Meet Your Maker

Karin screamed at the sight of her brother. There was no way he could possibly be alive...or dead, or undead or whatever it is. She withdrew into Alice's arms and cried hysterically.

"It's not him! It can't be! He never would have become one of them! Never!"

Alice held Karin but she paid little attention to the traumatized young girl. Her main focus was on Ichigo. No matter how hard her young companion tried to deny it Alice knew in her heart that this was Ichigo. She could feel it. She didn't know how but she could sense Ichigo's presence, albeit drowning amongst a hideous, unnatural sensation.

Is he a friend or foe? He did save us...But he's a ghoul now! What should I do?

The horrid monstrosity spread his fleshless lips and smiled. His rotting breath came out in misty expulsions from his open jaws. Black and yellow teeth jutted out from his grey, decayed gums. Both old and fresh blood coated his ravaged face. His sunken eye-sockets still held the amber eyes Ichigo once had, although the colour had begun to dull as if he had cataracts.

"Ichigo..." Alice was confused whether to be utterly repulsed or relieved. Even in this state he posed as a potential ally. The only problem was whether she could bring herself to trust one of the walking undead...

The other ghouls hissed at him, considering Ichigo just as much of an enemy as they did living people. Ichigo snarled right back at them and turned back towards the shuffling masses. He spread his arms wide and roared, a challenge to any who dared face him.

His actions were strange. He was evolved from these others. He was faster stronger, smarter and somehow had a slight semblance of memory. He even had the ability of simple thought...Or at least enough to control his predatory instincts and direct it upon chosen targets, rather than preying upon anything that moves like the others.

Alice was so entranced by the oddity that she only just noticed Karin tugging at her sleeve. Tears had washed thin trails through the dirt on her face and her quivering lips parted to utter a trembling plea.

"Run." She whispered so softly it was barely audible. "Please, let's run?"

"But-"

Karin got to her feet and tried to bring her comrade up too but Alice remained fixed to her spot. Karin used all her strength in trying to move her but Alice stood firm.

"Please. We have to get out of here." Karin sobbed.

Alice waved a hand at her and glanced out at the sea of the dead and the one courageous fool who stood alone against them all. Even as a zombie Ichigo still had the same reckless one-man-army mentality that had gotten him in so much danger as a mortal. His now dulled orange hair was whisked about by the strong breeze.

He stood motionless for a moment before he charged at the zombies. He roared like a true beast as he lunged at the front line of the zombies, tearing out throats and slicing pallid flesh open with his bare hands. He bit into another ghoul's face and tore free a long strip of skin which he slurped up like a strand of spaghetti before taking another bite, this time using the force of his jaws to crush the beast's skull, splattering brain matter and scraps of flesh and bone all over himself. He licked some of it off his lips and then raked his claws through another zombie's eyes.

Alice observed the onslaught with morbid fascination, but she wasn't the only one. A shadow dropped down beside her and only Karin screamed, but she was silenced by a harsh whisper from the stranger.

Alice looked up into the eyes of a true monster. This creature was very much alive but he looked even more terrifying than the ghouls all around her. His painted face looked like an evil clown from a child's most horrible nightmares and the rest of his skin was paler than any ghoul's. His grin was unnaturally huge, covering half of his face and threatening to consume the rest. He had no gums and so each tooth was in full view, including the roots.

"Who are you?" Alice asked, sliding back away from him.

Mayuri ignored the question and instead glanced out at Ichigo, battling against the undead hordes. "I see you are intrigued by my creation. He is a marvellous display of evolution isn't he?"

"You bastard!" Karin screamed. "What have you done to my brother?"

Mayuri just laughed at her rage. "I am creating a new race. Prehistoric humans were eventually brought to extinction, only for a new strain of human-kind to flourish. In time they became extinct and yet another stage of humans took over. That is evolution; this is merely man's new stage." Mayuri's manic grin was truly sickening.

Despite watching corpses rising up and dismembering men, women and children Alice had never felt so revolted in her life. She wanted to throw up but nothing came out.

