*This chapter is extra long and extra violent...*

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

Schaefer and Bennington walked back to the lab. Before Bennington could wipe the blood off his knife, Schaefer stopped him. "Do you mind if I borrow that for a moment?"

"What for, sir?" Bennington asked.

"I want to see if I can make a few changes to the Ambrosia's behavior. Just a little something to prove we didn't entirely fail."

"Sure, but who are you gonna test it on?"

"Well given the fact we killed all of the test subjects, I'll just try it on myself. And if it doesn't go well, I have a gun and a box of grenades to make sure I pass on."

"If you say so, mate."

Simon ran up from behind them. "Gentlemen! We have a situation down in the sub-levels."

"Can't talk right now, Simon," Schaefer replied. "I've gotta make some last second improvements to the Ambrosia before we head back to London." And he walked away, leaving Simon behind with Bennington.

"You can talk to me, lad," Bennington said. "What's wrong?"

Almost as if on cue, animalistic screeches echoed from the stairwell along with the sounds of gunfire and human screams. Simon ran to the door leading into the stairs and locked it, now panting heavily.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Bennington asked.

"Follow me, sir!" Simon replied, and he grabbed Bennington's arm and pulled him along as the two of them made their way down the hall.

They jumped into the first open room they came across, which coincidentally was right next to the room Schaefer locked himself in. They shut the door and turned around to find many other scientists in there. Hera, Artemis, Hypnos, and Helios were present, all four of them gathered around computers displaying the surveillance footage. Bennington noticed more gauze wrapped around Hypnos's neck, the color red seeping through. This slightly amused him since he also had a previous wound on his other arm from an incident with one of the corpses, but a crude scar replaced that injury since then.

"Could someone please explain what's going on?" Bennington asked.

"The test subjects' corpses," Artemis said in awe. "They're coming back to life."

"One of the ugly bastards bit me in the neck," Hypnos grumbled. "I'm not feeling too well, sir."

"I thought we sent the guards down to incinerate them!"

"We did," Hera replied. "They were ripped limb from limb as soon as they opened the doors."

Bennington and Simon approached the screens with hesitation. The only sights present on each screen were hordes of greenish-pale corpses running around like panicking citizens, all of them attacking the closest living humans they could find. They were shocked at how easy it was for these dead men walking to rip apart human flesh like if it were plasticine. They were also disturbed at the fact the corpses began consuming the mutilated flesh of their victims, like predators ripping apart their prey. And no matter how much gunfire penetrated their bodies, they didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

"Who let them out?" Bennington asked.

"The same wankers who were supposed to get rid of the bodies," Helios replied. "Now they're dong like Zeus hypothesized, attacking anyone who doesn't have Ambrosia running through their veins."

Bennington felt like a lightbulb clicked on in his head. "That's why Schaefer was gonna test it out on himself!" he exclaimed.

"He's gonna become one of them?" Simon asked.

"No, lad. He's gonna become invisible to them! Gonna leave us to die while he walks among them without a scratch!"

"He wouldn't abandon us," Artemis said. "Would he?"

Bennington unholstered his gun and cocked it, making his way back towards the exit.

"Hades, what the hell are you doing?" Hera called.

"First, I'm gonna kill Schaefer and take the Ambrosia for ourselves," he replied with his hand on the doorknob. "Then I'm heading back to Room 217 to make sure a certain someone stays dead."

"Ares?" Artemis asked. "But you've done too much to him already! And his poor daughter!"

"That's why I said I'll make sure he stays dead. And notice how I'm taking a gun. Granted, it's mostly for Schaefer, but at least I'm not gonna make either of them suffer."

"I thought Schaefer was our friend," Simon said.

Bennington opened the door and nudged it open just a bit before turning back to look at the others one last time.

"Lad, one thing you should know. I always make plans to kill everyone I meet. Either I hurt people or they hurt me. And I'm certainly not the one who's getting attacked first."

* * *

Ares woke up screaming. He was alone in the darkness of an old sleeping quarters, with only the light of the hallway preventing him from disappearing into the shadows.

He placed his hands down on the floor and slid them across an oily surface. He picked his hand back up to find them smudged dark red and looked around the floor to find him sitting in a large puddle of his own blood. He then stared up at the body of his daughter Sarah, her lifeless electrifying eyes staring into the empty void where his soul used to be.

