Fights often began suddenly, and ended just as suddenly.
This one ended with Scorpion being brutally killed, while Doctor Olivia and Tombstone were both injured and forced to retreat. They ran fast, almost as fast as Kingpin himself.
Meanwhile, in a dark alley, Aaron was already on his last breath after being shot through the heart. Miles was panicking. He could clearly feel his uncle's breathing growing weaker, and even his pulse was starting to slow.
He tried to stop the blood pouring out of Aaron's chest, but the more he touched it, the worse it seemed to get.
"Uncle Aaron, you're going to be okay…"
"Miles…"
Although the bullet had only clipped the edge of Aaron's heart, the blood flooding back into his body had already pushed him to the brink.
Even so, he still could not let go of his little nephew, the kid he had practically helped raise, the one he was even closer to than Miles's own parents in some ways.
"Uncle Aaron, this is all my fault. If I hadn't gone to Peter's house, Kingpin never would've…"
Miles looked completely helpless, tears streaming down his face. His hands were covered in blood, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do next.
Aaron slowly lifted a hand and touched Miles's face. Using the last of his strength, he forced a smile and said, "I'm sorry, Miles. I wanted you to look up to me… like you did when you were little. But in the end… I still let you down…"
"You're the best one in the Morales family. And now… you've become Spider-Man too. You've got your own road to walk, don't you…"
"Miiiiiles!!!!"
A hoarse voice came from the alley entrance.
Miles turned sharply and saw a Spider-Man in a classic suit standing there, but he was not wearing a mask. His skin was grayish blue, his pupils were pale, and he looked like a corpse that had crawled its way out of hell.
Yet Miles could never forget that face.
The body did not belong to middle-aged Peter, and it definitely did not belong to the younger Peter. It belonged to the Ultimate Peter who had died saving him.
But Peter was dead.
Miles had stood in front of his grave. He had mourned him.
So how was he standing here now?
No, this thing clearly was not human.
"Peter…"
The stiff figure ignored Miles. Instead, he walked over to the dying Aaron, slowly crouched down, and bit into the side of his neck.
The man who had been on the verge of death suddenly felt something strange surging through his body. Aaron's pupils constricted, and then he shot upright in one motion.
"Peter, you are…"
Miles stared at the unbelievable sight in shock, but the rigid Ultimate Peter simply wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, stood up stiffly, let out a shrill cry toward Miles, and then vanished with a strand of web.
Meanwhile, Aaron, who was now sitting on the ground and gasping back to life, began to change.
His body turned the same grayish blue, and certain spider-like traits started appearing on him.
At that point, he was not much different from a zombie in a comic book, TV show, or movie. The only real difference was that he still seemed to retain a bit of human emotion and some spider-like traits.
Just then, a police cruiser rolled into the alley.
The officer who stepped out was Miles's father.
Seeing two figures in the alley, one of them even wearing a cheap Spider-Man costume, the experienced cop immediately approached carefully and drew his gun.
"Both of you, hands up! Right now!"
That shout completely shattered the little control Aaron had just regained. He lost his mind again and immediately leaped out of the narrow alley.
Miles was startled too and instantly turned invisible.
Looking at his stunned father, Miles knew he could not deal with any of this right now.
Uncle Aaron was alive, but he had become a monster.
And the Peter of this world had come back too. He was the one who had turned Aaron into that monster.
It was all too insane.
He had to tell the others.
But by the time Miles rushed back to the house, everyone had already left.
Unable to find them and with nothing else he could do, he returned home to calm himself down.
But he could not calm down at all.
Ultimate Peter was alive, yet he was like a walking dead man.
Uncle Aaron had been saved, but had also turned into a monster.
Ever since he became Spider-Man, the world seemed to have gone completely upside down. All the weird things he had never run into before were now happening to him one after another.
And then, just after locking his bedroom door, he realized several uninvited guests had pried open the window and climbed inside.
It was the Spider-People.
"Hey, why are you coming in through the window?!"
"We're wall-crawlers, Miles," middle-aged Peter said, giving him a sympathetic look. "I know you're hurting. I lost my uncle too once. But I still hope you can pull yourself together…"
"What? No, you don't get it…"
"I lost everything. My family, the woman I loved, even my job."
Spider-Noir patted him on the shoulder as well.
"But…"
"I lost my parents," Peni added.
"That really does sound awful, but…"
"I lost… actually, I don't think I've lost anything…"
Peter had wanted to get emotional too, but then he realized he really had not lost anything, and more importantly, he did not want to lose anything. The tragic mood instantly collapsed because of him.
"Alright, listen, kid. This is exactly why I hit so hard and never show mercy. I have to protect my family!"
"Wait! My uncle is still alive!"
Miles looked at the group of Spider-People as if they were idiots, then clicked his tongue.
"How is that possible?! He got shot in the heart. How is he not dead?" Porker's eyes went wide with disbelief.
"What do you mean?"
"Sorry, I'm just curious…"
"What I'm saying probably sounds insane, but I saw this world's Peter come back to life. He bit Uncle Aaron, and then Uncle Aaron came back too, except now he's like him…"
"What?! What are you talking about…"
"We're not following you at all!"
Miles's explanation left everyone confused. Dead people coming back, biting people, turning them into something else. None of it made sense.
But Peter was shocked.
From the way Miles described it, it sounded like Zombie Spider-Man had appeared.
But this was not the Marvel Zombies universe.
Unless that damned quantum rift had not just pulled them in, but had also dragged in Peter Parker from a zombie universe.
And if that was true, then things had just become a whole lot worse.
(End of Chapter)
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