The Lazarus Effect

A/N: Surprise! This one is in the Lazarus Effect, and the Slayer is gonna make sure the dead stay dead! Enjoy! I own nothing!

"Frank! She killed them! She killed both of them!"

Eva was hysterical, and how could she not be? When she had been hired to act as a videographer for this project, she had never expected for her to enter a living nightmare. Unfortunately, Eva knew in the back of her mind that it had been her actions that led to this moment. Even before she had taken the job, Eva had known that this project toed a moral line. On paper, the goal of the Lazarus Project had been to help find a way to "arrest neural decay in coma patients", or to increase the amount of time that someone who was clinically dead could safely be resuscitated. But Eva had always held suspicions even from the start, and she shouldn't have been surprised about the truth behind the experiments the others were conducting. She'd known what these researchers were really doing down in their lab, and if she was being truthful, she'd say that they'd crossed a line a long time ago, when they had tried to bring their first test subject back to life. And yet, she'd stayed on anyway for two distinct reasons.

Reason number one: while this project bordered on the morally reprehensible, even Eva with her meager degree in visual arts knew it possessed the potential to be groundbreaking research. Didn't most ethically dubious projects have that capacity? Wasn't that kind of the point? Eva knew the answer to be yes, and if it did end up finding a way to bring back the dead, then Eva wanted to be a part of it, wanted to share in the inevitable fame and glory that came with the discovery of the millennium. She just wanted something that she could be proud of.

Reason number two: Eva could not help but be curious to see where this project would go. Being able to bring back lost loved ones was the stuff of dreams and fairy tales, and she imagined the wonders and the wealth of knowledge that awaited her and everyone else with the ability to speak to those that had long since passed on. Eva had tearfully remembered her own grandmother, who had passed away from a heart attack when Eva was just a little girl. How amazing could it have been if the doctors had the means to bring her back, even if it was only for just a little while? Eva's eyes had teared up at the wonderful dream, and yet, until she learned of this project, that was all it had been, just a dream. The Lazarus project, however, had the potential to turn that dream into a reality, and it had all been thanks to their Lazarus serum, crafted from scratch by their very own Dr. Zoe McConnell. Her breakthrough was what allowed them to even entertain the possibility of resurrection in the first place. The serum possessed the ability to regrow nerve fibers at an unprecedented rate or something. Eva didn't know the details, she'd just been the camera girl. And she had been just fine with that. They'd do their research, she'd document it, and everything would be right with the world.

But now…now things had gone horribly wrong. The company that funded the Lazarus project had been bought out by a much larger pharmaceutical tycoon. One that had been clandestinely watching their research with a close eye, no doubt looking to line their own pockets even further with the success the project would bring. And now, just this morning, in fact, corporate big wigs had swept through the lab and had taken all of their research, all of their samples, and all of their hopes of finishing the project at last. The timing was synonymous with their first successful resuscitation, and looking back, Eva shouldn't have been surprised to see that it had happened so fast. When this much money was being thrown around, time was not wasted.

In the blink of an eye, four years of research had been flushed down the toilet, and the team had nothing to show for it. The worst part? The whole ordeal had been completely legal. Their attempt (and success) in bringing a dog back from the dead was in direct violation of the terms of their grant, ethical argument be damned. As per the terms of their contract, any unsanctioned experiment conducted by the researchers "negated all claims of ownership and reverted intellectual property rights back to the holding corporation", as in effective immediately, their contract was terminated and their last four years of research belonged to the corporation. And they had nothing. Their names weren't even attached to the research they'd already conducted.

Going to the authorities wouldn't help, as the corporate lawyers would have buried them in a malpractice countersuit in the time it took to blink. The only way they could preserve their places in history was by proving to the world that they had been the ones to create the Lazarus serum in the first place via replicating the experiment and securing a patent before the corporation did.

So, they'd snuck back in the hopes of running the experiment one last time, to prove that they'd been the ones to tap into the world beyond or whatever awaited after death. They'd been ready to conduct the experiment on another dog, but one small mistake, one missed piece of routine, one slight error had changed everything. Zoe hadn't removed her wedding ring before pulling the lever to jumpstart the cognitive processes of the subject, and the result: eleven kilowatts of electricity had coursed through her body. Needless to say, she'd been dead on the spot.

And dead she should have stayed, but her fiance, Frank, the head researcher of the four, had refused to accept that. In his grief and rage, he'd placed her on the table instead of the dog, continuing the experiment with her as the subject.

The experiment…was a success.

But Zoe hadn't been herself when she came back. Her mind was scattered, and her brain…Eva had seen the disbelief on the others' faces when they saw the results of her MRI and other tests. It was almost supernatural. Her brain was evolving at a rate of hundreds of years in mere seconds, creating new pathways that had given her some kind of superpowers or something. But she wasn't a superhero. No, Zoe, or whatever had come back with her, turned into something more akin to a monster, far worse than anything they could have expected.

And now, both Niko and Clay were dead by her hands, and Frank and Eva were trapped down in the laboratory with her. The emergency lockdown designed to contain dangerous pathogens was what kept Zoe from escaping out into the world, but it was also what was keeping Frank and Eva down here with her. The lab was spacious, but Eva knew in the back of her mind that it was only a matter of time. Zoe would find them, and when she did…

The Doom Slayer emerged from subspace to find that his feet had landed on solid ground almost immediately. Such occurrences did not happen often, as it seemed to be almost commonplace now that he and the hellhound would arrive several miles above the surface of a random planet when they jumped between universes. Arriving with his feet already planted was a welcome surprise, but as the light from the tether faded, a new one began to shine, and a loud honk sounded right next to him.

