1 The Aftermath

CLACK CLACK CLACK

"Stun! Just use your skill. Dammit!"

Nathan's angry shouts echoed throughout his room as he typed something on his keyboard. Even though he doesn't have a mic to talk to his teammates, shouting alone was enough to vent his anger.

As the game goes on, Nathan became more and more frustrated as he saw his teammates' incompetence. He doesn't even know why he keeps playing this game. There are too many toxic players, trolls, and just plain bad at the game. But even then, the game was still enjoyable to play.

As he was about to kill an enemy hero, a sudden blackout has occurred. "What great timing! Fuck" Nathan cursed loudly as he didn't care even if someone heard him.

Without anything else to do, Nathan got up from his seat and was heading out of his room to get some food when his bed and the floor started shaking violently. He instantly knew what was happening.

"Earthquake!"

Nathan already knew what to do in case something like this happened. His school always conduct earthquake drills once a year, in preparation for the earthquake that the experts called "The Big One".

Nathan quickly got down and took cover under his bed and then placed his hands over his head. He guessed that the magnitude of this earthquake must be at least above 5 on the Richter scale. He saw his walls collapsed and felt the floor rumbling beneath him.

There is nothing Nathan can do but close his eyes and wait for the earthquake to be over. His bed finally collapsed as it can't handle the stress of shaking for a prolonged period of time. Luckily, he still has a little space to move even though his bed collapsed above him.

After almost two minutes, the earthquake stopped. Nathan crawled and emerged from under his bed and saw the aftermath of the earthquake.

The roof of his house fell on his bed, his computer was crushed by his collapsed wall, his drawers and closet were all destroyed either by being crushed by his roof or after falling to the ground.

Nathan sigh at the sight of his unfortunate house.

"Shit"

Nathan walked over to his collapsed wall which opened his bedroom to the outside world. He gazed at the houses around him only to find that they suffered the same fate as him.

Overlapping shouts can be heard around him, people constantly walked past him as they struggle to make sense of what just happened, some people are already digging through the rubble to find their buried love ones.

Nathan then remembered his phone. He searched in his pockets but his phone wasn't there. Then he remembered that his phone was on top of his computer desk.

"How am I supposed to call mom now?"

Nathan said in an exasperated voice. He is currently living in his house alone as his mother worked abroad while his father was already dead a long time ago. Only his uncle took care of him but he is currently on his job in Manila, so he didn't know what to do next.

He felt like crying, but he knows that won't do him any good. So, the first thing that came to his mind was to wait for the rescuers to take him to a shelter.

Since there's nothing he can do anymore, he just walked the streets and see the damage dealt by the earthquake.

"AHH!"

A loud shriek of a woman suddenly echoed throughout the neighborhood. Curious, Nathan ran towards the source of the shriek and there he saw three muscular men and a woman surrounding something in the middle. Nathan can't make out of what was in the middle so he moved closer and there it was, something out of this world or reality was standing and it looked confused.

A 4-foot tall green creature with pointy ears and salivating mouth clearly baring its fangs on the people around it. It wore a medieval-looking leather shirt, was walking on barefoot, and holds what appears to be an oversized kitchen knife.

With Nathan's anime, fantasy books, and movie knowledge, only one word came to his mind. "Goblin!" Nathan exclaimed as he pointed at the creature in the middle. The three burly men looked at him, bewildered. They clearly didn't know what a goblin was!

The goblin who appeared confused just a while ago and was not doing anything, started flailing its thin arms at the people in front of it. Then, rage replaced the confused expression it had earlier.

"GAHH"

The goblin lunge at the burly man in the middle with its knife directed at him. The goblin was fast! the man wasn't able to react at all as his belly was tore open and his guts spilled out.

The goblin kept slicing and stabbing the man like it finds it enjoyable! Nathan and the three others were shocked at the sight. They quickly retreated a few meters back while still looking at the gruesome sight. The woman puked the breakfast she ate earlier while Nathan and the two men picked up a large rock from the rubbles.

But they didn't know what was coming behind them. Another goblin stabbed the woman from the back instantly killing her.

"KYAK KYAK KYAK!"

The goblin laughed while it was butchering the poor woman.

Nathan can't take it anymore, he vomited his food on the ground while feeling dizzy. He saw the two burly men quickly ran off and avoided some of the goblins that were still wandering. Yes, a whole group of goblins popped out of nowhere!

The goblins are closing in on him now. Nathan struggled to stand his ground because of his dizziness. "Come on, Nathan. Get your self together!" He muttered as he looks at his surroundings.

Unfortunately, there is only one way he can run to. He is currently in a narrow alleyway. There were three goblins in front of him while four others were behind him, to his right was a wall too high for him to climb up and on his left was another narrower alleyway. Luckily, there's only one goblin blocking the way.