"Sarah," he whispered. He rose to his feet and walked over to his deceased daughter. He pressed his hand against her cheek. It was as cold as ice, but he couldn't tell if this numbing feeling was his skin or hers.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I failed to protect you." He brushed his hand through her hair. "Ever since you were born, I wanted to make sure no one would ever get their hands on you. I knew you would get hurt, but I also knew you would walk it off and never give up."

Ares closed Sarah's eyes for her. "You had more reason to live than I did!" he croaked, tears streaming down his face. "I made too many mistakes to count, too many to redeem myself. But Sarah...you were the greatest thing to ever enter my life. You were my light in the darkness, yet you were too good for this world."

He kissed her on her forehead before finally covering her completely with the blanket. He kneeled down beside the bed and continued to sob. "Schaefer and Bennington didn't kill you. I did. And as punishment, my greatest fear has come true. I'm alone in this world."

As Ares buried his face into his crossed arms, he could hear the rampant sounds of footsteps scattering across the floor of the hall outside, followed by gunshots and screams. He was too busy mourning both his daughter's death and his own to care.

"I love you," he whispered. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and stood back up, looking back at his daughter to reassure her one more time. "I love you so much."

He walked to the door, stepping through the pool of blood he woke up on. He didn't notice that small particles and blobs of his own blood floated in the air like bubbles. They followed him around like flies and slowly crystallized into small red, jagged stones pursuing him even as he exited the room.

Once Ares closed the door to the room behind him, he caught a glimpse of the brief carnage he heard earlier. Corpses littered the floor with bullet holes in their skulls. He recognized many of them as his fellow test subjects, made obvious by the mangled uniforms they were enforced to wear when they were still alive. He also noticed one down the hallway ripping apart a dead soldier with its teeth. Chunks of innards and flesh were lodged in its teeth, and blood dripped down its chin and hands.

"What the hell?" Ares said. Once he thought nothing could be more bizarre than the cannibalism being committed in front of him, he finally noticed the red globs of blood floating around him.

He also noticed the many stab wounds covering his chest and torso. One long incision stood out in the middle of his chest right underneath his sternum, the place where Schaefer impaled him with his machete. There were also stab wounds all over his stomach and chest, even one fatally close to his heart. Because of this, his entire shirt was stained with one large crimson blot. He also couldn't help but notice how more particles of blood continued to float out of the wounds and circle around him like the ring around Saturn.

The cannibalistic corpse several feet away from Ares finally noticed him, swallowing the chunk of flesh he ripped from the soldier's body. "Hello," it spoke in perfect English, blood spraying out of its mouth as it spoke. "Dig in if you want. There's plenty of flesh to go around."

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Ares replied. "You were dead just a few minutes ago. Hell, even I was dead a few minutes ago! What is going on?"

"Look, if you're not gonna eat, then I'll just take everything. All I know is that I woke up in a room with hundreds of other people like me who were dying to get their hands on some fresh meat. So don't judge me for—"

The sounds of gunfire erupted through the room. Ares covered his face with his arms, ignoring the fact so much blood had floated out of his wounds, streams of it were encircling him like hula hoops. He moved his hand out of the way to look at what was left of the undead test subject, and all he saw was a corpse riddled with bullet holes and almost completely devoid of limbs. However, not a single bullet hit his skull.

"Got 'em," one of the soldiers entering the hallway said. He was followed by five other armed guards including Bennington, who only carried a handgun while the others carried automatic firearms.

"Another!" the same guard shouted. Everyone aimed their guns at Ares, who placed his hands in the air. The trails of blood spinning around him started narrowing and solidifying to the point they resembled wires.

"I thought I killed you," Bennington said. "And what the hell is with the blood magic? Given the fact you've come back from the dead, I'd wager you're cursed."

"I didn't ask for any of this," Ares growled. "And neither did Sarah."

Bennington raised a brow. "Glad you can still talk. All the other resurrected test subjects screech and hiss like feral creatures. It really eliminates the element of unpredictability."

"I figured you'd prefer hunting animals that can think."

"Yeah. That's too bad. I was hoping for a little more of a challenge killing you. Fire!"

