Chapter 3

"What the hell are those things?" Mr Gary asked Mr Ben who also focused on the big screen, while trying his best to hack into the base's security system.

"Never seen anything like it" Mr Ben replied, his attention fully concentrated on the computer.

"How far have you gone with the hacking?" Derek asked pacing restlessly, while watching the news live on his phone when he saw an headline, 'Mysterious Masked Lady Took Down Monster'.

"Lucy is there" Derek said, flashing his phone's screen at Mr Ben and Mr Gary.

"There!" Clara said pointing at the screen. As if on sync, they all turned to see what she's trying to show them.

Mrs Smith could be seen shooting down a monster that charged at her. She detonated a smoke grenade to reduce visibility and that they could hear was gunshots and screams as another body fell out of the smoke, it was one of the monsters. She came out, dragging a screaming cop by the shoulder, his leg seems to be broken. One could tell he's in pain, judging from his screams and the way he clutched it with his hands.

"She'll survive it" Derek said, grabbing a nearby stool.

****

"Take Trey and get the hell out of here!" Mrs Smith said to Joe who was trying to assist in getting the civilians to safety.

"I'm sorry I can't, your dad will have my head!" Joe yelled, trying to make his voice heard in the midst of the gunshots and screams.

Mrs Smith glanced over at Trey who was still hiding behind the vehicle.

"Just go be with him. Make sure he's safe," she said evading a slash from one of the creatures. It tried to slash her face again with it's long nails, but she was quick to guide it with her gun. To her surprise, the nails slashed into the rifle, dividing it in two.

"What the hell?!" She was surprised. It tried to slash her neck, but she bent low dropped the severed gun while evading the slash. She reached for her waist, grabbed the rod there and got ready for any other attack

The monster grabbed the detached door of a vehicle and tried to hit her with it, but she dived, rolling on the floor as she pushed the button on the rod. It increased in length, with sparks on each end.

"You wanna play?" She asked, flexing her neck and took a fighting stance with her eyes fixed on it. Two others joined it as they growled loudly, showing the tongue-like tentacles in their mouth.

"Very well then. Let's play!" She said as the two parties charged at each other. Mrs Smith jumped when she got close enough to them with the rod held high above her head, she hit the head of the one at the middle, making a cracking sound that one would think she hit it with a mallet. She landed perfectly on the ground, rolling just in time to avoid the foot of another that tried to stomp her it. She got up quickly as another dived at her with it's two hands raised above it's head, wanting to crush her with it's intertwined fingers, forming a big fist. She aimed at it's eyes and threw the rod that sank deep into it's eyes. It growled in pain, but she reached for the rod, pressing a button on it as the head was fully charged with electricity, the current was so much that it exploded into pieces with brain matters soiling the tarred floor.

Two others growled angrily and charged towards her with full speed. Mrs Smith reached behind her, produced a grappling gun which she aimed at the one closest to her. It pierced into it's hand, breaking through the bone. It let out an agonized howl. She fixed the gun to her belt, pushed a button on the gun as it recoiled the rope, dragging her towards it with full speed as she grabbed two flat grenades, pushing a button on it. The creature opened it's mouth, tried to wrap her with it. Not giving it a chance, she threw the two grenades in it, detached the gun from her belt as she rolled on the floor just before the grenade exploded.

The last one growled at her but she smirked, reaching for her rod that had increased in size again. It was about to charge at her when there was a sudden ear-piercing screech that made everyone cover their ear, including Mrs. Smith.

The creatures retreated on hearing it, climbing over buildings and cars till they were out of sight. The scene was now free of gunshots as there's no more threat.

Mrs Smith wondered what just happened as there's no single creature around again, the dark cloud had also cleared out with the opening closing up, leaving a clear sky. Joe and Trey came out of the building they hid themselves with other civilians, looking at the ruins. Lots of cars had been damaged as well as buildings. Trey was still with the girl. He took her to a nearby cop before joining Joe, who seems to be searching for Mrs Smith with his eyes.

"Where did she go?" Trey asked searching the environment with his eyes also.

"I have no idea" said Joe just as they heard the sound of a vehicle. It was Mrs Smith's 2020 Lamborghini Evo Spyder.

