by Unknown
He shut his eyes, but oddly enough he could still see. Nemesis saw the vault door in front of him, the walls behind, and beside him, the ceiling above, and the floor beneath. His eyes remained closed, and yet he saw everything with perfect clarity.
He raised his hand in front of him. Through the appendage, he saw things as well. It was as though his entire body had become an eye. Every cell in his body had become like an individual organism—each able to feel and perceive the world around him. Yet his body was whole.
For the first time since waking, Nemesis realized his body had changed in appearance, as well. He saw, in the reflective surface of the stainless steel walls around him, the form of Trenton Hallowed. His previously bloated, hulking body had returned to the handsome man he once was.
Nemesis reached toward the reflection and noticed his fingers stretching toward the wall, even though his hand remained stationary. Now he began to understand. His body had metamorphosed into something beyond simple muscle, sinew, organ, and bone. He felt as strong as he ever had. His power had not diminished, but grown, despite his appearance. Now he knew. His molecules had been transformed, somehow, into complete organisms, yet mind, body, and purpose remained connected in one.
He looked at the clock on the computer display in the vault. He’d been down for nearly a half hour. The men and their explosive charges. He had to do something before they completed their business.
Nemesis stood. He went out into the laboratory and removed the shredded clothing he’d been wearing. He changed his entire form. The body became dark in pigment, black as pitch. The face changed to a featureless form, as did the rest of his body. He would become a shadow. And now was the time to strike.
•••
Michael peered cautiously around the corner. The security office stood just down the hall with the door open. He needed to get inside to the intercom system. The door had been left ajar. Trenton had been here. He knew because he had closed the door himself after making sure he could use the intercom to give the team an order to evacuate.
Michael grabbed his submachine gun and checked the ammo reader. He inched along the wall with Bob trailing nervously behind him. The man started to ask him a question, but Michael raised a hand to silence him.
He reached the corner, peered down the hall in both directions, spotting nothing unusual in the dim light. Michael felt more at ease. Trenton couldn’t hide so easily in his present condition. A hulking monster just didn’t squeeze into corners or behind doors in shadows.
Michael leaned back and whispered instructions to Bob. “Stay here for a few minutes while I give the signal to evacuate.� Bob nodded eagerly, pressing himself against the wall. Michael turned back, checked the hall again, then bolted to the opposite side and into the security control room.
When he got inside, Michael took stock of the monitors, searching for his team members. He saw Richard and the man called Trigger working inside an elevator shaft. They stood at opposite sides, quickly wiring charges. Richard had managed to hotwire the elevator controls to a universal remote he often used for just this sort of situation, giving him the ability to place charges along key structural supports while standing on top of the elevator.
Michael checked the monitor and found the vault door ajar. He noticed that it stood in a more open position than it had before. No one was inside. He searched over the screens and noticed some of Richard’s demolition guys lying on the floor where they had been working. He zoomed in on one man, lying partially obscured by shadow. A pool of dark liquid surrounded his body on the video monitor.
Motion on another monitor caught Michael’s attention. He saw one of the men fighting with something that was almost invisible. The man was seized by what appeared to be a living shadow. Whatever it was, it didn’t look a thing like the Nemesis monster.
Michael reached for the microphone button and noticed the panel had been torn completely away from the control board. He couldn’t call for his team to evacuate. He looked at the monitor again. The shadow had disappeared, leaving two men dead like those on the other monitors. Richard and Trigger still lived on their screen.
Michael turned and left the control room, hoping to get to Richard and Trigger in time. He paused to get Bob from his hiding place in the shadows. He was gone. Michael knelt on the carpet and found a blood stain—the only evidence Bob had ever been there. Michael raised his weapon, searching every direction. He paid special attention to the shadows. Nothing moved. He briefly thought of blowing the building now, but he couldn’t sacrifice the remaining men, and he didn’t know if Nemesis was even still in the building. He didn’t have time to wait. Michael turned and ran for the elevator shaft where Richard had been working. He hoped he would be in time.
HALLOWED_BE_THY_NAME
32 EXPLOSIVE RESULTS
Richard heard gurgling behind him. Three elevator cars operated within this single, wide shaft. Supports ran the entire height of the building on either side. Richard turned to ask Trigger what he was doing, only to find the man hoisted off the ground by his throat.
Richard gasped as he saw something black as night, clinging to the wall six feet above them. It looked back at Richard with eyes that seemed to glow with pure evil. The creature held Trigger up as he clutched its black arm in hopes of freeing his neck from its grasp. The creature bashed him against the wall several times, leaving larger and larger blood stains upon the cement block lining the elevator shaft.
Trigger ceased struggling, became limp as a rag doll in the creature’s hand, and was dropped to the elevator car below. “What are you?� Richard asked, stuttering.
The creature stretched out its arm unnaturally far and took hold of the cables holding the middle elevator car. It swung down to the roof of the car almost noiselessly. It smiled viciously at Richard. “Don’t you recognize a god when you see one?�
A black arm reached out for Richard as he stood dazed staring at it. Machine gun shots burst into the shaft. Richard saw Michael firing from the open elevator roof hatch, next to Trigger’s lifeless body.
