Fractured: The Fracpocalypse Book 1

by D. S Mac

  He averted his gaze to Hannah. A smile raised the corners of his mouth as his eyes wandered to her arse. What luck to have found such an incredible woman. She was fierce, strong but also kind. She was everything he had ever wished for while being sucked through time uncontrollably.

  Hannah peered over her shoulder and caught Drake’s eyes. Her mouth opened to speak when a ferocious shudder rocked the cabin. All three of them were thrown off balance to the floor. Their heart rates rose instantly. Blood rushed to their faces. Drake scrambled to his feet and offered a hand to Hannah, she took it, and he pulled her up. He turned to do the same for Fergus, but he had already made it to his feet, his eyes wide from the near-death experience.

  “Fuck me, ’bout shat myself.” Fergus hugged the rails for support. His mouth lingered open. Just as they recovered, another violent shake ran through the shaft. The mirrored walls rattled in their frames. The lights instantly shut down, which threw the elevator into darkness. Drake felt his muscles tighten.

  “What on earth is going on?” He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. The pressure rose along with fear and anxiety. Had they failed? Was the beginning of the end now?

  A machine-like whirring pierced through the shaft, amplified by the small space. It rattled Drake’s skull. Disorientating him.

  “Well, shit.” Fergus punched one of the mirrored walls; broken glass rained down onto the metal floor. The crack made Hannah jump back into Drake. He caught her and pulled her into his arms. “It has started.”

  As if by divine intervention, the backup lighting burst to life. The sudden phosphorus glow temporarily blinded them. As they shielded their eyes, something gave way. Within a split second, an ear-splitting crack of a whip whistled down the shaft when the cables snapped. The elevator fell.

  Drake could do nothing but watch and silently scream as all three of them were launched into the ceiling. He collided cheek first, instantly feeling the bruising. A mess of arms and legs from Hannah and Fergus connected with his legs and torso. Shards of the smashed mirror riddled them with superficial cuts. No more than a second later, the metal death can crashed into the base of the shaft. They careened into the floor. The emergency lighting strobed, intermittently lighting up the cabin. Drake groaned. His body had taken a pounding in the fall, but he was still alive. He raised his head; a wave of dizziness flooded over him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and tried again.

  “Hannah… Ferg, you guys alright?” He had made it to his knees. Nausea flowed through him in waves. The strobing lighting was not helping. Disoriented and bruised, he tried to control his breaths. Hoping to regain some semblance of control. “Hannah… Ferg?”

  A faint groaning from somewhere on his left, he reached over, faintly aware that the strobing effect looked like slow motion. His hand felt hair. It was long hair. It was wet and sticky. Drake edged closer, found Hannah’s shoulders and attempted to roll her. She groaned more with the move but went with the momentum and fell onto her back. Her eyes were open. A gash to her crown was weeping blood.

  Drake watched as she slowly regained herself. Her eyes became more focused. She held out a hand. “Pull me up, please.”

  Drake grabbed her hand and pulled her into a seated position. “Ferg, is he alright?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  From the other side of the cabin, Fergus let out a throaty whine. “That’s the last time—” he grunted as he pushed himself up “—I ever use a fucking elevator.”

  Drake turned back to Hannah; his lips turned up into a slight but painful smile. “He’s fine.”

  Fergus was on his feet. Drake watched as he locked his hands into the gap on the doors. Fergus grunted as he attempted to prise them apart. A metallic clang resounded as something halted them from opening more than a few inches. Drake wobbled to his feet. The dizziness almost sent him sprawling back to the floor, but he managed to steady himself. He half fell into the door with a thud and put both his hands in the gap. Fergus changed his grip and pulled the other side. Within a minute, they had the door open enough to climb out, all at the expense of what little energy they had left. They both leant against the wall, sweat dripping down their foreheads, gasping for breath.

  Drake squeezed himself through the gap first. He wobbled on the other side, still dazed from the fall. With his gun raised in one fast motion, he scanned the room. It was a short whitewashed corridor with a steel door on the other end. Once he was satisfied they were under no immediate threat, he turned back to the elevator and offered a hand. Hannah took it, and Drake helped her up, followed by Fergus.

