POV Thanatos.
The sun was going into sunset and there were only 1-2 hours left before total darkness set in.
On my way to the suburbs, I occasionally saw about a hundred zombies or a few dozen goblins, and once I even managed to spot a flying bat-like creature heading toward downtown Manhattan.
I also heard the screams of people fleeing from the clutches of the monsters. Naturally, I drove past them, since I didn't care about their fate.
As I rode my motorcycle to Evelina's, my phone was on the dashboard. I listened to the world news on it, and it was scary. For one thing, it had been seven hours while I was asleep in the parking lot.
Virtually every capital city around the world had been destroyed in the first 2 hours of the disaster, which was dubbed the Monstro-Apocalypse. Catastrophe was so called for obvious reasons, since the attack came not only from zombies, but also from goblins, various undead, ghouls, huge insect-like creatures, inferior demons, ogres, flying gargoyles and bats the size of entire buildings, and viral mutant giants. And these are not some fairy tales, they were all real!
Almost all of them were deliberately distributed throughout the capitals of different countries, in order to destroy the information and political centers very quickly.
It was a planned attack!
At first no one understood how they came to be on our planet, but several correspondents filmed various beasts and monsters emerging from the spatial cracks. And many of the cracks were right in the capitals.
Phew, thank goodness Nemesis and I don't live in Washington, which has completely crashed and ruined. Practically all the world's leaders are dead, and now few people will be able to coordinate between people.
At the fifth hour, communication with all sorts of naval forces has disappeared. Many ships have stopped communicating, broadcasting on their last breath that they are being attacked by huge monsters the size of the Titanic.
The Internet still exists, but is slowly fading, as are the news channels, the media. Some people like to comment on the end of the saint, and some people are scared. Some hang themselves with their kids on live streams, some rape random passersby, and some rob stores.
In short, people have begun to take off their masks and do what they want or do whatever will keep them alive.
I also found information that some people, mostly girls, had started to awaken, and that the monsters that the still-living armies are shooting off have cores with unknown purposes.
I had one of those cores. It was blue color.
— Society, as a social structure, no longer exists! Say goodbye to your family and friends, before the demise of all humanity, — shouted the anchorwoman, broadcasting live from her home.
I turned off my phone and sped up on my motorcycle as I almost reached my gated neighborhood.
It was fenced off with a high steel wall, but the entrance had a regular barrier. It was now broken.
As I pulled up to the Palmer mansion, I shouted in horror, — EVELINA!
The third floor was without a roof and some of the walls. I could see her room from the street!
Damn it! She won't last long in the outside environment! We need to find her and take her to our lab right away, or I won't be able to help Evelina survive the world's deleterious effects.
I abandoned the motorcycle at the entrance, and got off it in a jiffy. As I burst into the hallway, I saw three naked maids who were covered in green liquid. They were alive, but their eyes were lifeless as nasty goblin cum flowed out of their holes.
— SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT! Evelina! — I didn't pay attention to these girls, but quickly made my way up the third floor by the emergency stairs. I needed it in case the elevator stopped working.
I kicked the locks and went inside the third floor, fearing with all my heart to see signs of violence.
Luckily for me, there were none. The third floor had been destroyed by a single explosion. Or rather, it had been destroyed by some kind of acid.
I went into Evelina's room. She wasn't here. I shouted her name, but no one called out to him. Upon examining the scene, I noticed twelve goblin corpses that were dissolved and disconnected in varying degrees of severity.
— Ah, Evelina! Where are you! — I looked all over the mansion, but there was no sign of her. The only clue was a pair of women's feet, which were imprinted in the marble floor by the acid. Such a hard floor was literally corroded in half.
Those feet... that's Evelina's size!
I looked into the distance and noticed that the direction was going north. She was starting to run away from New York City, following into the woods and settlement areas.
I didn't know what to believe and what not to believe. I was angry at myself for not getting there in time.
After studying the scene, I tried to reconstruct what had happened.
Most likely, Evelina barricaded herself in her bedroom with a bed, a closet, and other heavy things. Twelve goblins tried to break into her room, and after a while they succeeded.
There were no signs of violence. Only an explosion. She somehow killed them all in one blow and destroyed the cage that had protected her for years!
— Fuck! She's going to die! Even if she's intact and alive, what about her immunity? — I muttered aloud, starting to throw objects and break wooden furniture with anger.
*Rumble*
I slammed my hands against the sturdy wall, ripping books and screaming into the street. After my impulsive actions, I noticed a picture of me, Agatha, and Nemesis standing in protective suits and hugging a happy Evelina.
Carefully taking this photo in my hands, I dropped to my knees and cried.
— Evelina... I'm s-sorry! — I tried to pull myself together and wipe away the tears, but they wouldn't stop falling. A lump rose in my throat, and my fingers in my hands were shaking, my body shaking convulsively. I couldn't get up, couldn't help her. Couldn't help myself.
After a few seconds of reflection, I was filled with rage and anger. My hatred was directed at the culprit of what was going on, — NEMESIS YOUR FUCKING MOTHER!
That bitch could have warned me beforehand! I could have protected Evelina! I'm going to smash her face in because she made me lose the person I love!
