The look on their faces was the perfect reflection of what they now saw—death and destruction. Mouths were dropped almost to the floor as they rolled through the neighborhood on their way back home. Before they even made it all the way back to the house, the regret for having left for a weekend camping trip was immediate. No one even knew what to say initially. Dante was able to mutter the word “what” but nothing came out after that. Weaving through debris everywhere, the fully packed car rolled up to the trashed house. Ivan was the first one inside but the other three were right behind him. The place was absolutely destroyed and from the looks of most of the other houses on the block, this house got off easy.
“Lucy, Ivan, go check upstairs for mom and dad!” Brock said, frantically. “Dante check the backyard, I’ll check the main floor!”
Ivan and Lucy ran upstairs as fast as they could, splitting up briefly to check the rooms faster. Dante ran to go to the backyard but there was no need to open the french doors as they were completely destroyed.
“Brock!” Ivan yelled, from the top of the stairs.
Brock met up with Ivan and Lucy in the master bedroom and was immediately paralyzed by what he saw. There was blood everywhere. All over the walls, dripping from the night stand and covering the once ivory-white bed sheets. Dante heard Ivan call for Brock and rushed upstairs having found no one in the backyard. It was the middle of summer and despite his tan, Dante’s face was as white as the bedsheets used to be. On the bed were the remains of Brock and Dante’s mom.
Ivan was adopted as a baby by Dante’s parents. He spent all eighteen years of his life with Dante. They are the same age only separated by five months so they are as close to brothers as you can be without being blood-related. That didn’t matter however, as Dante’s family was the only family Ivan had—that he knew of. He’s always been on the more quiet side as he holds a lot of questions that no one knows the answers to. Who are his parents? Why didn’t they want him? Does he have any siblings? It’s questions like this that he’ll probably never get answers to that are a contributing factor to why Ivan has been on the more serious and quiet side. Despite all his questions, he is very grateful for his adoptive family and loves them very much—he would die to protect them.
Then there’s Lucy. Lucy is thirteen months older than Ivan. They met when Ivan was five years old at Krav Maga school. Dante’s parents enrolled the boys in martial arts to help diminish some of their endless supply of energy in a positive manner. Ivan and Lucy have been together ever since.
Lucy never had a good relationship with her parents and therefore spent most of her time with Ivan at his house. They were inseparable and together with Dante, they were always practicing Krav Maga at home. They all outshined the other students and quickly moved their way up to earning black belts, even teaching other students by the time they were ten years old.
Brock is a different story however, as he is five years older than Dante and Ivan and joined the Army when he was eighteen years old. He was a combat engineer and he absolutely loved it. As a kid growing up, Brock was always getting into trouble, setting small fires and eventually “graduating” to making small explosives such as mini pipe-bombs with his friends. He has a real passion for it and is a total pyro-maniac.
Brock was, as they say in the military, a “lifer.” He wasn’t home from the Army on leave much so when he was he loved trying to catch up and do things with the family. He thought it would be fun to get Dante, Ivan and Lucy out of the house and into nature for the weekend. This would be the last time Brock came home on leave.
The shock was taking over everyone. They understood what they were seeing, but no one could believe it yet. Lucy asked where their dad was and it was as if she snapped them all out of their trance.
“Yeah, where is he?!” asked Brock immediately heading towards the stairs.
“Did anyone check the basement?” Dante inquired.
“No, but I’ll go check.” volunteered Ivan. Ivan realized that his dad was most likely in the basement seeing that all the other rooms have been checked. As he raced downstairs and opened the door to the basement, Ivan could immediately smell that his adoptive father was down there. He called for everyone who was still in the master bedroom and they sprinted down to the basement.
Their father was lying dead in the corner in a puddle of his own blood. Brock ran over to him first and rolled him over onto his back. Brock was now crying, not because he was more concerned about his father than his mother, but because it was starting to sink in that this was real.
“What happened? Who did this?! The whole neighborhood is like this! Are we at war?” Dante asked, shooting out questions like a machine gun.
“I don’t know!” Brock snapped back as his sadness was turning to anger. “I don’t know.” Ivan started heading upstairs.
“Where are you going?” Lucy asked.
“To grab a shovel.” Ivan said, calmly.
“Huh? Why?”
“Why do you think?”
