Thum! Thum! Thum!
The giant's every step caused the land to tremble, what it sought was not something Ferrin had the luxury to ponder over, he swiftly went towards his mother whose whole body had frozen into numbness as her eyes had successfully planted the image of the giant monkey king into her brain.
Ferrin called out to her while grabbing hold of the knife embedded inside the monkey's corpse and pulling it out. Seeing her not reacting to his words, Ferrin started shaking her slightly. Her eyes still didn't budge from the monkey, she gazed in pure horror as its tail swung around playfully, shattering skyscrapers like they were mere toys.
"MOM!" Ferrin shook Aria, finally causing her to snap out of her daze and look at him, "Hu-huh?" Aria glanced at Ferrin in bewilderment, her brain still numb from the shock.
"We need to leave. It's coming this way. We must hurry to safety! Or-" Ferrin looked back, sizing up the monkey who showed no signs of turning back, "We will be trampled!"
Aria kept gazing at Ferrin's back, her eyes welled up as the tears which had halted earlier from the fear and shock began pouring again. She reached out her hands and hugged Ferrin tightly.
Ferrin once again felt his blood boiling, feeling the subtly shaking trembles of his mother. He gritted his teeth and looked back but nothing came to mind, it was not possible to kill that monster in any way. At least, none that he could come up with, he shook away his thoughts and slowly broke off the hug, his light brown eyes gazing deep into Aria's as he spoke in a resolute tone, "We need to leave mom!"
Aria wiped her tears away and nodded her head, clenching her lips tightly fearing that she might let loose again, she didn't know what was happening, she was confused and more importantly, she was afraid.
"Where are we going?" Aria glanced behind her, gazing at the disfigured monkey corpse. She wondered if there were more of these monkeys outside or what.
Ferrin sighed heavily before once again peeking at the king monkey, "Away from that monkey's path."
He grabbed hold of Aria's hand and the two slowly began walking toward the exit of the house. Vigilant as they could be, fearing another attack from the monkeys.
The kitchen's door was connected to the narrow path which led towards the exit, bypassing a room on the left and going towards the door drawing room before finally connecting with the exit. The straight path allowed Ferrin a good look at the wide open door, he motioned for his mother to stay behind and tip-toed towards the exit. He peeked his head outside the house, coming face-to-face with the shambles of the outside world.
His eyes slowly widened into large balls, his feet stuttered backward, and his pupils quivered as he gazed at the street road outside.
Within his eyes, the ambers of the raging fire danced left and right, whose malicious claws dragged along the road and enveloped every car or human that had dared not give way, 'Is this... the apocalypse? Or... hell?'
Pitch-black smoke rose high up from the ablaze cars, shooting high in the sky and shading the gentle glow of the moon.
The moon's light fought tooth and nail with the clouds of toxic gas and barely any made through after the filtration.
The few street lights, that had escaped through the clutches of fire faithfully fulfilled their duty of shedding light on the evil play, though the brazen fire had already been declaring its own acts proudly.
Ambers flew left and right, falling upon the earth and all that it had hugged to itself. Its motherly grasp tightly clung onto all the charred humans seeking its protection. The only remuneration it desired... the thing that glistened brightly admits the roaring flames, slowly either getting sucked into the ground or puffing away into the air.
The blood and the mincemeat of human and animal corpses made something want to pour out of Ferrin's mouth, his vision began to spin in circles, feeling the urge to vomit at this scene of the disaster.
"UG-"
Ferrin instinctively jumped forward, the nauseating feeling flying far away from him, his hand tightly clenched the knife in his hand, he turned around and vigilantly stared back, fearful of another monkey attack. But seeing Aria's trembling eyes as she gazed around instead, her hands which she was using to cover her mouth which kept shivering like she was just dumped with cold ice water, Ferrin didn't know if he should feel thankful or what.
Ferrin sighed heavily and pushed Aria inside, he made her sit on the chair in the drawing room and hurriedly brought her a glass of water. Seeing her having difficulty taking hold of the glass due to her shivering hands, he helped her drink the water. This allowed him to also take a glance at his own hands, which were covered in blood and trembling just like Arias.
