"Ah, shit…I'm fucked, aren't I?" Lamented Aiden, and as if to answer him, the 3rd class Beast roared and started towards him.
A Few Moments Ago
Aiden looked at his brother in his fetal position and knew what he had to do. He turned to the beast and zeroed in on the flaring holes in its head.
He turned back to his brother and grabbed his shoulders.
"Nathan, I'm gonna need you to be a big boy for a moment, okay?" His little brother looked up from his knees with tears in his eyes.
"Why? Where are you going? Please don't go! I'll be good! I promise!" Nathan clung to his older brother, and for a moment, Aiden almost caved but held himself together. He comforted his little brother as he held him.
"Don't worry; I'll be back before you know it. I need you to hide over there and wait for the monster to leave. Once it's gone, make your way over to the strong men at the shelter. They'll take care of you till I get back." His words seemed to have the opposite effect as Nathan only held on tighter.
"You're lying! You're going to leave me, and I won't be able to find you!" Aiden's expression softened before prying Nathan from himself with some effort. He brought himself to eye-level with the now-sobbing boy.
"Nat, I have to do this, or the strong men will leave. Then, neither of us will be able to escape the monster. Listen to me and hide over there. As soon as the monster and I are out of sight, you run straight over to the soldiers screaming your name and age." Aiden wipes a tear out of his brother's eye.
"Can you do that for me?" Nathan stared at the ground and slowly nodded. Aiden couldn't keep a proud smile from spreading as he gave Nathan one more hug before sending him off. He knew it was better this way, but it didn't make this any easier.
"Now, go! And remember to scream your name and age!" Aiden ordered sternly. Nathan raised his head to face his brother, and tears began forming in his eyes before holding it in and doing as he was told.
Aiden turned to see how the battle was going and saw the soldiers were still firing, but he also saw them start backing up as if they were ready at any moment to make a break for it.
Aiden sighed. How did it get to this?
What he wouldn't give to have his mom's cooking again….
Aiden looked around and thought about what he could use for his plan. It wasn't long before he thought of something he could make with what was around him.
Aiden got under the car he was using as cover and grabbed the fuel line, wrenching it from its place. After grabbing the sharpest piece of glass nearby and some rubble, he cut the line dousing the rubble in gasoline and rubbing dirt and glass all over it.
All in all, it made for one nauseating distraction.
At this point, the monster was too far to hit with decent enough accuracy. He would have to come out of his cover and hope to god no bullets stray in his direction.
Aiden closed his eyes and breathed. You should know something about him: from a young age, he could calm his emotions with meditation.
After trying out meditation for the first time, Aiden noticed it worked better than expected. Almost too good.
Aiden still felt emotions in his calm state, but his body wouldn't react like it normally would. Instead of causing his body to react, his feelings became inference material to work with.
He knew better than anyone how useful this was, especially in stressful situations like sports or what's happening now. The only problem was how long he could stay in this state. It exhausts him greatly, prompting him to use it sparingly.
As Aiden breathed, the wild sea of emotions within him started to calm into soft waves. Not locked away, but controlled.
He breathed out as he opened his eyes. Aiden's calm visage should have looked out of place in this scenario but oddly resonated with his surroundings.
The sound of soldiers shouting, guns firing, and the monster's roars no longer overwhelmed Aiden's ears, and he could finally understand what they were saying.
"Shit! It's 3rd Class Beast!"
"Get the explosives!"
"Commander, what are our orders?!"
Hearing this, Aiden knew his time was now.
Curly hair ruffled in the wind as he dashed from his cover into the fray. Bullets whizzed past him with luck on his side as none struck him.
It took only a moment to get to the monster's side, and Aiden channeled all his baseball training into this one throw. He waited for the right moment and struck.
As soon as the monster breathed in to roar once more, the rubble found struck the holes on the side of its head and broke into pieces. These pieces found their way into the pits as the monster breathed in.
A coughing fit ensued as the weird cat-lizard hybrid started to gasp and scratch at his head. Aiden cheered in success.
"Yes!"
He forgot that he was doing this to get its attention but was soon reminded when the monster turned its gaze to him.
"Ah, shit…I'm fucked, aren't I?" Lamented Aiden, and as if to answer him, the 3rd class Beast roared and started towards him.
"Crap!" Aiden jumped to the side before taking off as the place he was previously was now occupied by a very annoyed beast. The monster shook its head to stabilize itself before turning to go after Aiden.
Commander Neal couldn't believe his eyes with the soldiers when he saw someone throw what looked like rocks and dirt at a 3rd class Beast. You would have to be looking for death!
"Hold your fire!" Neal wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and lose this opportunity. The sacrifice of one for the sake of many was the outlook of most in the military.
He saw the man being chased away from the shelter, and his goal was clear. He was drawing the beast away on purpose. Neal tipped his hat as he solemnly prayed for the brave lad.
