Chapter 8

"I'll kill you!" Rage coursed through every inch of Darius's body, making his blood boil. The sight he had to behold took over his mind and clouded his eyes. 

When he got back up right Darius placed his foot on the woman's body next to him. With both hands, he grabbed hold of the spear and pulled it out. Blood dripped down on the road as he walked towards the enormous creature.

"Darius?! Darius, what are you doing." George yelled at him, but there was no acknowledgment or response. For a man who couldn't look straight, could not be reasoned with. 

His body trembled with every single step he took. It felt like his body was on the verge of exploding at any given moment. As a vigorous feeling flowed through him, the whole world around him appeared in a deep shade of dark red. He didn't know where this came from, but nothing seemed impossible anymore. 

Darius stopped in place and glared at the enormous creature, while the imagery of his son and wife faded in and out before his eyes. With clenched teeth, he tightens his grip on the pole, feeling the rough texture against his palm. Red had taken over his entire body and burst out of his body like an atomic bomb. Leaning forward with a single push, he dashes towards it with the wind whistling past his ears.

"We need to leave." George found it insane what Darius was doing. How could a human deal with such a monster? What George didn't perceive were the strange anomalies that happened to Darius. All he could see was a psychopath rushing towards his death.

"What about." Sarah wanted to disagree with him, but the sight of it licking the blood of its lips as Darius got closer, made her instinctively look away.

"Where should go?" Kathleen's eyes darted anxiously between her husband and Darius, torn on who to focus her attention on.

There wasn't an easy way out. They were completely surrounded. Did they have to fight that thing? No, that's lunacy. George knew well enough they were trapped, but to him, anything would be better than dealing with that thing.

"Let's take our shot there?" Pointing in a certain direction, George had made up his mind now the rest needed to decide what they thought. 

"Alright." Glancing where he pointed to Kathleen nodded her head.

Lashing with its mouth, the creature tried to snatch Darius but missed him. Darius Moves passed the creature's snout before trusting the spear forward. The creature's scream of agony rang through the entire city when the spear punctured its eye. Desperate to crush Darius, it aimlessly slams its legs down. Around Darius, holes were being created in the road as he waited for a moment to strike. 

Its paw came down towards Darius at an immaculate speed, but he got out from under it. When it slammed down right next to him, Darius Swung his arm straight for its leg. A bang followed when Darius's fist made contact. The enormous strength behind the punch caused the creature to lose its balance and fall face-first into the road. 

Darius who stood once more before its eye grabbed the shaft of the spear stuck inside of it and pulled it out.

Whilst she ran, Kathleen could hear both of them screaming. Worried for her younger brother, she glances behind her to see how he was holding up. She sifted her body to the side when she something flying straight toward her. A grating sound filled her ears as it scraped across the road, making her stomach churn, and when it finally stopped, she struggled even more to keep her composure. her gaze fell upon Darius's lifeless body, his bloodied form serving as a grim reminder of the violence that had occurred.

Kathleen lost all will to keep going, everything was just too much. She wanted to drop to her knees, but out of nowhere, someone picked her up.

With his wife on his shoulder, George continued to run towards the large piles of bodies before him. He prepared himself to struggle through the creatures that awaited him, but to his surprise, they swiftly ran to the sides and scaled the buildings with astonishing agility.

He questioned their actions but for a brief moment. his eyes widened as the sound of a loud thumping grew closer. "Move to the sides now!" As he dove to the side, George could see the figure of his daughter disappear behind a curtain of dust. 

"Are you alright, Kathleen?" George looked at his wife who now laid above him. "Yeah, I'm fine." 

With the help of his wife, George got back on his feet. "Jean, Sarah!" He couldn't see the two girls, which worried him but his attention was drawn somewhere else when he heard bodies splashing against the nearby wall.

As the creature turned to face George, its tail swung from left to right, destroying some of the corpse piles, while it crunched down on the recent catch, George watched, fearful of what could be inside.

When the dust settled, George could see Sarah who had a horrified look on her face. George's eyes widened as he had to come to terms with what had just taken place. Her figure appeared in front of him, his little princess. She looked younger than the adult woman she was today, but to him, she was still as precious. 

What was the point anymore, run again for the slight chance of survival, was that the gamble he wanted to keep taking? George felt lost in every situation he had been in today. His mind was being broken and then rebuilt. Insanity was just a byproduct, an internal chain for him to remember this sadness. 

All the emotions he was feeling carved themselves into his bones, causing him to perceive a strange phenomenon within himself.

