Mad Zack week, day 7

“They took away my childhood…They killed me! I just wanted to BE someone!”
Name: Zachary Nichols
Alias: Mad Zack
Birthday/Age: December 13, deceased at 13
Height/Weight: 5’1”, 94 lbs.
Relatives: Alexander Nichols (father), Regina Nichols (mother), Skyler Crawford (temporary caretaker/boss)
Occupation: unprofessional lumberjack
Interests: destruction, power tools, microbiology
Powers/Equipment: a chainsaw and a scope eye
Weaknesses: disease, hospitals, his parents

Bio: Zachary’s life was one of constant ups and downs. From birth, he was diagnosed with a terminal disease called corpossitis, for which there was no cure. The disease would slowly shut down his body, and his life expectancy was capped at 20. On the other hand, his parents were wealthy (his father inherited a large sum of money, as his family owned a successful electronics business), and provided ample funds for a program that could possibly cure their son’s disease, or at least extend his lifespan.

Thus, Zack pretty much grew up in the hospital. Month after month, he was subjected to all kinds of tests, treatments, and experiments; he never figured out how any of them were supposed to help. He had a few friends in the children’s ward, but over time they were discharged one by one, with Zack ultimately alone. By the time he reached 13, the affects of the disease and some of the experiments could be seen taking a toll on his body. He became tired quickly and could only eat certain foods. It seemed as though none of the operations were helping.

His parents picked up on his decline, and became increasingly upset—especially his father. Mr. Nichols began to think that the treatment actually lessened his son’s lifespan, and concluded that Zack would quickly deteriorate and suffer a painful death. He took matters into his own hands, deluded by his own theories, and went to his son to kill him himself, as a way of “putting him out of his misery.” He called Zack into a room, where he shot him above the eyes, and then committed suicide right after.

Mrs. Nichols was alerted by the noise, and went in the room to see a shocking sight: her husband, dead on the floor, and her son, apparently dead…yet not. The hospital experiments had actually altered Zachary to the point where he had a high pain tolerance and resistance, and thus a shot through the head was damaging, but not lethal. Said damage, though, was severe, taking out a portion of his brain and altering his personality.

He became erratic and violent, running out of the hospital and into the suburbs, scared and confused at what had happened to him. Eventually he was discovered by a crime boss named Crawford, who had connections to Mike. Crawford fixed him up, bandaging his head and giving him a makeover of sorts. He also nicknamed him “Mad Zack,” and it stuck. What didn’t stick, however, was Zack’s devotion; he became tired of being an “underling” quickly, and he ran away from Crawford, finding his own place in an abandoned shack in Fort North’s nearby forest.

Mad Zack is a touchy issue for everyone that knows of him. The kid obviously needs help, but he’ll never accept it. All attempts at making him more civil fail quickly, and he seems like one giant, angry lost cause. He’s also a nuisance to the environment, as his random bouts of anger see him hacking down the trees outside the shack as a form of stress relief. And if Mad Zack ever clears his mind, his old fears rush back, such as his disease. He may have survived a bullet to the face, but he isn’t technically “dead;” corpossitis could still be lingering, slowly ending him for good.

Character History: Zack comes entirely from one musical source: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s album Of Natural History. It’s a strange, avant-garde album about technology overtaking nature and proving to be the downfall of mankind. Through this theme, I developed a story in my head about a dystopia where there’s a sort of army that goes out and destroys nature on a regular basis, and this was the cultural norm. I had the idea for the main character to be part of this army, and really young, and thus Zack was born. Sad to say the story went nowhere, but he easily fit into II. His uniform is the same and everything, so he still has the reference. His name simply comes from my desire to have a Mad (name)-type character. It’s always good to have at least one.

Next week: the adventures of Dollboy and the Ghostly Magician!