I tried to shield my eyes as best I could while keeping control of the wheel while a psychopath pounded on the roof of the vehicle. Raves began to growl a bit as he looked at the roof where Zero dented it, visible fist marks showing. I heard a low whine come from somewhere inside of Raves as a blast issued from his eye.
“What the fuck, man?!” I shouted as the roof exploded. In the rear view I saw Zero land hard on the ground. Raves kept looking upwards, thank God, as the beam slowly faded away. “Where the hell can I get one of those?”
“Get stabbed,” Raves said as the beam died down. Raves held his eye and when he removed it a large scar was on his face from his brow to his cheek. The scar began to heal itself moments later. “Fuck, I hate using that thing.”
“I wouldn’t,” I said. “That was fantastic.”
“It hurts like a motherfucker,” Raves said. “Feels like I am dying every time I use it.” Suddenly my rear view mirror exploded. I turned around and saw Zero, on fire from the waist up, running about 100 yards behind us. “Are you fucking serious?” Raves asked aloud.
“I told you this guy was crazy,” I said. “We’re gonna have to kill him a few times before he stays down.”
“I think this is the end of road for me,” Raves said. “What?” I asked. “I have a ton of questions to ask you.” “I can only tell you so much,” Raves said. “I can send you to a guy that can actually tell you
everything you need to know.” “Who?” I asked.
“Hollister,” Raves said. “Heard of him?” “Only in the past tense,” I said. “The Corps said he killed himself.” “He did,” Raves said. “Then he came back. Crazy bastard was legit dead for three days. Then he
just... woke up.” “Damn,” I said. How can someone just bring themselves to life? “Do you think Zero has the
ability to come back like Hollister did?” “I doubt it,” Raves said. “Hollister is an anomaly. He said that while he was dead he went to
Heaven. Said he met Jesus. Then he was sent to Hell. Shown what awaited him when he was done. So he decided 'I don't ever wanna die' and then, poof, he was alive.”
“Crazy,” I said. “Hold the wheel for a second.” I grabbed my modified Heckler & Koch 5.56mm and leaned out of my window. I fired thirty rounds into Zero’s chest. His body jerked like a marionette and he fell. He immediately jumped back up and began chasing us again. “Shit.”
“May I?” Raves asked while rubbing his eye. I braked immediately, hooking the car so that Raves was facing Zero on the road. Cars began swerving in the lanes.
“Please,” I said.
Raves jumped out of the car and aimed straight at Zero. A blast larger than the first hit cars, street lights, shops, and any unfortunate fool in the street, turning everything to ash and molting metal. Zero ran, dodging the beam before getting caught in the leg. Zero went down but kept rolling away.
“Go!!!” Raves shouted at me. “Look for the Apex Theater! You’ll find Hollister!”
“Thank you!” I shouted above Raves’ screams as the beam began to burn his face. He was catching fire and I could do nothing to help him. I drove off as Raves hit Zero once again. Now I had to find Hollister. The guy’s as crazy as a fruit bat. He had answers and I had a thousand questions.
I had to ditch the Explorer. How did I look driving around L.A with my roof missing? I drive a few miles and dump it, but not before setting off a few grenades inside. I easily find another car, a small green Jeep, before hunting for this Apex Theater. My mind kept drifting to Raves as I drove around in circles.
I woke up on a mission to kill the man and now I needed him. He knew L.T in and out. He toldme about my father being a founder of the program. The only guy I had left was this Hollister. I wasn't nervous about meeting Hollister, just apprehensive. From what I know of him he is a crazed zombie of some sort. Spoke to Jesus? I swear I feel like I’ll wake up and it'll be high school and all this was some sort of insane dream.
Near the New Union Station I see the Apex Theater. It looks abandoned. I park in a red zone, not caring if the car gets ticketed or towed. I go around back and kick a door open. The sound of rats scurrying and pigeons flapping is all I hear. Though I don't want to I use the program to scan the building for Hollister. My head starts to feel afire and I hear a faint heartbeat about three floors up. It's either the man I'm looking for or a very large cat. I head upstairs and find a hallway with eight doors. One of them is shiny and semi-new. It appears thick. I charge up for a flying kick when the door flies open and Hollister is standing there smiling.
