Joseph and the Mutant Killers

by John Martinez Hulsey

  There was no escape; the black cavity of the Mutant’s barrel welled to an infinity of endings. This was death, she thought. The Mutant would blast her head off in the next second, or two. And then… but strangely, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Die-Ann gazed into the Mutant’s sunken eyes. Its lipless mouth revealed gleaming silvery fangs set in a perpetually grinning jaw. The titanium skull mask seemed to be laughing at her. It was a Mutant-reaper of sorts, who had come for her soul. Its hollow, dark, and cold eyes were fixed on her. It could not miss.

  But suddenly it fell next to her with a loud thud. She glanced over and saw a huge, bloody, gaping hole in the Mutant’s back. Joseph ran from out of the darkness, offering his right-hand for support – in his left he gripped a smoking combat rifle.

  “We must hurry,” he barked. “The Mutants’ defenses are down. We must make our move now, if we’re to get the king.”

  The MKs had to fight their way past a dozen Mutant foot soldiers to get into the camp. Two-and-a-half hours later, the camp had been completely cleared out. Zahn’s hand-picked bodyguards formed a protective regiment for him, Joseph, Assault, and Die-Ann, as they rode a small elevator deep into the complex where the Dark King was believed to be dwelling.

  Minutes later, the open platform clanked to a stop and the MKs embarked into an outlandish world designed by the evil Mutants. The architecture was alien, without being refine; it was just dark and cold. A bizarre scent filtered throughout the complex, it was a smell that was indescribable to the MKs. It made them feel a bit queasy, yet it put their minds in total bliss. The unfiltered aromas of the Underworld.

  Zahn led his wary troops past torture rooms; human skeletons and carcasses covered the floor with bloody tubes protruding from their mouths, necks, ribs, and abdominal regions. They were casualties of war sentenced to brutal lashings, which resulted in slow, tormenting deaths. To the average person, witnessing such a sight would be unsettling and repulsive, but to the MKs this was a familiar sight in their every day struggle to regain power.

  As the MKs advanced past their deceased allies, the indescribable scent grew stronger. The darkness grew darker and the coldness grew colder. Something was coming, and it was more evil and nasty than anything the MKs had encountered before.

  Unexpectedly, a dark being stripped itself away from the shadows and appeared before the MKs – it was the Darkness. It was the Dark King.

  He stood nearly ten feet tall, and wore a cloak that was darker than black. So dark in fact the shadows camouflaged him. He would have been invisible if it wasn’t for his glowing blue eyes and pale face. Ironically, the Dark King’s skin was so pale he was literally transparent like a gecko. His darkened, diseased blood could be seen flowing through the veins in his cheeks and forehead.

  The three rebel bodyguards accompanying Zahn and the Mutant Killers lifted their combat weapons and began to spray the Mutant leader. But with a single raise of his cloak, the rebels disappeared into the darkness. Their fate, unknown to their fellow soldiers, was one of despair and anguish, as they would live the rest of their lives roaming aimlessly through hell.

  Suddenly, a Death Squad Mutant that Zahn and the MKs overlooked on their advancement though the complex, leaped from the shadows and grabbed a hold of Die-Ann, infecting her with the transmode virus.

  She began to scream in terror and pain as her living flesh gave way to the virus and metamorphosed into living circuitry. And as the Mutant drained her of her strength and intelligence, Zahn fired two rounds from his combat rifle, disabling the Mutant to ever infect anyone with the deadly virus again. However, his rescue attempt failed as Die-Ann fell to the floor dead… nothing more than a lobotomized, synthetic humanoid.

  Glaring over at Zahn, the Dark King hissed, “You are the one that defeated my armies. Prepare to meet your fate…”

  Once again he lifted his cloak and revealed a pale, wrinkled claw. Joseph and Zahn looked on nervously, for they had no idea what the Mutant was about to do. Blinding bolts of energy shot from his hand and struck Zahn down. The ruler of the Dominion Mutants smiled in triumph, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth.

  “Father!” Joseph yelled as he leaped into the path of the bolts. Using his Mutant powers, the Mutant Killer opened a portal, swallowing the oncoming bolts of energy. As the portal closed, it reopened on the opposite side of the King, spitting the electricity back in the direction of the devil mutant. The white lightning struck the dark being, flowing down his black cloak like rain.

