Chapter 13: Present Chapter 5: The Flames and The Rainbow (Vol. 1)

14 Years Ago:

The horrible heat that came off of the end of the cigarette that was pressed against Hayden's right forearm left a circular burn mark and caused an agonizing amount of pain for a 12-year-old to handle.  Hayden's father released his grasp on his arm and resumed smoking his cigarette.  

"Awfully brave of you...taking your mother's punishment for her," commented Hayden's father, after taking the cigarette out of his mouth.  "The way you take her's...and your younger brother's punishments...haha...it almost makes me think you like getting burned.  Maybe, my son is a bit of a masochist?" 

Hayden gritted his teeth but knew talking back to his father would only make his situation worse.  He rolled down the sleeve of his long sleeve shirt to cover his forearm that was covered in cigarette burns from all of the punishments he had taken...some were his own fault...and others were meant for his mother and brother, who he tried to protect from the monster that was sitting in front of him.  

"How about you head inside and tell your mother that I want a beer?  Make yourself useful, you little shit."

"O-Okay," responded Hayden, nervously.

"Okay?  Do you want another punishment right after getting one?"

"S-Sorry, I mean...y-yes, sir."

Hayden's father smiled.

"That's much better."

Hayden walked past his father and made his way into the small trailer house that he lived in with his mother and younger brother.  He closed the front door of the house behind him and headed to the kitchen since he knew that his mother was most likely cooking dinner.  As soon as he was in the kitchen, he saw his younger brother and mother making dinner, together, and the sight brought a rare smile to his face.  

I'll do whatever it takes to protect them, Hayden promised himself.  I don't want to see either of them be hurt by father, ever again.  And one day, when I'm strong enough, I'll stand up to father and kick his ass.  Then, we can leave, just the three of us and start a new life, together.  We'll no longer have to live in fear like we do, now.  We'll finally be able to be truly happy.

"Hayden, I didn't hear you come in, honey," said his mother as she paused what she was doing.  "You were outside with your father for quite a while.  What were the two of you doing out there?"

"O-Oh...uh...just talking," Hayden lied, hoping that his mother would believe him.  

She stared at him, doubtfully, for a second, made her way towards him, knelt down and without asking, rolled up the sleeve of his right forearm, revealing the recent burn mark he had just received.  

"Damn it," his mother cursed.  "This one was meant for me, wasn't it?"

Hayden gulped and decided not to answer but it didn't matter.  His mother knew that she was right.  His mother's face was already covered in scars from past beatings and Hayden could only imagine what the rest of her body looked like.  She had been with his father the longest and, apparently, he'd always been a monster.  

"I-I can't take this, anymore," muttered Hayden's mother in rage.  "I-I should be the one protecting you and your brother...not the other way around.  When he was just abusing me...I could deal with it...but now, knowing that one of my own children is getting abused because of something I did...I can't let something like that keep happening...not...not while I'm still around to do something about it.  B-But, I'm just s-so scared of that shit head.  I know...I'm not physically strong enough...to beat him...and if I lose...who will be around to protect you two?" 

Hayden's mother began to cry, frustrated with how weak and pathetic she was as a mother.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Hayden's little brother, Kyle, asked in concern.

Kyle was three years younger than Hayden but shared many of his features such as his bright blue eyes and dirty blond hair, both of which were physical traits that came from their mother.  

"I-It's okay, Kyle, I'm just feeling a little sad, right now," Hayden's mother comforted.  

She immediately changed the volume of her voice to that of a whisper so that Hayden was the only one that could hear her.

"I promise you, Hayden, that one day, I'll stand up to that asshole father of yours and I'll do everything I can to help us start a new life but...if I can't...and I fail, you have to protect your brother for me.  I-I know it's a lot of pressure to put on you but, please, promise me that you won't let that monster beat the two of you.  I know you're strong, Hayden...probably...probably the strongest out of all of us in this family."

"I promise, mom," Hayden responded, without hesitation.  "I'll always be around to protect my brother...from that monster...and anyone else who would try to cause him harm."

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Present:

"W-Wait, this is just...one huge misunderstanding!" defended a man, cowering in fear of two intimidating figures, standing over him while he was on his hands and knees.  "P-Please, H-Hayden, you have to forgive me."

