by Quil Carter
No. I was different. It was different. It was nothing like Silas and Sky.
“No…” the taunting cold voice said; his old self sounded amused, patronizing. “Because Silas and Sky were together for well over a hundred years. You only had Jade for three, and months of those were spent apart. You’re nothing like Silas. Silas could withstand much more than you. Look at how easily your back broke. And you wanted to be king?”
Elish seethed; his insides felt like they were being actively yanked out of him, fury was baking into his bones and boiling inside of his skull. It was too much for him, the degradation and humiliation was more than he could stand. Even though his brothers and Silas were nowhere to be seen, nowhere near to witness his fall from grace, his worst enemy was drinking in every emotion, and watching every step.
Himself.
And at that, the cold voice laughed mockingly inside his head. Silas had been right all those years ago. No mutant could ever come close to being Sky. The evidence was right there in front of Elish. Chimeras were prone to insanity, instability, mood swings, sociopathic tendencies, and could become mentally psychotic as well. Chimeras were genetically engineered to be strong, fast, intelligent… but they all shared the same trait… the same trigger.
When they broke.
They broke.
Hard.
“I am not Silas!” Elish roared. He spun around, and this time he saw himself, his own cold violet eyes staring back with a frosted look that froze Elish to the ground.
“I am not Silas,” Elish repeated, his own voice breaking under the mental weight he could feel pressing against his shoulders. “I wanted to… I wanted to…”
“Help the family?” his old self mused. “Golden boy. You don’t believe it, why would you expect me to? You’re more Silas than those three little raw clones you made. Isn’t that funny?”
“I am not Silas,” Elish said again. He realized his heart was palpitating; he was out of breath. “I would be better than him. Once I was rid of him, and I had my brothers… they could do whatever they wanted. I’d have Jade. What would I care?”
His old self laughed, and Elish could practically feel the ice roll from his lips. Was this what it was like when he talked to those below him? How bitter this medicine was.
“Yes, but you lost Jade and look what happened? You’d do better to just accept it. You did this because Silas shunned your love, and you decided to build a garden to hide in. Plant your tiny seeds and watch them grow, white spider. And then you watched them burn as well, and become infested by those who wish to take your place. Now what are you left with? Charred remains and a garden of spiders.”
The words hit him, in every sensitive spot they hit him. And not satisfied with only humiliating him internally, they continued to draw up Jade’s face, Silas’s face, Reaver’s, Killian’s, even Perish, Lycos, Greyson, Lyle.
Ceph. Valen.
Julian.
And so many others.
“You’re surely the most blind, foolish, and weakest chimera in existence,” his old self chuckled. “Well, the first version of anything always has the most bugs. Too bad you can’t just kill yourself. You–” Suddenly the voice changed tone, and Elish had to close his eyes and lock his fists when Reaver’s voice hissed in his ear. “–weak piece of shit.”
“Et tu, Reaver?” Elish said bitterly, and he started walking down the road again.
“Take your own advice,” the dark chimera said, his voice a snake with its tongue flicking against Elish’s ear. “What did you tell me to do when I would snap? You might be refined. You might be some elegant demigod with your flowing white robes, but you’re still a fucking chimera. Stop embarrassing yourself, Elish. Stop acting like a kicked dog.”
“Leave me be,” Elish said, and without realizing it, he started picking up his pace. Soon he was back running, but still the voices followed him, sitting on his shoulders to spit their poison into his ears. They didn’t stop, if anything they became louder and more assaulting the faster he ran. Insult after insult, ribbons of venom-laced words that flowed like beautiful poetry, but poisoned him with the intensity that only his own masochistic mind could generate. Only he could say such terrible things to himself, because he knew, above everyone else, that every word was true.
He was just like Silas… no, he was worse. He dismantled his family from the inside out, and not only that, he manipulated Silas like a puppet to make him worse. He was the one who kept giving him false hope that Sky could be cloned; he was the one who would dig the thorns of the man’s memory into Silas’s heart when his king looked too content with his life. It had been Elish all along ripping open those scarring wounds, and stuffing them with bacteria.
