Numerous people were running in a certain part of the city. Their desperate screams filled the environment as they bumped and pushed each other. The crowd was big enough to look like a big ant colony.
Those citizens weren't escaping from the terrifying phenomenons that were devastating the city. The new threat that appeared in front of them was a different one now.
Animals with their bodies evolving and gaining strange characteristics were appearing. All of them with cracks on their bodies that emitted strong red light, their muscles were growing each time more, both fur and skin were getting gray or black, the eyes were bloodshot. Those traces were shared among those monsters, though they were of different specimens.
Another characteristic was present on all of them, though not a physical one, but related to their behavior: those beasts had the same bloodthirsty... and the only blood that could satiate it was of the humans. Their aggressivity and cruelty towards them were remarkable. The people who could escape never would forget about those figures that seemed to be the product of a nightmare.
Those fearful animals were giving chase on all those citizens. As it was so crowded there, it was two times as difficult to escape. However, after the several disasters that befell the Capital, it was nearly impossible to take another road. Also, if they wanted to escape from that place, they needed to go through that path.
Those humans needed to choose: die for the terrifying "natural disasters" happening around, for those animals hunting them, or sacrifice their lives while trying to survive until the last moment.
Incredibly, all of them chose to do the same thing: survive with all their might!
The hearts of those people were burning in flames, that sensation made their bodies continue to move. Their thoughts were directed to only one thing: get out of the Capital and live even for a few more days.
Deep inside, they knew that it was pointless, that their attempt to survive and keep going would end up on their efforts and energy wasted. The destiny of humanity was decided, after all. Their death seemed to be a must there. The world was against them. The destruction of their race was imminent. One could guess that much more than half of the Capital's population got vanished, and people kept dying as time passed.
However, those flames would remain ignited on their chest and give them the energy to keep going. Their bodies felt feverish as if someone had set a fire inside them. They couldn't explain it, but it seemed the pure representation of the human's determination!
Despair was present on their faces, but behind that pitiful mask, they had resolute eyes. The time for sadness had gone a long while ago. Those who gave up on living were already dead, now was the time for the strongest to live another day!
Among that crowd, a car got struck by a truck. It was easy to imagine what happened there: the person driving the truck lost control and smashed the car on its left side right when it was passing by.
The truck's owner wasn't there anymore. He probably got no harm on himself and escaped. However, the individual inside the car couldn't say the same as he opened his eyes and tried to get back to his senses.
'Damn it! How much shit will still happen with me, huh!? Right when I was beside my apartment, this freaking truck nearly killed me!' Owen cursed, the anger getting the better of him and giving his body and mind the energy to react.
"I should have had gone straight to the road with the others..." He muttered while stomping the car's door to forcefully open it and get out. He hated himself for having those ideas, but in the end, that was how Owen acted.
Once he got out of the car, he saw all those people deviating from the truck and running towards the exit of the Capital. Some could take their cars, or steal one, and went to a nearby road.
Owen couldn't spot any phenomenon occurring in that part of the city, which got him suspicious about why people were running so desperatedly.
Nonetheless, right after he questioned himself about it, he could spot the reason several kilometers away from him, hunting the survivors who were in the extremes of that crowd.
'Oh shit!' He nearly shouted. 'What are those things? Are they animals? They seem more like monsters! Even monsters are trying to kill us now!'
Owen ran towards the building of his apartment and starting to get up on the stairs to get to his floor.
'I won't try the elevator. That idiot thing will surely fail or fall once I enter it, I am sure.
He needed to struggle a lot with his weak body to finally get on the seventh floor. At the end of it, he was panting heavily, nearly falling on his knees because of his trembling legs. However, in a last attempt to reach his family, the manager pushed his body forward and entered the apartment. He needed to open it with his keys since it was closed.
Once he entered there, he faced his wife and daughter curled up together in a corner.
Owen felt relieved once he saw that. He couldn't believe that a weak-willed, awful person like him could pull through that city filled with terrific dangers and get back to his family.
When he realized everything he passed for, the manager finally kneeled on the ground, tears of relief and pain running down his face.
His daughter jumped from the arms of his wife immediately and ran towards her dad, giving him a tight hug. He wrapped her in his arms while muttering her name.
"Alysson... Alysson... I can't believe it. Someone like me... Someone like me did it. Daddy fulfilled his promise. I am back home, Alysson!"
The little girl couldn't do anything other than cry on his shoulder, thanking God mentally for bringing her dad back and alive.
His wife got up from the ground, walking near him and also wrapping him in her arms. It wasn't a tender hug like his daughter gave him, but it had relief behind it. She was happy to see him, after all.
Owen wiped the tears on his eyes and looked to both of them, his only remaining family.
"I wanted to see you two here, but why didn't you get out of the apartment in the first place?"
"We tried to get out, but the first floor was filled with... with those beasts. Besides, everyone at the building was trying to get out at the same time, so I couldn't expect a good outcome if I decided to run among dozens of desperate people with a kid in my arms. Our only choice was to wait until it calmed down, then take our car in the underground garage and drive away."
Owen nodded his head to her. His wife wasn't someone to get affected easily by hard times. She could reason under the most stressful situations. No wonder she was a doctor before she needed to retire because of her health issues after giving birth to Alysson.
"I think we should go now, Lisa. This building is already empty, those crazy animals are distant now, among the crowd. Let's take the car and go."
Lisa nodded her head, taking Alysson in her arms. Owen went straight to the door, getting out of the apartment. He just looked back to mentally say goodbye to his home. After all, that was the mark of the end of his normal and monotone life. Get out of his home and let everything behind was what missed to make him understand that his life would change forever from now on. They couldn't go to the past and live those moments again or change something.
They were under a threat that they couldn't control, a nightmare that came without warning. Their only choice was to live in that state and don't look back to how they once passed their days, otherwise, they would feel dejected and give up on things.
'The only important thing is that I could survive until now. What matters from now on is whether I will survive in the next moments that will come. If I keep these things in mind and don't stop to struggle, everything will be okay. It's already too late to change my mindset and become a real man, but if I don't change right now, I won't be able to protect Alysson.'
Those thoughts crossed his mind as he hurried towards the underground garage.
The family could get their car and quickly get out of the building. Like the other people with vehicles, they went to the nearby road where the crazy animals weren't going.
"Are we going to the main avenue?" Lisa asked.
"No. We will take an alternative route. The main street will have immense traffic of vehicles, it will delay us. We need to get to the northern pier as fast as possible."
This way, Owen and his family left the Capital.