Something jumped at him, Mark was more than sure of it. The thing that jumped at him felt like it was huge but since he had his eyes closed, Mark could not see.
But he could react right in time to get out of the way of whatever that was. Since his eyes were closed off, instincts took over and his body moved.
Right out of the way as something crashed behind him. The crash was loud and it irritated one's ear. Any normal tussle with such a creature might end up deadly, not to mention an encounter like that.
Mark gathered his courage to finally have a peek of what had attacked and instantly wished that he should not have. If possible, he wanted to erase the memory of the whole encounter.
The cat, if it even could be said to be one was really deformed with fur leaking out of her various body parts.
And despite the grossed out shape of the cat, it was her size that was abnormally big. Thrice the size of a normal tabby, it was not only huge in size but also in weight.
Mark had no idea how he landed himself in such a situation but he really wanted out of this as soon as he could.
Tightening his hold on his bag, Mark made a run for it. His legs were not recovered from yesterday's fatigue spell but they still carried him well enough throughout the town.
Mark could not see the cat but he knew it was there for she had imprinted on him as her food. She would give chase and he had no idea what he would do when she came.
His legs finally gave out near the dark alley of yesterday, his bag falling to spill out its contents. Mark almost did not reach out to pack it off.
There seemed no point in all that now that his life looked to be on the end line. The monster would take his life here and there was nothing Mark could do about it at all.
But he had to at least try for there can be something that he could do to make the situation better?
He dragged himself toward his bag and began to pick up the stuff that had spilt out till his hand hit something cool and hard inside the bag. Mark grabbed it in confusion and pulled the object out of his bag.
A sleek, thin but strong body shining in the metallic light when the sun's rays fell on its surface. The sheen of hope it ignited in Mark's inside was tremendous.
It was the very same gun Liam had used yesterday to off the dog. This one looked similar enough to it that Mark was sure that it had to be the same one.
He had kept it as a joke but also because somewhere deep down he had actually believed Liam's words. And wasn't that crazy to think about.
He was actually listening to the lunatic words out of his own violation? But he had and this has been the result and now this thing very well could save his life.
But he needed to arrange the perfect position to use this and not be seen. And he could also not involve innocent bystanders in his problem. There were not any here and if there were they were doing a great job ignoring Mark.
He felt glad as well as vexed at the situation but Mark forced himself not to think about that. He needed to focus on now and here rather than what could have been.
Once he had a tight enough grip on the gun, Mark stood up on shaky legs and entered the alley. He needed to have an advantageous position first.
Since the walls on either side were not tall enough, he hurried toward the end of the alley which could provide him with a back wall. There was only so much Mark could guard against without facing problems on the way.
Luckily, the alley had a back wall tall enough to cover his back. This meant that the monster could only attack from the available three directions. It was not perfect but it was something.
Rather, he was counting on the fact that cats were playful creatures so the monster would actually not go in straight for the kill.
'Please come from ahead. Please don't hide and make sudden movements' Mark's mind was blank and all he could repeat was these words.
If there was a sneak attack then Mark would most likely not live past it at all. He was neither strong enough nor fast enough to adapt.
The waiting was the most antagonising part of the whole chase. He neither had enough stamina to get back home nor enough awareness to call for help.
He even didn't have his phone in hand. Mark had panicked and he swore if he survived this then he would glue his phone to his hand in retaliation.
Why had he grabbed the gun first and not his phone? Police would have been a better alternative in such a situation. Now he was stuck here, most likely where he would die and no one would even notice his death.
Soon the footsteps' echo got louder till he could make out the shape of the not cat in the alley. It had come straight just as he was hoping for and his heart was in his throat the whole time.
'Keep walking straight. Please no sudden movements' it did not occur to Mark that the movements of the cat were unnatural at all.
Later, he would wonder if the cat was drunk or was it because of any external influence, but the cat just walked straight forward.
'Just like that. Keep walking' Mark chanted in his mind, his fear increasing his focus by a ton. The cat actually seemed to follow in a daze at his words.
Mark had his gun ready to shoot but his hands shook. Mark had killed animals before, some who were in too much pain or could not be saved, he had put out of their misery.
But never with such a deliberation before. This was a new experience Mark was not sure he was liking at all.
His concentration broke for a moment and that was all it took for the cat to lunge at him. Reflexively, Mark shot the gun in his hand but nothing happened.
There was no sound or reaction for a second and with a horrible clearance Mark realised that he had no idea how to work this gun at all.
He was going to die because of his own ignorance here. Mark closed his eyes and waited for the pain to crash into his senses.
But there was nothing at all.
"It's alright now. Get out of here fast" the voice was Liam's but it came from the wrong direction to have killed the beast.
Mark opened his eyes to see the cat, no, the monster disappearing into smoke from a shot fired at its side but Liam was standing far away with his back toward Mark.
There was no way Liam had been the one to make the shot at all. Were there other people involved in this too? Hadn't Liam mentioned informing the government? Had that not been a joke at all?
Or was Mark just going crazy in all this?
"Liam?" Mark asked, his tone was still shaky but now the shock seemed to be wearing off since the physical proof of the whole deal was gone.
"Ah, I should have known it would be Dr Li in the middle of all this. Attacked twice in two days might be a new record even for you" Liam was close enough to help him now, not that Mark needed the help at all.
It was just a little disorienting for him to face everything so seriously all of a sudden.
"What is going on here?" Mark did not trust himself to make coherent decisions or questions in his current state so he settled with small talks.
"Our captain shot down this monster before it reached you. He's securing the perimeter right now in case anyone else escaped" Mark just nodes, the confusion present on his features all the time.
"What kind of person is your captain? He seemed skilled" Mark asked, his tone full of awe at the precision and the speed of his rescue. Liam looked a little bashful at the praise as if he himself was praised for it and not his captain.
"Well captain is amazing, one man army even. He's the 'protagonist' of his world. Well, his body is actually. We are borrowing it to train it up" That did not sound right to Mark at all. Rather, it sounded inhuman with all the practice going on here.
He was not sure if he liked what was going on here at all but also if he knew what was going on Mark would start to feel responsible.
He did not want that at all.
"Give him my thanks as he saved my life. But I'll be going now" Mark did not respond to the calls that were made behind him by Liam.
He picked up his bag on the way out and checked for cracks but there was nothing as expected. It was safe and sound.
He just ignored everything as he went home. Besides, if that person wanted anything from Mark they knew where his home was. They'll find him if they needed him and hopefully provide a better explanation over the whole situation.