Chapter 73
Jeff's POV
"Watch out!" Masky cried.
I ducked just in time to avoid projectile, acidic spit. A Corrupted growled behind me and I quickly leaped to the side before it could charge towards me. It skidded to a stop and sharply turned to me. It lunges forward to bite at my head but I quickly stabbed it in the face. It screeched and I saw Masky come up from the right and tackle it down onto its side. Hoodie came in, raising up a steel pipe and bashing it onto the Corrupted's head repeatedly. Rotten brain matter spilled out of the cracks of its skull and I retched in disgust. Why do these things have to be so appalling? They make me shudder in disgust more than I shudder over society.
Once Hoodie drove his pipe into the Corrupted's chest and hit the heart it died and we all panted. The ground around us was covered in ash from the many others we had to kill. I've seen more than I can handle. I covered my face only to smear black and red blood all over it. I quickly put my hands down and stare at the ground. My body is shaking with anxiety and adrenaline. I haven't trembled like this in years. Not since that day.
I knew this day would be messy but I didn't think it'd be this bad. I watched so many people die and, for the first time, I was repulsed by it. I even felt guilty because I knew I should have been there to help them out. Watching a monster, born to make Hell look like a time-out area, tear apart living, breathing people. They destroy every bit of innocence they see and I can't help but feel stupid for not realizing that they are the things I truly hate. I don't hate humanity. I hate corruption.
"I'm heading out west," I said and started trudging forward.
"Don't forget about the antidote Ms. P and Slender made!" Hoodie called out to me as I got further and further away. "I won't," I yelled back and left the two behind. I stopped once I turned a building corner and looked down at the lightweight drop leg pouch strapped around my thigh. This bag is full of dozens of syringes, all filled with the same cerulean colored chemical made to help me. Slenderman and Ms. P made these to counterattack corruption. If I ever get bit (which I probably, definitely, certainly will) I just have to stick one of these little bastards into my veins and I'll be fine. They work, so long as I inject the chemical right after infection. If I wait more than two hours to have my dose then it won't work and I'm as good as dead. Just the thought of injecting myself with one of these is terrifying because I know it'll be because I got brutally attacked by a Corrupted and that I'm too much of a klutz to NOT get infected that I'll run out quicker than I should.
"Please last," I mumbled and patted the pouch with a shuddering hand. I started running off again, looking for anymore Corrupted in need of a blade jammed into their rotten hearts. Everything around me felt so...morbid and...devoid of any good. I just ignored my surroundings and kept an eye out for Corrupted. I kept hearing screams and monstrous growls in the far distance. Nothing came to pop out at me and attack. At least not yet...
I'm paranoid as fuck. Now I know how it feels to be a victim. Why did this have to happen? Why can't Zalgo play a game of Mario Kart, lose epically and then go back to his stupid realm. That would be sooooo much better than the fucking apocalypse happening. I did NOT sign up for this. But I have to help. What good would I be if I just hid like a wuss? I'm not like that. But god damn I am freaking out about all of this.
As I turned another corner I saw something quickly run across my vision. I froze and listened intently. All I heard was my heart beat, thumping against my chest like it wanted to break free and high tail it out of this mess. I steadied my breathing so I would have a better time calming down and tried to detect whatever was there. My hands shook as I reach for my knife. Before I could even graze my fingers against the hilt, a grotesque humanoid Corrupted jumped at me from behind some debris. We tumbled around for a bit until we stopped. The Corrupted was on me, screeching a high pitched howl in my face. I grit my teeth and tried reaching for my knife while holding it away from me.
I managed to grab my knife and I quickly plunged it into the creature's chest. It shuddered and started to wither, crumbling flesh and bones falling on me. I quickly got up and wiped the remains off of me, repulsed by it. I started backing away from the sizzling ashes until I bumped into something. At first, I thought it was a car, but as I turned to see what it was, I was wrong. Another Corrupted stood there, glaring at me with crimson red eyes. It was the size of a car, but it was no car. I didn't turn my body fully around, I just craned my head just enough to stare back at it. I didn't move a muscle as we were locked into a suffocating gaze.
