Chapter 28: Present Chapter 7: Moving Forward (Vol. 1)

"1...2...3."

Snap!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....mphhhhhhhhhhh!

Zoey cupped her hands over her mouth to hide the remainder of her loud scream from the pain of Ricochet fixing her broken nose.  He had tried to make the process more tolerable for her by giving her a countdown but, unfortunately, this didn't seem to help much.  The two were inside of the same department store where they had their skirmish with the Flames.  Ricochet was currently giving Zoey some first aid since she had taken such a beating during the conflict.  A part of Ricochet was worried about the possibility of reinforcements but figured they had a little bit of time until they showed up.  On top of that, the two of them were in a department store which had some supplies that made cleaning up Zoey's bloody face and patching her up a bit easier for him.  Zoey's one good eye had become so swollen that Ricochet wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't even see out of it, at this point.  He had used some towels that he had gotten wet, in order to clean up all of the blood on her face which came, primarily, from her broken nose and cut up mouth.  Zoey's face, overall, was looking better but there wasn't a doubt in Ricochet's mind that it would take a while for her eye and nose to heal, fully.  Zoey got a hold of her screams, finally, as the pain of Ricochet fixing her nose faded away.  

"Yeah...kind of fucking hurts," said Ricochet, breaking the silence between the two, who hadn't spoken a word to each other since what happened with the Flames.  "Wish it didn't but...doesn't quite work like that.  It'll get better...with time.  How's your eye?  Can you even see out of it?"

Zoey nodded her head, sadly.

"Y-Yeah, it's just...a little blurry is all.  I can see just enough."

"Well, that's reassuring," Ricochet responded, relieved, due to how worried he was that he would have to guide Zoey in the right direction until the swelling in her eye died down.  

That would have been a huge hindrance for him, especially with the Flames' reinforcements due to show up at any time.  Luckily, he didn't have to worry about this.  

"I-I'm sorry," muttered Zoey, pathetically.  "Again...I was nothing but a burden to you...just like I always am.  I'm so fucking useless.  I-I don't even know why you bothered saving my ass...you'd be better off without having to worry about me.  B-Besides, I don't deserve to be alive, anyways.  I-I've done...things...that are unforgivable.  I deserve to die.  More than anyone.  I-I'm just...a-a monster.  A c-cruel and irredeemable monster."

Zoey was hoping that her pity party would be enough to get Ricochet to leave her behind but, instead, he began laughing to himself, a sound she rarely heard.  

"S-Sorry, hearing you say that...it reminded me of someone that I used to know...back before the incident," Ricochet explained.  "She would always talk about being an incompetent burden to everyone and claimed, constantly, that the world would be a better place without her.  It was definitely ironic."

"W-Why is that?"

"Because...she was the furthest thing from a useless burden and the world was definitely a better place with her in it.  I always thought she was too hard on herself but...trying to convince her otherwise was a losing battle.  She was surrounded by people, who would remind her of how important she was in their lives, but not even this would change her opinion about herself.  In her heart, she genuinely hated every single quality about herself.  There wasn't anything I could do about it.  Hell, I was in no place to...it wasn't my responsibility.  Still, it was always a tough sight to see."

"S-She doesn't sound like me, though," claimed Zoey, after Ricochet was finished.  "She sounds...like a good person, through and through.  I'm nothing like that and I never will be.  I-I've done so many horrible things that I can never take back.  No matter how hard I try, I'll never be able to make up for it.  I-I shouldn't be alive."

"None of the people stuck in this shitty world should be," was Ricochet's only reply.  "We're all shitty fucking people...that's why we're stuck here because God doesn't want us.  I accepted that I was one of these shitty fucking people a long time ago and it made things so much easier, to be honest.  I recommend you do the same.  Then...you can move past that self-loathing bullshit and put all of your focus into your survival...or whatever purpose you find for still being alive in this hell-scape.  Have you found your purpose...your reason to fight, Zoey?"

More than anything, Zoey wanted to have an answer for Ricochet but she didn't.  She had no reason to fight.  No purpose for living.  Nothing.  She stared, solemnly, at the floor of the department store, rather than answer Ricochet's question, directly.

