The Perfect Run

• 2016, Italy.

“Our target,” Leonard Hargraves faced his team in his human form, “is Freddie Sabino, alias Bloodstream.”

Pictures of the man that the Psycho used to be appeared on the screen, right next to the bloody abomination he had turned into. Short black hair, a tired face aged by stress, brown eyes… an unremarkable man for a terrible destiny.

“Born 1980 in Otranto, Italy, to a fisherman and a housewife, Freddie Sabino married young, dropped out of college when his girlfriend expected a child, and then joined the Otranto Polizia Municipale; the only job he ever had. His wife abandoned him for another man before Last Easter, leaving him to raise two young children alone. A daughter, Len—perhaps a shorthand for Lenora—and a son, Cesare.”

In short, there was nothing special about the man. If the apocalypse hadn’t happened, Freddie Sabino might have lived a normal life. Put money on the side, watched his kids go to college, perhaps marry again.

“Though the Alchemist sent Wonderboxes to families or isolated individuals, a few Elixirs ended up in the hands of law enforcement on Last Easter’s eve; usually because they were mistaken for drug batches or letter bombs. When the apocalypse began and Genomes rampaged in Otranto, Freddie Sabino stole two Elixirs from his police station and fled the city.”

They would never know to whom these Elixirs had been sent, before the police confiscated them. Perhaps if they had reached their intended owners, a great many tragedies could have been averted.

“We know Sabino was active as a Psycho as early as 2009.” Leo showed his team a phone picture of a bloody monster boarding a rusted car, alongside two children no older than twelve. “Reports indicated he has traveled with his children since the late 2000s, though his son was only confirmed as alive in 2012.”

Someone among the audience raised a gloved hand. Leo responded with a nod. “Yes?”

“Do the children have powers too?” Mr. Wave asked. The oddest member of the group, he was a creature of living wavelengths, and rarely took things seriously. “Mr. Wave is not going all out on kids, even if they’re Genomes.”

“The kids are powerless,” said Mathias Martel. The sixteen-year-old teen had insisted on joining the Carnival after his mother’s dementia, determined to complete her work. He had proved invaluable as an information gatherer, though not as much as Pythia.

Ace nodded with a dark look on her face. “He would have killed them if they were Genomes.”

“Nothing indicates that they are complicit in their father’s crimes,” Leo continued. “According to Pythia’s psyche report, Bloodstream remains violently protective of his children even in his current state. However, he also keeps them dependent on him through social isolation, gaslighting, and physical abuse.”

Leo had seen many similar cases in London; far too many. These fathers convinced their children the world was out to get them, and that they could only rely on their kin.

“We must ensure the children’s safety, especially that of Len Sabino, but I will come back to them in a few moments.” Leo continued his exposé on their target’s capabilities. “Bloodstream is a Green/Blue type. His Green power grants him complete control over his blood. He can reshape it into weapons, create tentacles, restructure his body. His Blue power turns him into pure information. It might have allowed him to enter computer systems, had he remained a pure Blue.”

It would have made him easier to kill.

“But as it is often the case with Psychos, his two powers mutated to form a unique synergy. Bloodstream became his blood, literally. Each of his blood cells hosts his consciousness, allowing him to reform as long as one remains. Nothing short of disintegration will slay him.”

“We need your flames,” the Cossack guessed.

Leonard nodded. “Which leads us to his ghastliest ability; the reason why he has remained undefeated for so long and accumulated a four-digit body count. If Bloodstream’s blood cells enter another human’s circulatory system, then he can take it over. Like a virus, he will overwrite foreign cells’ information with his own. Your DNA, your mind, your memories… If Bloodstream touches you, you are worse than dead.”

Leonard marked a short pause for emphasis.

“You are him.”

“What do you think?” Shortie asked, as she wiped sweat off her forehead. Her clothes had turned black and dirty, but she looked at her work with pride.

Standing on the boathouse’s pier at her side, Ryan didn’t share her enthusiasm. “That it will be a miracle if we reach Spain, let alone the USA.”

The boathouse smelled of rust and decaying paint, its ceiling threatening to fall apart any moment. The ten meter-long vessel floated in a water pond with direct access to the Tyrrhenian Sea, a pineapple-shaped, clunky mass of metal. The machine’s shape and rusty brown color scheme reminded Ryan of the Ictíneo II, one of the world’s earliest submarines.

It didn’t inspire confidence.

Len pinched him in the arm in response. “The Laika will work fine,” she said. “We’ll reach America in twelve days according to the autopilot.”

Ryan squinted at her with skepticism. “The Laika?”

“Like the dog the Russians sent to space.”

And they wanted to go to the USA? She would never fit in. “You do know she died midway through the mission, right? You’ve condemned us all!”

Len tried to pinch him in the arm again, but Ryan saw it coming. He dodged her vicious attack, and responded by grabbing her by the waist and treacherously kissing her on the neck. Her skin was soft to the touch, and she let out a cute gasp of surprise.

