"This is about to be all over," said the man.

"It's not over until I say it is over," replied the woman, "it's not over until they extinct us from this world."

The man nodded. "I will end this soon, if she pulls through. If not, then we will keep looking. There are always more, but this one shows particular brightness. I have a feeling this is a good one."

The woman cocked her head. "Very well. But I will speak to her before we finish this. I need a location."

"You will find her in New York, where everything meets," said the man, drawing dust onto a stone table. "All will converge onto that point, sooner or later, from where it all started."

"I will meet you in New York, then. I expect Washington won't know what hit it."

ooo

Helicopters hovered around the skies, creating a network of detectors that homed in onto the biggest concentration of the virus. It was very effective, as they all converged upon my location. Through a small window I could glimpse at the aircrafts, like flies that buzzed around a corpse. The approaching tanks were ants, rolling heavily through the neighborhood blocks to the warehouse.

The thing purred. I had to exert even more pressure to keep it still.

Now shouts could be heard. I put my face against the window for a better view.

Outside, two tanks were parked, their heavy guns aimed at the warehouse. Soldiers darted left and right, hiding behind crates, hiding behind cars, hiding behind tanks. Aiming lasers dotted the walls, sometimes sweeping through the window in streams of blinding, red lights. The thing growled. I pushed it down.

The radio crackled away. "Bravo team in position." "Charlie team in position." "Visual on targets?" "Negative. Too much pollution in the area."

I snapped my fingers through the Hivemind.

Immediately a pothole on the road burst open, the metal plate sailing into the air. From below emerged walkers. The first one that emerged ran on all fours, and at once leaped at a soldier, sharp teeth gnawing through the armor. The following one, one with head peeling away like a flower, was shot down before it could unleash its tongue. A second pothole burst open, through which streamed more of them. A roar announced the arrival of two brawlers, which charged at the soldiers as they raced into sight from behind a house.

The pressure strengthened. The thing felt the bloodshed outside and wanted to join.

A brawler whacked a tank with its paw, shaking the entire vehicle, while a stream of bullets ripped its skin to shreds. The other was busy avalanching through people and walkers alike, cutting through flesh with ease with its iron claws. A helicopter lowered its altitude and fired a barrage of fireworks, which seemed to distract the brawlers long enough for soldiers and tanks to scramble clear of them, and then the sparks were followed by rockets, engulfing the earth in an ocean of flames.

When the smoke cleared, there was only a splatter of blood on the ground. Two remaining walkers were shot down mercilessly.

"Situation clear."

"Roger. Rescanning for more infection."

A wait and a new voice.

"This is Major Gallegos. Alpha Team is to check the perimeter for signs of infected. Bravo stay here and check the warehouse. The rest of you clean the sewers in case more of them are still there."

"Will do."

"Yes, ma'am."

I detonated my traps.

Two biological bombs, each as large as a car, were stuck in the sewers below. Their insides were filled with a toxic gas, laced with Blacklight, so that any person to come into contact with the released chemicals would die an instant death and be reanimated into a walker. Unfortunately, most of the soldiers were in fact not scathed in the battle, and therefore still had gas masks, and were therefore unaffected. However, the gas was enough to immediately send the few that had lost their masks or were injured at their squadmates, and chaos ensued in the sudden battle of confusion. When the berserk soldiers were shot down, the army in front of me had been reduced by half of what it started out with, and most were tired, eyes wide in fear and anticipation, guns shaking from stress.

In the disorder I thought I saw its commanding presence. Gallegos herself was there, beside the pilot on one of the helicopters. Perhaps I should give her more credit. A coward would not be here now, not after those two surprises. I was shocked when she returned my stare, though somewhat satisfied that her eyes too opened wide. While her scanning vision returned for a double take, I let the thing go.

Instantly Gallegos' eyes turned to the beast that smashed away the barn doors in its exit and shredded the front-most squad of soldiers. They did not stand a chance against the blurred form that raised its blades to sate each kill. The tanks' machine guns opened fire, but they could not track the thing as it easily danced around the targeting computer. The helicopter sprayed the ground with bullets, most missing. It threw a car up into the air, narrowly clipping a chopper.

