Chapter 16: The Real Monsters

After dropping Lee-Ann back at her apartment, I left immediately for the Facility. Thoughts raced through my legs as I bolted through the forest on four legs. How was this going to go down? I don’t even know what they did to Zeke, and after meeting Pain and Fang I'm afraid to find out the kind of monster that could possibly put both of them in their place. I’d seen him in my flashback, so at least I had an idea of what he’ll look like. Part of me was afraid, but I knew it had to be done, or he’d keep hunting me until he found me. I’m probably walking right into a trap of some kind. I suppose taking advice from Fang wasn’t my brightest idea. But like he said, sometimes we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.

            As I came up upon the doors to the Facility, I stopped for a moment, collecting myself and steeling my nerves. I still had no idea what I was walking into, but I knew no matter what I had to be the only one to walk out. “Here goes nothing”, I said aloud to no one in particular. And with that, I pushed open the steel door and walked in. The main entrance was surprisingly office-like, though it was dull and dusty. The chair behind the reception desk was overturned and covered in cobwebs, while the computer monitor lay smashed on the floor, broken glass still shattered on the floor. A sign above the desk had arrows pointing to different segments of the facility, labeled with names I didn’t recognize. I was surprised, for a place that was blown to pieces, it seemed structurally sound, despite some decay from abandonment. That was, until I walked into the next room.

            The roof had long since been blown away, and vines and other forest life had begun to creep in through the ceiling. Steel walkways lay strewn across large vats that still seemed to hold some kind of green viscous liquid. I thought this place only did experiments on humans, so why these huge vats full of chemicals? Apparently there was more to this place then I remembered. Still no sign of Zeke. I wondered if perhaps he wasn’t really here, maybe Fang had lied to set me off the trail? No, this had to be the place. Somehow I could just feel it, he was here somewhere. I slung a tendril up to one of the walkways that was still standing and pulled myself up onto it in order to get a better view of my surroundings. From the walkway I could see a door on the other side of the room, where a part of the roof still remained. It was the only place to go, so he had to be there. I quickly bounced across the walkway, headed for the door.

            I was suddenly stopped in my tracks by a deep, calm voice, “No Maxwell, I’m not in there. Smart thinking though, I’ll give you that.” I quickly whipped around to see Zeke standing on a walkway that ran above the one I was on. He stood tall with his hands on his hips and a sly grin on his block-jawed face. He was a large, imposing man, built like a brick house and donning an army official camo uniform. He jumped down from the walkway above and landed a few feet away from me, causing the steel beneath our feet to groan and sway, as if about to collapse under the force of his landing. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon. But I suppose it’s for the best. Saves me the trouble of running around to find you, right?” I said, trying to hide the fear in my voice. I raised myself to his height in an attempt to seem intimidating, to which he merely smiled and walked slowly towards me. “My dear boy, you sound as though you wish to fight me. Have you so soon forgotten how close we used to be? You helped me make this happen.” He motioned with his hands to the missing roof and leftover destruction from the explosion in my vision. “You and I helped take down these monsters, and put them in their place. But you ran away at the last moment, to try and play hero. And when I bring you back for a family reunion, you walk out again. I’d almost think you didn’t like me, Maxwell.” He spoke smugly, taunting me. He knew exactly what was going on, yet he played like we were old friends. He was trying to get to me, and it was working. “Monsters? The only monster I see here Zeke, is you. You killed hundreds of innocents trying to get at the people who engineered our experiments. Those people were just doing their job, they didn’t deserve to die!” Suddenly his expression darkened, the smug look drowned in a sea of rage. He clenched his fists and scowled, walking towards me again, each step shaking the walkway.
            “I’M the monster? Those people weren’t innocent! Look what they did to us Maxwell! They took innocent humans and tore them apart piece by piece, and re-assembled them in any way they pleased. And for what?! To make tools. They used us Maxwell. We were nothing more than a means to an end. No more human to them than a spatula or a rifle. Look at yourself. You know what you were? You were their fountain of youth, their formula for godhood. They wanted to live forever, and they were willing to turn you into a freak to do it. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me those people were just “doing their job”? You know as well as I do that they knew full well the atrocities they were committing. We’re not the monsters. Humans are. No other species in the world does to themselves what humans do to each other. Tell me Max, how many humans die each day at the hands of other humans? How many wars have been fought, how many thousands of lives lost for petty arguments over pointless things?! And I’M the monster?! I did what needed to be done. And that’s why I need you Maxwell. You’re the final piece to their immortality serum. If I can live forever, I can take all the time I need to set this world right again. Help me, and we can save what’s left of humanity. We can rebuild the world in a cleansing flame. Together, we can make it right.”

            I stood there in awe, inches away from his face. Parts of what he said made frightening amounts of sense. It was true, there is a certain extent to which what happened to us was wrong. But I can’t accept that it was worth killing all those people, there had to have been a better way. “And how many more will you kill Zeke? How many more till it’s ‘right’?” I said, body slightly trembling. His eyes narrowed and his voice dropped to a growling whisper, “As many as it takes. Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” I slinked back a few inches, trying to put a bit of distance between me and him. I didn’t like how close he’d gotten, and he seemed ready to snap at any moment. “You’re no different than them. You want to use me for the same reasons. To play god. To remake the world the way you see fit. There’s one thing you were right about Zeke, they did make us to be tools. And I'm tired of being used. So you can take your new world order and stuff it. This ends now.” Without giving him time to respond, I threw a fast punch into his gut, and another directly into his face.

