Chapter Thirteen

Cletus woke up to a bunch of rubble surrounding him. He felt a pounding in his head. He put a hand to his forehead and pulled it back to see his fingers coated in blood. He sat up and looked around. He saw a black smudge on the floor next to him.

He might've just been imagining it, but he thought he saw it move. Nope, definitely wasn't imagining it, it was definitely moving. Towards him. He scooted back, but he couldn't move very fast with his throbbing head.

The black smudge crawled on him. It crawled up his body and face. It crawled into his cut, turning red as it disappeared into his body. He briefly considered that he was fully insane. But decided to rule that out.

But then he noticed something. His head didn't hurt anymore. He felt more aware of everything around him. But he also felt thirsty. Thirsty for blood.

He stood up. He looked down the halls and walked in the direction of the destruction. He saw that a bunch of guards were blocking his way out to freedom. Many of them spotted Cletus and pulled out their handguns.

"Don't move!" One said.

Cletus smirked. He took another step closer. He didn't know why he was feeling untouchable, but he enjoyed it. He felt like they couldn't harm him, even if they tried their damned hardest.

The guards kept their guns aimed at him. Cletus took another step. A guard on the left pulled the trigger. The bullet flew in slow motion to Cletus, who felt tendrils come out of his back and pluck the bullet out of midair. Cletus looked at the tendrils in shock.

"Allow me!" Someone said in his head. The voice was deep.

"Who was that?" Cletus asked.

The guards looked on in fear, thinking that he was asking the guards who shot at him. Suddenly he turned inside out. A red sludge covered his body, gaining milky white eyes and a wide, toothy smile. A long tongue protruded from its mouth.

"He was talking to me, boys." It said in a deep voice.

They fired at the monster, but the handguns did nothing to it. They still kept shooting it, because they were idiots. The red creature advanced, walking slowly, menacingly.

They kept shooting. The red thing leaped and pounced on a guard, biting into him. His sharp teeth tore into his flesh, blood spilling onto the floor. It's tongue pierced the man's chest, stabbing his heart and pulling it out of his body. It ate it in one bite.

It rose from the dead guard and faced the rest. It sprouted tendrils from its back and shot them at each of the guards. The tendrils stabbed each one, causing each one to go limp. It pulled them towards its mouth, before biting into one like he was a shish kebab.

It feasted on the organs of the guards, drinking their blood. The floor of the prison was covered in gore turning the once gray tiles red. The thing stood up when it was done, nothing but bones and a couple of stray pieces of human left over.

"You! You caused this carnage!" Someone said from behind it.

"Hm. I like the name!" The newly dubbed Carnage said as it turned around. It faced the guard, reading his name tag. Johnson.

Carnage licked it's none existent lips and shot it's tongue right down the man's throat. Johnson choked on the thing's tongue. Carnage picked up the guard and threw him at the wall. It stabbed him with its claws, before withdrawing its tongue. It took its other claw and slowly cut into Johnson's forehead. The claw broke through bone, but didn't harm the brain.

Carnage picked the top of the head off of the rest of it, exposing the beating brain. Yeah, brains do that, in case you didn't know. It's not as prominent as the heart, which is why we don't notice it often.

Carnage reached into the head and pulled the brain out of Johnson's head. It bit into it, leaving half in its hands. Johnson fell to the ground, still conscious. All he felt was pain, so, so, so much pain.

Carnage finished the brain and stomped on Johnson's head, crushing it.

With no one left to eat, Carnage retreated back into Cletus's body. Cletus walked through the hole in the wall, escaping the prison. He whooped with joy as he followed the destruction made from Percy's escape.

Cletus felt rage at the thought of Percy. The teenager beat the shit out of him, and now the serial killer wanted nothing more than to watch the life drain from his eyes, just like he did to his mother and grandmother. Like he did to the girl who laughed at him when he asked her out. He was going to make Percy suffer, just like how he suffered.

"I can help with that." Carnage said. "I happen to know a few things about Percy Jackson."

LINE BREAK

Marsha unlocked the door to her apartment, bags of groceries in her hands. She pushed open the door and set the groceries in the kitchen. She let out a breath as she leaned against the counter. She noticed that her apartment smelled like fresh blood. She took another deep breath, before something sent chills down her spine.

"Don't make a sound." It whispered in her ear. It came from right beside her. She could feel the breath on the side of her head. She felt it lick her, it's tongue far longer than anything she knew of.

"What are you... what are you going to do?" She asked, voice shaking.

"Eat." It said before stabbing her through the back. She fell to the ground, smacking her head on the counter with a sickening THUD. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she took her last breath.

Carnage grabbed her head and ripped it off of her body. It stuck her head in its mouth and swallowed it whole. "Delicious." It said, before leaving the apartment. Carnage didn't worry about being seen, there was nobody in the building to see him.

It passed the headless corpse of the receptionist, then the vacant place of the doorman. Nothing but red smudges said that the doorman even existed there.

Carnage retreated into Cletus as they exited the building into the city. The night was chilly, perfect for mass murder and overall carnage.

LINE BREAK

Percy smiled as he felt one of the girls tighten her grip on him. He brought them closer to him. He inhaled the scent of woods and a lightning storm, the combination of both of his lovers.

He opened his eyes and met the gaze of Artemis. Thalia was on the other side of him, while Artemis was lying on top of him. He smiled at them. They were very cuddly after their lewd activities, and honestly, Percy couldn't complain. He loved being in their embrace.

It was only about three in the morning, but none of them felt tired. They were wide awake. Not even as much as a yawn. Percy sat up, his girlfriends sitting up with him. He reached over Artemis and grabbed the remote.

"TV?" He asked them, since it was obvious they weren't getting any sleep anytime soon.

Thalia nodded.

Percy turned it on and was met with something that killed the wholesome mood instantly. The TV instantly started on the news channel and they were reporting on something horrific.

The amount of people dead by his hands has reached the hundreds. Many buildings have been found with all the people inside dead. Many bodies were found with heads missing, and some completely torn apart. Blood coated the walls and floors. Deep teeth gashes were found. It is unknown at the time of how he did this.

It is unclear at what time he escaped The Lincoln Correctional Center. But we know that he has tonight. For those who don't know, this is Cletus Kasady, the man responsible for painting New York City red with the blood of his victims. We were told by one of the guards at his former prison that he escaped. Along with eyewitness reports, it is clear that the redhead menace is back on the streets, and he is causing carnage.

Percy exhaled slowly. He had inadvertently caused Cletus to escape, and now he was on a murderous rampage. He had caused this. "I have to stop him." Percy said.

Thalia nodded. "Yeah we do."

Percy shook his head. "This is my mess. I have to do it."

"And we're going to help you." Artemis said.

"No, I don't want you two to get wrapped up with him. He's dangerous."

"So what, you get to risk your life and we just wait here?" Thalia asked indignantly.

"It would make me feel better, yes."

Artemis pursed her lips. "At least let me get you some clothes." She said before flashing out. She came back a minute later with some of his clothes from her camp.

Percy thanked her before putting on the clothes. He was glad to have his leather jacket back. He sheathed Artemis's knife, the one he got oh so long ago, on his thigh. He kissed his girlfriends goodbye before leaving the room. He went down the elevator and exited the hotel. He got onto the motorcycle, and revved the engine, before speeding out of the parking lot.

Up in the hotel room, Artemis and Thalia were clothing themselves. "We're helping him, right?" Thalia asked.

"Of course. He's gonna get himself killed, and I don't know about you, but I want him to live long enough to fuck me again."

"Oh, I definitely agree."

"Then let's go rescue our Kelp Head."