Chapter 5- Doom (Part 3)
While Akio is quite sharp and clever, the lack of information about anything related to Holem, its monsters, and basically, all that matters in this situation for him to have a decisive conclusion was quite crucial.
'If they came from the Inner City's side, why didn't they attack that place? Is the wall enough to stop them?' He wondered, clearly confused.
He had seen the monsters climb houses with ease and even run on the side of the walls as if their claws had glue in them. So, he was skeptical that these monsters couldn't climb a stone wall.
"Ugh…" His thoughts were halted by the sudden stinging pain coming from his leg. Looking down, he could clearly see that the small cloth he wrapped around there was already soaked in blood, indicating that he started bleeding again.
So, with less time in his hand, he walked inside the kitchen, ignoring the dead corpses and the blood that covered most of the place, he searched for anything to eat or water to drink.
Fortunately for him, luck seemed to have smiled on him finally… Albeit, that smile seemed to be a half-assed smirk rather than a full smile.
Near one of the corpses, there was a broken container made out of glass, beside it, there was some kind of bread. From what he can see, it seemed that the bread was baked in that pot. However, the problem he had was that the piece of bread was coated in blood too…. Human blood.
He was presented with a choice, either eat that bread and ignore the blood or search for something else to eat. But, he had already searched the whole place for anything to eat but nothing was found.
'Should I… eat it?' He thought as he rubbed his face trying to rationally deal with this dilemma. Akio didn't have any kind of desire to taste human blood nor did he have any cannibalistic tendencies. In fact, from what he can see, the dried blood was repulsive to look at let alone consume. But, on the other hand, he needed to eat something before he falls unconscious and end up dying because of bleeding, hunger, dehydration, or ending up as a meal for the monsters outside.
*GRUMBLE*
As if to add more hesitation to Akio, his stomach grumbled like a dying beast begging for something, no matter how small or disgusting it was, just anything that could stop this insufferable hunger.
Moving his leg, Akio hesitantly approached the piece of bread and picked it up in his hand. The piece was as hard as a rock since it has been thrown here for at least a few hours if not more. But, by Akio's standards, it was actually a great piece of bread that he could only imagine in his dream.
'Maybe blood doesn't have a taste.' He reasoned with himself as he approached the bread from his mouth and opened it slightly. Hesitation was clear in his eyes. But, in the end, he put the piece of bread in his mouth… Hunger won over his digust.
Chewing on the piece of stale bread, his face frowned violently as the taste of sticky blood invaded his senses and made him almost throw up right there and then. But, for the sake of his survival, he continued chewing the piece of bread and then swallowed it with great difficulty.
"Hah… Hah… Blurgh…" Falling down, he forced himself to not vomit the food. Akio had eaten so many horrible things in his life, insects, old meat, hell, he even ate some rotten food before but this piece of bread was by far the most disgusting thing he ever tasted.
Maybe it was his mind stabbing him with guilt that made it feel horrible in his mouth or maybe it was merely the fact that blood tasted that awful, he didn't know.
"Ugh… I should never eat something like that again."
Sighing, he sat down against the wall and closed his eyes. The young man wasn't intending to fall asleep and only wanted to rest his tired, malnourished body for some time until things calmed down.
But, even this small thing wasn't allowed for Akio as suddenly, he heard something break from the outside. Opening his eyes quickly, he took a peek from his place.
'No…' His face contorted with a strong frown when he saw one of the monsters coming inside the house.
'It caught the scent of my blood.' He quickly deducted as he looked at his still bloodied leg and the red traces he left behind from where he came from. Even though he made sure not to leave traces of blood when he was moving because his mind became hazy and the cruel hunger made him slip up and ignore that. Now, he had to pay for his stupid yet potentially deadly mistake
Springing up on his legs, he quickly and silently tried to make his way to one of the windows in the kitchen. Luckily, the monster didn't seem to notice him at all when it entered the house as all of its focus was on the blood. Its disgusting tongue kept licking the traces of red liquid as it walked around.
He was sure that if he left the house now, the monster won't follow him at all.
*Crack*
Stepping on a particular broken part of the wooden floor without noticing, it produced a cracking sound that albeit not that loud, was audible enough in the quiet house for the monster to notice it.
Its neck yanked up, glaring at the kitchen with those hollow abysses. Then, without hesitation, it dashed right toward Akio.
'Crap!' The latter quickly ran to the window and jumped head-first outside, destroying the glass in the process. The strong hit wasn't merciful on his already concussed brain.
"UGH!!!" The pain from the strong landing was horrible but he couldn't even try to recover from the hit and hurriedly stood up again before he ran as fast as his one useful leg could go.
The monster also jumped outside and followed Akio. Breaking into a cold sweat, Akio tried to reach the nearest house and enter it.
Even with two legs properly working, he was sure that he won't be able to run faster than the monster let alone with his only working leg.
'If I run inside small areas, I can dodge its attacks to a certain extent.' The extremely rough plan he came up with wasn't full-proof or even guaranteed him getting out of this unscathed. It was just a desperate attempt on his side to survive.
But, even with that, he seemingly underestimated how fast the creature was. Before he could even run for 10 meters, it already was behind him with its sharp claws already moving in a flash to catch him.
"HAAAAH!!" With a low grunt, Akio jumped down and rolled on the dirt and mud. If he didn't do that, he was sure that he would've sustained a heavy injury on his back that could've damaged his spine or even killed him instantly.
The monster didn't stop and quickly approached Akio before stabbing down ruthlessly. The latter could only watch as the claws came down on him like the scythes of a Grim Reaper. Closing his eyes and waiting for the eventual end, he tried to just hold his breath in a twisted anticipation for what was to come.
But, instead of the burning pain in his stomach and the feeling of wet, warm blood leaking out, he instead heard a loud bang.
*BANG*
Opening his eyes quickly, he saw the monster thrown on the ground slightly far away from him. His widened eyes then shifted to his left side. There, an old man was standing with what seemed to be a huge hammer at least half his size.
"Hah… Hah… I luckily reached you in time…" The man said as he heaved up and down tiredly.
"... Tin?" Akio was quite surprised from seeing the all-too-familiar old man in front of him.
"No time for chit-chat, brat! We need to go before that abomination stands on its feet again. That hit barely damaged its body." He said as he picked up Akio and started moving somewhere.
A few seconds after that, the monster was already on their pursuit again. There was a small bloody spot on the side of its head from the hit but other than that, nothing seemed to have changed about it. Oh… There was one thing that changed… It was even madder now!
"Goddamit! These fuckers are tenacious! Go search for another juicy human, bastards!" Tin grumbled as he quickly ran with Akio hanging under his armpit like a sack of rice.
The two reached one of the countless houses in the area and entered inside. Then, Tin quickly closed the door shut. Luckily, this house was one of the rare few houses made out of bricks in the slums and the door was of thick, resilient wood that couldn't be scratched easily even by the nightmare creatures.
Akio, who was still slightly dismayed from what happened, could only blink as he looked around him. The fact that he somehow survived didn't sink in yet. A second ago, he was ready to meet the god of death but somehow, he was saved in the nick of time.
*BANG* *BANG*
The monster eventually reached the house and started banging on the wall and the door. What makes it more creepy was the eerie silence that followed each hit. These monsters didn't seem to be the type to make sounds when they attacked their prey and even when sustaining damage, they don't groan or cry in pain.
"Fuuuh! We survived, somehow! The gods are on your side today, Akio! Hahahahah!!" Sitting down, the old man breathed a sigh of relief and then laughed jokingly.
However, that laugh stopped when he saw a group of people come toward them.