I stopped watching there. A brute was more than enough to distract two tanks and a healthy air support until Gallegos would decide that the battle was too dangerous and they needed reinforcements to take down the thing. By then I would be long gone, as with Carson and his crew, long since disappeared from the city-wide sweep the military was conducting. It was a fool-proof plan. With Gallegos distracted in Las Vegas and not interfering in my own campaign, I could easily beat Vinson to the other side of the country. I blew a kiss to the soldiers fighting out there. No one saw it. Wasted.

ooo

The airport had hummed busily yesterday, people rushing away, people standing and chatting, people leisurely enjoying their food. Businessmen sat with their legs crossed, newspaper or magazine in hand. Children ran aboard, despite the efforts of the employees. The entire scene was painted a happy mood, oblivious to the national disaster.

I managed to pass through without killing a single person.

It was sunny then, the clear skies marked the city a special place. There were no clouds to dampen the glorious weather, no blood to soak the streets. I enjoyed the calmness, because in time there would be no more. It happened so soon.

It was cloudy today, as I stood on a building that overviewed a temporary military camp. A large, metal fence kept the pedestrians from wondering inside, guarded by a few armed men. Within the perimeter, there were more guards, and several squads going through basic drills.

"Left, left, left right left."

Outside, people barely checked their curiosities to not openly stare. Many peaked at the interesting change, but ignored it for the most part. With the exception of a few. In the past three hours I had been watched, four men had walked back and forth from one end of the block to the other at least a hundred times, just to look at the camp one more time. I was certain they were my targets, but provoking now would do nothing more than scare them off. So I waited.

Three minutes until noon.

Too many civilians were still around, perhaps going to or from lunch. It was too messy.

Two minutes until noon.

The skies were getting darker by the minute, from an only partly cloudy look to now a full gloom. It might rain soon.

One minute until noon.

The drills inside the camp had stopped, the soldiers wiping sweat from their backs with towels. The light at the end of the intersection turned red. The streets were empty now, walked upon only by a few daring souls who wished to cross in such dangerous places.

The attack on Washington, D.C. began exactly at noon, the moment the clock tower chimed twelve. All four men simultaneously leaped towards the metal fence, surprising the guards. I dropped down like an omen of death, blades raised. I had timed perfectly. The man I aimed for was in midair, unable to change directions as he was skewered and smashed into the asphalt. However, I could not stop the other three from shredding the fence and the pathetically few guards who were slaughtered on the spot. The man I tackled tried to get up, but I bashed in his face with a fist, then impaled him through a dozen spots. After that, he could do nothing but watch as I bled his life away and absorbed it for myself. The stars in his eyes slowly dimmed, then disappeared altogether.

A boom reminded me of the other three problems I was solving.

They had yet to notice a member of their team failed to make it across the street, now a bloodstain in a crater in the middle of the road. Two were too busy trying to take down an operating tank and preventing anyone else from accessing the still idle one while the last was having his skin being melted down by bloodtox. It was fortunate for him that he could consume nearby soldiers, unfortunate for him that I bashed in his head next.

The men at arms stared with open mouths.

The tank was too slow to crush the evolved, too fearful of collateral damage to fire its cannon and too cautious to send a someone to man the machine turret. However, the problem was solved when I grabbed an evolved and tossed him into the tank, which then rolled forward over him, resulting in a barely moving sludge. The second evolved sliced at me, cutting through my abdomen. I returned the favor by opening him up like a piñata, dicing a saw from groin to head. He fell away, I followed by decapitating him, and while he was disoriented, ripping into the open hole in his body with claws.

The sludge tried to crawl away. I stomped on it until it died.

Only after the bloody work did I realize that over two dozen rifles now pointed at me, their owners either in disbelief, awe, or just straight up shocked.

"I won't be saving your asses a second time." With that, I took off again. No bullets followed me into the air, nor shouts and screams.

ooo

The rest of the city was in no better state. Suddenly, everyday normal people were growing claws and blades from their arms, teeth and mouths on their limbs, fangs for teeth, lights for eyes. They struck out randomly, against anything that belonged to order, ironic, for the Order. More than enough buildings caught fire after cars flew through their roofs, and even more collapsed as super strength grounded out their foundations.

I was not interested in the evolved. The military could take care of that. What I was looking for, as with the one before my very eyes, an oversized blade whacking away a semi like a ping pong ball, surrounded by three evolved, were prototypes.

He turned towards me, sensing my approach well before the evolved, and let out a battle cry, loud enough to rattle the remaining windows and powerful enough to send people ducking for cover. He took the nearest object, which happened to be a roadblock weighing around five hundred pounds, and hurled it at me. I swung around the concrete flying at a hundred miles per hour and landed nimbly in front of an evolved, who I stabbed through and kicked away.