"In that case, you have to keep living until you figure out what it is.  That's all any of us can do in this fucked up world.  Accept our flaws...and move forward towards our goals.  I really do hope you find your reason to fight, Zoey.  It makes things a helluva a lot fucking easier."

As Ricochet stood up, now that he had done everything he could for Zoey, he couldn't help but remember his own reason for fighting.  The very thing that kept him moving forward, every day.  The promise...he couldn't break, this time, no matter what obstacles were in his way.

"We better get going," suggested Ricochet.  "Reinforcements will be here, pretty soon."

*

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13 Years Ago:

Hayden's entire body froze in fear at what he was seeing transpire in front of him.  His brother, Kyle, was already in bed for the night but he heard loud noises coming from downstairs so he decided to check out what was happening.  His father was on top of his mother, with his hands, firmly, grasped around her throat, squeezing the life out of her while she squirmed in desperation.  Hayden forced his body to move and rushed to the kitchen and, immediately, found the sharpest knife that that he could find in a drawer where all of them were kept.  He made his way back to where his father was strangling his mother and, without a second of hesitation, attempted to jam the knife right into the side of his father's neck.  Unfortunately, his father saw this coming and removed one of his hands from his wife's throat to shove Hayden away, forcefully, resulting in Hayden falling onto the floor of the kitchen, dropping the kitchen knife, but not before bumping his head on the side of a cabinet, first.  Hayden's vision was blurry but that didn't affect his hearing.  He could still hear his mother gasping for air, more and more.  Hayden began crawling towards the blurry images of his mother and father, not knowing what else to do to save his mother but before he could make it in time—

Snap!

As soon as the sound echoed throughout the kitchen, Hayden's vision, finally, came back to him.  In front of him, he could see his father release his grip from his mother's neck, after having snapped it.  Hayden's mother's eyes were still open and the bones in her neck were, obviously, broken.  The sight would have surely made any other kid scream in terror...but not Hayden.  All he could do was stare at his mother's lifeless body in solemn silence, trying to process what had just happened.  In the background, his father stood up and spat on his mother's corpse.

"Fucking bitch, thinking she can tell me what the fuck to do," Hayden's father mumbled to himself, obviously, drunk.  

He turned his attention to his son, who was still completely silent, while looking at his mother, almost like he expected her to come back to life through some miracle.  

"This is your fault too, you little shit," blamed Hayden's father.  "The only reason that bitch started saying such stupid shit like...leaving and taking you and your brother with her...was because you and your brother are too fucking weak to tell me, yourselves.  Such weak little shits...just like their mother."

Footsteps coming down the stairs to the upper floor of the home disrupted Hayden and his father's one way conversation.  Hayden's father turned in the direction of where the footsteps were coming from and could now see Hayden's little brother, Kyle, making his way towards his father.  As soon as Kyle caught glimpse of his mother's corpse, he ran towards her body, to make sure she was okay.

"Mommy!" screamed Kyle, once he was knelt down by his mother's deceased body.  

Not knowing what else to do, he began shaking his mother's body, aggressively, in the attempt to wake her up, not fully understanding what had happened.  

"Mommy!  Mommy!  Mommy, please, wake up!  Wake up!"

Kyle kept shouting over and over again which only angered his father, further.  While shaking his mother, Kyle noticed the broken bones in his mother's neck and stopped, immediately, realizing that his mom wasn't going to wake up...no matter how much he shook her...no matter how much he screamed at her to.  It was hopeless.  A miracle like that wouldn't be happening, despite how badly both Hayden and Kyle wanted it to.  

"Oh, look, the other little fucker decided to wake up," grumbled Hayden's father, angrily.  "Probably, should have just stayed in bed, Kyle.  Now, that's two kids I have to deal with.  I mean...the two of you saw me do all this...and knowing the little snitches you two are...I can't have that, now can I?  Don't worry, you both will be seeing your mom, real soon.  How about let's start with you, Kyle, since you seem to be missing your little mommy the most, right now."

There was only a single, familiar, voice inside of Hayden's mind as his father made his way towards Kyle.  The voice belonged to his mother...and her words struck a chord, deep within Hayden's heart, causing him to, slowly, snap back to reality.

