Well here we are the last full chapter of this story, after this there is just the epilogue. I hope you have all enjoyed it thus far and will like this chapter too. My thanks to Skovko, ReignsRollinsBalorCorbinSami, Debwood-1999 and nolabell66 for reviewing the last chapter for me

Chapter twenty five

The wrath of god

The group of nine men were making good time, as they raced towards the dome, they didn't know why Hunter had ordered them to do this, but no one questioned him. They were a matter of yards away from the smooth surface in front of them, when suddenly Bo stopped, and gave a keening scream. "Noooooooooooo." The tracker fell to his knees in the long grass, while the other men pulled up short, looking at him in shock. When they got closer to him then they saw a body, the bones partially picked clean by birds, it seemed pretty obvious that Bo had known the man in life, as regardless of the state of the body, he cradled it in his arms. "Bray." He sobbed, and then his eyes hardened. "Whoever killed my brother will pay with their lives."

The other men milling around, turned up the other two bodies, of Bray's followers the arrows still sticking out of them. When they were finally able to persuade the grieving tracker to his feet, he began to look around, searching for some sign of his brother's murderers, and where they had gone. Hunter let him be for the moment, he wondered if Regal had been responsible for the crazy man's death. He had heard about Wyatt, he didn't take on, or hire anyone, without finding out at least something about them. Wyatt had been a cult leader, as crazy as they come, he had, had a fluctuating group of followers, and they had been intent of wiping the remaining women from the face of the Earth, something that Hunter always felt might have the two locking horns at some point.

Bo looking around by his brother's body, found the pool of dried blood which Second had lost, the tracker in him, identified the fact that that the person who was bleeding had been picked up and carried to the dome, which was close to them. Straightening up, he headed for the structure, with a dogged determination, visible in his body language, he was out for revenge. Hunter fingered the handgun stuck into his belt, madness might run in the family, and he was not going to take the chance that Bo might snap, turning his grief on them. The man followed the signs that were visible to his keen eyes, to an area of the dome, and began to dig around in the dirt. Hunter followed cautiously; he could remember that, there were certain emergency entry protocols in place, he could not remember them all though. Bo's frenzied scrabbling, quickly unearthed a control panel, Hunter watched, as the grief stricken man, punched angrily at the buttons, while he tried to remember any codes he had ever known, connected with this place, he couldn't think of any though it had been too long, and too many other things had happened. Besides if Regal was really was here, Hunter couldn't be completely sure about it, he would have changed the codes, only a fool would leave them as they were, however just because Regal was a genius, didn't mean he couldn't also be a fool, and from the sounds of it, he was just as crazy, as all those other nut jobs out there.

Inside the dome, Regal was watching the cameras that were set up to monitor the area immediately outside of the dome, and smiled, Hunter was out there, trying to get in. He wouldn't be able to of course, god was omnipotent, he had changed the codes, and added an extra precaution, blood was the key, and only blood that he approved, no way was Hunter getting in here. Smiling he stood up, no need to worry about the other men gaining access here; he would go and find his daughters, it was time they took a look, at their prospective husbands. He left his lab, and walked the corridors, something he had not done for a while, normally he called his daughters to him, but today for once, he decided to go and see them.

Outside of the men's room, Krista stood with Dean, she was wearing her jumpsuit, but her mask was gripped in her hand, she was looking up at him, with a smile on her face. Regal watched in suppressed fury, as the other man bent his head, and kissed his daughter, his face tender and loving as he did so. Regal felt the fury run thought him, as he watched them. His perfect child had been corrupted by the demon, one of the ones he had brought into Eden. His pans for her lay in ruins, still at least she was the only one who had been tempted into sinning, better to know it now, than later when she was serving as his priestess, and teaching the others, his true nature. Turning he walked away, never letting the pair know they had been seen, he would call his children and the men to lunch, and then he would deal with the transgressor. She would pay for sinning against god, and his other children and the men would know, that he was all knowing, and all powerful, that while he was while kind and merciful, he could also be a vengeful god, who would punish sin, and they would not dare to transgress again.

Watching Krista pull her mask back on, as she walked away from him, Dean smiled, in spite of the intolerable situation they found themselves in, he was happy, for the first time in a long time, someone other than his brothers cared about him, and he surprisingly, cared about her. His shame about the person he had become, and the things that he had done, especially to Krista's clone were somehow muted now, almost as if he had been a different person back then. Maybe he had been, the person that circumstances had made him into, and yes he would admit to it, the person his own choices had made of him. He could have chosen to do what was right, instead of what was easy. He could have said no, just because the rest of the world is this way, I don't have to be that way. It had been all too easy to let go of civilisation, and allow himself to devolve, into something less human, a baser kind of being. Krista had offered him her own innocence and body, willingly giving him, that which he had so often taken, she was his salvation, his way back out of the darkness, and he knew without a doubt, that he loved her. Walking back into the room, he heard the door close, but not lock behind him, was a cage a cage, or a prison a prison, he wondered when you were free to just walk out of the front door?