  They approached the steel door, and the mechanical whirr of a fracture burst through the facility in a torrent. As the building shook from the strain, particles of plaster and dust loosened from the ceiling. Drake laid a hand over the control panel and paused.

  “Guys, whatever happens—” he looked at his friends one after the other “—we have to stop this.”

  In sync, Fergus and Hannah placed a hand on Drake’s shoulders. Hannah looked him in the eye.

  “This ends today.” After a quick nod, Drake tapped the control panel. The inner workings of the door clicked and rattled like a set of clogs connecting, and the door slid open, revealing a large lab. Its only noticeable feature was the beautiful azure glow that surrounded the glossy mirror shards of the fracture rippling in the air.

  “Welcome, Mr Osborn.” A tannoy system echoed through the lab. The voice was only just hearable over the clangour emitted by the fracture.

  Drake rushed forward. “Where are you? Show yourself.” A loud rapping came from above. Drake looked up to see Brendan with his evil sneer tapping on a window.

  “It is over, Mr Osborn. As you can see, the fracture is live and stable. Within minutes this world will be immersed in chaos. You did well to try to stop it. I mean, after all, you were supposed to die when we sent you to the lab.”

  “Brendan, why?” Fergus stepped forward and began shouting, “We were changing the world for good. Why do you want to destroy it?”

  “Aah, Dr McCarthy. Seeing as you’ll all die soon, I shall divulge why.” Brendan cleared his throat. “You see, I thought we were doing good too. It took forty years in hell for me to realise that humanity is vile. It is a disease eating away at the very fabric of this beautiful world.”

  “Nae, you’re deluded…”

  “Humanity,” Brendan roared over the tannoy, “is deluded! The world deserves a reset, and I can provide it with one. I will recreate this earth, and it shall prevail over the scourge it has endured by humanity’s hand. It is time for a new breed to inherit this world, and I intend to let them have it.”

  Drake laughed. He saw Brendan’s face change from one of psychopathic joy to anger.

  “You mean like your pet at the warehouse? I put an end to him, and I’ll put an end to you.”

  “You!” Brendan raised a finger and pointed at Drake, his face reddened, and his hand violently shook. “Can do nothing. The end is already here. I have seen the beauty on the other side and know what must be done. I will watch as your world burns. I will feast on your girlfriend’s tasty little figure.” He looked her up and down, licking his lips. “I will laugh as Dr McCarthy is torn to pieces. I will savour every moment of that while you watch, unable to do anything.”

  Drake pulled his arm containing the Glock up and emptied the magazine into the window without even thinking. The sound was deafening. Fergus and Hannah covered their ears. Drake stared up at Brendan with his ears ringing, his evil sneer burrowing itself into his mind. Not a single bullet made it through.

  “Shit. Bulletproof glass.” He pulled out another mag and reloaded his gun.

  “Did you really think it would be that easy, Mr Osborn?” Brendan burst into an unholy laugh. Drake watched as he flashed a device at the window, it looked like a phone, but it was rounder, more disc-shaped. “Now, while you imbeciles waste your time trying to stop the inevitable, I’m going to go and pay a younger Hannah a visit.” His mal
icious smile spread, matching the predatorial glint in his eye.

  Drake watched, fists clenched and muscles tightening at the insinuation, as Brendan raised the device and thumbed the button.

  A fracture erupted into existence in the space behind Brendan. Drake’s jaw dropped. “How the fuck?”

  Hannah ran forward. Drake turned as Hannah’s arms guided him around. “Drake, you can control it… Get in there!”

  Drake nodded and closed his eyes. His arms shuddered from the electrical tingle. A feeling of weightlessness took over. He opened his eyes and found himself in the realm of time and space. Fighting every urge to succumb to the utopia, he forced his brain to think about Brendan’s fracture. He visualised it emerging into existence and stabilising. When the scene was complete and on repeat in his mind, he opened his eyes and found a fracture hurtling toward him. Even though he was dissected into millions of energy fragments, he still had some control over how he would rematerialise. Positioning himself feet first, or at least what he was sure was feet first, he collided with the fracture.

