Awe

Dead! That son of a bitch was dead!

Alex snarled and lashed out, tearing out a wall with ease in his anger. McMullen was dead, and he hadn't gotten what he had come for!

Instead, that bastard had blown his own brain out. After getting over the shock, Alex had instantly went for the body, consuming it in vague hopes of getting at least something, but there was nothing to be taken. Blacklight was unable to get information from victims that had their brains destroyed.

"Fuck!" Alex whirled around, eyes narrowing on McMullen's guards that rushed the room, drawn there by his enraged yell and the gunshot. Before they could pick up their weapons, he killed them, consumed several of them to find at least some outlet to the rage within. But no matter how much blood splattered against his body, it only pissed him off some more.

He couldn't help it being so worked up- but he knew it had been his fault and his fault alone that McMullen managed to get the easy way out. He shouldn't have let him talk. He shouldn't have wasted time letting him talk- he should have gone straight for his throat and be done with it.

But he hadn't, and that was all his own fault. In his fucking attempt to not give in to his real nature, in that pathetic try to act human, he had wasted his only chance at learning about Gentek.

The only thing he did learn, however, was what he did not want to know.

Even if it was the one thing he had been looking for. Now he knew just who unleashed him upon the people in Penn Station, killing all of them and waking Greene in the process. It had been him. Alex Mercer.

The real one.

Now he could finally make sense of what he saw inside his head. And he did not like it one bit. Alex Mercer had created the virus. Alex Mercer had bred Blacklight from Greene's Redlight, had made it even more lethal than it was before. And then he fled from Gentek, fled from Blackwatch- and took his work with him. He had attempted to flee, but Blackwatch had cornered him in Penn Station.

And Mercer had released the virus. He had fucking released the most lethal virus in history, damning everybody in Manhattan. Dana included. Alex snarled and crushed his fist into the wall, sinking it in to his wrist. That bastard had tried to murder everybody as a last glorious 'Fuck you'- Dana included. And the worst of all? He too had taken the easy way out. Mercer was dead, had died when Alex was born. His creation, his weapon he unleashed on the unsuspecting people of Manhattan- even if it burnt itself out too fast, an event he could not have foreseen. Just as he couldn't foresee the virus getting into his body, resurrecting it and walking off with it. And Alex, in turn, woke Elizabeth Greene to continue where Mercer failed.

Mercer had heralded the end of Manhattan, Alex had triggered it. Knowingly or not, he was just as much to blame as his creator.

He had dug too deep into this conspiracy, and had found things he really should have let burried. He knew the truth now, most of it- but at what price? He could no longer deny that this had nothing to do with him. Alex Mercer had unleashed Blacklight onto the city, and Blacklight had woken Greene. And Greene had taken Dana, had hurt her.

He would never forgive himself for this. He was never going to forgive Mercer for this. Not only for trying to murder everybody in a complete disregard for human life, but also for taking everything away from him, leaving him alone. What he thought belonged to him did not, was stolen from an asshole who wanted to see the world burn. Alex Mercer was just as much to blame as he had been, maybe even more so. He could no longer pay for his crimes, however, Mercer was dead, and Alex was the one to deal with the consequences- because as much as he loathed it, Mercer's face was his now. This had been the first body he had, and that made it the form he turned back to, no matter what he thought about it now.

And as always, there was nothing he could do about this. Mercer was dead and gone, had died after trying to kill everybody in Manhattan (and succeeding with Penn Station at least). And Alex could do nothing about it. He could stop taking this form, he could cut off and deny any contact with Dana, he could swear and throw tantrums, he could murder whoever got in his way- but that would change nothing.

He was still Alex Mercer, or the viral copy of him anyways. He was the weapon used to kill the people in Penn Station, and he was who had woken Greene. Mercer had created him, set him free to kill humans with barely any restraint. Both were to blame, both of them were monsters (though who was the bigger one was up to question). And no matter what he thought about it, what he believed- he could not change anything. Maybe he didn't want to change anything. Because no matter what, everything remained the same. What he felt for Dana remained the same. What he thought about Blackwatch remained the same. Whatever had happened remained the same. Nothing had miraculously changed just because he learnt just who that son of a bitch was who started all of this shit.