With another roar, more animal than human, the prototype charged. My blades inflicted only the lightest damage before I was forced to roll away. His run carried him through a marble pillar, which caused an entire marble roof to collapse on him. I took the opportunity to grab an evolved and throw him away.

When the prototype emerged again, he found a car flying at him, which exploded on impact, forcing him to take a step back. I rushed in with the whip, dashing it from bottom up, the spikes licking the skin, flaying him as he stood.

In return he grabbed the whip and gave me a hard tug. I allowed myself to be dragged in, then curled in on myself into a ball of spikes, which rolled against his face, his blade bouncing off the shell.

He fell back. Blinded, he didn't see me leaping into the air and landing behind him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, now lined with teeth, sawing away at his midsection. He buckled, though I stayed on tight, then piercing his middle with my whip and expanded the end so that it was anchored firmly within. He howled in pain, an arm reaching back with an impossible angle and dragged me by my head, which only induced both my attachments to bleed him more. His strength allowed him to toss me away, crumbling through glass windows, but also for the teeth to completely shred his insides, now resembling something along the lines of a sponge.

He was dying. I saw, and saw that he knew it too. His face, no longer a snarl for battle, lit up in a crazy grin. I tensed. Then he ran, straight at me. I could only brace myself behind a shield wall. He bounded high into the air. I threw a wooden table over my shield. He exploded, in a shower of pikes, each over two feet long, each traveling as fast as a bullet. Cars exploded. Anyone remaining were impaled. Three hit me, the desk splintering instantly. The shield didn't work completely, only slowing the spears, each of which sent me slamming back against the far wall. From the spears some sort of acid was released, burning me. I quickly isolated the affected areas and shed three lumps of biomass. The acid rapidly ate through the weak membrane and dissolved a considerate portion of the tile flooring.

Standing outside, in a wobbly form, was the prototype. His grin fell as he watched me approach, still alive but equally unsteady. However, he had no more strength, using every last bit of it to decimate everything civilized in the whole block. He offered no resistance as I dug a hand into his exposed insides and devoured him.

ooo

Memory Sequence: James Rowe

The prophet's back was turned, revealing a large, golden cross on the white robe.

"Attention, all!" yelled another man, this one in black robes. Abbot McGiffin looked like his usual self, though more alive, and a bit more rugged. Immediately, the entire block of people straightened.

"At ease." Archbishop Peterson's face came into view as the prophet turned around, a warm smile on his face. He gestured to the group that stood directly ahead of him, but nodded all the same to the groups behind. "Welcome, soldiers of the Order. You may all wonder this: why were you chosen? But before I can answer this, I must tell you a story. This is the story of Alex Mercer: the man who created us all, but not to change the world for us, but for him, so that he can sit on a throne of flesh and bones.

"Alex Mercer was just another man, a scientist, but a special scientist, one who worked on a top secret bio-weapon. When his colleagues began to disappear left and right, he knew that the project was soon to be completed, and that the employers are tying up loose ends. So he did the natural thing: he took a vial of the weapon as insurance, and ran away.

"Of course, they caught him in the end. After all, they had more resources than him, running away on foot. In desperation, he smashed the vial, releasing the weapon in the middle of New York. They shot him on the spot, but it was too late. Tens of thousands of people died immediately, including Dr. Mercer.

"However, only a few days later, Mr. Mercer found himself awake, lying on an operating table in the middle of a morgue. Confused, he ran from the military, who shot at him on sight, and much to his surprise, he survived bullets. After that, he realized he not only survived bullets, but also explosions, decapitation, dismemberment and excessive pressure. A few days later, he destroyed the monstrous forerunner of the Creator, known only to us as Mother, to save the city from a total annihilation.

"But, the days of glory are now past. Now, the Creator has somehow reconstructed Mother, and unleashed the virus once again on this world, even more devastating than he did so the first time. He will have us, along with all the rest of the humans, turned into animals to serve his will. Which is where you come in.

"You will be the soldiers of the new world," his voice boomed, arms raised to the sky, "you will be the defenders of our order and freedom. You will be the ones to free us from the Creator's twisted plans! So arm yourselves," his hand a blade, "arm yourselves and be prepared to change this world!"