  A million pins and needles riddled Drake’s nerve endings as he burst through the fracture. For each fragment of himself materialising, a sharp prick was sent to his brain. His leg connected with something hard. The sudden shock threatened to throw his hip out of place. In a split second, that pressure was relieved, and Drake was through. It took a minute for his mind to refocus and readjust to the natural world. When it did, he found himself on his back. A quick look around showed him a massive window and a few computer desks. He pushed himself up to a seated position, and a few meters from his feet lay a sprawled-out old man groaning in agony, his shaking hands clutching his chest.

  Drake stood up, pulled out his Glock and pointed it at Brendan’s head. Drake watched as Brendan’s body juddered from the shock, his breaths laboured, likely from several broken ribs. Brendan’s eyes widened at the sight of him, fear of death reflecting from his glossy irises. He opened his mouth to speak. Instead, he choked on blood. A trickle of it ran down the side of his chin.

  “You—” his body violently shook “—can’t—” his gag reflex pushed out more blood, which soaked his shirt “—stop… it.” Brendan coughed up more blood. “I… am… eternal.”

  Drake took a step forward, his legs on either side of Brendan.

  “You can’t stop this.” Drake pulled the trigger. Brendan’s head snapped back; blood, brain and skull splashed across the floor.

  Chapter 35 - Humanity

  Human oppression of nature ran deep to a point where it took humanity too long to notice the adverse effects of its advancement. The more they learned, the more they invented or created, the more they built, the more the planet was suffering. Humanity suffocated the most beautiful gift it had ever received, and by the time they had noticed, it was too late.

  Brendan, if that was what he even was anymore, was sprawled out on a field of luscious verdant grass. He was completely naked, at one with the new world, soaking up the sun’s sweltering rays. Dried blood caked most of his face, chest and hands. On either side of him, the remnants of human growth in the form of houses stood broken, uninhabited. They had now become nature’s support. Vines could prosper using humanity’s shell as its building block.

  The lightning storm had ceased many years ago, and the sun had finally broken through the orange particle barrier, once again paving the way for nature to reclaim its home. Fields grew between buildings, overtaking the tarmac and pavements. Trees once again thrived where lampposts and pylons once stood. Abandoned cars became flourishing beds of altered flowers. They looked similar to what the Earth once had, but they were larger, brighter and more suited to the purpose of reclaiming their home.

  Even animal life returned. Wild dogs, cats, foxes and a whole array of birds traversed the new landscape with newfound confidence. They each gave a wide berth to the fractured souls that still roamed. Unfortunately for them, they were still near the bottom of the food chain.

  As Brendan lay there bathing in the light of the new world, a deep guttural scream made him jump to his feet. He stood, slightly hunched with a tilted head. With sharp neck-breaking movements, he looked around him until he spotted the creature. It was shambling after something. It had found a meal. Just as Brendan was about to lie back down, from the corner of his eye, he saw it. A two-legged… human—a human!—was running away from the deformed beast.

  Brendan ran after the creature. He kept his distance, as he didn’t want to be spotted, end up in a fight and lose the human. He bounded between old cars, behind trees, around vine-coated doorways and across the rubble of destroyed buildings. Constantly keeping one eye on the creature and the other on the human.

  Brendan knew all too well that the fractured beings never seemed to tire. They would hunt and hunt until they got their prey. That was why Butcher had been such a great hunting partner. It was only a matter of time until the human was dinner. He bounded over a reclaimed flowerbed and saw the human take a sharp right a couple of turns ahead. He had a good idea of the way around, so he dived into the next right he came upon. He picked up speed and sprinted several blocks up the road before darting a sharp left and taking cover by a fallen and overgrown road sign.

  He waited for no more than a minute before he could once again hear the panicked pants of a human losing their fight. He watched as the human turned the corner and headed straight towards him. A second after, the beast bounded, rounded the corner and made a fast last dash.