The black creature retreated away from Richard as the shells pounded its leathery flesh. He noticed no blood spilt from the beast. Instead, holes opened, then closed in rapid succession as the creature fought to hold its form under fire.
It turned, beholding its attacker. “Detective Stamos, will you never learn your lesson?�
“Trenton?� Michael asked, ceasing his assault. Richard snapped out of his daze and dropped through the open hatch on the roof of his elevator car. He jumped up, grabbing the lid as he landed, slamming it shut. Richard heard the muffled machine gun staccato begin again above him.
Richard pushed the open door button as the lights flickered in his elevator car. “Come on, come on! Open!� He swore at the machine and slapped every button on the panel, as the creature howled in anger at Detective Stamos above.
The hatch on his elevator roof tore away with a screech of twisted metal. The alarm chimed and the double doors crawled open before him. Richard looked behind him as thick, black fluid, like tar, poured into the elevator car through the hole. The puddle oozed upward, the creature taking the form of a man again. The eyes opened and blinked. Nemesis reached for him.
The elevator doors finally opened enough, and Richard spilled out into the corridor. He rolled away from the creature, clawing at the bare ceramic tiles, trying to get back to his feet. Nemesis walked out behind Richard, then flailed away as Michael appeared, opening up on him with his machine gun again. Richard got to his feet and surged down the hallway with his shoulder pack of C4 explosive flapping at his right hip.
Michael kept up the onslaught until the firing pin clicked. He had run out of ammunition. He called out behind Richard. “Blow the charges, Richard!�
Nemesis recovered, knocked Michael out of the way with a shiny, black tentacle, just as he
placed a fresh ammunition clip, then ran down the corridor after Richard, and the detonator.
“Why did I insist on coming to do this job?� Richard cursed himself. He looked over his shoulder and found Nemesis gaining on him, fast. He fumbled inside the flapping bag for the detonator, but took hold of a ball of putty instead. He tore it from the bag, grabbed a digital delay blast cap, inserted it into the C4, and triple clicked it for a three second delay. Richard turned as he ran, armed the cap then threw it back toward Nemesis.
Richard turned back, still running clumsily, and surged forward, counting down the seconds. The putty ball hit a column support at the side of the hall. Two seconds ticked off in flight. The third had finished by the time the ball rolled onto the floor, ten steps ahead of the living shadow.
•••
Jonathan paused briefly to examine the bodies of the police officers outside of the Genetic Corp building. None of them had survived. He heard machine gun fire from somewhere inside and took off toward the front door.
Just as he made it inside the main lobby, an explosion rocked the building. The shockwave shattered windows all over the upper landing. The second floor landing appeared to be clear, meaning the explosion had come from either level three or four.
Jonathan rushed toward an emergency exit door. He pushed his way through, running up the fire escape steps. He heard shouts up above. It sounded like Michael Stamos, but he couldn’t be sure.
•••
Michael picked himself up from the floor where the explosion had thrown him. He watched the fluid predator extricate itself from a wall, then charge forward in pursuit of the main detonator. Richard had disappeared down the corridor just before the blast and remained lost in the confusion. He still had the main detonator in his bag.
Michael fired on Nemesis as he dodged past a corner. Several shots hit the creature. The rest scattered fragments of drywall across the hall. He tried to keep up, but Nemesis was too fast.
Michael’s body ached. He might have torn cartilage in his shoulder and knees by now, but he didn’t think anything was broken. He rounded the corner after Nemesis and found Richard.
Nemesis stood thirty yards down the corridor looking like a man made of shiny black tar. He lifted Richard off the floor by his throat. Nemesis forced a black hand into the bag, rummaging for the detonator. Richard spluttered in his grasp. The creature became angry. “Where is it?� He shook Richard like a doll, then tossed him into the opposite wall.
Michael raised his machine gun and aimed, hoping to drive the beast away without hitting Richard. Nemesis stepped toward Richard as he pulled something from his pocket. “Do you mean this?� Richard wheezed, showing the device in his hand. Nemesis lunged for the detonator, but wasn’t quick enough.
Richard pressed the ignition switch. The entire building shuddered. Michael’s hearing failed with the first blast. His ears rang as the floor shook under his feet. He reeled sideways off balance. Though he couldn’t hear them, Michael felt the successive explosions pounding through his body in waves.
His last glimpse of Nemesis and Richard saw them falling as the floor collapsed. Michael was caught up in the storm of debris that followed—a leaf adrift inside a tornado.
Something grabbed him. Michael felt human hands, though he couldn’t tell if it was Nemesis or not. The beast would not survive this chaos. Surely justice demanded his complete annihilation for all the death and destruction he had been responsible for over the past few days.