He had even taken two clones of Sky. The first one he lost, but the second he watched like a hawk, and when he had the opportunity to give this boy to Silas to make him happy, to stop the assault on the family – he wanted revenge more.
And now Jade was dead because of it.
I have no one to blame but my foolish self.
And it was because of those thoughts raping his mind, that he reacted the way he did when he saw a camp below a sheer ridge the road was winding down.
At first, the reaction was merely a jolt from his heart, but the quickened beat seemed only to fill him with a blackness that soon coated him like liquid hatred was being poured over his body. Instead of controlling these feelings as he had done for most of his life, Elish found himself embracing the hate. And when he recognized the caravan and its occupants below him, all sitting unaware around a campfire holding a pot of boiling soup, he used the feeling it brought as fuel.
And with a small smile, Elish lit that fuel on fire.
Elish clenched the gun in his hand and drew the blade resting against his hip… and he ran down the twisting road towards the unsuspecting caravan.
I will make the world hurt. I will set the world on fire.
I will kill everyone I can. Everyone I can get a hold of.
They will not live when my husband is dead. No one will live.
I swear on my immortal life the world will die beneath my hand. I do not care what it makes me. It doesn’t matter if I am a hypocrite, I will take it gladly because nothing will stop me from showing the world how much I loved that boy.
Elish jumped onto a median and leapt off of the ledge of the ridge. He landed with a loud thunk right in the middle of the lit camp, and while he raised his gun and shot the first legionary in the face, he saw Robyn’s wide eyes and Max sitting on the edge of the caravan.
The legionary’s jaw blew off. Elish tossed the shotgun into the darkness that the campfire didn’t reach, and grabbed the legionary’s assault rifle. He turned around to see the second legionary raising his gun, but Elish was faster. He braced himself for the recoil and shot the legionary in the chest. The man screamed and stumbled forward, then a shower of sparks and hysterical shrieking sounded when the only thing to break the man’s fall was the fire below.
Chaos ran circles around him. Elish heard a rattle and saw the caravan lurch forward. He looked and saw a leg disappear in front of the bosen cart, and ran after it.
Suddenly, the caravan shuddered and whined; a scream immediately followed and then a sickening crunch like someone had stepped on an egg. The bosen-pulled cart then rolled forward, two wheels rising up over a bump before slamming down to the earth. Elish looked down to see a mercenary, his head popped like an overripe berry, twitching badly, a dirty track mark down his back and over his skull. Pink brains and dark blue blood vessels in between the layers of hair, scalp, and skull could be seen, and they were still pulsing.
Then a crack sounded. Elish’s head shot towards the noise, and though he was too inside of his own anguish to realize he was doing it, a growl sounded in his throat.
Robyn started taking quick steps backwards; her eyes were wide with terror, and the hands grasping the shotgun, trembling. It looked like she’d seen a ghost, and she very well was seeing one right now.
<
br /> “Where’s my pack?” Elish didn’t recognize his own voice. It was low and full of tumbling gravel; he sounded more like Reaver than the man who’d grasped the brass ring in Skyfall. “Where are my things?”
“We – we shot you…” Robyn screamed, tears springing to her eyes. She raised the gun and pulled the trigger, but the bullet flew past Elish’s shoulder. “I saw you die. I fucking saw you die!” She started to sob, the gun rattling so hard she almost dropped it.
“In the end, I will be the only man who lives,” Elish growled, continuing to take steps towards her. “I will step over your disgusting parasitic bodies, and rid the world of your disease. I will exterminate all of you and let this condemned planet finally die.” Elish sprung forward and wrenched the gun out of Robyn’s hands and threw it into the night. “None of you will live while he is dead.” Elish raised the knife he was holding and slashed it at Robyn, opening up her neck as the force spun her around. Blood splattered onto Elish’s coat from the velocity of it, and when she landed more blood transferred from her dying body to the grey ground.