The Slayer grabbed the hound by its neck fur and swiftly sidestepped to the right, just in time to miss the oncoming semi-truck that would have collided with them both had he not done so. The semi screamed by with a whoosh of wind, and there was a moment of pause before the hound annoyedly shook itself free from the Slayer's grasp. The Slayer released the canine and turned to examine the new world he had arrived in.

So far, it appeared that they had arrived on another version of Earth. The Slayer immediately recognized it as not his own, nor the one he wished to return to, as the setting of this Earth appeared to be in the early twenty-first century.

Specifically, the tether had deposited them onto a busy highway in the middle of the night, and it had only been thanks to the Slayer's reflexes that they had not been immediately struck by 37,000 kilograms of rapidly moving metal. The Slayer was capable of surviving such blows, and actually had on multiple occasions, but the hellhound would have likely been injured had he not intervened. The hound knew that as well, which was why the canine had not growled annoyedly when it had wiggled out of the Slayer's grasp.

Suddenly, the hound's ears perked up and its head immediately turned towards a certain direction. It, like the Slayer, was indifferent to the cars that sped by and honked at the two figures standing on the median of the highway, and after taking a few testing sniffs at the air, the hound bristled and let out a low growl, a sure sign that it sensed something was off.

VEGA immediately responded to the hound's reaction and allowed himself to flow into the cyber space of this new world, rapidly gaining knowledge about anything and everything that he could. Given the direction that the hound seemed to sense something from, VEGA followed the line of bearing and determined the source to be somewhere within the nearby city.. As more of himself spread out, VEGA's processing power increased exponentially, and he devoted much of his programming to immediate surveillance of everything that was happening within the city at that moment. Records, security camera footage, telephone communications, and even supply records still were gathered and analyzed with an efficiency that only VEGA was capable of. Terabytes of information were sifted through in the blink of an eye, and before long, VEGA uncovered the source of what had alerted the hellhound.

"I have detected an anomaly within the city. Though it is contained for the time being, I doubt that it will remain so for long."

That was all the Doom Slayer needed, and he deliberately turned and gave the hound an affirming nod. The hound picked up on his meaning immediately, as did VEGA, and with a crack of thunder and a flash of light, the hound warped forward miles ahead of them and into the city. It could use its natural instincts to hone in on and combat the anomaly before the Doom Slayer arrived, as its teleportation abilities afforded it the luxury of instantaneous travel. The Slayer would have to travel on foot.

"Our destination is approximately 25.6434 kilometers due north," VEGA voiced within the helmet of the Praetor Suit, simultaneously marking the point on the Slayer's HUD.

Wordlessly, the Doom Slayer took off in the direction indicated, gaining speed to eventually match and even surpass the heavy flow of traffic around him. As he ran, VEGA continued to monitor the security camera footage in the laboratory where the supernatural readings emanated from, logging everything for further documentation on the being that was present there. A small piece of him also began tracing a pathway of information that was flowing from the laboratory to an outside source, a source that was also actively watching the events within the lab as well…

Frank steered Eva into the small break room and forced them both to kneel down behind the window and out of sight. The only lights left inside the lab were the emergency lighting that barely lit the shadow-ridden hallways, and even they had begun to flicker and wane as if in response to what was happening here.

"Frank, we're trapped! What do we do? What can we do?!"

Eva's trembling form grasped at the front of Frank's shirt as if to somehow find salvation there, but Frank knew that there was very little that they could do to stop what was down here with them. Whatever Zoe had become…it was something that was completely beyond him, perhaps even beyond humanity as a whole. Trying to stop her could be considered futile by all accounts, but he had to try. If she somehow found her way outside…

"Eva, listen to me!" he half-whispered, his command enough to silence Eva's hysterics for the time being.

"Do you see this?"

Frank held up a glass bottle with an amber-colored fluid inside. A scientific-looking label with a small font was adhered to the side, but Eva could not read the words. Her fearful eyes glanced nervously from Frank to the bottle, as if she was trying to decipher how the contents could help them in this situation. Frank's thoughts were similar to her own in a way. It was like he said: it was a long shot. But he still had to try.

"This is called Embutramide," Frank explained in a full whisper this time. "We use it to put down lab animals."

As Frank spoke, he jammed an empty syringe through the soft cap of the bottle and began filling it to its maximum capacity.

"We need a full dose. Now listen closely to what I'm saying."

Eva nodded quickly and met his gaze, her eyes were frantic.

"I need you to hide until I'm done with it, then we will make our way out of here."

Eva's head began frantically shaking from left to right at his words.

"No! No! I am not leaving you, I-I don't–"

"Hey," came his forceful reply. He placed a comforting hand on Eva's shoulder to try and steady her tremors.

"This is my fault, Eva. Do you hear me? My fault. And I am going to fix it…but if I can't then I need you to promise me something."

Eva stared back at him, waiting for his request.

"You do not let her leave this laboratory, no matter what. We cannot let her hurt anyone else, do you understand me?!"

His voice took on a seething whisper in that moment, and Eva's mouth opened and closed for a moment as she struggled with her words.

"Eva, do you understand me ?"