He was interrupted by a shout from one of the scouts.
"Sir! Movement at 4 o'clock! In the smoke!"
"We have our sight on it! Permission to fire?"
Immediately, Neal turned on the thermal sights in the binoculars before looking in that direction and saw what it was.
"Hold your fire! I repeat! Hold your goddamn fire!" Sometimes, you must punctuate your words for those with light trigger fingers. Shouts were heard, but they weren't coming from the soldiers.
They were coming from the person walking toward them.
"-is Nathan! I'm 8! My name is Nathan! I'm 8!" Following his brother's orders, Nathan came out as soon as they were gone and started the mantra his brother told him to shout.
He was soon rescued and brought into the shelter.
Nathan quickly grew despondent as they situated him in the shelter's infirmary. His caretaker tried to console him, but he knew no words of comfort from a stranger would help at the moment.
The boy's expression didn't even change when Commander Neal entered the infirmary and headed to the bed the boy was in. Neal dismissed the caretaker looking him over after confirming nothing was wrong.
"Hello. I am Commander Neal, and I run this place. Is it all right if I ask you a question?" Neal asked softly. Nathan didn't look at him and only nodded slightly. The older man wasn't put off by this and continued.
"Do you know the person who ran off with the beast?" Neal questioned. Hearing this, Nathan clutched the blanket given to him and took a moment before answering with a broken voice.
"H-he was my b-brother, Aiden." And as if a damn broke, tears began to rain down his face as the gravity of what had happened finally hit. Uncontrollable sobs came from the boy like never before.
Neal's heart went out to the boy. To be left alone in this chaos with no one you know after losing everyone you loved on the same night. That would break any person.
The commander kneeled before the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Nathan looked up from his sobs at the man.
Neal offered up a kind smile.
"I can't say I know what you're going through, and I can't promise it will be all right. But this shelter and I owe your brother, Aiden, a great debt. We didn't know what we would have done if that beast had gotten through." Nathan began tearing up again but wiped them away before they could fall.
The sight made Neal feel sad and slightly amused.
A kid only 8 years old putting up a strong front after losing his entire family was amazing. He placed a hand on the kid's head and ruffled his hair.
"It isn't wrong to cry for those we lost. Your brother was a great person, and I think you can be just like him. I promise to keep you safe in his name till you meet again. By then, you'll both have stories to tell."
A peaceful moment went past in silence without either saying anything. Not that anything more needed to be said.
With Aiden
Panting could be heard in an alley away from the original scene. A boy around 14 was resting against a wall as he hid from the beast chasing him.
The beast seemed to use its sense of smell to get around, as Aiden had lost the monster after taking several turns out of the monster's sight.
He didn't know how long he had before the weird cat-lizard hybrid recovered its sense of smell, but he wanted to be as far away as possible when it did.
Aiden was brought out of his thoughts when a guttural growl came behind him. He looked back to see a very angry and murderous cat-lizard.
"Damn it! Just give up already!" Aiden screamed in exasperation. He took off running as the beast climbed up the building next to the alley, as the passage was too small for it to fit through.
Aiden made it out of the alley and turned down the street, only to see other monsters on the road. He came to a quick stop.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me right now," said Aiden in disbelief. How could he be so unlucky today?
The situation gave him no time to think as the cat-lizard hybrid dropped behind him, ready to pounce.
Panic rose in Aiden as he looked for somewhere to go and saw another alley between him and the other monsters on the street.
Gritting his teeth, Aiden went for it.
'This is my best shot. If they catch me, I'm done for!' Thoughts of what they would do to him if they did made him run faster than he ever had before.
Contrary to what Aiden believed, they ran the other way when the monsters turned to him and the beast. A glow lit up in his eyes, turning back to the beast to give his two cents.
"Thank you for being one ugly son of a bitch!" The beast couldn't understand what the little human was saying, but it felt insulted. Its eyes narrowed as it growled and pounced.
"Whoa!" Aiden ducked to the side as the beast went over. The cars before him were crushed as the cat-lizard hybrid landed on them.
He scrambled up and continued running with the extra time he had left. The beast was quick to recover and went after him.
Time seemed to go by slowly, with the beast mere feet behind him and his destination a little away. It was extremely close.
It seemed life decided to give him a break as he made it into the alley before the beast could get him. Elation bloomed within Aiden.
"Haha! I made it-huh?" And then life said gotcha and laughed right in his face.
As he ran straight into a portal.
Well, isn't that just dandy….
Blinding pain flashed through Aiden as he and the portal disappeared, with only the disappointed roar of a beast losing its prey left in the aftermath.
Aiden's mouth was open in a silent scream as pain flooded his body and light bent around him.
It took only a short moment for his consciousness to start to fade, and he heard this right before he passed out.
[Welcome Challenger to the Otherworldly Survival System AKA the OSS]
[The God of Survival awaits your arrival!]