One of the intimidating figures, a man wearing fire resistant clothing, fire resistant gloves and carrying a long, red, fire axe stepped forward. His short hair was dirty blond and he had a nasty burn mark on his right cheek.  The person standing next to him wore a heavy set of fire-resistant armor, a fire-resistant gas mask and, where his right hand should have been, instead, the end of a flamethrower was attached there.  Attached to the flamethrower was a hose that connected to a tank full of flamethrower ammunition that the individual carried on his back.  The man with the fire axe, who had his face showing, was Hayden Flame. The man with the fire-resistant armor and who was genuinely larger in physical stature was Hayden's younger brother, Kyle Flame.  They were nicknamed the Flame Brothers, the leaders of the militarized group called “The Flames” that operated inside of Fairfax, Virginia.  Specifically, they operated out of a large hospital in Fairfax which the two brothers had made their base.  

"You want my forgiveness, huh?" asked Hayden, breaking the eerie silence with his stern voice.  

The man on his hands and knees was trembling in fear but was able to shake his head, yes.

"Not only were you caught stealing rations...you were caught stealing rations from my brother's stash, of all people," Hayden explained with malice in his voice.  "Awfully ballsy of you to try to ask for my forgiveness."

"L-Look at the size of your brother, though!" pointed out the scared man.  "He's huge!  Way bigger than me and anyone else here.  I think...you're giving him extra rations!"

"And so fucking what if I am?" asked Hayden.  "He's my brother...it's my responsibility to make sure he eats right.  Besides, him being twice the size of you and everyone else here means that he's a hell of a lot more useful in combat.  Means he can better protect the people staying in this hospital with us...that includes your stupid ass, doesn't it?"

The man on the floor didn't know how to respond to this.  He didn't want to make Hayden any angrier and, at the same time, knew that no one else in the hospital would back him up in any way. They were all too scared of the Flame Brothers.  

"Y-You're right...w-what I did...was wrong," admitted the terrified man.  "I-I don't deserve your forgiveness but...if you give me another chance...I'll make it up to you." 

Hayden began twirling his fire axe in his right hand, restlessly, which took considerable strength.  Hayden stopped and headed towards a bucket, in the corner of the room, that contained liquid of some kind.  The man on his knees couldn't see what kind of liquid it was from where he was but the fact that Hayden picked up the bucket with his free hand and made his back to him caused him to shudder at what he was planning on doing.  Without warning, Hayden splashed the liquid onto the man's face and the top part of his body.  The liquid began burning the man's eyes, causing him to scream in agony...as he realized the liquid was gasoline.  No matter how much he hoped...prayed for the burning in his eyes to go away, it didn't...in fact, it just kept getting worse...and worse.

"W-What the fuck is your problem, you fucking psychopath?" lashed out the man, whose eyes were still closed and in pain.  "I said I would make it up to you and your brother both!"

The man couldn't see what happened next but could hear Hayden placing the bucket of gasoline onto the floor of the hospital.  Hayden, carelessly, dipped the toe of the axe, which was the sharpest part, into the liquid and resumed the twirling of the weapon as he walked towards the man, who was completely clueless as to what was happening around him.

"I heard what you fucking said but...I'm not really a big fan of second chances, you see," spoke Hayden, eerily.  "When someone fucks up once, 9 times out of 10, they fuck up, again."

"Y-You can't be serious, you crazy fucker!  A-And why are you all just watching this shit happen?  Y-You have to stop him...I-I don't deserve this!" pleaded the man, desperately, to those around him.  

The Flame Brother's men didn't respond to the plea in the slightest and stood completely still, watching what was about to happen.  

"Hm, looks like your cry out for help is falling on deaf ears, buddy," claimed Hayden.  "Such a tragic fucking sight...don't worry, though...I'll make it quick."

Hayden stared at the fire axe for a second and laughed to himself, sinisterly. 

"Just fucking kidding.  No one fucks with my brother and gets a quick and painless death.  Kyle, can I have a light?"

Using his one good hand, Kyle got out a lighter, flicked it open and lit the toe of the fire axe with the lighter, causing the sharp edge of the weapon to be engulfed in flames.  The man, still blinded by the gasoline in his eyes could smell something burning and began panicking, even further.  

