To Live

Jackson CadeJackson Cade, Promo

Jackson sits down in front of a Tombstone. The words ‘Here Lies CJ Thorpe’ engraved in the stone. Cade pours two glasses of whiskey, one for him, one for Joey.

“You know, Joey, sometimes I think I forget why I fight.”

He sips his drink.

“Every day, every fucking day, I get reminded of the pain, the sorrow that surrounds me. From the moment I put on the badge I should have realized there wouldn’t be any happy endings. In fact, all I’ve felt since taking up the law is suffering.”

He chuckles.

“Suffering Jasper’s demented displays, enduring Gravedigger’s sick little games. They want to beat me down, to place me in the ground right beside you and shovel in dirt by the pound onto my chest until my breathing slows… My heart grows weak… And my will goes dim. They want me to give in, Joey. They want me to die.”

Cade downs his drink, pouring another one.

“In fact, Gravedigger wanted to break me so bad he showed me the one thing he thought would end me.”

A pause.

“He showed me you, Joey. Placed me onto his ferry and forced me to stare you down. Except, you know, when I looked in your lifeless eyes it didn’t make me cry like I thought it would. It didn’t break my spirit. No, in fact, it reminded me of something I’d long forgotten. It reminded me of why I fight, Joey.”

Cade reaches out, placing his hand on the headstone.

“I fight… To live. I fight not for the war, not for the vengeance, but for the ability to draw breath in my lungs. I stand opposite Gravedigger and I defy him by refusing to let death take me.”

Jackson stands up, downing his second drink.

“Because death? Decay? It’s all Gravedigger has ever known, isn’t it? He doesn’t understand that living is more than just a beginning and end. It’s what you do with it that matters. I spend my life loving those who I’ve lost, I’ve spent it fighting, breathing! My heart beating in my chest with conviction as I stand for those who cannot stand for themselves.”

Cade pulls a shotgun from his back, loading a shell.

“Gravedigger doesn’t understand what it means to live. Everything in his life he has taken to fill that empty hole in his heart. From Tombstone’s former position to Eclipse’s hand in marriage. Nothing he has truly makes him happy. Nothing truly makes him feel… Alive. He can mimic it, he can even pretend to know how it feels.”

“But he can never truly experience it.”

Jackson slings the gun over his shoulder, placing his hand on the tombstone once more.

“I’ll show him what it means to live. For as long as blood pumps through my veins I’ll never back down. I will live for those who cannot, fight for those who can no longer stand. I will be the Law, Joey.”

He cocks the shotgun.

“And Gravedigger is going to be buried six feet beneath me.”

Cut.