Michael closed his eyes as the world came to an end around him. He had rarely considered his own mortality, despite his line of work. His partner’s death had been sobering. Cops just weren’t invincible. Michael wondered who had hold of him—an angel delivering him to whatever heaven was, or the devil himself coming to collect a debt long overdue. He didn’t have time to ponder the possibilities.
He and the person pulling him by his clothing fell a great distance, landing on a surface that gave way with the force. Michael felt the cracking of wood and wondered if his bones had shattered also. They slammed into something firm and stopped.
For a long time, nothing else happened. Michael lay there with his eyes tightly shut, hoping he still lived. The ringing in his ears remained constant. His skin felt numb. His fingers ached, and he did not know if he still held his machine gun.
Something shook him. Michael wondered if the explosions would ever end. He dared to open his eyes, finding Jonathan Hallowed covered in dirt, dust and streaks of blood. The younger man smiled at him and spoke, but Michael could not hear anything except the incessant ringing. Still, he was pleased to see Jonathan and to be alive to appreciate it.
HALLOWED_BE_THY_NAME
33 UNEXPECTED AFTERMATH
Jonathan pulled Michael to his feet. His hand still clutched his machine gun. Michael looked down at it. “I think my hand is cramped up.� He pried the fingers free of the trigger guard and grip, grimacing. Then he flexed the pale digits. “That feels better.�
The two of them surveyed the scene around them. At least half to three quarters of the Genetic Corp building lay around them in smoldering heaps of rubble. Twisted steel girders rose out of the piles like claws. In several places, small geysers erupted from broken water pipes.
A large portion of the building stood ominously behind them. This part had somehow managed to survive the demolition, though it remained only a torn husk. “Did we kill him?� Michael asked.
Jonathan continued to scan the wreckage. “Hard to tell in this mess. He might be buried under tons of rubble.�
Michael scratched the back of his head and turned his neck until it popped. “I remember seeing him standing over Richard when the charges went off.�
“Who?�
“Richard. He provided the explosives and a team of men to help me set them in the building,� Michael said. “I don’t think any of them survived.�
Jonathan nodded. “I don’t suppose so.�
“That thing killed most before the explosion,� Michael added. “He’s changed again, Jonathan.�
“What do you mean? How did he change?�
“He must have gotten to his mutagen,� Michael said. “He had become something completely different by the time we saw him again.�
Jonathan looked on, waiting for the explanation. “Well…what?�
“I’m not sure how to describe it. He wasn’t at all like the big hulking brute he’d become before. It was like he turned into a man made of tar. When I shot at him, he didn’t bleed at all. The bullets tore at him, but then he reformed. He wasn’t human.�
Jonathan tried to absorb Michael’s information. Then a horrible uncertainty hit him. “If he’s become what you say, then a building landing on him probably wouldn’t be enough to kill him.�
Michael’s face registered the same dread. “We’ve got to make sure.� He started off toward the pulverized side of the building where smoke rose up in great plumes around them. Jonathan followed, searching the mounds of debris for any sign of the Nemesis creature.
In the distance, Jonathan heard sirens from emergency vehicles responding to the explosions and the collapse of Genetic Corp. After ten minutes of searching separately, Jonathan noticed Michael come to an abrupt halt a few yards away. “What is it? Did you find something?�
Michael waved Jonathan over to a pile of debris. As Jonathan drew near he spotted the body of a man. “Who is that?�
“Richard Stonewall,� Michael said.
“I’m sorry, Michael.�
“It’s not that…he was a brave man, but I hardly knew him. Look…this is where Trenton, or whatever he is now, should’
ve been.�
Jonathan examined the strewn debris carefully. “And he’s not here.�
“Where would he have gone?�
“I don’t know,� Jonathan said. For the first time since he had found Michael again, he remembered his ward. “Where did you leave Jay?�
•••
Jonathan and Michael ran through the debris field around the remaining superstructure, down the quarter mile of parking lot beyond in order to reach the car where Jay had been waiting. When Jonathan saw no one visible in the front seat, he ran harder.
He reached the car hoping to find Jay asleep across one of the seats, but Jonathan already knew no one, least of all a teenage boy, would be found sleeping with a newly demolished building right in front of him. His heart skipped a beat, then he saw his worst fear realized.
Michael arrived on his heels. “Is he here?� He saw the answer as the last word was spoken. There on the hood of the police car, writing had been scrawled in dirty red letters that any fool could tell was blood. They both stood reading the words. Hawthorne Storage Alone.
Michael looked at Jonathan. “I don’t understand. Where’s this Hawthorne place?�
“It’s an unregistered cryo storage facility owned by Halo Tech. Only a few privileged people, including myself, even know the location.�
“Why all the secrecy?� Michael asked.
“We have a lot of wealthy customers who want to be frozen until their diseases have cures, just hoping for a little immortality. The unregistered location just adds to the feeling of security they have when leaving their bodies to the mercy of others.�
“Well, where is it?�
Jonathan stood, looking at the writing on the hood—at the blood the letters had been inscribed with. Michael looked at him curiously. “Uhm, the location, Jonathan?� Michael asked again.