“Riri, not here,“ she whispered in protest, putting her hands on his own.

“Just a kiss,” Ryan asked, begged, his lips moving to her cheeks. “Come on, we deserve it. We’ve been working on this thing nonstop for weeks.”

“Riri, you’re insane…” Len whispered, but she didn’t fight him back either. Eventually, she gave in. “Okay, but five minutes tops.”

They made out for fifteen, her hand in his hair, his own on her back. Len tasted of oil and saltwater, but Ryan didn’t care. He wouldn’t have stopped for anything in the world. But like all good things, it was over too soon.

“That was foolish,” Len said while breaking the embrace, though her blushing cheeks disagreed.

If she had let him, Ryan wouldn’t have stopped at mere kisses.

Their first night together had been a logistical nightmare. First, they had to find pre-war pills which hadn’t expired, and unused condoms. Then they had to wait for her father to wander away, so he wouldn’t catch them in the act. When the right moment came, Ryan and Len realized they had no idea how to proceed. Nobody taught them the finer details, so their kisses and touches had been horribly clumsy.

But they figured it out. For a moment, Ryan and Len had been alone in the world. Two halves made one.

Ryan wouldn’t have stopped at one night, but her father never let them out of sight for long anymore. Not since the Carnival started hunting his clones. The two teens had to settle on furtive kisses and caresses, always fearing discovery.

The situation made Ryan die a little inside each day. Len’s father was always there. Always between them. Always ruining their chance at happiness. Always causing them trouble.

And now, that insane maniac had decided the ‘family’ would leave Europe altogether and migrate to America. What logical process Bloodstream went through to reach this idea, Ryan would never understand. But he didn’t leave his charges any choice.

Porto Venere had been a small coastal town before the apocalypse, a few colored houses built next to long piers. The locals had abandoned the place long before their group moved in. It was isolated enough that nobody would locate their hideout, but close enough to Genoa for supply runs.

Though Ryan himself was the only one who left the house nowadays. Shortie spent her time working on her submarine, while her father hid in their temporary home. The Carnival fell on them whenever Bloodstream went out in public, but Ryan could slip out unnoticed, if he took precautions.

“Can you bring back oranges and citruses, if you find any?” Len asked Ryan, as he prepared to leave the boathouse through a small door. “We risk scurvy with our current reserves.”

“I’ll do what I can,” he said, before freezing at his hand reached the door lock. “Hey, Shortie…”

“Mmm…”

“You said everything on the sub is automated? No manual controls?”

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “I can do a lot with my power, but scavenged boats aren’t the best source of materials available. I had to sacrifice some features to make the whole thing work.”

“What if we have a problem on the way?”

“Well, the sub will automatically redirect to the nearest shore. Hopefully, Dad will protect us in the meantime.”

Ryan looked over his shoulders, their eyes meeting. “It’s your dad I worry about.”

her arms. “Riri,

on the shore while they fled across the sea. Bloodstream might have an uncanny ability to locate his daughter whenever she wandered off,

she remained stubborn as a mule. “They’ll keep coming after him,” he warned her. “As long as he lives, they

pursue us across the sea,”

leader, the Living Sun, can fly at supersonic speeds and even in space,” Ryan countered. “It will take us days to cross

find us yet.” They had hidden well, true. “They can’t find us,

meant it as a statement, but it sounded like a fervent prayer

their ‘guardian’ and slew him for good. However, he was worried they wouldn’t stop at Bloodstream alone, since people had seen the family travel together.

couldn’t help but dream of a sun

the door with a sigh, and moved through the rest of the building. He guessed it had been a boat club once,

“Cesare!”

chilled Ryan to the

young teen followed the voice to the house’s dining room. Bloodstream slouched on a tattered sofa, right in front of the TV. This was the last

at a spot to his left. Ryan reluctantly obeyed, his kind and well-adjusted stepfather pointing at the TV. “It’s Power Rangers.

turned into shattered glass, but Ryan indulged the delusional Psycho. “I

with this series, that you always pestered me to buy you toys,” Bloodstream said, shaking his

lied, going through the

moving his head closer to his

shiver went down Ryan’s spine. “Len looks healthy to

sick, Cesare. All of us who took this poison, we’re all sick. The disease is in us. It drove the whole world mad. I think they put demons

you dream of

at night. The floor pulsates like your heart, the walls have mouths and eyes. And the air… I feel a thousand microscopic flies move into my lungs as I breathe. Even the water looks back and speaks to me. Hell is alive, Cesare. It’s

said nothing, knowing better than to talk back to Bloodstream

it, or you destroy the whole garden.” Bloodstream patted his adoptive son’s shoulder, as if congratulating him for winning a soccer game. “I’ll find a way to operate on your sister one day. Make her healthy again.