"George, get out of the way, now!" Kathleen screamed at her husband, who stood still there in a daze. When George lifted his gaze and saw a massive paw descending toward him. Before slamming him into the ground, George smiled at his wife, his eyes filled with a blinding, pure white light.

With a piercing scream, Kathleen collapsed onto the ground, writhing in emotional pain. Kathleen's legs buckled beneath her, but the sheer terror in its stare compelled her to crawl backward. Her hands scraped over the rough asphalt as she desperately tried to create distance from the enormous creature that made her its next target. 

Unable to go any further, her body trembled as its mouth closed in. With its opened mouth poised to swallow her whole, his head was violently struck away.

In front of her stood a man, completely covered in blood, his clothes soaked and dripping. Despite being in a terrible state, he somehow managed to stand tall. It was such a miracle to her he could move that she didn't process the inhuman strength he had just displayed.

White energy burst out of him as he glared at the enormous creature.

"Leave." His words were barely audible, but the sound of her husband's voice, which she thought she would never hear again, brought tears to her eyes.

Raising its massive frame, the creature fixed its gaze on the motionless man. It stared at him with curiousness in its eyes, but when the man still didn't take action, it lowered its head and opened its mouth.

"Run!" He attempted to scream at her, but the sound that escaped his throat was a harsh, grating noise. With death inching closer, she couldn't help but observe his lack of movement. Kathleen rushed over to him, her heart pounding, and embraced his body with a tight hug.

"I love you." Kathleen had made her decision, and George could do nothing about it. Without delay, they both vanish down the creature's throat.

Left alone, Sarah felt all her emotions wash over her body. Dread set in, her heart heavy with the knowledge of losing her brother, but it was juxtaposed by the kindness her family showed her, offering a glimmer of hope. However, that hope was quickly crushed as she witnessed the horrifying deaths of her family, leaving her engulfed in a loneliness that became her new reality. Her final moments were approaching. While an emotional rollercoaster swept her away to the past.

"Come on, Sarah, why don't you want to go on a date with me." In front of Sarah stood a young man who was about eighteen years old, with his face a blur in her memory.

"I told you; I'm not interested. Why can't you leave me alone, and if you were going to ask me again, why did you bring them along?" Behind him stood two other young men whose gazes were fixated on her.

"They're just tagging along. when we're on our date, they won't bother us."

"it's still a no and following me outside of school is kind of creepy."

"Come on, Sarah, why are you playing so hard to get." From behind him, one the man's friends spoke up.

The man leaned in closer and put his arm forcefully around Sarah's shoulder. "See Sarah, I don't bite." 

"Get off me!" Sarah strained to pry his arm away, but his strength easily overpowered her. "Let's just go to the movie and then get a drink."

"Even if I wanted to, we can't legally drink yet."

"I know some friends who can hook us up." As he finished someone else's voice rang through the alley. 

"Hey dickhead, get your hands off my sister!" When they heard someone shout, everyone turned to a young man with blond hair and wearing a school uniform. 

 Surprised by him showing up the guy smiled. "It's Samuel. What are you doing here, dad didn't call?"The other two laughed at what he said.

"He did."

Despite Samuel's unexpected words, he couldn't help but feel a sense of ease and amusement, rather than threat, towards the goofball in front of him.

"And told me. That you should get your filthy hands off my sister." Samuel drops his bag to the ground and runs up, punching the main guy in the jaw. His two friends join in and attempt to remove Samuel from him but with not much luck. Samuel repeatedly punches the guy in the face before engaging in a scuffle with the other two.

After a while, Samuel grabs his bag and walks towards his sister. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thank you. Are you?"

"Not even a scratch." She couldn't help but notice the vivid bruises he had gained from the fistfight, yet she chose to remain silent.

"let's go home."

Nodding in agreement, she runs after him until they walk side by side. "Aren't you going to be in trouble at school tomorrow?"

"That's a problem for then." Laughing at her brother's words, Sarah's vision distorts, and she finds herself somewhere else. A door opens and a ray of light enters the dark room she found herself in.

"Samuel?" Her voice had turned higher in pitch and her physic smaller. Coming in through was a teenage boy about thirteen years old with blond hair.

"Oh, sorry, were you sleeping?"

"No, I can't. They're being too loud."

Samuel walks to the mattress on the ground and sits next to hers. "Dad has some guests. I'm sure they will quiet down any moment."

Sarah gets out from under the sheets and leans against her brother.

"What's wrong, Sarah?"

