The descent of the Trials of Survival had propelled the world into chaos. It was as though the Great Calamity, The Apocalypse had finally arrived. Everyone was thrust in the throes of despair. Not only those trapped and isolated within the Ascension Trials but also those forced to face the so-called Regional Trials.
This seemingly benign name was followed by shades of death. Comparatively, those within the mega cities with the Ascension Trials seemed more at ease. Their panic and stress was almost leisure-like when put side by side with what was happening to those outside the green barriers.
Unlike the panic driven crisis that occurred within these mega cities, those outside were faced with the brunt of the Great Calamity.
…
[ Cincinnati, Ohio ]
A young man wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, and white vans dyed with a splatter of crimson red. He was cowering under a counter within a cafe that he usually visited after his community college classes as he goes to his part time job. Plastered on his spectacle-covered face was an expression of unrepressed terror.
Mere moments ago, the glass window at the front of the store exploded, sending a shrapnel straight into the neck of the barista taking his order. It impaled her throat, causing her to let out a muffled scream as the blood spurted out from her mouth.
"Uggrhrhr!!!"
She collapsed, crashing onto the hardwood floor. All the whole, shards of broken glass embedded themselves into the young man's skin.
"AHHH!!! Fuck."
He flinched from the pain. Blood dripped out from the cuts. Disregarding his own safety, he jumps over the counter to tend to the girl.
What he saw was a bloody scene. Blood was rapidly leaking out of her throat, he had to put pressure on the wound quickly.
At the same time the other patrons of the cafe, as well as the staff members, had rushed out of the building with great haste. Completely focused on their own safety, they didn't care about the injured barista's situation.
Everyone wanted to secure their own life, they couldn't be bothered to be a hero, well except for of course the young man.
7 minutes have passed since the thin red transparent boxes appeared in front of everyone's faces. At the time people just thought it was a weird phenomenon, yet who knew it was actually the harbinger of death.
Not even a minute after its appearance, the air started cracking and space seemed to shatter like broken glass.
ROAR!
A shrieking ferocity surged out, erupting with the feral energy of a countless number of beasts. From within these spatial cracks, the eyes of the beasts glowed with murderous intent.
They were ready to pounce on their prey and rip them limb from limb.
The young man had stabilized the barista, who was now unconscious. She was in no condition to be moved. He had used his shirt to bandage her wound. Thankfully he had a sweatshirt on.
It seemed like he had avoided the attention of the beasts so far, but who knows how long that would last for. In addition, he couldn't stay holed up in the cafe for long, especially with the injured barista with him.
He looked at the pale face of the stranger he just saved and knew that she couldn't last much longer without immediate care. He needed to go out and find some help.
'But, there are monsters. What do I do? Should I just stay here… NO! I can't. She'll die. Ugh fuck… I have to go and find someone… where is the nearest hospital.'
The young man was stressed, he started to pull on his long curly brown hair. His heart was racing as he made the decision. Grabbing his phone out of his pocket, he searched for the closest hospital or clinic to see if he could carry her there, but alas all of them were miles away.
They would probably get caught by the monsters before they could get anywhere close.
…
[ Orlando, Florida ]
Sleeping face first on top of her keyboard, a short haired brunette woman wearing a standard office lady outfit awoke from her slumber. Although she was sleep deprived and exhausted, she was a light sleeper and would wake to the slightest stimulation.
In fact it was due to the fact that she had fallen asleep multiple times on the job at her previous company, of course due to impending deadlines, that she developed this ability.
Someone at the office had fallen over and dropped a box filled with office supplies. Upon hearing the commotion, the brunette became alert and looked to see where the noise came from.
What came into view was a large rat type creature with jagged bone-like spikes protruded from its back along its spine.
The person who dropped the box, was trembling in fear as he stared at the harbinger of death in front of it.
'Is this it? Is this how I die? To a fucking rat! Really!? Fuck… shit…'
His mind was racing while facing the monster. He couldn't help hyperventilating. The man was young, only about 21 or 22 years old. Fresh out of college, into his first month of work after job searching for months, he had a full life ahead of him, he didn't want to die.
What was the point of studying for years, just to die without truly experiencing what it meant to live life to its fullest.
"He…he-he-help m…"
Before he could stammer out the words, an office chair came flying at the head of the huge rat.
Crash!
THUMP!!!
The spiked rat was sent crashing into the wall. A gash appeared on the right side of its head, its right eye was injured as blood leaked from its wound.
The young office worker turned his head and saw that his short haired brunette coworker had come to his rescue. He was about to say his thanks.
"Get UP! And get outta the way. It ain't dead yet."
She had already gotten hold of another office chair beside her. The office lady was ready to chuck it at the rat at any moment.
Hearing this the young man scampered out of the way, towards her. He was ducking so that she could have line of sight of the monster. Once he reached a cubicle, he quickly detached a keyboard from a computer. He was going to use it to defend himself.
On the other hand the other coworkers on the floor noticed the commotion and came to look at what was going on. Just as they saw the gigantic rat bleeding on the floor, another office chair was chucked over at its head, causing it to be dazed.