The knife was still in my hand. If I could just whip around quick enough to stab one of its eyes, I can buy myself time to kill it or keep my distance. A deep, low growl reverberated within its throat and I never said a word. I finally brought up enough courage to swerve around and raise my knife to attack. But I never had the chance as it smacked me to the side. I hit the asphalt of the street and coughed from the rough impact on my back. I sat up only to come face-to-face with the Corrupted. It growled again, the deep toned noise echoing in my head until it hurt. It's wide mouth full of large, piercing teeth glinted menacingly. It's large claws could crush me in an instant, if it wanted to. But I knew I couldn't let it.
The Corrupted huffed in my face but I didn't flinch. Tightly clutching my knife, I slowly got up. The Corrupted roared at me and I stopped briefly, before continuing to get up. It just kept growling as I stood in front of it, hiding back my fear as I tried giving it a defiant look. It huffed again and whipped a tail from side-to-side. It's intimidating me. I frowned and put my arms up, trying to do the same. It growled and pawed at the ground. "You think this is a game, don't you?" I muttered to it. It opened it's mouth to stifle a long hiss, the cold, winter air making a cloud of steam come from it. "Fine then," I growled, "I'll play."
At this, it roared loudly and lunged forward to snap at me. I quickly dodged to the left and swiped my knife at it's black hide. It turned around and charged at me but I just kept dodging. As it was turning to face me, I swiped at its eyes. It screeched as I sliced one and it thrashed about. It stopped writhing and finally turned to me again, only one eye staring back at me, the other closed, bleeding and scared. It charged at me and I side-stepped to the right, but as it passed, its tail whipped around and caught my leg. I fell over as it picked me up and hung me upside-down. My knife slipped out of my grip and clattered onto the ground below me. I cursed under my breath and heard the Corrupted growl again.
I looked over and saw it glaring at me, looking more angered than before. It huffed and raised me up higher above its maw. It opened its mouth and that's when I started to panic. It gaped wider, and wider, and wider until it seemed physically impossible. Shit, I don't have my knife and there's no way out of its grip. The Corrupted just kept lowering me down until the pungent smell of blood engulfed me. Blood stained the inside of its mouth and I knew my blood would end up in here too if I didn't do something. I quickly raised my hands up to push against the jaws, trying to keep them from closing on me. But as I did, I accidentally stabbed my hand on one of its teeth. I screamed but didn't let go, even as the tip of the tooth jutted out of my hand, drawing more and more blood.
My blood fell onto its black tongue. The taste seemed to excite the Corrupted and it kept trying to close its mouth on me. The tooth kept stabbing into my hand more and more, my flesh tearing with each inch. I cried out in pain each time but I still never stopped trying to push back the jaws. I looked over at my hand to see black marks spreading from the wound. Dammit, I'm infected. I tried ignoring the pain coursing through my wounded hand and the arm it was attached to as I looked down into the gullet of this monster. If I let go then I'll go falling down into its throat and I'll get eaten. But I can't keep holding on like this. I'm not strong enough. But despite that I still kept resisting the force of the Corrupted's jaws.
My efforts weren't enough and soon the jaws drew closer and closer towards my body. My arms were growing weak from pushing and the blood was rushing to my head already, making me dizzy. Five feet, three feet, two feet, the jaws kept coming. All feeling left my wounded hand which only eroded my strength even more. I looked back down into the monster's gullet and began facing the fact that I'm surely going to be eaten. I'll wither and erode in its stomach, I'll be nothing. The pain will be immense but I'll die in the end so it won't last for long. That or, instead of falling, the jaws will catch me and I'll be bitten in half. I won't last long enough for the Corrupted poison to fully infect me so I won't end up being one of them. But I'm going to die now.
Every last bit of hope and strength I had were fading and I started slipping further into the Corrupted's mouth. That is, until a large, curved blade stabbed into the throat, nearly grazing me as it was only a foot away from my head. The blade was yanked out and the Corrupted howled in pain, the sound nearly busting my ear drums. Black blood filled the mouth and I retched as some splattered onto me. Suddenly, I felt the Corrupted's grip on me let go and I went falling. I fell against the tongue, black ooze and saliva coating me, and screamed out one last time before I took a trip into its stomach. But that didn't happen. Something else grabbed my ankle and I yelled as my body jerked.