“You’re going to bury them? We need to call the police and figure out wh—”
“Look around! Look at the neighborhood. Don’t you think it’s odd the police aren’t already here? The whole neighborhood looks just as bad or worse than this house and there’s not a cop car, firetruck or ambulance in sight. And not to mention that they’ve been dead for probably half a day. This is something bigger than just dialing 911. We’re on our own so I suggest we give them a proper burial, say our goodbyes and figure out what the hell is going on.”
Ivan was always that cool-headed. Everyone often wondered to themselves how such a strong, rational, cool-headed person could have such irrational biological parents who would give-up their child. Ivan himself even often wondered what his parents were like. It wasn’t enough that he knew Dante’s family was his adoptive family, but Ivan couldn’t shake that curiosity about who his real parents were even though he loved his adoptive parents so much.
“He’s right.” Brock said as he wiped away his tears. “We don’t know what or who did this and the police aren’t going to be of any help if there’s even still such a thing.”
Brock went to grab a shovel with Ivan from the garden shed and Lucy helped Dante grab a tarp and brought their mother and father out to the backyard. As Brock patted down the last of the dirt they all looked at each other but no one said anything. They were all saying their goodbyes in their heads. They stood there in silence for about two minutes and it wasn’t until Ivan started walking away that everyone followed suit. Ivan went to the front yard and was taking it all in; the shattered glass, burnt down houses and debris everywhere.
“We’ll find who did this.” Brock calmly and quietly said, standing right next to Ivan.
“I know.” Ivan replied, with an even calmer demeanor than Brock.
Ivan was sad, he was even furious; but he always had a way of keeping his feelings to himself. He would show his love through his actions but rarely through his words—not even to Lucy, who was his everything.
Just then everyone heard a groan coming from next door. They looked over and saw a hand reaching through some debris in the front yard. Dante was the first one over and started pulling off the remains of a bookshelf from a woman.
“Mrs. Whitlock!” Dante cried out.
“Dante.” groaned Mrs. Whitlock.
Mrs. Whitlock was their family friend and neighbor for thirteen years. She was a widow for the last seven years but she still insisted on living in her house despite her old age.
“What happened? Are you alright?” Dante asked.
She could barely speak. “I’m dying Dante, I don’t have much time.”
“Who did this?!” asked Dante urgently.
“There were so many of them.” Mrs. Whitlock was speaking as if she wasn’t even listening to Dante’s question. “There must’ve been hundreds.”
“Huh? Hundreds of what? People?” Dante asked frantically.
“Yes, but they were different. Something about them was different; like their minds were gone. There was no reasoning with them—they didn’t even speak. It was as if the Devil himself sealed their lips.”
She was losing consciousness at this point and Brock gently shook her. “What do you mean their minds were gone? I don’t understand.” But she was gone. Everyone looked at each other in complete wonder at what Mrs. Whitlock just said.
“What does she mean? What the hell is that supposed to mean? They don’t speak and it’s like their minds were gone?” Lucy asked. She wasn’t asking anyone in particular—just anyone that could elaborate on Mrs. Whitlock’s claims. No one had an answer.
“Never mind that,” said Ivan who was still calm, “she said there were hundreds of them.”
“She must’ve been hallucinating or talking nonsense because she was dying.” Dante said, still trying to process what Mrs. Whitlock had said.
“Dante take a look around… this wasn’t exactly the work of just a few people. I mean has anyone even seen any bullet holes yet?” Brock was right; there wasn’t a single bullet hole in any of the houses. This wasn’t done with guns so that can only mean one thing; it was done by hand, or at the very least, using a hand-held weapon. Everyone’s eyes lit up as if a light bulb was switched on.
“You’re right! Lucy said with excitement. Not with the kind of excitement about getting a surprise present, but the kind of excitement one would have finally figuring out a riddle. “There’s none! Ivan what do you make of this?”
“Well, I really don’t know. But I’d bet that there’s a lot of other neighborhoods that have gone, or are going through this as we speak.”
“So now what?” Dante asked.
“Mack. We need to go to Mack’s house and see if he’s still there. He lives kind of secluded from other homes so there’s a chance his house didn’t get hit. Hell, he probably doesn’t even know what’s going on. Probably too concerned with what the bottom of all his beer bottles look like.”
So they all agreed and got some supplies from inside the house like canned food and other survival equipment and made their way to Mack’s house.
