The sky as it is, a light blue, vast and empty space, stretching across the sky like a barrier to the outside of this world; with not a single cloud in sight, the blue was slowly fading away, turning a brighter orange as a heavenly ball of flame sunk to the bottom of the horizon, through the bright orange sky the familiar sound of air being cut through by large blades and a motor loud enough to echo for miles, apache helicopters roamed in a group of four, flying across the evening sky doing their normal routine. Clean sky scrappers and shiny office buildings were abundant in ...New York...; the nightlife of so many people was a joy, parties and clubs, or just people coming home from a long day at work. Taxi cabs had almost an entire street filled up, taxi after taxi they were everywhere, people were walking along side them, under a construction site, or across the street, wearing the normal pair of street clothes or a business suit, they had grown used to the military, the choppers flying around, or the tanks patrolling across the city. It was just this evening, something's were little different.
A thick heavy cloud of smoke rose from the city, fire streaming below from the windows of many buildings, all seemingly destroyed, left in ruins but still standing tall within a single hour. The road was cluttered with cars destroyed or damaged, corpses now lay in piles across the streets or 23rd avenue. A single taxi was laying on its back, flipped over by god knows what, the odd thing about it though, a tendril, a black tentacle slithered up the side of its hood, followed by a dozen creeping along very slowly, as cars honked violently, and beeped to no end, in the back ground. The street wasn't its normal grey or carbon black, a thick red layer of rough, what felt almost like skin, covered it and spread, it kept spreading, up the buildings, along the cars, and roads, nothing was safe from this plague, and that had become abundantly clear, very fast.
Trash littered this dingy part of the city, newspapers flew along in the air, a lamppost hung vertical the crossing sign in bright yellow covered in that dark red viral tissue, a shopping cart was tipped and the ground only showed bits and pieces of what it used to be. In the distance a stoplight was blinking red, a restraint all dark inside, doors broken from the hinges, with a line of stories all similar, all just dead. The signs crooked and broken, the grey stone of the buildings now looked like slum and dirty with the virus. Apartment complexes in rows down the entire city block were separated by the main street, empty of people but full of cardboard boxes, cars of different colors and boring model designs. Crows were circling the skies above was mostly black smoke, and a red sky lived. The pavement was torn apart, water pipes stuck out of the ground water sprouting from its opening, High above these decimated streets, upon a ledge of pale concrete sat a man, crouched and hunched over, his face obscure, his clothing little more than a jacket, and hoodie, with jeans to tie it off: He was staring, watching from above like a hawk to prey, and so he grunted, remembering back and musing upon the city. "I am the reason for all of this. They call me a killer, a terrorist, a monster… I am all of these things." As he spoke, the last word he leaped from the building, nearly three stories, and listened, very closely footsteps were heard coming closer. It was the one kind of soldier trained for this, the black watch soldier. A team of men were walking along the street, weapons at the ready they had orders to neutralize all infected, these were brave men, but cruel as well, they thought of nothing but the mission, their duty: if the commander said" kill all civilians" then that would be the end of the working class. They'd burn an entire city block of people if it meant stopping one infected. Dressed in complete black jumpsuits, military grade armor covered their chests, grenades and smoke hung from the left side of their belt along with magazines for an m16, telescopic and expenditure sights along with grips and under slung grenade launchers were attached to their weapons. On their leg all had a standard m1911, along with a kabar combat knife over the vest above their left shoulder. Their faces were a mystery, their voices almost robotic from the gasmasks, four of the men wore a mask that had standard night vision, heat vision and binoculars wrapped into two scopes, these scopes had a red glow, almost menacing, their disregard for human life earned them a disrespect from other military groups, trying to pin them off as blood thirsty nazists, but this meant they were well equipped for the situation.
