cHApTEr 10. finAl lAp (1 of 3)

Terry stood still, fire spreading behind him. He held his head in his arms as if he were struggling with intense pain. His blackened eyes darted around, but there was a look on his face like he didn’t understand what was happening or even where he was. His breath came in heavy gasps, and he murmured something only he could hear. Or understand.

“Terry! Terry, are you alright?” Mioray shouted, limping toward the racer, though it felt like the distance between them never shrank. “Hold yourself together, man! Listen to my voice! Snap out of it!”

Truly, the line between sanity and madness is very thin, in the state we are in.

Mioray stopped. That thought. It was something his inner voice had told him when he woke up in the morgue, when this new reality of his began. Less than two months had passed since then, yet it already felt like a lifetime. He suddenly realized that, at the time – alone, missing an arm, his body sewn together – he had been panicking, even though his senses were supposed to be dulled. Could it be that, if his inner voice hadn’t calmed him down, he might have lost himself and become a monster with black eyes?

Like Impact Corpse?

Like Terry?

“I... I can’t,” Terry said suddenly. His voice was almost normal, though his tone was unlike him. The words came with effort. Grabbing at his hair, he tried to force clarity into his mind, but it was deteriorating from corruption. “Funny... guy? I’m... the best racer out there. I’m guaranteed to win... against those amateurs.”

He was losing it. His words barely made sense.

“Terry, Impact Corpse got away!” Mioray jumped on the chance to reach him. “We need to move! Let’s regroup with the others and figure out what to do next!”

“I will win the race!!!” Terry roared.

Mioray groaned in despair. Terry was too fixated on some damn race, just like Impact Corpse was obsessed with... whatever made sense only to him. Was this a sign that Terry was too far gone?

Mioray didn’t know what to do. He kept trying to convince himself it was just a coincidence, but the truth was undeniable. Being undead had a cost. And Impact Corpse was the first to fall victim to it. They had all believed he was just a monster, killing indiscriminately. It was easier to think that way than to try and rationalize his actions. He was evil, that wasn’t up for debate, but maybe the man he used to be wasn’t. Maybe he had become undead, and then his personality twisted beyond recognition. Maybe it was out of his control.

But then could they really blame him for everything? For the deaths he caused? For what happened today? At the university? For killing Mioray, if the madman was the Dismantler after all? Was he the Dismantler before losing his mind, or did madness turn him into a serial killer?

It doesn’t matter right now, Mioray reminded himself. Impact Corpse was gone. Who mattered now was Terry. The racer still hadn’t moved, still muttering to himself as the fire crept closer. If this continued, the flames would consume him. Burn him to a crisp. Everything was already too complicated. Kevin was missing his head, Mia reduced to smithereens, and nobody had a clear idea how to bring them back without the police getting in their way.

Annoyingly, but predictably, wherever they went, the authorities followed. Sirens were drawing closer. Smoke and fire swallowed the road by the second. Mioray’s vision remained blurred, but he could make out fire trucks and ambulances amid the chaos. No police cars, though. Not surprising, considering the losses the police suffered at the abandoned factory, and the chaos Impact Corpse left behind during his escape.

The car from which the fire had started exploded in a burst of flame, engulfing Terry and wiping him from view. Mioray wasn’t hit, but he started coughing violently, smoke burning his lungs. He was suffocating. His body was shutting down.

If I faint here…

Someone grabbed him, slung his only arm over their shoulder, and dragged him out of the fire ring. A firefighter. He brought Mioray to the paramedics by the ambulance, where they placed an oxygen mask over his face. The air helped. He could breathe again, his senses returning. The paramedics checked him, but since his condition was more or less stable and others needed more urgent care, they soon left him alone. That was all Mioray needed. He took off the mask and limped away.

He didn’t know whether Terry had survived the explosion. But if he could regenerate instantly now like Impact Corpse, he probably had. With fire and people rushing in every direction, Mioray couldn’t spot anyone who looked like Terry. Nor did he see Claire’s lifeless body. He wondered if the woman who tried to revive her with CPR had survived.

He sat on the asphalt curb. What now? He was truly lost. Everything spiraled out of control. He had watched so many die. Claire, too. He was so sure of himself when he saved her at the museum, so sure he had changed her fate. But he didn’t. He was wrong. He should’ve been smarter. He should’ve asked Erinel whether she sensed Claire’s impending death. That would have been more accurate than the fact that Claire saw her. Seeing greanrip only meant death would come within twenty-one days. Why had he ignored that? If he hadn’t, maybe he still could’ve saved her…

A white car screeched to a halt in front of him, tearing him from his desperate thoughts. Familiar faces stepped out. Farah, Matt, Erinel. Detective Natalie Lance. It felt strange seeing her among the rest.