Mayuri chuckled and spread his arms wide. "Ichigo Kurosaki is one of my prototypes. In time I will have created a magnificent being with absolute control over life and death! He will be immortal! He will be the ultimate creature, the final stage of evolution! He will aid me in shaping a new world! One which I own!"

Alice backed away further, joining Karin at the furthest point of roof, putting as much distance between them without dropping down into the surging wave of ghouls.

"You appear distressed. You must understand that this is still an early stage of the process. He will become faster, stronger and his bodily structure will soon function normally. He will be as he was in life, but better!"

"You're a fool!" Alice snarled. "Resurrection caused this nightmare! How can it possibly solve it?"

"Solve? I never said that. I am merely advancing humanity to a better place. I am not interested in stopping these mindless creatures or their rampant hunger for flesh. If they continue to kill people it is no problem to me, it merely means more subjects to work with!"

As the madman lost himself to insane laughter Alice and Karin fled, jumping down off the roof and on top of a parked four wheel drive. They ran through an alley way and ended up in an empty street. It seemed Ichigo had drawn most of the living dead to him making it possible to search for shelter safely.

"Right. We need weapons and we need shelter. I know it's risky but we may have to search underground for those hideouts Kirk told me about."

"But what if it's a trap?" Karin gasped, remembering the horrors that occurred within that accursed little house.

"It's a gamble, but we need weapons. If we have to kill someone to ensure our survival then so be it. I don't want to become a toy for that fucking evil clown!" Alice clenched a fist and looked down to Alice. "Sorry."

Karin cocked her head. "I'm used to you swearing, you don't have to apologise."

Alice sighed. "I was talking about your brother. It's awful what that man is doing and the fact that he chose someone close to us both is just salt in the wound...But I swear to you, we will find a way to save him and also...I'll make sure neither of us ever becomes a test subject for that lunatic!"

The two shared weak smiles before approaching a man-hole.

Beneath the ruins of Karakura town, down below in the festering sewers where rotting corpses and rubbish and waste build up into disgusting piles, something was stirring from its slumber. It's elongated, armour plated tail thrashed about, knocking down towers of body parts and banks of waste and trash. Its yellow eyes glared out from deep sunken hollows in its large over-grown skull. Rows upon rows of yellow razor sharp teeth gnashed anxiously against its blackened gums.

The creature dragged itself up from the dull green waters onto solid ground, its large snout wavering as it sniffed the air for prey. The great reptilian beast roared as it caught the scent out fresh meat. Its massive body, resulting from a mutation of the virus caused it great difficulty in moving throughout these sewers. Its bulk was so great that as it walked its hips bumped up against the sides as it walked.

Its prey was so close yet in the darkness it could not yet see them. Trailing by scent alone it crept closer and closer...

Alice hesitated in setting foot in the murky green water. There was something terribly wrong about it. Karin hovered above her, gazing down into the darkness.

"Hey! What's wrong?"

Alice didn't look up. She jumped off the ladder and landed nimbly on one of the cement banks on either side of the unnatural waterway. The sickly river was choked with the dead and some who were undead, but strangely enough couldn't swim and so drowned in the foul waters of the sewer.

Karin dropped down beside her and grasped her nose. "This is awful. I can't even breathe."

Alice signalled for quiet. "Can you hear something?" She asked, staring off into space.

Karin tried to listen and became distracted by a powerful rumbling sound further down. It sounded like thunder but concentrated underground. She cocked her head and squinted through the dark tunnels that ran underneath the town.

"Something is there." Alice stated urgently. "It looks pretty big. We should get out of here."

"Fine, up the ladder! Let's go." Karin jumped back onto the ladder but Alice shook her head.

"We have to find those weapons. We'll go the other way. This thing should be too large to follow us for long. Come on." Alice dragged the younger girl alongside her as they jogged down the foul-smelling tunnels.

The mysterious creature began to pick up its pace, creating a greater cacophony in its haste to catch the two tasty morsels. The beast roared in excitement as the two girls finally were within its sights. They both stopped running away and stared at the grotesque abomination.