The goblins are already salivating and look at him like he was a piece of meat. Nathan threw the rock he was holding at the goblin that was blocking his only exit.

"KYAK KYAK KY-"

The goblin laughs mockingly as it evaded the rock that was thrown at it, but he didn't expect a sudden flying kick coming from where the rock was thrown from!

THUD!

Nathan practiced taekwondo when he was in high school and became a red belter, so he was adept at using his feet. The goblin fell unconscious after it hit its head on the ground while Nathan ran with his full speed away from the goblins.

"Pant pant pant..."

It has been years since he last practiced taekwondo so his stamina has already declined. After the right turn, he saw more rubble and dead mutilated bodies on the ground. There were some stray goblins walking around looking for any prey.

Another right turn, he arrived at the Barangay basketball court. There were many people congregating and talking to each other leisurely. It seems like they hadn't seen the goblins yet.

The people gave him an incredulous look as they saw him running and stumbling around. One of them stopped Nathan from running and ask with a serious tone.

"Hey, What's happening? You look like you had just seen a ghost!"

That can't be helped, Nathan looked really pale at the moment. Nathan took deep breaths before answering in an exhausted tone.

"You won't believe me, but there are monsters out there! Goblins!"

Some of the younger ones tried not to laugh while the older ones looked at him with annoyance on their faces.

"This is not the time to joke around! We had just suffered losses!"

"Bu-But..."

The man waved his hand signaling him to stop talking. Then, one of the younger ones asked him with a smirk.

"Like anime goblins?"

"Yes! Thank you!"

"Well, I hope it's not the goblins from Goblin slay. pfft"

The kid laughs as he finished his sentence while his mother hit him with a stick. Nathan knew what he was talking about and he is certainly glad that it was not that kind of goblin based on what he has seen so far.

"Tsss"

Nathan doesn't want to argue anymore as he is already exhausted. He decided to stay here with the other people for security, Strength in numbers as they say.

He sat under the basketball ring and was eyeing the alleyway where he came from. His friend then walked up to him and sat beside him.

"How's your house? mine was totally destroyed! My dad doesn't even know where we will get money to repair...this"

His friend, Michael, looked devastated. While they aren't exactly poor, they also weren't someone that can pull money out of nowhere. So this kind of disaster is a really horrible thing to happen to them.

Nathan looked at Michael with a sad expression and patted Michael's back.

"Mine is completely destroyed too. Well, shit happens. I know we will get through this, but it will be hard because of the goblins"

"Nathan...stop saying nonsense. You're just probably in shock when you think you saw a 'goblin'"

"But I'm saying the truth! I saw them with my own two eyes! They even killed 2 people in front of me!"

Nathan said as he looked at the serious face of his friend. He clearly doesn't believe Nathan! Michael sighed in resignation.

"...Right"

At this moment, a creature suddenly blinked into existence in front of the two! It was a goblin. It stood there in a stupor like it didn't know what was happening.

Nathan and Michael jumped from their seats after being startled. Michael wasn't able to move immediately and Nathan had to drag him away from the goblin.

Then, another goblin blinked into existence next to the first goblin. The people around them started shouting as they saw one of the goblins appeared literally stuck into a wall! It was like it has always been there as there are no cracks or spaces between the goblin and the wall.

Then one by one, goblins started blinking into existence all around them! There were even goblins falling from above! The people and the goblins were both in confusion for a second. They didn't know how to react!

The goblins were the first one to come out of the stupor and the slaughter started. The goblins were really fast! Cries and yells of people echoed in the basketball court. The smell of blood and guts started to linger around them.

"KYAK KYAK KYAK"

The usual weird laugh of the goblins was heard. Some of the older ones started fighting back. One particular old man carried a machete with him! He called out to others as he hacked the thin arm of a goblin.

"Let's go! follow me! My house is still intact, we can hide there!"

Nathan, Michael, and the other surviving people joined the old man. Nathan picked up a weapon from the goblin laying on the ground. It has dents and scratches all over the blade, and it didn't even look sharp at all, but Nathan can't be choosy right now!

They formed a line with three layers, both outer sides were protected by the older ones while in the middle was the kids and others that can't fight. The old man was leading the group while Nathan and Michael were on the left outer side of the line. They both wielded weapons that the goblin dropped.

Goblins on each side of the line were following them. The old man's group didn't attack though as it might break the formation.

"Only attack when they got closer to you! And don't fall behind!"

The old man acting as their leader shouted in a commanding voice. He slashed every goblin that came closer to him. His attacks seemed so fluid like it was his job hacking goblins! This man is clearly not an ordinary old man!

One slash and a goblin are dead, with one goblin dead, their way to safety is further secured.