the next dark age: book two insanity

chapter 18 Dawn vs the world

It had been a day since Sapphire had died. Michael told himself that Trisha was probably dead. Dawn had some top secret project called project Kronos, and one of his test subjects was Trisha. He needed test subjects with a very strong will for this project. Last Michael had heard from Dawn, Trisha did not die in his experiment, but Dawn said that she might be dead now. He knew he should have made Dawn promise not to kill Trisha, but he didn't. Oh well, at least Stephanie was safe.

His thoughts drifted instead to Tim. where had Tim been. Michael had known that Tim had been there in the town when the bomb exploded, that's how they had known when to set off the bomb.

Instead of thinking about all of this, Michael tried to sleep in the car, on their way to northern Canada. Michael had swore that the coordinates he had been given were south from where they were, but Michael didn't question it. These new coordinates had come from Charlie, who had been here since the day of intervention, so surely he must be trustworthy.

"Say, Charlie, you look different." Dawn remarked, "you seem happier than usual." Charlie had looked different. He was happy to be freed from his sins.

"Well of course I'm happy," Charlie replied, "today we are retrieving the item that will give you unlimited power. Today is also the day that we are uniting the government."

Dawn looked out the window, "Wow, I didn't know that was today. Of course, I also had no idea that we had people looking for the box in northern Canada."

"Yes, well you never seemed super interested in the politics of our operation, so I thought it best not to bother you." Michael replied, laughing to himself. Charlie seemed to grow nervous when Dawn mentioned that they were going to Canada.

The phone that had been attracted to the truck rang, and Charlie jumped. The voice said "Sir we have a private message for Dawn." Charlie started to sweat. It was well known that Michael and Charlie were on the trip with Dawn, and both technically outranked Dawn. Any message for Dawn should have been approved for them too.

Dawn might have realized this too, as he squinted and suspiciously said, "Okay, stop the truck, and everybody get out." The driver obliged to Dawn's request. They stepped out into the snow, and trotted a few steps away.

The drivers never strayed too far, but Michael and Charlie had both gone farther from the truck.

"Be honest" Charlie said, as he looked into the white abyss, "do you think that what we do is justified. I mean we say that we do all of this for the greater good, but then we let Dawn go and kill whoever he wants."

Michael looked down and thought back to what happened with Sapphire, "no, I don't think it does. And seeing how you lied to Dawn about where the box is, I don't think you believe it either."

Michael snapped the driver's neck. There was no going back now, they now had to hope that Charlie had given Tim enough time to destroy the box.

"Our goal is to give Angel and the others enough time to destroy the box. So, are you ready for this? we will probably die." Charlie said.

"We don't really have a choice." Michael replied, preparing his mind to face Dawn one last time.

"Maybe he will just leave us here to die."

"No, Dawn has too much hate himself inside him to let us go." As if on command, Dawn threw the car door off its hinges, his eyes full of hate.

Dawn launched the car door mentally at Charlie, who luckily was able to catch it before it did any permanent damage.

"You, BETRAYED ME." Dawn screamed, "you lied to me! Do you ever wonder why I take such great joy in killing. It is because every single one of humanity's souls are corrupt and evil. You lie, and cheat, and pretend to be something you're not. I could trust absolutely anyone, and do you know why? Because I could kill them before they could betray me! That is the only thing people respect anymore. I, on the other hand, could back stab anyone I want. But no, I decide to be honest, in fact, I'M THE ONLY HONEST PERSON I'VE EVER MET."

Charlie said nothing. There was no need to take the moral high ground against a serial killer. Charlie punched Dawn in the face, and brought Dawn to his knees.

Dawn looked up, and Charlie's mind went back to the Dawn he once knew. He was glad he still had his sunglasses, so Dawn could not see him cry.

Dawn was then slammed in the face by the car door by Charlie. Dawn thought about dodging, but the door could not behead him, so there was no point. He instead let the rage inside of him fester up. Dawn wasn't sure he could feel happiness anymore, sometimes he didn't even know if he could feel anything. But then he felt that rage, and he knew that he was still alive. He was still living.

Dawn used his claws to cut deep into Charlie's thigh, and then dragged him to the ground.

"Are you with this traitor, or will you take your mantle as the new leader of the UPNA" Dawn growled.

Michael thought about accepting his position. After all, maybe he could actually help all those people in the world, and in the end get rid of Dawn. Or maybe Michael could just turn a blind eye to Dawn. Either way, he wins.

Then Michael looked at Charlie on the floor. He remembered being slightly in awe of Charlie, as he had been one of the few that was still there from the day of intervention. He always showed such stoicism and a willingness to always work for the greater good, even if it meant doing something bad. Now Michael could see the eyes of Charlie through his broken sunglasses, and saw none of that. He saw the permanently bloodstained eyes that had come from Charlie secretly crying and staying up late. He also saw the pure fear in Charlie's eye. Yet he knew that Charlie would not back down, and neither would he. They could not kill Dawn now, but they could toy with Dawn long enough for Lizzy to smash the box, and prevent Dawn from gaining his ultimate power.

Charlie used this opportunity of Dawn being distracted to kick Dawn in the stomach, who went flying away. Michael helped Charlie up. Charlie wasn't too hurt by the fall thanks to the snow, but his leg looked real bad.

Before Michael could ask if Charlie was alright, Dawn had tacked Charlie to the ground. Dawn raised his hand up to tear apart Charlie's face, but Michael had managed to pull him off.

Dawn tried to kick at Michel, but Michael had already predicted this too, and grabbed his leg. Michael then pulled up on the leg and pushed it back, breaking it almost clean off of his torso.

Michael knew this might be his one shot to kill Dawn. He knew that he couldn't break anything and make Dawn die, but maybe if he smashed Dawn head in, that would be the same as beheading him. Maybe.

Dawn seemed to change in that moment though. He no longer was thrashing around like an animal. When he dodged Michael's punch, there was this precision and accuracy to it that was very unlike Dawn.

Dawn used his elbow to knock Michael's head to the side, and effectively get Michael off of Dawn. Michael's head was hit hard, and he was pretty sure that he was bleeding profusely. He couldn't even stand up

Meanwhile, Dawn stood up quickly and effectively, and turned to face Charlie. Charlie tried to punch him, but Dawn gracefully dodged the punch, grabbed the arm, and shoved his hand into Charlie's chest.

Dawn whispered to Charlie "I actually thought you would be the one person to not betray me." He then grabbed Charlie's heart, and pulled it out. Dawn squished the heart, and returned to his car before driving off.

Michael wasn't sure if he was processing everything correctly due to his concussion. Dawn liked to play with his victims. He drew fights out to the maximum length, and if Dawn could feel joy, then he sure felt it when he saw his opponent realize how hopeless they were. Whatever it was that killed Charlie, it was not Dawn.

Did it really matter though, Charlie was still dead, and Michael had only bought maybe an hour for Lizzy. He wondered if he had earned forgiveness. Could someone who had been forgiven experience this much pain in his death?

He felt a sharp pain in his arm, followed by a sudden feeling of ecstasy. Maybe he had been forgiven, and maybe this was his reward; he could die in peace, watching the snowfall peacefully, and quietly.

He had no idea that the Time God was standing over him, who flew back to the Beast's cult headquarters, where they would reunite the government.