  Wounded by the terrible blasts of energy, the King swayed from side-to-side before falling to the floor, too weak to move.

  Joseph moved to stand over the Mutant’s body, as he aimed his combat rifle at his powerful assailant. With the King out of the way, the rest of the Mutant Resistance would soon fall.

  Assault stood by his brother-in-arms, aiming his MK rifle in the direction of the fallen King.

  The King tried to regain his strength, but it was over. His own power had been used against him.

  Joseph smiled before he and Assault began pumping rounds of plasma into the Mutant’s body. Like Satan before him, the evil that was the Dark King only had one opportunity to seize complete control of the universe. Now he was condemned for all time.

  Joseph turned to help his father, who was lying unconscious on the floor a few feet away. “Father? Father, are you still alive?”

  Awakening, Zahn moaned quietly and tried to lift his weak head. And when he did, he tried to answer his son, but his head shook and sweat heavily ran down his pale face. His eyes grew three times their normal size as he saw something moving over his son’s shoulder.

  “Joseph… behind you.”

  Jumping to his feet, Joseph turned and saw the dark translucent spirit of the Dark King floating above the ground.

  “You fool,” the evil spirit growled. “You haven’t defeated me. In fact, you can’t kill me – I am Death. Once, I find another body worthy of being a host for my soul, I’ll start where I left off. I can never be stopped…” The dark spirit began to float away, dissipating into the far off shadows.

  Turning back to his father, Joseph knelt down, grabbed Zahn’s arms, and lifted him to his feet. “C’mon. We have to get you out of here.”

  Looking at his anxious son, Zahn said, “Don’t worry, son.” He tried to calm down the Mutant Killer’s edge. “The Dark Curse has had enough for now.”

  Joseph nodded.

  “You ready to go back home, Joseph?” Assault asked. “I’m sure your wife is missing you.”

  Zahn agreed, “You guys have been gone long enough. Go back, get rest, and we’ll start rebuilding here.”

  Joseph nodded, “I do miss Elissa.”

  “Let’s get out of here, guys.” Zahn limped his way back to the elevator.

  The three boarded, and as it ascended, Joseph turned to his father, “I can’t believe it’s over.”

  “It did seem a little easy,” Assault added.

  “Easy?” Zahn interrupted. “Everyone I’ve ever known, with the exception of you two, has been killed by the Dark Curse.”

  “You heard what he said, father. He will never be stopped.”

  “Don’t worry,” Zahn tried to reassure the Mutant Killers. “I’ve fought that very Mutant my entire life. And he has never been defeated… until now.”

  Almost cracking a smile, the toughened Father of the Imperial Worlds continued, “You two were the first to ever defeat and kill him while living off that very host. He can’t handle that kind of loss. So, trust me… that is the last we’ll ever see of the Dark King in this millennium.”

  As the three war heroes exited the elevator, Joseph and Assault prepared themselves for teleportation across the spacetime continuum.

  “Goodbye, father. Hopefully our lives will cross paths again.”

  Joseph and Zahn embraced.

  “I’m sure of it.”

  Zahn turned to Assault and they silently said farewell with a respectful handshake.

  Assault and
Joseph held out their hands, and together their Mutant powers opened a portal through spacetime in a giant maelstrom of light and energy.

  The two Mutant Killers stepped through the spacetime window, saluting the Leader of the Imperial Worlds.

  Zahn saluted back.

  The continuum began to shut. The second the gateway completely closed, the Mutant Killers got a glimpse of one of the Dark King’s Death Squad soldiers standing over Zahn’s right-shoulder. It’s fixed grin laughed at them before infecting the Father of the Mutant Killer with its disease.

  “FATHER!” Joseph’s howl echoed, and was heard across the spacetime. Some heard it as a reminder of everything lost in the 1000 year struggle against the Dark Curse. Others heard it as a battle cry as they ran on to the battlefield, ridding the universe of the Dark Forces dregs. But the remnants of the Imperial Worlds heard it for what it was… a plea to continue the fight and to never give up.

  … the Legacy lives on.