He stood there un-phased, face flushed with rage. Quickly he grabbed my fist and flung me across the walkway, and I landed with an audible splat. “They didn’t tell you what my specialty was, did they?” He spoke with a calm rage, that was somehow more terrifying than when he was shouting. “They tore out my nerves. They stuffed me so full of steroids and adrenal glands that the slightest thing sends me into an uncontrollable rage. And do you want to know why? I was to be the perfect kamikaze soldier. To be dropped in the middle of an enemy encampment, and left to kill everything in sight. I can’t feel pain or temperature. I can’t feel anything. The idea was that I’d just keep hitting things no matter how much I got shot at until I went down. They were going to make hundreds like me. Your DNA is the cure to my only weakness. And if you won’t give it to me willingly, I’ll tear it from your body with my bare hands.” I stood and steeled myself for the blow that was about to come as he charged across the walkway at me. I hardened my body as much as I could as his fist came slamming into me. Despite my efforts the blow still managed to knock me back a few feet. I threw another punch at him, but it merely bounced of his scowling face. No nerve endings meant no matter how much I hit him, it wouldn’t matter. I had to find another way to beat him, but I didn’t exactly have much time to sit back and think. In a matter of seconds he was on me, pounding away with his huge fists, every blow making the walkway beneath us shake as if it would give out at any moment. He may not have been able to feel pain, but I still could. Every hit made me shiver, and it was getting harder and harder just to keep form. Then it hit me. I suddenly dropped down to a puddle beneath his feet, and pushed up under him, flipping him over the railing of the walkway and onto the floor below. He landed face-first, but it didn’t take him long to recover. He quickly picked himself up and slammed a fist into one of the support beams below, causing the walkway to collapse, and sending me hurtling to the ground below. “You think that’s enough!? We could’ve worked together Maxwell! You and I could’ve been gods! But I see now you’re too corrupted by that human girl of yours to see the truth! No more playing around then, I’ll tear you to pieces!!” His voice roared, echoing off the thick steel walls and piercing the fiber of my being. It made me shake and I found it hard to stand, but I couldn’t lay there puddled on the floor. Now was the time to be strong.

            He lifted the entire walkway off the floor, and threw it into the wall behind me with a loud crash. He lunged at me again, and I slid beneath his feet behind him and slammed a tendril into his back, knocking him over. I knew it wouldn’t stop him for long, but I hoped it would give me enough time to get a bit of distance between us. In close-combat I was doomed, but if I could get far enough away to get a little time to think I could beat him. I leapt across the room as fast as I could, trying to put space between us, but he was already up and after me. He was surprisingly quick for someone of his size, and was nearly on my tail within only a few seconds. I shot backwards over him and bounced off in the opposite direction, as he skidded to turn after me. Finally he stopped and just stood there, shaking heavily with each breath. I stopped halfway across the room, confused but cautious. “No more running Maxwell! No more games! I’ll take you down even if I have to take down half the city with you!” From his pocket he pulled three round metal objects, each with a flashing red light atop them. I immediately recognized them, the same explosives used to blow up the facility and that Fang had thrown at me. He chucked them straight towards me, and without a second thought I leapt forward and engulfed them inside my body.

“No more Zeke! I’m tired of being blown up by these stupid things! Let’s see how you like it!” I fought through the intense pain of the massive explosions building up inside of my body, and began to inflate like a balloon. I worked my body into a funnel, and aimed it towards Zeke, letting the force of the explosives push out like a cannonball. The huge burst of flame engulfed him and sent him through I don’t know how many walls. I heard the crashing for a good minute at least. He may not be able to feel pain, but I knew his body sure felt that. But somehow I had a sinking feeling it hadn’t killed him. I had to be sure, so I ran on four legs as quickly as I could through the huge tunnel the explosion had created. As I came to the end, Zeke lay motionless in a pile of burning metal and debris. He looked almost peaceful like that, and I wondered if perhaps he was happy wherever he went. “I’m sorry it had to end like this Zeke. I know somewhere in those twisted ideals was a good intention.” As I turned to walk away, I heard a faint voice come from the rubble, “I’m sorry too…That you were too blind to see the truth.” I practically froze; if I had a spine it would’ve shivered. Slowly he pushed aside the rubble and stood, shakily at first. His flesh was badly burned, and his clothes were still partially on fire, but he barely seemed to notice. I was astounded, not only did he survive but somehow managed to stand up. Suddenly a wave of terror hit me, what if I really couldn’t beat him? “Is that all…Maxwell? I’ve seen Pain hit harder than that..” He stumbled forward, as if his own body was being forced to beyond its limits just to move an inch. “You’re done Zeke. Give it up. It’s over. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”  I spoke softly, I almost pitied him at this point. His body was quite obviously broken in more places than I thought possible, and there was no doubt he was on the brink of death. Yet still he stood, willing to fight till the end. I couldn’t decide if it was honorable or just sad. “What’s the matter Maxy? Too afraid to kill a man?” He said, somehow managing to still sound smug while coughing up his own blood. I walked slowly towards him, and did something quite unlike myself. “Yes Zeke, I am. But you stopped being a man a long time ago.” And with that, I pierced a tendril straight through his heart, and it was over. I let him fall to the floor, and walked out. I never looked back.