I look up to see a hand holding onto my ankle, keeping me from falling. I was confused and wondered who it was. The hand looked like cloth and rags. I looked up further to see a long scythe holding the jaws in place and then the body of my rescuer. I stared in bewilderment and shock as I realized who it was.
"Sc-Scarecrow?" I choked out. She furrowed her brow as she started heaving me up. She growled from the effort and then finally pulled me out. She practically threw me out and I landed onto the ground with a hard smack. I coughed and wheezed from the impact and looked up at the Corrupted and Scarecrow. She pulled out her scythe and jumped away from the maw as it snapped shut. As she landed, she rammed her scythe into the Corrupted's stomach, the curved blade stabbing into the monster. It screeched again and tried swiping its claws at Scarecrow.
She yanked the blade out and smacked the opposite side of her scythe against its head. It fell forward and that's when she took her chance to bring down her blade onto its neck. With one hit, she decapitated it and a wide spray of black blood shot out of the neck. She raised up her scythe again and yelled out in anger as she brought it down onto the Corrupted's chest. The writhing body stopped moving and Scarecrow froze. Then, to my relief, the large, black body started to decay like it does when Corrupted die.
Scarecrow panted heavily and waited until only black ashes were left behind where the Corrupted once lay. She lifted up her scythe and slipped the handle back into a sheath on her back. She turned and gave me a nasty look. I just stared at her in shock. Last time we met, we beat each other around like savage animals. Now...now she helped me. Why?
Scarecrow started walking up to me and I just sat there, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I could've died just now. Scarecrow finally reached me and she crouched down to be at eye level with me. Her empty, pitch black sockets caught me and I gulped down my anxiety. I was about to speak but a painful shock ran up my arm and I winced. I look down at my impaled hand and see the black, vein-like marks spreading further and further up my arm. I quickly open up my drop leg pouch and pull out a syringe. I took off the little top on the needle and drove the sharp point into my arm. I hissed in pain but kept the needle in my skin, pushing the plunger down so the chemical inside could travel through my veins. I watched as less and less cerulean liquid filled the container until there was nothing left. The black marks seceded and I sighed in relief, knowing I'll be fine. Though, I can't say the same for my wounded hand.
It still dripped and spurted blood. I pulled out the syringe and panted. Scarecrow huffed and muttered, "What a nasty wound." I don't have anything to bandage it with. Shit, what do I do? I'll be more easily infected with corruption poison if I don't cover this up. I nearly panicked when Scarecrow laid a raggedy hand on mine and held it firmly. She seemed to examine it and then she reach down to the hem of her rag dress. She tore off a long piece of it and started wrapping it around my bloody hand. "Great, first I save you from getting eaten and now I have to treat your injury? Can you be any more reckless?"
As the blood started to soak the tags I said, "You didn't have to save me, you know?"
"I know," she said, still bandaging my hand, "but I wanted to kill that beast, and I couldn't kill it after it got what it wanted. It doesn't deserve a last meal, being the abomination it was. Especially if that last meal was going to be you."
"Well, gee, thanks," I grumbled. She stifled a wry laugh and continued, "Besides, even if I wanted to let you fall into that beast's rotten stomach, I had to save you. I've actually been looking for you. Or, at least, someone from your group."
I gave her a questioning look and asked, "Why?"
"I bring news," she said as she tied a tight knot and let go of my hand. I felt the rags and could tell they would be secure enough until I got some real bandages. They should last. "Well, before you tell me this news, I'd like to know why you're not trying to kill me like every other one of Zalgo's slaves."
"I am not a slave!" she growled and I quickly shut my mouth. Scarecrow scoffed and added, "I left Zalgo's rule because I didn't want to be a part of this." She motioned all around her and said, "I never even wanted to become his servant. He did me a favor and I had to repay the debt. But, now I'm tired of repaying. I've been his slave for far too long. Plus, he has too many to even care about my absense. He also has that Shadowlurker fellow so why would he bother with me? So, instead of fighting on his side I'm fighting-."