Giving his daughter, what he thought was sufficient time, to get back to her room, Regal called his daughters to him, and told them they would be joining him for lunch, as would the men, he instructed them to wear their veils, as they would be eating with him. Once the women had left the room, Regal announced his intentions to the men, instructing them that they would join him and his daughters for the meal. Once he had done that, Regal added a sedative to the food the others would eat, or rather to the food, which his disobedient daughter would ingest.

Seth, Dean and Roman looked at each other in shock, they were used to taking meals with Regal by now, but it was normally dinner they ate with him, rarely lunch, each one of them hoped, it would not be the prelude to another round of his tests.

When the women arrived to escort them to the dining area, they could not help but be surprised by the fact the women were wearing veils and not masks. All three were armed, as they normally were when in Regal's presence with the men, they did act as his body guards after all, however the trio of men never feared the weapons being turned on them now, unless at Regal's express order, and even then, they were not sure the women would comply with orders to use the devices on them. In his clothes though, Dean still felt the comforting presence of his knife, it was hard to let go of something, he had carried with him most of his life.

When the group entered the dining room, they found the meals on the table, with Regal seated waiting for them. "Sit, sit." He urged them, he still had his pistol by his plate, and he watched the six of them closely, as they each took their accustomed seats at his table.

The meal was a little strained, as it normally was, the men talked, and the women were silent, eating as slowly and methodically, as they always did, till Krista suddenly dropped her fork, and raised her hands to her head.

"Are you not well?" Regal asked, turning a solicitous gaze to her.

"I, I feel strange." Her voice was hesitant, and the men were shocked, it was the first time any of the women had spoken in Regal's presence, while they were there, something must really be wrong with her, and Dean felt worry forming in the pit of his stomach.

"My dear, perhaps we should go to the lab, where I may examine you, come let us go, all of you may come, we cannot risk infection." Of course Regal knew exactly what was wrong with her; he had been the cause of it after all, however he needed them all to learn the lesson he was about to teach.

Galina and Lesya, helped Krista from the room and the three men followed them; Regal pocketed his gun, no harm in reminding them he was armed, and capable of causing them injury, should they try anything. Entering the lab, they saw a table already set up, and the men looked at each other wondering what the mad man had, had in mind. Her sisters helped Krista onto the table, and Regal made a show of examining her. Then suddenly, he was strapping her down, Dean tensed, ready to spring at the mad man but hesitated remembering the gun, for now he would wait, Krista's head twitched as if she were going to look at him, how he wanted to go to her, but he did not want to risk Regal hurting her, and he was sure the man would be furious if he knew they had developed feelings for each other.

"You have sinned against me my child." Regal was looking down at the woman lying on the table, now helplessly restrained. "You are no longer pure; you have allowed the demon to contaminate you." He glanced over at the men, and saw the tension in Dean's posture. "Restrain subject two, he is not to interfere with the retribution of god, he has tempted your sister, and she had fallen from grace."

Dean, Roman and Seth looked at each other, Regal's attention was back on Krista, so he never noticed that Galina and Lesya had not drawn their weapons, and were just looking at him, in growing horror. Shedding his jacket, and donning a surgeon's gown, an almost pleasant smile on his face Regal's attention was on Krista, he pulled off her veil and attached the monitors to her, then picked up a scalpel and flourished it. "You will pay for your sin, by providing me information, to compare with that, which your clone rendered to me."

Dean tensed, his fingers finding his knife, and then as Regal began to place the scalpel on Krista's flesh, with an almost primal yell, he leapt at the other men. Regal half turned at the sound, swinging the scalpel at Dean, who ducked and shoved the knife into Regal's gut, yanking it upwards slightly, before pulling it out. The would be god gasped at the sudden pain, and looked down seeing his own blood staining the white gown forming a growing red pool.

"You won't hurt Krista ever." Dean had already pushed Regal away from him, and was turning to the woman he loved, using the bloodied knife, to cut her free from the table. "You won't hurt any of us ever again, you mad, sick, fuck."

Regal looked at his daughters, wondering why they had not stopped his subject, and saw they had not even drawn their weapons. "You have all sinned." He got out, his hands on his stomach trying to stem the flow of blood realising that Krista was not the only one who had been seduced by the demons. "You have all betrayed your god."

"You are not a god, you are a man." Lesya looked at him with cold unfeeling eyes. "We know the truth, you are sick, and you are evil, and we will be free of you."

It was too much for the mad man, he was hurt and surrounded it appeared, by enemies, rather than his dutiful worshipers, he turned, and before they realised it, rushed out of the other door, sealing it behind him, so they could not follow.

