Chapter LXVII: Breaking Point

 Screams. Wailing. Sobbing. Howling. Everything spun around Mark. The mine, the lights, the ghostly apparitions. This had been a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. They should have never came to this mine, he had doomed himself and his two companions.

Anton was laying on the floor in fetal position, sobbing. A man almost two metres tall, clad in exoskeleton and with years of experience in the Zone, and that... creature had humiliated him so. Hip had ran away, shouting at the ghosts to stay away, firing her shotgun wildly. Mark himself could not move. The immense psychic energies pinned him down, spectres of all kinds battered him with their arms. His vision was blurry and hazy, his thoughts slow and cumbersome.

And then, it appeared. Two embers lit in the darkness of the cavern. Two firebrands of immense hatred, disgust and hunger. The Alpha Karlik. It fed on their fear, lusted for it. It wanted them to suffer, to break, to die. It stepped from the shadows, barely a metre tall, its appearance that of an old and shirveled man. But in its eyes... the things that had been done to it to turn it into its current form manifested as rage and hate for all things human. The karlik observed Mark, a spark of fascination at his resistance in its eyes.

Mark managed to very slowly and painfully remove his gasmask. He stared the monster down, gazing deep into the abyss of wrath. The karlik stared back, examining, analyzing, reading. And then, it laughed. It let out a laughter of a cruel old man, mocking Mark. Mark was confused for a second, but then the revelation came. It had read his mind.

The karlik directed its full might at Mark. Visions of childhood trauma, the loss of both parents in a car accident, the loss of the friend he came to the Zone with in front of Yubileiny service centre. Theo. The fateful day in CNPP, when Theo tried to destroy the Wish Granter. The last time Mark saw him, Theo telling him to leave him and get out of there as Monolith enroached on their position.

A shockwave of fears came right behind the flashbacks. Theo in Monolith armour, Mark holding a revolver to kill him. Theo zombified. Mutated. His friend, only one of them left, turned into servitude for the one thing he swore to destroy. The crushing doubt that Mark was the reason for it, that him leaving caused Theo's demise. It was all his fault, his and only his.

Mark felt his heart race faster than ever. He was dripping in sweat, his NBC suit soaking it up. The karlik looked at him, amused. Anton whimpered. And then it came to Mark, a resolve. He raised his gaze up to meet the karlik's eyes. And stared back, without fear. He rose to one knee, struggling under the pressure of the mental attacks. He stood up completely, towering over the karlik. The embers still fumed with rage, but Mark could see something, if only for a second. Hesitation. With immense concentration, Mark took a step forward, towards the mutant.

  • Do you... fucking little shit... think you can... attack me like that?, he hissed between his teeth, taking another slow step. The karlik looked at him, confusion seeping through the wrathful look.

  • You think... that you... are allowed... to deface... my only brother... as a pawn of... the Monolith?... a mutant?... a zombie?, he continued with painful pauses. Yet another step. Each step gave him more and more resolve. The karlik threw all his energy at him, but Mark fought back and kept going.

  • Theo... would never... surrender to the likes... of you... AND NEITHER SHALL I!, he screamed triumphantly and raised the hammer he had been slowly loosening on his belt.

For a split second, he saw fear in the eyes of the mutant. It knew it had lost, and it was absolutely terrified. The hammer flung across the air, and with a disgusting thunk, sunk into the mutant's head. Warm blood trickled down the iron of the hammer, and the apparitions disappeared. The voices stopped. The ghosts vanished. Mark fell to his knees, the hammer slipping from his fingers. Tears streamed down his cheeks, dripping on the floor of the mine. It was deadly quiet, only the sound of tears and droplets of blood breaking the silence.

  • Theo... why did you leave me, Mark whispered.

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