The leader he was a different breed almost completely. His suit was similar but wore a full white body jumpsuit, a pair of tri-lens goggles sat over his face, His weapon was an m4 carbine, and a bowie knife sat on his chest in its sheath with brass knuckles over the handle. A magnum Deagle was in place of the colt, and he had many more packets of ammo. A patch on his arm and not to mention the clothing signified him as the commander; the patch was a "W" with a star above it, all in black. Cars were still going off all around them, the high beams were on and some had the alarms sounding. The team of black watch was all standing in front of the high beams of a car. The commander turned from his men, and from the entrance of the alleyway just beside them he saw a shadow, then many shadows. A terrified scream bellowed through its streets, originating from the alleyway. A women with tears streaming down her cheeks, a mess of blonde hair wrecked by what could only be a beating, her clothes ripped and scratches along her body, along with bruises and some blood. Snot hung from her nose and her mouth was clenched from the crying, she turned the corner screaming for help." HELP ME! Oh god HELP!" Was what she got out when she turned the corner running as fast as she could right into the black watch soldiers, a private stopped her, she fell into his arms and kept crying, holding onto him tight and he did his best to consul her, then sat her on the street where she was on her knees crying.
The shadows loomed closer and from the wall of the ally, a figure jumped out stopping as if confused, humans, and the infected where easily recognizable. This creature that stood in the center of the ally was grotesque, its skin a bubbly red, blood oozed from body cavities, its face was deformed, a large clump from its cheek to its chin stuck out its eye was still there but scrunched up, the hair was falling out and its body looked much wider than any humans, arms skinny and near fleshless, it screamed as loud as it could, a terrifying bellow, it charged at the soldiers," Black watch open up" followed by two dozens just like it, all in different clothing but screaming for blood and flesh all the same, running as fast as the tenants would allow, charging at full force, and the commander gave the order using two fingers to signal where, it was like god saying "Let there be light" and a hell storm of bullets flew into the crowd mainly headshots but mostly five men firing without letting go of the trigger. They all fell, in bloody clumps next to the garbage against the dumpster, blood splattering the walls, an infected women got back up and immediately a bullet streamed through her head, a single round and the last of them were dead, now all that was left was the women." We're clear, move up. You with me!" The commander pointed to the soldier on the right and the walked over to the women.
She looked up from her hands still sobbing, and found a black watch soldier pointing the colt in her face, a barrel right to her forehead, a small pop, and the women fell over without a word her brains scattered across the pavement." Area cleared, let's go." As her body fell another figure stood tall right behind her. A sleek leather jacket, two white stripes on both arms, a plain black shirt under the jacket and a white dress shirt unchecked falling from under the black shirt. Tight blue jeans, and a hood made up the rest of his attire, the collar was up over the black shirt, a menacing look on his face almost a smile, as the black watch officer lifted the handgun" Its him!" He didn't get of a second shot as this man crossed the gap, in the process a dark red mist surround his arms, followed by dark tissue of tendrils and biomass, his arms turned dark and scaley his fingers grew long, and blades grew from the fingertips, longer than most knifes, sharper too. The soldier was impaled by five blades, the other poured nearly half a clip into him before he spun and gutted him throwing the soldier into the air and leaping forward slicing his body in half with one clean cut. The two half's sat on the ground organs and guts spilling out, the sound of gun fire rattled behind him, he turned to find the commander and the commander found a hand larger than his head, bladed and razor sharp encase his entire head, he threw the commander behind him not even bothering to look, ripping his head off in the process the body slammed against the car, and in a split second he brought his arm up, mist forming and tendrils changed the right arm into a wall of hardened biomass, tendrils overlapping to form a shield, which a grenade was stopped by, from the smoke he ran through leaping onto of a car, and forming a sword one large blade triangular blade, from the forearm down, another blade forming from his elbow, he brought the heavy blade down with ease, the black watch member fell in half, split right down the middle. He turned just in time to find a javelin rocket flying towards him, he thought of the outcome and watched as the thing exploded dust and smoke rising up, everything went silent.