Bennington and the guards fired away. Ares tried blocking most of the incoming bullets with his arms, but they didn't do much to stop them. His skin was ripped apart as the ammo tore through his body with ease. He could feel the skin on his arms falling apart and the blood splattering his clothes and the floor. He could feel the bullets lodging in his bones and his flesh, yet none of it hurt.

It was definitely uncomfortable, but there was nothing painful about what seemed like his second demise. Each shot felt more like a soft punch—hundreds of them happening simultaneously—rather than a bullet tearing through his flesh.

The same undead test subject they gunned down seconds ago jerked up and bit Bennington in the leg. It started tearing flesh off his calf, already wearing down to his muscle. As Bennington's screams filled the air, the other guards halted firing at Ares to return the favor to the creature eating Bennington's leg, firing away until its skull was nothing but a bloody pulp. Then the rest of its body slumped to the floor without moving again.

"Are you alright, sir?" the closest guard asked.

"Part of my fucking leg is gone!" Bennington shouted, kneeling down to stop the bleeding with his hand. "What do you th—"

The red lines surrounding Ares blasted away from him. Neither he nor Bennington could keep up with what was happening, but all they saw next was three of the guards falling to the floor in multiple pieces. Dismembered arms and legs were scattered all over the floor in large pools of blood and intestines. Even their weapons were sliced apart, like if they were quickly yet carefully taken apart by hand. Bennington was left unscathed, at least by Ares's attack since his leg was mauled by the other dead test subject, but one of the other guards lost his entire jaw. All that was left was a big bloody hole with his tongue lazily dangling out and the top of his teeth visible, and now without a way to speak comprehensively, all he could do now was scream in pain until he eventually bled to death.

"What the fuck?" Bennington said. He and the only guard who wasn't suffering from a life-threatening injury raised their weapons back up and continued firing at Ares.

With more of his own blood still swirling around him, he covered his face with his arms. Unbeknownst to him, most of the gun wounds he received had healed. He could feel the bullets being pushed out of his skin and the wounds quickly scabbing over and restoring into normal flesh. And the entire time, none of it hurt one bit.

Even as his arms took on a new onslaught of gunfire, the bullets breaking through his skin and his bones didn't hurt at all. And seconds later, they didn't even reach his skin since the floating blood morphed into a makeshift shield that hovered in front of him as if gravity didn't apply to it. The shield took on the gunfire for him, but the forming cracks and pieces of crystallized blood flying through the air with every shot proved it wouldn't last forever.

"Just! Fucking! Die!" Bennington exclaimed, now firing his gun more frequently.

Ares waited until the shield was almost entirely covered in cracks before pushing it away from him. The shield then exploded into multiple spearlike formations that fired into the three guards in his way. Bennington dropped to the floor before any of them could connect with his flesh, but the remaining guards weren't so lucky. The red spears stabbed them in multiple places, even lodging in their skulls and chests, and they dropped dead to the floor a moment later.

Ares lowered his arms to his sides. The bullets buried in his skin began squirming out of the new holes like snakes wriggling through their burrows and plopped to the floor with the sounds of clinks. Then the holes healed up like nothing ever happened.

"I think I could get used to this new power," Ares said with a smirk.

Bennington ignored Ares and tried dragging himself down the hallway, the mass of his muscle exposed through the brutal tear left behind by the previous undead test subject. He still had his gun clutched in one hand but was too focused on pulling himself to the nearest open door he could see. His wound left a trail of blood smeared on the floor, and he kept wincing in pain with every inch he moved.

"Y'know, you remind of how Sarah probably felt when you were killing her," Ares said in a chillingly soft tone. He slowly followed Bennington down the hall, taking his time as he watched him suffer. "Hurt, alone, wishing someone was there to save them."

"Fuck off!" Bennington angrily exclaimed as he turned on his back. He aimed his gun back up at Ares and fired.

Once again, Ares had to sacrifice his arm to save his...life? Whatever this weird purgatory on Earth could be considered. His wrist was the main target this time. Blood splashed his face and the floor with every shot. This wound would've been fatal if it weren't for the fact he was already dead.

In fact, now with Ares's new power, Bennington was only making this worse for himself.

Ares focused on transforming the blood spilling out of the new holes in his wrist into a bladed weapon. The blood started wrapping around his wrist, and a small point of crystallized blood extended into a long scythe-like shape protruding from his arm. The crimson blade grew almost four feet long, the lights of the hall glistening off the tip.