he knew… it was only a matter of time before he looked at his own daughter for sustenance. The Psycho hadn’t fed in weeks, and his lucidity

I don’t know what I will do. I love

his head in his hands. Ryan didn’t know how to react, so he

just wanted to protect you both, and I… I ruined it all. Now Len is sick, and… and

to hate him, to strike him in return for the years of fear and abuse, but… but in that moment, he

pitied the man

gone. Our house is gone. I just… I don’t know what to do… that place, it’s calling me. One day… one

feeling filling his innards. He carefully raised a hand, putting it on the bloody monster’s shoulder. He was warm and slippery to the touch. “It’s okay. I’ll protect Len,

Japanese pond. “I’m sure your mom is waiting for us on the other side of the ocean,” he said, with a shaking, hopeful voice. “She... she always wanted to go to L.A. She’s waiting for us there, you’ll see. We’ll start over.

like reassuring a child with cancer, telling him he would go to Heaven. “It will

brief moment, he believed it. Ryan lied to himself so well, that for a second, he thought Bloodstream could improve. That the man inside could reassert control; that Ryan could call himself Ryan, not

quickly turned into

at the broken TV, as if suddenly inspired. “If you die,” he said, his voice no

that so softly, Ryan found it almost

words, and they chilled him

“A world where children can die… it’s just not worth existing. We’ll

his time on the sofa, looking at the shattered screen with a frightening intensity. A psychotic shooter mentally preparing himself for

right

the horrors Bloodstream inflicted on his family and countless others. if there had been a man inside that bloody head of his,

the house, worrying that he might return to find Len dead at her father’s hands. He always felt this way whenever he left these two alone. One

fresh air outside didn’t bring him any comfort, as he walked towards his bike with a bag on his back.

would never make it to America

The proximity, the isolation… her father would lose control. He would weep and regret, but he would do the terrible deed. If not

ticking time-bomb, and one

die. For Len’s good, and everyone

detected Elixirs inside Genomes’ blood; but that meant he would know the second

as if alive, a promise of power and freedom. Perhaps it could give

second sun flew across the skies, answering his

a graphic representation of the possession process. A drop of blood

the

fact, we believe he did it so often that his current body isn’t the original one.” A tense silence followed Leo’s explanations, as his team digested the information. “All his copies share his

the other half will fear him?” The boastful Genome slouched

get rid of him, we must destroy all his copies and leave nothing behind. Not even a droplet. Each time we ambush a clone, I will incinerate it and Stitch will sterilize the area afterward. Fortunately, Bloodstream is a lone wolf Psycho.

a pack of his own,” the Cossack

his clones never moved more than one mile from each other, perhaps to maintain their hive mind. If we isolate Bloodstream’s doubles from bystanders, we can eliminate them

asked. “I

Italy in an irregular pattern and never stays in the same place for long, but they were last sighted near

and keep him away from populated areas,” Leonard

have any limit?” Ace turned to face Stitch. “Did you finish

confirmed with a nod. “I was waiting for

operations. This structure allowed each member a great deal of flexibility, and

own blood,” Leonard explained, showing pictures of Bloodstream bisecting an Augusti Genome with a crimson, crystallized axe. “He cannot telekinetically control your blood, unless he infects you first. Neither can he generate mass out

then?” Mr. Wave asked. “Mr. Wave

enough with Manic Plague,”

of ten doubles. If they break that limit, the clones start absorbing each other to reduce their numbers, probably to reduce the risk of them developing individual thoughts. He can

Stitch raised his hand.

“Yes, Stitch?”

respect,” the

books to bring with her to the

falling on the Laika and bouncing off its hull. The Genius stumbled and lost her grip on her books. Some safely fell on the pier, but her copy of Lenin’s The State and Revolution sank into the

smoke and flames came from the sea, carried inside the

opened the boathouse’s door with a backpack full of canned

He looked exhausted, as if he had run for miles. “Riri,

to go,” he said, catching his breath. “They’re here. The

had come to

like a bombardment. It’s his last body, Len realized in panic.

delaying them,” Ryan said, grabbing her books off the floor. “We have to

“Go? Go where?”

Genius looked into her boyfriend’s

“Maybe

tried to kill him, but he had never lost. Her father always came back, always beat the odds. He had fought the Augusti, raiders, and heroes, and he defeated them all. The Carnival would fail like the

on the sub, carefully moving towards the hatch.

her. She followed her boyfriend, opening the hatch and

the living space. Len had sacrificed space for efficiency, keeping only a bunk bed next to a small porthole and

Len asked, typing on the computer while Ryan put her books and his

“I wasn’t careful.”

made her pause. She interrupted her work to look at him, and immediately saw the guilt in his

care to hide,” Len accused him. “You led

even deny

could… he couldn’t have…

your father is sick,” he said, his gaze firm. “He’s sick

grinding her teeth, “I know that,

nothing,” Ryan interrupted her. “If we don’t flee, he’ll kill