My Devil's Hand System: Countdown to the Apocalypse

Alex thought life would repeat itself before his eyes when he died. Still, he was pleased when he discovered nothing in it—just completely and utter darkness.

He wasn't sure how he died. The last thing he remembered was seeing the man, the shittiest one alive, the "park's maniac," as the media labeled him, running to a corner on the other side of the street.

Alex had no time to think. He needed to act, so he ran after him. That was his job, the one Alex fought a lot to get. The one that earned him everyone's respect at such a young age.

The youngest detective in the city. Twenty years old and already trailing a successful career, not anymore.

Looking into the darkness and trying to find his body, the memories started to make sense in his mind. He could see the truck's light that hit him now, clear as day. And inside the truck, the face of the driver… He was scared to the death.

'Well, I suppose the driver can go fuck himself with the guilty. I'm the one dead.' Alex thought while clasping one hand into the other, but nothing happened. What was going to happen with the serial killer? His partner would be able to catch him?

Alex couldn't stop thinking about the night's accident. His career, his plans, after so much suffering… for nothing. And that was all? Looking to the abyss was the only thing when you died? 'Hell, no!' Alex thought, walking inside the black room.

He could hear his steps on the ground but couldn't see his legs, but he kept walking, then running, then sprinting with all the speed he could muster. Not a drop of sweat whatsoever.

After what seemed like an eternity, the young man saw a light in the distance. A little thin light, like the sun reflecting in a mirror. The light pierced his vision, and he ran for it.

The light became bigger by the second, and Alex realized he was upon a portal when he reached it. Just like in the movies, in front of him lay a new landscape, while behind his shoulder only the dark room.

He crouched and looked very close to the place below and saw a big city, but the funny thing was that the city was miles away. Alex had his feet grounded in the floor, but if he gave one step ahead, he would free fall into this mega city.

"Is that what I have to do? Is it my city from above?" He muttered to himself while looking at the landscape before him and getting up.

The young man couldn't see the moon, but it was red in the sky. The red hue bleeding into the sky, like a rare full red moon that he had seen only a few times. He could see one single gigantic skyscraper and empty streets. A strange black airplane was flying slowly, close to the portal, but seemed not to care about the man standing in nothingness. Strangely, Alex thought the vehicle's wings resembled real wings.

Alex kept glancing at the portal, thinking about his next step, literally.

[JUMP!]

Your new life awaits you!

A blue screen appeared above the portal, blinking a white text before his eyes. It looked like the sign of a bar but less flashy and corny. The young man took two steps back and carefully looked at the letters. They only existed in his eyes, contrary to what he had thought.

He looked around and saw nothing more. The portal was slowly diminishing. He could remain in the dark room and wait for another exit, but he had no idea if it would happen.

[JUMP!]

That's your only chance at a new life!

Besides the jumping to the death situation, that was his better choice. 'I'm already dead, anyway.'

And then, he jumped. The wind flapped his ears and opened his mouth, just like in the movies or cartoons when the character jumped from a plane. Initially, he screamed, but he stopped in a couple of seconds.

It was beautiful.

Strangely beautiful.

He felt joy entering his heart when he started getting close to the skyscraper. The building was made of a strange black metal, shining in the red night light.

Alex saw people inside the building but was too fast to discern them. At first sight, they looked normal, just like any other person in his city. Besides the alien look of the moon, the young officer could be in any place on Earth. If he had to guess, he was probably in some Middle Eastern city created in the middle of a desert, full of high-end technology and riches.

'Let me be a loaded Sheikh! Let me be a loaded Sheikh! '

Alex thought to himself while the ground got closer and closer. His vision blurred. All he could be sure was that he wasn't dropping in the middle of a street and the front of another damn truck. He was actually falling into an alley, similar to the one he saw the maniac running away. 'Oh, the irony of life… or it would be death?' He mused as his body collided with the ground.

The last thing he saw before crashing was a young man with long white hair and pale skin. His face was a mess of blood; it was difficult to guess his age in such a fast motion, but he was probably a young adult like Alex and lay on the ground with tattered clothes. He fell just above the youth but heard no THUMP!

Darkness engulfed him again, but when he opened his eyes this time, he saw more than a black room. A deep breath entered his lungs, just like the one of a baby newly born, and he felt an immense pain all over his face.

"Shit! Shit!" he tried to shout while sitting and pouring blood to the ground. Alex looked at his hands and saw the limb of another person. He passed his hands over his hair, and instead of a military cut, he found a big lock of white hair, now covered with blood.

"Weren't you dead, scum?" A grave voice came from the other side of the alley as if uttering the question was painful and offensive. "I'll kill you again if that's the case." The voice was getting closer. Alex turned his neck and saw a man coming from the end of the alley. Another silhouette was close to him. A girl, probably at his age, with similar features and a beautiful face, was looking at him with tears.

Alex opened his eyes as further as he could and looked at the man talking with him, but he wasn't a man. He was a monster, with greyish almost black skin with lumps covering all his body, his belly was big, and he was at most 1,60 meters tall. He dressed in simple beige pants and shirts, had anger on his face, and walked with strange difficulty.

'What an ugly face', Alex thought as he looked at it. The monster was precisely like an orc from any fantasy movie, with flatted noise almost cut to the skin, narrow eyes piercing his hairless eyebrows, and a mean, mean look. He had murder in his eyes, and Alex was the target.

"I'll enjoy killing you again, filthy." The monster said with a rasping voice, now almost rushing towards Alex. "Then I'll punish your little friend for your insolence." The monster's fist descended upon Alex's face, but he intercepted it with one hand, twisting it to the side. The beast screamed to the skies while Alex took advantage of the creature's weight to lift himself to his feet.

Not waiting for the monster to recover from the shock, Alex kicked his groin with all his force while still twisting his hand. The orcish thing gasped for air, and Alex released his hand to follow up with a punch in the face.

The creature scrambled to his back, tripping on his foot and falling to the ground. Alex rushed towards him and got up over the creature, delivering one punch after the other. The monsters hit Alex in the face, making the youth fall behind. His new body was weak and unprepared for fighting, but Alex had plenty of experience. Experience taking a beating, but most importantly, experience with beating the shit out of a bully.

Alex heard something close to his ear, and when he turned, he saw an object flying towards him. It was a rusted metal rod that he grabbed in one move. The girl had thrown it to him. 

On the first strike, the monster defended with one hand. In the second one, the monster defended once more. But the monster couldn't avoid the third, or the fourth, even less the tenth.

On the floor of the alley lay now a faceless corpse. While Alex gasped for air, something different clicked in his brain.

"I'll not die again!" He muttered in a rage, looking at the corpse in front of him. "Did you listen?" He swung the rod once more in the dead body, sprawling blood all over the place. "Never again!"

He felt… good.

He felt no restraints anymore.

He didn't need to hide his feelings, and what hit him was overwhelmingly simple: 'I'll never lower my head again. Never.

Walk in the line? Wait for my time? I had a lifetime of it. This time, I'll take what is mine. Starting now.'