Chapter 43

Lightning struck again, frying his whole body.

Nate felt his magic core cracking with each strike of lightning. The magic core essentially represented his soul, if the magic core broke, he’d die.

“NATE!” He heard Amelia scream his name.

I must survive. Nate thought. He had too many un-resolved issues to settle. He wanted to live to see through the destruction of the Asylum. He wanted to live so he could extinguish the lives of Dr. Mendell and all his scientists. But these reasons were not the strongest reasons he wanted to live.

A memory flashed across his mind. One of him at Disney land with his family. His little sister pestering him by sticking to his heels. His mom and dad laughing and making jokes as the whole family just hung out together.

The memory changed as two new people joined the family. Amelia walked over with Aiden walking beside her.

“Oh? Is this your girlfriend?” Nate’s father grinned as he winked at his son devilishly. “Not bad son, not bad.”

Nate’s mother elbowed his ribs making Nate’s father bend over in pain. “Ignore him. Introduce us to your new family Nate.”

The memory- dream- ended. Nate was brought back to the real world and saw a purple rod of lightning headed towards him.

Boom! Another lightning struck Nate. Nate held onto the desire to live, not only to get revenge, but to take Amelia and Aiden to Disney land. It was silly how such a small thing could motivate him to live so much.

Nate lie on the floor as his body crackled with lightning. He tried his best to assimilate the energy into his body but there was just too much energy to be contained. The magic core within him had cracks all over it. He wouldn’t survive another strike.

He dismantled the God’s Javelin and felt twenty-five percent of his mental energy return to him. He sent all his mental energy to his magic core and covered it in a protective shield.

Boom!

Boom!

The lightning was relentless as it struck him two more times. Although he had protected his magic core, it was still damaged with each strike. And each bolt grew stronger than the previous one, at this rate it would never end until his magic core was shattered. That’s when an idea came to him.

He let go of the mental energy, exposing his magic core. A lightning bolt came down and struck him through the chest.

Within Nate’s soul.

The magic core within him took on the appearance of a church, the same church his family would go to every Sunday. When the lightning struck, it shattered his magic core, shattering his place of safety that reminded him of his lost family.

“NO!!!” He heard Amelia distraught voice yell.

Nate looked down at his body and saw a gaping hole in his chest, he could see clear through the other side. In front of him were his parent’s gifts. Now that his magic core had shattered, his mother’s diary and magical artifact, as well as his father’s God’s Javelin technique fell out. His body fell to the side as he focused all his mental energy on wrapping around his body. His magic core had shattered but he refused to allow it to dissipate.

Trying to keep his essence from slipping away was like trying to trap water between his fingers. Nate covered his body in layer after layer of mental energy, it took dozens of layers to completely seal his body and keep his essence from leaking out.

I’m going to die… I’m really going to die. Nate shook away those thoughts as his whole mind bent toward keeping the mental energy focused on his body. The gaping hole in his chest crackling with violet-colored lightning.

The gaping hole wasn’t part of his plan, in fact when he saw it he was sure he was dead. But he refused to let go of the one chance he had at life. Nate couldn’t move, couldn’t think, all his energy and focus bent towards keeping his soul from leaving his body.

If I just keep the fragments of my core from escaping my body, maybe-just maybe, I can survive this.

…

“No…” Amelia muttered.

When the demon jump through the portal and disappear she felt a pang of loss strike through her. She knew Nate had no chance of living now. He was stuck on this side of the realm and the lightning would strike him until death.

Maybe I can… Amelia focused as she tried to cast a spell to the NetherRealm but all her juice was gone. It was replenishing, but it wouldn’t return in time to save Nate.

When the demon had jumped her it did something to her body, draining her of her abilities before mimicking her image. She saw the demon take off in a body that looked like hers. Even though her shaman abilities were just now returning it was too slow.

She wouldn’t be able to create a portal to the NetherRealm in time to save Nate’s life, and the demon had planned on that. She watched as Nate was struck over and over again by lightning, her heart tearing to a million pieces. The final strike put a clean 12-inch hole through his chest.

“NO!!!” She yelled letting out all the pent up feelings within, but it was useless. Nate’s body fell to the side as he bled out on the street.

The sky’s began to clear up immediately. The dark clouds dispersed revealing a sunny blue sky. The crowd down belong stood there in shock. No one moved.

In the distance the whirring of helicopters sounded in the air. Dozens of helicopters could be seen in the sky, approaching the proximity of Black Watch Asylum. Some were News helicopters but mostly they were police, and military helicopters.

…

Lina Dunham watched the purple demon get struck by lightning over and over. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She would, on occasion, glance at the camera man, and they would exchange disbelieving looks before turning back to the scene playing out before them.

When the final strike of lightning struck the demon and put a clean hole through it, she was relieved. The monster was dead and everything would be better now. As if responding to her thoughts, the skies overhead began to clear up as the purple clouds dispersed.

