''Fuck.''
Screams ripped through the air as panicked people fled in all directions, crowding in and becoming easier targets than before.
Harlan leaned over, having snapped out of the trance he was in, and grabbed Angelica, inserting an arm under the girl's armpits. The sound of shots flying and cutting through the air left and right, chasing targets, spurred him on to hurry, erasing any other thoughts that might have been on his mind.
Harlan looked to the sides of the square, now filled with dead bodies and desperate people lying helplessly on the ground until they finally died. The boy pulled Angelica, practically dragging the girl with him. His legs were weak and shaky, he didn't know what the hell was going on, who those guys were, let alone what were those things that followed the strangers. His eyes were trembling, and he felt his hand being squeezed tightly by Angelica, who was silent but could understand what the boy was feeling now.
He was afraid. If that was happening here, and given that some of these floating things were heading towards the area where the restaurant where his friends and family waited for him, it was likely the same situation was unfolding there. The mere thought of it nearly made Harlan's head explode with pain, adrenaline racing even faster in his blood than before.
On the count of three, he calmed down, lifting his spirits and thinking more orderly. As he thought, Harlan noticed that the restaurant wasn't that far from where they were, and to get there on foot, they only needed to walk a few minutes. As long as they could distract those floating things and get out of that square with mountains of people huddled together, they could go to the establishment to rescue their friends and Harlan's family. As for Angelica's family: it was impossible that they could help them, as her father and mother had traveled abroad to run some errands for their company.
Harlan considered the situation calmly as he ran with Angelica, gripping her arm tightly so he wouldn't let go of her carelessly. Angelica glared at Harlan, still running beside him and holding the young man tightly. The boy's eyes moved nonstop, roaming all parts of the square, while he mentally analyzed the whole situation.
It was not for nothing that Harlan was considered an intellectual genius since childhood, despite his financial condition, always overcoming the difficulties that appeared in his life.
At the same time, she thought it was a miracle that neither of them had been hit so far. But what she didn't know was that it was all part of Harlan's analysis, which changed the direction of the path whenever he saw strange movements coming from the floating beings and the beasts in the place.
''Oh!''
''Fuck!''
''Ah!''
The screams became more and more frequent as the seconds ticked by and several bodies were falling beside Harlan and Angelica. Before them, countless people were being trampled underfoot by the monsters' huge paws or simply torn apart instantly by the mysterious attacks coming from the overcoated silhouettes. Harlan felt like he was in a weird fantasy book, but this wasn't fantasy, this was real life... and if he died, it was all over.
The attacks kept coming, hitting everything around them, and Harlan and Angelica were retreating as fast as they could, running awkwardly to one side. They passed behind a group of large trees, probably tended by a gardener - Harlan heard loud noises of dart-like objects burying themselves in branches and logs - and then they were out in the open again, becoming easy targets once more. They quickened their pace as they passed a region of the site where a beast enjoyed a pile of human corpses, half-burned, with broken bones and blood gushing out in large quantities on the floor.
The young man spotted a small entrance at the front and so they entered an alley between several houses and shops built at specific intervals. They managed to escape the square, but it was still a dangerous and unknown path as of now, and so they couldn't let their guard down for even a moment. From where they were, they saw people everywhere, running frantically and trying to defend themselves from the violent blows that hit them. Unfortunately, their attempts were in vain and they were either killed or sent flying with just a flick of the monsters' paw.
''We have to go, we can't stay here.''
Angelica nodded, agreeing with her boyfriend's statement.
Harlan decided it wasn't a good option for them to stay there, as the longer they stayed there, the more likely they were to be found and ended up meeting the same fate as that poor crowd in the town square. Then, as they silently moved towards the restaurant's location, they heard a loud roar and a warm breeze blew in their faces. The roar grew louder as they approached the establishment, and the wind grew stronger and hotter than before.
Their eyes watered slightly, stinging a little with the unnatural temperature brought on by the breeze.
Harlan looked ahead, his neck tilted up slightly, following the noise, and noticed that the purple circle in the sky had split and spread out into several other shapes similar to it, almost as if it was chasing the carnage's fugitives.
He saw two middle-aged gentlemen from his neighborhood, as friendly as he remembered. Both encouraged people to flee, their screams being lost in the air with the thunderous noise of the 'gates' working in the darkened sky.
Harlan had one goal in mind, which was to meet up with his family and friends, but he didn't know what to do after that. Finding shelter was the best way out, but there were too many people trying to do the same thing, and if their group joined the chaos, they would only be run over and left behind. The main purple circle made another boom and stopped in the sky again, and once again the strangers in their strange clothes raised their 'guns' and opened fire in various directions of the city, devastating it even more than before.
A shot grazed Harlan's shirt and hit the floor; he stomped on it, pushing it deeper into the hard surface of the asphalt. Another dart-like object hit a man in the neck as he ran past them - he screamed and fell forward, blood gushing from the wound in large quantities. After falling to the ground, he remained motionless, and several people trampled on him without blinking, trying to find refuge. Harlan only realized he had stopped, horrified at what was happening around him, when Angelica yelled at him to continue.
Those strange beings obviously improved their aim and increased their attack range, shooting some new types of unknown things that pierced and killed anyone they hit, in an instant. The shots hit more people, and the place was filled with screams of pain and terror. Harlan felt helpless - there was no way to protect himself from that bombardment, he saw houses being completely destroyed with just one attack from the silhouettes. All he could do was try, imponderably, to outpace the attacks of the flying silhouettes and their bestial henchmen, which seemed to be an impossible task.
