Berserk

Chapter 10: Celebratory Betrayal

The sounds of hurried footsteps and shouting voices filled the halls. I sat up peacefully from my cot. Soot burst through my door. "Grab your things. We're leaving," he said urgently. "What's happened?" I asked. The lights in the cabin blacked out. Soot and I were left in darkness. The red emergency lights turned on. Everything was bathed in a dark red aura. "There's been an outbreak on the ship," Soot said. "I thought the injured were contained?" I asked. "They were but..." Soot said, trailing off. "Speak," I said. "They opened the door," he said. I looked at him skeptically, but I nodded. "We're trying to leave the ship while avoiding the infected. It's every man for himself so I'm afraid I'll have to leave you here," he said. Without another word he disappeared into the scarlet darkness. I made sure I had all of my belongings. I no longer tucked my knife and rock behind my back. Now the flintlock pistol replaced them. My knife, rock, and spare .44 magnum rounds sat in a small pouch by my side. My rings and necklace were still intact. My hook and chain rested confidently at my side. I wanted to pull the cloth sack over my head, but I paused for a moment. Cliff's tactics inspired me. I stood while holding my revolver and I loudly banged its barrel on the wall. The sound echoed out of my room and through the halls. I placed the revolver on my cot and readied myself. Slow and hasty footsteps approached my room. A figure rounded the corner. I could not tell if they were dead or alive. I reached out with my left hand to grab hold of them, but then I remembered: I don't have a left hand. I instead plunged the wooden pike on my arm into their head. The figure dropped to the floor and lay motionless. I checked their eyes. They seemed to be faded and void of any soul or thought. My guess was that they had already been turned. That was exactly what I needed. I needed to smell infected. I pulled my small knife from my pouch and began working. I slit open the gun of the being and began rummaging around. I pulled free fluid and tissue and smeared it on my body, taking care to avoid my stump, which had not fully healed. Despite it being covered, I didn't want to take any chances. Once I was mostly covered in infected scent, I began working on removing the skin of the face. I cut free the flesh until a loose makeshift mask was left. I removed the nose entirely, as I did not have one anymore to begin with. I pulled my old cloth sack over my head, then I carefully fitted the flesh over my face and head. I stood from the mangled mush on my room floor. I watched as the hair of the former living being dangled at the sides of my vision. It was strange to me, because I never remembered having hair this long. I picked up my revolver from my cot and peeked out of my room. The halls were empty and quiet. A thundering gunshot sounded from somewhere above. I slowly crept through the dark halls. I listened for noises. The sounds of slow shuffling feet met my ears. I rounded a corner slowly. A group of the dead, ten or more, were slowly shuffling towards me. I froze. Natural instinct told me to fight back or run, but I remained. The closest one to me approached until it was within biting range. It looked me up and down and sniffed at my body. Once it realized that I smelled similar to itself, it made a disgruntled hiss and continued walking. I turned around and began walking with them. My warmer body bumped against their lukewarm bodies. Together, the dead and I slowly made our way through the halls...

