"No, no, this isn't the end yet!" – Daniel screamed to himself, suddenly feeling as if a 10-ton hammer had struck him directly in the brain, buried deep inside his skull.
• Ugh!
Spitting blood, he felt it pour from his mouth in a continuous stream. It seemed like he had spat out a whole bucket of blood, although in reality, it was nearly the amount that had already leaked out of what were probably his ruptured eardrums.
Leaving less important matters aside for now, he heard Patrycja's last breath. This time, he turned, reacting to the sound, which was so loud that he could hear it despite his broken eardrums. He didn't know what it was, but he regretted it when he saw the sight once again. He was so terrified that he felt a cold shiver run through his body. His heart beat faster, and his breath became shallow, as if darkness surrounded him from every side, something he couldn't comprehend. His vision blurred for a moment, and his legs shook, as if gripped by an unknown fear. What he saw seemed so unbelievable that his mind couldn't grasp it – the horrific sight, along with those cold, icy eyes staring at him.
He felt as if he were staring into the void, unable to withstand the stress caused by a situation that shouldn't have happened. Tears, which hadn't flowed down his bloodstained face in a long time, and which he tried to wipe away, reflected his struggle and the exhausting effort he had made to climb to the first floor of his school until the moment someone close to Daniel died.
He felt a surge of pain, hitting him with full force, which he had managed to ignore due to the adrenaline and high stress. But this pain was so strong that even a well-built 15-year-old boy couldn't do anything anymore. He knelt heavily and quickly onto his knees.
Daniel felt as if he had fallen into a severe fever. He felt such shortness of breath that it became slightly difficult to breathe. Had it not been for the pain, he would have tried to catch his breath as best as he could, but it didn't last long, as the image of his past life increasingly closed in on him, expanding his vision only with darkness, until it fully engulfed him, completely shutting off his self-awareness.
If Daniel had been able to stand or think rationally, and looked out of one of the windows or what used to be doors, he would have seen something even more terrifying than his "friend" Patrycja.
The large field in front of the school doors no longer resembled what it once was, with the formerly smooth track that had been the place of daily training and joyful conversations. Now it looked like a ruined battlefield. Everywhere were scattered pieces of broken concrete, and where once the teams had stood, only dark bloodstains stretched out, forming a macabre picture. People who had been heading to the school only moments ago now lay motionless, their bodies scattered in unimaginable positions, as if they were nothing more than dead shadows, splattering in streams of red. Heads that had once eagerly risen to engage in conversation now hung limply, their eyes staring into the void. Blood still oozed from their bodies, slowly spilling onto the ground, creating bloody lakes that spread toward the school gates.
And the worst of it all… The being whose mere sight paralyzed every cell of his body. It stood there, as if born from the deepest nightmares, like the very darkness of the world had taken on a physical form. It was huge, like a grizzly bear standing on two legs. But its body resembled nothing natural. It had no fur. Its skin was dead, a sickly greenish-beige, covered in rough, hardened scales that seemed to pulse as if it wasn't blood but something more sensual and inhuman flowing under its surface.
This thing, this monstrous beast, had no face – it only had a massive, twisted maw that held nothing human. Its eyes were gigantic, wild, like a bottomless abyss. The dark purple color – like sunken holes in the darkness, like black holes from the cosmic depths.
Its mouth – God, its mouth – was like the enormous, gaping gates of hell. Huge fangs protruded from its open jaws like curved, yellowed blades, ready at any moment to tear the body apart. The breath of this creature smelled of rotting meat, filled with the warm, suffocating scent of death. Its jaws were wide open, and its tongue – long, resembling dried meat – writhed inside like a snake, waiting for the moment to strike.
And that horrible, disgusting sound – as if the creature's throat was producing the rumbling of digestive fluids, eager to burst out. It pierced every nerve, every hair on his body, as if the whole space around him vibrated with this terrifying, inhuman sound. With each passing moment, this thing grew – monstrously, inhumanly, ready to tear apart anything that stood in its way.
And this creature was staring straight at the far side of the school. Fortunately for Daniel, who was in the entrance area, but it didn't stay there long, though it didn't leave, not before creating even more chaos. It was hard to say what had drawn it, but after it finished what it was doing, it leapt on its powerful legs and sprinted hundreds of meters away.
Daniel's body was sweating relentlessly, twisting like a snake. Touching his body, one could feel the hot temperature of forty-two degrees. Sweat poured down his forehead, and his skin was damp and burning, as if it were on fire from the inside. His breath was heavy, but it didn't last long – after fifteen seconds, everything started to return to normal.
Unaware of the existence and departure of the terrifying creature, the boy regained consciousness. It felt as though the world were spinning, and for almost a full minute, he nearly vomited, but the sharp pain in his ear and around his head stopped him.
Daniel managed to get up, leaning on both hands. He no longer felt the excruciating pain he had before, perhaps because he was lucky, but the pain still remained and made movement difficult. Not as much as the great disorientation caused by the loss of hearing in a large part of his ears.
(It would be hard to adjust, like suddenly losing 95% of your hearing, wouldn't it?)
"This was a tough start to the day," Daniel thought, chuckling lightly, stopping when the pain reminded him of itself as he tried to take another step.
Then what he saw reminded him why he shouldn't have been laughing.