Final Apocalypse: Rise of Tamara

Blood and Revelations

Daniel and Sako arrived at Darrius's house and immediately spotted Colt's Charger parked in the driveway next to Tom and Harley's Porsche. Sako jumped out of the car and ran to the door, blasting it apart with lightning. She spotted the blood and gagged, stepping back onto the patio. "Something certainly happened here. There's blood everywhere."

"Bodies?"

Sako shook her head. "No, but there's no doubt now. It's definitely Marriko."

"What about me?"

Marriko jumped down from the roof and brandished her tendrils. Daniel's eyes widened. "Marriko. Did you do all of this?"

Marriko smiled coldly. "So what if I did? Are you going to kill me, grandpa?"

Daniel put his mask on. "No. Just come quietly. No one else needs to get hurt."

Marriko lashed three tendrils through Stonevas's chest and out his back. "I'm not going anywhere with anybody." She threw Stonevas against the house and went after Sako, who attempted to back her off with a lightning blast. Marriko blocked them and struck her to the ground. "Stop fighting. It'll make it easier on my conscience."

Stonevas burst out of the window and took Marriko to the ground. She attempted to strike with her tendrils, but couldn't because Stonevas was too close. He punched her in the face, then slammed her head against the ground until she stopped moving. He hurried to check her vitals and when he was sure she was alive, he chained her arms behind her back. He called Rone a few minutes after they started back toward H.Q. He let them know that they'd found the queen and was on their way back, and to get a large, sturdy cell ready.

The drive back went without incident. Marriko remained unconscious the entire way. Not once did she stir. Once or twice, she would burst into maniacal laughter, but she remained still, her eyes closed. Asleep.

They pulled into the garage a few minutes after the last burst of laughter. Daniel pulled her out, making sure that Sako alerted everyone else before he brought her in. Neither of them wanted to take the risk. They locked her in the cell that Rone had built to counteract Daniel. As he slid the lock into place, he started to hear a music box playing in the background. Where the hell was it coming from? He slid the bulletproof glass window into place and stepped back. The music box was still playing. Yet, nobody else seemed to hear it. He approached Isabelle. "Hey, am I the only one that hears that god damn music? It's driving me nuts."

Isabelle listened for a moment. "No, I hear it too. It's faint, but I hear it as well. Where the hell is it coming from, it's giving me chills."

Daniel and Isabelle walked around the brig for a few minutes searching for the music box, but no matter where they looked, they couldn't find the source. Suddenly, the music stopped and they were sucked into an eerie silence. Marriko started laughing, staring at the two from the cell window. "You hear something others cannot. And you say I'm crazy," she placed an open palm on the window. "If you love me, then why do you lock me in this cage, grandpa? I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!"

Daniel looked into his granddaughter's evil eyes. "I put you in there because I do love you, Marriko. I talked them into sparing your life. To not use lethal force against you."

Marriko morphed the ends of her tendrils into fists and slammed them against the glass. "You betrayed me!"

"Marriko, what are you talking about? How did I betray you?"

"You were the one that killed my king. You're the cause of all of this. The epicenter of it all. If it wasn't for you, none of this would have happened."

Daniel placed his hand against the glass. "We can help you, Marriko. I promise you, here and now, nobody will harm you. Just tell us what's going on."

Marriko backed away from the door. "I don't trust any of you. I only trust the queen."

Isabelle pulled Daniel back. "What do you mean? Are you not the queen?"

Marriko brandished her tendrils. "What made you think I was the queen?"

Isabelle pulled the page out of her pocket and looked at the illustration. "Marriko's right. It says here that the queen has six. Marriko only has four," she looked to Marriko. "If want me to keep my promise, then tell me who the queen is."

Marriko laughed. "Don't worry about finding her. Because she'll find you."

Isabelle punched the glass. "You may regret saying that, little girl."

Daniel pulled her back, and out of the room. "Izzie, calm down! She's my grand-daughter for pete's sake."

Isabelle turned away. "I know that. Rapture took everything away from us once. We can't let it happen again, Daniel. We can't."

Daniel hugged her. "He's dead. And the only way he stays that way is if we find the queen. If Marriko's right, she's coming to us. We just need to be prepared."

Ali burst in. "To the third floor. We have a problem."

Isabelle approached her husband. "How big of a problem, Ali?"

Ali tried to say something but instead, choked up and ran for the staircase. He led them to the third floor, where everyone else had gathered around the bodies of Odia and Brute. Isabelle screamed as she saw Odia with a gaping hole in her chest. Both of their eyes were open, staring at the ceiling lights. Daniel knelt down next to the bodies of his friend and former lover. He teared up. "Has anyone heard from Charlotte?"

Rone pulled him back. "I called her as soon as I found out. She's on her way back as we speak."

"Does anyone have any idea what happened?"

Ali nodded. "We know that Marriko isn't the queen. But we do know that the queen has been here. It seems the fight started in the garage upstairs. There's a burnt car up there as well as Odia's sword and Maxwell's knives. Both were lying next to Odia's car. They fled down here, where it appears that they made their final stand."

Isabelle slumped against the wall. "Great, now we're back to square one."

Rone shook his head. "Not necessarily. We recovered a blood sample next to the car. We sent it to the lab for a DNA test. It'll be about an hour or two before we know who the blood belongs to. But I'm willing to bet it belongs to the queen. There was also blood on one of Maxwell's knives. She may be wounded. There's one other problem though."

Daniel pinned his cousin against the wall. "WHAT IS IT!"

Rone gasped for air, and Daniel let him go. He took a second to catch his breath before he answered. "She stole Odia's teleportation bracelet. So, she could be anywhere right now."

"Is there a way to track it?"

"Maybe, but I'm not making any promises."

Daniel looked up as the first rays of daylight came through the window. "We need to hurry before anyone else gets hurt. We can't let her kill again. We should check the garage for more clues. There may have been something you missed."

He led them to the garage and to the burnt car. Everyone stood around him as he inspected the car. "Something constricted this car. Brute may have thrown it. But it looks like something slimmer than a hand. She must have grabbed it with her tendrils."

Rone rolled his eyes. "Thanks for stating the obvious, sherlock. Tell us something we don't know."

Daniel slipped his mask on. "I'm going out to look. If I'm not back before dusk, presume me dead." He jumped off the roof and shot away across the city.