Cool Kid Saves the Cats

Chapter 22: Old Wounds Open to New Pain

Cool Kid slowly walks out of the club. The hole in the right side of his head gushes with blood as he pushes open the door. The music from the now empty club pours out onto the empty streets. Cool Kid raises his head and looks out into the abandoned street.

Loneliness.

Loneliness was all he felt. For the first time in a while, he felt completely alone. What was it about Maria? How did she have this effect on him? Sure, she was a close friend of Cool Cat back in the day, but was that really all it was? Jaime and Mikey were both friends of Cool Cat. Hell, everybody was! Yet, he had no problem ending them. He had no problem blowing Jaime in half and leaving his corpse on the side of the road. He had no problem robbing Mikey of his body and keeping his conscious trapped inside a bottle for presumably all eternity. Their punishments were right. They deserved it.

And yet…

Why does Maria's hurt so bad? She deserved it too. She was just as much of a monster as the other two. In fact, she may have been worse. She created so many zombies in that club, and they looked reasonably fresh too. Did she kill them herself or just resurrect them? If she did kill them, well that makes killing her a whole lot more justifiable! But still…

It hurts Cool Kid. Even if she was a monster, there was something about her death… Maybe it wasn't just the fact that she died, but the fact that she had to die. Evil had corrupted her, a person so close to Cool Cat. Hell, evil even seemed to have corrupted Derek Savage when he was close to his death. This was the world without Cool Cat. A world without Cool Cat was a world filled with violence and evil.

Cool Kid had to bring him back. He just had to! Not just for himself, or for Maria or Derek, not even for the world, but for good itself! Evil has laid it's cruel roots into the world, and it was starting to make those roots permanent. Cool Kid knows he can't hope to rip them out himself, no matter how hard he tries. Even with the help of FaDoug, and his epic guns, he's no match for the pure evil that has taken over. He needed Cool Cat. The world needed Cool Cat. Good needed Cool Cat! Cool Kid….needs Cool Cat.

As that thought passes through the bullet hole in his brain, Cool Kid began to sob. He didn't know how much more he could take of this. How many more friends would he have to kill? How many more people would need to fall to bring back Cool Cat? He knows it's worth it, but how worth it? With every dead person laying at his heels, he feels his soul straying further and further from the light of Cool Cat. Would this be what Cool Cat wanted?

"Just pretend….that your decision...and Cool Cat's….are one in the same…"

"he would still respect your decision….I know he would…."

Those words that Maria said, this ring throughout his brain. He knows what she was saying, and he believes her, but… is it really true? This whole time, would this be what Cool Cat wanted? To kill? To destroy those who need to be punished? Is that really what he would want?

And then...there are the visions. They have been nothing but pain for Cool Kid. The flames. The hatred. The bodies. Whenever he closes his eyes he encounters demons that scream at him. They tell him that he's worthless. Cool Cat will never be saved. Because he's simply incapable of doing anything for him. This must be the truth…

But then...what about that one dream? The one where he talked to Cool Cat? Where he learned how to defeat Mikey? That wasn't hatred, that was...kindness? No, more than that. It was...love. Cool Cat's love. A love unmatched by any human being or creature in the known universe. He felt it then. Cool Cat must believe in him! That must have been a direct message from Cool Cat himself! Somehow.

It doesn't matter how, all that matters is Cool Cat supports him! He must be in the right! His actions are good! The evil of this world will be stopped! Cool Kid will bring an end to it himself! He will destroy evil once and for all!

.

.

.

But then again….Maria…

Before Cool Kid could think about her again, FaDoug rushed up to him and gave him a lovely warm hug.

"Oh Cool Kid!" screamed FaDoug. "You're okay!"

Cool Kid was taken aback a bit, but then recovered. "Oh...yeah, I'm good." He chuckles a little. "What happened in there? I mean like, how did you get out here before me?

"Oh" said FaDoug, with shame in his voice. "When we got separated from the zombies...they forced me out of the club...I guess they didn't really care about me…

"Huh...I guess that makes sense….well I'm glad you're safe now."

FaDoug looks up at him with passion in his eyes. "Me too Cool K- AAAAAAAHHHHH!" FaDoug screams.

"WAH! What's wrong FaDoug?"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-" FaDoug swallows. "Your head….there's a giant hole…." Cool Kid is silent for a second. He stares at FaDoug, with a bewildering and worried look, then shakes his head and smiles.

"Oh yeah! This! Haha, I had to deal with some stuff in there...don't worry I'm all good!"

"R-really? It looks like it hurts."

"Oh it doesn't. I did this myself!"

"WHAT!? WHY!?"

"Easy, to turn off my nerves. By doing this, I was able to resist the power of the suck! I think I may be free from it now!"

"R-really? That's great Cool Kid!" He's silent for a bit. "But uh...do you think you can recover from that? I mean, there is a giant hole in your brain that's pouring out blood…"

"Oh yeah! No biggy! You see, I placed the gun at a perfect angle, so that when the bullet went into my head, it would hit right into the metal shard in my brain. Because of this, it would only damage my nerves enough to shut them down, but not permanently damage them."

"S-so…"

"So all I have to do it grab this shard here.." He places both hands on the shard in his head. "And snap it to the right!" He pushes the shard a bit to the right. The bullet that he launched into his brain comes flying out, landing directly on the floor in a puddle of blood. "And now, all I need it something to plug this whole in my head, and I'm all good!"

"That's uh...really cool...Cool Kid…" Cool Kid raises an eyebrow, with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong, FaDoug? You don't seem as excited as I thought you'd be…"

"It's not that! It's just uh...didn't you say that bullet kept your nerves off?"

"That's right!" says Cool Kid with a smile.

"Well...now that it's out…."

They both stare at each other in silence for a few seconds. Then, suddenly:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH GOD THAT HURTS! MY BRAIN! MY ARMS! MY LEGS! MY TORSO! MY FEET! MY ASS! OH GOD EVERYTHING HURTS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Cool Kid falls onto the floor screaming in pain. FaDoug watched as Cool Kid quickly passes out from the pain.