“Mack! Mack!” Dante yelled, as he ran up to Mack’s house. He was relieved to see his house was unscathed.
“You can smell it from out here...beer and cigars. Such a familiar scent.” Brock told Ivan as they walked up casually to the house.
Mack opens the door in his underwear shocked to see everyone all coming to see him at once.
Mack finalized a messy divorce six months ago and has been taking it hard on himself. He has been drinking just about everyday. Not to the point of being fall-down drunk, but enough to take the edge off. Lately his two favorite things have been beer and cigars. Mack was surprised to see everyone because he has never been too close to his brothers. He was born fifteen years prior to Brock and the age gap created a distance between them.
“What’s going on? Everyone come here to check me out in my underwear?” Mack said chuckling to himself. He wasn’t slurring, but he was close.
“What? No, this is serious.” Brock said sternly. “Mom and dad are dead. Everyone’s dead, the whole neighborhood!”
“If this is some kind of joke, it ain’t funny.” Mack said, losing his grin.
“It’s not,” Brock replied, “and put some clothes on. Lucy’s right here.”
“Alright, alright.” Mack complied and invited everyone in. “Mom and dad are dead? Seriously?” Mack started to sober up a little.
“Yes, murdered. The house was destroyed along with the rest of the neighborhood. Everyone was slaughtered!” Dante said, quickly. “Mrs. Whitlock told us before she died that it was hundreds of people and that their minds were gone and they didn’t speak and—”
“Woah woah woah wait wait—” Mack interrupted Dante starting to get uneasy and process that his parents were now dead. “What, no one calls me? I don’t get to say goodbye?”
“We tried calling you Mack.” Ivan said, defending the group. “We did try calling but your phone went straight to voicemail and we only just found out three hours ago.”
Mack was now sitting leaning forward with his hands covering his face. He sat like this for around ten seconds in silence before lifting up his head to speak. “I need to see them. I want to see them!” Mack said with a raised voice.
“You can’t, we buried them.” answered Brock. “Mack, they looked like they were dead for about half a day when we found them.”
“Half a day?! What, half a day?! Where were all of you that they were dead for half a day before you found them?!” Mack was becoming more on edge now because of his ignorance to the fact that while he was boozing it up the last day, his parents were murdered.
“I took everyone on a weekend camping trip… If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m home on leave!” Brock snapped back. “We tried getting ahold of you to come with us and get your mind off things but like always your phone was turned off.”
Mack sat there stuck in one of those stares when you’re looking at something but looking at nothing at the same time. All of a sudden he snapped out of it and looked at Brock. “So now what? You all going to find out who did this to mom and dad? What’d you say Dante? Hundreds of people?” Mack didn’t fully believe Dante’s story about how there were hundreds of people whose minds were gone and didn’t speak. “You going to exact revenge on all these people you say did this?”
“Yes Mack, we are.” Ivan said, answering for Dante. He was dead serious. Ivan had no other purpose in life right now other than to avenge his parents whether he had to do it alone or as a family. “And you’re coming with us.”
“Oh no. No I’m not. You can count me out. I’m staying right here while you go on your little scavenger hunt.” Mack answered insistently.
“For what? To die like mom and dad?!” Dante finally chimed in. “What if your house gets hit next? We don’t know where this herd of psychopaths went and you’re family so you’re coming with us!”
“He’s right, Mack.” Brock said. “You’re coming with us because if you want to make it up to mom and dad and the four of us here for the last six months of basically ignoring us and hiding from everyone you’ll help us avenge our parents.”
Mack’s face gave away his response before his mouth did. He was going with them. He had to. He had to make it up to everyone and show that despite all his self-pity since the divorce, he still cared about what family he had left.
“Fine,” Mack’s mouth finally caught up with the rest of what his face was saying. “I’ll come.
“Thank you.” Brock said, relieved that Mack made the right choice.
“There’s not enough room in the car you have though. We need to take my rig.” Mack offered.
“That’s fine. Everyone start transferring our stuff to Mack’s truck.” ordered Brock.
So everyone helped move their gear from the car to the truck. Mack had been a hunter as long as anyone can remember so he had a large collection of guns. He had three shotguns, five rifles and four pistols. He had enough ammo to go to war with which is exactly how much they needed. So the five of them now set out to the nearest town to try and acquire more supplies, but more importantly, to get leads on where the hundreds of people have gone.