"For our side?"
"For no one," she stated bluntly. I frowned slightly and she frowned back. "I am not on either one side. I am not meant for evil, nor for good. I do as I please and I do what is necessary for a current situation. So, I fight for no one."
"Sounds like you're just saying you only fight for yourself," I mutter.
Her jaw clenched and she growled, "I'd be cautious over my words, if I were you. You're not the one with the bigger blade."
"But I still have one," I said, glaring.
"Oh really? Do show me, smiles," she taunted. I reached into my pocket for my knife when I realized I dropped it a while back. I look over Scarecrow's shoulder to see my knife on the ground, ten feet away. She smirked and I grumbled, "Sh-Shaddup."
"Anyways," she changed the subject, "like I said before, I don't work for Zalgo anymore. But that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and watch him win. So, I've decided to help you and the little proxy out. Which is where my news comes in."
I looked around and said, "All right, make it quick. There's a lot more Corrupted in need of killing."
She smiled, her jagged mouth making it seem sinister. She started, "Since I used to work for Zalgo, I've obtained some...'confidential' plans. I wasn't a part of them, but I was told about them anyways. And, you won't believe what I have to tell. It's interesting, really."
"What are these 'confidential' plans?" I asked. She smirked again and said, "I'd tell you to sit down but, unfortunately there are no chairs around. So, just handle my words."
"Yeah, yeah, I can handle them. Now spill it," I demanded. She cleared her throat and explained to me something that...I couldn't understand. Not because it was cryptic or too sophisticated or anything but because...it was too unbelievable to understand.
Scarecrow confessed, "Zalgo is planning to use the proxy as a conductor for his evil. Meaning, she'll eventually be under his influence and she won't be the savior everyone needs her to be. She'll be a killing machine if Zalgo succeeds in making her into, well, into just another slave."
Ellie is going to be used as...a conductor? "Why?" I asked, concerned. "Isn't all of this enough?!"
"Not for Zalgo," she said, "His powers can only stretch so far. He is limited here. But in his world he is a god. He can do just about anything there. But here he's like a lion without its Pride. A lone lion is threatening. But a whole pack is Hell unleashed. This is only the power he could bring along the trip. If he uses the proxy as a conductor for the evil he left behind then this world will soon be another wasteland and your girlfriend will be nothing. Zalgo predicted that, once the procedure is done, she won't survive. She'll die and be consumed by the evil she let in. And, I'm sure you would like to avoid that."
My blood raced and my heart beat rapidly. My anxiety was off the charts and my worry grew with each passing second. Ellie will die if I let her get used by that sick, twisted son of a bitch. But, even as the concern engulfed me, one question still remained.
"Why is Zalgo going to use Ellie as a conductor? Why hasn't he done that with the previous proxies? Why only her?" I asked.
Scarecrow's vibe seemed to darken and she smiled to keep the moment from turning more grim than it already was. "You haven't found out...have you?" she asked, mirthlessly.
"...Found out what?" I asked, hesitantly. She looked up and told me something even more unbelievable. It made me question everything I knew. It made my rage boil hotter than the sun. It made my head spin in confusion. It was just too much. Something I couldn't comprehend. I didn't want to believe it but...I knew I had to.
Ellie...
Elizabeth's POV
I was thrown onto the hood of a car, the alarm sounding from the impact of my body. I slid off and slumped on the ground, wheezing as my back ached. Zalgo chuckled at my pain as he sauntered towards me. I glared at his smug look. Eventually he'll be the one beaten bloody and this war will be over! I'll make sure that happens...!
I used the car as leverage to pick myself up. I stood and raised up my fists, ready to fight. Zalgo smirked and remarked, "Why so determined to fight me, proxy?"
"It's what I'm meant for," I growled. He chuckled darkly and said, "Really? I find that hard to believe."
I sneered. "What is that supposed to mean?" He flashes a smirk at me and says, "Because with me, you will always be destined for failure."
He suddenly charged me and maneuvered past my hands. He struck me across the face and kneed my gut. I staggered back and held my stomach, coughing up again. Gritting my teeth I got up again and growled, "If I'm supposedly destined for failure then why have all of the other proxies been able to defeat you?"
