Chapter 13: Dead Hunter

New York, the one city in the world that everyone seems to think is perfect but you don't learn the truth until you live there, especially not after the age of the heroes. Marcus had lived there his entire life, for forty years he had lived in the city that gave birth to some of the deadliest criminals who had ever lived. It had a way of taking the best parts of us and twisting them, turning that into our weakness. Marcus was driving home, it had been a tough day. He was investigating a case where a teenage girl was murdered by her insane uncle, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with frustration at the case.

He drove home and walked through the door, it was pouring hard and he needed a real drink. He approached the bottle of whiskey on the side but something wasn't right, he normally kept a glass next to it which wasn't there. He then heard a sip and spun around, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the figure in the corner...Drinking his whiskey.

"What you doing here? It's not wise to break into a cops house." Marcus asked. The figure turned on the light, revealing himself to be Stephen.

"I need your help Marcus." Stephen said as he finished the glass. Marcus kept the gun pointed at him, itching to pull the trigger.

"Give me a goddamn reason why I should help you and not kill you right there?" Marcus asked.

"I'm going to die anyway...Which is why I need you." Stephen said as he stood up, walking over to the whiskey bottle.

"You killed Mindy, you killed Damien's daughter….Our friend." Marcus said as he punched Stephen in the face, he didn't care though, he'd been hit before but it was what he said that hurt him.

"That's why I'm here. Edward Chow had taken over the Fraternity." Stephen explained.

"Chow? You killed him years ago?" Marcus asked. He didn't know much about Chow but he remembered the last time, what he put Stephen through.

"Yeah, he's back which is why I need your help. I'm a terrorist, always have been...If they find out where I'm going...They'll send an army after me or at least someone will...I need you to try to arrest me but fail, I need you to send them after me." Stephen explained.

XX

Carrie was in the hotel room with Danny, he looked happier than she had ever known and so did she. She couldn't remember anything, it was like trying to get into a locked door, she just couldn't get in.

"It's been a long time, I feel like you've forgotten about me." Danny said as he walked over to a table, picking up a glass and taking a bottle out of the dreaded minibar.

"It's good to see you again." Carrie said, she was happy to see him and felt the need to hug him, something which she wasn't always the best at.

"You've forgotten your mission haven't you." Danny whispered into her ear as he held her close.

"My mission?" Carrie said as she tried to remember.

"Have you forgotten...It's right here, in your memories." Danny said as he touched her forehead. His eyes started to glow blue and so did hers.

Carrie looked around the room as it started to change and then she saw it, the hell that Stephen had brought with him. The room turned into some warzone in a middle eastern country, she could see Stephen on a rooftop with a grenade launcher, spreading hell. The room then changed to a small gloomy field where a group of people were sat, they were tied up and crying. Carrie looked around, she saw the crying people and wanted to know what was going on but then she saw him...Dead Hunter with a group of soldiers.

She could see herself as a child, watching herself grow up as Stephen operated in the shadows, destroying the life of John Coffey so that she could have the same power as him. Torturing the love of his life emotionally so that she would be cold to her daughter, so that she would become a monster.

Dead Hunter said something as he picked up his assault rifle and shot the crying hostages in the back, there was at least four of them but he didn't care. The room changed at least a dozen crimes, showing Stephens true nature but it wasn't until the one in Maine which really got to Carrie. It was the day he left, he was covered in scars and had a bag filled with guns. He argued with Margaret and stormed out of the door, not having a chance to say goodbye as he went to fight a man he once called brother.

Carrie then saw something she never wanted to see. She saw Tommy get killed by Stephen and then it changed to the night she fought Mindy, she saw him kill her mother. Then everything kept changing, she could hear dozens of conversations about his plans and his crimes….She could feel the pain he had inflicted on people and on her, trying to turn her into a weapon since birth...Trying to make her what she was and let her kill all the people she had.

"You know your mission." Danny whispered into Carrie and then she snapped.