Though, it wasn't as shocking as he thought it would be. It had brought him off balance when McMullen told him what happened, and he had quickly lost his control- but he already suspected it, making the truth far less painful. Mercer had been the head of the project, had access to Greene and the samples- and the man had been a sociopath and had already been watched and stalked by Blackwatch, even before he ran off.

He really should have been able to connect the pieces much earlier, but that stubborn piece of denial that had cropped up pretty quickly, and that had only grown stronger after he had learnt he had never been Alex Mercer in the beginning, had pretty much shut down that train of thought whenever it had tried to roll up. But the truth was out now and Alex wasn't sure how to react to it. Blind rage, yes, but asides from that? It might have been funny, maybe, because he had obviously tried to defend an asshole who had deserved every bit that happened to him in the end.

And Dana had no idea.

That thought soured his mood even more. He had been too occupied with his own problems, that it had never come to his mind to think about Dana. Dana- who was going to wake up and find her brother gone. The same brother that had left her when she was still a teenager; then when she came searching for him, cruelly used her to find information about Gentek, and who was readily going to kill her along with the population of Manhattan. And then he, a poor copy of her brother, dragged her into his problems. Problems that ended with her going comatose.

He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a sound that was half groan and half growl. He shouldn't be near her. He couldn't be near her. He had hurt her too much already, and now that he knew the truth...Dana did not deserve him. Did not deserve this.

But...he had to tell her eventually. To put all the demons to rest. To allow her start new. It was going to hurt, yes, but she was better off without him. And that much he owed her, he knew.

Though, to allow her to live without his shadow over her head, he had to stop Blackwatch first. Because no matter whether Dana was with him or not- Blackwatch would always try to take her to bait him. And he would swallow the bait with no regard for his own safety, because Dana still meant so much to him. She accepted him- or at least accepted what he did- had helped him, had put up with him. And all he did was drag her deeper into his problems. He owed her, and that meant he was going to make sure she had everything she needed. And Dana was the only reason he was still wearing this face. Because Alex had been her brother. He was going to leave her with the decision. If she never wanted to see him again, then he would take another face and leave her.

He exhaled, shaking off the helpless rage about McMullen's death. There was nothing he could do about the past, but the future was within his grasp. And he was going to make sure Dana had a future.

And for this, he still had to destroy Blackwatch. To make sure Manhattan could never be repeated. He didn't care about the people, but he knew perfectly well that weapons like this should never be allowed in their hands. In the hands of the military. And Blacklight could help him there. The virus had been created as a way to take out people of a certain genetic trait. A way for the military to bring down their enemies.

Alex was going to do just that. Take down certain people: Blackwatch and everybody who had worked with them. Had worked on the project. Karmic retribution, in a way?

Maybe. But in the very least, it was something to do. His contact had said that things were going to get hot all too soon, and he had to be prepared to stop it. He did have a lot of time to think, when he had shut himself down during those thirty-six hours he had to wait until the security was low enough for him to jump McMullen. He still had loose ends to tie up.

Blackwatch, for one. He had to know who his contact was, had to figure out whether they were a threat or not. He had to get Randall, as he was the one who took Greene's child from her. He had to destroy every last bit of Redlight to make sure Blackwatch would leave Manhattan- without an infection, they were no longer needed and would be forced to leave, he figured.

He had to finish with Gentek.

Too many scientists that had worked with him were gone already, but some still remained. Men and women who could help him finish the picture he was working on. Would have information he needed. Karen, for example. He had already gotten to the men that had worked with her, had already gotten the Blackwatch goons that had whisked her away. But he needed to know from her.

And she still eluded him.

But he had ways to find her. Had possibilities now: He was in McMullen's lab. And McMullen had most contact with Karen ever since Mercer died. McMullen knew where she was.

And even though he had blown out his own brains, there were other ways to find what he needed to find. He grabbed the fallen chair, put it back up and sat down into it, turning to face the forgotten computer. He didn't know the password needed to get into its system, but he had already gotten so many technicians from his constant assaults on the military bases, he had a rough understanding of how to work around the little security that was present. And from the scientists he had consumed he learnt how to make sense of what he saw there on the screen.

He paused, then looked around a little helplessly until he found an external data drive. He snatched it, plugged it in, and just transferred whatever he found on McMullen's computer. What he couldn't copy, he deleted, wiped the entire system once he was done.