"nnghh..nghh.." The last remaining officer ran to his commander, grabbing his hand and helping him up, light was beaming over them from the car right near by, casting shadows." Where is your commanding officer, soldier?" The now risen blackwash asked. The newer member spoke" Time square, sir. Ill call for transp-"Two long tips rose from his vest, he gasped and fought for air as his body rose three feet from the ground, and was thrown next to his comrades. "That won't be necessary." His form shifted back to the man in the hood and jacket, he walked away from the bloody street, darkness behind him lamplights illuminating the area in the background. He took off running, the ground cracked beneath his feet, papers fluttered in the wind, his legs carried him fast, almost 70 miles per hour, dust flying from his heels while he ran past cars, and leaped over structures, he thought of time square and the quickest way was straight a giant skyscraper in his path, he simply ran upwards, crushing the windows and metal frames of the windows while he ran. He reached the top, in a split second he grabbed the ledge of the building and kicked off with his feet he launched himself upwards flying high into the sky, soaring over almost three other buildings, he started to fall, flying downwards to the ground faster and faster, like a heavy object would from the sky, he slammed into the ground pavement and concrete cracked underneath's weight, a small wave of red air covered the crater and faded when he stood up." Where the hell am I...?" Distant, cold, ruthless, killer! He did not blink, he tried not to, he needed his eyes to stay open, every second or he would see them, he would see the faces of the men and women he's killed, their life taken up and being snuffed out like a light. He never did it without a reason, his soul anchor onto why he finds peace in darkness, he never did it without reason, he is not mad, not insane, no but angry, "They" did this to him, they forced this unto him, he didn't want to, he never wanted to harm anyone, they made him do it: His solace, his reason for continuation, find out just who did this to him, and make them pay. Its why he could slaughter everyone here and keep going, why he could take their biomass, their form, the DNA and do it again every time. He found solace in his work, in finding the truth, it was because it was necessary, he had to do it, and so for now, he had to keep doing it.
Zeus, blacklight, Alex Mercer, all names they give this monster, when they try to destroy him they call him this, a monster, a terrorist, a killer. Its what they made him, so they can call him whatever they want. The man stood between a hail of gunfire, military shouting, apache helicopters sending a volley of bullets into the group of infected, the sea of mindless, hungry, bloody faces. Little by little they fell, but only more took each place, then a sudden thump, thump, thump. the ground shaking, rumbling, a loud snarl came atop a building, a creature of nothing but muscle and pure biomass flew from the building, slamming straight through the helicopter, following in a pack, three others followed, their heads were animalistic a stronger infected, they had mutated to pure ugly, the head was bulging, the mouth was long and wide with rows of sharp teeth everywhere, from head to toe, they were pink and blood red, skin as tough as nails, or tank armor really. They're eyes were bulged in, they couldn't see, or just barely could see, he never knew which.
The killer, no Alex, it was okay to call himself that, he was that man before, even if he had died there. At Penn station, he had all his memories and his shape, it was okay to call himself that name. Alex was fighting off the civilian infected, punching and kicking, military combat moves mainly, but once he grew bored with it, he picked a common infected up, nearly destroying the throat and punched his fist straight through his chest, pulling it out the body of this infected was wrapped up in tentacles, that protruded from his body and absorbed him completely, every memory, and skill this human once had, was now his. He thought, what is the most effective way to kill every single women, man, infected, and machine here...
Alex J Mercer, the killer, hunched over, his legs parted, his arms folded in, he was building up for something, something horrible, for several seconds he stood there consuming the energy he needed, then all at once, his arms flew out from the sheer power of this action a wave, a shockwave expanded in every direction, destroying to a bloody mist anyone near him, tendrils shot from his body, from at the speed of a ballistics missile, for a good city block a wave of tendrils were fired into the crowd of infected, the group of military personal and tanks and helicopters, as he pulled them back, and stood up straight, he stood in a crater and watched his work, everyone, everything dead, a sea of corpses were laying in bundles, the helicopters were on the ground a heap of fire and scrap metal. The tanks were in pieces and anything human was little less than chunks of blood and organs.
He almost forgot about them, almost: To bad for them. He spun, his shoulders up now, his hood still creating a silhouette to his eyes, a bridged right through the center of his nose. The black jacket now glistening with blood, seemed a little more evil than before. His bluejeans, almost clean of blood, were slightly bad, unjust. It was funny, that women trying to help everyone she could, had to watch them die. He found a shadow a big blob of shadow growing ever closer to him, he looked to the sky and saw the hunters, a big group of four of them flying right towards him. The first one, hunter #1 had its bulging arms raised, ready to pound him into the ground, that wasent going to happen, no chance in hell. He felt strength build up into his arms, through his forearm, what looked like armor, large chunks of biomass formed gauntlets around his forearm, doubling his strength. The split second in which the body reacts and the force happens, was gone, he grabbed the hunters arm just as it landed even before the hind legs hit the ground, he spun hard and swung it into hunter #2 the pair flew into the sky then against a building and straight through.
