"Are you really going to gun down an unarmed man? I thought you still had some honor left in you," Branch said. "I guess that I was wrong."
"Not all wrong," TK said, pointing the gun towards Branch and squeezing off a few shots, sending Branch crashing to the ground behind the bar. Viktor lunged at him, their bodies colliding and the gun flying from his hand onto the carpet. The blonde maniac had pinned his knees against TK's shoulders and began raining down strikes on his face with blind fury. TK tried to kick both his legs up, pop his hips, but Viktor wasn't budging. TK continued to writhe on the ground, trying to move his head out of the way of Viktor's fists but failing miserably. His left eye blurred, and his head felt light.
"We need to help," Dr. Faraday said only for Farrington to shush her. She looked back and saw Vera with Demoreo, talking to him, trying to make sense of the situation, but the monster sat there, a dull look in his eyes.
TK bucked his hips in one last ditch effort to throw the Russian psychopath off of him, which made Viktor lose his balance but only find himself higher up on TK's shoulders, his knees on either side of TK's head. Viktor looked down at him and smiled a sly smile. Blood splattered on his face and his fists raw from pounding on TK. This was the opening that TK needed, but he looked weak still, his head heavy and any little movement clearly pained him. His shoulders were still pinned down, but were under Viktor's ankles, meaning that his arms were free. Once again he popped his hips up and this time was able to slide his head out from underneath of Viktor, sending his assailant flat onto his face.
TK was free from the Russian's grip, but still too hurt to spring to his feet, having to slowly pull himself up. By the time he had stood up Viktor was dashing at him headfirst, ramming TK's back against the wall, a painting of a Nevada sunset tumbling to the floor next to them. Viktor pulled back only to jam his shoulder into TK's midsection again, sending the air out of him. Viktor wrapped his arms around the back of TK's legs and was trying to wrestle him to the ground, TK spreading his legs out and doing his best to keep on his feet. He clasped his hands together and hefted them high over his head, before pounding them down onto Viktor's spine. The grip on his legs loosened a bit, and TK once again pounded his fists down onto Viktor's spine.
One more time. This time he reached down and wrapped his arms around Viktor's midsection. There wasn't much left in the tank, but he knew that he had to stop Viktor in any way that he could. With a groan he mustered up what was left of his strength and hefted the scarred man up onto his shoulders, staggering forward before slamming him down with all of his might onto the glass table, the sound of glass shattering under the weight of the impact and a howl rising from Vitkor. TK dropped down to one knee, fighting to catch his breath. His side was bleeding more heavily now, a dark red flowing openly now, his shirt sopping wet with his own blood.
"Stay down," TK said.
Viktor groaned, rolling absently in the glass while it crunched underneath the weight of his body. Shards had covered him, were cascading off of his heavily scarred chest while he rolled to one side, planting his hands down and pulling himself up. His back was shredded, small bits of glass embedded into his skin, a large shard stuck inside of him near his right shoulder blade that was openly oozing out blood. TK muttered under his breath and picked himself up, checking the charge on his battery to see that he still had a few blows left in that archaic weapon that Vera had designed for him. With his left foot planted, he motioned for Viktor to stand up, for him to come into range for a kick and to end it.
"Come on, you motherfucker," TK muttered, only to look back and see Dr. Faraday on the ground, Farrington standing over her. That brief distraction was all that Branch needed, the billionaire pulling himself up, bright red eyes bugged out and that vein in his forehead throbbing prominently. Branch's hands gripped onto the rifle on the counter, and TK's eyes widened. TK dove to the ground just as the bullets started to fly and Branch was screaming at the top of his lungs. Farrington draped himself over the doctor and tried to pull her from harm's way, glass and bullets dancing in the air. The bullets tore through the room and Viktor, who had just fought back to his feet. Pressed up against the cool leather of the couch TK scanned the room to see if the doctor was okay, before focusing on the bloody pulp of a body that was Viktor's hit the ground, pools of blood expanding out onto the white tile floor.