"Y-You fucking pyros!" the man shouted, desperately.

Before the man could plead his case any further, Hayden swung the fire axe, downward, toe-first, directly into the top part of the man's skull.  The blade stabbed him right in the middle of the head with so much force that it nearly caused the man's head to completely split down the middle.  Blood began pouring down the man's face, past his bulging eye balls that were almost completely out of their sockets, as his whole body began trembling from the devastating strike and the fire from the toe of the fire axe combined with the gasoline that was covering the man's face and top part of his body, resulting in the fire being transferred to these parts of the man's body.  Instead of screaming...or moving...the man just remained in the same position, shaking, rapidly...the man just couldn't force his body to move since his brain was so damaged by the fire axe blow.  The fire burned the man's flesh....melted the skin of his already disfigured face and continued spreading to other parts of his body.  Using a tremendous amount of upper body strength, Hayden placed his right foot on the man's chest for momentum and used it to rip the toe of the fire axe out of the man's skull.  The burned...bloodied...and disfigured traitor flopped onto the floor of the hospital, most likely already dead, as the flame was nearly covering his entire body at this point.  Kyle brought over a 5-gallon bucket containing water over to where Hayden was standing and placed it by him.  Hayden dipped his weapon, that was consumed by flames, into the water to extinguish them.

The Flame Brother's men that were watching the entire incident transpire grimaced at the unsettling sight of their two leaders staring at the burning corpse of one of their own with what looked like a mix of glee and satisfaction.  Not one man spoke up to them, though.  How could they, after seeing such a sight?

"I hope we all learned an important lesson, today," Hayden said, not taking his eyes off of the flames, almost like he was hypnotized by them.  "I'm not a big fan of traitors...and I'm definitely not a fan of people, who put my brother in danger.  I would strongly advise not to fuck with either of us, from this point forward."

Kyle moved closer to his brother and put his hand on Hayden's shoulder, almost as if to thank him for what he just did.  

"Oh, don't mention it, Kyle.  Remember what I promised our mom back then?  I told her...I would always protect you...no matter what.  I'll burn every mother fucker alive, who messes with you in any way."

Kyle didn't say anything in response but just nodded his head like he understood.

"Isn't it beautiful, though, Kyle?" Hayden asked, smiling, devilishly.  "The flame...I know we have to put it out but...just allow me to enjoy it for a couple more seconds.  There's no sight quite like it."

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Meanwhile, inside of a shopping mall in Washington D.C., a small girl with short black hair was dragged out of a closet by a man, who was nearly twice her size and thrown onto the floor.  The small girl looked up and realized she was surrounded by 7 men, who all had sickening looks on their faces. 

"Hm, I was hoping for an actual woman...not a little girl," said one of the men.  

"Yeah, this little girl doesn't have too much meat on her bones, either," another man brought up.

"Still, she'll serve as a nice snack...it's better than nothing," concluded another man. 

S-Snack? thought the girl to herself.  These men are going to eat me?  No.  Please.  No.

"Shit, look what you guys did," said the man, closest to her.  "Now, she's scared shitless.  Oh well, the least we could do is knock her out, first.  A moving meal is more of a pain in the ass."

I have to move.  I...I have...to move...but...my body won't.  Please...God...someone help me.  Please.  Please.  

"Oh my, what do we have here," a flamboyant voice chimed in that didn't seem to belong to any of the cannibals surrounding the small girl.  

The girl turned her head, the only thing she could move, in the direction of the voice to see where it came from.  At a corner of the room stood a man, wearing camouflaged body armor, combat boots, a bullet proof vest and, strangest of all, a rainbow-colored mask, in addition to rainbow-colored gloves.  She then realized that the man's eyes were rainbow colored as well, even though they were most likely just contacts.  The rainbow-colored mask didn't allow the small girl to see the man's mouth so she couldn't see lips move while he spoke.

"You poor thing...getting harassed by these perverted cannibals," the man with the rainbow mask said, sadly.  "Sweetheart, would you mind closing your eyes just for a couple of minutes.  A little girl shouldn't see what happens next."