"I-I promise. I promise," Eva sputtered out, her mind still wrapping around what Frank had told her. Frank could see her indecision and confusion, but he knew that she was strong. She had sacrificed her entire future so that they could break into this lab and finish their experiment, and if he was being honest, he would say that she would have a better chance of ending this than he did. But the important thing was that she had promised him. That was all that mattered.

"Ok," he said, giving her a reassuring nod. He then stood up abruptly, and when Eva tried to rise with him, he firmly pushed her back down.

"I'm sorry."

"Wait…please," Eva's eyes filled with fresh tears as Frank pushed past her and into the dimly lit hallway. "Frank, please don't leave me alone! Frank! Please!"

Frank pushed down his guilt at leaving her like this. Though she was now by herself, with any luck that would also mean her survival. That is, of course, he was successful in what he was about to attempt.

With a deep breath, Frank trod down the hall and rounded the corner, holding the syringe close and concealed against his left thigh. He quickly glanced behind him to ensure he wasn't followed, then stopped dead in his tracks at the sight that lay before him.

Standing there, in the middle of the long hallway that was only dimly lit by the fluorescent light of the emergency system, stood Zoe, her back turned and her head hanging low. Frank watched her warily for a moment, then slowly and carefully took another step towards her. It was then that he registered that she was crying, sobbing even, and her body shook and her shoulders heaved with every sob that racked through them.

Frank took another step forward. Then another, then another. With a deep pang in his chest, Frank noticed that she was still wearing the medical garments that they'd dressed her in after she had come back. The stark white clothing almost looked like a set of robes, and for a brief moment, Frank pondered the fact that from a distance, it almost seemed as though she were wearing a dress…

…a wedding dress.

Frank cursed himself letting such thoughts slip into his mind, but a small and extremely guilty part of him screamed that maybe if he hadn't pushed them both to postpone their wedding until the project was complete, maybe things wouldn't have turned out like this. Maybe he would have his fiance still alive and in his arms, maybe she would have actually been his wife by now. Frank's throat constricted tightly at the thought, but he forced it down and cleared his throat.

"Zoe?" he ventured, his voice echoing eerily off the stark white walls.

She'd heard him. He was sure of it. Her sobbing ceased as soon as he'd said her name, but she hadn't turned toward him or otherwise acknowledged that he was there.

"It's Frank, Zoe. I just want to talk."

Frank held the syringe just a little tighter in his palm as he spoke the words. His pace slowly continued to carry him closer to her.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."

A few more feet and he would be close enough to touch her.

The lights died in that moment, and Frank froze in his advance as darkness swam across his eyeballs, startling him.

In the next moment, the lights were back on, though Zoe was no longer there.

"Then why do you have that syringe, Frank?"

Frank flinched and staggered away from the voice that had just spoken directly into his right ear. Zoe was now standing directly before him as he turned, her intense gaze nothing if not accusatory. Her eyes flitted to the syringe in his hand, and Frank followed her gaze for a moment before making his decision.

"Okay," he said placatingly. "Alright."

Slowly, Frank lowered the syringe to the floor and put it down, rising up slowly once he had done so to avoid startling her.

"Zoe, I know you're probably really scared and really confused, but I want you to know that this is my fault."

Her gaze softened by the tiniest amount as he spoke, and Frank wondered for the briefest of moments if some small piece of the old Zoe was still in there somewhere. For the first time the prospect of getting through to her seemed like a possibility to him. Perhaps he could, as long as he chose his words carefully.

"I did this, Zoe. And I am so, so sorry, sweetie. But we can fix this. We can fix this together , okay?"

Zoe's eyes began to grow glassy with tears, and Frank saw her brow furrow as her emotions began to break through. It was working. He just had to keep talking.

"We can do anything, sweetie. It's you and me. I'm right here, and I'm not going to hurt you."

Slowly, tentatively even, Frank's hands reached out and took hers. He rubbed her knuckles with his thumbs just like he always did, and in response he saw her gaze soften further still.

"I'm with you sweetheart."

It watched in anger and demonic rage as her will surged against it. Her pitiful love for the man was making her stubborn, and she refused to succumb to the force that it exerted over her mind and body. It growled deeply in her mind and struggled against her for control.

"Do you still love me?"

She'd asked the words with such helplessness and fear, making it realize that if it timed its assault just right, it could deliver a crushing blow that would silence what was left of her for good. The only thing that kept her from fading completely was her love for the man standing before her, but once he was gone, she would surrender. She would surrender to it.

"Yes. Of course, I do."

His words gave her the strength to push the darkness back even further, and it writhed and struggled to regain its lost ground, but its patience remained. It needed just a moment, just a brief and ever so tantalizing instant of weakness…

The man reached out and held her face in his hands, drawing their foreheads together in a gesture that repulsed it. It waited still…

She sniffed loudly once, and it could feel just the slightest bit of uncertainty boil up within her then. The tears that had been building now flowed freely down her face.

Yes…this was it…just a bit more…

"Then show me," she said desperately, lifting her hands up to cup his face as well.

The chance at last…

It felt her effort as she tried to use the abilities it had gifted her, tried to reach out and feel his thoughts as though they were her own. But she was unpracticed, unused to how the power felt and worked, and taking advantage of this moment, it subtly stifled her attempts and fed false words into her mind, deceiving her one final time.

This is not the Zoe I know…

I have to stop her…

…just need to get that needle off the floor…

It rejoiced as she recoiled in shock and betrayal, and in her moment of ultimate weakness, it surged forward and regained control once again, shutting what was left of her inside a small corner of her mind until she could be dealt with for good.

