CHAPTER 25

"Enough of your complaining, now all of you can stand here and protest all day but that isn't going to stop the fact that there is an approaching toxic fume quickly spreading our way. I have no idea how high the toxicity of this fume can be, but after what humans have experienced in the past we are well aware of what these fumes could do to us. Pack up your things and grab your families, and everyone should reassemble in Chinatown's historical downtown district. That will be our pick up spot. Is that clear?"

They didn't reply immediately, at least not until our guns lowered with the mouth pointed in their direction before several heads nodded in reply. "Good, now scatter and–"

Out of nowhere a human boy, or at least what's left of him comes running down the street screaming at the top of his lungs.

His piercing shriek distracting everyone as he runs in an unstable fashion while screaming the word "Help!" over and over again.

His entire body is coated in blood with several claw marks visible on his skin, the teenage male is half naked with only what's left of his shredded pants protecting his lower half.

His feet are bare but bleeding as well, there's a large bite mark on the side of his neck as if he got bitten by something with large canines, and the left side of his face has been melted off beyond recognition.

He looks as if his head got dipped sideways into a pool of Hydrochloric acid (HCI), and it was utterly disgusting and frightening to see how his skin was falling apart, with pieces of flesh falling off as he ran.

He stops suddenly just a few feet's away and drops to his knees, gasping sounds leaving his lips as he stretches out a hand while desperately whispering the word "Help!".

In shock, we watch as he chokes on his blood which he coughs out before going limp in his position. His head dropping forward as his eyes shut close.

"D-da-David?" A woman suddenly whispers, stepping forward from the cowering crowd of humans hurdled to the side.

Several hands reached forward to stop her as she continues towards the male but she shrugs off their touch, and as she draws closer I rise to my feet in alarm.

Stretching out a hand, I yell in panic when I see her raise a hand cautiously with tears rolling down her face. "Wait, don't touch him!"

But my yell goes on deaf ears and as soon as she lays her hand on his head, it snaps back up. Jumping to his feet the young male has his hands wrapped around the woman as he lets out a screeching hiss, the sight of several elongated canines causing several people to scream and scatter, while my eyes widen in shock.

I didn't even get a chance to take him down before the male is digging his canine into her neck. Sucking on her blood like a starved beast, she cries out in terror, her shrieking screams filling my ears.

As the male holds onto her struggling body and continues to drink, he slowly starts to mutate into one of the Cursed. A human turned demon through the bite of an actual demon.

His ears begin to elongate into pointed tips, his eyes take on a hazy cloud of grey as his face slowly became filled with ridges.

His fingers lengthened into claws and his skin began to grow pale, his ribs outlined on his upper body as large wings jutted out of his back. And the sound of his bone restructuring itself beneath his body created horrific sounds.

"Fuck, he's turning into a Cursed. Shoot him dead Alex!" Sir Locke commands, and I raise my gun in the air, aiming.

Once he got done with the female, he twisted her neck so fast it snapped to the side as she fell dead to the floor. Releasing a screeching roar into the air the Cursed threw its head back, his mutation complete.

Staring at the male I made the mistake of hesitating, a loud ringing noise going off in my ear as chaos erupted around me. Kevin Hatch led a couple of warriors to safely protect the humans as they began to scatter, and Sir Locke forced the general and his workers back into the building.

His screams for me to shoot go over my head, as I continue to hesitate because I remember being in such a similar position once.

The entire scenario bringing to mind a dark memory I've long since buried. I used to think I was okay, that I had a rein on my mental stability, but I was wrong. Suddenly, the male before me became my little brother, the one person I was supposed to protect but failed to.

And in my daze, the Cursed creature started to spread his wings behind him. Glaring at me with a hungry gaze, it lunges at me, and at that moment my survival instincts kicked in.

I press down on my trigger and fire countless bullets its way, but of course, that wasn't going to be enough to stop it. I dodged out of its way by rolling to the side when it swiped a claw at me, but before I could recover it aimed for me once again.

When it got an inch close to my face, it got stopped by two swords that pierce through its head and its heart simultaneously.

Letting out gasps of shock and fear, I stare at the frozen face of the Cursed in surprise until the creature falls dead at my feet, and right behind stood a gorgeous silver-haired female with glaring amethyst eyes and both arms thrust out.

She stood in her suit with her protective mask off, her face a mask of annoyance as she straightens from her position. "What the hell is wrong with you, were you trying to get killed–"

Rising to my feet, I pull off my mask and didn't hesitate in taking several steps forward and wrapping my arms around her.

Pulling her body into a tight hug as my heart raced in my chest, eyes clenched closed while I try to take comfort in her presence.