The Parasite

Chapter 20: Old Friends

As Henry and Jack ran off into the hallway Myers stayed behind at the first corner, waiting for Marshal to arrive. While Myers was waiting he had time to think about the situation, he knew well that Marshal could simply swim under him without his ever noticing, he also knew that Marshal was far too brash for something like that. Myers knew that Marshal would confront him in the hallway where he stood, the only question is if it would break out into a fight.

Myers thought back to a piece of advice he'd got in his childhood, remember to breathe. All it was is a simple piece of advice on fighting, in a fight it's easy to get so caught up in what you or your opponent is doing that you can forget simple stuff like controlling your breathing. If you don't control your breathing you'll start hyperventilating and tire yourself out faster, but Myers didn't take the advice like most others did. Since Myers was but a child when he learned he took away that as long as you keep breathing you'll survive anything. Most people would consider this belief to be nothing more than childish, but there was something about this childish notion that Myers' parasite appeared to like, the creature latched onto it and made it into reality. Now Myers could just breathe and be safe in the knowledge that he would survive.

As Myers stood in the hallway Marshal rose up out of the floor and glared at him with a terrible look. "Mornin' Marshal, how're you doing ?" Myers said with an exaggerated wave. "You've got some explaining to do, Myers." Marshal growled as he marched forward. Myers placed both of his hands behind his back and asked. "Oh, what should I be explaining exactly?" Marshal growled and continued his approach without responding.

As Marshal closed in Myers pulled a knife from his pocket and leaned forward, quietly whispering. "Really sorry about this buddy."

*BLAM*

Before Myers could act he felt the stinging pain of a bullet ripping through his abdomen, and as he looked up he was greeted by the barrel of a gun.

*BLAM*

The second shot was fired into Myers' skull, sending him reeling backwards. With a stomp Myers steadied himself before groaning in pain. After a moment Myers pulled his hands away from his face, revealing there was no lingering wound before proclaiming. "Didn't hurt."

*BLAM*

*BLAM*
*BLAM*
*BLAM*

Marshal fired the rest of his shots into different parts of Myers' body, one into the neck, one into the chest, and two into the knees, effectively crippling Myers, if only for a short time. Marshal reloaded his revolver one round at a time as he knelt down over Myers and said. "I know you've got that thing in your head, all I have to do is shoot it and kill you in the process, and there's no way I can miss now." Marshal pulled back the hammer of the gun and began to aim it at Myers' nose, but before he could fire Myers suddenly sprung up with a kick that knocked the gun out of Marshal's hand before another kick hit Marshal in the face, sending him reeling back.

Myers jumped up to his feet, and with far more force than should be humanly possible he punched Marshal in the face. The force of the punch was enough to send Marshal stumbling back as his blood spattered onto the wall. Marshal clutched his face as blood dripped down onto the floor, slowly peeling back his hands to reveal that Myers' punch had reopened one of his scars.

Flying into a rage, Marshal dashed forward and with great speed used his powers to sever Myers' left arm before rapidly slicing into every part of his body. As Marshal continued slicing through Myers', a hand suddenly shot out and struck Marshal's fingers, breaking them immediately. Marshal looked to see Myers' left arm regrowing exponentially faster than it usually should have, in fact all of the wounds Marshal had inflicted with his powers were regenerating far faster than they should have been.

As Marshal stood there, Myers raised his hand into the air and said with a smile. "Well ain't that interesting." with equal force to the last punch Myers' fist slammed into Marshal's face, splitting open the other scar, completing the mutilated smile on his face. Blow after blow Myers punched Marshal repeatedly knocking him all around the hallway.

As the beating continued Marshal was finally knocked off his feet and, sensing his opportunity, slipped through the floor, leaving Myers in the hallway. Checking around him for oncoming attacks Myers only found the space around him to be empty, until suddenly he was grabbed and pulled through the floor to the the level below, and as his arms passed through the floor, Marshal released his powers causing Myers' arms to once again become tangible. As Myers arms reverted to normal his left arm was caught in the ceiling, severing it above the elbow, whereas his right arm was left comparatively unscathed with only the skin and some bone around his elbow being sheared off by the ceiling.

Marshal slammed Myers onto the floor as hard as he could, but even after that Myers stood up and raised his remaining hand although the hits had clearly taken their toll. Despite the blood draining from his arm stump, Myers was still able to counter Marshals attacks and gain the upper hand as he began pummeling Marshal where he stood.

The punches Myers was throwing out struck with enough force to shake the bone in his arm, preventing the wound on his elbow from healing as the bone pushed through it. As Myers laid into him, Marshal slowly regained focus and noticed the wound on Myers' elbow. So after getting hit a couple more times Marshal suddenly grabbed Myers' hand, and with all the force he could muster, pushed Myers' bone out through his elbow before grabbing the bone itself, ripping it free from the mutilated muscles and ligaments before tossing it back into Myers' face.

Myers stepped back as his arm fell limp like a wet burlap sack and blood dripped from his wounds. Without skipping a beat, Marshal reached into Myers' head and pulled out something which he tossed on the ground between them. Myers looked down to see a glowing white parasite lying on the ground, compared to other parasites he had seen, it appeared tiny as it laid there, no bigger than a coin. As Myers looked down at the pitiful thing he couldn't help but smile, something so small and frail gave him the power to laugh in the face of death, it sounded like a joke.

Marshal sliced Myers across the chest before his fist slammed into Myers face, throwing him back into the wall which he slid down and slumped against. Marshal snapped his broken fingers back into place as he looked down at Myers slumped against the wall, somehow still conscious. Myers looked up at Marshal and grinned widely with blood dripping from his mouth as he began to laugh. "Hey, if I smile like this, do you think I kind of look like you do?" His laughter was cut short by him choking on his own blood, causing him to hack it up and spray it onto Marshals shirt.

"H-hey Marshal, remember that time we had to hunt down a giant spider-" Myers was cut short once again by Marshal punching him in the face. Myers spat more blood onto the floor before resuming. "And, do you remember, when it bit off both my arms so you had to dive into it to stab it's brain?" This time Myers was able to finish his sentence before Marshal kicked him in the chest causing him to vomit blood all over Marshal's pant leg. Myers doubled over, landing face down on the floor in a pool of his own blood before being rolled over onto his back by Marshal.

Myers looked up to the ceiling, still smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world. Marshal knelt over him as he spoke one last time. "What strange lives we live, huh pal?" With that, Marshal began mercilessly beating Myers into the floor.

Blood spattered all over the walls and floor until finally Marshal used his powers to split Myers' skull open, spattering blood and brains in a pool on the floor.

Marshal stood up over Myers' twitching body and drew a notepad from his coat pocket, quickly jotting something down before tossing the entire pad onto Myers chest and leaving by swimming up through the wall.