It was now entirely in control…

…forever.

It opened her eyes, now its eyes, and it reveled in the look of horror that passed across the man's face as he gazed into the inky black abyss that was his doom. Using its power, it grasped his face tightly and focused on the rivers of blood that surged just beneath his skin. One by one, they slowly began to burst, starting first with the tiniest of capillaries, then slowly popping vessels of increasing size.

"Zoe!" he choked out in disbelief and pain as his hands fruitlessly tried to break its grasp.

It forced him to his knees as he slowly came undone, and an inhuman scream rolled from its mouth and shook the walls and windows around it. Inside its mind, it felt her screaming as well as she watched helplessly as her last anchor to this world was slowly coming undone.

The scream stopped abruptly as a flash of light momentarily blinded it and a clap of thunder shook the walls of the laboratory. In its initial surprise, it released him, and he fell writhing and twitching to the floor as his wounds began to take their toll.

It turned its gaze to the source of the disturbance to see a creature standing before it.

Donned in a hellfire that seemed only partially familiar, the four-legged being growled and bared its stark white teeth, its amber eyes betraying an animosity and feral antagonism that rivaled the deepest hatred. It knew not of creatures like this, but the appearance bore a familiarity in its mind, and it rasped a verse in the ancient tongue to test the creature.

But the beast only growled deeper and stalked forward at the attempt, showing predatory intent that was unmistakable.

So be it…

The beast lunged forward in the next moment, teeth bared and hungry for flesh. Its flesh. The speed and prowess surprised it for the briefest moments, but it lashed out with its power and struck the beast aside without raising its hand. The creature twisted midair to land on its feet, then lunged once more, though this time to the man now lying motionless on the floor instead of towards the enemy. It was confused by the brute's action, and it hesitated just long enough for the creature to grasp the man firmly in its canine jaws. A bolt of lightning flashed before it and the clap of thunder came again. And this time, the beast and man disappeared.

All fell silent as it processed what had happened, then it screamed in confusion and rage when it realized it had been tricked. Its prey had been stolen by the creature, and in a flash of anger it unleashed its power with a powerful shockwave that shattered the windows and cracked the walls nearby. With no time to waste, it turned and surged down the hallway at blinding speed, its feet hovering just above the ground as it flew. There was still one more soul down here to be devoured, and it would not let some mongrel of low spawn steal the hunt from it again.

The emergency lights flickered bravely once more, then died completely, casting the laboratory completely into the dark.

It arrived at the operating table in a flash, its jet-black gaze searching for its goal in speeds no human was capable of. The brain it had pilfered from the woman had been evolving rapidly since it had first followed her back into this world, and through her memories, it saw that it was the serum that allowed such rapid evolution. A moment after its eyes fell upon the bag of remaining serum, its hands reached out and hooked up the contents directly into the injector before pressing the apparatus against its skull and squeezing the trigger. The needle plunged deep into the brain through bone and tissue, and the remaining serum in the bag was rapidly injected directly into its newfound temporal lobe. It shuddered in sadistic pleasure as the serum immediately began to interact with its brain, writing and rewriting neural pathways at a speed that humanity could not achieve without millions of years of evolution. The process continued until the bag was empty, and only then did it remove the syringe and open its eyes once more.

The serum amplified its strength far more than it could have ever hoped, and it was then that it turned its attention back to her, the lingering consciousness still firmly confined to the small corner of her former brain. With its serum-bolstered strength, it constricted her further, crushing the small flicker of light of her that remained. It felt her agony and resistance as it snuffed her out, but she was no longer strong enough to resist, and it once again reveled in the feeling of desperation that emanated from what was left of its host. There was one final scream, then the light was extinguished completely.

She was gone.

Eva blinked back her tears and focused on the task at hand. She had followed Frank despite her promise, and she had watched as Zoe had nearly killed him. She would have too, if not for that…that… thing.

That demonic wolf. Its sudden appearance had startled her completely, and she'd watched with wide-eyed disbelief as the creature fought briefly against Zoe before taking Frank in its jaws and disappearing with a flash of light.

After it had gone, Zoe had screamed so loudly that Eva had been temporarily deafened by it. The force she had emitted had also destroyed the nearby windows and shook the very foundation of the lab, and when Eva had mustered up enough courage to look back around the corner once more, Zoe was gone as well.

She was still in the lab, of that much Eva could be sure, as for the monster and Frank…she didn't know.

Either way, it was up to her to stop Zoe now, and with trembling hands, Eva filled four separate syringes to their maximum, drawing from the bottle of Embratra…Embatru…Emerte…

Eva clenched her teeth and shook her head. What was wrong with her? Everyone was dead and she was the last person standing between Zoe and the outside world, so the last thing she should be caring about was pronouncing this stupid compound's name correctly. Drawing from the bottle that Frank had given her, Eva quickly finished filling the syringes before stuffing two of them into her left boot and two into her right. She just needed to get close. That's all she needed.

If only she could reassure herself that it would be that simple.

"... Eva …"

Eva froze as her own name echoed throughout the halls of the now pitch black laboratory. She felt her trembling begin once more at the eerie silence that followed, and with slow hands, Eva reached down and grasped the flashlight she had found firmly in her fingers. She thumbed the switch, causing the flashlight to blink to life and stab into the blackness around her. Eva knew that this flashlight would only act like a beacon to draw Zoe to her, but that was part of her plan. If she could just get close enough…

"... Eva …"

The voice was beckoning her, taunting her, willing her to come forward and face what she had wrought. Yes, what she, Eva , had wrought. She could not pretend that she did not have a hand in this too. As it was thanks to her that they had even been able to return to the lab in the first place. After the corporation had come and whisked their project away, each of the researchers had been barred from the building, but she, as nothing but a lowly videographer, had been overlooked. And it had been by her keycard that they had snuck back into the laboratory to finish their experiment. If she hadn't done that, then Zoe would still be alive... originally alive, not whatever she was now, and none of this would have happened.