There was not one stir after the speech, though an invisible bristle cut through the crowd like a dark wind. Slowly, the archbishop turned back to his original spot, and Abbot McGiffin stepped up. He was gesturing to people here and there, while Peterson was a statue, staring at nothing.

ooo

The military had responded quicker than I expected, a sky of helicopters already sweeping the city with bullets and rockets. Tanks patrolled the streets, guns blazing, followed by soldiers, weapons at ready. The evolved fell one to every five soldiers, while the prototypes smashed apart the machines of war with ease.

With each fight I became only more experienced, until each prototype, whether be big and strong or be quick and agile, offered fewer and fewer resistance, their moves predictable, their attacks slow. An explosive devastator was still trouble, but I had learned to never give them the chance to use it, knocking them out of the air before they could do so.

The fight became increasingly one-sided. That was, until I was batted out of the air.

Confused, I skimmed off the edge of a building, shattering the stone, then hit the ground, caving in a car. Looking up, I saw a monstrous black form, its arms, which disappeared into a point, came down. Automatically I rolled, and the thing all but flattened the car. Coming on my feet, I dodged another sweep and distanced myself from my attacker.

I was surprised to see it wasn't an evolved or prototype, rather an infected. A brute. Even more confused, I missed its lightning speed as it sent me flying into a building. Infected didn't attack me, usually, until now.

There was an earth-shattering roar, and the ground shook. The skies were suddenly overcast with gargantuan sized birds that brought down helicopters. Monsters were on the streets, battling the bewildered evolved and the surprised military.

The brute came again, only for me to kick it back. It sailed across the street and landed on its back. I was in no mood to continue the fight, so I ran, not before giving it another good, hard kick.

From above, I no longer had the peace of uninterrupted flights, with the occasional helicopter to dodge, but now to ward off flocks of oversized crows with metal beaks and razor wings. Each one I smashed down was replaced quickly replaced by another. Half between annoyance and frustration, I thought to the prototypes' explosive power, and detonated a sphere of viral spears in midair. Immediately I felt a huge amount of mass leaving my body, but on the bright side, every flyer within a hundred yard radius were falling out of the sky. Almost pleased with myself, I continued my voyage to the smoke clouds that rose in the distance.

Even as I neared, I felt the overwhelming power in the center of the storm. In the span of a few minutes, large bulbs of viral mass had somehow clustered themselves within a block and formed a hive of sorts. Crawling on its surface were beasts of all sizes. They were horrendously misshapen, all the wrong proportions, all the wrong sizes. I landed a distance away, just so that I did not become overwhelmed the moment I touched the ground.

It appeared be some sort of a base of operations, considering the heavy infestation in proximity. The creatures nearby were not heavily aggressive, though they regards me with suspicion and hostility. However, they did not leave the hive, only standing on it and staring me down. Every step I took to their direction invoked a chorus of hisses. When I was only fifty yards away from the hive, which reared up into the sky in a bulge of red, a juggernaut landed heavily before me, its disgusting mouth roaring a challenge.

I considered it. If I killed it, I would likely to be swarmed within seconds. On the other hand, if I didn't destroy this hive thing, the entire city would fall. I weighed my options, the juggernaut pounding the ground.

Click.

I turned, surprised.

Click, click, click.

There was Alex Mercer, looking considerably more refined than the two brawlers at his back. His shoes tapped out a series rhythmic clicks against the asphalt. He strode casually, stopping just ten yards ahead of me, surveying me up and down. I wrinkled my nose at him, bothered.

"Congratulations, you have survived."

"Am I not supposed to?"

"No. I don't plan to kill you yet."

I didn't miss the way he purposely left the emphasis out of "yet." Narrowing my eyes, I stalked him in a circle, the broken buildings and rubble our arena. He stood calmly in the center, his brawlers still as statues.

"I won't let you destroy the city."

"Ahh." I felt like I walked straight into a trap. "But I'm not destroying this city like I am with New York. No one here has been killed by mine, short of those disgusting Order." He sniffed in annoyance.

"But you are making it easier for you to conquer the entire human race. Somehow."

"So what if I am?" He spread his arms. "This race is a disease. I will only cleanse it by turning them into perfection." He petted a brawler, like a dog. It didn't move.

"I will not let you."

Now he was amused. "You will not let me? You can't stop me."

I took a step forward. The trap snapped shut.

"Is this a challenge? I suppose it is." He waved his hand, which sharpened to a thin blade, looking almost identical to the pair on me. "Well, then, Ms. Snow, why don't you show me the reason they call you Harbinger of Death?"

ooo

The blades crossed in a spectacular shower of sparks.