Karin screamed and ran full tilt down the tunnel leaving Alice behind to face the monster alone. Alice was bewildered by the mutated reptile.

Its armour plated scaled ran along its spine and its soft underbelly appeared to be slick with some kind of thick gooey substance which dripped off into the stagnant pool of sewerage. It looked as if its stomach was melting but it was merely a coating of pussy mucus. Large overgrown talons sprouted from its stubby tree-trunk sized digits.

If there was a gun nearby Alice would pump the giant croc full of lead but in her current circumstances she was unarmed. She didn't even have her sword with her. She had left it behind in Kirk's home. The house had been swarmed with the undead before she could retrieve it.

She stared at the monster and realised it had caught up dangerously fast. Somehow this creature was not only able to keep up with them but its massive strides were giving it an advantage of speed. If that were true then there was no way to outrun this beast. She would have to fight it. But first she needed weapons.

Unfortunately, the mutant croc was impatient. The vile reptilian ghoul was in no mood for just watching its prey. Now was the time to close in and feast. It dropped it massive sagging belly into the water and tucked its legs underneath. It only just fit in the large man-made river and it used its large hind legs to propel itself forward through the water. In just one kick from its hind legs it had closed the distance between itself and the entrée.

Alice dived back but landed merely a hairs breadth from the monster. The fetid stench of its swollen, pus-coated stomach made her gag but she somehow held back the urge to vomit. Survival came first, and then she could puke her guts out.

She got back on her feet and ran as fast as she possibly could. The giant propelled itself after her gaining ground with each impressive stroke. While the beast leisurely swam after her Alice pushed herself to the point of exhaustion. Her head was swimming and any slight loss of concentration would have her falling into the ground with enough force to keep her down.

She tilted forward and gained a slight increase in speed but the croc was right on her tail. There was no way to reach a safe distance from the giant maw of the croc. The best she could hope for was to find somewhere too small for the croc to squeeze through and arm herself for a second round, but this sewer was very large and open. Her only hope would be one of the pipes and that would result in her being soaked in the disease-ridden waste of the undead.

The giant snapping jaws came within mere centimetres of her leg and Alice screamed in panic. She started to stumble but remained at a high speed. The felt the steaming breath of the sewer king and was spurred on to run faster. She took each stride as a leap of faith, each time narrowly escaping the jaws of certain death.

"Karin! Karin! Wherever you are stay put! Don't come out no matter what!" Alice cried out so loud that her words bounced around several times, repeating her words as if it were an alarm.

The young girl poked her head out of a small crevice between the stony wall twenty metres ahead. Alice raced up to it and tried to judge the size of the gap. She started to put her left leg through, then her hip and then...

"Oh no!" Alice cried out in alarm.

"Hurry up! Get in!" Karin urged, tugging at Alice's arm.

"Argh! I'm stuck!" Alice groaned. "I can't move!"

Karin fell silent. Her eyes were glued to something behind her unfortunate friend. Alice knew that the only other inhabitant of this sewer was the great mutated croc. She turned slowly, craning her neck to stare into the cavernous jaws of the beast.

Alice used the one arm inside the crevice to squeeze Karin's hand. She half closed her eyes, expecting the end to come...

'Ka-boom!'

The deafening roar of a hunting rifle echoed throughout the tunnel. The croc snarled at something further away and another thunderous gunshot went off. The croc seemed to look irritated as it moved further up to find the uninvited guest. More gunshots rang out, three times as many this time. The successive thunder-claps went one after the other for a full minute.

The croc turned down an adjoining tunnel and slid out of view.

Alice tried to drag herself out of the hole but she was stuck in both ways, unable to get in or out. It seemed she would be permanently wedged between the gap in the wall but a group of stranger suddenly descended upon her and one of them shot at the wall. A large section crumbled away, freeing Alice from the wall and allowing her to fall out into the main tunnel.

She stared up at those who rescued her and grappled with the choice of relief or fear. They may have saved her from the croc but Kirk and his wife were proof that some survivors had gone insane. This could be the eye of the storm, or a blessing in disguise...

But there was only one way to find out.