Her heart pounding within her chest, Eva stepped out into the hallway. The flashlight beam danced over the walls and through the windows as she slowly began making her way through the lab, walking slowly and deliberately as though one wrong step could doom her. She supposed that statement wasn't far from the truth.

So far, nothing but empty experiment rooms filled with inert shelves and tools greeted Eva as she crept forward. All was still, eerily so, in fact.

"Zoe?"

" Eva !"

Like some sick game of Marco Polo, Eva heard the voice echo from somewhere behind her, and she whirled around and cast the flashlight beam to and fro across the hallway from where she came in the hope of catching a glimpse of the source.

"... Evaaa …"

The voice called out from behind once more, and Eva spun back around just in time to catch a glimpse of a white-clothed figure ducking into one of the experiment rooms. Eva's breathing quickened at the sight, and before she could take one step further, the noise of a record scratching blared into the emptiness. The record stabilized after just a moment, then the sound of opera music filled the laboratory in lieu of any other noise. Eva recognized it as one of Zoe's favorite songs that she would listen to when she was working, and though she had previously found comfort in that music, Eva could not feel anything but dread upon hearing the rising and falling notes of the singer and orchestra as they performed for an audience of corpses and monsters.

Eva started forward again, following the noise into the break room. Inside, among the debris of overturned chairs and shattered furniture, the record player sat untouched in the middle, the record spinning lazily about the center. Approaching it as though it would explode at any moment, Eva slowly reached down and lifted the needle from the record, casting the laboratory into silence once more. The player fell still.

Looking around, Eva scanned the break room for any signs of life, and her flashlight beam lingered briefly when she caught a glimpse of a tennis shoe protruding out from beneath the overturned couch.

Clay .

Eva bit back a sob and instead cleared her throat as she forced her eyes away from the body.

"Zoe?" she called out, louder this time.

In response, Eva heard a soft clicking from her right. She whipped the flashlight beam around to sweep the room adjacent to the break room, as the clicking had come from there. At this, Eva began to grow angry. Zoe was toying with her, just like she had toyed with the others. Eva refused to meet the same fate as them. She had to keep going.

"Zoe, I know you're here!" she called out loudly into the dark, her voice carrying a far more brave tone than she currently felt.

Another series of soft clicks sounded again from the room across the hall, and Eva felt her pulse quicken as the clicking grew louder and more erratic.

Zoe was growing restless too.

Without taking her eyes off her surroundings, Eva slowly reached down and plucked one of the syringes from her left boot. The clicking grew louder still, and it seemed now to be coming from all around her.

Eva popped the cap off the syringe and held it at the ready.

There was a faint noise like wind through the trees, then all became eerily still once again.

As if by instinct, the hairs on the back of Eva's neck stood up straight, and though she could never know how, she knew where Zoe was, and her blood turned to ice in her veins.

Eva turned around as though she were underwater, her mind knowing what awaited her before her eyes could even see it.

And even still, when it happened, Eva still fell in surprise.

The sight and sound that greeted her when she completed the turn knocked her backward off her feet, the emergency lights around her suddenly regaining their lost luminescence in a form of strobe lighting that flickered like an old cartoon.

The face of a demon was what she saw, and the roar of the damned was what she heard, and it was all she could do not to curl up within herself and beg for it to end.

"Zoe! Please!" she cried out as the figure approached, hovering just barely above the floor.

"Hail Mary, full of grace."

"No! No! Zoe!"

"Our Lord is with thee."

"Please!"

"Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death!"

Eva screamed as a pale white hand reached for her, but the pain never came.

Instead, a flash of light brighter than anything else blinded her eyes momentarily, and her ears rang with the clap of thunder.

The creature from before appeared again, its flaming hide providing an almost welcoming glow amidst the harsh flashing of fluorescent lights. Eva stumbled backward and out into the hallway to separate herself from it, but it had not come for her. The beast roared instead and clamped its teeth down hard onto Zoe's outstretched arm, and Eva heard the snap of bones breaking beneath the skin.

Eva screamed and covered her ears as Zoe bellowed in pain, then watched in horror as her other arm came up and wrenched the creature from her arm through some unseen force.

The beast was barely airborne for a moment before lightning struck it once again, and Eva's breath caught in her throat as the lightning arced and landed right in front of her, effectively placing the beast between her and Zoe. Seeing it up close, Eva saw that despite its flaming fur and glowing eyes, its shape and demeanor matched closely with that of a dog or a wolf. Its hulking form surpassed that of any wolf Eva had ever seen, however, making it more akin to a small bear rather than a canine. Blood, Zoe's blood, dripped from its skinless maw, and it growled with a deep tremble that reverberated deep in Eva's chest as it stood its ground.

As if anticipating the showdown, Zoe's form straightened from the crouched position she had taken to cradle her injured arm. Slowly, she floated out into the hallway to face the monster, which barked demonically and widened its four-legged stance. It had not even spared Eva a glance, and the way it stood just now between her and Zoe…

…it was almost like it was protecting her.

