Apocalypse Fighter

Chapter 40: Richard Takes His Medicine 13600

       That night, the darkness outside seemed to invade the house. Apart from the sound two the two terrifying mutant degenerative dogs outside, everything was silent. They growled and snarled and groaned, and the air inside felt oppressive, and the sanctuary did not feel safe.

       Richard sighed as he pulled the curtain in his study shut. He turned and called out to the others, “Everyone, it’s time for our next round of injections!”

       Nobody replied, but he hadn’t expected anyone too. They knew what was about to happen, and he was just giving them a heads’ up.

       According to his memory from his last life, zero hour, on the first day of Doomsday, was the moment when Radiation D was the strongest. Thus, if the activation potions were injected into humans at this moment, it would help maximize their mutant skills. Richard didn’t know how many potions he could stand, though. He hoped that he could handle more than Anthony Miles had.

       After losing consciousness, Anthony had slept for 6 or 7 hours. His breathing became frantic, but his figure did not change.  The red jade had been caught in his palm, though, and its edge was deeply embedded into the skin. Richard was not sure if Anthony had acquired more mutant skills, though. After all, Richard hadn’t had the opportunity to connect with the precious activation potions in his last life.

       “Anyway,” Richard muttered. “I will inject myself first.” He locked the door to the basement, where Marry and Steven had fallen asleep. If his evolution failed and he became a horrible mutant walker, Marry and Steven would be safe. At present, no creature could break through an iron gate with a thickness of nearly 30 centimeters.

       Richard prepared the potion, and as the sharp needle pierced his wrist, the emerald green potion flowed into his body and flooded his blood vessels. Closing his eyes, he could clearly feel a trace of vitality and coolness in his blood vessels. He smiled as the refreshing feeling made its way to his heart. Nothing could stop it now; not blood vessels, bones, fascia, muscles, or skin. As it made its way to his brain, he began to feel like he was intoxicated. He felt like he could float, and he was tired. Evolution is exhausting – he thought, and he giggled. He felt like singing, and he let out a poorly executed operatic note.

“Pull yourself together, man!” He told himself this as he readied another needle. He slapped himself across the face in an attempt to sober up. He did not want to lose this opportunity. If he could give himself one more injection, he would have a good reason to be hopeful.

       Richard kept injecting the activation potions into his body. A large amount of the emerald green liquid exuded a strange color in the dark. They rushed straight to his heart and dyed his body green.

       His body tingled as the potion worked its magic. He could feel every muscle, blood vessel, bone, and tissue fiber in his body. They seemed to be "living." The activation potions were slowly transforming everything in his body. He could feel the chemicals wriggling inside him; changing him.

       Richard was certain that if he continued to inject himself with more of the potion, the mutant degenerative dogs that killed the policemen would be no match for him. He began to laugh, and he was so distracted by the new power surging through him, that he failed to notice that something wrong. A red color had been injected into his body.

       Richard felt something inside him explode and his heart began to violently shake. He howled in pain. “It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!” he shrieked. As he moaned, the blood in his body began to coagulate, and his entire body felt like it was on fire.  He looked at his shaking hands in disbelief. Countless green tendons bulged and wriggled like snakes, and it felt like they were burrowing into his body.

Cracked skin flaked off his body and drifted to the floor like snowflakes on a winter day or ashes from a h*******t crematorium. The process exposed his muscles and fat. The most ghastly, unnatural part, though, was that, because of the coagulation, his blood did not drip or ooze. It was just there, gelatinous; he was a horrific sight to behold. This was Gene Degradation. Richard had seen it more than once, but it was a whole different thing to experience – and it was taking him faster than he’d seen it ever take anyone else.

       But is this possible? – wondered Richard. It made no sense, and he wondered if someone had tampered with the potion. Perhaps Anthony Miles?

       Richard pushed through the pain to check the red potion. Sure enough, although its appearance looked the same as other potions, there were obvious signs that showed it had been tampered with. He picked it up, brought it to his nose, and once he got a whiff of it, his heart sank and he shuddered. He recognized the smell. It was the smell of a high-purity drug that had become popular after the Doomsday event, and it was poison to anyone that had taken the activation potion.

       Somebody set him up, but now that he knew what the poison was, he knew that it wasn’t Anthony. So, who could it be? – he wondered – Was it John Smith? He thought about it, and after a few minutes, he was convinced that it was John Smith. After all, he was the only other person with access to the potions – But why would he do this? Was it because he thinks that I think that he cheated me out of some money? Is that reason enough to want someone dead?

       Richard laughed bitterly. It was ironic in a way, but wouldn’t it be just like Karma to set things up so that he would die this way? Although he was not clear about what John had used to set him up, everything suddenly made complete sense to him. He bit his tongue hard, and despite the pain, he managed to stand up. He stumbled over to his backpack, grabbed dozens of activation potions, pulled out the seals, and prepared to inject them into his arm. Before he could, though, Dr. L. spoke up from the doorway. He said, "If I were you, I wouldn't do that. The gene chain in your body has been broken. If you give yourself another injection, you will die immediately. Alas, that damn woman almost hit me to death. Did you know that?"

Richard frown. He didn’t know what to do, and he didn’t give a damn about that woman hitting Dr. L.