2 Chapter 2

Ben reached the bicycle stand and pedalled furiously back home, overtaking fellow survivors like him and soon reaching people further away who were still clueless about whats happening, Ben knew he had to do something, he could make a real difference with his knowledge so he kept shouting there was a big problem at bedok and everyone needs to run away from there now.

At the 4 way traffic intersection further ahead, almost everything was still maddeningly normal. Car traffic flowed orderly as usual with most people still ignorant to the slaughter happening at bedok. In fact standing among this oasis of normal day to day life while waiting for the green man at the pedestrian crossing, Ben started to experience a surreal feeling, like what he just saw and experienced at Bedok was some weird hallucination and life was actually going on as usual.

However when he look back towards bedok, there was a huge jam in that direction. He can also see a small crowd of people running away but no alien monsters yet. Shit, its real Ben thought to himself. He looked back at the traffic lights, Faster change, Faster change , Faster change, Faster change....

GREEN MAN! Ben pedalled furiously again. He paused at the bus stop just long enough to shout a warning about Bedok and alien man eating monsters while the people waiting there looked at him like he had a screw loose. Despite this, Ben still felt like he had a duty to warn others so all the way home he kept shouting loudly about giant man eating centipedes in bedok.

After locking his bicycle and while waiting for the lift, Ben made phone calls to family and friends, rushing to explain what is happening and telling them to stay safe. Then he started to rally his family to face the alien threat, his dad and sister was still at work and won't come back because they can't accept his story of man eating giant alien centipedes. Ben could only tell his disbelieving mom to fill up their cooking pots with water in case the water supply got cut, he watched helplessly as she slowly went to take some pots, all the time complaining about his crazy behaviour.

At least there was lunch and his starting to get hungry but now is not the time to eat. Ben took out all the knives from the kitchen and went to get the pole for hanging clothes, he was going to make a spear and by staying behind the iron grill gate, he plan to stab the centipedes from safety, a perfect plan. He left the knife next to the pole and went to look for some strings in the storeroom.

AIYA WHAT YOU DOING BOY, his mother was furious when she saw Ben taking her kitchen knife and leaving them on the not so clean floor. YOUR BRAIN OK ANOT????. Ben rushed back but it was too late, his mother was already holding on to all the knives and refused to give them back.

Arghhhh! This was so frustrating. Ben ran back to the storeroom to look for their hammer and he came back with various tools. Then he made sure his mom was storing water before going out to the common corridor to watch out for aliens. From their 10th floor flat he couldn't see that far, just the area in front of the common corridor and everything seems fine. Should i go to the top floor? But what if aliens came and i get trapped outside the house

WUUUU AH WUUUU AH NNNNNNNNN!!!!!

The air raid siren ! Singapore has a island wide system of sirens to warn people in case of air raids and from 1996 onwards, all new public housing and apartments are also built with a bomb shelter. Ben felt relief listening to the siren, this means the government knows whats going on and help would soon come.

I TOLD YOU GOT ALIEN, Ben shouted to his mom from the corridor. His neighbour opened his door to see whats the fuss about and Ben started telling him the alien centipede story. It seems like quite afew neighbours were home, as more faces appeared, everyone started to gather around Ben to hear his story.

Ben suddenly stopped his story and gestured for everyone to stay quiet..... There! A faint sound of a fearful scream almost covered up by the still blaring Sirens. With urgent anticipation, he strained to see pass the obstacles blocking his view. His neighbours were all curious too and they tried to hear but too bad most of them are elderly and their hearing is quite poor.

After waiting awhile, Ben could see afew people running away from something. The aliens are here! Everyone began talking about the people running below, Ben knew that his neighbours didn't really believe him yet about man eating giant centipedes. Very soon another group of people came running pass their view, you could see they were running noisily and gesturing with their hands but the loud blaring sirens drowned out most sounds.

His neighbours were all talking nervously and his mom was also outside to see what's going on. Another group of people came running pass and Ben knew this was the last group because they were clearly moving slower then the other 2 groups and most of them seem to be old or very overweight, sometimes both. The people in this group looked like even the slow run was half killing them as they struggled to escape.