Less for Blackwatch to work with. He still crushed the computer beneath his Hammerfists for good measure when he got up, grinding all the important parts to dust just to make sure. He glanced at the data drive he had taken, then just shoved it against his chest. Tendrils slipped out of his surface, curiously tasting the surface, then curled around it and dragged it inside his body. It felt weird when it settled somewhere around his stomach, between some bullet fragments. He'd have to take this thing back to Ragland, make sure it was secure from the extreme beating he usually took. But he wouldn't go inside the morgue. Not to Dana. Not as long she was still comatose and defenseless. He couldn't risk leading Infected seeking revenge to her.

Not again.

He heard boots stomping along the hallways, followed by loud expletives. The other guards had finally approached the lab. Alex growled and shifted to his Shield, then simply pushed to the front to plow through the men as if they weren't even there. The narrow hallways gave them no chance to dodge, and his extreme speed made it impossible to react in time.

None of them survived the impact, and he left a hallway soaked in blood and body parts behind as he headed up the stairs, looking for an exit. Though, strictly speaking, any window was an exit route. He just had to get to the opposite site of the building and a few levels off the ground, to avoid running into the Blackwatch troop that was camping outside the door.

It was easy to accomplish. Easier to be done. When the soldiers rushed around the corner, attracted by the sound of shattering glass, Alex was already long gone.

He found himself somewhere over the Financial District, at the top of some other glass-and-steel construction, as they were so common around here. Nearly every window was shattered, and wisps of red flesh had grown along the base. But as with so much of Redlight, most of the mass had died off, was rotting. He could smell it up here, an ever-present reminder that he had beaten Greene, and without her, her Hive was collapsing. He heard them, screaming for leadership, children stumbling in the dark.

It brought a grim smirk to his face. He had killed their order, and now Redlight was dying. He was the only one who could have taken the role of the leader, could have saved them- but he just kicked them back into the abyss. He did not want to be part of the Hive, denied any relationship he had with them. He wasn't like them, but he also wasn't human.

But the revelation- as much as it destroyed whatever he thought he had, it freed him from having to fit in. Freed him from having to play by their rules- he was going to do this his way.

Break them down, bit by bit until he had found everybody who ever had their fingers in this entire mess.

And the closest one was her. The woman who had betrayed him, stabbed that cancer deep into his body, let him rot and flounder about, constantly asking why. He now knew why, but that didn't make the pain any less intense.

He turned and headed north. Back towards Harlem.

Back towards Karen.

The days were like water. Steadily flowing between her fingers, unstoppable. Down here, in this basement of some building in Harlem, it was even harder keeping a track of time. No sunlight, no day and night- only work, work, work.

And fear.

Ever since Blackwatch had come into her home to tell her that Alex was dead, but his body kept walking around, re-animated by the most lethal virus known to mankind, fear had been a constant in her head. Somehow, it had waned slightly when he had sought her out, wanting her to help him, but it had jumped up and bit into her chest violently when she had send him to that Hive, where Blackwatch had been waiting.

She should have told him. Should have told him that they were controlling her, but she had been too much of a coward to do so. And then they have told her he managed to get away- and more importantly, he somehow managed to reject the parasite, even after it had shown promising results at first.

Fear had mounted into terror then, and she fully expected him to find her, break down her protection and tear her to shreds. But he hadn't, and the terror dulled into a numb presence at the back of her head. It had never turned less potent, though. If anything, the panic was only growing stronger the longer nothing happened. In the beginning, she hadn't been too opposed to the idea of him finding her and killing her. At least it would be quick.

Though, the longer he did not come looking for her, the more her nerves frayed. Because he was out there, she knew, and he was going to find her. He was probably not going to give her the mercy of a fast end then.

Karen groaned and dropped her head into her palms, rubbing the heels of her hands furiously into her dry and itchy eyes. The things on her computer screen had long since stopped making sense. She was exhausted and a nervous wreck, and could no longer focus on her work. But she couldn't focus on anything else either.

Her brain was a mess, just as most of her was. She hadn't slept much, barely eaten anything. The loneliness was tearing at her.

At first, there had been several co-workers and new faces who worked with her on the cancer weapon, but their numbers dwindled rapidly after she sent Alex into that Hive. And then one day Blackwatch was back at their lab and just took her to this basement laboratory with no contact to others. The soldiers that watched her didn't count. Black spooks, more machine than men anyways.