The girl, not knowing what else to do, decided to trust the man with the rainbow mask and closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.

"Hey fruitcake, why don't you get the fuck out of here?" growled the cannibal that was closest to the girl, as he headed in his direction.  "This girl is our food, go find your own."

The rainbow-colored masked man gestured like he was thinking hard to himself for a response. 

"First of all, my name isn’t fruitcake…it’s…well, you all can call me, Mr. Rainbow, if you would like?  Second, while I do enjoy occasionally eating out men, I can't really say that's the same thing as what you guys do, haha.”

"Let's just kill this asshole before he decides to fuck us all," muttered another one of the cannibals.  

The cannibal that was already heading towards Mr. Rainbow, took out a switch blade and, once he was close enough to him, he slashed it right at his throat.  Before the blade could make contact, Mr. Rainbow caught the cannibal's wrist, effortlessly.  The cannibal tried to break free from the grip but it was tight...way tighter than what he imagined the man standing in front of him was capable of.

"I wouldn't worry about me fucking any of you," said Mr. Rainbow in a slightly more serious tone.  "I make it a habit of mine not to fuck assholes.  Eh, actually, that might not have been the best way to phrase that.  Let me try, again."

"I'm tired of listening to your weird bullshit!" yelled the cannibal that still couldn't break free from Mr. Rainbow’s grasp.  "Just shut the fuck up, you fa—" 

Before the cannibal could finish his slur, a giant, sawback machete, one side sharp and the other ragged like a saw, cut straight through the top portion of his head, right down to the man's belly button in a single, brutal strike.  The cannibal was split in half, vertically, and the two halves, slowly, split apart and splatted onto the floor, disgustingly.  The one holding the rainbow-colored grip of the sawback machete was Mr. Rainbow, now covered in the cannibal's blood.  

"First time I've split a man wide open for a while, hehe," he said, menacingly, as one of the other cannibals, immediately, swung a metal baseball bat at his head.  

Mr. Rainbow blocked the baseball bat with his free arm and stabbed the saw-like side of the sawblade into the cannibal's eye sockets but, unlike the smooth side of the blade, it got stuck halfway through the man's skull.  The cannibal stopped dead in his tracks...literally...and Mr. Rainbow tore the saw side of his blade out of the man's face, causing both of his eye balls to fall out of their sockets, along with the rest of his body, that fell onto the floor as well. 

"W-Who the fuck...is...this guy?" questioned one of the cannibals, before his entire head exploded in bloody fashion from a shotgun round, leaving various brain matter on both the wall behind him and the floor under him.  

The remaining four cannibals stared at Mr. Rainbow, who was now holding a sawed-off shotgun with a rainbow-colored skin, using the hand that wasn't holding the sawback machete. 

"Don't suppose you four gentlemen just want to let this end here, do you?" Mr. Rainbow offered, politely.

The remaining four cannibals all charged at him, ferociously, with the intent to kill in their eyes.  

All Mr. Rainbow could do was sigh in disappointment.  

"Well, poo...I guess not."

Mr. Rainbow put his sawed-off shotgun away into his right leg holster that carried it and, immediately, took out his second one, that was already loaded with a round, out of its holster that was positioned on his left leg.  He shot one of the cannibals right in the jugular with a shotgun round, causing the man to choke on his own blood and fall onto the floor, dead.  Mr. Rainbow felt something hit his bullet proof vest...it was a bullet that one of the cannibals...the only one with a gun...had fired at him.  He turned his attention to this cannibal and lunged towards him, before the cannibal could get off another shot of his handgun, and slashed off the man's hand, that was holding the gun, with the smooth part of his machete and followed it up with another slash to the man's stomach.  Mr. Rainbow put the other sawed-off shotgun back in its holster and dug his free hand into the gash he had made in the man's stomach and tore out his intestines, killing him, instantly.  In the corner of his eye, he could see a knife heading towards his face and did his best to block it with his forearm.  The blade pierced his forearm, causing Mr. Rainbow to grit his teeth under his mask, trying not to let the pain get to him.

Smack!

