    “Not my department,” said the Walking Man. He decided I wasn’t going to do anything after all and put away his guns.
    “What gives you the right to condemn anyone to Hell?”
    “I don’t send anyone to Hell. I send them to judgement.”
    “Who are you, to take such responsibility upon yourself?” said Chandra Singh.
    The Walking Man smiled; and for the first time it was a simple, human smile. “About time you asked. Very well, just for you; the secret origin of the Walking Man. My name is, or more properly was, Adrien Saint. No-one special. Just a man with a job and a wife and two small children. Mr. Average, I suppose. No great ambitions. All I wanted was to get on with my life and look after my family.
    “A teenage joy-rider in a stolen car hit my wife and my two children head-on, when he lost control taking a