"I'm scared."

"How come?"

"The noises, I don't like it."

Samuel smiled at his sister. "You don't have to worry as long as your brother is with you. Nothing bad can happen."

Sarah quickly fell asleep thanks to his soothing words, but the boy couldn't doze off. He stared blankly at the door he had entered from, listening intently to the sounds emanating from the other side. "Sweet dreams, Sarah."

The massive beast had closed part of the gap while she was absentminded. She knew that escaping was impossible, and this realization started to weigh heavily on her. "Samuel, Dad, I'll be seeing you soon."

Sarah turns her head and notices some movement behind the creature. A person crawled out from inside a pile of corpses. The sight of the blood-soaked man caused her eyes to widen. Standing right in front of her was the person she believed had already left this world.

When the man rotated in her direction, their eyes met. His blue eyes made her shiver. She had no doubt anymore. "Samuel!"

He was brought back to reality when someone shouted for him. It appeared that he was struggling to process what had occurred in this place. "Sarah!"

Extending her arm, she longed to take hold of his hand, which remained distant. Its jaws swiftly descended, encircling her body, before snapping shut.

I couldn't look away as the blood-dripping mouth rose. Around me, laughter clogged my ears as malnourished bodies climbed me.

"It's all your fault!"

"Why did you let me die!"

"You are a waste of space!"

Everything around me becomes gray and bleak. Their voices haunted my mind, giving me a headache. I was filled with a sense of dread and no longer felt like myself.

"You should have died!"

Anger consumed me as their voices rang in my head. "Shut up! I know, so shut your mouth!" A sense of deaspiration could be heard lingering in my voice as I pleaded them to stop.

My entire body should have been shaking, but it wasn't. My eyes were right on the four to five-meter-tall behemoth that stood on all four of its legs. As I looked towards the creature's right, I spotted an item lying on the road. A sense of emptiness had taken over, numbing my emotions, and during these moments, there was only one thing I desired.

Swiftly moving ahead, I evade its paw as it comes crashing down towards me. I pick up the spear on the ground and turn around. I dodge its every attack and when I find the right moment to strike; I thrust the spear forward, straight into its front leg.

As it tore through its flesh, the creature screamed in pain.

It thrashed its legs around in a chaotic frenzy as I pulled it back out. With nimble movements, I deftly aimed my spear at its exposed body parts while evading its every move. The creature continued to act like an immature child having a meltdown, making me put some distance between us. 

As its mouth snapped towards me, I quickly sidestepped to my right, but when I did, something else slammed against my body.

After tumbling over the ground, I glanced at its tail, which flicked back and forth with remarkable speed. With little time to react, its paw comes crashing down. I escape its attack just in time and look for where the spear went.

Before I could even lay my hands on the spear, the ground shook violently as the creature's front paw slammed down dangerously close to me. When I noticed the other one closing in rapidly, I scrambled to move as swiftly as I could. As its paw connected with the ground, I pivoted and delivered a powerful punch to its leg, causing the creature to lose its balance and tumble.

In anger and frustration, fire spewed out of its mouth, as it lifted its body back up. The creature tried to look for me with its single eye, but I had disappeared from its peripheral vision.

I had used the buildings, debris, and this ridiculous physic I gained to find myself in the air. This vigorous feeling that edged through my body was incredible, like I had my fate in my hands as if I had two massive wings and could fly, it was all so exhilarating.

With the help of gravity, I raged down. "DIE!" My voice rang through the city as I charged down from above. 

Its skull cracking mused my ears when the spear punctured its head, along with its enormous body smashing into the road. As I pulled the spear back out, the creature struggled to lift its head, but I quickly drove the spear back into its skull.

"Die!"

"Why didn't you do anything!" Their voices had never left and even now, as I took the spear out and thrust it back in."Die!"

"It's all your fault!"

"Die!"

"Weren't you going to protect me!"

"Die, die, die ,die." I repeated the same word whenever I pierced the spear back in so many times that I forgot how many times it was.

When color came back into my sight, realization followed. Their voices rang through my head as my emotions flooded out of the dam. My arms didn't stop moving, and neither did the spear, it went in and out, in and out. Streams of water rolled down my cheeks and onto its skin.

"Die."

"Die."

"Die."

Eventually, I stopped and left it firmly lodged in. At this moment, I released all my pent-up emotions. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Leaning on the spear, I cried. The heavy sorrow that engulfed me served as a constant reminder of our shared identity. I felt his misery; I felt his pain; I felt lost just as much as he did.