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.

Strong, Hayden thought to himself.  Strong.  I...have to be strong...I...have to protect Kyle...from that bastard of a father...and anyone else, who tries to cause the two of us harm.  

Hayden, finally, came back to his senses and without wasting a single second, he picked up the knife he had dropped and charged at his father.  His father heard him coming, once again, but this time, it was too late.  Hayden jammed the knife into the side of his father's neck, before getting punched in the mouth, in retaliation, by his father.  His father stumbled backwards, blood gushing out of his neck, that sprayed onto the walls around him.  

"Y-You...l-little...s-shit," his father managed to say, through the pain.  

Hayden's father hobbled his way over to where Hayden was but fell to his knees, short of his target.  As much as it pained him, his father couldn't reach the son he wanted to kill, more than anything.  He reached out to Hayden, wishing he could wrap both of his hands around his throat and kill him in the same brutal way as his mother.  

"Y-You...a-and y-your brother are g-going to b-burn i-in hell." 

Hayden's father fell over onto his side as the life left his eyes while blood still kept spurting out of the side of his neck.  Kyle's entire body was trembling having watched his father be killed right in front of him.  

"Ha...hahahaha."

"H-Hayden?" 

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All Kyle could do after watching his brother commit murder to protect him, was merely say his name.  

"Hahahahahahahahahaha...ahahahahahahahaha!"

Hayden's sinister laugh...the laugh of someone, who had completely lost their mind, sent chills down Kyle's spine, preventing him from wanting to speak further.

"You couldn't be more wrong about that, you old bastard," Hayden claimed, once he was finished laughing.  "You're the one, who's going to be burning, tonight."

*

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Present:

"We've completely lost contact with our group that was sent out to investigate that department store," reported a member of the Flames, nervously, to Hayden, who was facing away from him, staring at the wall inside of his office which used to belong to a doctor at the hospital.  "I-It's safe to assume...that they were killed.  Apparently, over the radios, they mentioned something about running into a man with a hockey mask and...some girl.  It's hard to believe but...those two may be responsible for killing them all, sir."

Hayden was silent, at first, and the member of the Flames struggled to tell if his leader was thinking about what to say or if he was lost in thought.  

Without turning around to face him, Hayden responded, "If they were killed so easily by two survivors...then they were weak...way too weak to be part of this group.  It's probably for the best that they're dead...they would have ended up being a hindrance for my brother and I."

The member of the Flames was shocked to hear how little Hayden cared about the loss of his men but was too afraid of him, to speak up and stand up for his fallen comrades.  

"The two responsible...they should still be somewhere in the area of that department store.  Send out another group; hopefully, one that's more capable to capture them."

"C-Capture...why not kill?" questioned the member of the Flames, not understanding his leader's logic.  "Wouldn't it be easier just to kill them?"

"They sound like capable survivors, especially if they were able to wipe out an entire group of my men.  It would be such a waste to just kill them.  They may prove to be...beneficial additions to the Flames.  Although, I doubt they'll join us without a struggle but that'll just make convincing them all the more fun.  As you know, I can be very persuasive."

The member of the Flames found himself shuttering at the words coming out of his leader's mouth.  He knew, firsthand, what Hayden meant by "persuasive" and couldn't get the image of the traitor being killed by a flaming axe out of his mind.  He knew that Hayden and his brother, for that matter, were psychopaths.  Psychopaths or not, they had managed to create such a large, militarized group, during the apocalypse so the member of the Flames couldn't help but respect the two.  He didn't trust either of them for a second, though.  The member of the Flames wasn't naive enough to believe that they wouldn't kill him as soon as he made a mistake.  

"O-Of course, sir," answered the member of the Flames.  "I-I'll get a group, together, and send them out, immediately."

The member of the Flames expected a response from his leader but all he got was silence.  He shrugged his shoulders, giving up, and left the doctor's office, leaving Hayden alone.  

"A man with a hockey mask and a girl," Hayden muttered to himself.  "This world is full of monsters.  I can't help but wonder...what kind of monsters the two of them are?  I'm getting excited just thinking about it.  I hope they don't disappoint."

