Ian was currently reading through the news on his phone. He felt agitated as he quickly skimmed through various news articles about the current situation. He tossed his phone aside and sat up against the wall. He rubbed his face in an up-and-down motion with both hands. Ian didn't think the situation was this dire.
"What happened?" Lily said in a soft voice. Her eyes were swollen red from crying earlier.
Ian furrowed his brows and relaxed both arms on his knees, "It's not looking too good. The country's coastal areas are being attacked by monsters." He felt hopeless and dropped his head.
"What about the military? Are they going to evacuate us?" Mrs.Willard asked him. She still had hope that they will be able to leave.
Ian looked at her and shook his head, "They're rescuing the politicians only."
He clenched his teeth and slammed his fist on the ground. "Fuckers."
His phone rang and played a cheerful tune. However, the music filled the room with a sense of eerieness. Ian picked up the phone and answered.
"Ian!" The person yelling on the phone was Ray. "Are you still at the apartment?!"
"Yeah, I'm still here!" Ian shouted. "What's going on!"
"Stay put! I'm almost there!" Ray hung up the phone. When he Ian heard that, a new wave of determination hit him. Ian couldn't give up yet, he still had to protect both of them.
"We need to go." Ian immediately stood up. "Hurry and pack the essential items only."
"What's going on? Who's that person?" Lily was confused.
"Ray, a friend of mine. He's on his way over." Ian replied.
He turned his phone's flashlight on and peered through the door. Checking that there were no monsters in the vicinity, he dashed for the kitchen. Mrs.Willard got up and walked towards the closet, avoiding the wreckage. She opened the door and took a black backpack out then followed Ian. Lily noticed that she still had a towel on and began looking for a set of clothes.
"It's so dark here!" Lily complained.
She crawled on the floor and moved her hands around in an attempt to find something to wear. After looking around for a few times, she managed to find a pair of shorts and a shirt before putting them on. The flames from the street lit through the broken window, shining its light on the pitch black living room. Ian arrived in the kitchen, shined his flashlight around and stopped at the counter. He ran towards the counter and began opening all of its drawers. Ian needed a weapon to protect himself.
He grabbed the stainless steel knife from the drawer and checked it out. "Perfect."
Ian suddenly noticed a rotten smell in the air.
"Watch out, Ian!" Mrs.Willard cried out.
Ian turned around and saw a large, mutant fish charging at him. He immediately dodged to the side, and his body hit the floor. The monster crashed into the counter and broke it. It slowly got back up with its long, bony arms; its large, protruding eye stared intensely at him.
Adrenaline coursed through Ian's nervous system - It was either fight or flight. He might die either way, but he had to protect the two of them. His chest heaved as he started breathing heavily. Ian gripped his knife tightly and stared back at the monster that was about to kill him.
The monster charged at him again and swung its arms downwards. Fear of being hit by it, Ian rolled his body to the right, barely dodging the strike.
Mrs.Willard grabbed the wooden chair next to the table and smashed it into the monster's decaying body. The chair broke and pieces of it were stuck in its body. The monster suddenly swung its arm towards Mrs.Willard. She instinctively covered her head and flew backward into the wall before falling to the floor.
"Mrs.Willard!" Ian screamed.
"Mom!" Lily cried out and ran towards Mrs.Willard. Lily helped her get back up.
Enraged, Ian jumped on top of its back. Ian grabbed ahold of its back as he stabbed fiercely into it before cutting down vertically. Black blood began to leak out as the monster wriggled violently in pain. It grabbed Ian and threw him on the ground. Ian's body slid across the floor before stopping in front of the two women.
"Run for the window!" Ian yelled and pointed at the broken window.
The three of them dashed towards the broken window. The monster was closely following them as a black, bloody trail was left behind. Lily and Mrs.Willard hopped out of the window first. Before Ian got out, a black, bony hand grabbed his leg and dragged him back inside.
"Ian!" Lily cried out.
She watched in horror as Ian got dragged back inside. The monster was now on top of him, ready to strike.
"Fuck off!" Before it had the chance to strike, Ian grabbed the flesh that held the eye up and chopped it off.
He tossed it away, and the eye started squirming on the floor with black blood leaking out. Ian immediately got up and jumped out of the window. The monster madly swung its arms as it tried to kill him, but it couldn't see anything at all. Black blood spurted out of its mouth, and it began ramming itself into the walls, trying to find Ian. Not long after, its body dropped to the floor and died after losing a lot of blood.
As Ian stood back up from the jump, Lily ran into his arms. Tears were flowing from her eyes.
"I thought I wouldn't see you again." She clutched his shirt and continued to weep.
Ian wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb and calmly said, "I'm way too stubborn to die, Lily."
"I'm glad you're okay." Mrs.Willard walked up to him and rubbed his hair, smiling.
A honk was heard behind them, and Ray popped his head out of the window from his pickup truck, "Hurry up and get in here! They're coming!"
The three heard stomps from the distance and turned their head; multiple mutated fish came charging at them from down the street. They immediately got in the backseat before the truck sped away from the monsters.