Simon Dark #2

Writer: Steve Niles
DC, $2.99 US, $3.65 CAN

Eddie the Machete, a serial killer, is attacking a 13 year old girl in a back ally. Simon Dark tries to save the girl from him but he is too late. While they are fighting, Gotham City Police show up. Eddie the Machete pushes Simon Dark at the police and the police open fire shooting Simon Dark in the chest. Eddie the Machete gets away. While the police are investigating the crime scene, the detective on the scene pronounces Simon Dark dead and ships him off the morgue to be autopsied.

At the morgue, the medical examiner Beth and the detective discover his body is made of patchwork skin sewn together. They remove his mask and find he is only a kid no more than 18 years old. While removing his clothes, they find a wire with blood on it. The blood tests positive as the same blood from a decapitated cult member the police discovered last week at an abandoned church. As they turn back to start the autopsy, they find the body missing. Simon is hiding under the table and makes a run for the door as soon as they find him. He escapes onto the street and makes his way to the rooftops while Beth and the detective are chasing him. He gets away and heads towards Sacred Martyr Church. Already at the church, one of the cult members, Vincent is looking around. He removes his eyeball and places it between a crack in the wall. He hopes to keep an eye on Simon Dark who interrupted their ritual and killed a member of the cult last week. While headed back into his limo, he shoots a homeless woman in the head then leaves.

A woman enters Webb's Market to find it open but no one around. Shortly after, the medical examiner Beth shows up looking for the owner. Beth notices the door leading to downstairs is open and goes to investigate. The young woman follows Beth to the basement where they find the shop owner and some others with Simon Dark passed out in need of medical attention. The young woman gets frightened and runs away. She takes off running down the street. She runs past Eddie the Machete sitting in a white van and he starts to follows her. In his office, the detective who was with Beth at the autopsy is talking on the phone to another person and indicates that they have "found him". He hangs up the phone and removes his watch to reveal his hand has been sewn on.

Submitted by Alec Peden. Thanks Alec!