A short reprieve

The only way out was through the window. Not Kals preferred chice for sure still better than being turned into minced meat though.

At first he hesitated, but with that creature approaching it was clear that he had no time to waste. The small victory he had obtained against it was caused in part by his good instincts, preparation and a healthy dose of luck. But most importantly of all was that the moth monster had underestimated him and how it was looking at him like in moment, it now took him serious. Very serious.

When leaning out the window, he could see a the pipe that was used to lead the rain that gathered on the roof into the sewer.

If he wanted to reach the ground without breaking every bone in his body, this was the best way.

Otherwise he would have had to use maybe a pillow or a few blankets he had found in the apartment to break his fall, though he was not sure how well those would serve his purpose.

So what he did was grab onto the pipe and slowly glide down to the ground, just that when he was already in the air, he noticed that his right arm had been injured, causing him to be unable to properly grab hold of the pipe with his right hand.

Though for one story his approach worked, when he was halfway down the second story however, he began to lose grip,causing his decent to speed up without his consent. To compensate however, he presse the right side of his body against the buildings rough facade.

While this action indeed managed to slow his speed to an acceptable level, it also caused him to receive a few bloody scratches on this side. Though this escape did not go as expected, being scratched a bit was still better than breaking his bones.

After reaching the ground and taking a few quick steps away from the building, in case the currently flightless moth decided to follow him by jumping down from the third story, he saw the creature looking in his direction with its insect eyes that could not blink and thus were focused on him without the slightest movement.

Instead instantly running away however, he wanted to more clearly inspect the creature, since he believed that after all the pain he had caused it in the relatively short encounter, the thing would hold a serious grudge against him. It certainly was intelligent enough to hold one.

Like a moth, its bod was covered in fine hairs.An exoskeleton that shimmered slightly red under the light of the odd moon was laying underneath the hair. It had the same colouration as its weapons that could also be called its legs. Though Kal hoped it to be different, this could mean that the exoskeleton had the same durability as its leg blades. Considering what those had been capable of, he did not dare to hink how such a creature could ever be killed.

Its only weakness seemed to be its wings though these being damaged were not enough to kill or bring it to deaths door. This meant that they were not required for the bug to stay alive.

Just when he had wanted to contemplate how he could evade such a creature in the future, a sudden wave of pain hit him.

He had anticipated it, yet he did not expect such intensity.

His adrenalin high that had before saved his life multiple times had now worn off. His sense of pain returned and he almost collapsed because of it.

Looking at his bloodied arm, he knew that he had to find something to quickly treat his injuries, the one on his arm in particular.

He hoped that he would not have to face the bug again, but when the time inevitably came, he would at least like to have enough blood in his body to put up a fight, even if it would not make too much of a difference, now that it had stopped underestimating its pray.

Since the layout of the city had stayed mostly the same except for a few minute details, he knew the way to the hospital. Considering he had not seen any other humans until now, he did not expect to get any treatment there. Instead, what he had gone there for instead was just some material stop perform first aid on himself. Luckily he had learned the way to the hospital just in case.Another boon that came along with his trouble avoiding philosophy. If only he had not abandoned it in the moment where it really mattered, he would not be in this mess right now.

He knew it was the bugs influence that had compelled him to this. He was still upset with himself however.

'Common a simple mind controlling bug is not a sufficient reason to abandoned your whole way of thinking' scolded himself with a slight chuckle and made his way towards the hospital.

***

It had been blinded by its arrogance. The others had been easy pray. Had it been serious from the start, the human, as the creatures were apparently called, that damned human would not have even stood the slightest of chances.

It could chase now. Instead it chose to remain for now, mending its injuries. Though it felt incomparable hatred for that human.

After it had killed the human and it would, it was obvious, like the law of the world,beyond even the slightest doubt.

Life would go on. This world was full of fresh prey to hunt. So risking long term injury was not worth it.

It would recover in a short time because of the abundant energy in the air.Before that human could leave the world it would end its pitiable existence in the most painful way imaginable. It would make sure to not play with its prey this time.

***

Kalvin was confused. He currently stood in front of the hospital or what stood where the hospital should have been located at.

The whole building was covered in a filthy looking smog, creating a contrast against the red light of the moon.

The smog was slightly see through, allowing him to make out the buildings structure. Instead of a normal building like many of the others he had seen on the way here that, even if they contained one or the other oddities like extremely large windows unstable looking balconies, that he recalled were not on their original counterparts, they had mostly stayed the same. The hospital however looked like its architect had taken some incredible potent drug, while at the same time being a genius beyond mortal concepts like gravity or logic.

Many rooms where hanging out of the main building at unnatural angels and somehow not falling.

Corridors where twisted around the building, almost like a deranged person had tried tying a gift with his feet.

Sometimes whole walls where missing, giving insight into the inside of the hospital.

Inside stood many pieces of commonly used hospital equipment like hospital beds and Iv poles. Some on the walls some on the ceiling.

Through the roof Kal even saw a whole Ambulance stuck in the roof. Not like it had fallen from a great hight and gotten stuck there. Instead it looked to be a part of the building, seamlessly connected to the concrete.

After looking for a few more seconds, he made the decision, that he would search elsewhere for medical supplies.

He had bandaged his arm with a part of his T-Shit, he had ripped of after not so careful consideration anyway. It had for the moment stopped his bleeding, somehow reduced some of the pain he was feeling and improved his chances for surviving the encounter immensely.

If there was one thing he was grateful for, then it was that when falling asleep, he had still been wearing his shoes and other normal clothes. Had he had to face the creature in his underwear or god forbid in the nude, he believed that he would be dead by now.

Another thing he was glad about, was the mild temperature in this world. Even though he was wearing ripped clothes and had lost a considerable amount of blood, he did not feel particularly cold. Rather, he felt that the temperature was ... just right.

Noticing that he had again gotten lost in his thought, he started walking away from the creatures location.

He had tried 'borrowing' a car. He however noticed, that the streets wer completely filled with cars.

As such using a car for travel in the city was completely impossible unless he could somehow overcome them congested streets, also considering how none of the cars had any drivers inside of them, the streets would not get any emptier any time soon.

This was the reason he took to walking around instead of driving.

What he was looking for now , were three things in order of importance from least to most.

-Find something to treat his injury

-Get a weapon that can defend him against the moth

-Find a place to hide

-Manage to return to the normal world.

While he knew he would not win in another fight, he also knew that having a weapon was better than none.

Treating his injury was currently quite pointless, since he had already prevented most of the bleeding. Miraculously he had not even needed stitches for his injury, as his improv bandage did that job just fine.

The only reason he had made his way to the hospital at the very start, was that it would also lead him towards both his other goals.

Finding a place to hide, because the hospital was located away from the moth and finding a way to exit, by allowing him more time to think of a way, when he was hiding instead of fighting for his life.

Since he was definitely not going into that hospital, he would search for a weapon and a hiding place instead.

When thinking back to the moths appearance, he already had an idea.With a determined gate , he started walking further away from the moths location looking for a bar, hoping that he would find what he was looking for there.