Bursting through the elevator door. The entrance to the penthouse caused Jackson’s blood to boil with rage. He could smell the old man behind the door. Blood, corpses of Brian’s entourage, and a few bullet holes were all around the expensive wooden door and the corridor leading to his prize. A clear sign that Mark kept his work in keeping the old man in his place for Jackson to deal with personally. Jackson discarded his weapons, tools, and his armoured greatcoat. He didn’t need them, not when he had a hammer on hand.

  When Jackson entered Brian’s room and locked the door behind him, the old man stared at the reptile, unfazed by the psychopath who had slaughtered hundreds just to see him. The man in his late 90s grumbled at Jackson, his wrinkled brow and cracked lips mumbling a few curses under his breath. Wheelchair-bound, he was powerless to do anything. Yet that won’t stop him from standing up against Jackson.

  ‘Pathetic!’ Brian bitterly commented. ‘Here you are. Ready to enact your childish revenge fantasy without considering the consequences of your actions. For someone of the Order Horrfica, you played fast and loose with the rules in exposing the world to what you are. Or don’t you care anymore after we locked you away all those years ago?’

  Jackson ignored him, walking around the room. Looking over the expensive art sculptures, Brian used to decorate his home. The reptile could tell Brian was insecure and wanted to use his art and wealth to appear intellectual and a patron of the arts. Yet through the facade, Jackson could already tell that he was just a pathetic old man.

  ‘So what now? Huh!’ Brian continued. ‘Are you going to kill me like everyone who rightfully stood against you? Or are you going to walk around like a fucking idiot!? Come on! Say something!’

  He paused for a moment; there was no need for words just yet. Not when he had found something dear to him, a possession he thought he had lost to time. His copper wedding ring. Framed like it was some sort of prize to display for anyone who didn’t know any better.

  Jackson grabbed the framed ring and spoke in a harsh tone. ‘Why?’

  ‘Why? You want to know why?’ Brian said, bewildered by the question. ‘Because of who you are! A freak of fucking nature and an utter monster. I can list a thousand reasons why we had to put you down and…’

  ‘Not me,’ Jackson sharply cut in before taking the copper ring out of its frame and putting it on his wedding finger. ‘Them. Why did you kill them?’

  Brian smirked, ‘why do you care? Not like they were important to you.’

  ‘They mattered to me!’ Jackson shouted before slamming his hammer down onto Brian’s table. ‘They were good people, they were innocent!’

  ‘There he is! The angry fool! A beast incapable of keeping his emotions in check.’

  ‘Answer the question.’

  ‘Or what?’ He mocked the reptile. ‘You’ll kill me? You’ll make my death more miserable than it has to be? I know you, Jackson. Everyone who was guarding Appleseed knew the type of monster you are, so don’t threaten me. You don’t scare me! The best you ever did was show your true colours and demonstrate to the world what you really are. A prick with no control, a dog who needed a leash.’

  ‘Answer the question.’ Jackson repeated, keeping his voice low and in control.

  The old man shook his head. ‘No. I will not. You don’t deserve to know the why or the how as to what happened in Appleseed. I will not give you the satisfaction of ending my life after all you have done! No, I will tell you what you deserve to be told. Your wife, Hannah, was a slut.’

  In response, Jackson slammed his hammer onto Brian’s right hand, shattering it completely. The old man reeled back in pain, grasping his broken hand with tears in his eyes.

  ‘You keep her out of this,’ Jackson warned.

  Brian chuckled, gritting his teeth while he fought against the pain so he could speak once more. ‘Fuck you! Your wife was a…’

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Jackson snatched Brian’s other hand and planted it on the table so he could smash it with his hammer. Brian let out a howling scream, but besides letting himself succumb to the agony of having both of his hands broken in pieces. He smiled at Jackson, ready to taunt the reptile as many times before his eventual death.

  ‘I won!’ Brian declared, holding back tears as he spoke out. ‘Unlike you, I can build a legacy! Unlike you, I can save humanity! We did the right thing in removing you from the history books and putting you 20 feet under to die a slow, painful death. But here you are, standing before me with that scowl. Tell me, reptile, how the fuck are you alive!?’

  ‘You’re right, I don’t build legacies.’ Jackson replied, avoiding the question entirely. ‘But that was not the purpose of my existence. My job and the role I take for myself is to end legacies. Make the world know that they are not worth remembering or replicating.’ Jackson went behind Brian and turned his chair around so he could look down at the power plant. ‘And yours will be no different.’

  Brian’s eyes widened, realising what Jackson was planning to do. ‘You wouldn’t dare! Do you know what you are doing? You can’t destroy the engine; we need it!’

  ‘The world will survive without it, and it will survive knowing it is a failure. That will be your legacy.’

  Before Brian could respond to Jackson and protest to spare his project. Jackson cracked his head open with a single blow of the hammer. Then, he continued to bash his skull in, and once there was nothing left, he proceeded to decimate the shoulders and chest till it was nothing but ground meat. The reptile smiled as he kept going, covering himself in blood and gore as he took revenge on the person responsible for it all. He wanted him dead, and he enjoyed every second destroying the body of a man who did all of this.

  When there was nothing left to destroy, Jackson dropped his hammer and looked out of the window. Reminiscing about the months it took to get his revenge, and how empty it was. He was no fool; Jackson understood it would not make the world a better place or bring his friends and family back. All it was meant to do was bring him catharsis, yet there was nothing. It should’ve made him feel better, calmer. Instead, it was hollow, an expected outcome with predictable conclusions. The same routine as all of his other acts of revenge.

  He got upset, he killed his way through the country, and now, he had nothing left to do. With no purpose to fulfil, no more promises to keep. He wondered what he could do next. To Jackson, his mission and reason to live were concluded with no reason to expand upon. All he could do was accept that his time was done. In a way, he was happy to look forward to dying. All doubts about running away or finding cover escaped his wounded mind. He would stand put, and await his end.

  After pulling out his detonator connected to the Ra Engine, he sighed before pressing the button. Hoping for the area to end so he could finally rest. Yet besides witnessing a chain reaction that could lead to a devastating explosion, he watched as a beam of black shot into the air and covered the city in darkness. Colour all around him faded and seeped into the dark beam, consuming all colour and beauty till there was nothing but grey.

  Jackson covered his eyes as the dark light caused him to have a painful headache. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he believed it was it. It was about to go off and destroy everyone and everything. It had to! Closing his eyes, Jackson brought his wedding ring close to his lips to kiss it. Accepting his final moments with the knowledge that he was a monster, and he was ready to die as one. The final thought hurts him to think of himself as anything other than human, but that was okay with him. Deep down, he knew he never acted like a human for most of his unnatural life.

  The dark light firing into the sky shifted its colours to become a teal colour. Swirls of colour shot out of the sky while sparks of purple lightning slammed into the power plant below. Rubble and blue fire coated the ground below as the energies became even more unstable before it detonated. As the blast washed over Jackson, he let out a sigh of relief as it turned his world dark.