Zalgo loomed over me, with that devilish grin on his face, and said, "Because this time I have something that will change everything. The course of fate will turn and be under my control. I have something now that I have never had before. And soon, your pathetic excuse of cattle you call humanity will fall into my rein. Whether they die or serve me doesn't matter, because one way or another, this realm will be mine. And, seeing as how you aren't very level-headed, that will surely happen. And you will fail. Just like you always do."
I grit my teeth and growled, "You son of a bitch!!!" I lunged at him and raised my fist to punch him but he effortlessly smacked me down. My head hit the asphalt of the street and I groaned. Zalgo was about to attack when I released my spearheads at him, one of them catching his shoulder. He grunted from the hit and I yanked him down. He fell and I got up to straddle him. As I strangled him, I punched him in the face, repeatedly, over and over again. "You sick, monster!!! I'm going to kill you!!! You'll pay for what you've done to me and everyone I love!!! This world won't have to suffer any longer once you're dead!!! I'll break your bones, tear your flesh apart, stain your vision with blood and make you choke on it until you're nothing more than a lifeless corpse!!! I'll fucking kill you!!!"
Through these beatings, he kept smiling that crooked smile. Don't mock me!!! I kept punching him, blood trickling from his mouth and scratches I made on his pale face. He just kept on smiling. As I was coming in for another punch he muttered, "Will you kill me just as unmercifully as you did to your grandmother?"
I stopped just as my fist was about to make contact with his cheek. It started to shake until the rest of my body went along with it. I stared into Zalgo's taunting red eyes, scanning me with amusement. I snarled, "I was not unmerciful...!"
"But you killed her anyway. Brought her down with a mangy bullet," he said.
"I didn't want to...," my voice quivered.
"You still shot her down and let her soul-less body get taken."
"She said it was the only way...!"
"You left her-."
"NO!"
"You left her just like you left your mother-."
"STOP!!"
"You left them all to die-."
"NOOO!!! STOP!!!"
"You failed them all. You let them die and you watched-."
"SHUT UP!!!"
"Watched idly as they suffered-."
"STOP IT!!! SH-SHUT UP!!!"
"You let them die. You're no savior and you're no proxy. You're nothing but a Filthy. Rotten. Murderer."
Something snapped. Something snapped and I had no control. I started beating Zalgo with more force than before. Rage drove me and I didn't want to stop. Every bit of rational thought faded and was just replaced with my rage.
I'll kill him.
I beat him until blood trickled from his mouth, until it was all he could swallow. I took comfort in his suffering. So much comfort.
I'll kill him.
My hands were stained with his blood, knuckles aching from hitting him repeatedly. As Zalgo bled, so did I. As my rage increased, so did my strength. As my bleeding, scraped knuckles ached, he suffered twice as much. If I die, then so will he!
I'll kill him.
All of the agony I've felt was used as fuel for my anger. I lost my family. I lost my home. I lost my old life. Now all I know is this. This courses through my blood. This is more familiar to me than anything else. This is all I know. I'll destroy the man who ruined my life. The monster who ruined me!
I'LL KILL HIM!!!
I raised up a bruising fist, this one being more forceful than the others. Driving my will with rage. Swarming my mind. Covering what keeps me sane. But, suddenly, Zalgo caught my coming fist, gripping it tightly. He practically crushed it. He cackled evilly, like he wasn't beaten bloody. But his gashes slowly sealed up and his blood receded. I could only stare in shock. With insane eyes and another one of his crooked smiles, he said, "You're mine now...!"
Before I could react, he twisted my arm and interrupted my cry of pain by jabbing me in the throat. I choked and doubled over onto the snowy ground, gasping for air since it was so hard to get any. Zalgo got on top of me and grabbed the frame of my face. He stared intently into my eyes as he said excitedly, "Oh, how the color of your eyes marvel me. They're just like mine...!"
He used his other hand to clutch my throat, which only made me choke and wheeze even more. I managed to muster out a few words. "Wh...what do...y-you mean...? Aaghh!!!"