“What the hell happened here?” she demanded immediately, jumping into interrogation mode. Was there anything else she ever did? “Where’s the Dismantler? Where’s Terry?”

“The madman got away,” Mioray replied. “He hit us, and we crashed. Terry... It's bad. I think he’s turning into something similar to Impact Corpse.”

“Impact Corpse? Who’s that?” Natalie frowned.

“That’s what we call him. The Dismantler, if you prefer.” It was all so confusing. Was the giant really the Dismantler? Then again, there was no one else at the abandoned factory. “Terry looked like he was losing it. He started regenerating instantly, without his missing body parts.” It must have sounded insane to Natalie, but Mioray had no other choice. She’d already seen what Impact Corpse could do. “I tried to reach him, but he wouldn’t listen. Then one of the cars exploded, and I haven’t seen him since. I don’t know if he burned or escaped.”

“You’re wrong!” Matt, who had been silently listening, suddenly erupted. “Terry can’t turn into someone like that monster! He didn’t burn! He must’ve gone after Impact Corpse!”

The boy was shaking with fury, his face flushed red. That wasn’t good. After what Mioray had just witnessed, anything other than calm felt like a warning sign. Another trigger, another step toward becoming like Impact Corpse. That was the last thing they needed, for someone else to lose control.

“Hey, hey,” Mioray said, putting a hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Matt, look at me. Look at me. I could be wrong.” But was I wrong about Terry’s eyes turning black? “Let’s think this through, okay? Go sit in the car and try calling Terry. Maybe he’ll answer now. He’s not busy driving.”

Thankfully, the boy listened. Sobbing, he sat in the car and pressed the phone to his ear, hoping Terry would pick up. But there was only the monotonous beeping on the other end.

“Are you completely sure something’s wrong with Terry?” Farah asked.

“I am. I saw his eyes turn black and red, just like Impact Corpse’s. And he healed almost instantly. That didn’t happen before, right?”

“No, it didn’t,” Farah said gloomily.

“We have to find Terry,” Erinel declared. “Did he say anything that might give us a clue about where he went?”

She didn’t question whether what Mioray said was true. The implication was enough. Things had truly spiraled out of control. Their group was barely holding together. The police, with Natalie Lance at the forefront, had seen them in action. Civilians had witnessed Terry’s abilities. The illusion of normalcy in the city had cracked. And with both Impact Corpse and Terry on the loose, it wouldn’t take long for the public to turn against the undead once people realized others like them existed. They’d assume all of them were dangerous.

“He kept talking about some race. That he was going to win it. But nothing else.”

Natalie suddenly grabbed Mioray by the shoulders.

“You didn’t mishear him? He talked about winning a race?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Then I might know what he’s planning,” she said. For someone who had just witnessed something horrifying and unexplainable, Natalie was surprisingly composed. Not unaffected – she was pale, her eyes shone feverishly – but she hadn’t lost her grip on what mattered. “His career ended after a car crash. I don’t understand how he survived it, but it must’ve left a mark on him. It wasn’t just an accident caused by reckless driving in one of those old cars. It happened during an illegal street race. If he’s talking about winning a race, it could be the one he failed.”

Mioray shot to his feet, struck by a sudden realization. It made perfect sense.

“He mentioned once that he was going to try taming a wheeled car again. He was repairing one back at–” Mioray flinched. He nearly revealed they lived in a storage facility. If Natalie found out, she’d lead the police straight there. “–at our place. We need to check. Maybe he went back to take it.”

Erinel nodded.

“Then let’s head back.”

“But what if he’s still somewhere around here?” Farah asked. “Or if he already took the car?”

“I’ll ask the firefighters if they saw anyone who looked like him or if they found a man’s body,” Natalie said. She turned to Mioray. “You’re coming with me.”

“But–”

“No buts,” she cut him off. “You’re not slipping away from me this time. We’re going to find Terry, and then I’ll decide what to do with the rest of you. Got it?”

Time was too precious to waste on arguing. They had to give in to Natalie’s demand. Erinel didn’t protest. She seemed eager to return to the storage facility. Nothing else mattered now. Farah got back into the driver’s seat. Before she pulled away, she called out to Mioray.

“Here, take my phone.” She handed it to him through the window. “Call Matt if you find anything. And keep in mind, if anything happens to it...”

“I know.”

Farah gave Mioray a long, narrowed look. Then, without another word, she started the engine and drove off. Mioray sat back down on the asphalt curb, waiting as Natalie questioned the firefighters and others nearby.

“No one saw a man matching Terry’s description,” she reported when she returned. “For now, we’ll assume he’s planning to run that race. Let’s go. I’ve got the route memorized. I know where it starts and ends.”

Mioray didn’t expect Natalie to know so much about Terry’s racing history. Clearly, they’d been close. Convenient, actually. If she knew the details, they had a better chance of finding Terry quickly.

