Final Apocalypse: Rise of Tamara

The Queen

It was six months after Rapture's defeat when

Darrius and Coretta Peirce stood in awe as the nurse handed them their daughter, Tamara. Six pounds, four and a half ounces. She was beautiful. Their first child. An adorable baby girl.

There was only one odd feature about her. She had six small lumps on her back.

Months after they took her home, they never vanished. The doctors diagnosed it as a skin condition. That was good enough for the two to accept.

Sixteen years later:

Coretta set a head of lettuce on the counter and reached for her knife that lay nearby. Tonight was the first night in a long time that Darrius was coming to visit. Due to his nature, he chose to stay away from his family to keep them away from danger. Ever since he'd been experimented on by Dr. Saw, he believed himself to be a danger to everyone that he cared about. His mind was in pieces that he was still picking up along the way. It seemed that their daughter had inherited a piece of that. She was quiet, withdrawn. She rarely spoke and according to her friends, Daniel and Hexalus, she had the most menacing stare of any person they'd ever met.

She also had a gothic style. Jet black hair with red streaks, emo clothing. When Coretta passed her room, she could hear her blasting hard rock from her radio.

She'd brought her to several psychiatrists and therapists, and they had all said the same thing. That this was just a phase. That it would pass. Well, if it was just a phase, it was a really long one, she thought as she prepared dinner. After she'd set the table, she called Tamara.

"Honey, your dad, and our friends will be here soon. You know, Daniel and Hexalus? You like them, right?"

Tamara appeared at the top of the staircase seconds later. "They're your friends, not mine." She went back to her room, and a second later, Coretta could hear the hard rock from her radio.

"I love her to death, but this is really starting to drive me crazy." She walked back to the kitchen and the doorbell rang. Her company was here. She hurried to the door and jumped for joy when she saw Tom, Harley, and their youngest daughter, Marriko, at the threshold. "Hey, guys. Where's Daniel and Hexalus?"

Tom handed her a rose. "They couldn't make it tonight. He sends his regards. Something came up. Recon and the Black and White had to meet. So, we came in their place."

Coretta smiled. "Well, I hope you like caesar salad," she looked to Marriko. "Tamara's here if you want to see her. Upstairs, first room on the right." Another smile.

Marriko bolted past her and upstairs. She led her guests to the dining room.

Marriko knocked at Tamara's door. "Tamara?"

The door flew open and Tamara started screaming. "Mom. I've already said that I don't care about your dinner party. So jus-" she stopped as she spotted Marriko. "Marriko? What are you doing here?"

"Mom and dad are here for dinner. I thought I would at least say hi to you before we left. May I come in?"

Tamara pulled her hair out of her face. "My room's a bit of a mess. But if you're comfortable with it, then go ahead."

Marriko was nervous. Just the way her childhood friend spoke was unnerving. She was avoiding eye contact, speaking softly as if she was afraid someone would hear her. Scary.

Marriko stepped in and sat on the bed. "So, how have you been doing?"

Tamara turned away and stared intently into her mirror. "I'm fine," she said as she pulled her shirt off. She reached for another one and pulled it on. "I mean you no offense, but I prefer to be left alone most days. When I'm alone, there's this whisper in my head. I try and drown it out with hard rock, but it still remains. When others are around, the whisper turns into a scream. It tells me to hurt them. To maim them. To kill them. And the mirror is where I see him. The one that tells me to do these things." Her eyes turned red as she spoke the last word.

Marriko backed against the wall. "Tamara, you need help."

Tamara looked into her eyes. "Correction: I need a partner. And you seem like the perfect candidate. Now bow before your queen."

Coretta opened the door to let her husband in. She'd been looking forward to this for a long time. In her mind, nothing could ruin this night. And then, the screams started.

Marriko stumbled down the stairs, clutching at her shoulder. Blood flowed between her fingers. Tamara followed close behind. Coretta stared in horror at her daughter. Her shirt was missing, and where the lumps on her back were, there were long, black tendrils branching out. Blood and some blue substance dripped from one of them.

Darrius approached his daughter slowly. "Tamara, what happened?"

She turned to face her father. "I made a friend." A tendril lashed out and wrapped around Darrius's throat. "What's wrong, daddy? Don't you like my new look?"

Darrius struggled, trying to pull the tendril away. "Don't bother, daddy. He's assured me that my gift can outmatch even your most powerful ally. You stand no chance."

She raised another tendril, but this one was different. It took the shape of a hand. She paused, then pulled out a pocket mirror, staring intently into it as she had with the mirror in her room. "They can be anything I want, correct?" She asked the mirror. After a moment of silence, she smiled. "Perfect."

She lashed out with the tendril and yanked her mother into the air. "Sorry, mommy. Sorry, daddy. I'll do my best to make this quick. It'll be less painful that way." She raised two more tendrils, the ends of them morphing into blades. "Sayonara." she drove them through her parent's heads, then dropped their bodies.

Tom ran into the living room, outfitted in the V.3. He activated the taser and aimed it at Tamara. "Tamara, what the hell happened here?"

Marriko stood up behind her father. She smiled widely. "Just having a little fun, father. No need to worry."

Tom spun around and dropped the armor. That's when Tamara struck. She ran all six of her tendrils through Tom's abdomen, then ripped him in half.

Harley ran in a second later and started screaming. The back of Marriko's shirt ripped open and four tendrils appeared. She wrapped two around her mother's arms, and the other two around her legs. "Night, night, mother. Sleep tight." she pulled and Harley was ripped apart, screaming like a banshee in unbelievable agony. Tamara finished her off by driving one of her tendrils through her skull and into her brain. She faced Marriko.

"You see now? What I have to put up with?"

"Yes, my queen. I do. What do we do now?"

Tamara used her tendrils to lift Tom's body into the air. She took his watch. "Now, we continue the mission. Its the only way to make him appear to us."

Marriko retracted her tendrils into her body. "That only leaves one question."

"And that is?"

"Who's next on the list?"