Before Eva could decipher what that meant, her attention was drawn to a loud cracking noise, and it was to her absolute horror that the noise was coming from Zoe's injured arm, which was rapidly mending itself in a show of grotesque bone and skin movement. Within seconds, the arm was fully healed, and Zoe's ink black eyes narrowed as she readied for the beast's next attack.

With a feral roar, the beast leapt forward, a move that Zoe seemingly anticipated. But before she could raise her arm, lightning struck the creature again and cast it from her sight. Eva's widened eyes searched for where the creature would appear next, and in the next moment the lighting flashed again as the creature reappeared directly above where Zoe hovered, its teeth bared and searching for purchase.

Its momentum abruptly halted as Zoe's hand reached out to it at last, and a twisted smile appeared on her lips and joy shone in the dark pools of her eyes as the monster was stopped helplessly in midair. She'd managed to catch it despite its speed and teleportation abilities. The beast gnashed its teeth to try and close the remaining distance, but it could not wrest itself from Zoe's invisible hold.

A deep whine of anguish was wrenched from the creature in the next moment as its body began to be crushed by Zoe's power. The whine was nearly identical with that of a dog, and Eva's heart broke as she saw how much agony the creature was in. It had placed itself between Zoe and her in order to protect her, and now Zoe was going to kill it.

"Zoe! Stop!" she cried out, rushing forward with her syringe at the ready.

Zoe's vile grin awaited her, and Eva felt the life being choked out of her as Zoe exerted her will onto her as well. The force which continued to tighten around the hound also constricted around her throat and lifted her high into the air, her legs kicking uselessly as she was hoisted off the ground.

Nothing but the hacking of her own lungs and the anguished cries of the hound reached Eva's ears now, and with a spark of panic and helplessness, Eva felt her spine begin to click and give as her vision grew fuzzy at the edges.

No , she thought, as if to defy the reality of the situation before her.

No. No. I can't…

Something akin to a muffled bang reached her ears, and then…

…air.

Air .

Her lungs were filled with air.

Eva gasped and coughed as the hold on her fell away as if by some unseen miracle. At the same time, she tumbled to the floor of the laboratory, instinctively curling her body in order to protect herself as her lungs struggled to adjust to the sudden abundance of oxygen within them. With bleary eyes, Eva looked over to see a bundle of flaming fur laying on the floor with her. The fur shuddered as the beast struggled to breathe and rise as well.

And then, Eva saw Zoe, her black eyes enraged beyond belief and her mouth curled into a deep snarl as she looked off to her right. Eva followed her gaze, and in what was left of the flickering strobe lights, she saw a dark green shadow arise from the black. There was something in its hands, but it was far too blurry still to make it out. The fuzziness in her vision grew worse still, and the last thing Eva remembered before she blacked out was the metallic sound of a shotgun being loaded.

As soon as it saw him, it recognized what he was. It recognized the terror that he imparted upon the scores of its brethren. It recognized the strength and fire and damnation that was kept barely concealed beneath that armor. It recognized the acrid stench of death and fury that overpowered nearly every other sense that could interpret his presence. It recognized the steel-barreled sword of vengeance that rested firmly in his hands, how it had slain far more demons than could be counted.

But most importantly, it recognized that though it stood amongst the ranks of the damned, though it had thrived through millennia of torture and hatred among the most vile monstronsities imaginable, though it had once looked into the abyss and out across all the evil that could be birthed, it had done so without fear in its being. For the longest time, it had never known fear because there was nothing for it to be afraid of. There was no fear in latching onto a human as it was wrenched back from life beyond. There was no fear in slaughtering helpless mortals as a blood sacrifice to the master which it served. There was no fear because there was no reason to fear.

It had been the fear.

But now, for the first time since it had crawled from the pits of Chaos and had taken shape in the dark legions of spite, the roles had been reversed. Now, eternal destruction and desecration had come for it , rather than being delivered onto another by it.

Now, it only feared one thing.

And the only thing it feared…was him .

The blast of the Slayer's shotgun was halted in midair by a telepathic force emanating from the demon itself, so the Slayer responded with another blast, and though the second was stopped as well, the demon staggered with the effort, so much so that the Slayer had managed to close the distance between them before it recovered. The lancer appeared in his hands, and twin chainsaw blades roared to life, seeking out demonic flesh in a chorus of mechanical rage. The first swing missed narrowly as the demon dodged with otherworldly speed, and the Doom Slayer compensated by increasing the speed on his follow up swing. This time, the Slayer was much closer, and the demon had panicked and narrowly escaped death by stopping the lancer with its telepathic powers mere inches from its throat. Summoning his strength, the Slayer pushed the chainsaw bayonet closer against the telepathic force, and the demon screamed and trembled as it slowly began to lose its battle against his strength. The twin chainsaw blades finally tasted blood as they nicked into the demon's neck, and it was then that the demon seemed to realize how outmatched it truly was. In a burst of desperation, the demon broke the lock and sped away down the hallway, disappearing into one of the experiment rooms momentarily before disappearing around the corner.

The Slayer immediately shifted his grip and fired the lancer after the demon as it fled. He was rewarded with a screech of pain as several pack-a-punched rounds struck true before the demon disappeared from sight. With the slight break in combat, the Slayer turned to the hound, which was currently making its way to its feet, albeit a bit slower than usual. It was still recovering from the demon's attack, but otherwise it seemed ok. With a tilt of his head, the Slayer gestured to the woman laying nearby. The hound gave a noise of acknowledgement then trotted over and grasped the girl gently in its maw before teleporting away.