  Brendan wanted to time this right. If he could save the human, he might be able to figure out how they got here. He peeped round the metal sign and saw the human woman was a mere ten meters away, but the beast was about to pounce. He launched himself out of cover and sprinted around the woman. The sight of him made her scream and fall to the ground. He collided with the creature. Its massive clawed arm came around in a wide arc. He ducked it, and with an insurmountable force, he latched onto the beast’s neck and tore a large chunk off. He threw it to the ground with a wet slop and dove in again for the killing blow. Brendan wrapped his teeth around the beast’s throat and ripped it away. The spray of the creature’s blood spurted all over his face.

  Brendan turned to face the human and sauntered towards her. He held his blood-drenched hands out in front of him to show her he meant no harm. Butcher appeared from the wrecked building behind her. His eyes were alight with a fire of hunger. He stalked towards the human with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Brendan roared at him, a roar that said she’s mine, back off. Butcher slumped and cowered back. Brendan turned his attention back to the woman. She screamed and attempted to scramble away. Brendan tried to speak. He wanted to help her, to tell her that it was ok, but no words would come out. Over three decades of not using his voice meant that he couldn’t find it. He approached the woman and knelt by her. If his voice didn’t work, he would try to write or sign something she would understand. But she just screamed and screamed, her body violently shaking as she tried to crawl away.

  He got closer and went to grab hold of her gently. She kicked out and caught his shin. He yelped in pain and tried again with more force. She struggled against him, kicking and punching, screaming and screaming. He had her by the shoulders, pinned to the ground. He tried to shake her gently. He wanted her to calm down, to understand. She needed to listen. Why wouldn’t she listen? A sharp crack to the side of his head. He fell to his side, white stars clouding his vision. His breath was laboured and sharp as anger, rage built up inside him. He jumped to his feet and wobbled. She had struck him. He looked over through the dizziness and saw she was clutching a brick. His muscles tightened as the anger took over. A red mist fogged his mind. He jumped at her and grabbed the wrist with the brick. A sharp crack, and she screamed as he twisted and snapped her arm. The brick rolled away. Brendan grabbed her by the neck and punched her in the face. A wet pop followed by a spray of blood left her nose a mushed mess. She passed out.

  Brendan panted for breath, his chest heaving throug
h the anger. He grabbed her leg and began to walk away, dragging her body along with him. Every time he met resistance, he gave a sharp tug. Her body gave off thuds as her head hit the ground or anything in the way. He was aware of Butcher still stalking behind them. He could feel the excitement exuding from the beast. Brendan bent down, grabbed hold of her waist and threw her over his shoulder. As he did so, he gave Butcher a sharp look and walked back to his field, his teeth gritted and eyes squinted from the rage, breathing sharply through his nose.

  Back at the field, he threw her to the ground. She groaned after another knock to the head. Brendan knelt and tore her clothes off. He ran a hand up her leg, across her stomach. He brushed across a breast. All the while, he was drooling. He thought she looked like an extremely delicious meal. Butcher had edged closer, his eyes wide, staring at her naked body.

  She woke with a start, saw Brendan and Butcher. She screamed. Brendan pinned her to the ground and bit into her stomach. He pulled away with a tear and a squelch and began chewing. His mind went to heaven. He foamed at the mouth, and his eyes rolled back from the pure pleasure. She tasted better than anything he had ever eaten. Not a single one of the fractured nor animals compared to this meal. It was divine, meaty, salty and bloody. He chewed in delight and went back for more, thigh, breast and more stomach.

  She had screamed so much her voice became hoarse. She had nothing left to give and could do nothing but watch as Brendan ate her alive. She shook from the pain and the fear, wishing it would be over. But her nightmare had only just begun.

  Once Brendan had had enough, he stood up and stepped away. He looked over at Butcher hopping from foot to foot like a giddy child; his jagged teeth were bared and ready. Brendan gave one swift arm movement to say she’s all yours, and Butcher dived in. The problem with Butcher was that not only did he like to eat, but he had a burning, uncontrollable sexual desire, and this woman was the most exciting thing he had ever seen.