Harlan continued to move, tugging hard on Angelica's arm and forcing her to keep up with his fast pace. Around them, the two middle-aged men ran, trying to help but not get in their way. Shots continued to rain from above; more screams and more bodies fell everywhere.
They turned to the side and headed down a narrow street, then straight down the alley that led to the diner. The young man kept close to the buildings on the right to get partial coverage, after all, he didn't want to die.
At least not now. And not in this painful way.
Fortunately, there weren't many people heading in that direction, so there were fewer attacks to avoid than in the other areas.
Step. Step, step.
The couple limped as quickly as possible, taking with them a hint of desperation in disguise.
The buildings were very close together on the part of the street they were on now, almost one on top of the other, so there was no way to cross the forest around the mountains that surrounded that region.
"We're almost at the restaurant!" shouted Harlan. ''Then let's hurry before these hellish things catch up with us.''
Harlan turned nimbly, looking straight ahead as he tightened his grip on Angelica's arm once more. Several things went through his mind, but they were interrupted by the pain he was feeling.
Running like this, without rest, had exhausted his leg muscles, and now they burned and threatened to cramp. But there was nothing in the way to slow them down that stretch, so Harlan increased his speed, pushing his body to the limit. Angelica followed his step, her eyes fixed on his back, which seemed larger than ever.
They managed to pass through narrow paths and alleys, Harlan was disgusted by the dirt floor that was now a little red. They turned left, then right, then left again. The strange noises were getting closer and closer to them, and the hot breeze was still the same as before, irritating their eyes and the exposed skin of their body.
Harlan finally turned a corner and saw the path leading to the restaurant, in front of a house that was on fire. He hurried along the final stretch, just as a horde of desperate residents appeared on the other side, frantic and wild, scattering in all directions at random and heading for any door in sight on the side of the path that Harlan and Angelica had just passed.
''That can't mean a good thing.''
Harlan felt butterflies in his stomach as one of the purple circles in the sky descended over their heads, closer to the ground than before. This happened to all the other purple circles, which seemed to be spinning even faster than before, shaking and making a continuous noise that made anyone uncomfortable.
And then, while his eyes were still glued to the dark sky, Harlan heard a strange noise behind him, and when he looked back, he was startled by what he saw.
FUSSH, FUSH!
Small sharp black and shiny objects sliced through the air, raining down on the people who had fled from that region just seconds ago. Each of the projectiles seemed to find its target, hitting the necks and arms of men, women, the elderly, and children. They screamed and fell to the ground almost instantly, while others simply had their bodies disintegrated or were thrown flying in the opposite direction.
He tried to remain calm, and he and Angelica continued clinging to the side of the nearest building, their eyes glued to the figure firing those deadly shots. Pain and physical exhaustion took over Harlan's arms and legs, making him want to collapse on the cold, dirty floor of those suburban streets.
But he couldn't do that unless he wanted to die like a fool.
''I know you won't like the idea... But maybe we should run away from here, we don't even know if the people there are really alive.''
Angelica said with concern written all over her face. Her eyes roamed over Harlan's body, and she knew he wasn't well.
Harlan gave her a hard look, but inwardly he admitted she was right. They could be putting their own lives at risk to try to save people they didn't even know were alive or not.
Still, he wanted to try. Giving up was not part of his personality, forged by countless years of continuous suffering that he overcame with his own abilities.
Angelica looked into Harlan's eyes, and they both fell silent.
Despite everything, that silence from Harlan answered her suggestion, and she got the message clearly.
"What will we do now?", Angelica asked, as she let go of Harlan's hand and walked to a corner of the building to peek into the restaurant. She glanced over her shoulder at the place.
"They are shooting people on the left and right. There's blood and guts everywhere. But most of all, what the fuck are these things and why do they use these weird attacks instead of firearms?''
Harlan shrugged, he had no idea what those things were. After all, they couldn't be explained by the science he worked so hard to study.
And so, he joined Angelica to take a peek at the restaurant. Several bodies lay there now, huge holes in various parts of their bloodied bodies and some impaled with blue and orange spears that pointed skyward. It was a horrendous sight, but in the last few minutes, they had witnessed so many deaths that it didn't even terrify them.
"Where are the military?", Harlan whispered. ''Did they take the day off or something?''
Angelica didn't respond, but a sudden movement at the restaurant's wooden door caught Harlan's attention and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was Beatrice, his older sister, waving frantically, beckoning them to join her there.
The woman carried what appeared to be a makeshift wooden spear and an oversized rifle with a few modifications to the tips. Harlan looked at her and realized that even in the face of such a situation, she was still the same person as always.
As an ex-soldier - even after all these years - the woman still knew how to handle situations like these and seemed to have a plan in mind, just needing help. She would fight these monsters to survive. And Harlan would accompany her in that too.
After all, almost everything he knew about self-defense and tactics for dealing with problems came from the teachings his sister had given him. So it was obvious that the confidence he had in her would be high.
Harlan backed away from the wall a little and quickly looked around. Looking up, he saw a large piece of wood on the other side of the alley. Without explaining to Angelica what he was thinking of doing, he ran and picked it up, then motioned for the girl to crouch behind him.
''Trust in me. That's all I ask of you.''
''I will always trust you.''
So he hurried toward the restaurant, trying to get Angelica there safely, while using the wood as a temporary shield on the dangerous path.
Harlan didn't even need to look up - he could hear the noise of strange spears aimed and fired at him. One of them resulted in a considerable bang, hitting the wood he was carrying and causing him to stagger slightly. He narrowly missed falling when he put his foot down and managed to straighten up.
But even in the face of such danger, he didn't stop.
''I WILL NOT DIE, NOT TO YOU FUCKERS!''