Page 125 - Hunter - The Vigil

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CHAPTER THREE: HUNTER ORGA N I Z A T I O N S
efforts, paying for armaments, medical fees and funerals. Like Hunters
a true union, the Union looks after the bereaved families of
You’re a family man, balancing your own business with
people who fell in the struggle. The online community has
what you do at night. Your wife and kids are beginning to slip
fostered a real community, with real friendships, real bonds of
away from you, because you’re not around, and you’re begin-

trust. Several people have met and married significant others
ning to make mistakes because you’re way behind on sleep.
through the community. It may be unofficial and ad hoc, but

You work in a bar. People talk to you. Sometimes, when
the bonds of human trust are powerful.
they’ve had a few, they let things slip and you have a job to do.
It’s not so political these days, but it serves the same purpose
You lost your family to something terrible. Shortly after,
as those men and women of Chicago so long ago: ordinary people
you hit the bottle and the skids in quick succession. Almost
standing together as one against those who would oppress them.
by accident, you ended up killing off some kind of demon, and
The Union seems finally to be working on a worldwide basis. Hol-

people saw you. You’re getting yourself together now. You’ve
ly would have been proud. The Union certainly recognizes its debt
got a job collecting trash and a place at the YMCA. Every so
to her: there’s a picture of her on a banner at the top of every forum
often, you log on at the local Internet cafe and pick up some
page, linking to a page in her memory. She died fighting in 2005.

information. No one knows the streets like you.
Many of the Union’s members knew her and would follow her, if
You’re a political activist, and the monsters are just
necessary. For now, they’re paying their dues.
another kind of oppressor to hunt. The people in the anti-
The Enemy war group think you’ve got a screw loose. The people in the
The Union is so widely spread, so heterogeneous, that it’s Union reckon the days of left-wing direct action are over. But
impossible to really generalize about its members’ approach to what is the Union’s purpose if it isn’t a kind of social justice
the Vigil. Still, from a glance at the forums (assuming you’ve in action?
passed all the checks and got a password), it’s fairly easy to You’ve never thought about politics in your life. You’re
conclude that the one thing most of them have in common just a guy trying to get by. By day, you’re a youth worker, trying
is they’re mainly concerned with protection of themselves, to stop the local kids falling prey to drugs, keeping them out
their families and their communities. It’s not about ideology of the gangs, trying to do something about the poverty you see
at all: if there is a threat, they band together and deal with all around you. By night, you’re keeping those kids safe from
it, posting in code on the bulletin board that they’re going to things that the other social workers don’t even believe in.
war before they get cracking on the job at hand. You saw action in Iraq and you’re home now, but the
They don’t really care what the monster is: they’re all mon- war still goes on; the nightmares you have of Basra have been
sters, pretty much. Vampires, witches, beasts, demons, ghosts supplemented by another nightmare that goes on and on, and

— they’re all the same. Sometimes Union members take their you’ve got no choice but to fight it, because fighting is all there
vigilantism a bit further, dealing with human threats, ranging is, and fi ghting is your only chance of making it through.
from slashers and cult members right down to muggers and drug Factions
dealers. What matters is if they pose a threat.
The different philosophies held by members of the Union
Until they actually harm someone, most of the Union’s
have nicknames that ascribe them more coherence than they
opponents don’t really come under the radar. Although some
actually have. Like any forum, the Union has flame wars and

of its members would like to be a bit more proactive, the
arguments. People make alliances and exchange details and
Union is essentially reactive. If a monster doesn’t come onto
thoughts privately with people they’ve never met face to face.
a member’s turf, if it doesn’t appear to hurt anyone, it’s not
Most in the Union are Home First advocates: you look
worth it. It’s a bit of a narrow view, but when you’re most
after your own. Your own turf, your own family, your own
likely balancing being a monster hunter with a day job and a
community. It’s not about taking the fight to them. It’s about

family, it makes a lot of sense.
keeping your part of the world safe. Having said that, mem-
The Union’s online forums have a wealth of informa-

bers who become part of the Union community find that their
tion...if only a member can find it. A sub-forum on the bul-

part of the world soon extends to include the friends they’ve
letin board archives information on many different kinds of
made through the web.
creature, but it’s split up among several hundred conversa-
Members of The General Strike are much more ex-
tion threads, which, of course, are cluttered with conversa-
treme: they believe it’s the Union’s job to fight the forces of

tion and tangential information. Searching is only of limited
oppression across the world. The moral imperative, they say,
utility, since a lot of the Union forums’ accepted slang terms
is to go out and find those monsters and, when they discover

for the different kinds of monsters get used interchangeably
them to be dangerous, kill the bastards. Not many members of
across different kinds of monster. Much of the information is
the Union believe this. This is partly because, let’s face it, the
accurate, inasmuch as it gives a pretty accurate view of what
Union numbers a few hundred ordinary people worldwide.
each monster can do and how often, their weaknesses, and
And also because Union members who favor the General
the things that can’t hurt them. But finding out what monster

Strike tend to get themselves killed. A lot.
the forums are talking about — there’s the trick. Depending
Politicals want to go back to the Union’s predecessors,
on the wrong information has killed dozens of hunters over
and go even beyond the General Strike: they say it’s the
the years.
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