Branch had lost it. TK did his best to get his footing and pressed on the couch, pushing it back towards the bar while bullets were still flying throughout the room, piercing through the couch while TK pushed it. Gaining momentum, he gave one last great push; the couch crashing into the bar and tipping it over, the gun clicking against the tile, laying there like a smoking reminder of the surrounding chaos. TK dove for the gun, hitting the ground hard with his shoulder but getting a grip on it, turning to face Branch who was pinned up against the window, snarling at him.
"You miserable wretch of a man," Branch said. "You really think that you can destroy all of this? You think that you can fix it? Nothing can be done, it's all over, no one can be saved."
"Fuck off, Branch," TK said, pointing the gun up at his head and pulling the trigger, only to be greeted by a click. Again. Again. "Fuck!" He said, tossing the rifle aside while Branch lunged at him from over the bar, his shoulder crashing into TK's sternum and knocking the air out of him. Branch was desperate, grasping at anything that he could grip onto on TK, while TK fought for air, trying to kick Branch off of him. The roar from the elevator caught them both off guard, only for the doctor to turn to see Crusher bust through the elevator. "What the..." TK started, only for Branch to scramble off of him and stumble towards the bar. Crusher crashed into the suite, smashing both of the doors off of their hinges with Vera in tow. He glanced over at her, completely lost while she shrugged and pointed at Crusher, who was stalking his way towards Branch. Branch was hurling full bottles at Crusher only for them to smash against his body and for him not to stop before Branch found a handgun, pointing it at the behemoth.
"Y-y-you stop right there! You stop!" Crusher kept advancing, the gun shaking in Branch's hand. "Stop! I helped you, I only wanted to help I... Oh god, Gabriel, do something or he'll kill us all!"
"What?" TK looked up at Branch, who was waving the gun at him, pointing him towards Crusher.
"You heard me, I'll do whatever you want, just please, stop him!" Crusher was charging at him, Branch started squeezing off shots that weren't phasing the giant at all, he simply raged towards Branch like the bullets were bouncing right off of his tough skin. "No! Stop! Plee-"
It was too late. Crusher leaped in a mighty bound at the bar, crashing into it and splintering it into pieces, Crusher's body slamming into Branch's, momentarily pinning him against the glass. Branch's "please" escaped him in an exasperated sigh, as if the life were being wrung out of him like a wet towel before the glass gave, cracking slightly at first, then smashing, both of the bodies flying out of the window.
"Demoreo!" Vera called, rushing through the room and over the broken glass before TK could catch her. Farrington let go of the doctor and rushed over to Vera's side.
"What are you doing here?" TK asked.
"He... He," she was staring at the broken window, tears streaming down her cheek. "He was aware, TK. He knew."
"What?"
"That shouldn't have been possible, those windows... My god," she wriggled free of his grip and over to the window. "TK, these windows survived the goddamned apocalypse. A direct nuclear explosion didn't break them."
"Fucker was strong," Farrington muttered.
"Jesus," he said, joining her by the window, the wind whipping at them and making him only more aware of all of his wounds. The drop was huge. All that he could see when he looked down was the hulk of a body that was the Crusher's and the brown-red stains of blood on the sand.
"It worked, he recognized his son, saw him in danger, just..."
"Doc," TK said, looking back towards her on the ground.
"Oh, Tom."
&
nbsp; "I'm pretty banged up," he said, collapsing back onto the couch.
"Oh, gosh," she looked at him, pulling herself to her feet, "you are a mess."
"I know," he said.
Twenty-Three
The Engineer
Utilizing Branch's lab for something other than sheer insanity felt alien to Vera, yet it had everything that they needed, so it'd have to do. For once that lab would be used to save lives, instead of ruining them. In all the time that Vera had been at the compound, the lab was one of the few mysteries that still remained; it being completely off-limits to anyone outside of Branch's most trusted staff. The very table that TK was one was most likely the same table that had Demoreo strapped down to for months and months on end, injections, surgeries and other tests that stripped him of his humanity and turned him into a monster happened there, as did whatever tests that had brought his wife back. TK had collapsed in the elevator, leaving Vera and Dr. Faraday to drag him to the lab, now with Branch's team of doctors buzzing around, doing what they could to save him.