Mr. Rainbow had punched the cannibal right in the jaw, causing him to release the grip on the knife.  After ripping the knife out of his forearm, the cannibal was stabbed right in the forehead with his own knife, leaving one surviving cannibal left, who was wielding a machete of his own.  While Mr. Rainbow was still recovering from fighting the other five, this cannibal didn't let this chance pass him by and slashed his machete directly at him, without remorse.

Clang!

The two machetes clashed into one another but, due to Mr. Rainbow’s superior strength, he was able to easily knock the machete out of the cannibal's hand.  Using his free hand, he equipped a rainbow-colored, double barrel shotgun that was in a holster on his back and blasted the man, backwards, with a shot from it.

Bam!

The last cannibal was sent flying backwards, blood gushing from his stomach wound, and fell, back-first, onto the floor.  As he stared at the blood spurting out of his own wound, Mr. Rainbow made his way towards him.  The cannibal looked on in horror as the one responsible for his stomach wound lifted his sawback machete over his head to deal the final death blow.

"W-What the fuck are you?" asked the cannibal, fearfully. 

"Haha, sweetie, I already told you so I’m not going to repeat myself,” joked Mr. Rainbow, gleefully.  “Although, you and your cannibal buddies were mentioning that you were hungry, earlier, right?  Well, have a taste of the rainbow, mother fucker.”

Splat!

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"Alright, sweetheart, you can open your eyes now that we're out of that store," Mr. Rainbow said to the little girl that he had just escorted outside of the department store that was littered with the corpses of the cannibals.

The little girl, who couldn't have been older than 13 years-old, opened her emerald green eyes and stared up at the imposing man, wearing a rainbow mask, in front of her.  If he hadn't just saved her life, she would have been absolutely terrified of him.  She knew that it wasn't polite of her to judge him based on his scary appearance.

"T-Thank you...for...saving me," spoke the girl, quietly.

"Oh, you actually speak, that's good," claimed Mr. Rainbow, relieved.  "I was worried you were going to be a mute.  That would have made things pretty difficult.  Kids are already tough for me to talk to.  It's no problem, though.  You should be careful around these parts.  The D.C. area has a lot of fucked up groups lurking about...the cannibals that were messing with you...there's a ton of them...all belonging to one group led by a single man...apparently.  There's also, a religious cult that operates in this area as well and they like kidnapping people for their weird fucking ceremonies.  Don't know too much about them, though.  All I know is that the leader of my group is interested in them, along with the cannibal group.  Plus, there's all sorts of other lowlifes that hang around this area as well that would definitely stoop to picking on a small girl for entertainment."

Mr. Rainbow realized that his warning of all of the dangers of the D.C. area did nothing but scare the poor girl in front of him even more.  

Hm, she's really young...and it's been three years since "the incident," thought Mr. Rainbow to himself.  That means she was even younger when "the incident" did happen.  Why would a little girl like her be left behind with all of us filth?  What could she have done that would warrant God not wanting her up there with him?  That is to say if God really is responsible for what happened.  Then again, being interested in the same sex and sucking a dick or two was enough for God to leave my ass behind so he might be kind of picky.  I'm not in any position to ask this girl about her history...still, the thought of her being out here all by herself doesn't sit right with me.

"Hey, would you mind telling me your name, if you don't mind?" asked Mr. Rainbow in the friendliest tone he could muster.

"G-Grace," the small girl answered.

"Oh, that's a pretty name and, ironically enough, kind of what the world needs a bit more of right now," joked Mr. Rainbow, not getting a single reaction from Grace, who didn't understand what he meant.  "Anyways, I'm actually part of a really big group that lives in a nice place, not too far from here.  We definitely have a spare room for you to sleep in and you probably won't find a safer place in the D.C. area.  I was just patrolling the area, looking for survivors like you since our leader likes taking in those that don't have anywhere else to go. What do you say?"

Grace looked conflicted about the offer and Mr. Rainbow couldn't blame her.  Not only did he know his appearance was quite imposing but she also, witnessed him kill a ton of people, even if it was just to protect her.  

He braced himself for a rejection but, instead, Grace replied with, "I...don't really have anywhere else to go so...if you don't mind...I'd really like to accept your offer."

"Haha, of course I don't mind.  I was the one that made the offer, after all.  Besides, I think you and our leader are going to get along real well."

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