*

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*

Trucking through an abandoned town was a small girl and a man, wearing a rainbow-colored mask, equipped with a plethora of shotguns.  The two were headed towards supposed safety but the small girl, Grace, couldn't help but wonder what kind of place it actually was since the intimidating man walking next to her was from it?

*

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*

"Mph!  Mph!  Mph!"

A Japanese man, covered in sweat, was inside of a dojo that was almost completely dark, minus a couple of lit candles.  The bright blue lights that were on the side of his robotic arm shone brightly in the dojo while gripping a katana.  He had been swinging his blade for what felt like hours but in the cruel world he found himself, he knew that he had to constantly be prepared for anything.  Luckily, his entire life, he had only been good for one thing and that one thing...was killing. 

*

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"Huff!  Huff!  Huff!"

Rapid panting could be heard at a small, abandoned park, where a dead and gutted deer laid in front of the very man that was panting.  Blood dripped off of the wolf-like claws that the man had instead of hands.  His face was covered with the blood of the deer he had just devoured with his sharp fangs, where his teeth should have been.  Werewolf-like fur covered nearly his entire body, to the point that it was debatable whether or not he was truly a man, an animal or something else, entirely.  

*

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Meanwhile, in a room that was shrouded in utter darkness and filled with an unsettling despair, without any light being allowed into it at all, sat a shadowy figure, wearing a jacket, that made them blend into the darkness with ease.  Hair as white as snow could be seen from underneath the hood that the mysterious figure was wearing, in addition to two, piercing, red eyes full of emptiness and sorrow.  Covering the individual's right hand was a razor-claw glove, where a sharp blade replaced each individual finger.  Resting against the chair they were sitting in was a large Scythe, looking like it would belong to the grim reaper, himself.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  Help!  Please, God, help!  Make it stop!  I'm begging you!  Daddy.  Daddy!  Please, wake up!  I don't want to be alone!  Why?!  Why the fuck is this happening?!  Wahhhhhhhhhhh!  I-I want...m-mommy to wake up!  Why won't she wake up?!  We have to evacuate!  Before everyone in this entire city is fucking killed!  I don't want to die!  Please, someone...anyone...save me!   I-I can't watch, anymore!  I-I just can't!  It hurts!  It hurts so fucking bad!  Get off of me!  Get the fuck off!  Whoever's responsible for...this...is a devil!  A devil!

Every scream...every voice...came from a different person and all of them circled around inside the mysterious figure's head, causing them to place their hands over their ears, in an attempt to make it stop.  

"They'll never go away...the screams...the voices...they'll be with you, forever," a voice hissed in the darkness.  "It's what you deserve...The Nightmare, who caused the fall of this world and its plunge into darkness."

 

Author's Note: Hello, I thought I would attempt to write an author's note since this is the last chapter of the first volume of the series.  Although, I'll admit that I'm not too good at this kind of thing.  First, I just wanted to thank each and every reader, who actually took the time to read this story, up to this point.  It means so much that there's actually people out there, reading this story that I wrote.  Most of my stories, up to this point, have been fan fictions which I still love writing, mainly, because I get so passionate about the things that I like that I always really enjoy putting my own twist on them, through my fan fictions.  It's taken this long for me to, finally, come up with an original series and I hope that it turns out to be something that, at least, some people can get something out of.  I know that my writing isn't very good from a technical standpoint.  This work is most likely plagued by spelling errors, misused punctuation, terrible sentence structure and a handful of other issues and I'm so sorry that I'm not more skilled as a writer.  It's, admittedly, kind of a bummer, because I really do enjoy writing but I'm just, undeniably, shit at it.  I guess not everyone can be good at the thing they enjoy doing but, still, I'll keep writing this story, hoping that I get a little better, over time.  Again, thank you all so much for reading and I'll keep trying my best to write this story to its completion.  

 

Important Note on Scheduling: Following this chapter, I will be releasing future chapters, once a week, every Friday, since I'm a bit more caught up to where I'm currently at, writing-wise.  I apologize if this disappoints some readers, who are used to the three times a week structure that I follow, currently.  I'll keep you all updated on any further changes in my writing schedule!  

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