I had always thought my life was heading to nowhere, and that the only thing that awaited me after the war was death and peace. Yet here I was, riding along on the cart of bones fate had given me, clashing arms with the most powerful being to ever exist in the history of this planet.

A step, a feint, a slash.

Now I knew the second reason he was called the Creator. He was quick, he was strong, he was agile. For every move I made, he knew to counter it in the exact way that would make it impossible to follow with what I had originally planned in mind. He needed only a fist and a blade to ward off both mine and a pair of extra tentacles.

A jab, a block.

I felt like I knew why it felt like such a bad idea to fight him, then he only made me feel even smaller. He gave one on one combat a whole new meaning. When I disengaged as his suddenly lengthened blade ripped through the ground, his entire body melted. Skin became a blur of red as his shape deformed, then, as I watched in horror and fascination, peeled away like strips of paper. And here I thought I knew all the ways biomass could be manipulated to hurt.

Now he was a whirling hurricane, his very essence clouding me in a vortex of teeth. His entire form surrounded me like a wall, cut off to the outside. I could no longer fight off his every jab, only to strike out blindly and hope I hit him. I did, several times, while he all but turned me into a butchered meat.

"Is that the best you could do?" His whisper was death's own scythe, cutting through the air with howling sear.

A glove trapped my blades, wrapped them around and around until I could not move them. A hundred more cut ripped along my body. He had all but won.

The final resort. The swords grew spikes, barely able to pierce the biomass abound. I thought I heard Mercer's laugh. I gave one final push.

Immediately the laughter stopped, cut off by the sudden roar, a roar which shook the world. The attacks stopped, pulled back. I relaxed, perhaps more than I should have, but I didn't care. In front was the Creator, grabbing himself in pain. He most definitely was not expecting a biological attack. The neurotoxin left traces of black in his red flesh.

He stumbled away, growling. For a moment, just in the window of time, I saw Alex Mercer. Under the stained hood were the demonic eyes that glowed from their depths. Light did not reach his upper face, though illuminated his mouth, which parted to reveal shark's teeth and a tongue of snake. Red patches lined his face, as though burning away. Bones jugged out at random angles along his limbs and torso. His hands were claws, his forearm serrated blades, his chest a gaping maw.

Then it was gone, and there was only a human again. He took a moment to straighten himself, and when he was done, he was, oddly, not angry, but rather satisfied.

"I didn't know you had it in you," he said, almost smugly.

It was as though he wasn't even ticked that I had poisoned him, but practically proud. I felt once again that I was being lured around in a circle. "I'll do it again if I must."

"Atta girl." His grin turned sharp. "You won't need to kill me to save this city." Waving away my obvious question, he continued, "A goliath has been unleashed. Kill the goliath, and hallelujah, you are the savior of five hundred thousand people."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you gain from this?"

"Depends." He shrugged, didn't answer my question. "Now go. I expect a good show."

ooo

I was in good part annoyed that I had been shooed away like that. On the other hand, it was nice not getting cut into a thousand pieces. It was an added bonus that he had given me the choice to kill the goliath.

I felt the ground shake, the tremors enough to rattle cars and crumble walls. I headed towards the worst of the smoke, knowing that the goliath wasn't able to hide behind mere buildings. Along the way I caught several naughty evolved, who were easily dispatched. A juggernaut managed to hit me with a chunk of asphalt. I came down on it like a falling star, the impact smashing everything within a block radius. It survived, just barely, though not the saw blade I tore through it with.

Everywhere the battle continued. The military sent shell after shell at the infected monsters, which gnawed upon the still twitching bodies of the evolved, the survivors of who were slaughtering men left and right. Nobody cared too much for me, just a blur that raced through the blooded field, on my own mission.

Apparently not the case, when a form headed in my direction for a head-on collision as I was passing by a green park, filled with craters and corpses. Just before impact, I vaulted over it. It ran past, unable to stop. While I debated to whether run away or stand and fight, another form emerged from behind a large tree and bounded at me. I was unable to change speed in midair, so I prepared for impact.

The prototype hit hard, his speed greater than mine. His crash sent us both carting through the air. He tried to grab on, but I severed his hand with a blade. The other, who had ran past, wheeled around and punched me hard in the back. Only a blurry red sleeve was visible while I flew forward and made another crater.

Annoyed, I stood up. I had expected a rush attack, so wasn't surprised when the green-shirted man half flew at me. He, in turn, was in for a shock when he rammed into a spiked shield. He tried to stab his blade around the shield, but I shoved him, sending him flying back.