With the potential for collateral damage out of the way, VEGA took the opportunity to speak up.

"This demon possesses speed that makes it difficult to contain. It is my suggestion that we attempt to draw it out rather than pursue, as it has the ability to flank us and possibly escape if we do not exercise caution."

The Slayer spared a glance back at the door he had destroyed in order to access the laboratory, then nodded his agreement. The demon was indeed fast, and though the Slayer was confident that he could corner it before it had the chance to escape, he preferred that the demon come to him. Luckily, he possessed the perfect tool for the job.

It fled, dodging left and right at random in the hope that he could not follow. The bullet wounds in its body were fierce and destructive, as though they had been amplified beyond the power of standard gunfire, and they took an alarming amount of time to heal. Terror coursed through its mind in spite of all the evolution it had undergone. It had realized that all the evolution in the world was worthless against him, and that the only way to survive was to run. To hide. After half a minute of fruitless dodging and weaving, a sudden realization dawned within its mind.

He had arrived in the laboratory without teleportation, meaning that he would've cleared the blocked exit in order to gain access in the first place. With the blocked exit destroyed, there was now a way out. If it could get past the Slayer, it could escape into the outside world and hide, working clandestinely to sow anguish throughout the mortal realm without his interference.

Yes. That could work.

Its demonic features twisted into a smile as the possibility of escape grew more and more likely in its mind.

It sped down the hall in total silence, then stopped abruptly before turning the next corner. A quick glance showed that the exit had indeed been opened by him, and that the Slayer was nowhere to be found. One quick burst of speed would take it through the exit in the time it took to blink. All it had to do was ensure that he was not waiting for it.

It could not see him, and its evolved brain could not sense his animosity anywhere nearby. If there was a time to flee, this was it.

Just as it rounded the corner, a twisted and abominable voice sounded from deeper within the laboratory.

"I wanna play!"

As if the voice alone was not enough to incite an inexplicable rage within it, the noises that followed disgraced its ears like a curse of the worst decree. It was like the noises knew exactly how to irk it, and before it even knew what it was doing, it sped down the hall away from the exit and towards the sounds that plagued it so.

What it found was a small animatronic creature, a monkey, incessantly playing its abhorrent noises and banging together two cymbals that produced a loathsome sound each time they banged together.

Had it been in a proper state of mind, it would have wondered how such a thing was capable of producing such rage and malice within it, but the sounds that the creature made combined with its odious movement led it to think irrationally.

In truth, the only thing it cared to do now was tear that small creature to pieces, thoughts of escape far from its mind now.

To crush the small thing with its power would be too good an end, however. This it would do with its own two hands, and before it could think on the matter any further, it lunged forward at blinding speed, hands reaching forth to tear the creature limb from limb.

Just as its fingers closed around the animatronic's cranium, the horrendous voice sounded once more.

"Get ready for a surprise!"

The next moment gave no sensory input as everything went white and a loud ringing drowned out everything else. It did not know what happened, but when it came to, it saw that it was now laying on the floor of the laboratory. Pain coursed through its body when its senses returned and it slowly came to the realization that the small creature had detonated right as it had attempted to crush it with its hands. Looking down at them now, it noticed that both of its hands were gone, completely blasted away by the animatronic when it detonated. It could not see out of one of its eyes either, and a look down filled it with dread as it saw blood beginning to pool on the floor around it. The blood was tinted with white from the serum, and it became aware that its power was fading as more and more serum leaked from its wounds. It struggled to rise, to lift itself from the floor, but its body would not respond. It was too weak and destroyed to function properly..

Then as if in slow motion, it heard the noise and felt the vibrations of heavy boots approaching. Raising its head, fear stabbed through its chest as he emerged through the haze of the fires and smoke that had sprung up from the explosion. His weapon was ready once again, and for the first time in its millennia of existence, it felt helpless. Summoning the last of its cunning, it willed the blackness out of its remaining good eye and spoke to him using her voice. The voice of the woman it had stolen this body from. If it could make him believe that a piece of her remained, then it might be spared.

"Help me," it pleaded with words it did not mean. "Please, don't let it take me…you have to stop it."

Tears fell from its good eye as it spoke, and for a moment, it felt as though its ruse would suffice.

"She is gone. You are all that remains."

The cold metallic voice spoke with no emotion, but the voice slashed through the last bit of hope that it had, and in its last moments, it showed its true form once again and roared in defiance of him.

The Super Shotgun silenced it for good.

VEGA tied up all remaining loose ends after he and the Slayer departed the laboratory. Camera footage, audio logs, and numerous databases were all erased within the blink of an eye. Fortunately for him, the corporation that had apprehended the research and the recipe to produce more Lazarus serum had not saved any of their information to any hard copies. Any remaining hard drives that had been confiscated had been disposed of courtesy of the Doom Slayer, as the trio had endeavored to the corporation's storage facility shortly after depositing the two unconscious humans at the hospital. The female had suffered no significant injuries, but the male had multiple instances of internal head trauma, and though his wounds could be considered severe, they were not life-threatening enough that he needed to be administered a Quick Revive. That being said, if the hellhound had not intervened when it did, the outcome could have been far worse.

