"I beg you!! Don't kill me please!!!"
"No!!! No!!! I don't want to die!!"
"Leave me alone!!! You monster!!!"
Such desperate words echoed in my ear like a cursed opera, shoving out of my sanity with each passing moment. I watched every single one of these people get killed and discovered every possible reaction a human could do when he was faced with imminent death.
They begged me, cursed, and shouted all kinds of things at me, not knowing that I was inside that thing, hearing everything, and seeing everything. I didn't want that to happen, I never did.
What these people and many others like them didn't know is that I was a victim too. A few moments ago I was living a casual high schooler life and dealing with what people consider normal things that teenagers pass through.
Before all of this, I was worried about not having a girlfriend at this age, or what I will do in the future after graduating, whether I should go safe or follow my dream. I worried about what was for dinner and the school assignments. Things that made me who I am...a normal person.
But, in a few moments, I became a serial killer who murdered people with weird methods and someone who deserves the worsts of deaths. They glued these horrible crimes to me without much thought as that's what we like as humans: not thinking much about the obvious even if it was not how it looked to be.
The worst thing about all of this is that I'm not the first person to suffer from this and I will definitely not be the last. A cruel fate is a cruel fate after all whether you think it's fair or not.
"E-Eli...please stop." Then, I heard that extremely familiar voice nudging my ear. My dead eyes regained some of their light and what was relief at first turned to deep horror.
After consuming the 31st person, my body naturally turned around to face the voice's owner.
It was Claire, who I thought would've probably run away as far as she could. I was very relieved that none of those I cared for was still there. It was a spec of warm light in the midst of cold darkness.
Her shiny blonde hair swayed left and right, covering half of her sweaty face as she gasped for air indicating that she came back running at full speed.
"Claire..." I couldn't hold myself from pronouncing her name in disbelief.
She was all alone standing in the corridor of the staff building facing me. Her unyielding eyes that carried a hint of deep worry shook me to the core.
"Please...stop...I know you aren't responsible for this...You can do it. I'm here for you."
Her cheeky and playful tone was nowhere to be found and nothing but deep care could be felt in her words.
"No...I can't...I couldn't stop this...Runaway! Hurry!" I knew she wouldn't hear me but I couldn't stop myself from answering while averting my eyes in shame.
I was powerless and helpless, and that cost the lives of many people. Even if I was indeed a victim too, I knew that I had a fair share of blame to be put on me no matter how small it is...
Now I see it. How naïve I was. I was contradicting myself without realizing it. Hahaha, pathetic trash will always be pathetic trash.
Our emotional exchange got interrupted by the movement of my body.
"Hurry...Runaway!!" I shouted as tears started rolling down my cheek.
"I know you can stop this Eli...I won't run away because I know this is not you and that you won't allow this to happen in front of you."
Such a heartfelt monologue wasn't some kind of magic wand that will make the black liquid stop or make me get a new power to stop this mess. I just kept on being a pathetic person begging and shouting for Claire to escape.
It could've been quite the dramatic scene but the reality was not that beautiful. When I was close enough to her, the black liquid started creeping towards Claire intending to continue the same process with every other person and she, being the reckless idiot she had always been, stood her ground not moving an inch.
I thought it was over and I closed my eyes while weeping.
*Boom*
Suddenly, a strong impact coming out of nowhere shook me from my balance and made me fall to the ground.
On my left side, there was a school chair glued to the back liquid.
"Claire..are you ok?" Another familiar face appeared out of nowhere, it was my other best friend who I could call my brother whom I trust with all of my beings.
Luke was a good person by heart, I can't count the many times he helped people wherever he goes. He was a righteous man who saw this world as nothing but a stage for good people to shine bright while eliminating everything bad. A true hero mentality.
That's probably why we became best friends since we clicked like a perfect puzzle with our mostly identical way of thinking.
After checking on Claire, he eyed me with a wary look, something that I never expected to see from him.
"We need to run away...Eli can't control himself. That thing is corrupting his mind." He pulled Claire from her hand while running away.
I was relieved that they were running but the way he phrased his words...
"He thinks I'm already beyond corrupted?" I muttered to myself.
I could see that being the most logical conclusion a person could come out with, but somehow deep down in my heart I wanted him to believe that I was still who I am. I knew I was thinking of nonsense when I needed to prioritize more important things, but my immaturity was on full display at that age.
As they ran away, the black liquid sensed their intentions and started following them. This weird thing showed intelligence but somehow felt more like a mindless machine than a sane being.
I couldn't discern its goal except for 'updating' which is very vague and incomprehensible.
Update what exactly? And what was that thing about life essence? All of these questions kept popping in my head like a streak of annoying ads on a shady website.
As they ran away towards the school gate. I saw at the far front a group of men standing on full alert. They were some cops who came running after getting multiple calls about a weird monster eating people.
I took a deep breath of relief as I saw Claire and Luke escape successfully. For some reason, the black liquid didn't use its full speed and just kept on running moderately.
"Stop in your tracks or we will fire immediately...I repeat...Stop in your tracks!" A middle-aged man at the far front was holding a big loudspeaker and threatening me assertively.
The threats went to a deaf ear as I felt the liquid become a little bit agitated. It wasn't fear but more of...excitement.
It kept on approaching the cops and when the middle-aged man felt threatened enough, he made a hand sign, and then a rain of bullets came pouring down on me from all angles.
The rain of bullets didn't cease until half of the bullets in each barrel of each gun were halved. The black liquid looked more like swiss cheese as I could see tens of bullets digging deep into it and then disintegrating quickly as if thrown into strong acid.
"It won't work...It won't fucking work!" I knew for a fact that the bullets were useless and probably would only stop me for a few seconds.
I kept on advancing while the cops started feeling the imminent danger. Another hand sign from the leader and the second round of bullets started.
These bullets were way stronger than the ones used before 200 or 300 years ago. They were artificially intelligent as they could detect the enemy and aim its direction towards him, a rough aim was more than enough to deal a severe injury. That is other than the fact that they were way stronger and more lethal than the old ones.
Yet...
[Life essence detected.]
[Life essence consumption initiated.]
[Life essence consumed successfully.]
[Life essence required for update: 118]
An unlucky cop who was close to me lost his life as the others kept on hitting me w8th bullets. Any logical person would've known that these bullets won't do shit but they still kept on hitting me under the orders of that leader.
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