Chapter 11

A swift flash of silver cut through the darkness and a fountain erupted from the surrounding infected. The blood splattered the floor and wall, painting them in a livid shade of red. The liquid pulsed slightly with the virus. The red flowed through grooves in the floor until it was absorbed by the virus.

The process repeated, closer this time, and Medic knew what was coming. As the fountains erupted a lone figure became apparent, coated in a thin sheen of the maroon liquid. The small amount of light in the room reflected off the blood, outlining a man. For the moment, the man was still. But Medic knew what was coming.

The man stared directly at Medic, and Medic stared back. One saw slightly luminous pale blue eyes, with a ring of fluorescent red around the centre. While the other looked into a pair of eyes that reminded him of a corpse's. They were dark brown and utterly lifeless. Interesting one thought. While the other simply thought you.

Alex Mercer smiled a malicious grin as walkers closed around him again. He did not move, rather, a number of spikes shot out of his body. Impaling the infected and consuming them before retracting. He continued to stare into Medic's dead eyes as the broken minds of the infected entered his own.

"Medic, why have you stopped?" Bishop asked, looking back to see Medic staring into a void of darkness. Medic did not turn, nor look away, but his next word stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Zeus".

Jester froze, Mentor stopped breathing, and Bishop looked at Medic as though he had suddenly grown an extra arm. "No, that's not possible. There's only one entrances and it's surrounded by viral scanners. There's no way he could be here without us knowing." Medic's response chilled everyone to the bone, even Jester. Because he began laughing.

"Then please," He said between chuckles, "Tell me who owns that pair of eyes." Bishop began to walk away, talking into his earpiece as he went, ordering reinforcements. Mentor followed after a second, but Jester turned to look at Medic, who had now suppressed his laughter.

"What're you waiting for, Medic? See if he can dodge a bullet." Jester said, smiling behind his mask. With a speed only he could possess, Medic raised his gun, aimed directly between those glowing eyes, and fired.

Mercer was slightly surprised, both by the human's speed and accuracy, and by the fact that he had actually opened fire in the first place. Most people just looked at him, mesmerized by his strange eyes, but this man had fired without hesitation. Truly very interesting.He thought to himself as he felt the bullet impact his head.

It occurred to him that the shot would've easily killed a human. But he was far from human. Rather than a skull and brain, there was simply biomass. Which instantly moved to fill the hole in his cranium. It also occurred to him that the bullet had shattered upon impact. That surprised him, he had expected a round of that size to go straight through. Instead he had several pieces of bullet lodged in his head.

Finally, what he hoped to be his last surprise of the day, was the fact that only one round had been fired. The man had now lowered his weapon and appeared to be waiting for Mercer's response. Mercer manipulated the biomass within him, crushing the bullet fragments into a ball and pushing them down to his hand where they then pushed up through the skin to sit in his palm.

He inspected the ball carefully, noticing several small pieces of glass embedded within. Finally, he looked back at the man who had shot him, letting the ball drop to the ground. The man was still waiting patiently.

"That was an odd round. At that caliber, it should've went through me with little difficulty. Instead it shattered nearly on impact. Was that really supposed to kill me?" He asked. His voice undulated strangely at first as he tried to select a voice to use until finally he settled on a low, silky tone.

"That remains to be seen." The man replied in an even, cold voice. At this Mercer smiled.

"So it was an experiment. How interesting. Tell me, how are the results?"

"It's worked quite well so far. You ought to be able to feel it shortly." Mercer's smile disappeared. This man was not bluffing. He started to wonder what the bullet could've been designed for. That's when he felt the burning.

His hand flew to his head as he grunted. The burning was spreading slowly through his head and he was losing the feeling of everything it touched. "Damn." He grunted out. His voice like grinding boulders. I've got to get this out of me. He thought. Trying to think clearly through the pain. He began shifting.

First he turned himself inside out, but that only succeeded in spreading the pain. He then tried to expel the burning limb but found he could no longer control the biomass. Finally, his arm shifted into a blade and he cut off his head. He slumped in relief as the pain vanished with his head.

Medic watched the show with interest. Curious as to how Zeus would survive. He was positive that it would survive, the creature was known for adaptability. After the creature removed it's own head. He was tempted to take another shot. But he found himself curiously watching the head regenerate. Once the general outline was created, several faces began to appear one after the other until finally solidifying into the face of Alex Mercer.

"That hurt." Mercer growled out. Medic was slightly surprised by the statement.

"Of course it hurt. It was designed to hurt. It was meant to kill you. I think it will kill you if a few more rounds were put into you." His tone was lecturing. Mercer was taken aback. Was I just lectured?

"Of course. How silly of me. However, I think I'm going to kill you. I'm really very hungry." With that, his arm shot forward elongating into a bladed whip and shooting directly towards Medic. Medic saw the attack coming and dived to the right as the blade of the whip flew overhead. Burying itself in Jester's shoulder. Jester barely seemed to notice before he opened fire. Placing several holes along the appendage.

Mercer felt the stinging impact of more bullets and immediately severed the whip from his body. As the arm grew back his other one took the shape of a claw and he launched himself forward. Medic's reflexes saved him from being disemboweled as he threw himself backwards at the last second. Sustaining several shallow cuts along his chest and stomach. He opened fire in mid-air, putting multiple holes in Mercer's chest. Mercer snarled and the top half of his body fell away, leaving just a pair of legs.

Jester ripped the whip from his shoulder, leaving it to writhe on the floor before dissolving into biomass. He shot in Mercer's direction but cringed as the movement made his nerves scream in agony. Grunting in pain he began to back up. Mentor and Bishop had stopped walking when Medic first opened fire and now waited for an opening to attack. They saw a pair of legs balanced in front of Medic and frowned in confusion.

Meanwhile, Mercer was utterly outraged. He had lost a considerable amount of biomass and was ravenously hungry as a result. He barely had enough left to reform his upper body. He crumpled down to one knee as Medic regained his feet. Mercer glared at him with all the hatred he could muster. His eyes now glowing red. Medic looked into those hate-filled eyes and hesitated. Zeus was an it. Incapable of compassion and without any semblance of humanity. But Medic knew from experience that no animal could fathom that kind of hatred. That hate was human. This was not what he'd been led to expect.

He shook his head like a bear trying to shoo away the flies buzzing around it. It doesn't matter. He needs to die. He raised his gun slowly and prepared to pull the trigger. Wait. He?Had he really just referred to this thing as a 'he'?

Mercer saw Medic's hesitation and his rage was nearly overcome by curiosity. "What's wrong?" He asked, voice dripping with venom. "Shoot me." Medic looked at him coldly but refrained from pulling the trigger. "SHOOT ME!" Mercer roared. Medic simply backed away. Mercer growled at him furiously, but he was unable to move.

"Bishop. Our orders are to capture Zeus if possible, correct?" Medic asked.

"Yes." Bishop answered.

"Then request a recovery team. The subject has been subdued." Medic said. Bishop nodded and did just that.

"Hold on. We've got this bastard right there and we aren't going to kill it?" Jester asked angrily. Medic looked at him but did not answer.

"Orders are orders." Mentor stated calmly. Jester glared at them but walked away. Bishop then turned back to face them.

"Recovery team en route. ETA twenty mikes. We've got to keep it here until then." His tone was that of a commander.

"Copy that." Medic replied and turned back to face Mercer. For his part, Mercer let out an inhuman roar before collapsing.