He had lost a lot of blood, more than he had let on, but they would be able to save him with the large reserves of blood that Branch had stored for himself. It turned out that both Branch and TK were the same blood type, a fact that she was champing at the bit to joke with him about when he came to, until then she was watching while on another table a surgeon was working on Shar's leg. There were fears of infection due to all the undead present, and they would amputate it to ensure that any possible infection didn't spread throughout her system.
Tyler sat curled up in a ball next to Vera, her arm draped over his shoulder. The cut on his stomach wasn't very deep, just required some stitches. Now he sat and waited, quiet and stone-faced, while the doctors operated on his mother in front of him. He knew that they'd be taking her leg, but he hadn't budged or protested, either.
"It'll be okay," Vera said. "You know that, right?"
"Where's my dad?" he asked.
"I... Well, umm..."
"He's dead," TK sat up on the table, pushing the doctors aside.
"Damnit, Tom," Dr. Faraday scolded him, "there's time for that later."
"She's right, Mr. Gabriel, we aren't doing stitching up this wound and..." One of the doctors protested.
"It'll heal," he said, looking down at it. "Look, already has stitches in it. You're free now, Branch is dead, but you still did whatever the fuck he wanted, don't pull this Hippocratic Oath shit on me now."
"He can't be," Tyler said.
"He is, I saw it with my own eyes. But your dad, what he did was a brave thing. He killed Branch."
"TK," Vera said. "Not now, okay? Just let them finish stitching you up and..."
"Tyler, you need to understand this. He's dead, but he died as a good man. He died a man, not a monster."
"Okay, that's enough, TK," she warned again, glaring at him. Tyler jerked away from her and out the door, Vera shaking her head and pointing at TK before following him out the door. "Tyler, stop. Tyler, I'm sorry."
"Is it true? Did he die?"
"He did," she said. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but I just... I don't know, I needed to explain it to you fully, so you'd understand."
"I just... I thought they could save him, that they could somehow reverse it all and that he'd be my dad again."
"He was your dad, Tyler. No matter what. I'm sorry, but when I saw that TK went after Branch, I knew that I had to do something to help. He was hurt and, well, your father... You saw that he wasn't himself, but after he saw you that changed. I saw something in him again, something inside of him woke up, was able to fight away all of that torture and remember who he was."
"Wait, you mean he remembered me?"
"Of course he did," she wiped a few tears away. "You woke him up, sweetie. He saw you and it changed him."
"How did he even get up there?" TK asked.
"I led him to the elevator, and we both stuffed in there, which, ohhh god, it was a pretty tight fit and..."
"The boy doesn't need to hear this, doll. He gets it," Will rounded the corner. "Don't ye?"
"Yes, sir."
"Let him alone, will ya?"
"Hey, he wanted to know, and he deserves to know and..."
"Boy," Will grabbed him by the shoulders. "Yer pop was a fearsome fella, I know that I was 'fraid of 'em, but something changed out there. She thinks it was you, I guess that sounds 'bout right."
"I know," he said. "I know. I'm just gonna go check on my mom, okay?"
"Sure," Vera said, folding her arms and leaning against the wall. Stuart made an appearance and in a rare showcase of emotion, the brothers embraced before Stuart pushed him off and Will departed with a slug to the shoulder.
"Fucker," Will chided.
"Whatever, knew ye'd make it," he said. "Where's the doc?"
"Stitching up Gabriel."
"Well fuck, tell 'er Elsie's fine, alright? Just made her a cheese sandwich and sumwit."
"Look at you," Vera smiled, "taking care of someone else like anything matters."
"Keep yer damned wench's mouth shut, will ya?" Stuart scoffed, stomping off.
Both of them stood in silence for what felt like an eternity before Will broke the silence. "Quite a fucked day, eh?"
"Yeah," she said. "How about Stuart and the little girl, huh?"
"Stone killer an' he's fussing 'bout some girl and dolls and shit."
