Apocalypse: The Savior with System

21 Frank Yardley's Betrayal

After the deafening explosion and the chaos that ensued, Paul took the opportunity to dash out the back and make a run for the munitions factory. He kept thinking about using his fireballs but always, Rahu’s voice repeated itself in his mind.

Don’t use them.

Okay. Fine. He won’t, Paul thought with no little amount of frustration as he entered the dark confines of the factory, blindly making his way to where Rahu stored the finished products. They weren’t much but they were of a more sophisticated design than what was usually available. Paul needed to get the stuff to safety.

But, where?

At the moment, he could assume Yardley has the entire compound surrounded. While all their focus was at the house, the stretch of land will soon be crawling with Yardley’s men.

He had to think fast. Rahu may have had his strength boosted temporarily by the serum Judith gave him but he was still a sufferer. If he gets wounded too badly, he’d have a bloody hell of a time to recover. Paul racked his mind for ideas on how to help his friend.

In the distance, the house suddenly fell silent.

Shit. No sound did not sound good.

Paul was piling weapon after weapon into a large duffel bag, thinking, when it struck him.

Rahu and Judith can escape if he provided a distraction.

But, what?

Paul raised a flashlight and aimed it this way and that, finding shelves upon shelves of substances and chemicals. He walked up to them, read the labels, and grinned to himself.

Ah, this will do for a distraction, he thought, taking down several cans and other containers.

Just wait, my friend. Just wait.

Rahu coughed and picked himself up from the debris and assorted body parts that rebounded towards him when he threw the bomb. So far, his own body parts were still intact. As he stood and dusted off himself, he saw movement coming towards him.

He braced himself. He’d know that stride anywhere.

“Well met, Rahu,” Yardley said behind his protective helmet. He walked slowly forward, gun trained on Rahu.

“Ill met, more like,” Rahu muttered, removing his protective vest which had become quite heay. “Come to finish me off finally?”

“I admit to a certain flaw in my plans before,” Yardley told him in a deceptively calm voice. “Now, perhaps, not having one where you are concerned will finally give me the success I lost.”

Rahu snorted but said nothing. Success to Frank Yardley never matched his definition.

“You have to die, Rahu,” Yardley continued as he continued to walk forward, stepping over the ruined threshold. Rahu stayed in place, eyes on his former friend and business partner. “It’s the only way I can have peace…the only way Samantha can have peace.”

Samantha, Rahu thought with pain. It was always her.

“Revenge will never bring her back, Frank,” he said. “Not her…not your child.”

“I should shoot your mouth for even saying her name,” Yardley growled, coming closer with a step.

“I’ll accept the blame for my actions but I will no longer accept hers,” Rahu told him, stepping to the right, closer to the kitchen. “It was her choice to come to the underground.

“And why do you think she did that?!” Yardley screamed.

Rahu was not going to rehash old pains where Samantha was concerned. But it seemed Yardley needed to have it out with him.

“You think I don’t know? You think I never knew?” Yardley started again. “Samantha has never really gotten over you.”

Strange enough, she married Yardley instead. Not that Rahu ever gave Samantha any indication he had returned those feelings. It was not the kind of life he wanted and envisioned for himself. Out of an old friendship he allowed her to design his living space. He let her associate with him. He let her come and go as she pleased in his house, in his office, in his laboratory, a privilege he did not even extend to Yardley.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have. Perhaps he should have and shouldn’t have a lot of things.

“I never led her on, Frank. And I never touched your wife,” Rahu firmly said, moving his hands only to raise them high when Yardley continued to stalk him towards the kitchen.

“You’ve always been a consummate liar, Rahu. It’s what made you thrive in this business,” Yardley spat.

In five more steps Rahu will be within grabbing distance of the knives on the kitchen counter. He would have to dive and hope Yardley never learned how to handle a big gun since their last parting.

“I don’t even know if the child she was carrying was mine but I was willing to let it go, let it be mine…”

“Like I said. I never touched Samantha, Frank.”

Finally, Rahu felt the marble of the counter hit his back.

With almost superhuman effort, Rahu jumped into the air and dove sideways, upending the knife rack as he fell behind the counter and a heavy blast of bullets rained bits of wood and cement from the kitchen wall on him. Before Yardley could get in another spray, Rahu grabbed a knife and threw it blindly. The sound of Yardley shouting told him his mark hit true.