Dean held Krista in his arms, she was shaking, from the shock along with her fear, at what had almost happened to her, at the hands of the man who was once her god. By the time it registered with then all that Regal was gone, it was too late to stop him. Galina and Lesya set aside their veils, and looked at the men.

"We have to find him and stop him; if he dies, the missiles will launch, and everyone outside with die with him." Galina suddenly realised the implications of what had just happened. Dean had probably just killed Regal, and with his death, the man man's final solution would be implemented.

All of them looked at each other, Dean had placed the bloodied knife to one side, while he used another gown to wipe the worst of the blood from his hands, no one blamed him for what he had done, he had made his choice, and saved the woman he had come to love, none of them would blame him for that.

"Let's go then." Seth was the one who headed to the door, and found it either locked, or disabled, meaning that they had to leave by the other door, thought Dean did stop for a few moments, to wash his hands properly, not wanting the other man's blood on him, any longer than necessary.

Outside the dome, Hunter had left Bo trying to open the door with the keypad; the distressed tracker was still vowing vengeance for his brother. Hunter and the rest of his men, were trying to force the door, he had to get in there and stop William. They fired their weapons at the dome material, and used the butts of them to try and force it open, but to no avail, the substance was made to withstand an extinction level event. Hunter knew he could not let Regal succeed, or he would lose everything, before he had even achieved it.

Regal looked down at his stomach, it was only the will of god which was keeping him alive, how dare that demon do this to him, the blood seeped through his fingers, as he sought to stem the flow with his hands. They had turned on him; all his children had betrayed him, his sons too young to be removed from their artificial wombs. His clone as yet unmade, and even if he had been, there was no time to transfer his consciousness. The devil and his demons had won, but he would still have his ultimate revenge, with his death he would cleanse the world of Hunter and his kind, his children, his daughters and sons, had the knowledge and skill, to enact his vision at least in part, maybe even the demons, were capable of becoming something better. He finally reached the outer wall of the dome, where outside Hunter was trying to force his way in, and smiled to himself, he god would look into the devils eyes, as he died knowing that his death, would trigger the devils own ultimate destruction. God and the devil, good and evil, you couldn't have one without the other. He turned the wall, from opaque on the outside, to clear and gazed at the man who was hammering in the material, with the butt of his gun. A crazed smile came over his face, as he saw the other man recognise him, and begin shouting and yelling, he heard footsteps behind him, it was too late, he knew they could not save him. He pressed a bloodied hand to the surface of the dome, no need to be worried about infection any more, he saw Hunter, smile thinking the danger had passed, and he could not help laughing, his breath caught in his throat and he felt his heart labouring, slowing with each beat.

Outside Hunter heard the roof of the dome sliding back, and began to laugh, as he thought he had won, that whatever Regal had created here, would be his.

Inside, the man who would be god, slid to his knees, his eyes still fixed on his own personal devil, his heart rate had dropped so low, that the machines were registering his death, he would see the beginning of the end after all. Eden shook as the rockets took to the sky, it was growing dark and cold, he thought that was fitting for the end of the old world. His eyes were fixed on the other man, as he saw Hunter realise what was happening, perhaps he thought the missiles were bombs, nuclear war heads, to scour the Earth clean, or maybe he realised that a different kind of death, rode on gods own fire, into the heavens, and back to the Earth. Whatever it was he thought he knew, Hunter was looking upward in fear, and screaming. He was so tired right now, he closed his eyes, he would sleep, and being god he would rise again. His heart gave one last erratic beat, and he slumped against the dome, as his children and the demons reached him, one last breath exited his lungs, and he was no more.

After looking down at Regals body for a moment or two, the six people then turned their attention to the surface of the dome, knowing those outside could look in. Hunter was now banging on the dome once more, begging, pleading, looking into the eyes of the men he had been hunting, screaming at them to let him in, to save him.

Galina reached out and opaqued the material once more, as Roman took her hand. The group stood there, and watched the rockets streaking away from the dome, apart from one that went almost straight up into the air. Outside Hunter too watched the missile, as it headed up into the atmosphere, before falling back down, releasing its payload of death into the air. He had been so close he thought, as he fell to his knees tears in his eyes, he had almost had it all, the men who had followed where he led, turned to look at him, as he sat down, resting back against the dome; and looked up at the sky, wondering what was going on. Hunter knew, it was only a matter of time, before whatever was in that rocket, entered their bodies, as all around the world, where there was light to see by the survivors of the hell virus, watched the rockets, release their payload into the air, they would never know what was killing them, or why. It was the end of the human race, and ironically, Hunter was one of the last ones to die, never moving from the side of the dome, so close to salvation and yet so far away. His last thoughts were that he would get to see Regal burning in hell with him.

So did you see that coming, Dean was always going to be the one to kill Regal, that's why he had that knife hidden away all this time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would love for you to leave me a review and tell me what you thought of it.