He gave me a shocked look and said, "You mean to say you haven't figured it out yet? Well, I'll just show you."
He took the hand on my face away and put a black-nailed finger on the center of my forehead. Immediately I saw a flash of white and hot, scorching pain ruptured through my body. A second later, instead of seeing Zalgo, I saw myself as a child again. It was the same dream. I was running and running until I fell down that creek. A loud, spine-chilling crack echoed and my head bled on a rock and traveled through the stream of water. I lay there, dying. But that same deep, demonic voice spoke to me, offering a deal. And I had accepted.
Before, it was unclear as to what the deal was for but now...now I can understand it.
I Shall Make My Blood, Your Blood, the voice had told me, And In Exchange For Life, You Will Be Reborn Into A New Body, Yet You Will Look The Same. Your Blood, Your Body And Your Soul Are Mine. My Blood, My Body And My Dark Soul Are Yours. As he spoke, my body, my young flesh tore away. Blood dripped and spurted and I could hear my young self screaming in agony. My flesh kept growing back, restoring itself and then withering again, right down to the bone. As it kept withering and growing, my blood got darker and darker until it was black. My flesh restored itself and that was the last time it did. And I felt...alive. I Give You New Life. You Are My Creation. I Am Your God, Your Savior, Your Life Force.
The next words after that...struck fear and dread into my heart.
The voice told me...
And You Are My Child.
The vision stopped and I was back to staring at Zalgo, though my perspective of him changed. This man gave me life. He gave me a second chance. But my blood is not my own. It's his. My body...belongs to him, because he was the one who made it. Re-birthed it. He made my existence into anew. And now, I was his. I shouldn't have made that deal... I shouldn't have accepted... Because now...now I know that my parents...my parents were never my parents ever since that day. They didn't create me.. He did. It's clear now. The man, the monster that brought chaos unto this world for many, many years isn't just a monster..
He's my father.
I shook my head, wanting this to be another one of my fucked up dreams. But as Zalgo kept staring down at me, bemused, I knew that this was anything but a dream. "No! It's not real!"
"I assure you," he started, "this is as real as it gets. And now that you're vulnerable, it's time you put yourself into good use." He lifted me up by the throat, my feet dangling in the air. I choked and scratched at his hand but he wouldn't let go. I stared at his psychotic, crimson eyes and trembled. He cackled maniacally and said, "Elizabeth Umber, come and rule with me! We'll make this world ours! Every wretched human will bow before us! We can be gods! All you have to do...is say yes."
Even as I choked I managed to spit into his face in disgust. "Never," I hissed but he didn't take that as an answer. He wiped away my saliva and growled, "It's not your decision. It was never your decision."
Zalgo choked me with more force and I felt something slither under my skin. I knew it was corruption and tried so desperately to fight it. But as I kept feeling it course through my veins, I know my given immunity wouldn't work. All I could do was stare back at Zalgo with scared eyes. He watched me with a psychotic smile plastered onto his face and a demented look in his red, fiery eyes. They bored into my very being. As I felt the corruption swarm up to my head, Zalgo said, "Now, I will say this again. Rule with me. Destroy with me. All you have to do is say yes. Say it."
I choked out, "N..N-," but I couldn't say it. He wasn't choking me that hard, it was just...I didn't want to. This son of bitch ruined my life. He'll destroy everything if I don't stop him! I can't let him. I can't... I c-can't...I...
I can't let this little, pathetic bitch get in the way. She's had her fun for far too long. Now it's my turn. That stupid, fucking whore will never take control ever again. She's mine now. And we both belong to Dad.
"Elizabeth?" he growled. I looked back at him with a smile and said, "Yes, father." He seemed a bit shocked to see his plan worked. But then he smirked and let me go. I dropped down and chuckled, "The deal paid off, didn't it?"
"Of course, honey," he cooed. "Reborn into a fine little devil, aren't you?"
I smiled but felt my eye twitch. I quickly suppressed her and kept on smiling. Dad chuckled and laid his hands on my shoulders, squeezing them gently. With a devilish smirk, he said the words I love to hear.
"Make Daddy proud."
I nodded and grinned deviously.
This world is mine.