He looks like The Unabomber. This is what I expected Raves to look like. Hollister motions for me to come inside. I was hesitant but decided that if need be I could kill him. Hopefully I wouldn't have to.
“How did you know I was here?” I asked.
“You’re loud,” he replied. His voice sounded as if he ate barbed wire for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“How did you know I wouldn’t kill you?” I asked as I stepped into his “home.” “Because I can't die,” he says matter-of-factly. “How is Raves doing?” “I think he is dead,” I said. “I am sure L.T must be very shaken by that,” he said.
“L.T is dead,” I told him. He looked at me and then thrust his hand into the air as if something huge was pressing down on him and the room rattled. “The Corps had him killed a while back.”
“How sad,” he said as he sat down on a dusty couch. “Truly, truly sad. Both L.T and Raves were good men. In their own ways.”
“I need to know all about the program before you get killed.” I blurted. I had no time to reminisce about his old buddies. I had to find out how my father got involved in this mess and how to put an end to it.
“I don't worry about death, darling,” Hollister said. “Right, right,” I said mockingly. “You can't die.” “True,” he said. “I can't. Who are you running from besides yourself?” “A soldier and graduate of the program named Zero,” I said. “He is a freak of nature. Like you,
he won't stay dead. He died as well and came back to life. Now is he damned near unstoppable.” “Interesting,” he said as he scratched his filthy beard. “Do you know what I learned from dying?”
I shrugged. No matter what I refused to believe that he died and came back three days later. “Jesus loves all of us. No matter what happens he still loves us.”
“Even Zero?” I asked sarcastically. “Yes,” Hollister said. “Whoever that is.” “Why did you go crazy screaming ‘uncontrollable’ anyway?” I asked. “Let's not get into that,” he said with a mixture of anger and regret in his voice. “I pray daily that
it never happens again.” An explosion was heard from downstairs. Hollister grabs a small remote and presses a green button. A screen that was about ten feet high and wide with at least one hundred small screens on it dropped from the ceiling silently. “Is that him?” On the screen Zero was walking upstairs to this very room. “What is that in his hand?”
“It appears to be...Raves head,” I said. My brain began to sizzle as I prepared to fight for my life. “Raves was a good man,” Hollister said. “He didn't deserve this. No one deserves...this.” “What's wrong with you?” I asked. He began to shake violently. Shit. I needed to get out of here
as soon as possible. This guy was about to lose it. He stood and made his way to the door. Zero threw Raves' head at him. It smacked Hollister in the chest and landed at his feet. Raves’ eyes stared at him
unblinking. “Un...con...troll...able!!!” I back away from Hollister, not sure as to what would happen next. I once again charged up a bit
more to take on Zero if need be. As Hollister continued to shake Zero laughed to himself as he stepped forward. Hollister growled. It didn't sound human at all. It didn't sound animal neither. This was a new sound. My re-programmed ears and mind tried to find an answer as to what I was hearing. Lion, bear, dog, madman. Any were applicable and not at the same time. Zero stopped three feet from Hollister and began clapping.
“Good show,” Zero s
aid. “Can you do anything other than vibrate?” Hollister vanished. Zero looked just as confused as I must have because he raised the part of his face where his eyebrows would be. Then Zero was pitched down the long hallway. He landed on his feet in a crouching position before he was thrown once again. He was grabbed by his left leg and hammered against the walls, left to right, before being pitched again. “How in the...?”
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked. Zero was getting his ass handed to him by something invisible. Hollister landed next to me breathing hard.
“Not invisible,” he said. “That’s impossible. I can move through moments.” Then he was gone again and Zero was grabbed by his throat and thrown through the ceiling, landing two floors up. Hollister showed himself and leaped two floors up. I ran to the hole in the ceiling and joined him. Everything in my body was telling me to run. But the program was somehow forbidding it. Any sign of weakness was being counteracted by my adrenal glands, forcing me to fight. There was no flight option. I was in this until the end.
“Your speed is impossible,” Zero said as blood seeped through his mesh mask.
“Uncontrollable,” Hollister responded. Zero laughed and was then knocked through a wall, flying outside and landing on the sidewalk outside. As he rose to his feet Hollister was already on top of his chest, punching him from every angle. Hollister grabbed Zero in a full nelson as I jumped through the hole and landed, knee first, onto Zero’s head. My knee whined and his skull cracked.