“Is it far from here?” Mioray asked.

“About an hour on foot. We need a car. Follow me.”

Not wasting any time, she approached the nearest car. Mioray hurried after her. There were plenty of vehicles on the street, their drivers slowing down to gawk at the chaos up ahead. Natalie knocked on the window of the first car and waited as the driver rolled it down.

“Sir, please step out of the vehicle. I need to commandeer it,” she said, flashing her badge and revealing the holstered gun beneath her jacket. “This is urgent. We’re pursuing a suspect.”

The news on the car radio was already reporting bombings and street explosions. The driver looked confused but obeyed without protest. Natalie thanked him and slid into the driver’s seat. Mioray joined her in the front. As soon as he shut the door, she started the engine, spun the car around, and sped off toward the site where Terry’s deadly race was supposed to begin.

“Are you actually allowed to take civilian cars like that?” Mioray asked, doing his best not to focus on the destruction their failed attempt to catch Impact Corpse had caused.

“Honestly?” Natalie kept her eyes on the road. “It’s a legal gray area. I don’t know anyone who’s ever tried it. Probably not allowed, but I’ll deal with it later.”

Traffic was heavy, some roads partially blocked, but Natalie was relentless. She took every available opening, maneuvering skillfully, steering them away from the path of destruction Impact Corpse had left behind. Oddly, she reminded Mioray of Terry in how she handled the road – confident, focused, unafraid.

“What happened to Detective Haytham? Is he okay?” Mioray asked once they finally broke through the congestion and reached clearer streets.

“He’ll make it, thankfully. Haytham has a minor concussion, but nothing too serious. But we still lost a lot of good people today. People I knew. People with families. And it’s on me. I had no idea what kind of mess we were getting into. I went too easy on you. I should’ve brought you in and forced the truth out of you, Mioray. You kept things from us, and people died because of it.”

Mioray bit his tongue. As if he didn’t already blame himself for everything that happened today. He didn’t need Natalie piling more guilt on top of that. He understood she was angry, but she was wrong, too. Yes, he had kept things from her, but not out of malice. Half the time, he didn’t know the full truth himself. And the rest? He’d stayed quiet because the truth would have only made her trust him even less.

“So tell me, Mioray. What the hell is going on? Your friends barely talked, but you’re all clearly familiar with the Dismantler and how he… can’t be killed. And now I find out Terry’s alive and he’s part of your group. What are you?”

Mioray took a slow breath. There was no avoiding it anymore.

“We’re undead,” he said quietly.

The word felt sinister. Come to think, it was the first time he said it out loud to a living person.

Natalie nearly rear-ended the car in front of them. She swerved, cutting into the next lane. A driver honked furiously behind them.

“What did you just say?” she blinked, shaking her head. Wrinkles cut sharply across her forehead. “Don’t screw with me, Mioray. This isn’t the time for nonsense.”

Mioray sighed. This was exactly why he lied to Natalie and her partner in the past.

“It’s the truth. I know it sounds insane. I wouldn’t believe it either, if I could help it. But I’ve seen things. Experienced them. I was killed by the Dismantler. Cut to pieces. Then I was stitched back together and brought back to life. I even found my old arm at the factory, among the victims. It hadn’t decayed. I can reattach it.”

Natalie stared at him, processing. Her mouth opened, then closed again.

“So, you’re telling me that you, Terry, and the Dismantler are all dead? But somehow brought back to life?”

“I’m not sure that guy was the Dismantler. But yes. We died and were revived by a serum developed by the Order of Mercy. It made us kind of immortal. And we gained abilities tied to how we died. I can detach my limbs. You saw Terry turning into a literal vehicle. As for Impact Corpse? He causes explosions on impact. That’s why we call him that.”

“When you say it like that,” Natalie muttered, “it does sound like Herman Clopton.”

“Who?”

“A boxer, dead. He was thrown off his tenth-floor apartment over debts. If I believed you, I could see his powers manifesting in that explosive way. But in his mugshot, he didn’t look nearly as big as the Dismantler.”

Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. Stranger things had happened around Mioray. The idea of a boxer becoming a giant after death wasn’t much of a stretch. The cause of death fit too. Dead on impact, combined with the violence of his profession. Explosions on impact. It added up.

Strangely enough, Terry’s naming system, however ridiculous it might have sounded at first, put everything in perspective. If only he were here to hear that... He’d laugh, as he always did, and say that of course his idea was genius and there was nothing ridiculous about it. Or something along those lines.

A few minutes later, Natalie stopped the car and told Mioray they had arrived. The street they ended up on looked fairly calm, despite everything that happened today. They were far enough from the abandoned factory and from where Impact Corpse had rampaged. No sign of Terry, either. Natalie left the car, and Mioray followed.

“Any news from your friends?” Natalie asked.