He flipped back, the gauntlets disappearing, in place a huge chunk of biomass, formed and harden into a shield, nearly impenetrable, to his right arm was a bit harder to describe, but the best way was still hard to imagine, a double edged sword, that expanded up the arm, protruded from the elbow, and formed a shape of a diamond, a six foot blade, with razor edges on each end, a triangular shape from his arm, completely black with silver for the blade. Hunter #3 pounded its fist against the shield, to no end, but neither gave way, the arm blade he created, well the blade was swung with great velocity and force, Alex spun in with the swing and the hunter found its head gone, rolling across the bloody street, into the park of orange leaves near by.
Finally the last hunter, this one was going to be personal, he let the weapons go, they formed back into his body, now fists clenched, knuckles white with fury. The hunter went to swipe at him, he ducked and slammed his fist into his chest, halfway through its chest, then pulled out, the hunter started to swing harder, and faster, near death they're instinct kicks in, Alex rolled out of the way, and jumped high into the air, his fist back, strength building up, he dropped hard and slammed his fist through its head, grabbing its brain, and spinal cord then ripping it out, ripping him apart. He absorbed it and watched the lump of muscle and meat drop. He went about his way, walking along the sidewalk, as if nothing had happened, as if it was all normal for him, in all honesty...It was!
Alex found himself walking towards a small opening, a gap in a wall, made for cars to run through, the dark red brick and tagging all across its surface meant he was closer to east Manhattan, the lower east side, the slum of the city. He was walking, his shoulders in a slump, his mind not focused, he was just simply walking searching for something he couldn't contemplate, when the disgusting sounds of a man vomiting caught his eye, there in a dark underpass, a hobo stood, his arms outstretched to the wall, as if with all his might holding himself up, his head bent over and beneath him was a slimy red puddle of liquid, he heaved again, gasping for breath, one hand moved to his stomach, a brown duster full of rips and tears was covered in vomit and blood, the baggy old jeans were similarly colored, faded blue as they were still mixed in with stains from days long passed. his head hung low, his hand gripped at his stomach, Alex only watched knowing what was to become of him, almost a gallon of blood pumped from his bowls, spilling from his bearded scruffy face, just making the puddle bigger, his eyes were nearly hidden behind grey hair and a old black beanie, but even in this light he could tell they were full of sad old memories, a sad life, to sad man, to a sad end. This man, would die, gruesomely, in agonizing pain: then become an infected, he would lose his mind and body and soul and morality then try to infect and attack and kill everyone he saw: Alex saw this as an opportunity to kill something that could be a threat, to kill this old man now would do them both good, this way he'd die with a purpose, but more importantly just die.
The soft footsteps of a predator creeping up on its prey, or just a passerby walking along, the old man couldn't tell, and so his eyes were only filled with that inhumane sense of terror, the shocked looked of a dyeing man, when an arm reached out of his chest, blood pouring from the cavity created by sheer force, Alex was less than emotionless as he pulled his arm from the clear opening of the old mans torso: A tear stream from his wrinkled dirty face as he fell into a puddle of his own blood, it was quick, a better fate than the rest, at least. His hand were tucked away, hidden up to the wrist in the jackets pockets, his shoulders slightly slumped and the hoodie appeared that much darker, he didn't feel for the old man, he simply got a obstacle out of his way: which reminded him of what he sought after, that women.
There was this women, a few days ago he had been searching for, his sister Dana, the only family he knew of after the accident, he had found her in an old friends apartment, she had helped him even up to here, he was still waiting to see what she had found, good or bad, its all information; all useful. A strong hand lifted from his jacket and slide across the top of his hoody, he closed his eyes walking into the crowd of business men, mainly a neatly dressed group of suits and briefcases, but every so often a normal guy would just be there, in a random area, a jersey, or plain hoody, a blank stare, and he would just walk by, nonchalant, knowing that he could rip this man in half with his bare hands, but didn't, these people didn't know how close to death they were...Well maybe one did, the that was huddled over a storm drain, puking up a massive amount of blood, though everyone including Alex, just walked on by: ignoring the problem, because it would go away very soon.