"What's next, Will Farrington settling down?"
"Oh, fuck off. So what's eatin' you?"
"I want to know what happened to Demoreo and Branch. Has anyone gone out there yet?"
"The whole bloody tower saw them fall, love," he said. "No reason to worry about anything. They're both gone."
"That's not a bad idea," TK exited the lab, pulling on his jacket over his blood-stained shirt. "I'm going up there, who's coming with me?"
"Fine," Vera said, trying to sound disgusted, but morbidly curious.
The three stood before the elevator, waiting for it only for TK to get frustrated and make for the emergency staircase without a word, Will sighing and motioning for Vera to walk in front of him. TK was still a mystery to her, at times completely cold and distant, other times full of life and energy. Now that Branch was gone there were a lot of questions that would need answering, and she wasn't sure who would be the one to take over the daily operations of Branch Tower.
The crushing weight of that responsibility could be enough to drive someone mad, or maybe Branch would just be replaced by someone worse. In a way, she wanted TK to just take over; him serving as the catalyst for the past few weeks anyway, this seemed like his responsibility. Branch was a madman, but there was order under his rule. Now the infrastructure that he left behind was still in place for the time being, but it wouldn't be long until that would fall apart without Branch at the helm.
There were three sets of stairs to the main lobby, them emerging from the back, off to the side. The receptionist sat at her desk, mascara streaked down her cheeks and balled up tissues surrounding her work area. TK Gabriel stood just outside of the door, at the top of the steps waiting for them, overlooking the scene. The door was difficult to open, the suck of air followed by a whoosh and a blast of warmth from the sun and the whipping winds of the wasteland. TK was leaning against the metal railing with a foot up, munching on an apple from the reception area.
"I always forget about the fucking apples," he said. "But seriously, fucking apples, the gall of this guy."
"Yeah..." she crossed her arms and walked down the steps towards the two bodies. She had watched them jettison from the building in person, saw the glass that had survived the nuclear holocaust, withstood some of the most powerful winds and exposure known to man, smash under the strength of Demoreo. Branch was probably dead just from being smashed up against that glass, never mind the fall itself. "Why hasn't anyone even checked on them yet?"
"There's lotsa shit going on right now," Will said. "There was no way that either of 'em coulda survived that."
"He was a good man," she said. "I know that neither of you got to see that. But he was a good man, and he cared about his family. He didn't deserve this."
"None of 'em did," Will said.
"This isn't about who deserves what, this is about survival," TK said in between bites.
"What about hope, then? Don't these people deserve hope?"
"What is there to hope for?" TK said. "This is all that's left, hoping for more won't get anyone anywhere."
"You don't see the hope? The hope that Demoreo could break through when he needed to, to fight off whatever they had done to him to save his son? That's hope, TK," Vera said. "I'm sorry that you can't see that, but that's hope."
"This is a giant fucking monument to the man who destroyed the world, full of people trying to live like things were before, who cheered on the poor and destitute murdering each other or being fed to his creations," TK inspected the core of the apple before tossing it at Branch's corpse and wiping his hands on his pants. "That's not hope."
"So what now, then? You take over and give us something different?"
"Different?" He said, shaking his head. "I don't know what you are thinking. I'm out of here first thing in the morning."
"So you'll just run, then? You'll come here, fuck everything up, then leave?"
"This isn't my home," he said. She wanted to slap him, but Will wrapped his arms around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. He could tell that she was getting upset, but this was his way of telling her "not now."
"Then what will we do? There are still thousands of people here. Some are good, some could be good."
"I don't know," he said, walking back towards the door. "You two might as well take care of things. They all know him, anyway," he nodded at Will. "Maybe you can change things. Maybe not."
With that he walked back into the building, snatching up another apple from the reception desk and disappearing past Vera's line of sight. She was angry, confused and scared at all that had went down that day. People had died, some good, some bad, some just trying to survive, and their little world was thrown into chaos. TK Gabriel was at the center of all of this and his plan was to leave, suggesting that Vera and Will take the place of Branch as the integral cogs to keep things running.
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