Mack pulled into town and immediately rolled to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Silence. Nobody said a word for a few seconds until Dante looked at Mack and muttered the word “see.”
“Look!” Lucy said, pointing to the right and just down the road towards the bank. “There’s some people!”
There were six people attacking the bank. Brock sat in the front passenger seat while Ivan, Lucy and Dante sat on the bed in back. Brock calmly opens the door and steps outside not saying a word. He leaves the door open and just stares. The six people aren’t attacking with any sort of purpose. It all looked very mindless.
“Hey!” Brock yells to grab their attention. Nothing. Still they attack the bank as mindlessly as before Brock shouted. “Hey!” Brock yells again, this time waving his arms. They were parked about one hundred feet away from the bank and the six people could’ve easily heard Brock’s cries for attention. By this point all five were outside of Mack’s rig. They were all trying to process why none of the people destroying the bank were looking over.
“This isn’t right. Something isn’t right. These must be the ones who killed mom and dad and destroyed the whole neighborhood.” Lucy said, weirded out by the fact that the six people weren’t acknowledging their presence.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“We don’t know that yet.” Brock said, still staring at the people.
“So let’s go ask them.” Ivan said, without missing a beat. Before he even finished saying the sentence Ivan starts walking casually over to the bank. It took a couple seconds but the rest followed in silence. Ivan was now ten feet away from the people and still nothing. They still vandalized the bank just as mindlessly. Some had broken pipes, others used rocks—anything that could be picked up from the ground. Ivan stood there for a few seconds before speaking.
“Did you murder our parents?” Ivan asked calmly, expecting no response.
“Enough of this!” Dante runs up to the nearest person and grabs his shoulder to turn him around. “Did you hear what he said?! Did. You. Murder. Our. Parents?!” The person just turned back and started attacking the bank again.
“What the hell is going on?” Mack said.
Dante was starting to lose it. He was a great fighter like Ivan and Lucy but he was quick to anger and with the murder of his parents so fresh, Dante’s fuse was almost non-existent. Dante runs up to the same person and socks him in the face. The person fell to the ground, got right back up and started attacking the bank.
Everyone just stared at each other for a few seconds when all of a sudden from around the corner came a woman running straight for the group. Brock yelled to see if the woman was okay but there was no reply. The woman just kept on running. Lucy was the closest one to the woman and when she got up to Lucy she started attacking her violently. It catches Lucy off-guard but she has been taking Krav Maga classes since she was six years old. Lucy only stood on the defense for the first initial blows by the woman but as she defended herself she remembered what Mrs. Whitlock had said about their minds being gone and that they didn’t speak. Upon realizing this, Lucy made quick work of the woman and snapped her neck. The whole fight lasted ten seconds.
“Lucy!” Brock yells. “What did you just do?! She’s dead! You just murdered her!”
“She’s not human anymore, did you not see?! Do you not see these people still attacking the buildings?! They’re responsible for your parent’s death and if you haven’t noticed, the cops have been nowhere in sight since we came home. We’re on our own now.” Lucy explained.
Lucy was much like Ivan in that she is an extremely skilled fighter, kept her cool and is strong-willed. A perfect match for Ivan. She isn’t always as serious as Ivan is, but she is when she needs to be.
“Brock, she’s right.” Ivan said, concurring with Lucy. “You seen what these people did to our neighborhood and more importantly, what they did to mom and dad. I don’t know what happened to them but they’re clearly not themselves anymore—they’re gone.”
“You don’t know that.” Brock said in disagreement. “They could be helped, changed back to what they once were.”
“Maybe so,” said Ivan, “but until we know how, or even if we can change them back, we need to defend ourselves. And if that means killing them, then so be it.”
Brock sighed and looked over to Dante and Mack for reassurance of what Ivan said. “Mack? Dante?” he asked.
“What choice do we have?” Mack asked rhetorically.
“We need to be together on this.” Ivan said. “We are all we have now so we need to be on the same page. We need to protect one-another. Until we find out we can change them back that’s what needs to happen.”
Dante looked zoned out but Lucy could tell he was trying to figure something out in his head.
“What is it, Dante?” Lucy asked.
“Guys, didn’t you notice that the woman attacked us but the others didn’t? Not even when I socked that guy in the face did he try and retaliate. He just went back to destroying the bank.”