Looking at the chaotic mess in front of her she saw rubble and ruin everywhere. Corpses lie everywhere on the street, a whole building collapsed splaying debris all over the street, and the smell of blood mixed with gunfire assaulted her senses.

A twitch of movement caught her attention. Lina noticed a man wreathed in blue lightning stare down at the demons corpse, a flash of remorse in his eyes. The man then looked up at the sky before suddenly transforming into a bolt of lightning.

The demon corpse on the ground slowly transformed back into the shape of a human. It took on the familiar appearance of a young black male. Lina gasped as she realized where she knew this young man from. It was the infamous Nate Walker, the man who slaughtered his own family and was sent to Black Watch Asylum for life.

Demons… purple lightning… the President’s daughter recovering from an incurable disease and running at super-human speeds… zombies… All these thoughts rolled around Lina’s head. She looked over at the one place responsible for producing all these things. The Asylum. Just what is this place?

“Holy fuck!” She heard the camera man yell.

Following his gaze Lina looked over and saw the mound of corpses from when the prisoners tried to escape from the prison. She felt her heart palpitate when she saw the mound of corpses begin to move. Nobody could’ve survived those hail of bullets.

One by one corpses began to move, dis-entangling themselves from the main body of corpses. The freshly killed prisoners had become zombies, and there were no National guardsman to put them down.

It wasn’t just those prisoners. The National guardsman that were killed when the demon flung their bullets back at them, began to move. Everywhere Lina looked she saw the dead rise back to life. She felt shivers run down her back.

“We have to go.” She whispered to the camera man, too afraid to draw the attention of the zombies.

The helicopters in the distance grew closer and some began to set down on the stretch of space between the Asylum and the city, but there were no police men here to protect them. There were hundreds of bystanders, and the zombies began running towards them.

Screams erupted as the dead began chewing into the flesh of the living. Lina was about to run when she saw the gates of the Asylum, and saw a young boy with blue lines spider-webbed across his entire body standing there and watching everyone. His eyes landed on the demon- Nate- and he yelled.

“Nate!” The boy ran towards the fallen demon and nestled its corpse within his arms.

She wanted to yell at the little boy, there were so many zombies around they would definitely notice all the commotion he was making. But what she realized was that the zombies avoided the young boy like the plague.

“We have to leave, now!” The camera man shouted, pulling her by the sleeve. She realized the boy must be another abomination created by the Asylum.

The last thing she saw was the young boy picking up Nate’s body and disappearing into the city.

Lina turned back to her situation and saw dozens of civilians running every which way, trying to get away from the re-animated corpses. She saw several people run past her get brought down by the zombies. She heard the sound of their flesh being torn off as the zombies began to feast.

“We’re never going to make it.” She said as she saw the zombies all around her, and with each person the zombies killed, they’d add another corpse to the ranks of the undead.

…

Aiden exited the gates of Black Watch Asylum. For the first time in his life, he stepped out of the only home he’d ever known. But that realization hadn’t dawned on him. All he could see was Nate’s corpse lying on the ground, bleeding out with a giant hole in his chest.

“Nate!” He shouted as he ran towards him.

He cradled Nate’s body in his arms as tears crawled down his face. He felt numb. The only person who’d ever cared about him, the first person to show a filthy street-rat like him kindness, was not lying dead before him.

Rage bubbled up from the pit of his stomach, washing away the grief and sorrow. Before the rage could make him lose his mind, he heard a voice speak.

He’s not dead.

Aiden flinched as he heard Aiphas’ voice in his head. What do you mean? Aiden asked as he glanced down at the gaping hole in Nate’s chest. How could anyone possibly survive a wound like this.

Demons are known for their monstrous regenerative abilities, his body will heal. The problem lies in his magic core, it’s shattered. Most likely he’s barely hanging onto it with his mental abilities. It can’t last long though. Aiphas replied.

For now, all you can do is get Nate out of here. I feel multiple ripples in the Adunya, most likely the inquisitors from the White Council are on their way. If they arrive they’ll erase everything, and everyone here.

The zombies had re-animated all around him and begun attacking the citizens. Aiden picked up Nate’s body, using the distraction and mass-panic to make his escape. Please, Nate, survive. You have to survive! Aiden thought as he disappeared into the city.

…

Dr. Mendell strolled out of the Black Watch Asylum. He took one look at all the carnage and madness taking place with an indifferent look on his face. All he cared about was one thing.

Looking around the street filled with corpses that were starting to re-animate, he found what he was looking for. He walked over and looked down at the young girl lying on the floor, holding her head in pain.

“Andrea. Andrea stand up!” He ordered.

Andrea grit her teeth enduring the pain. She stood up as the Doctor commanded but didn’t say a word.

Mendell took one last look at the chaos before him. “How unfortunate.” He stated before walking off.

Andrea trailed behind him with a savage look on her face. One that promised to get revenge on the doctor, as soon as she was able. What Mendell failed to notice was that his downloaded personality was long gone, instead what remained were two personalities that wanted nothing more than to see his head on a platter.