"That looks discomforting," Ares said, staring at Bennington's mutilated leg. "Don't you think you'd feel better off without it? With one of your privileges reduced, as you said to me before?"

And with that Ares quickly swiped the blade through Bennington's knee, severing it from the rest of his body. Bennington let out a ear-splitting inhuman scream as he mourned the loss of his leg. Yet that didn't stop him from continuing his slow journey to the open room further down the hall.

"You're a fucking monster!" he cried.

"Oh really?!" Ares replied. He jumped on top of Bennington and stabbed the blade into his shoulder, causing him to let out another shrill scream of agony. He dug it so deep into his flesh that the blade came out the other end and even sliced through the floor. To undermine Bennington even more, he lifted him up by the blade and left him hanging above the floor like a fisherman displaying his prize.

"Let me go!" Bennington screamed.

"You tortured me and killed my daughter, yet I'm the monster?!" Ares shouted, now walking while still holding Bennington out over the floor. "Well then congratulations! You've molded your victim in your own image! You've created this monster! You are the cause of your own demise!"

Ares marched down the hallway to the same room Bennington was planning on seeking refuge in, still suspending him on his blade. Bennington continued filling the air with his pain-induced screams as his blood began spilling down his clothes. "Please!" he cried. "I know there must be mercy in there somewhere!"

The two of them finally entered the room, which turned out to be the infirmary where Ares was tortured. Ares sliced upward with his blade, depleting Bennington of his arm. He crashed down to the floor in a puddle of his own blood, now missing an arm and a leg. The blade dissolved into red mist.

"You want to find mercy?" Ares asked. He leaned in closer to Bennington until their faces were only inches away from each other. "Look into my eyes. Tell me if you can find anything."

Bennington was in too much pain to move. He was cold and bleeding out significantly. But he still did what he could to search for some remaining element of humanity within Ares, even if he himself was utterly devoid of it. And he did so by gazing into his eyes.

Deep in Ares's milky white eyes there was nothing to be found. No sign of hope. No happiness. No remorse. And certainly no sign of mercy. All Bennington could sense was a cold empty void where Ares's humanity used to be. Before he and Schaefer worked so hard to destroy it.

"What do you see?!" Ares growled. He placed both of his hands down on Bennington's chest to keep him pinned to the floor.

"Nothing," Bennington replied, a single tear drifting down his cheek as he realized he was doomed. "Nothing at all."

"As expected." Ares then extended his thumbs over Bennington's eyes. "And you won't be seeing anything ever again."

"Please..."

"And like you said before...no one will be around to mourn you."

Ares dug his thumbs into Bennington's eyeballs, popping them as he only buried his thumbs deeper into Bennington's skull. Ares had to hold him still as he shrieked louder than he ever heard anyone scream, trying to push him away with his remaining arm and leg. His screams were so loud, so full of agony, it was impossible to believe they belonged to a human. It sounded more like a thousand tortured souls wailing into the night, like if Ares was taking him straight to Hell where he belonged.

As he felt his thumb dig deeper into Bennington's cranium, he grasped his enemy's skull with all his might until he began hearing a cracking noise. Blood poured out of Bennington's nostrils, and his screams began to fade out, violently with a choke rather than simply subsiding. And then the loudest cracking noise signaled the destruction of Bennington's head as Ares ripped a large chunk of brain matter out of his skull. Following a small unnerving series of twitches, Bennington's body became motionless, now with half of his head missing.

Ares threw the chuck of brain matter down to the floor and walked over to the special helmet Bennington used to wear, which was tilted against the wall. Once he got his hands on it, he brushed his bloody fingertips against the helmet's cold metal front, leaving behind a crude red X placed between the eye slits.

"Beware the braindead's bloodletting butchery," he whispered under his breath. Out of the entire poem Sarah wrote, that line stuck out to him the most. And he'd continue to repeat it ever since.

He slid the helmet on and turned his view back to the door. His wounds were healed, but he was looking forward to making some new ones. He knew exactly who he was coming for next. And he roared his name at the top of his lungs, echoing through his helmet and the hallways splattered with the insides of his enemies.

"SCHAEFER!"