“Yeah, so? Mack asked.
“So maybe whatever happened to these people is having two different outcomes. Look what happened in our neighborhood; all the houses had different severities of damage and anyone in their home was killed. If these people destroying the buildings don’t even acknowledge other people but other people try and kill you, wouldn’t it make sense that we’re dealing with two different groups of people?!” Dante was right. Whatever the reason, there were two different effects that people had experienced.
So onward they went, hopping from town to town just trying to survive. The days turned into weeks and still there were no answers. Many people were killed that tried to kill someone from the group on their journey for not just survival, but for answers. So far everyone successfully defended each other and themselves.
One particular morning Mack pulled into a small town and noticed there was a lone woman killing what the group was now distinguishing as Destroyers for the ones attacking buildings, and Slayers for those attempting to kill people.
“She must not have been changed!” said Dante, relieved to see the first unchanged person in weeks. “She’s killing Slayers!”
The woman was by herself and appeared to not only be killing the Slayers, but hunting them. Up until this point the group only killed in self defense but this woman was the one pursuing the changed ones.
“We should go help her.” Brock suggested.
“Looks like she’s doing just fine.” Mack stated.
The woman was now finished killing any Slayers in the area. She noticed the rig and started casually walking over to it. She walks up to the driver’s side and motions for Mack to roll down his window.
“What brings you into town?” chuckled the woman. She seemed too happy to be living in this hell.
“Uhh, we’re uh, looking for supplies. You?” said Mack. Mack was tripping over his words immediately because of this woman’s beauty. He hadn’t even thought of a woman besides his ex-wife since his divorce and now Mack realized he was looking at the woman of his dreams while living in this hellish nightmare.
The woman just looks at Mack and grins. “I’m Leeza.” she said as she extends out her hand to shake Mack’s. “And what brings me into town is to kill these rotten bastards.
“Do you know what happened to these people?” Brock asked from the passenger seat.
“I do.” Leeza said lightheartedly, as if this is the way it’s always been. She didn’t seem phased by what happened to the Destroyers and Slayers who were once people with 9-5ers. The group knew nothing about Leeza outside of the fact she had no quarrels about killing them and that she claims to know what changed them.
“I call it the Deceiver. I don’t know what it is, but that’s what I call it.” Leeza declared as the group was now standing outside. “It looks human enough, but with a couple features that set it apart from actually being human. I saw it myself. It walked right up to someone, put its hands on their temples and a couple seconds later the person changes. I’ve noticed there’s only two outcomes once the Deceiver changes someone; they either start destroying buildings or start trying to kill other people.”
“Yeah we caught on to that too.” said Ivan. “Do you know where it is?”
“At the moment? No.” said Leeza. “But you can bet I’m lookin’ for it.”
“So how do we find it?” inquired Lucy.”
“I don’t know. I know it’s not far from here because I just seen it the other day but got ran off by a group of Mobbers.”
“Mobbers?” asked Mack.
“The ones that kill people.” replied Leeza.
“Oh, we’ve been calling them Slayers and the other ones Destroyers.”
“Slayers and Destroyers, eh? Hell I like those names; I think I’m going to jump ship and call them that myself if you guys don’t mind!” Leeza chuckled as if it was as innocent and playful as playing pretend as a kid and giving yourself a name.
“That’s fine, but we need to find it too. We’re coming with you. Isn’t there anything you know about it that can help us find it?” Ivan asked. “Knowing it looks human and changes people won’t be enough to spot it if we can’t find its location in the first place. There must be something like a trail it leaves behind or something.”
“Look, the only other thing I know about it is that when it’s changing someone it emits a bright blue light. That’s it.” Leeza replied.
“That’s a start.” Brock said impatiently. “We need to get a move on, though.”
“Yes Sir!” Leeza said as she motioned a salute while snapping her heels together like a soldier. “Hey Mack, you mind if I hitch a ride?”
Mack knew they didn’t have much room left in the truck but they needed her to help find the Deceiver and Mack found himself experiencing love at first sight.
“Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem I guess.” Mack said, trying to play it cool and not give away his feelings he was having about her. “You can sit in the front passenger seat—you know, to help us find the Deceiver.”
Mack looks immediately at Brock and begs him with his eyes. Brock just rolls his eyes but can tell Mack likes her.
