The Day The Centipedes Attacked

It was a cold winter day in Seoul, South Korea. The day was January 7th, 2034. It was four days after Konnie's ninth birthday and his father was picking him up from school. A red Hyundai Porter II pulled up on the side road next to Seoul Kyodong Elementary School. Rolling down the window on the drivers side, a man with dark curly brown hair and brown-ish eyes popped his head out with a smile. "How's my inteligentny syn?" Konnie's father asked him, calling him 'intelligent son' in Polish. "Ojciec! Don't do that!" "Why not!!! You're smart, and I feel like I keep needing to remind you!" His father groaned in a childish manner. "Well, you don't." Konnie opened the door to the backseat on the right side of the car, perpendicular to the driver's seat. Plopping himself and his backpack down on the seat, he went quiet. The car roared to life and drove away from the school. Konnie peered his head out of the window, watching his school shrink and fade into the background. Pulling out his tablet to play Dash Tag, his mind projected itself into the game. Losing grasp on reality, the movements of his fingers becoming second nature as he checked out of focus. Without knowing how much time had passed, his father quickly pulled him back into existence. "Sooooo, how was school?" His father asked him without warning. "Eh..." Konnie shrugged. "Did you… make any new friends?" Lowering his head, Konnie went silent. His father glanced back at him feeling pitied that his son was struggling with the social aspect of school. "Is… is it really that bad…? Y'know… at school?" Konnie mumbled in response. Before his father could ask what he'd said, a silver Cadenza swerved in front of them, nearly scratching the headlight of their car. "PIEPRZENI IDIOCI!" His father cursed in Polish, sharply turning away from the car. Konnie looked up from the sudden movement. His father sped up to quickly make his way away from the car, which ended up crashing behind them. Worried about the nine year old he had in the backseat, he only wanted to get them home as quickly as possible. Once he felt he was far enough away from the ruckus, he slowed down with his car steady in the right lane. He was about to turn around to face his son, until a loud honking sounded from in front of him. A large semi was veering in front of them, precariously balanced on its left wheels. Konnie's father immediately put the car into reverse as the semi crashed onto its side, sliding another 20 meters. Braking once the semi stopped sliding, his father sat there in disbelief as he took quick and shallow breaths. Konnie was alarmed, but not panicked. His eyes darted around him where the semi wasn't blocking his field of vision. Cars all round were crashing and flipping. He noticed strange movement from within the cars but he couldn't depict what was going on inside them. "Konrad," his father said turning his head to face his son and reaching his hand back to him, "take my hand." It was rare for his father to use his full name, and he knew this was serious. The air was thick and heavy, it pushed on Konnie hard and threatened to drown him in it's hold. About to take his father's hand, he observed a soft noise. His father hadn't noticed it yet, and he didn't want to alarm him. Listening closely and drowning out the surrounding chaos, he heard it. The sound of something tunneling it's way up through the earth, 'shik- shik- shik-'. It momentarily got louder, until he heard a sound like a shovel hitting pavement. It was raucous and harsh, and it continued. Yet again, momentarily getting louder, until it stopped entirely. Konnie looked at his father, whose head was facing the discord before them, who still had his hand outstretched to the back seat waiting for someone to take it. Konnie knew that he was that someone, and that his father was scared. He could always tell when his father was scared because he would chew on his inner right cheek, his eyes fixed on something nobody else could see, and his pinky finger trembled like a small faun in the dead of winter. About to take his father's hand with the slightest hope he could calm him down, he heard it again. The sound. A faint 'shik- shik- shik-', but this time it felt closer- no, it sounded closer. Like whatever it was, was directly below him. Like the time before, it slowly got louder. His father still didn't notice it. The noise shifted, like ripping fabric into small pieces. 'Ksheeeeek' A long, deep metallic violet blade, like a large and thick claw, tore through the arm rest and slicing through his father's right arm like a sharpened pencil through paper. Before any of them could acknowledge what had happened a large and seemingly armored figure burst through the arm rest. It towered over them and made its way through the vehicle, it's build was over 2 meters and that's just what was in the car. Trying to maneuver its large body, it stepped on Konnie's father- its grotesque claw-like appendages piercing his flesh with ease. Stabbing him right next to an artery. The panic and realization finally setting in, Konnie scrambled to grab his notebook and a pencil, and dashing out the car door. That armored giant was a scolopendridae, and it wasn't the only one. That was everybody's last normal day.

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