10 The Young Boy

The tentacles slithered on the concrete road as they close in on the young boy. The young boy fell backward on the ground. He peered into the monster's large gaping holes on its face with fear in his eyes. He felt like he was staring into a cold, dark abyss sucking away at his soul. The monster's body was covered in burns - black as charcoal. Its skin was burned off its arm, exposing the bones. The peeled skin on its face exposed its teeth that made its smile much more devilish than before.

It walked at a steady pace towards the boy, seemingly enjoying the look of terror on his face. The young boy used his hands to move backward on the ground. His back was now up against the wall and his body shook uncontrollably. The monster unhinged its lower jaw and let out a piercing scream.

"Someone, help me!" The young boy cried.

The tentacle slowly slithered its way onto his leg till it reached his neck. The monster gripped his neck tightly and lifted him off the ground. Tears streamed down his face as he slowly suffocated. He didn't want to die yet; he still had something he needed to do. He tightly closed his eyes as the monster brought him closer to it.

Multiple bullets pierced through the monsters head in a blink of an eye. It let out another piercing scream before dropping the boy down. Lily ran up to the boy and picked him up before running back towards the group.

[Name: Sea Screamer]

[Rank: F (Elite)]

[Souls: 500]

"It's the same monster from before!" Ray reloaded his weapon while shouting. "We have to find some way to kill it since I got no Molotovs left!"

"I got an idea! Stay there and distract it while I head inside the store!" Ian turned around and ran inside.

"Hurry it up, then!"

Ian ran through the aisles and found a twenty-pound propane tank that he saw earlier. He ran back outside and saw Ray being chased by the Sea Screamer. The rest were shooting at it while hiding behind wrecked cars. Ian ran to where Mrs.Willard was hiding.

"Mrs.Willard, do you have any matches I can borrow?" Ian asked.

"Of course!" Mrs.Willard pulled out a box of matches from her backpack and gave it to him.

"Thanks!" Ian ran off to another direction. He got behind a silver van and placed the propane tank next to it. He ripped a piece of his shirt off and lit it up with a match. Ian placed the burning cloth on top of the tank before running off.

"Ray, see if you can kite that Screamer to that silver van over there!" Ian yelled loudly at him. "I plan to blow the shit out of it!"

"And get me fucking killed too?!" Ray shouted back.

"Try putting a good distance between it!"

"Fine, fuck it!" Ray immediately ran for the silver van with full speed.

Fortunately, the monster wasn't too agile due to the severity of its injuries during the last fight. Ray managed to put a good distance between him and the Sea Screamer. He jumped and rolled over the hood of the Van before running off. The monster, with its devilish grin, continued to give chase as if it has found the perfect prey. The Sea Screamer licked its blistering mouth with its long forked tongue as it came closer to the silver van. Ian kneeled down with one leg and observed the Sea Screamer through his scope. He waited as the monster moved towards the silver van.

"Everyone, take cover!" Ian shouted. Everyone immediately crouched down behind the cars.

With the monster in the acceptable range, he fired five rounds into the propane tank. Propane burst through the bullet holes and onto the cloth that was still burning. In a blink of an eye, a huge fireball exploded forth, and metal fragments flew everywhere. The raging flame engulfed both the monster and the car as it shined brightly. The giant fireball instantly heated up the van's gas tank, and another explosion rang out. Startled by the sudden explosion, Ray tripped over his foot, and he fell face flat on the concrete. Everyone felt the heat on their skin as they looked on with awe.

[Sea Screamer killed! 500 Souls gained. Other members will receive a party bonus of 125 souls.]

The intense flames scorched the rest of its body black. The corpse fell forward to the ground, and its large, harden head broke off from its body and slowly rolled out of the blazing fire.

Conner breathed a great sigh of relief after the battle ended. "That was really intense."

He plopped his body on the ground and flapped his hands to cool himself down. Right next to him, Lily and the boy popped their heads above the car roof to analyze the situation. Mrs. Willard came out from hiding and walked towards the trio before sitting down next to Conner.

"I don't think an old woman like me can handle all of this fighting." She took out a paper towel and wiped the sweat on her forehead.

Ian and Ray were the last ones to arrive.

"If it wasn't for that monster, I wouldn't have known I was an Olympic runner." Ray took out a bottled water and drank all of its contents.

"You did great, boss!" Ian gave him the thumbs up with a sneer on his face.

"Fuck you."

Ignoring the both of them, Mrs.Willard turned to look at the young boy with a smile. "Why are you alone out here? Where are your parents?"

Everyone turned to look at the boy. Feeling embarrassed, he grabbed onto Lily's hand tightly.

"I-I wanted to get some food for my papa because he couldn't move." He dropped his head. He then pointed towards a white building across the street. "My papa is in there."

Lily lifted him up and hugged him. "What's your name?"

"Mac."

Lily looked towards the rest of the group. "We should take him to his father and help them out."

"No, we need to find a working car quickly and leave this place." Ray immediately refused. "We don't have time helping other people out."

"We can't leave a child alone like this!" Mrs.Willard intervened. "Besides, we already helped him out by killing that thing over there."

"But we have to ensure our survival first." Ray continued. "We're running low on ammo and we can't afford to waste anymore."

Lily looked at him with puppy eyes and pleaded. "Please Ray, It's just this one time."

"Uncle, it's just across the street from here," Conner said in a quiet voice.

Ian finally spoke out and looked at Ray. "Boss, let's just send the kid back to his father."

Ray looked at everyone and rubbed his eyes. "Fine, let's just get it over with."

They crossed the street while avoiding any monster's detection and went inside the building. Mac led them upstairs towards the third floor.

"My papa should be up here!" Mac turned to look at them with a smile. "He'll be happy to see you all!"

They entered the dark hallway and stopped in front of a door with visible light underneath it.

"Papa, I'm here!" Mac yelled through the door before opening it.

Everyone walked in and turned to look at a dead body on the floor. They looked at it with horrified faces. Lily and Mrs.Willard screamed and covered their mouths while the men closed their eyes and looked away.

Mac stared blankly at the corpse. "Papa?"