“Mom!” Max cried. He burst from the darkness and ran to her. He gave out a cry and took off his shirt to press it against her neck wound. It immediately soaked through, but determined, Max put pressure against it. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” The boy’s eyes shot to Elish, tears sprung to them.
“Why the fuck?” he screamed. “I thought we were fucking friends, James!” Tears rolled down his cheeks and he grabbed his mom’s hand. “We helped you, you fucking asshole! I fucking helped you. I fucking felt sorry for you!”
Elish stood over Robyn and Max, only the moonlight above him shining down on the grisly scene below. He watched without blinking as Robyn lay dying; her blood coating the boy’s hands and pooling below her head, with loose dirt and blades of yellow grass gathering with it.
Max kept speaking to her, his voice high and desperate, begging her, begging her not to leave him.
But the woman’s eyes, fixed on her son’s, only stared back at him, before, with a slight shudder followed by a relaxing of her body, her story ended.
“No! Mom? MOM!?” Max screamed; his face twisted in agony and desperation. He beat his fists against her, grabbed her and shook her, making his mother’s blood fly everywhere. He shook her back and forth, screaming and screaming until he choked, and then threw up on the ground beside her.
“Why? Fucking why?” Max cried, his voice a desperate trill, begging Elish to give him any explanation for what he’d done. His eyes cradled a world of hurt and betrayal in their sockets, and his accusatory tone was none better. “She’s all I have… she’s fucking all I have.”
Elish looked down at the knife he was holding, a thin layer of blood rimming the tip and making little islands on the stainless steel blade.
“Why?” Elish murmured to himself. He flashed the blade back and forth, and as the boy dissolved into agony at his feet; he turned the steel around to try and catch the moonlight.
Elish’s purple eyes then shot back to the boy. He closed the small distance between them and kneeled down beside him. He rested a hand on the Max’s shoulder and patted it, then gave it a gentle rub.
Then, in a flash, he was behind the kneeling boy. He pinned the boy’s legs down with his knees and put his empty hand below Max’s chin. He wrenched the boy’s head back and drove the knife into his stomach. Elish felt the blade push against the skin before it gave way and slid into Max’s guts like he was stabbing leather.
Max gasped. Immediately he tried to struggle, but Elish had him firmly held against his chest. With his gaze unfocused and his eyes staring off into the dark greywastes, Elish whispered kind and soothing words into Max’s ears before he started sawing the knife through the boy’s stomach, slowly slicing him and lacerating all of his internal organs.
When Elish had split Max open, he dropped the knife and wrapped the arm around Max’s chest, and held the trembling boy in his arms. He closed his eyes and turned his hearing to the boy’s heavy, desperate breaths, and like a low bass in the background, heard his heartbeat as well. Shock was preventing any more shrill screams and Elish was content with that; he wanted to enjoy the symphony in its purest form.
The heavy smell of blood and innards soaked into his surroundings, mixing in with Max’s gasping breaths. Elish took in each sense and held it to him, and memorized them as much as he could. Every beat of the boy’s weakening heart, every inflation of his lungs, Elish committed each to memory and promised himself never to forget.
And when the boy was dead he rose, the knife once again in his hand.
“Why?” Elish said out loud. He tested the knife against the tip of his finger and for the first time in months… he smiled.
A smile that would’ve made even Reaver do a double take.
“Why you ask?” Elish said again, and as those words left his lips the smile only widened. He looked at the blood-soaked knife and he held it eye level. Then, after turning it around several more times, he brought it to his lips. He licked it, coating his tongue with red before his tongue disappeared into his mouth.
“Because it made me feel better – that’s why.”
Chapter 28
Killian
“And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression. If you’re gonna learn to suck me, boy, you better learn to suck me right,” Ceph sang. Then he slapped his knees and clapped his hands as best he could with them being bound.