Carrie's eyes went back to her normal colour but she was angry, she looked at the window and destroyed it, she then flew out of it. Danny was stood there, drinking his drink and smiling as his body slowly turned into Doctor Sleep.

Carrie flew out of the Overlook hotel, she flew around and felt a presence pushing her towards the maze. She flew faster than she ever had and she was more angry than she had ever been.

X

Stephen was stood in the middle of the maze with Chow and Kathleen, his men had been ordered to leave so that they could be together. Stephen was covered in scars and bruises but was starting to accept his fate. Edward Chow stared at him, removing his mask and placing it on one of the stone pillars. His face was heavily scarred, not a shred of skin was left on it whilst a lot of the bone had been broken. Hi face was black and his eyes glowed orange. He walked over to Kathleen who was stood there, terrified and not wanting to look at the monster.

"Don't look away, you'll want to see this." Chow said as he moved her face towards her brother.

"What are you doing Chow? Let her go."

"Not only did you kill me, you killed my family...My wife...My daughter...You took everything away from me." Chow said as he took out a small blade.

"No." Stephen said but as it became more and more clear, he realised what was going to happen.

"You executed me after you had taken everything from me...I'm going to do the same to you." Chow said as he spun around, throwing the knife at Kathleen. She screamed but it stopped in the air before it hit her, it pressed against her chest but didn't move. Stephen was stood there, staring at the blade and smiling.

"Telekinetic remember?" Stephen said smiling but Chow elbowed him in the teeth and picked him up by the throat.

"You don't understand do you? I'm going to kill your daughter, your sister….Everyone who has ever even thought about you WILL DIE!" Chow screamed, just as he was about to do something there was a loud bang coming from the hotel and Carrie landed in the middle of the maze.

"Carrie?" Stephen asked himself as Chow looked at her, clearly angry. He walked towards her but she used her powers to keep him still and then throwing him through the maze. She walked towards Stephen, angry and getting faster every second.

"Get Kathleen to safety." Stephen yelled but Carrie didn't hear him. She took off into the air and grabbed hold of him, dragging him into the air.

Carrie couldn't stop thinking about what she had seen, finally realising that he was a monster, worse than Magician and Motherfucker….The true villain. She threw him through the air and punched him towards the ground. Stephen didn't fly like Carrie, he didn't have that much control so he just fell towards the ground but Carrie hit him again and threw him into the mountains.

Stephen was flying towards a mountain, he used his powers to push himself back a little which softened the impact. He landed on a snowy ledge and tried to stand up but his side was hurting from where Carrie had hit him. She was flying towards him, she came at him like a missile but as she did, Stephen used his powers to bring the snow down on her, forcing her to the ground.

"Carrie...What are you doing? Kathleen is going to die." Stephen screamed but Carrie threw him back to the wall.

"YOU TURNED ME INTO A MONSTER! ALL YOU EVER WANTED WAS TO TURN ME INTO A WEAPON FOR THE FRATERNITY." Carrie screamed as she ran towards him, punching him in the chest and then in the jaw.

"That was never the intention."

"You killed my mum, you killed my boyfriends...You wanted me as a weapon." Carrie said as she kept punching Ralph. Carrie threw him to the edge of the ledge. He fell to the floor and tried not to fall off, he climbed up and he knew what she was referring to.

"I did what I did because we needed people like you who could do what others couldn't, we needed a way to stop our enemies...Like what we need to do now."

"Chow wanted to destroy people like you, he wanted to purge the world of people who wanted to destroy lives in order to benefit themselves."

"Don't do this." Stephen said, she sounded like one of his followers but he knew that she had made her decision to follow this.

"You turned me into a killer." Carrie said as tears started to build up in her eyes but she quickly switched to anger and flew towards him, punching him off the ledge and punching him towards the Overlook hotel.

"Without me you would have been that weak girl with an abusive mother...I SAVED YOU." Stephen screamed as he finally had enough. He ran towards Carrie and dodged her punch, he launched a haymaker at her, Carrie spat out some blood as Stephen kicked the back of her leg and then her back.