While Yardley cradled his injured arm, Rahu jumped out from behind the counter and punched Yardley through the helmet. Then, he pulled it off of Yardey’s face, a deformed thing, and started pummelling Yardley with blow after blow from his fists.

Yardley managed to clip him under the jaw, distracting him, but enough time for Yardley to push him off, stand, and deliver his own bruising hits.

For several minutes, both men wrestled and punched at each other, no longer caring about weapons.

Anger and hate surged between them. For every punch Rahu delivered, Yardley gave two.

But Rahu was getting tired. Another few minutes of this and he was going to succumb to Yardley. Yardley dealt him a heavy fist to the eye and Rahu fell. Yardley picked up a gun and aimed it at him. Just as he pulled the trigger, something like a thin lightning bolt appeared in the dark and hit Yardley’s hand. With a scream, Yardley dropped the gun.

Rahu peered behind him and saw Judith holding one of his electric guns.

Seizing the opportunity, he grabbed the gun Yardley dropped and fired it, hitting Yardley’s thigh. Yardley screamed in pain and then dashed out of the house. Rahu thought to give chase but almost instantly fell to his knees.

“Let him go,” Judith said, helping him stand.

“If I do, he’ll only come at me again,” Rahu told her. “It must end this night or it will never end.”

Judith sighed. Suddenly, she tensed. “Where’s Paul?”

“I thought he was with you.”

“No! I went under alone. Where could he—“

Judith’s question was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from Yardley, followed by the sound of growling and an awful smell that made Rahu want to puke.

“Zombies now?” he asked incredulously.

“That doesn’t sound or smell like one to me, though,” Judith said, crawling slowly towards the broken wall.

“No, it’s not,” Rahu said behind her, chuckling. What Yardley thought was a zombie was no zombie but obviously Paul, dressed in something that looked like rotting flesh. Smelled like one, too.

Wounded and unable to escape, Yardley was obviously panicking. The man looked half-deranged with fear.

“Paul.”

Paul the Zombie looked up. Silently, they nodded to each other, as Paul hauled Yardley up and bound his hand and feet.

“Y-You’re n-not a z-zom—“

“No, I’m not,” Paul said curtly. Once Yardley was trussed up like a chicken, Paul fireman-lifted him onto his shoulders and took him away.

Judith clucked her tongue, surveying the damage. “A good house wasted.” She frowned at the amount of dead people. “I don’t like this.”

Rahu grunted. He waited for Judith to re-enter the house and start taking note of the damage before he set out after Paul and Yardley. He found them in the woodland area.

“Rahu—“ Paul began to say but Rahu stopped him with a hand.

“Go and help Judith. I’ll deal with him.”

Paul stared at him for a long moment and shrugged. “All right, man.”

When Paul was gone, Rahu pulled Yardley to his feet and with a knife, cut off his bonds.

Yardley gaped at him. “Is this you being the greater man, Rahu?”

Rahu frowned. “That is not something I can claim to now. We all have our weaknesses, Frank. Samantha was yours. Samantha was ours. That’s why I never wanted her, not in the way you did…or do.”

“You broke her heart, you f*****g bastard!”

“I’ve been sorry about Samantha for far too long, Frank. It’s over. Just go, while you have the chance.”

Yardley spat blood on the ground. “It’s not over until Morgan says it’s over.”

Rahu’s eyes narrowed on Yardley’s smug expression. “What did you say?”

Yardley snorted and spat blood and saliva again. “To be honest, it’s not an easy feat to bring down a man like you, Rahu Knight. You’re amoral and apathetic. It was hard to find out what truly made you think life worth living. But Morgan has been funding some of my designs for the military…”

“You’ve been colluding with the government behind my back?” Rahu asked in an ominous tone.

Yardley gave a belligerent shrug. “Morgan, government…is there a difference?”

“And Samantha…”

At the mention of her name, Yardley looked away. “Sam knew what I was up to and she promised she won’t say anything. But she’d do anything for you…”

Rahu staggered back. Samantha had known…and that’s why she went after him to the underground…

She’d known.

And now she’s dead.

Rahu clenched his hands into fists.

Frank, you sonofabitch!