I sighed, and with Kiki joining in he continued onto the chorus. “You gotta know when to blow ‘em, know when to lick ‘em. Know when to slow down, know when to speed up. You never count your cums, when they’re playin’ on your penis. If you’re gonna learn to suck it, you better learn to suck it right.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back until it hit the wall we were all lined up against, bound to office chairs. I was internally being destroyed by worry and fear being tied up. My head was throbbing from being beaten on continuously, my ear especially where I’d been bitten, and here I was listening to Ceph entertain himself from his own crippling boredom by butchering Kenny Roger’s The Gambler.
It was like I was locked in a room with Reno, except a thousand times worse because at least Reno would’ve been worried with me. Ceph was taking this all in stride, making up lyrics to his favourite songs and using them to, not only drive me mad, but the two chimeras holding us prisoner.
“Come on, Killian. Join in!” Ceph looked over to where Adler, the undeniable clone of Sky Fallon, and in turn Perish, was sitting. He was on his laptop with his face tensed in concentration.
Ceph raised his voice and started singing the chorus a second time. Then when that drew no reaction from the born immortal chimera, a wry grin appeared on his face. “Hey Adi! This one’s for you, kitten.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to be a mighty king! So enemies beware!”
“SHUT UP!” The second chimera burst through an open door leading into another area of the lab. The man, with blond hair gelled into long spikes and Sanguine-quality red eyes, kicked Ceph’s chair and knocked him to the ground.
Ceph fell with a crash, the wheels of the computer chair still spinning. The chimera I now knew was named Spike, walked to the front of Ceph and dealt him a forceful kick to the stomach; but when he realized the nylon rope was absorbing most of the impact, he angled himself and kicked Ceph right in the groin.
Ceph howled, any man would have. His face twisted from the pain and his lips peeled back over his locked teeth. He swore and groaned, and because he was a fucking coward, Spike kicked him again.
“Next time I’ll break your fucking jaw,” Spike spat. He turned to Adler who hadn’t even tilted his head to see what was going on. “Come on. It’s going to get dark soon. You have to bring my chopper back or you’re going to lose it again.”
Adler, with curly dark brown hair falling over pale grey-blue eyes, glanced up at him, and like the first time I had seen him, his face wrenched my heart. Adler looked like Reave
r, but that wasn’t what was drawing out those emotions in me. He had Perish’s eyes, and the first time I’d seen him, pointing a combat shotgun at me, I’d felt myself momentarily stunned.
Now whenever he looked at me, I just felt an overwhelming sadness. I’d done my best to ignore the sting I felt whenever I thought of Perish, and the hole that I equally had been avoiding acknowledging. Seeing someone who looked like Perry drew up feelings inside of me I wasn’t ready to deal with… but ones I also knew had been building inside out for months now.
However, I was dealing with this inner pain differently than I would’ve before. Because I was using Perish’s memory to fuel my bravery, and remembering one of the last words he’d said to me.
I was no longer going to let myself be abused by men. Perish had given me the tools to defend myself, and I could say with all honestly, I wasn’t scared today. I was worried, but I wasn’t scared.
“If… you’re happy and you know it… spit up blood…” I looked over and saw Ceph, still on the ground, blow a raspberry which sprinkled blood all over his face. I sighed, and shook my head as I tried to hide the smile. “If… you’re happy and you know it… spit up blood!”
“Shut up!” Spike roared, and in his mouth I saw pointed teeth. He stalked back over to Ceph, and this time kicked him right in the face. Kiki cried out and looked away, but because I was watching the red-haired chimera I saw his head snap back, and a fresh flow of dark red spurt from his mouth, some of it staining Spike’s red and black high-top sneaker.
The anger bubbling inside of me started to reach a boiling point. Even though he wasn’t looking at me, I glared Spike down, and when I slid my locked teeth from side to side I heard an audible grinding followed by a shot of pain.
“Wow. What a big tough man!” I snarled, my voice overflowing with taunting. “Hitting someone tied up. You’re such a strong man! Look at the tough man everyone!”
Spike whirled around, his red eyes two torches. I braced myself for it and because I knew it was coming I didn’t take me eyes off of him. I kept glaring at the chimera the entire time he raised his hand, until the blow snapped my head to the side, wrenching my neck so hard the muscles spasmed underneath my skin.