But they couldn't soothe the terror growing within her. If Alex was going to find her, then these men weren't going to stop him anyways. The question was: Did he care enough to come looking for her? Was he going to waste time coming here, instead of going after Blackwatch?

He never would have, before Penn Station. Time and resources and things like that- but after Blacklight took over? She was certain he was going to find her. Though, with everything going on, with Redlight spreading and millions dying- she clung to the hope that he would be too busy to do something about her, forget about her or simply not deem her important anymore.

But the waiting, the waiting- it was grating on her nerves and wound her up so much, she felt taut like a coiled spring. The longer nothing happened, the more her brain started screaming, waking her up at night at every noise she heard, no matter whether imaginary or not.

Part of her just wanted this to be over, even though she knew that only her death would free her from this. She had sometimes thought about stealing one of Blackwatch's guns and just end it herself- but she did not want to die. Too much of a coward, actually. Though, anything would be better than this, she guessed. Well, apart from becoming one of those mindless Infected out there, but at least then she would no longer be afraid, because then there would no longer be a Karen Parker.

The door slammed open, startling her. She whirled around, eyes wide, expecting him bursting through- but it was a Blackwatch goon instead. She swallowed the terror that had been building inside her throat and dismissed the man. "I haven't found anything- I can't find anything unless I'm getting access-"

"We've been compromised", the man suddenly cut her off. His voice was so monotone, so dead, but Karen's entire back went ramrod straight. Panic exploded through her chest and cut off her air. She gasped, pulling back when the man made a grab for her arm. "Mercer knows you're on the payroll", he said in short, clipped words. "We're evacuating."

Oh, Jesus. There wasn't really anything she could do. When Alex wanted her dead, she would be. If not today, then tomorrow. The day after that.

He would never stop hunting her, because he had always been single-minded like that. Before Penn Station and more so after it. The soldier was half-dragging her to the elevator. It wasn't unknown to her, this haste. She had experienced it twice, already. Once after she sent Alex into that Hive, and then another time when McMullen decided to relocate her. Strangely, when she first went into hiding back when Alex took her, she wasn't forced to leave everything behind and wait until they retrieved her stuff for her.

But the Alex that had helped her in and out of the tank he had stolen to take her to safety, the Alex that had just loomed behind her to hide his own confusion, the Alex that had awkwardly asked whether he should stick around and offer companionship- this Alex was long gone. Replaced for a literal killing machine that had no problem tearing through entire squads of heavily armed men or giant monsters with ease. The Alex that wasn't Alex but his creation, the deadliest virus in history, DX-1118C, running around in his body, believing itself to be him. The Alex that had come to kill her.

The soldier had pulled her into the graffiti-coated elevator, when her terror finally boiled over and she started to ramble. "You know what he can do", she told the man, whose empty masked face just stared back. She wrung her fingers together. Oh Goddamnit. "He'll kill me." Because she betrayed him. Hurt him. And Alex never liked being betrayed.

The elevator shook and stopped with a resounding clang, and Karen's heart jumped into her throat. The man besides her swore softly under his breath, but she didn't pay him any attention. Her eyes flicked from one corner to the other, expecting claws slicing through the metal walls the next second. The red emergency light did not help any. Shadows twisted into monsters with black inky tendrils reaching out, trying to grab at her.

"Oh my God", she whispered. "Oh my God...he's in the building." He's in the building.

Her back bristled as every single of her nerves screamed danger. There was the faint noise of something moving. Like scales rubbing against each other, or flesh smacking together. Her heart thudded all too loud in her chest, and her blood was roaring in her ears. She heard her own breathing, short and panicking. In an instant, she realized that the man next to her was not the one they had given her for protection.

"I know" This voice- low, full of seething hatred. There was nothing left of the man she once knew, the man she once loved. This was ZEUS, the creature she was tasked to weaken- something she failed. And now he was here to take revenge.

Escape was impossible- locked inside this elevator as they were. She had always known it would end this way, but this was too soon. Karen gasped and squeezed herself into her corner, eyes screwed shut. Her heart was hammering inside her chest, and it only turned more frantic when she heard the tell-tale scrape of metal claws against each other. But she couldn't escape. Not from him.

All she could do was wait for him to end her. Hopefully, it would be quick.

"Turn around" Karen gasped, trying to squeeze into the corner a bit more. It was useless, she knew. No matter where she went, he would always follow.