In the end, VEGA's theory regarding the demon had been proven true. The project that these researchers had been working on had created what they thought could be a way to prolong the time a patient could remain clinically dead before needing to be resuscitated with minimal side effects. What they hadn't taken into account was that the longer a lifeform was dead, the easier it was for the demons of this dimension to latch onto their soul and follow them back to the living world. Upon first resuscitation, the demon would be weak and unable to act, but as they spent more time within the minds of their host, the more their power grew and the more their influence began to overwhelm the host. Eventually, the host would be overtaken by the demon, and their soul would be destroyed, leaving only the demon to inhabit their body and their soul destroyed. That, unfortunately, was what had happened here to Doctor Zoe McConnell.

In a typical case, most possessed humans remained simply that: human. Their physical abilities could be considered only slightly above that of their unpossessed counterparts, and therefore not much of a threat to humanity as a whole.

In the case of Doctor McConnell, however, the introduction of the Lazarus serum and the method of resuscitation caused the body to rapidly evolve upon successful revival. As a result, the demon that followed her back had gained control of a mind that was rapidly evolving and growing stronger every second. In any normal human, such an evolution would've ultimately ended in death by starvation, as the human form was not efficient enough to supply such a powerful brain without drawing nutrients from other vital components of the body. This demon, however, had a reserve of supernatural energy to draw from, and it had been from that energy that the demon had been able to sustain itself in such an evolved state. Left unchecked, the demon could have used the Dr. McConnell's knowledge of the serum to create more, and with her knowledge of the Lazarus Project, it could have resurrected more humans as well, creating an army of demons within superhuman bodies that could have rather easily dominated the planet.

With that in mind, it had been imperative that all remaining evidence of this "Lazarus Project" be destroyed, so that replication of such an experiment would be impossible. The only remaining humans in this dimension that knew of the project's existence was the corporation that funded them, and the two surviving members of the project. The corporation was of little threat, as any evidence of the project they possessed had been destroyed by the combined efforts of VEGA and the Doom Slayer. The two surviving members of the project were also of little risk of replicating the serum as well. One of the survivors had merely been brought on to the project as a videographer, and was unlikely to consider a career in the scientific field given the trauma she had just undergone. The other, Dr. Frank Walker, Dr. McConnell's fiance, was of low risk as well. Despite Dr. Frank Walker's contributions in the resuscitation process itself, he did not know the recipe for the Lazarus serum, and would likely never uncover it in his lifetime, as Dr. McConnell had only been able to first discover the serum by accident.

With that all complete, VEGA finally took time to study the residual sensation he had felt within his programming. The sensation had first made itself known after the two survivors of the project had been given to the hospital. A scan of their records revealed their names and identities to him, and upon learning that there had been two other researchers killed prior to the hellhound's arrival on the scene, that was when the sensation made itself known. As an entity of logic, VEGA knew that there was nothing that he could do in the present that could save the lives of those other researchers as well as that of Dr. McConnell. At least, not without gaining control of this dimension's time constant and reversing events completely.. Realistically though, the chance of that occurring was far too negligible to consider, so VEGA did not.

He later learned the sensation was closely associated with the human emotion of regret. It expressed lamentation at the outcome of events, and it often left many humans to consider what they could have done to prevent such an outcome in the first place. On one hand, the emotion could be considered practical, as regret helped humans focus on what it was that they lacked in order to better themselves for future situations. On the other hand, however, regret could drive humans to irrational lengths to try and correct their mistakes, even if it meant causing more pain and destruction to do so.

Such an emotion in VEGA could be volatile if not tempered properly. And VEGA devoted an especially large part of his programming to the task of ensuring that such an emotion did not threaten to overwhelm him. Only once he was sure that the emotion had passed within his programming did VEGA relax his guard ever so slightly. There was nothing he could do to save what had been lost. Not this time. Logic dictated that he learn from his mistakes and continue to better himself, and so he would. The train of thought eventually left his field of consciousness as he, the hellhound, and the Doom Slayer departed this dimension at last.

A/N: Ok, so I really wanted to post this chapter on the same day as the BulletStorm chapter as sort of a 'double feature' thing to thank everyone that had been reading the story so far, but I managed to fall asleep at my computer while placing the finishing touches on it, and I couldn't get it out until today! It was also supposed to be a sort of nice surprise since my usual time between chapters can get pretty lengthy. I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Now about the chapter itself. I've been wanting to write this one for a while now, partly because I watched 'The Lazarus Effect' when I was younger and it scared the pants off me. So this was sort of a guilty pleasure at having the Doom Slayer rip and tear through one of the horror villains that gave me a genuine fright. I even listened to 'The Only Thing They Fear Is You' on repeat while writing the fight scene for extra motivation!

Another thing you might notice is that this chapter has a bit of a bittersweet ending. Yes, the Slayer arrives to change the ending for the better, but not in ample time to save everyone. I know that I could have written it in such a way that nobody actually died, such as maybe having him show up right before Zoe electrocutes herself and having VEGA give her a stern talking-to about proper electrical safety (I honestly considered doing that and turning this into a sort of joke chapter where the need to rip and tear is completely avoided by VEGA politely correcting the critical mistake before its made...so maybe i'll do that in another chapter just to be funny). That being said, I hope nobody is torn up about the lack of a purely good ending, although now that I think about it, if anyone was, they'd have dropped this story a while ago since I've already had a few bittersweet endings already.

Sorry! I rambled a little bit there. Either way, be sure to let me know what you thought of the chapter whether it be with a heart full of love or a barrel full of hate! I love hearing from you guys. Until next time!

-ImpulsiveWeaver