I was one with them and they were one with me. I almost felt safe. That feeling disappeared shortly though. A group of the living rounded a corner and faced us. They were armed. They wasted no time in preparing to fire. Thinking quick, I grabbed one of the dead nearest me and pulled them in front of myself. I ducked my head down lower, near its chest area. The dead one's head exploded, along with the others around me. I let myself fall to the ground with the one I was hiding behind, allowing its body to fall on top of my own. "Nice shootin' there buddy!" I heard one of my fellows say. I did not move. Their footsteps approached. They were likely confirming their kills, making sure none were left to harm them. They stepped over the bodies around me. I barely breathed. They had passed and swept down the hall a little farther. I waited until their voices appeared to round a corner. I slowly pushed the body of the former living off of me. I silently got to my feet. I crept down the hall without making  a single noise.  I stalked the living. They continued to walk hastily and took shots at anything that opposed them. Little did they know, the second deadliest thing they would ever encounter was behind them. The first would be Cliff. That man was better in the art of killing than I was. At least, as far as I was aware. My former allies stopped to survey a room. They split off into smaller groups. Three groups of two people. Simple enough. I turned and followed one of the groups. They stopped in one corner of a room and set their weapons aside to rifle through some drawers. I walked up behind one of them and covered his mouth with my right hand. I forcefully plunged the sharpened wood on my arm into the back of his neck. I gently lowered him to the ground. I walked up behind the second man. He suddenly turned. "Hey, I found some-" he began to speak. I drove my arm upward, puncturing the soft spot under his chin. I rammed the wooden pike deeper and deeper into his head until it punctured his cranial cavity. His eyes began to well up with blood. I ripped the spike from his head and let his body fall to the ground. "What was that?" I heard from a different room. I flattened myself against the wall and became one with the shadows. A man walked into the room cautiously. I lunged at him and slammed the wooden spike into the side of his head. His body lurched and he squeezed the trigger of his weapon. A short automatic burst of gunfire rattled the room. My hearing was dampened momentarily. A second man approached the doorway, but did not pass through. His dominant foot stuck into the room, but his body was concealed behind the wall. I clicked back the hammer of the revolver and pointed it at his exposed toes. "Who's in there?" the man shouted into the room. "Me," I replied. I squeezed the trigger, causing the man's shoe and bones to burst into fragments. He screamed and fell backwards. With his other foot, he scooted backwards on the floor frantically. He left a feint blood trail as he moved. He sprayed the doorway with gunfire until his magazine was empty. I swiftly rounded the corner. "Oh God!" the man shouted. "Help! Help me! Cliff is on board!" he shouted. I tucked my revolver at my side. I grabbed his face and covered his mouth. "Shhhh!" I breathed. I slowly slid the sharpened stick in one ear and out the other. His screams turned into blubbering nonsense. I twisted my stump and ripped outward with force. Two pairs of running footsteps approached the rooms. I whipped out the revolver and held it at my hip, aiming at the door. When the first man rounded the corner from the hall to the room, I fired. He crumpled to the ground and writhed in pain. The second wasn't as hasty to round the corner. I brought the handgun up to eye level and directed it towards the wall, just left of the doorway. I estimated where the man's head might be. I squeezed the trigger. I heard a startled gurgling and a body hit the floor. I walked into the hall to see a man laying on his back, clutching at his throat. His eyes were wide and blood trickled out of his mouth. "Join us," I said quietly. I did not spare him from the disease. He would turn and contribute to the problem that plagued this vessel. With three shots remaining, I decided to make my way to the top deck. I made my way up sets of stairs. When I reached the exit to the outside deck, it was nearly silent on board the ship. I walked out and looked around. Many of the living were clustered together towards the front of the ship. "It's Cliff!" I heard one shout. Rather than firing at me, many resorted to jumping over the edge of the ship. All but one. Bone stood, unscathed by the others actions. I walked towards him slowly. Footsteps became present behind me. I turned the revolver and fired three shots behind me. A body hit the floor. I tossed the revolver to the ground and continued to approach the child. "Have you come to kill me?" Bone asked. He held my pistol at his hip and held it pointed at me with a steady hand. I pulled the loosely fitting skin mask from my face and tossed it onto the ground. "Mortis!" Bone said in surprise, and mild relief. "What are you planning on doing with this outbreak?" I asked. "We should destroy the ship and then follow on Cliff's tail. We are going to take over the Augusta communities," he said. "How do you intend to take out the ship?" I asked. "Expose an explosion to the powder storage area," he said. "I can do that," I said. "I will be waiting for you on the shoreline," Bone said. I placed a hand on his frail shoulder. "We don't have room for weakness here," I said. "Mortis, what is the meaning of this? I am your leader!" Bone shouted. "You were my leader," I said. "But a leader cannot be weak. There is no room for weakness," I repeated. I thrusted my arm forward, plunging the pointed wood on my arm into Bone's soft belly. His eyes widened in surprise at the betrayal. His body convulsed and he pulled the trigger of my handgun. The weapon discharged and the bullet bounced off of the deck and zipped off into the distance. Deep within the waters far out from the coast, I spotted a large object under the water. It had feint red and green glowing lights, still on. I dismissed the sight. I pulled the spike from his flesh. A steady stream of blood flowed from the opening. He crumpled onto his hands and knees. "I don't understand," he sputtered. "You were supposed to save these people... to strengthen and lead them..." he muttered. I knelt down and raised his head so that he looked me dead in the eyes. "I am going to strengthen and lead them. Something I couldn't do with you here. Soot has helped me realize that," I said. Bone grew paler by the second. He lowered his head and let his limbs give out. He lay on the cold hard metallic deck of the ship as a deep crimson pool formed underneath him. I ripped my pistol from his grasp. I tucked it at my side where the revolver was. I turned my back on the bleeding body of the child. Today I broke my moral code. 'Never kill a woman unless absolutely necessary and under no circumstances kill a child'...