“So where to?” Mack asked as everyone was now situated in their seats.
“There’s a large town about thirty miles due west of here. When I seen the Deceiver it was heading this direction going west. Maybe we can get lucky and find it in one of the small towns along the way.” Leeza said.
“So, you’re just guessing?” Dante asked irritatedly.
“It’s all we have, Dante.” Ivan said, answering for Leeza. “Up until we met her we didn’t even know this thing existed so we’re going to go with the only lead we have on finding it.”
So after they siphoned more gas from an abandoned rig, the group set out west. They decided to use to their advantage the fact that a strong blue light emits from the Deceiver when it changes someone. They stopped at the first small town and decided to spend the night to keep watch for this blue light.
“There’s a two-story building over there.” points Lucy. “We should take shifts watching from the roof overnight while everyone else gets rest.”
“I’ll take first watch.” Leeza volunteered.
Leeza worked her way up to the roof and everyone set up camp inside the same building. The town had been victim to the Destroyers but there were no dead bodies in sight. The town had been evacuated upon hearing the news of people being changed into these monsters. Everyone in the group realized the town had already been hit but they needed rest and if there was a chance of seeing the Deceiver pass through, they would all take it.
Everyone was sleeping now except for Mack. Not because he was scared, not because he wasn’t tired, but because he couldn’t stop thinking about Leeza. She looked to be within a few years of him with a personality similar to that of his; also there was a real fire inside of her that instantly attracted him to her. Mack couldn’t get that grin out of his mind that she gave him—for it was seared into his memory. He didn’t know how many chances he would get to talk to her alone so he decided to go talk to her on the roof.
“I brought you a candy bar.” Mack said, holding it out to her.
“Thank you kindly.” Leeza said, almost snatching it out of Mack’s hand. “Just what I needed.”
They were both speaking softly; Leeza so as not to attract any Slayers, and Mack so as not to wake up anyone in the group and lose his alone time with Leeza.
“Cold?” Mack asked, as he sits down beside Leeza trying to get a conversation going.
“Nah, I’m alright.”
“Well I am.” Mack chuckled a bit. The two looked out straight ahead into the clear night sky. “You think we’ll find this thing?” Mack asked sincerely.
“We have to.” said Leeza. “I won’t stop until the Deceiver pays for changing my family. I had to kill my own husband and daughter.”
Mack just sat there hanging his head. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. What do you say to that? Somehow sorry doesn’t do any justice. He felt sorry for himself the past six months because of his divorce and here was the woman of his dreams sitting there telling him she had to kill her own husband and daughter.
“They both changed into Slayers and kept trying to kill me. There were more coming after me but I could only focus on them.” Leeza had a tear rolling down her cheek at this point but continued on. “It all happened so fast; one minute life is completely normal and I’m complaining about bills, doing laundry, all that comes along with an average life and the next minute I’m forced to make the toughest decision of my life in the blink of an eye.” Leeza paused.
There was absolute silence for what seemed like an eternity. Mack put his hand on Leeza’s back to try and comfort her. Immediately Leeza started balling her eyes out as if Mack putting his hand on her back was the “okay” sign to let it all out. He rubbed her back not saying a word while she cried. She didn’t cry for long though because she knew she had to move on and have the strength to avenge her family’s death.
“Thank you, Mack.” Leeza said as she grabbed his hand. “I needed that. That was the first time I cried since it happened.”
“I wish there was something more I could do Leeza.” Mack said as he looked down at his hand now holding Leeza’s.
“What you’re doing right now is exactly what I needed.” Leeza said as she leaned her head against Mack’s shoulder for a few seconds. While she was leaning her head against him she suggested he get some sleep and reassured him she’ll be okay and that Dante volunteered for second shift.
It was morning now and there had been no sign of the Deceiver. The group stayed in town for a few hours grabbing what supplies they could before heading out to the next town. They repeated the process over the next couple weeks—three days in this town, two days in another and so on. How long they stayed in each town depended on the size of the town and whether it had enough supplies to scavenge. Anytime they went looking for equipment or food the group split up. Lucy with Ivan, Dante with Brock, and Mack with Leeza. They never ventured off alone as a safety precaution. A lot of Slayers and Destroyers were killed—mostly Slayers, but sometimes Destroyers when it was necessary.
