Chapter 3- Doom (Part 1)
Pieces of broken Tin flew everywhere, the whole house shook violently as if it was hit by a huge train. At that moment, Akio's father stopped his attempt to kill his own son and looked to the side with horrified eyes.
There, outside the hole created in the wall, a white, creepy monster straight out of nightmares was staring directly at them. Its black, void-like eyes were shaking and fidgeting like a broken machine before they eventually fixated on the two humans present. Its skinny limbs were grounded in the dirt like a tree with one of them raising up ever-so-slowly as if it was going to greet them.
But, instead of a peaceful, greeting, horror broke through their hearts. Even Akio, who was still not fully awake, widened his eyes as he held in any noise he was making.
*Swish*
Then, in an instant, the monster rushed toward them with its black eyes glistening with a strong murderous intent, a savage desire to shred their flesh and eat their organs.
"Fuck!!!" The father, seeing the abomination that was approaching him, threw Akio to the side and jumped away before he ran quickly toward the door. Being so far away from the monster, its target changed toward the weak, helpless Akio.
'No!' Forcing himself to rise up, he tried to run for his life. However, before he could even stand on his feet, the monster was already towering above him, its arms armed with sharp black claws swiped down, intending to end the boy's life.
Looking around him in a frenzy, Akio saw the piece of wood his father had thrown at him before. His hand quickly grabbed it and shoved it into the monster's chest, pushing it a little bit away from him before he quickly took that opportunity to stand up and run away.
But, that small attempt to create a chance for survival didn't completely save him from the lethal claws.
"AAAAGHH!!!" Hellish pain struck his left leg and made him stumble for a second. Looking down, a huge amount of blood was seeping out of a huge injury crossing his thigh like a sliced chicken.
But, even with that terrible agony, he didn't have the leisure to stop for a moment. Dragging his useless leg, he tried to leave the house. Luckily, since his father threw him close to the entrance, he reached the door in a moment and closed it.
*BANG*
At the last second, a loud bang pushed him away from the door along with the sound of claws slicing through the door like cheese.
"Aaah!" Taking a few deep breaths as he tried to calm down his racing heart, Akio stood up and tried to continue running away. That metal door won't hold on for long so he had to escape quickly. However, much to his horror, the sight he saw made him halt for a moment.
'They are… everywhere.' He thought, despair seeping into his whole being.
The same kind of monster was everywhere, tens of them were jumping from one place to another, chasing after scared humans. The lucky ones were able to keep running aimlessly, merely to preserve their lives for whatever time they had left to live. The unlucky ones, however, noticeably the elderly and children were quickly caught by the nightmare monsters and what ended up happening was nothing short of a massacre.
Cries for help mixed with the horrors of death wails echoed in the slums covering its already gloomy atmosphere with an even gloomier and deadly aura. The monsters were ruthless in their way of killing powerless humans. Some decided to slice their head off cleanly and then start eating while other monsters weren't that patient and quickly took a bite out of their victims alive.
Akio's face contorted with fear as he felt his limbs shaking. He was still in shock from what was happening.
'Why are there Nightmare creatures here?' He thought as he tried to regain his composure.
Akio had heard of Holem and knew of the existence of such creatures in that place from all the legends and tales he heard about that mythic place told by drunkards and old people. So, he quickly discerned what he was dealing with.
Shaking his head, he looked around him, he was searching for the safest route he can take. The search wasn't hard as he had decided in his head, the route with the less number of people running in it was the safest one. These monsters were after human flesh because of hunger so if he decided to join the masses of running meals, he might as well dig his grave and die.
Quickly, he found his target, a side route that crossed in between two small houses that led to another part of the slums. Behind him, the door to his house was almost broken.
'They aren't quite smart.' He noted in his head.
If these creatures were any smart then the one inside his house would've turned around and left the house from the hole it created but since it didn't, Akio was sure that it was lacking in that department.
Then, after making sure no monster was there, he sneakily moved toward that small alley. When he reached it, he quickened his steps.
Akio now had two choices: either run toward the forest and try to save himself or run toward the inner city gates in hopes of getting some help.
'The first choice is impossible.' He quickly concluded.
Not only was the forest extremely dangerous in and out of itself, but he also had no guarantee that the monsters won't follow him there and finish him off. On the other hand, his chances of survival will increase dramatically if he reached the gates to the inner city. The people inside would help him, if possible.
It didn't take a genius to decide what to do next quickly. But, even though he knew what he needed to do, planning something and doing it were two different things.
The moment he reached the other side of the alley, he quickly stuck to the wall. A moment later, two nightmare monsters passed by, barely missing him as they chased after a random person.
Looking again to make sure no more were going to pass by, Akio quickly made his move, jumping to the closest hiding place. His survival instinct was telling him to just run as fast as possible and never care about anything else but he knew if he did that, he was as good as dead.
'There are two ahead.' Akio clicked his tongue silently as he hoped they will move from their place. But, from what he can see, they were having a meal so they won't move for a while.
'I can wa-' Before he could even process his next move, he heard the eerie footsteps of something coming from the same alley he dashed from. Much to his horrible luck, another nightmare creature came out of there. Its blood-died face looked even more terrifying as it showed that it has just recently finished a meal. Its black eyes were staring around, searching for its next victim.
Leaving the alley, the monster continued its walk, slowly, and calmly as if there was no reason for it to run or quicken its steps.
Akio clenched his teeth in horror as he watched the monster get closer and closer to where he was.
'If it continues walking toward me… I'm dead…' Akio's face paled and his heart raced again as he saw that he was actually half-exposed to the monster if it continues in that direction.
'What should I do?!' He frantically looked around. Fear of death was taking over his head and messing around with his soul. Only one thing ran through his mind, to 'survive' no matter what.
This eagerness to stay alive made him feel exceptionally surprised. All these years, Akio thought he gave hope in life and was merely living because death seemed like a hassle. But, when this catastrophe fell down he found himself so eager to live that he wondered if something was messing with his head.
'I can't think about this now! I need to focus!!' He said to himself.
Eventually, his eyes fell on something, or to be more precise, someone. On the other side of the road, right beside a broken house, three people were hiding behind a broken piece of wall. From what he can see, it was a family of three, a man and a woman along with their child. They were all stuck next to each other like glue as they squeezed themselves behind the Tin wall.
The man was heavily injured and looked on the verge of losing consciousness or even dying. Their horrified eyes coincidentally also fell on him.
The mother quickly hugged her child as she watched Akio. He could read from her eyes that she was begging him. 'Don't do it, please.'
Tears streamed down her face as fear crawled down her soul and rooted into her core. On the other hand, her husband and child didn't seem to be aware of Akio and merely looked at the monster.
She must've felt that Akio was intending to do something. The boy, on the other hand, squinted his eyes and then he took a deep breath. In a single moment, everything seemed to reach a halt. His mind felt clear, his senses were also as sharp as ever yet for some reason, Akio's body was moving on its own. Not that he was against whatever it was going to do now.
His hand then moved and grabbed a small rock next to him. Then, without any hesitation, he threw the rock toward the family.
*Ting*
Hitting the wall made out of metal, it generated a loud ringing sound that caught the attention of the nightmare monster.
The family stared, wide-eyed at what Akio did as the horrible truth dawned on them. They were… thrown to death.