“Silly whore,” Zero said as blood flowed freely from his scalp. “Abomination,” he then said to Hollister before kicking me hard in the stomach, sending me crashing into the wall in front of the building. I never saw the kick. He then jumped straight up about ten feet before freeing himself from Hollister. He then threw a wild right punch that found Hollister’s jaw. Hollister appeared near me holding his mouth. He spit out a tooth and smiled. As Zero landed I was on him.
I threw a left hook that caught him in the ribs. He grabbed my arm before I could pull it back and flipped me. I landed on my knees and spun, sweeping his feet. He jumped and as he did I continued the spin, punching him in the right thigh, throwing his balance off. As his face neared mine I swear I heard him laugh. He brought his elbow down hard on the bridge of my nose, blood gushed from it, temporarily blinding me. I felt his foot hit my arm as I blocked his kicks. Where was Hollister?
“The Corps was wrong about you,” Zero said as he continued to attempt to break my guard. My arms throbbed with pain. Immediately the pain was turned to rage. “L.T was wrong about you,” he said. I knew that punching wildly would leave me open for all kinds of devastation. I squinted, barely able to see his next blow. I caught his leg at the knee and brought my arm up. His knee snapped like a twig. “Fuck!”
“Did that hurt?” I asked. I stood and wiped the blood from my face. Zero tried to stand and collapsed immediately. Good thing he didn’t have the healing factors of Hollister. “I want you to feel every moment of this.”
With Zero on the ground I ran over and kicked him hard in the face. He was sent spiraling into the air. As soon as he landed I punched his abdomen. He hit a parked van setting off its alarm. He lidless eyes looked around in confusion.
“I am the best,” he gasped. “This can't be happening.” He tried once again to stand and fell back down, clutching his chest with one hand and the door handle of the van with his other. I began
kicking him repeatedly in the face. He let go of the handle and crumpled to the ground. I tried to stop kicking him but could not. Apparently the program wanted to be thorough about this. Or was it me? Was I using the program as an excuse for all this rage? All these emotions I was letting get out of control? A hole appeared next to Zero’s head. Then another. Suddenly bullets rained down from all directions.
“Hollister!” I shouted. Before I could scream his name again I was blocks away and out of breath. “What the hell just happened?”
“I had to...run,” he said. “They all came out of nowhere. Dozens of them.” “Who?” I asked knowing the answer already. “Them,” he said while pointing down the street. He pulled a small remote from his back pocket
just as Raves did and pressed the green button. “They either came to kill Zero for failing, you, or me. I am sorry I could not help you.”
“Please,” I said. “You kicked Zero's ass and saved my life.”
“I know that Raves believed that I could give you more answers but he was wrong,” Hollister said. He looked like he was about to go berserk again and I took a step back. “Don't be afraid. I want you to find someone. She will give you all the answers you need. I have to go and face my demons.”
“Who is she?” I asked. “Diane Hecksford,” he spat. “My mother?!” This was too much for me to take in. My brain began to burn as the program
geared up for an attack on someone, anyone. “She was a huge part of the program,” he said. “Surely your father told her something.” “But she died from a tumor years ago,” I said. She passed while I was in training. I was not
allowed to attend her funeral. “No, she lives,” he said with a tinge of disappointment. “Find her. She will help you. She owes
you.” “How do I even begin to find her?” I asked aloud more to myself than to Hollister. Gunshots
littered the air as we both lay low. “Where the fuck can I get a gun?!” “Here,” Hollister said as he handed me a small automatic. It was one of the odd ones with the
trigger and the bottom of the handle, fired by your small finger. “Please return it later. I am quite fond of it.” I took the gun and began firing back. I hit four of the guards with five shots.
“I must be rusty,” I said. Hollister grabbed me and we landed behind a small car.
“You need to run,” he said. “I will take care of these idiots. Just find the answers. Please.” A second later I was another three blocks away and gunfire was heard from everywhere.
Using the program to get a better look I saw guards dropping left and right. This was amazing. Hollister was next to a guard, slit his throat, and on to the next in less than a second. And then he went down. Zero stood over him on one leg. The broken one bent at an awkward angle. He spit on Hollister and pointed in my direction before giving the thumbs down. I ran.
9