A Wild Beast

The moon drifted away from the sky in the fleeting night. The sun had no sign of showing up whatsoever. Fog blanketed the bottom of the building which they took shelter in.

In that eerie quietness, Fein glared outside the glass sheet with his watchful eyes. Half an hour ago he got into a little bickering with Donna.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" She asked him. But his head was nodded in refusal. "No. I'll keep watch until morning. You should sleep as well, Ms Donna."

"Whaaaat? The night's still long. You should sleep!"

"Its really okay. I can manage the rest of the night."

And I don't want to sleep after that dream.

"Very well. I won't force you into anything."

She argued no longer and silently went back to her place.

Fein sat upright, leaning against the desk and glared at the starless grey sky.

He counted all the times he turned his locket over and over again.

I don't know what i just saw. I can't put my head around it. Only a few fragments of the dream got entrapped in my memories. A disfigured body? No? Was that a human? Or an undead? What was it? Foresighting or just a plain nightmare?

He drove his finger across his hair.

What is this? I can't figure it out at all.

Only a few hours later, the sun began to rise up and high. The mild ray of sunlight hit his darkened face.

We have very limited time left according to my plan. I should probably wake up Ms Donna.

As he stood up and turned around, he discovered Donna to wake up on her own. He felt it was unnecessary for him to speak so he trudged closer to the wide glass sheets and looked downwards.

Something feels wrong.

"Good morning Fein. We should start preparing to leave.."

"Wait. Ms Donna." He shushed her. "I think leaving now isn't a good idea."

"Why?" She walked over and peeked down the glass. "What's wro-" Her widened eyes reflected the image of the bottom.

A pack of dead bodies were piling at the entrance of the building, blocking their exit. Their appearances suggested that those roamed around the town as undeads. Who'd kill undeads and pile them under the building?!

"This isn't a good sign, Fein!" She quickly walked to the emergency exit and started to unlock it. "We are climbing to the roof."

"Alright!"

The instant he turned around, something plunged over and broke through the glass sheets.

Fein gazed at it from the corner of his enlarged eyes. Their world ran at a slow pace. The fragments of glasses floated in the air as the thing glared above its crossed arms. It seemed to have two functional legs, some clothes, a human-like head, hairy red skin, robust arms and body in general.

It was a beast!!

It leaped from the roof of the adjacent building to the sixth floor.

Fein understood in a second that beasts possessed intelligence equal to humans. Otherwise it wouldn't have planned to block their exits before attacking them.

It dropped on its four and howled. Donna quickened her speed to undo the ropes. Beasts were quicker and its danger rate was said to be above A class. If she didn't hurry up, both of them are sure to die. But her hands weren't as fast.

Fein immediately pulled out his handgun and shot at the beast.

Sure the bullets slowed it down a little, it bore no damages however.

The beast's attention averted to Fein who rapidly fired at it.

Fuck! These bullets don't work on it!

It jumped on Fein, which he evaded by stepping aside.

"Fein! Quick!" Donna successfully unlocked the door and suggested running. Fein recalled the advice to run away if faced by a beast. Without a second delay he followed after Donna. As soon as Fein got outside she slammed the door shut.

"You go ahead." Said Fein.

"What are you-" she knew it wasn't a time to argue and climbed the stairs.

Fein realized breaking a door for a beast was equal to breaking a twig. Bullets could do as much as to slow it down for only 6 seconds. He grabbed the fire extinguisher and pointed it at the door.

The instant that beast tore the door like a cloth, he emptied the entire cylinder on it. It slowed the beast considerably as it started to struggle to get off the foam from its body.

Fein dashed up the stairs while reloading the magazine of his handgun. On the eighth floor, he noticed Donna trying to pull out a heavy table.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Shove it down the stairs, to slow it."

He didn't know if it'll do anything, yet he went along and helped her push it down.

They arrived at the roof. Donna hastily walked to the edge and started to tie a rope.

"We're going to jump down to that roof." She pointed. Fein followed her pointer and discovered the adjacent building was far by 25-30 metres at least. They were going to jump from the tenth floor to the fourth floor with a huge distance in between.

He sighed.

Well its better to die instantly by a fall then being chewed up alive.

"Don't worry. As long as you land on your back you won't be heavily injured."

While she was busy tying the rope, the beast caught up to them.

Fein didn't waste another bullet on it and shot the water pipe beside it. Speedily, water splashed on its face and it roared.

He pointed his gun at its spots he deemed important. Like the eyes.

He fired several bullets at its eyes and the beast stopped.

Did it die?

A series of images appeared before his eyes. His head was overcrowded with lots of information pouring in. His shoulders shrivelled and he stepped back, grasping his hair.

Several scenes of my own death are blinding me!

Suddenly, the beast leaped from behind the water splashing upwards and swung its claws at him. Fein raised his chin.

The beast… regenerated its eyes!!

He was startled and couldn't move on his own. His coat and the fanny pack underneath tore open. All the bullets dropped making the jingling noise.

His skin didn't tear up as well thanks to Donna who pulled him backwards at the last moment.

"Use the rope and jump to the next roof!" She ordered. A dagger as long as Eudimor's was pulled out from inside her coat. She swiftly swung it at the beast, sending it backwards.

"Hurry up!" That she said, but Fein was conflicted. He figured leaving her behind by herself would save his life. But he didn't want to do it.

Like me… even she wants to reunite with someone. At least she deserves a chance.

He thought.

While Donna defended against the beast, Fein used his last two bullets and severed a metal pipe. He agilely snuck behind it and stabbed the pipe into its abdomen with all his strength.

However a beast's skin wasn't as easy to pierce through. The pipe couldn't even reach its internals, it remained stuck in the skin.

A plan failed!

But Fein had foresighted. He knew exactly what came next.

The beast turned over and grasped his shoulder. He pushed it to the edge.

"Fein!" Yelled Donna out of fear and worry.

He pulled out the pipe and stuck it between its jaws. Getting closer to the edge, Fein used all his might and knocked themselves over.

"Feeeiin!" She screamed and glanced down from where they fell. Fein was hanging by the rope with the beast hanging by his feet.

Its claws were pierced into his foot. Other claw grabbed his shoulder.

Donna could almost feel the pain Fein must've been feeling. She picked up the gun, reloaded three bullets and shot the beast in its weak points. The beast stopped clinging to Fein and fell from the top. Though it wasn't enough to kill it, it won't at least attack them for a while.