The red man danced in, spinning a wide arc with the axe. I ducked and smashed his nose with a punch. He quickly retreated, but the other had already returned, his arm erupting in a series of spikes. The shield wasn't quick enough to form, so I took the two hits that rocked me on my feet. But when the green man was within range, a flail whacked him back.

I couldn't hold my position forever. Though they came one at a time, it would not take them long enough to realize all they had to do was group and then attack from all sides. I could be easily overwhelmed two on one. Now the only defense I had was to hit them hard enough to make them back off, then prepare the same for the other man. But time was on their side. The longer it took me to kill the goliath, the more devastation it and Mercer's army could cause.

I tossed the green man into a tree. The red man missed with his whip and was impaled to the ground by a massive lance. The green man smashed the dirt ground up with his hammer, but didn't watch the extra tentacles I sent around the combat. He was stabbed through the shoulder and received a nasty dose of acid. While he struggled to heal himself, the red man had his head bashed into the ground after he opened my stomach with a glancing slice.

Oh, the salvation! As the green man came again, the ground in front of him exploded in a shower of dirt. He stopped, confused. Another explosion hit him head on, blowing him away.

Bewildered, I turned to find a column of four tanks, their heavy tracks digging into the grass, their massive turrets whirling to find their target, their mounts swinging to pour bullets. On the turret of the head was someone I thought I would possibly never see again. Officer Alfred. He grinned darkly, then unleashed his machine gun.

The red man saw the new threats, and proceeded to fly into the air at the tanks. The armors were too slow to turn their guns to fire at the prototype. I latched a whip around his ankle with perfect accuracy, just in time. He fell straight at the ground. A shell exploded his face into pudding, the bloodtox splattering everywhere, including onto me, but I managed to hold the pain enough to drag him in.

The green man was still in his own personal crater, holding a shield to ward off the barrage of bullets and bombs.

A blade pierced my stomach. The shelling had stopped, at least, considerate of Alfred. I twisted my insides, the blade twisting with me. The red man suddenly found himself in an awkward position, then a deadly one, as I sprayed a mouthful of acid onto his still melting face. He rolled away, clutching at his head. I let him get five yards away, then leaped into the air and slamming onto his helpless form with armored plates of teeth. He could barely deflect a slash, and completely failed to stop the probes, which extended from my hand in the form of two tentacles which wormed themselves to his insides and began to devour his flesh. He tried to scream in pain, though without a mouth, came out only as a weak exhale. In his final moments, he was staring with hopelessness at the large blade that raced at his eyes.

As the final traces of the red man slurped into me, I found the green man still holding his barrier. His face paled when he saw me, then grimaced in pain as bloodtox bullets slammed into him. Before I could even take a step at him, he dissolved the shield and took into the air. I was too far to catch him with a whipfist, and too occupied to care. A few last shells sailed in the air after him, though missing and removing chunks from an apartment building.

Officer Alfred gave his tank a good pat when I walked over.

"Oiy! Didn't expect you of all people to be here."

I gave him a dazzling smile. "Heard about the invasion on the news," I casually lied, "thought I might help out."

"Good grief! Guess cap Vinson wasn't kidding when he said we got a new ally. Welcome aboard!"

I thought he was rather foolish, so couldn't help myself to another smile. "Thanks." The soldier on the tank immediately behind tensed as I came even closer, close enough to touch the metal armor. I pretended he didn't exist. "You mind if–"

"Watch out!"

"–I tugged along?" was lost when a form flew overhead, propelled by blue flames. A ball of fire shot down. The flames exploded, torching everything within proximity to the tank and blowing me off my feet.

I stood quickly, ignoring the smell of charred flesh that rose in clouds around me. Alfred's tank was more or less roasted, though still operable as it tried to turn its cannon. Alfred himself, however…

I leaped into the air and followed the blue trail.

It seemed aware that it was being tailed. A series of rockets shot back, all of which I dodged by swinging in midair. A laser pointer aimed itself at my chest. I barely had time to move out of the way as a red flash zipped past.

At only a hundred yard away, racing through the clouds, I caught the identity of the murderer. A Blackwatch specialist, throwing fire left and right, heating the air to stop me in my pursuit. I let myself expand, until holes opened in my form, transforming me to a giant net. A fireball that was about to hit me instead flew through me. In the time that the specialist was confused, I contracted and shot a sticky appendage at him. It stuck to his jetpack. I shed the wings and dropped to the ground.