His mind was left to drift into a memory only a few days old, A silhouetted figure running through GENTEK, at a rapid pace he flew down the halls, once they were stainless now covered in corpses blood painted walls, the lights flickering on and off, it was quiet and ark as he reached the 51'st floor, the containment cell area, the doors were jammed, automatic and made of three inch thick steel, he pried them open very easily, his form stepped into the dim light of the huge cell. "Elizabeth!" He called, sitting under the one working light, which dangled back and forth the circular orb it created was some what eerie, the place was in fact a bit creepy to begin with, the bodies of dead scientists were found scattered, limbs torn a sunder, black watch solders lay dead in heaps of blood. The walls as he saw them, were covered in the infection, the plague that transformed these people into hunters and walkers. In the middle of the room was a glass cell, blood smeared its walls on both inside and out, the door was broken and shattered to pieces, under that single dangling light sat the women who caused all of this, though he thought he was helping her at the time, he thought he could find the answers he sought after, find the truth. He was wrong. "I'm here to rescue you!" He shouted once again at the women covered in blood.
Her head rose, her pale red hair in a dingy mess, draping around the edges of her face, bright green, and menacing eyes peered up as the light swayed around her, shadows casting from her form around her like that of an evil spirit, her face was young so young, she could have been 20 maybe 19, though as young as she looked, he knew she was over fifty, just a collage student when Hope, Idaho happened. Her hands were long and slender, her clothes were almost a straight jacket, with hooks and belts around her wrists and shoulders and legs, completely black and bloody. She was sitting with her knees up on an operation table, how long she had been like that he couldn't have imagined, but what happened next was something unexpected." The time for waiting is over!" She howled, as Alex had stepped into the broken door of her glass container, her palm slammed into his chest and he was flung into the wall, with a grunt" I don't understand?" On his side, and staring right at her, a black watch body right next to him, she smiled, so gently, almost lovingly as she ran her hand down the concrete wall of the 51'st floor, it shattered into large chunks thanks to her control over the infected, the infection." I am your Mother" With those words she flew out of the hole, and was gone, vanished from thin air, though he had more important matters to attend to.
Just beside him, while he was getting to his feet, and brushing the dust from his clothing, contemplating her words, his mother, waiting, for what? What was she waiting for, why did she even attack him, she might still have the answers behind Hope, but he just had to find her now. Snapping into place, his eyes caught wind of a solider groaning and screaming in agony, they were mutating all around him, one by one they became what he called: Hunters. A sort of gorilla dog in shape, humanoid, hairless, with pinkish-red skin, muscles bulging from every part of their body, infection dripping off the double rows of teeth, the two sets of teeth, nearly six feet and arms like wrecking balls, with long fingers and claws. They're eyes were pushed in, and they had no nose, only two slits. They formed in a group almost six, two many for him to fight, at least like this, he hadn't gotten his powers or abilities yet, nor had he consumed anyone with martial arts experience. So he took the flight or fight option, and dove out of the hole created by Elizabeth Greene. He dropped and dropped the hunters directly after him, he landed with a thud as they did all around him, there were military inside the walls of GENTEK, a large building, seventy stories high, with an outer wall surround each side, the military, marines and tanks, mainly, had it sealed off with road blocks.
"I need to know what you know." Alex said picking up a marine and sucking him into his body, his screams and yells did nothing as his head was crushed into the ground then his entire being absorbed into the Virus known as Zeus. Even though he was there, the military focused on the large creatures attacking them." I have to get out of here!" He couldn't fight them like this, no powers or weapons, he leaped the wall with extreme ease and they followed, they must have been directed to him and only him, not surprising though. He led them along, running across the city, using what he gained from the marine as help and directions. Over a sky scrapper, through the forest then into the upper north side, past the empire state building he found it, a military base loaded with weapons and what he needed to take them down. The solders guarding the sky roof entrance were all but frightened and running away as he landed there, and then crashed through the skylight window, he had seconds to find a grenade launcher, while the marines and army men were pumping bullets into him, to no avail.