Carrie fell to the ground but as she tried to get up, Stephen kicked her with his knee and picked her up of the ground with his powers.

"The only reason you came back was to kill Mindy." Carrie said as she grabbed his wrist and started to squeeze his pressure points.

Stephen dropped his daughter and she jumped up, punching him in the diaphragm and then upper cutting his chin. Stephen took a few steps back, he was a little dazed and Carrie came at him, punching him as many times as he could. She kept punching him in the face, knocking out several teeth and cutting his face to shreds. Stephen used his powers to push her and as she fell back, she used her powers as well.

The two forces collided and as the titans used everything that they had. The power ended up backfiring at them, throwing them back and causing the mountain to crumble. The two tried to get up and stand their ground but as the ground they stood on started to crumble, they fell with it.

Stephen was falling through the air, trying to use his powers to throw possibley fatal boulders out of the way, Carrie threw them at him. It then became difficult to see anything as the snow caught up to them. Stephen didn't know what to do, everything was hurting as he pondered as to why he wasn't dead. He crawled out of the snow and coughed up blood, he was in a pool of blood and as he tried to crawl, he discovered his left leg had been torn to shreds by the rocks. He looked around and saw an explosion fairly close by and then he saw Carrie walk up to him.

She was covered in scars, the right side of her face was covered in blood and her left arm was clearly broken but she didn't care, she limped over to him, looking down upon the man who called himself her father.

"This is it isn't it...The day I truly became a dead hunter." Stephen muttered to himself, he then chuckled, showing his bloodied mouth.

"Why that name?" Carrie asked.

"...I hunted my targets, take out everyone surrounding them and hunt them through…Wherever we were….They said I was dead inside, always had been, I was born dead." Stephen said as he coughed up more blood, he had accepted his fate and was ready for what was coming.

"Am I what you wanted? The soldier you wanted me to be?" Carrie asked after a moment of painful silence.

"...Save her, save my sister please…" Stephen begged, refusing to answer the question. Carrie looked at him and sighed before limping away and flying off into the air. Carrie didn't know what to think, she had ignored to save someone so that she could kill someone, maybe she was the soldier he wanted her to be.

Stephen tried to crawl some more but it was to painful, he was done. He watched Carrie fly towards the hotel and smiled, she couldn't do it herself, after all that pain he had put her through, she couldn't end him so she let him die in the snow, alone like he always had been...He felt pride for his daughter as he realised that she wasn't who she was meant to be. He laid there, ready to die and let his demons tear him apart for the hunter was truly….Dead.

X

Kathleen was running through the maze, she had taken so many turns that she was sure she was going in directions. She could hear the commotion at the mountains and was terrified, she turned a corner and saw Chow stood there, knocking her to the ground, she burst into tears as she saw the monster walk towards her.

"Forgive me innocent one for I have failed." Chow said to her as he walked towards her. She crawled backwards with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Hate can make a man do things he isn't capable of." Doctor Sleep said as he stood behind him.

"...You're under my control?" Chow asked but Doctor Sleep just stood there, breathing as the wind disappeared.

"Nobody controls the Shining." Doctor Sleep said as his eyes started to glow blue and faint figures appeared all around them. Chow and Kathleen looked around, terrified at the figures as they just stood there, motionless.

X

Marcus was sat in the police station, he was sat in front of his computer and his eyes were glued to the screen, all the cops in the station were watching the news one way or another.

"It has just been reported that international terrorist Dead Hunter is at the Overlook Hotel, the man is wanted by the FBI for questioning related to several attacks and bombings all over the world as well as the assassination of key political figures…."

Marcus sat there, all he could think of was Mindy and Carrie, what sort of world they had been introduced to because of him and people like him.

Well I hope you enjoyed so please review. Just to confirm, he is dead...He is officially dead. The next chapter will focus on Doctor Sleep and who he is so if you have any questions, they'll be answered then. Also, what about Dave and Alex? Or Nastavnik and Paul? What do you think should happen. Until next time, have fun.