"You can't hide", his dark voice growled again. "Turn around." The screech of metal on metal made her flinch violently, so she jerked around. His head was lowered in such a way his eyes were hidden by his hood, but she could see the tense line in his jaw and his bared teeth. His black talons hung at his sides, but she could see them trembling with poorly contained rage.

Neither of them said anything, and Karen tried to shrink back as much as somehow possible.

"Did you know?" He questioned in a low tone.

He was...talking. He didn't attack her, didn't murder her. At least not now. Why was he talking? "Know what?" She managed to press out in a voice she barely recognized as her own.

"This!" He snapped, thrusting his claws to the front. She jerked back, eyes wide, when the razor-like talons stopped only inches away from her throat. Tendrils thrashed across the dark skin, curling at nothing, tasting the air. He had to know she was terrified. Nothing escaped Blacklight. It was a born killer, a predator made to hunt and infect.

She could see it in his eyes- hunger, rage- all of it mingled together. "Did you know this?" He asked again, talons clicking together. "Did you know what I am?"

Karen stared at him, eyes wide. "DID YOU?!" He barked, and his claw slammed into the elevator wall with enough strength to slice through the metal and sink his fingers in to the knuckles. She flinched again, brain finally catching up over all the panic.

"Yes", she got out in what could have been a gasp. His eyes narrowed dangerously, and she realized that he wanted more. "They- they told me", she added quickly. "Told me that you were a threat, a Runner like Greene. Told me to...to use you. Lie to you." He didn't answer, was just watching her. Karen swallowed, but now that he hadn't killed her already, her panic was slightly subsiding.

"But when you came to me-", She cut herself off for a moment when his eyes narrowed dangerously. "When you were there, I wasn't sure anymore." Alex still didn't say anything, but the cold stare turned more calculating than enraged. Karen figured it was a good sign, or at least one that meant she wasn't going to get torn apart right now.

"I didn't believe it at first", she told him, voice thin and fearing his rage. "But then you showed up and...everything spun right out of control."

"What happened before Penn Station?" He suddenly requested, head turned away so she couldn't see his expression. But she could see his clenched jaw. "Don't lie to me", he warned a moment later, teeth flashing in the gloomy light.

She had no intention to, her fear from him being much too great. ZEUS was not something that could be lied to, and Alex always had this vengeful side. Only now he actually had the powers to back that up.

"Your work had meant everything to you", she managed to say. "It drove everybody away from you the more you immersed yourself into it." She paused for a moment, then added: "It drove me away from you. It was the reason I broke it off."

Alex's lips were pressed into thin lines, but he didn't interrupt her. Karen ran her shaking hand through her hair and exhaled. "I think it had been the wrong thing to do, because suddenly you isolated yourself from everybody. Your co-workers, McMullen, me- I don't know who else, but it appeared you tried to...hide away?" She grimaced a bit. "One day you rush out of Gentek, looking hunted. I tried to figure out what was going on, but you brushed me off, told me not to go back- and then you vanished." She swallowed. "And later you called me, told me you had 'insurance'. You have taken the virus with you."

Alex moved. It wasn't much, just a minuscule lowering of his shoulders and a little shift of his foot, but it was there. "Blackwatch had given Greene to Gentek", he said. "Wanted them to make weapons from the virus." He scoffed. "They succeeded, in a way. Blackwatch has Supersoldiers, D-Codes. But Blacklight- this was what they really wanted. As the project came to a close, they started cutting off loose ends."

Karen's eyes widened. "Your co-workers", she realized. "Those that had disappeared-"

He growled darkly, but not because she overstepped her boundaries- it was more of a confirming sound. "Blackwatch picked them off", he snarled.

"And they were closing in on you." Oh God- these men, they were going to murder Alex for what he had worked on.

No...they had actually killed him. Penn Station- they had killed him there. But Alex hadn't stayed dead. Instead, Blacklight had gotten into his blood, had changed him. Resurrected him- and was now standing in front of her.

And more even- what had happened before that now finally made sense. She gasped in realization and his eyes suddenly snapped to her, narrowing. She saw the tendrils curl across his surface. He was waiting for her to say something. But she knew his patience was thin- knew what he did if he craved information. She maybe understood that she would never leave this place here, but she certainly did not want to go that way.