Our sudden, combined weight made the jetpack whine in protest. The specialist tried to burn me away, but I shot a second latch, one that wrapped itself around his armored boot. He wobbled in the air. I tore my first appendage away, and came with it the jetpack. Then we were falling through the sky, towards the open street barely visible below. I sliced at him midair, but he burned me away.

Then the ground was here.

The impact jarred me just a little. The asphalt had shattered, leaving me standing in a crater of dust. The specialist, with his whatever specialist training, fell slower. As he landed, he unleashed his flamethrowers to slow his descent, and landed in a graceful skip.

I threw a rock at him, which he dived away from, showering me with more flames. I shot a volley of spears in his general direction, and was rewarded when one of them nailed his helmet and made him land flat on his back. He tried to flip, but I was already there, grabbing him and slamming him into the ground. In the last second he detonated a grenade, the force of it blowing him one way and me another. I closed the sudden distance in a second.

I underestimated the reaction time of a trained human.

He dodged expertly and left in his wake a cluster of grenades which exploded into a fiery storm as my momentum carried me farther than I liked. There were sounds of shouts and gunfire and more explosions as the military arrived. I must have looked quite the sight: a maniac monster of tentacles, on fire, tearing up stone as I tried to catch a tiny form that danced around me.

He was good, I had to admit. With each swing I missed, he only got faster. When I rushed in from all directions, he launched a missile that exploded with maximum damage, forcing me to back off. The dance was very one-sided, and I was getting frustrated.

Until he took a misstep.

He landed on the jagged edge of a concrete block, which caused him to almost lose his footing. I smashed my mass into the ground, which erupted in a line of violent spikes. He was too slow to dodge out of the way, flung away by the force.

His feet didn't touch the ground before he exploded the street into another storm of fire, but I ignored the burning flesh and instead seized him by the neck. While he continuously spewed flames from his hands, I squeezed the armor. It held, only for a moment, but began to crack. The desperation was tangible in the air. But it wasn't over quite yet.

As his last mark on the world, the specialist shut down all his fire. I stopped for a moment, confused. The heat receded. My vision began to clear. The military began to edge in.

Then he exploded.

His suit burst apart at the seams, before melting completely down as molten metal. The power of the explosion sent me flying backward, engulfed by the sudden star that erupted in the center of the street. The world became illuminated by burning light, rushing forward as though a hurricane. I was being melt away. I felt the flames lick my skin, turning it to ashes then more. The pain followed soon, a wave of white, hot iron, burning against my conscious. I felt the floodgate crack.

As soon as it had appeared, it vanished, leaving behind traces of smoke and headaches. What had originally been a city block, though covered in various craters and smashed windows, was now an ancient ruin after a great fire. Buildings had been torched to the point where their walls were sludge from the heat and the metals nearby still burning with an inner light.

I landed farther away onto my back, scorched from head to toe. I discovered I could not move. It was frustrating, to know that I was capable, yet not able to. I barely lifted a skeletal arm off the rubble on the ground.

Footsteps crunched the ruined rocks around. I heard them, indistinct voices, hushed, mechanical. A few clicks here and there. A couple of cracks around.

I focused on myself. I had no strength, only enough to shift my own mass like a fluid.

A few roars, then shouts and gunfire. Soldiers began to retreat. Heavier masses moved in, impacts shaking the ground. Growls, screams. More pops.

I let myself drop into a pool of red.

Something else landed close, the pebbles thrown around. A nastier roar.

Taking all the strength available to me, I flung out a thin thread, no more than a needle, in the general direction of the clinging of bullets and the crunching of rocks. It hit. Immediately, teeth grew and gnawed onto the surface. There was another scream, then the earth shook again. I ignored them. Flesh was eaten and absorbed. With more and more strength, I stood up, half humanoid, resembling a sheet of blackened crimson.

The juggernaut swung, hitting the center of the mass. However, it didn't expect its fist to be caught in the slimy substance, which only grew more teeth. I was reclaiming life, stolen life. The thread grew thicker and thicker with more energy it took, expanding out to form a web of sticky appendages that chewed through skin quicker than fire through wood. The infected let out one last howl, as the tentacles penetrated skin to devour the meat within. With each second it was getting weaker.

Four brawlers were nearby, fighting against two tanks and two evolved. The confusing skirmish was made worse when a helicopter arrived and unleashed a torrent of bullets.

