I felt jagged teeth start to stab into me from a dozen angles, slicing me to ribbons even as I healed. The intense radiation I felt outside was translated to pure heat inside the mad creature The First had become, adding burns to my injuries. I started to maneuver to try to slice my way out, but as I did so, tendrils began forming within the creature and began to skewer me, holding me in place as the chewing continued. All of this was completely visible to me, the monster’s innards glowed just as brightly on the inside as they did from the outside.

I let the red take me completely, channeling all my strength to struggle against my restraints. I ripped several of the tendrils out of myself, enough to release an arm, then I began ripping and tearing. I used everything, slicing with my sword activated, tearing at whatever I could find with my free hand, even biting anytime the walls of flesh that surrounded me came close enough to do so.

Everything was blood, light, and fury. I could feel the beast struggling against my internal onslaught. It shifted, more tendrils whipping out toward me, more teeth appearing to slice at my flesh, and even eyes began to appear within the creature’s body to watch and counter my attack. It didn’t matter, I just kept slicing, biting, and struggling. My mind cleared of all thoughts as I struggled. It was almost relaxing to completely lose control, surrounded by blood, radiation, and madness, swallowing chunks of the monster’s flesh to keep my own healing factor going, even as it moved me further down into its digestive tract.

The tendrils that were ensnaring me began to grow their own teeth, wrapping and cutting into me at the same time. They became thicker, and more muscular, then suddenly some of them were arms, thick and muscular, ending in tooth-clawed hands grasping me. Eventually, I was completely encased in arms, tendrils, and teeth.

I let radiation explode out of me as kinetic force, slamming my bonds, shredding them into viscera so that I could continue to rip and tear. Whatever bodily crevice I was in began to fill with liquid that was a mix of blood and other substances I was blessedly in no right mind to identify. I didn’t stop, fighting and tearing, still watching the wounds heal almost as quickly as they were created, still being gripped by arms and tendrils, still nearly blinded by the beast's green glow. I was restrained again, and let out another explosion, then the fluid surrounded me forcing me to hold my breath.

I was restrained several more times, and fought out each time with blasts of kinetic force followed by fierce fighting, but I could feel the strain in my lungs, and my own healing factor beginning to fail. My sword overheated and lost charge, but I kept using it to cut and stab, even as my consciousness began to fade. Feeling my death approaching, I gathered up all the radiation I could and prepared for one more expenditure of energy. I concentrated it all deep inside myself, feeling the liquid around me start to boil from the intense heat emanating from my skin. Then I released it.

For a moment, I was light. My skin seemed to cease existing, and the radiation inside me and outside of me was all connected as tremendous heat and force emanated from me with colossal force. The walls of flesh around me expanded, but didn’t break. It was over in an instant, but it was all for naught, I was still drowning, and my strength was spent. I drove my sword into the nearest patch of flesh in a last defiant move, letting out a scream that faded into bubbles. I could see a wall of eyes watching me drown. I could swear they were smiling. I lifted a middle finger to them. That was all I could manage.

Before my consciousness fully faded, I saw those eyes widen in surprise. A beam of light tore through the wall of flesh in front of me, and the foul liquid that surrounded me started to drain out, carrying me with it. I gasped fresh air as I flowed in viscera and bile a further two yards. I could see a patch of night sky above me, and the bulk of the creature in front of me. It seemed larger than it had first been, now covered in so many new growths of arms, legs, and eyes that there scarcely seemed a bare patch left.

Another white hot blast of energy arced out and hit the fleshy mass in front of me, eliciting a kind of roar of pain. Red cerberus fire continued to pepper the beasts flesh, and even as I watched tendrils shoot out to reconnect the parts of it’s body that were coming apart, I saw a massive black form slam into the top of it, slamming two large fists into the back of the creature, shattering two of it’s exposed spinal ridge. Another black form landed and stabbed a spear into its side, the tip of which lit as it released a salvo of high powered hydra fire directly into the creature. Finally, a third black suited figure dropped from an incredible height, flowers across her armor and a freshly manufactured jump pack on her back. I could hear the crack of bone as the monster's flesh cratered where she landed, and she began adding in her own hydra fire and crushing blows to the attack on the beast.

In the few seconds this was happening, I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I looked up to see Nico, a grim expression on her face, pulling me back away from the fray. I went to struggle against her, not wanting her to risk herself, but I didn’t have the strength for it. Before we could get out of the range of the monster, a half dozen tendrils shot out. Nico drew her knife from her hip and deftly began slicing through them, even as she dragged me back with her other hand. Using grace and precision to accomplish what I’d just been doing with raw strength and rage.

The monster began to try and move closer to me, not wanting to release me from it’s clutches, even to the point of ignoring the ongoing attacks of the entombed, the massive white hot blasts that were slicing it into pieces, and the ongoing las-gun fire from Pott’s militia. It made it a step closer, and shot more tendrils bladed with teeth, but before they could reach us, six shots rang out in such quick succession that it only sounded like a single gunshot had fired. I managed to turn my head just enough to see Deux behind us, using a quick-loader to slot in six new shots, fine white powder under his nose and a pissed off expression on his face that I’d never seen before.

“I wanted to fucking quit.” He said, stepping to stand next to Nico and fight off the tendrils. “I wanted a way to no longer fight and kill and still help Pott’s.” He fired six more shots, and slammed in another quick-loader. “I was tired of the fighting, and less than a year after I quit, the fighting came to me.” He shot another tendril the second before it was about to bury itself in my leg. “Bunch of fucking bullshit.” He lifted a glass tube with white powder to his nose and inhaled it deeply.

