Evan MacMillan || The Trapper || DBD

Lore

Evan MacMillan idolised his father. It wasn't just that he was heir to a great fortune, it was the way he ran the estate. Raised under his firm hand, Evan had taken to running the workforce with an iron hand. Production was always high and the MacMillan Estate prospered under father and son. As Archie MacMillan's mental health slowly disintegrated, Evan protected him from the herd who wanted a piece of the fortune. No matter what his father asked of him, Evan would do. When Archie MacMillan finally snapped, Evan became his enforcer in what would become known as the worst mass murder in modern history. They never proved that Evan lead over a hundred men into those dark tunnels before detonating the explosives and sealing them to their fate. The tale of the MacMillan Estate is a tale of wealth and power gone very wrong. How many victims fell to the hands of father and son is unknown. No record is ever made of what became of Evan MacMillan. His father is another unsolved puzzle, found trapped in the locked basement of his own warehouse - starved and abandoned.

Memory 1235

Evan is fourteen years old and he knows something his father doesn't. The thought thrills him, amazes him, scares him. There is something his father doesn't know. Something the owner of one of the most profitable mines in all of Seattle doesn't know. His father manages his workers with an iron fist. No, not an iron fist, brass knuckles. He calls them maggots, grovelling maggots. He's about to discover he's wrong. They're more than maggots, much more, they're men. And men working together can bring change. One of these men is inspiring others to take their lives back. If they can stand together, maybe, just maybe, they can bring in the union. With the union, they'll have rights, more than rights, they'll have dignity, freedom, time. Time to spend with their friends. Time to spend with their family. Time to be human. Evan knows something his father doesn't know... and he feels empowered.

Memory 1236

Evan's father thrusts him to the ground, calls him weak, tells him he's got to stop being so nice to the maggots, stop talking to them, stop helping them. Keep them in line, break them, let them know who's boss. If you give them an inch, they'll take a yard. They're just using you! Evan knows better than to say anything. His father punched and broke his jaw last year when he showed weakness. This year, he'd rather not sip dinner through a straw. This year he holds back, bites his tongue. He wants to tell his father about the union, but doesn't. He feels ashamed, torn between his loyalty for his father and for his friends, Bob, Tom, Jim. They deserve more.

Memory 1237

Evan enjoys creating something from nothing. He's not an artist, but he enjoys sketching and he hides his sketches from his father. His father forbids sketching. Sketching is for weaklings, vagabonds, gypsies. He wants Evan to do worthy things. He drags Evan to his most profitable mine, and teaches him how to manage maggots. He's hands on, very hands on, abusive, violent, brutal. The key is to break them, break their will, break their spirit. Once broken, a human is a tool that can be wielded to do anything. Broken. It's what he did to Evan's mother, it's what he's doing to him. But Evan still sketches, Sketching is defiance.

Memory 1238

Evan watches his father yell at one of his workers. He's sick. He wants to leave. But he's not allowed. He leaves… he loses his job. Evan feels for the man. Wishes he could do something for him. He wants to tell him things are going to change. The union is coming. The union is coming and with it a good wage and fair working hours. But the man's lungs are black and his stomach is rot. Too much stress. Too much acid. Not enough sleep. He collapses. His father doesn't care. Kicks him in the gut. Tells Evan to drag him out of the mine. Evan drags him out. For a moment he feels disgusted at the man's weakness and wants to put... this… maggot out of its misery. He's becoming his father and he's not sure if that's a bad thing.

Memory 1239

Evan's father forces him to set a bear trap in a dark forest. His father's obsessed with hunting bears. Always has been. Always will be. He tells him the story. Always the same story. He doesn't want to hear it but he will. His father was hunting with his brother when they ran into a grizzly bear. The bear tore his uncle's arm off and bit into his head. Evan's father jumped on the grizzly's back. Stabbed the bear endlessly. Killed the bear. Ripped open its stomach to retrieve his brother's head. Carried his brother's mutilated body ten miles to their family estate. This time it's ten miles. Last time it was five. His father grins. The story is changing with every telling. Sometimes Evan wonders if there even was a bear.

Memory 1240

Evan's inspired in a way he's never been before. Furiously he sketches his father in a bear suit killing his uncle. He never met his uncle, but he's seen pictures. His uncle was a philanthropist. A bleeding heart. Disloyal. He would have run the business into the ground with proper wages and all that socialist crap. That's why he had to go. Evan doesn't have proof, but he knows. Deep down he knows his father murdered his uncle. Tied him up. Left him for a bear. There was no knife. No fight. No honor. Just a terrible death for a disloyal worm. Evan suspects all this and yet… he doesn't feel disgusted or ashamed. He feels something else. Something he's trying not to feel. Something… he won't admit to himself.

Memory 1241

Evan looms over his father's bed and watches him sleep. He hates and loves him at the same time. Sometimes he wonders what his life would be like without him. He owes him so much and yet he's miserable and alone. He raises a massive grey stone and holds it there for a long minute that feels like forever. He could be free. Truly free. But he can't. Not like this. He could free himself in other ways. Accidents happen. Hunting accidents. Mining accidents. He could lure him into the bowels of the mine and ignite a stick of dynamite. No way he'd survive. But despite it all, Evan can't do it. His love is bigger than his hate. He owes him too much.

Memory 1242

Evan sketches his father in a bear suit drowning his mother. He never believed his father's story. Something didn't feel right. His eyes. His grin. His lack of empathy. She was pulled into a current and never seen again. His mother… she was beautiful. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Fun. Full of compassion. His opposite. She didn't just go out to swim one morning and never come back. She was getting in his way and no one gets in his way. Not even family. Especially not family. Obedience or death. Evan's tired of obedience. Yes, he's loyal to his father but he's also loyal to his friends. They talk to him. Encourage him. Think he's a great artist. He has friends. He's never really had a friend. His father wouldn't allow it. Waste of time. They're using you. Yes, he's loyal to his father but he's also loyal to his friends. They deserve better.

Memory 1243

Evan's father stares at him across the dinner table. He knows. Maybe he doesn't know but he senses something's amiss. He has that look in his eye. That look that tells Evan he's in for it. He chews on a fatty piece of rabbit and hopes his father doesn't say anything. He should have known better than to keep something from him. His father knows. He always knows. Last year Evan lost his cool on a man who said something about his mother. He almost beat the man to death with a two-by-four while his father watched and laughed. The authorities pulled Evan away. He smiled at Evan and knew what he wouldn't admit to himself. He enjoyed beating on that man. Not because of the insult. Not because he felt threatened. But because he felt… Powerful... His father smiled. Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, eh?

Memory 1244

Evan finds his sketches torn to bits. He puts the pieces together. All of them accounted for except one. He doesn't have the picture of his drowning mother. His father enters his room. Despair and dread overwhelm him. He waits for a blow that never comes. Instead his father tells him he has instinct and instinct is everything. He tells him he inherited his instinct from his side of the family. The same instinct that told him Evan was keeping something from him. Don't pretend. I know. A few of your maggot friends sold you out for a few dollars. Evan starts but doesn't say anything. Can't say anything. The words are caught in his throat. He apologizes. His father says nothing. Walks away. Evan follows him to his bedroom where he sees… the picture of his dying mother… framed above the bed. His father tells Evan he will learn a lesson tomorrow. One he hopes he understands. Evan stares at his father and feels… hate… hate for the maggots who betrayed him and for his father… respect…. no… not respect… admiration…