A giant centipede finally appeared, chasing quickly after the humans, his neighbours bursted out in screams and shouts, only Ben was mentally prepared for it. The centipede quickly caught caught up with a skinny old man and Ben watched horrified as the centipede made a quick biting action and the mans legs were gone. The old man was moving his hands feebly around when the centipede did the same bite and swallow action Ben saw at Bedok.

A person was just killed in front of them.... Suddenly there was the sound of heavy footsteps running up the common staircase and everyone fearfully rushed for their homes, are the centipedes here already!? with hurried cries of take care! and lock your door! the group of neighbours dispersed like the wind.

Back home Ben hurried to make his spears and in a fit of inspiration, he started boiling water to throw on the centipedes. Mom was frantically making phone calls to dad and his sister. Ben tightened the string as tight as he could but the knife wasn't really secured to the pole, the so called spear was kinda shaky and not confidence inspiring at all. Still it was the best he could do. He had a chopper, a hammer, 2 lousy spears and hopefully 3 pots of boiling water.

His mom was still talking frantically on the phone so he didn't want to disturb her. Ben put the hammer into his pocket, gripped his spear nervously and went to the front door. He nervously tried to listen for any dangerous sounds but the siren was still blaring away, it was getting seriously irritating at this point. He gave up on hearing anything useful and just opened the door alittle to peek outside. The common corridor looked the same like it always had. Actually come to think of it, their on the 10th floor and even if a alien centipede were to enter his block of flats, it should go to the 2nd or 3rd floor right? So his actually still quite safe.

Ben summoned his courage and unlocked the metal gate, squatting down and crawling slowly to the parapets, he took a quick look at the ground floor and got a terrible shock, the ground floor was swarming with alien centipedes and he even briefly saw another kind of insect like a scorpion shape. Ben was so frightened he had to rest his body against the parapet for awhile. Just then he heard a skittering sound and had eye to eye contact with a centipede crawling up the staircase.... FML!!.

With a surge of energy he literally jumped back into his house and with trembling hands he hurried to lock the door, it felt like an eternity before the lock of the outer metal gate clicked shut and he slammed the inner wooden door shut. However soon there was a skittering sound outside his door, followed by a very heavy slam as the centipede tried to force its way it.

Ben felt a terrible fear rising from his gut, a fear born from the certainty of death coming. The alien centipede was too strong!. Another heavy bang smashed against the outer door. His mom started screaming shrilly and was trying to pull him into the room but Ben knew they had to defend the outer metal gate. The wooden doors are just too fragile. He pushed his mom away and opened the inner wooden door, outside their house the alien centipede was curled up on the floor, preparing to throw another headbutt.

Ben hesitated in the face of such a monster and it lunged at the metal door again, the impact making Ben take afew steps backs. This can't continue! I have to do something! Ben gripped his spear tightly and stabbed the centipede through the square metal grilles. The knife hit the centipedes chitin shell and got pushed down the pole. Damn spear was useless! The shell is too hard.

Ben rushed into the kitchen, by now all 3 pots of water was boiling. He grabbed 2 pots and threw the boiling water directly on the centipede. The centipede shielded its face for a moment... and then began licking its face to drink water. The boiling water had totally no other effect. Damn damn damn damn damn Ben was in total panic now !!!. The centipede powerfully smashed the metal gate again and the metal was already starting to bend inwards. Mom was using the other spear to attack the centipede but it was doing no damage.

Ben rushed back to the kitchen and took out several packets of frrozen pork, then he threw a piece of pork at the centipede. The centipede paused.... it cautiously started inspecting the pork before finally swallowing it. Ben was ecstatic!. He quickly threw another piece of pork further away and the centipede repeated the same inspection before eating the pork. Ben summoned his courage to sneak near the door while the centipede was eating and he started throwing pieces of pork further and further away from his house until the pieces of pork reached his neighbours front gate.

Forgive me for i have sinned!!. After throwing all the pieces of pork and successfully distracting the centipede away, he quickly closed the door and hoped that the centipede would be dumb enough to forget his house. Ben and his mom quietly sneaked away to the master bedroom. Ben felt hopeless as all their weapons didn't work, what else can they do?? It felt like they were just waiting for death.

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