Throughout the two weeks heading for the large city that Leeza suggested, Mack and Leeza had grown really close. They had a spark between them and Mack showed signs of his mood improving despite his world having been thrown into chaos. He even drastically cut-back on his drinking, although he still loved to light up the occasional cigar.
Ivan and Lucy were, well, badasses. They are amazing fighters with their hands and with weapons in their own right, but together they were almost untouchable. Of the three groups that split up when they went looking for supplies, Ivan and Lucy ran into the most trouble. It seemed that just about every corner they turned there were more Slayers just waiting their turn to take down the duo.
Brock and Dante were also holding their own. Brock couldn’t fight like Dante, but he was in good shape because of his Army physical training. He used what Army combatives training he remembered and was even picking up new moves from Ivan, Dante and Lucy. Brock had suggested that everyone carry at least one firearm in case of emergency. The Slayers couldn’t speak, but they retained all their other physical attributes and hearing gunshots would attract them so the group had to talk and kill quietly. They all agreed that the Slayers and Destroyers should be killed zombie-style in that they would go straight for the head; this would ensure there wouldn’t be any prolonged fights making too much noise.
“Finally.” Dante said as they were within one mile of the city Leeza originally mentioned. “But this city is huge. Where do we even begin?”
“You know the drill, Dante.” Brock said. “Same as we’ve been doing; we find some high ground and keep watch at night for the blue light.”
“You ready?” asked Leeza looking over at Mack.
“I may not have been born ready, but I’m ready now.” said Mack with a large smirk on his face.
“There.” Ivan said, pointing at the tallest building as they were just now entering the city. “That building looks to be about ten stories. We should use that to keep watch tonight.”
Slayers and Destroyers were everywhere. There wasn’t a building that wasn’t being attacked by Destroyers, and Slayers were wandering the streets killing what people they could. It was pandemonium. Screams filled the air along with the sounds of fire and shattering glass.
“Mack, stop!” Brock said frantically. “We’re already too close as it is. We need a new plan because we can’t just waltz on up there like we’ve been doing.”
Mack stops immediately. “Well what do you suggest then?” Mack asked.
Just then out of the corner of her eye Leeza sees a flash of blue light. “It’s here! I saw the blue light!” Leeza said, grabbing at Mack while looking in the direction of blue light. Another flash of blue light; this time the Deceiver was in plain view of everyone in the rig and was about two hundred feet away. “I have to kill it! It’s right there, I have to kill it!” cries Leeza gripping her shotgun with one hand and the door handle with another.
“Leeza, don’t.” Mack said sternly. “Not yet, we have to fig—”
“Don’t!” Leeza said, snapping at Mack. “It’s right there, Mack. I had to kill my own husband and daughter because of that thing!” Leeza said as a tear rolled down her cheek. Leeza opens the door now and stands outside the rig. She has a machete and a shotgun with plenty of ammo. She starts walking towards the Deceiver now and no Slayer would get in her way.
“Leeza stop!” Mack yells as he gets out of the rig.
Everyone else follows to try and stop her. There are an overwhelming amount of Slayers but Leeza felt unphased by their numbers. As far as Leeza was concerned, there were none. She ripped through them with sheer anger and determination. She barely took her eyes off the Deceiver as she slowly closed in on it. Everyone realized Leeza wouldn’t stop now and all they could do was try and help her from getting killed.
“She’s attracting more with the gunfire!” yelled Dante. “There’s more pouring in from around every corner. She’s going to get us all killed!”
“Leeza!” yelled Mack still trying to snap her out of her murderous trance. “Leeza stop!”
As good as the group was at fighting, there were too many Slayers. Leeza was now too far ahead of the rest of the group and was biting off more than she could chew. Her shotgun shells ran out and she was now using her machete, chopping down as many Slayers as she could to get to the Deceiver who was now out of their sight.
“Mack we need to pull back!” yells Ivan, telling Mack directly because he knew it would be the hardest to get him to comply out of the entire group.
“No! We can’t leave her!” Mack cried out, despite realizing they wouldn’t be able to make it to her.
Ivan and Brock now grab Mack to pull him back to the rig as Lucy and Dante fight off the Slayers who were now in endless supply.
“We need to get to higher ground!” yells Brock. We’re not going to be able to drive out of here, we’ll get overran.”