The juggernaut fell, its skin shrinking into itself, its ugly face rapidly decomposing until only a faint resemblance remained. I was almost whole again, gleefully draining it of its last saps of life.

One tank suffered heavy damage from an evolved tossing a car into its side, but still let off a round that blew the offending evolved away. A brawler had climbed onto its cannon and was busy tearing the weapon from the armor. The helicopter gunned it down, swung dangerously as the other evolved leaped aboard and latched onto the bottom.

I felt my power again, though not as strong as before, but enough to make the world tremble. I let out a ferocious scream. The evolved looked at me in uncertainness, the brawlers in fear, the military men in horror. My claws ripped through meat like hot knife through butter. Blood coated the street.

ooo

I walked through the board streets, openly in the middle, waiting for the next challenge. A whip that dragged behind me dug then sliced through the asphalt with ease. The clouds still loomed heavily in the sky, matching me step by step.

But there was no one left. The only thing that dared face me was the eerie silence of the rubbles of the city. Bodies were left to decompose in the harsh weather, people, infected, evolved, soldiers. Occasionally I came across a few still alive, and I devoured them. A painless death and a snack for me.

Behind was the behemoth, dead. It had fought fiercely, but in the end, it wasn't about who had more muscles or who could smash apart a building faster, but who had more control over the virus. It could do nothing to me while I chipped away its flesh bit by bit. Now it lay, like a monument to this attack, chunks missing from its skin, a hole in its head. I did not feel like moving it. Perhaps the military and its overenthusiastic scientists could find a use for it.

There, a moving lump. I strode casually over. It was an evolved.

"Please," he croaked, a feeble hand raised to stop me.

I did not strike straightaway, only observe. His entire left arm was missing, from which stumps leaked a disgusting, red liquid. Bullet holes tattered his cloths. His face featured a nasty gash, from a claw. His mouth tried to open again to speak, but could not find the energy.

This was the end of the Order. It had made a terrible gamble, that it would be able to strike down the military and dominate the east, where the Loyalists were few and far in between. But without McGiffin, who risked his own life away in an attempt to kill me, the Order was headless. Peterson might be a powerful leader, but he was deaf to the most obvious solutions. I had broken them.

"Please."

My face hardened. There was to be no more of that garbage floating around after I was done. I would remove their entire organization from the surface of this planet forever, starting with this man. He couldn't muster a scream, only a pathetic hitch.

ooo

"Charlie Company come in."

"All set and ready, over."

"All units are to report to the airfield, on the double. Over."

"On our way, over."

The plane began to lift off.

Below, just barely visible, were massive columns of smoke that rose, ever so slowly, into the air, to taint the clean clouds above with their horror. Few buildings were left standing, even fewer intact. The city was destroyed. Mercer had won again.

"ETA to New York in 30 minutes, boys! Better strap yourselves in and await arrival!"

There was only grim silence.

I stared into the eyes of the person opposite of me. He was a no one, yet somehow an anchor to this world. He, the brave man, fought, with his life, against the powerful beast that wished to claim this world for its own. He had every right, every single right, to survive this day, and the next day, and the next, and the next, until he could once again see his beloved family. A little photo of a smiling woman and two jumping kids stuck out of the corner of his armor. I said nothing to him, yet somehow he understood me all the same.

This war would be over soon. I felt it, just in the back of my mind. Somehow, everything, everything was tied to New York, the place of the first outbreak, which had not even escaped the city borders. I knew, just a feeling, that Alex Mercer was waiting. He was waiting, for the army, for me, so that he could unleash chaos once again, to destroy New York. But even now, while I felt his smile on the back of my neck, despite the disguise, I sent to him images of civilization and victory, defying him at every turn.

ETA 20 minutes.

20 minutes to my final goal: the head of the Order, Ronald I. Peterson. I could see him in my mind's eye, the enlightened smile, the light of the skies. He knew I was coming. He knew the moment McGiffin died in Las Vegas. He knew the moment I escaped the city alive. But he could not stop me. I was on my way, because there is no other way; not even the world could stop me.

I came to finish the game.

Update:

Finished the chapter. Removed previous note.

A/N

Here's the completed version! As you can see, there is, in fact, not a Mercer boss fight, but it does just reveal a little about Mercer's true powers.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Unfortunately, I will be taking another vacation (crazy, right?), so that will severely limit my time to write. But I will try to get as much time as possible into this story, and hopefully finish it before the end of January.