Mioray checked the phone.

“Not yet.”

“Okay. Let’s wait then. So, this hideout. Is that where you were all this time?”

Mioray didn’t answer. He felt that if he did, Natalie might figure out the location of the storage facility.

“And this agent from International Investigations? Terry was the one pretending to be him?”

Mioray nodded. It wasn’t like Natalie hadn’t already figured that out.

“I can’t believe it,” she scoffed. “This is too bizarre. You guys were brought back to life? But I’m sure Terry was dead at his funeral. He couldn’t have pulled that off as a prank. And the Dismantler? He healed his body right in front of me. If I’m not going crazy, then I’ve got nothing to counter what you’ve said.

“You should’ve told me sooner,” she added after a pause.

“I knew nothing when you were questioning me at the hospital.”

“And back at your parents’ place?”

“I knew more,” Mioray admitted. “But what was I supposed to say? Even now you’re hesitant to believe me. Imagine how you would’ve reacted if I’d told you everything back then. You’d think I was messing with you.”

All the cars passing by were hover cars. None of them had wheels. Despite that, Mioray tried to get a good look at every driver. Who knew what Terry was thinking in his current state? They expected him to race in the car from the storage facility, but he might have changed his mind. If it was still his mind.

“Can’t say you’re wrong,” Natalie finally conceded. She raised her head, looking at a red sphere high in the black sky. Mioray looked up too, but to him it resembled the eyes of Impact Corpse – and now Terry’s – far too much.

“So then, you were the Dismantler’s victim. I guess your Impact Corpse was after you at the university, after all. What did he want from you?”

“I don’t know. After today, I’m starting to think he wasn’t looking specifically for me, but for anyone undead. I guess if he had my arm and saw it staying healthy, he realized I was like him. That’s probably why he targeted me.”

“Which would only support the idea that he’s the Dismantler. Why else would he have your arm along with the others?”

“Yeah, but I can’t imagine someone that huge wandering around unnoticed and killing people.”

“It just means we don’t have all the details yet. Honestly, I don’t even think people that big exist naturally. Maybe he was altered somehow. Maybe he was killing people to find one who didn’t die and that’s why he kept all those arms.”

“Then why wouldn’t he keep the victims and wait for them to come back?”

“He’s not exactly acting rationally, is he? Maybe he did wait with the first few, but after a while it turned into some twisted game for him. He just started killing mindlessly, tossing the bodies without caring whether they’d revive.”

“If that’s what happened, then it’s a good thing we found him.”

“Yeah, and how did that happen? How did you find out he was hiding at the furniture factory?”

That was a tricky question. Mioray couldn’t just tell Natalie that Kevin had obtained inside information from the police. He didn’t know exactly how the lawyer did it, but it definitely wasn’t legal.

He still wasn’t sure if he could fully trust the detective, but she was proving to be a valuable ally. Her outside perspective and professional insight brought a fresh take to the whole Impact Corpse versus Dismantler situation, making it plausible that the two could be the same person. If only that were their only problem, they might have time to figure out what the madman was really trying to achieve.

They had to focus on the present first, though. Not to mention that Mioray had to keep other things from Natalie, like the existence of greanrips, the souls of the dead, and other spiritual matters. She’d heard enough supernatural stuff for one day. He wasn’t sure she’d be ready for more.

Eventually, Farah’s phone call came. As soon as it rang, Mioray answered.

“We looked everywhere,” Farah said on the other end. “There’s no sign of Terry. The car in his room is missing too.”

That could only mean one thing. They were right about what Terry was planning. He took the car and was going to retry the race he died in. Natalie pointed ahead. From around the corner, an old-fashioned car with wheels appeared. It had blue flame decals on it.

“He’s here,” Mioray said into the phone, dejectedly. He hung up and looked at Natalie.

“What now?”

Instead of answering, the detective rushed into the middle of the road, arms spread. Terry’s car was approaching fast.

“Natalie, what are you doing?!” Mioray yelled.

Did she think Terry would stop if she blocked his path? It was too sentimental, especially for a detective. She was thinking with her heart, not her head. That moment of weakness could kill her. Maybe not kill – she didn’t seem to have become aware of Erinel – but it could still leave her with injuries beyond healing.

The car didn’t slow down. It didn’t swerve. It came straight at her. If not for Mioray, she would’ve been hit. He launched his arm at Natalie, pushing her out of harm’s way. The car sped through the exact spot where she’d stood a second before.

So much for Terry’s regret about killing innocents in the accident. Mioray hadn’t seen the driver’s face, but who else would be driving Terry’s car? He wished it wasn’t true, but he had to be realistic. With every passing minute, Terry was slipping further away from who he used to be. He didn’t care about hurting people anymore. All he cared about was finishing and winning that damn race, the one that had ended so tragically for him last time.