Mack couldn’t take his eyes off Leeza now as Ivan and Brock continued pulling him back. He kept watching as Leeza was now being murdered by a swarm of Slayers. His eyes were bulging now as a stream of anger and sadness all rushed in at once like a tidal wave.
“Nooo!” cries Mack. “I’ll kill them all!”
They were back near the rig at this point but were still trying to fight off Slayers. Ivan and Brock were now having to help Lucy and Dante keep the Slayers at bay when Mack jumps into the rig. One by one the rest make their way into the truck and Mack peels out in reverse. When there’s some distance between them and the pursuing Slayers, Mack turns it around and drives forward now away from the city. When they make it a few miles out Mack comes to a stop.
“I can’t go any further.” Mack said calmly.
“What do you mean? Are we out of gas?” asked Dante.
“He’s referring to himself.” said Ivan, realizing that Mack just lost the only thing keeping him alive.
“Mack, sweetie. What are you saying? We’ve got to keep going.” Lucy said crying. She too knew what Mack meant but was hoping she was wrong.
“I mean I’m done. I’m done running. I’m going back to kill it. Alone.” Mack said, still calm. “There’s cars here all over the place you can take, but I have to go back.”
“Mack, you can’t. Don’t leave us!” Dante said, also crying.” Mack just stared in silence at the steering wheel.
“His mind is already made up.” Ivan declared. “He doesn’t need our permission. We’ll find a car with gas and make our way out.”
Brock was angry. “What are you going to do—just drive this into the city and run the Deceiver over?!” Brock said with a raised voice.
“The explosives. We still have all the c4 in the back compartment.” Mack said, reminding Brock.
“This is stupid.” Brock said, looking at Ivan. “Are we really letting him do this?!”
“Like I said, his mind is already made up. If he’s going to do this we might as well give him the best chance at killing the Deceiver. Can you rig the c4 quickly?” Ivan asked.
Brock was in shock that this was happening. “Yes.” he muttered, barely audible.
The Slayers were closing in on the group now and time was running out. Ivan, Dante and Lucy helped move as much gear as they could into a van that had enough gas to start while Brock rigged the explosives. Mack stood out in front of the rig now looking out into the horizon with a blank stare on his face.
“They’re uhhh, all set.” Brock said to Mack, barely able to get the words out of his mouth. As mad as he was at Mack for doing this, he understood.
Lucy hugged Mack first. “I’m sorry.” she cried. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save her. I’ll miss you.”
Mack hugged her back. “I know. I know. I’m sorry too.” he said as he squeezes her. “You take care of Ivan.”
“I will.” Lucy said as she steps aside.
Dante was next. His eyes were so welled up he could barely see out of them. “Mack, I don’t even know what to say.” Dante admitted. “I can’t believe this is happening. I miss you already.” Dante was now hugging Mack as hard as he could. Mack embraced Dante and pulled his head closer into his chest with his hand. “You don’t worry about me, kid. You just make sure you all have each other’s back. You hear me?”
Dante nodded as he wiped the tears away. “Yeah, I hear you.”
Brock stood there looking at the ground. He realized that once he looked up at Mack that it would be the last time he did. After a few seconds he found the courage to look at Mack.
“I’m sorry this is how it ends.” Brock said as he looked at Mack’s face trying to burn it into his memory while he still could. “You mean more to us than you realize. We all love you and we always cared for you. I know Leeza was your everything and now your everything was taken from you, but I just wanted you to know that we all love you.”
“I know, Brock. I love all of you but you’re right—my everything has been taken from me.” Mack was holding back his tears now and his voice reflected that. “I will never be able to let that go.” Mack and Brock hugged and Brock stepped aside still looking at Mack, too scared to look away now.
Mack looks over at Ivan who is walking right up to him. “Just go kill the son of a bitch.” said Ivan, whose stare was piercing right through Mack’s eyes. “Do it for us. Do it for Leeza.” Mack nodded as if he was following one last order and hugged Ivan.
Mack got into the rig now and the rest of the group made their way to the van. Mack looked down at a half-empty bottle of liquor that’s been sitting there ever since he met Leeza and stopped drinking. He grabs it and proceeds to chug it. After he finished the bottle of liquor he grabs one last cigar, lights up, and starts driving towards the city.
Ivan was driving the van away from the city and in the rearview mirror sees the biggest explosion of his life. Mack was dead.