The monsters, sorry the hunters came soon after. Their large blobby forms landing with a thud, marines were screaming while firing round after around into them, some used grenade launchers that only slowed them down though, the rockets worked just fine, but they had to think of collateral damage. Alex didn't though, he had a grenade launcher in hand and kept his finger on the trigger puffs of smoke launched into the hunters torso, until one looked stunned, he stopped firing, ran into it tackling it to the ground and he started consuming it, he smashed its brain in and drank its knowledge and power, its biomass, he stood, holding his hands in fists, and clenching as hard as he could, he raised his arms over his head, marines dying in the background, gunfire and explosions ripping through the air, a red mist followed by tendrils, then complete hardened biomass ran down his arms, spikes shot up the forearm, then lower and finally claws beetling from each finger, longer than knives, and as black as coal, the bladed tips were nearly seven inches long, his entire arm was a dark black, and spiky. The hunter saw him, smelt him, could feel his presence, and with all its might, the blob of muscle leaped forward, impaling itself unto the claws he had now created, the long tips jutted from its back, he grabbed its head, he had something to fight them with, something new to kill with, it wasn't a complete waste of time then, he crushed the head like a watermelon, and threw the dead weight lump to the ground. Still they're were to many, he had to think fast, and found his answer: The gas tanks, they were perfect. The layout of the base was basically one giant hollowed building, supply crates in the back, fuel tanks, many fuel tanks, almost 9 as tall as the roof and maybe 6 feet wide. A ramp was in the middle of the back piece of the base, and garage doors opened for tanks and troops to sleep in. A weapons barrack was along the west wall, also where the commanding officers office was, grenade launchers, to m4's, to pistols, all there along with many rounds of ammo.
He thought of it, and he retracted the claws, he didn't need them slicing the gun open before he could use it, in a flash the red mist, a major sign of infection, crept up his arm, they were normal after half a second, completely normal. Alex used his superior agility, he out maneuvered the Hunters, and dodged the gunfire of the marines. He picked up the one weapon he thought might work, it had enough fire power to take this entire place down; A stinger missile. He leaped into the air, the rocket launcher on his shoulder, aiming through the sight he fired it off, a rocket whistled out of its holder and crashed into the tank of fuel, the explosion was so strong a shockwave was sent through the entire base, the rest of the tanks went off and one by one the place was destroyed in a blaze of fire. Alex mercer, he was still alive he wasn't even hurt in the explosion, he walked out of the crumbling buildings and flames, while sirens and loud screaming he tried to ignore, went off in the back ground. The flashback was over, he had to find Elizabeth, and stop her...for good!
He was out in the city again, searching for people that might give him clues to Idaho, the experiments that went on at GENTEK, how this had all started, and one person that keeps reappearing in his visions, in peoples memories, a kid, or a grown man, with the codename: "PARIAH" Alex arrived at a four way stop, military walking in with crowds of people, in this part of the city people wore suits, and ties, they were the clean, wealthy, hard working, that old story, and they were either going home, or going somewhere after lunch, he lifted his head just a bit looking to the sky that now seemed slightly orange, the clouds drifting away, and the hustle an bustle of the streets would soon start. Taxi cabs were the main car found around her, to crowded to drive after all, all along the streets it was mainly Taxi's. he crossed the street, from a line of apartments, behind him, cafe's and restaurants to his right, a military base on his left and the city park ahead of him, this place usually never got boring, unless you were superhuman and just wanted to kill some people of course.
He passed by many people, their faces forgettable, the marines stuck out like a sore thumb, the bullet proof vests, all green camo, helmets, and the standard issue m14, if he wanted to, he could stealthily consume one of them, enter a base and kill everyone inside: if he wanted to, it was just he grew bored sometimes in this city, if so many answers weren't buried here, if Elizabeth greene weren't here, if he knew who he was: it be hard to tell what he'd do if he were the man from so long ago; oh yeah and then there's Karen, the traitorous bitch. He shook his head of these thoughts, stepping to the curb of the sidewalk, and continuing down the gated path, his dim grey eyes searched the lone sidewalk, the squares of concrete, the indented line that separated each one, they switched to the children, the people, to many to count when no really looking, but he could just hear them in the park playing, and laughing, having fun, something he was curious about, maybe after all this was over: He could relax for just a day."grnh, this sucks!" he groaned, his hands stuffed hard into the inner leather of his jacket, the pockets still somewhat slippery, he kicked the air, and let his frustration out like that, stomping on the cement, cracking it beneath his heel. "Motherfuckers!" He grumbled, stomping along the side walk, not creating to many dents, or attracting any attention, he just needed some release to all this pent up fury: when he finds her, when he catches her, when her throat is beneath his palm, she's… dead.