As I was being dragged away, the monster kept pursuing me, while also fighting off the Entombed. It started to get slower and slower and I was pulled away faster and faster, Deux and Nico unloading their pistols with pinpoint accuracy, aiming for any eyes that formed on the beast to observe them, or any tendrils that whipped out to attack or grab us. Nico would occasionally throw handmade explosives that looked and sounded like Mercy’s handiwork.

The Militia began to close in, bringing their Cerberus to bear at closer range. The Entombed continued to tear through the beast, deflecting its attacks while dealing devastating damage. There was another massive laser blast that hit the center mass of the beast, and for the first time it completely stopped moving. Its flesh continued to ripple and draw back together, but the rest of the attackers didn’t let up, and began to rip it to shreds.

By the time it ceased moving entirely, it was in dozens of human sized chunks scattered across the ground in front of Pott’s. I could see and smell more than a dozen dead on the side of Pott’s.

When we reached the nearest dome, I had regained enough of my strength to stand and look across the battlefield that had been carved by laser fire, explosions, and the monster's attacks. It had drawn the full might of Pott’s, and it had been crushed by it.

…

I managed to cling to consciousness as every individual piece of the creature was found and burned. Many of them gave out last gasp attacks, but no more deadmen died to it. The Honored Dead as well as the rest of the city was gathered at the edge of the dome watching it’s thorough destruction.

I was leaning against the same dome that Nico and Deux had dragged me to. My strength was returning, but slowly. My clothes were tattered, my wounds knitting themselves together, but slowly, and my breathing heavy and labored. Red and black played across the edges of my vision, and I couldn’t remove the stench of the monster’s innards from my nostrils. It was the horrible, a mix of smells that made my mouth water, mixed with those that made my stomach want to empty itself, leaving my senses confused.

I was vaguely aware of someone approaching me, but I wasn’t sure who it was until I heard her voice.

“This was your fault!” screamed Mary, her voice on the edge of madness. “You brought the creature here, the same one you unleashed upon us in Eden!”

LIE

I’d left my ability active, not having the time to turn it off.I shook my head, tried to speak and found my voice weak and hollow, coughed up some mixture of glowing blood and viscera, then tried again.

“That was the First.”

Mary blanched at that. “What!? How dare you!”

“It was him. I’m certain of it… and I’m guessing you knew too.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

LIE

“You do. I know you can see me even with your broken eyes. You said when I first met you that I was, ‘almost as bright as him’. You knew. I’m not sure if you led him here on purpose, or truly were fleeing from him and brought him here by accident, but you did know it was him.”

Sampson looked at her. “Is that true?” he asked.

She looked down. “I…”

“You’re right though. It is my fault.”

“Donovan.” said Nico, a warning in her tone clearly warning me off of a line of thought she herself had already worked through.

“It was my fault he was aware of us. My fault he became that thing. I blew him up, and he turned into that. For all I know, he was looking to kill me for revenge and would’ve come here to find me eventually even without Mary’s help.”

I pushed myself off the dome wall, and cracked my neck, flexing my hands, hearing my knuckles crack as I opened and closed my hands, my body’s healing seeming to speed up as I regained focus. “My fault the Remnants had the information that they needed to create the vaccine. My fault Pott’s went to war. My fault people have died. My fault Deux had to fight again. Probably my fault the Remnants know where Pott’s is.” I tore off what remained of my shirt, and absorbed enough radiation to glow, eliciting a few gasps, then I gradually distributed the energy throughout my body to return my strength even faster, and started letting the energy flow out of me.

At this point there was a large crowd gathering around me, mostly silently watching me. I looked around, and was gratified to see my pack where I left it. I slid on a spare shirt, buckled my remaining guns on, and slung it over my shoulder. I looked toward the part of the group that had the Honored Dead gathered.

“I accept exile.”

“Donovan-” started Mama stepping in front of the rest of them.

“No Mama. I’m leaving. I’m still going to fight for you, try to fix the problems I’ve started, and you can always ask for my help, but I draw too much fire to be in Pott’s. Or even to visit.”

I started to walk.

Julian moved to block me. “Donovan. I was not going to vote in favor of your exile. The supposed sins you list are not your fault. The Remnants would’ve come at us eventually no matter what. Eden may have as well. Your actions have consequences, but so do everyones, and the negative consequences don’t outweigh the positive that you’ve done for us. At least wait to hear the final verdict.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s dangerous to be around me. I’m leaving.”

Nico stepped toward me.

I held out my hand. “This is voluntary Nico, please stay. They need you here.”

She tightened her grip, and gritted her teeth, but held fast.

A few others started talking, trying to convince me to stay. I turned around and walked toward Sampson and Mary, and crouched down, meeting her cracked eyes. “Did you lead the monster here?” I asked, my Lie detector ability still active.

She glared at me, “No.”

LIE

I shook my head. “Thought so.” I sent my hand out with my fingers flat like a blade and drove my hand through her skull, killing her instantly.

Sampson cried out and swung an arm at me which I caught, broke, then drove my own fist into his face with enough force to shatter every bone in his skull. They both crumpled to the ground. It was over so quickly, no one could react, though a number stepped forward, stepped back, or froze in place all around me. I stood, wiping the blood from my hand. “There, I made the hard decision for you.”

The entombed and some of the militia looked around for guidance, but found none. I retrieved my sword from Deux, who’d recovered it for me. He forced a long hug, and while it made me uncomfortable, it also made me regret what I was doing for a moment, as did the last look of Nico I got before I walked out of Pott’s, and out into the deadzone.