She had told the guardian who went to get the toiletries to bring it to her, while he took the one she brought.

"Get in" she said as the vehicle's door opened automatically with Trey and Joe hopping in. She reversed the vehicle, shifted the gear and hit the gas pedal as it shot down the highway that led to the outskirt of the city.

****

Richard Smith, Mrs Smith's husband was a chemistry teacher in Starlake High School, the most prestigious school in the city. Being a loving and caring young man, he was loved by his students and also his colleagues.

He was surfing through the internet in the staff's office when he came across the news of the attack in the city. There were numerous video clips uploaded on the internet from random people and bloggers. He clicked on one of it which showed how the creatures brutally killed people, eating off their faces.

"What the hell?!" He said in disgust, attracting the attention of another teacher whose desk was just across his, Emisson Gray.

Emisson was the biology teacher and also Richard's best friend. They met in college and had been able to keep their relationship ever since, even though Emisson is way younger than Richard.

"What's up?" He asked looking up from the textbook he was reading.

"You need to see this" he said leaving his desk for Emisson's, with his eyes glued to his phone's screen.

"Holy shit!" Emisson exclaimed. "What the hell are those things?" Emisson asked staring wildly at the horrific scene on Richard's, phone's screen.

"I don't know" said Richard, " the news says some sort of fireball hit the city from space, dropping off these monsters" he added.

" I feel like I'm watching a movie right now cause this is just too fucking insane to be real" Emisson said just as Richard's office line rang.

He moved to his desk, picked up the call and placed the receiver on his left ear.

"What?!" Richard exclaimed. "Yes sir" he said hanging up the call. His face fully radiated horror.

"What's going on?" Emisson asked curiously, on seeing the look on his friend's face.

"A female student stabbed her friend to death with a pen" Richard broke the shocking news as Emisson was taken aback.

"What the?!" He exclaimed in surprise. His face showed worry and confusion.

"Let's go, the principal is waiting" said Richard grabbing his phone from Emisson's desk as they both hurried out of the office. Doing more running than walking down the hallway that led to the school's compound.

Students could be seen peeking through windows and opened doors as more teachers joined them. The wailing sound of an ambulance's siren could be heard in the compound.

A large number of crowd comprising of both staffs and students had gathered around some paramedics putting a body into a black body bag. The girl's throat had been punctured several times and a closer look showed her stomach was ripped open. Her liver was in a bloody plastic bag close to her blood drenched body. She looked like one of the victims of a psychopathic serial killer in an Hollywood movies.

Richard felt the urge to puke as he stared at the body, but he fought hard not to embarrass himself in front of his students and colleagues.

A crying girl was led into a waiting police van, she had blood stains on her clothe and her hands were stained with blood. She kept repeating a sentence as the cop forced her into the vehicle.

"The faceless man made me do it!"

Richard had been confused before. He didn't understand what would make a teenager commit such a horrible crime. To make things worse, they're both friends. Her repeated words made him more confused than he was earlier on.

Everyone watched as the corpse was whisked into the waiting ambulance on a stretcher moments after the cop left with the girl with different thoughts on their minds. 'Why did she do it?' was the most common of all.

"This is crazy" said Emisson, "like, creepy crazy" he added turning to leave when a man walked up to them with a friendly smile on his face.

His thick black hair matches the colour of his well tailored black suit. He had a low budget brown shoe on which Richard was staring at as he walked up to them. He looked away when the man got close enough, the both of them actually.

"Hi," he said with the friendly smile still on.

"I'm detective James Clark" he said flashing his ID, " I believe you're a staff here, " He said making it sound more like a question than a statement.

" Yes, I am" Richard replied.

" Perfect! I'm in charge of the situation now and I would love to begin my investigations right away, if you permit me," he said as Emisson kept looking from him to Richard.

" Let's start by taking a look at your CCTV footages." he said, walking into the school building without waiting for the two teachers.

" He's weird" Richard said to Emisson who seems to have the same thought on his mind, nodding his head positively to what Richard said.

" I hate him already" he said as they tried to catch up with him.

A strange figure could be seen near the park, blending with the objects there. It whooshed out of sight immediately they stepped into the building.