CHAPTER 242: Alaska, a Safe Place - 9

CHAPTER 242: Alaska, a Safe Place - 9

Marcus hit him again.

The fist impacted against his jaw with the force of a hydraulic hammer.

Then another blow sank into his ribs.

And another into his stomach.

Blood filled Fenix's mouth.

Each impact brought him a little closer to unconsciousness.

His body barely responded.

His vision came and went.

And, even so, his mind kept working.

What irony.

While Marcus unleashed all his fury on him, Fenix could not help but think about how strange life was.

Allies became enemies.

Always.

It had happened with Enid.

Barely a few months ago, he had had to finish off the person he had loved most.

And now…

Marcus.

His brother in arms.

His companion in countless battles.

The man who had once covered his back without hesitation.

Would he also end like this?

Did all roads inevitably lead to this point?

Marcus grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the ground.

The rock cracked under the impact.

Fenix spat blood.

No.

He forced himself to focus his gaze on that monstrosity.

This…

This was not Marcus.

Not really.

It was a deformed shadow.

An inferior version.

A shell twisted by hatred, mutation, and pain.

The Marcus he knew was no longer there.

The real Marcus was the man who laughed loudly after a fight.

The one who always brought the worst beer.

The one who would have crossed hell for his friends.

That man had already disappeared.

What remained was an echo.

A corpse that was still breathing.

Marcus roared and raised his arm to deliver another blow.

Fenix saw it coming.

And instead of fear…

He felt sadness.

Deep.

Heavy.

Almost unbearable.

The least he could do for the one who had once been his brother…

Was grant him rest.

A definitive rest.

Eternal.

Marcus unleashed another swipe.

Fenix tilted his head at the last instant.

The claws passed grazing his cheek, tearing a bloody groove in his skin.

Another blow.

This time he ducked.

Barely.

His legs trembled, his vision was blurry, and each breath was a stab in his ribs.

But he kept moving.

Marcus roared, frustrated, and launched a savage succession of blows and cuts.

Fenix retreated, staggering, dodging by centimeters. Each movement was pure instinct.

He could not win by strength.

He would have to do it by cunning.

A rock fell between them, raising a cloud of dust.

Fenix took advantage.

He launched himself to one side, entering a darker section of the cavern.

The shadows enveloped him.

Marcus lost sight of him.

—FENIX! —roared the beast, his voice rumbling against the walls.

Fenix advanced stumbling among broken boxes, rusted tools, and old abandoned supplies.

Surely that had been an old emergency storage room.

His hand groped blindly among the debris.

Metal.

Cold.

Elongated.

He took it.

A flare gun.

Fenix smiled, despite the blood running down his face.

—Today is my lucky day.

Marcus burst through a wall of rotten wood.

His red eyes glowed in the darkness.

—I FOUND YOU!

He jumped on him.

Fenix raised the gun.

He pulled the trigger.

FOOM!

The flare shot out and impacted directly in Marcus's face.

An explosion of sparks and fire burst on his face.

Marcus let out a deafening shriek and retreated, covering his eyes while his charred skin smoked.

Fenix did not waste time.

He opened the chamber with trembling hands.

He searched for another flare among the boxes.

He found it.

He inserted it.

He closed the weapon.

Marcus, blinded but furious, charged again.

This time he gave him no margin.

His monstrous jaws closed on Fenix's only arm.

The fangs pierced flesh and muscle.

Fenix screamed.

A brutal, heart-wrenching scream.

Marcus brought him down.

Both rolled violently along the rock floor, hitting against boxes, columns, and debris.

Fenix gripped the gun with desperation while trying to push that infernal jaw away from his arm.

Marcus roared, clinging like a steel trap.

The two of them tumbled among dust, blood, and fragments of stone.

Until they crashed against a rock wall with a dry thunder.

And neither of them let go of the other.

Marcus squeezed harder.

The fangs sank even deeper into Fenix's arm, tearing flesh and drawing a growl of pain from him.

Fenix struggled, hitting him in the skull with the butt of the flare gun.

Marcus did not even seem to notice.

The beast finally released his arm.

Only to launch himself directly at his neck.

The jaws closed.

The pain was unbearable.

Burning.

Brutal.

Fenix felt how the fangs perforated the flesh, how the blood gushed out.

Marcus roared while immobilizing him against the rock.

Fenix's vision began to darken.

His hands desperately sought support.

Nothing.

His breathing became a broken gasp.

He clenched his jaw.

He closed his eyes tightly.

More.

Harder.

Until everything disappeared.

Silence.

Absolute.

When he opened his eyes again…

He was no longer in Alaska.

The cold had disappeared.

So had the blood.

The pain.

He was standing on a platform of Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

The enormous glass roof reflected an orange sunset that tinted the entire station with warm and melancholic tones.

The trains rested on their tracks.

People walked calmly.

As if nothing bad had ever happened.

Fenix blinked several times.

He looked at his hands.

His right arm was there.