Once they saw this, they couldn't help but be stunned. Some were terrified by sight of the monstrosity, while the braver ones also took action to help the brunette. One of them grabbed the fire extinguisher that was hanging on the wall. While another also got hold of an office chair.
They both rushed over to the brunette's side and surrounded the rat.
"Maddie, what is that?"
"Don't know, just woke up."
"Oh…"
The coworker realized that Maddie had fallen asleep again. Even though she was the most efficient and dependable within the department, she had a habit of sleeping during work. Usually an employee like this would be fired, however due to how crucial she was to the company, everyone chose to let it slide.
Furthermore, she was one of the most senior members of the company and everyone had already started treating her as a leader. Thus they were used to listening to her orders.
"Bailee, pass me that extinguisher. Charlie chuck that office chair at that thing's head."
Bailee did as she was told while Charlie hurled the chair at the rat's head with all his strength. As soon the chair left Charlie's hands, Maddie took action and ran towards the monster.
Once the wheels of the office chair made contact with the head of the rat, Maddie came in swinging with the fire extinguisher. She spun with it to generate more force and hit the rat diagonally upwards right on its throat.
"Awkwkkakak…"
The rat began to choke as its wind pipe was brutally crushed by the brunette. All the while, its head was spinning from the concussion it suffered from the multiple office chairs launched at its cranium.
In a last ditch effort it grabbed onto its neck with its paws to try fix its injury. Still, the monster's efforts were all in vain. Maddie continued her assault.
She bashed its head straight into the floor. Swing after swing, until there was nothing left except a bloodied pile of gray matter. Sounds of bones cracking and blood splattering resounded throughout the now silent room.
Maddie's expression didn't change as she continued to smash the head into a bloody pulp. She just wore a deadpan cold expression, showing no sign of shock as if this was just a part of her job.
She continued like this for 20 or so seconds, then Maddie collapsed on the floor screaming. Bailee immediately got worried. Just as she was about to go help the brunette, Charlie who was beside her also fell to the ground.
His body started spasming with visceral growls of pain.
…
[ Schwerin, Germany ]
"Die you piece of fucking shit…"
A gray haired man growled as he kicked a young man down a flight of stairs. There was a visceral look of shock plastered on the young man's face. The betrayal he was feeling now was palpable.
But before the young man could process what was happening, he was viciously bit into by two sharp black fangs.
"Arghhh… FUCK!!!"
"You old fuck! WHY!?
"Nooo! Arghh… ah… fuck."
The older man flinched a little bit when he heard the younger man's scream and curses. Pain, anger, and sorrow could be heard from the young man's wails.
He was the young man's driver, a trusted aide of the young man's family, however it seemed like his loyalty wasn't truly deep. At the first sign of danger he didn't have the slightest hesitation to sacrifice the young man, he was entrusted to oversee and protect, for his own safety.
There wasn't any enmity between the 2, in fact they were quite close as the driver had been employed by the family for close to 4 decades. He had watched the young man and the young man's father grow up over the years.
The young man even started to consider him as a grandfather. Unfortunately his trust was misplaced.
Although he too was close to considering the young man as family, the old man still had reservations because of their difference in status and wealth. That small divide between them made him reconsider their relationship.
Eventually his thoughts drifted to his actual grandchildren. The image of a young 4 year old girl reaching out her hands in a grabbing motion, wanting to hug him, came to mind. Her precious cute face was embedded into his memories. The driver wanted to see his granddaughter one last time.
When he saw the encroaching monsters, he knew he couldn't out run them unless they were distracted by something. At that moment, while they were climbing the 100-step staircase, he made up his mind.
He was going to use the young man beside him to buy him some time so he could reach the car and escape.
With one powerful kick, he sent the young man flying down the stairs into the arms of the monsters. While he might have some trauma and guilt later, he would not regret it if he could see his granddaughter.
Taking great strides, he cleared 20 steps in seconds and was about to reach the top of the stairs. The car was just across the street, he was gonna make it.
Just a few more seconds and he would escape this hellscape.
Yet to his horror, a large beast with red blood fur and gleaming black claws were perched on top of the hood of the car. Despair riddled his face. The car was completely totaled, the hood had crumpled under the weight of the monster. It was crushed.
It's menacing gaze focused on the gray haired old man. Letting out a menacing growl, it slowly leaped off the hood of the car and landed heavily on the asphalt road, creating a cracked crater.
The old man knew this was the end, he was indignant as he faced the monster that was eying his prey. It was ready to pounce on him.
Back to the young man who was being mauled by black fanged monsters, he continued to wail in pain as the realization of his impending death came to mind. The light within his despaired filled eyes began to dim.
This was truly a hopeless situation. Less than 30 minutes ago, it was just a normal day. Then those detestable red signs of the apocalypse appeared, bringing along an army of beasts.
They ran around the small city avoiding them at all cost, yet they were still found. And worst of all, his trusted aide had spit on his trust and quite literally pushed him into his death.
But what could he do in the jaws of the monster?
'I don't want to die."
Tears streamed down his face, not wanting to accept his ill fated death.
"Fuck…"
He swore in a low voice.
Swish! Swish! Slash!
…