'Dang... DANG! Sigh!' Ferrin also sat down next to Aria to catch his breath. 'What's happening? Is this some kind of an apocalypse? Come on, you're kidding me. We just had dinner, I went to sleep, I woke up just after a few seconds, and now this? Bullshit! What kind of a sick dream is this?' Ferrin gazed at the shell-shocked Aria and sighed heavily again.
'Get moving Ferrin, that freak is still on his way over here!' Ferrin slapped his cheeks and got up. He went towards Aria and sat down on his keen, he took hold of her hand and stared into her eyes, "We need to run away mom!" Aria bit her lips, shaking her head in denial. Her eyes trembled as she gazed at Ferrin, telling him that she didn't have the strength.
"No, be a brave mom! You are the bravest person that I have ever seen. There's no one gutsier than you, so get your bearing together and let's move, we will be waiting for the death sitting here." Ferrin gulped nervously, his eyes melting from the tears that kept piling up inside Aria's eyes. He had never... seen her cry before, never. The scene was enough to crush him hundred times over.
Aria's eyes became red as she began to cry again. It was as if she was letting off all the weight that she had kept stuffed deep in her chest, never letting her son get even a wisp of its existence.
Ferrin's eyes boiled up, and he hugged his mother tightly, his eyes also betraying him and beginning to shed tears.
Sniff! Sniff!
The two's muffled cries rang around in the house for quite some time, before Aria gently patted Ferrin's back, causing him to calm down like all his worry was just a dream.
Aria smiled reassuringly and gently flicked Ferrin's forehead, "Hey! Isn't my son cute when he's crying?"
Giggle!
Aria smiled as well, seeing Ferrin giggling and smiling again. "Let's go, as long I'm here. I will see for myself who dares touch my kid!" Aria wiped away the last of her tears and stood up from the chair. Her mind quickly started working as she said to Ferrin while walking outside, "Go wash your face! I will prepare a bag of food in case of emergencies."
Ferrin nodded his head, feeling his throbbing heart calming down. This was his mother, braver than anyone. Only he knew how much ridicule and scorn she bore every day for him. She was a woman solid and firm in her steps. Not breakable by any storm or ordeal.
He got up slowly and went towards the bathroom. As he felt the cool water dripping down his face, his chest felt stuffy again, he clenched his teeth and kept them in. The sudden burst of adrenaline he had acquired seemed to cool off as he began to think about what just occurred a while ago.
'I killed something? How... I, I ki-'
Knock! Knock!
Ferrin snapped out of his thoughts, he hurriedly went to the door and opened it, "Ye-Yes mom?"
Aria gazed at Ferrin's eyes before gently placing a kiss on his forehead. "Let's go!" She flashed the black bag around her shoulders and said proudly while grinning from ear to ear, "Look, I bet I can beat you empty-handed in this kind of survival game with my survival instincts."
Ferrin chuckled helplessly and said, "This is not a survival game mom!"
"Hehe!" Aria placed her hand around Ferrin's shoulder and slowly began striding towards the exit.
As the two stepped outside, a strong scent of pungent blood assaulted their nose.
Ferrin couldn't help but look around nervously, he spotted more than 4 of them, the monkeys! Scattered all around, chewing on the mincemeat littered everywhere on the ground.
"Disgusting! Don't look there! It's good that they are occupied with eating, we will take the chance and run away. Now then, where is that monkey?" Aria turned Ferrin's face away and glanced around, she couldn't say that her heart wasn't throbbing like a bomb had been attached to it but she need to bear it for her son.
Aria's eyes slowed squinted in confusion, "Where is it?" She couldn't spot it anymore, the monkey had disappeared yet again.
"...It happened before as well, I was looking at it from my room but then it suddenly vanished from my view," Ferrin explained to Aria.
"Oh! So we have these barbaric monkeys and then that... magical monkey as well? Where the heck are we?" Aria went deep into thought, before looking at Ferrin and asking in confusion, "So, what should we do now?"
Ferrin gazed deep into her dark brown eyes and said in a somewhat strange tone, "Survive!"