At that moment I didn't wish her dead, because after Nemesis' death my life would lose all sense. But I wished to cause her much pain. To hurt her a hundred times more for not at least figuring out a way to protect Evelina!
Didn't she know that such an environment would kill her? Of course she did!
It dawned on me in a moment of reflection and my anger ebbed a little. Nemesis understood that Evelina would not survive such an apocalypse...
BUT ALSO! We could hide her in the lab and keep her there until we find a cure!
I wiped my damp cheeks, clenched my fists, and got to my feet, hiding the picture in my pocket.
— Pull yourself together, Thanatos! You have a lot to do.
The first thing I did was to go down to the first floor and start questioning the maids who were lying on the floor.
— Where is Evelina! What do you know, answer me! — I shouted at them.
— K-k-kill us, — she said with tears in her eyes.
— Please kill us, — the other two maids also mumbled.
I tried to bring them to their senses, to understand something. But they kept repeating the same thing. They begged me to kill them, to set them free. I needed to vent my anger, so I drew my sword from its sheath and cut off each girl's head with a single swing.
— Shit! What am I supposed to do next?
It's fucked up again! Evelina is up north somewhere, dying agonizingly because of the environment, and Nemesis is down south, in the middle of Manhattan, where all hell is breaking loose.
Who should I go to?
I didn't know. I was confused, lost, and alone. Unfortunately, Evelina's phone was here. She was out of touch. She could have easily turned northwest, northeast, or continued north. Even if she didn't make it far in 5 or 6 hours, the probability that I will choose the right side is about 33.3%. What if she found a car and was able to drive it even farther?
No, that's crazy. It's not like she knows how to drive...
I sat down on the broken couch and decided to get some rest. I had a headache, and I was very hungry.
That is not going to happen. I need my strength, otherwise I won't save anyone. I took my backpack with me and stuffed water bottles, cans of food, and a first aid kit in it. Then I grabbed a quick snack and decided that I would head for Nemesis.
The chance of finding Evelina was small, and even if I found her, she would already be on the verge of death. But if I lose the creature called Nemesis, then I'll be much worse off. Especially since I'll beat all the answers out of the empty-headed big sister! Maybe she knows something about Evelina.
I looked toward the north one last time and mumbled sadly, — Beloved Evelina, please fight for your life. I can't protect you now...
A few tears flowed out, but I quickly swept them away. I didn't like the feelings of weakness, helplessness, and powerlessness I was experiencing. I was disgusted with myself!
Then I vowed that even if Evelina left me, I would not allow myself to lose anyone else.
As I left the mansion, I got on my motorcycle and headed south. But I decided to take a detour, since I didn't want to get caught in the black fog.
It seemed to me that a certain death and a frightening stranger were waiting for me in the fog.
There was a lot of traffic along the way due to abandoned cars, but my motorcycle was avoiding them.
I squeezed the motorcycle's clip-ons with great force, which nearly broke them. My emotions and thoughts were a mess.
As I rode, I picked up a large number of zombies and goblins that were slowly coming on my heels.
As soon as I reached downtown Manhattan, a 15-foot-tall (4.5 meters) brown and green ginormous monster stood in front of me. It was a mutant ogre: one arm was five times the size of the other, his back hunched over, his eyes dull, and instead of armor there was one shoulder pad over his weak arm and a rag covering his groin area.
— Get out of my way before I blow your head off!
— Grrrr! — The ogre bellowed at me, starting to run toward me.
I got off the bike and decided to see how he could handle my blow. There were many bumps on his head and big arm from bullets and explosions, and I concluded that these were, by contrast, his protected body parts.
If he's covering his arm with armor, that means it's his weak spot!
The monster swung and struck at me. I dodged it, and went behind its back. The mutant was clumsy, but he ran straight ahead, smashing everything in his path. An armed army was ineffective against him.
When I got behind him, I quickly found the rivet that held his shoulder pad. I gathered all my strength into a fist and struck it.
As I struck, a red blob of energy erupted from my fist and pierced through the mutant's shoulder, causing him to scream furiously.
— Gra-argh, — he spun around 180 degrees, striking me in the body with a huge limb.
My body flew off toward the nearest car, after which I couldn't hold back a quiet scream, — Fuck!
A shard of metal from the car's body was shoved into my left calf. I had no time to think about it as the mutant came at me like a rabid dog.
I pulled the shrapnel from my leg and sprinted away from the car. In that instant, the wounded ogre struck the car with his hand, turning it into scrap metal.
While he was distracted, I rushed to my bike to get around the ogre. I also looked around and noticed several hundred zombies surrounding us. If I kept fighting the four-foot mutant, I would die surrounded by living dead!
I got on my motorcycle and sped away at high speed. The ogre tried to grab me, but stupidly fell to the ground.
— Ha-ha-ha, that's the way to go, you little fucker! — I cheered as I noticed the zombies start attacking the ogre. He couldn't handle that many walking dead and got eaten alive.
Wow, so mutants and zombies aren't allies? At least that's some good news. But my weakness is visible to the naked eye!
At first I thought I'd become a god with superpowers, but I seem to be very low on the food chain.
There are a lot of threats that I can't handle yet. I hope I can upgrade or somehow evolve, otherwise we're all doomed to certain death!