"Alex Mercer ran away with a sample of Blacklight. The only sample of Blacklight", Alex told her. "And then he released it, knowingly dooming everybody in Manhattan- if it had worked as he wanted to." Her back turned to ice at the fine tremor in his voice. Rage, anger. Not at her, but...towards himself? Why did he refer to himself in the third person, anyways?

Remember, Karen: There is no Alex Mercer anymore. All of it is Blacklight now.

Her eyes widened. Alex is dead, and the thing controlling his body wouldn't hesitate to kill you.

"You aren't infected. You aren't Alex."

His eyes narrowed to slits, and in an instant, Karen realized that this had been the wrong thing to say. The back of her skull hit the metal of the elevator with a resounding crack, and her vision faded to white for a short moment. Then she was off the floor, squished against the wall and suspended a foot or so in the air. Lethal claws made of biological metal were closed around her throat, and chitinous spikes bit threateningly into her skin. Alex was pressed against her, teeth bared.

"I am not", he hissed, "But judging from how you just noticed it, you believed me to be him when you betrayed me." His claws squeezed a bit more, and Karen's heart leapt into her throat. Her fingers scrabbled along the lethal talons, trying to find purchase, when she realized what he really wanted. She had betrayed him, sold him out to Blackwatch. He wasn't Alex, but he believed himself to be him. He had thought they had been lovers before, but they weren't. He was just a doppelganger, a memory of the man she once knew. But neither of them had known. Her hands dropped from his arm.

"I did", she replied in a dead tone. "I used you to create that cancer weapon, and then I sent you into that Hive." She exhaled shakily, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "I betrayed the man I thought I loved."

"Why didn't you tell me?"His question shocked her so much, her head snapped up, eyes wide. He was looking away and his voice was dead. The claw was still there, and his entire body was still tense, but his voice had dropped. "Why haven't you told me that they were using you?"

His claw fell open and she dropped to the ground, her knees giving out so she slid down, staring at him as he stepped back. "I have seen the bruises", he said. "I have killed and consumed every single of those guys that had ever lifted a finger against you. I know every word they told you. Every moment they grabbed you. I know you have tried to resist. You have tried to resist the first two days after Mercer disappeared. Even though you must have known he had the virus with him."

"But I gave in", she said. "Because I have been a coward."

"A coward? You resisted Blackwatch, psychological torture for longer than Mercer ever would have." He scoffed. "In the end, you have only created a weapon to stop the outbreak. The outbreak that started with Penn Station." He moved away, leaning against the opposite wall. As casual as his pose was, she could still see tremors wrecking his frame. Rage, barely hidden behind a facade of indifference. "Good work on that thing, by the way. If I hadn't gotten it out when I did, I probably would have died."

She stared at him, not understanding. "Why?" She managed to press out. "Why are you-"

"Sparing you?" He cocked his head. "Because you meant something to me. To Mercer. You and Dana were probably the only ones in Manhattan he ever gave a shit about. I know he had tried to contact you, I know he called Dana, tried to get her to get out of the city. Blackwatch had tracked him through this call, so why had he done this if there hadn't been a bit of humanity left in him?"

"But-"

"I thought I could get something back with you", Alex (Blacklight?) admitted. "I am not Mercer, but whoever that was- he's a part of who I am."

Because you meant something to me. Karen swallowed, tears stinging at her eyes.

"Alex-"

"You betrayed me, however", he added, claws clicking together. "You were the one to create the parasite. You hurt me way more than Blackwatch ever could." He shook his head. "But I am not going to kill you. No, I want you to know what you have done. Alex Mercer had unleashed the virus, killed thousands in Penn Station- and this woke Elizabeth Greene. You were his accomplice, whether you knew or not. If you had told Blackwatch where he was, he would never have gotten that far."

He played me. Used me as a tool.

The Runner glanced at her, then turned around and jabbed his claws into the doors, prying them open. "Greene is dead. Blackwatch soon will be. You'd do better getting the Hell out of here and into safety to lie low until everything blows over."

"Can't I just come with you?"

He stopped and glared at her. "No", he growled. "Because you betrayed me. Lied to me. I will let you go only this time."

He had spared her, had let her off with a warning. But she could taste the unspoken threat in the air. Never, ever show your face around me again.

He simply walked out of her life.

Author: I am going to duck out here right now, because I know that you don't like Karen and would have wanted her dead. I don't, so she's still alive. However, this meeting probably took off several years of her life.