Mortuus gasped for air, waking from the hallucination. As he looked around, Kassandra was nowhere to be found. She must have dipped as he was in a dream-like state.
Mortuus called out for her desperately, "KASSANDRA!! KASSANDRA!!" No response. She was definitely long gone by now. Mortuus wasn't sure how long he'd been out, but it must have been rather long since the sun had set.
Death appeared from the trees in his typical creepy fashion of suddenly drawing attention to himself by speaking out of nowhere. His expression was composed as usual. "What truly defines a murderer, Mortuus?" He pauses a minute, letting Mortuus think. "The action or the purpose?"
Mortuus stood from where he was kneeling. He wasn't sure what the answer was or if there even was an answer. Maybe this was another question that was meant to have no reply. Death did have a habit of asking questions that were either their own answer or had no explanation.
"Why must you be so fucking cryptic?" Mortuus groaned. He was really getting tired of all the fortune cookie bullshit, as he often phrased it. Death laughed and disappeared again.
Mortuus turned to the bunker and dashed, breathing heavily. As he burst through the door, his worst nightmares were confirmed. Jackson was gone.
Mortuus fell to the floor at the foot of his bed, crying into the sheets. He screamed into the sheets, his voice cracking with each sob.
Death gripped his shoulder and lifted him to his feet as he cried. "You can not stay crying, Mortuus. You have to do something." He said as he wiped a tear from Mortuus's face with the sleeve of his black robe.
Mortuus stood up, rubbing away tears as he grabbed his revolver off the side table. He wasn't sure where he was going but knew he had to find Jackson.
"I'm coming, Jack." Mortuus mumbled in the bunker's doorway, "I'm not abandoning you." Mortuus cocked the revolver and began running to the town.
As he entered the town square, Mortuus couldn't see anything wrong, which was somehow more horrifying than if something were wrong. All residents were just living their lives normally.
"Where are you?" Mortuus whispered to himself as he walked through the crowd. All around him were townsfolks doing everyday things.
As he walked, the transformers on the telephone poles started sparking. Mortuus knew what was about to happen. He raised his voice and screamed into the crowd. "EVERYONE GET AWAY!! IT'S GOING TO-"
A transformer to his right exploded as he shouted, sending him off his feet. As he slowly regained focus, all he could hear and see was screaming and running. The ringing in his ears was deafening.
Everything felt animated as he tried to regain his footing. The blast had been so strong it knocked him a few feet from where he stood.
As he brought himself to his knees, Mortuus could see the smoking powerlines. Kassandra had fried them, and to everyone's surprise, this was good for Mortuus. It left him with something to follow, like breadcrumbs.
"You're trying to get me to follow you, aren't you, Campbell?" Mortuus asked as he looked down at a writhing powerline with sparks flying. He just had to follow the destruction, and he would find her.
He lifted a cannabis pen to his mouth and spoke softly, "Fine. I'll play your little game." He started following the smoking lines as they weaved through the town. In the distance, he could see the generators.
He knew this wasn't a good idea, but she would hurt more people if he didn't give in. And Mortuus didn't want that to happen. "What is the plan, child?" Death asked as he appeared alongside Mortuus.
Mortuus continued walking beside the downed powerlines as he considered the question. "Well... I guess I have to kill Campbell," he thought aloud. "Is that what you want to do?" Death asked with wonder.
Mortuus thought for a minute. He didn't want to, but was there another choice? Some option he hadn't explored? She didn't seem to be gone entirely, not like Micheal. Then again, no one was that far gone.
He didn't want to think about that, but the question was unavoidable. Maybe he could save Kassandra. But perhaps that's precisely what he was talking about. "How do I know if she even wants saved, Death?" He asked.
Death walked silently beside Mortuus, unsure how to answer the question. It was an excellent question, indeed. "You will know when the time comes." He said very slowly as he ran his hands along the blade of his scythe. His bony knuckles clinked on the metallic surface of the scythe's blade.
Mortuus stopped in his tracks as he neared the gates of the power grid. The grid itself looked like a massive metal beast ready to strike at any moment. The lines all converged in the center.
He looked at the ground and immediately noticed the live wires. One step on those and any ordinary man would be fried to a crisp. Luckily, he wasn't exactly an 'ordinary' man.
He stepped forward. The wires shocking him did nothing to slow Mortuu down as he walked. He was determined to get to the center and find Kassandra.
As he walked, a bolt crashed in front of him, sparks scorching the ground. He looked up to see Kassandra sitting just above one of the air-break switches.
"Leave, Mortuus. I won't let you stop me!" She shouted, her eyes crackling with electric charge. Her voice had an almost robotic sound to it. He stood for a second, deciding what to say.
"I can't stop you, Kassandra." He sighed, "And nor do I want to." She seemed surprised by this response. She wasn't sure what to say.
"What do you mean?" She asked very accusatorily, pausing to think about Mortuus's choice. "You're the hero; I'm the villain! You have to." She added as if it were obvious.
Mortuus took his pen from his pocket and began to smoke it as he rested against the frame of the power substation. "I'm not a hero, Kassandra. I never claimed to be." Mortuus coughed up smoke as he breathed it in. "A hero doesn't kill." He said, looking at the ground in shame.
Kassandra approached Mortuus, suddenly intrigued by his answer. "A killer?" she asked. "You are a killer?"
Mortuus nodded with another cough. "I killed Micheal." She was absolutely shocked by the revelation that this town hero was the same person who killed the man in the statue at the town square.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrco53cBRQ