I slowly navigated my way to the armory vault. I emptied my pouch of the spare .44 magnum rounds. I wouldn't need them anymore. I took two spare Colt M1911 magazines and loaded them. I placed them into the pouch. I took a spare box of ammo and poured the fifty rounds into the sack. I loaded two rounds into the magazine which was in the handgun. That made my total: eight. I retrieved a leather handgun holster from the room and weaved it with my belt. I placed the handgun into it comfortably. I grabbed a hand grenade from a table and exited the vault for good. I made my way down the stairs as far as they would go. I reached a cargo room at the bottom of the ship. It was massive. The smell of powder was in the air. I knew there was no turning back after this. I steadied myself and pulled the pin from the explosive. I chucked it as far as I could and began running up the stairs. I counted the seconds in my mind as I traveled two steps at a time. I made it up three floors before the explosive detonated. It was a soft thud, followed by a roar of flames. I jumped up three steps at a time. I reached the floor that had the hatch that led outside. It was fortunately open. I sprinted towards it, pushing past hanging meat corpses. I flung myself out of the ship as a burst of flames jetted out the side of the ship. I hit the water below hard, but I didn't let that hinder me. I swam with force because I knew the ship would be going down and its mass would take me down with it if I didn't move. I swam and fought the water until I made it to shore. With stable ground underneath my feet, I stood and turned to watch. A thick pillar of smoke rose from the large metal mass, slowly descending to its watery grave below. My home was gone...

I staggered slowly to the remains of the former Berserker camp. Survivors from the cargo ship were gathered there. They had cleared the infected from the area and held down the fort. I approached slowly. Out of the survivors, I could see a few faces I recognized. Raven, Crow, Ripper, and Soot were alive and well. I was glad they survived. Soot noticed me and walked over to me. "Did Bone make it out alive?" he asked. I shook my head slowly. "No, he was taken out by one of the infected. I spared him from turning," I said. Soot lowered his head and shook it sorrowfully. "He would have wanted to join the infected," he said. The good thing, was that what I had said was a lie. Bone would turn and would forever drown at the depths of the shoreline. Soot turned to the crowds of people, now looking to him for leadership. "I was Bone's second in command, so I will nominate who will be in charge next," he said. "We need someone like Ripper, if we ever have a chance at taking Augusta," I said. "Mortis, I was more thinking of someone like you," Soot said softly. "Me?" I said. Soot nodded. "Why me?" I asked. "It's prophesy," Soot said, shrugging. I turned and backed away from the group. This was not what I wanted. I walked to the shoreline and watched the remains of the ship slowly sinking beneath the surface of the water. Once the metallic structure was out of sight, I could view the water clearly. Debris floated freely on the surface. Small crates of cargo and gear mingling with bodies. I saw the lights out in the distant water once more. They were blurry and faded, but they were undoubtedly there. I wondered what they were. There was a slight familiarity with them.  A footstep on the wet sand behind me startled me out of my deep thought. I turned around quickly, preparing to strike with my sharpened stick on my arm. Raven raised her hands non threateningly. "Stop sneaking up on me," I said. I turned back to look into the depths of the water. Raven approached me closer still from behind. She wrapped her arms around me, embracing me from behind. She rested her chin on my shoulder. "What do you think is out there?" I asked. "I dunno. Water?" Raven said. "See those lights?" I asked, pointing to where I saw the faint glowing orbs in the depths of the water. "Mortis all I see is the ocean," she said. I clenched my jaw and shook my head. "Never mind it then," I said. I cocked my head and rested it on Raven's head. "You really think I can lead these people to invade a superior community?" I asked her. "I believe you can, yes," she said. "If it is what I am meant to do, then I don't think I have much of a choice anyway," I said. "Sleep on it. You'll feel better in the morning," she said. She gently broke me away from the water's edge and escorted me back to the camp. "What do you think?" Soot asked. "I'll do it," I said reluctantly. "Remove your armor," he said. I complied, taking off my chest plate. Soot ran his fingers over a scar of two letter R's burned into my chest. "You are a slave to those people no longer. You are the key to the Berserker way. You now change these people with a new beginning. I present to you, the new leader, Mortis!" Soot announced. He pulled a knife from a nearby bystander and carved something into the flesh of my skin over the old scar that I didn't recognize. I didn't know what this new symbol was either. All Soot told me was that it meant death. I pulled the cloth bag off of my head and placed it on a nearby log. This is where I would leave it. I settled in for the night, curling up on the ground. Raven curled up next to me, holding my body close to hers. I faced away from her and stared out into the distant sea. I couldn't help but wonder what was out there...