Chapter 54.

Into the Fire II

Damien Reyes/ Jason Cole

Time/Area: August 4th, 2013. Manhattan/Queens.

8:30 AM

Awkward elevator rides.

Things that happen all the time, but usually never to this extent.

“Henry, was it?” Mr.Synth said, all of us now crowded into the small cart of Synth industries.

On the keypad next to the sliding metal doors, two floors had been requested:The top, and 24.

“Y-yeah.” Henry said through gritted teeth, fighting back the pain in his ribs, “A-and this is my little brother, Tristan.”

Tristan simply stayed quiet, standing behind Henry’s leg as we slowly climbed the floors of the building.

Mr.Synth nodded, temporarily glancing back at me before returning his attention towards Henry,

“Upon hearing…the news,” he started, “I had emergency care supplies stalked on every floor…including 24.”

“So what makes 24 so special?” I spoke, causing everyone to look at me.

Synth began fiddling with his tie,

“Before this all happened, it was pretty late at night, and a handful of my more dedicated employees volunteered to stay to work.”

The elevator hit 20 as he continued,

“A lot of those employees were still here when I put the building on lockdown, and have been helping make this place into a kind of…fort until help arrives.”

“Fortunately for Henry,” he stretched out his name for some reason as the elevator slowly came to a stop, the doors sliding open to reveal the 24th floor, “Some of our medical staff was present and are sitting here, still able to operate given that this building runs off of a separate power source.”

Mr.Synth stretched out his finger towards the door control button on the elevator keypad, keeping the elevator from ascending further,

“Henry, Tristan,” he nodded at the hallway, “There is a woman down this hall who can take care of your injuries and show you to a back exit-”

“Hey, what?!” I stepped in again, meeting Mr.Synth’s piercing blue eyes as they bored down on me,

“What do you mean ‘exit’?” I asked.

Mr.Synth sighed, “Damien, I’m sure you’ve figured this out,”

The lights flickered as the entire building shook violently, another explosion sounding nearby,

“These ‘monsters’ seem to work by some kind of infection, and the best way to handle infections are quarantines-”

“So you’re kicking them out?!” I interrupted, “Tristan’s five.”

“I’m six!” Tristan notified.

“I’m doing what I have to in order to ensure our survival.” Synth explained, glaring, “Damien…monsters are attacking New York City. The best thing we can do is wait until the military…or the national-”

“That’s not fair,” I stated, “How come I get to stay? And what if the military can’t help? What if the rest of the country doesn’t know what’s happening? What if the same thing is happening everywhere-!”

“Damien.” Mr.Synth scowled, “I’m sure you know why you are getting special attention, and I doubt you are infected seeing as you’re the only one that doesn’t possess an open wound.”

The irony.

Honestly Damien, if it wasn’t for the ‘Selina’, I’d say to replenish your food supply on this man.

“H-hey guys,” Henry entered the conversation as I tried to quiet Terry, “L-look I was already planning on getting out of here anyways, but my brother doesn’t have an ‘open wound’ or whatever.”

He took a deep breath, “Can’t he stay?”

Mr.Synth looked down at Tristan, his eyes never once softening,

“...very well.” he submitted, “The little one can stay…consider it a courtesy.”

Henry just looked at him, beginning to step out of the elevator, “Whatever...” he muttered, “Thanks.”

I was in disbelief, “Henry, wait.” I said, turning back to face Mr.Synth,

“You can’t be serious-”

“I am.” He cut me off, “Entirely.”

Tristan was crying, “Henwy, don’t-!”

“I’ll be fine.” Henry forced a smile at Tristan before looking back at me,

“I have to check on something anyways…keep him safe?”

I nodded, “O-of course.” I said, “Erm, do you know where Hiru is by any chance?”

Mr.Synth stiffened at that, seeming to almost care,

“Is…” Mr.Synth spoke, “Is he with his mother?”

Henry looked at him, “I uh.. was walking with Tristan to go meet him in the Brooklyn Buffet. His mom was taking us all out for breakfast or something.”

I blinked, “All?”

He coughed, “You know..uh..Timmy and John..”

He paused, as if waiting for me to explode,

“A-anyways,” He went on, “now I think that I should check on my parents… so I’m going to try to get back to Staten Island.”

KABOOOM!

Another explosion.

I bent my head a little, “Okay…” I agreed, “And about Hiru-”

“I’m going to try and get to him and his mom on my way there,” He finished, “I’m worried about them too.”

I winced in sympathy as he clutched his side wound,

“You...be careful, dude.” I coughed, “And…”

I stepped towards Henry, lowering my voice, “ If something happens to this place, just meet us at me and Jason’s house, okay?”

Henry slowly nodded, backing out into the hallway,

“I-I’ll be back, Tris, don’t worry!” he called out, looking at me, “And watch out for yourself too, dude….freak.”

“Will do…” I muttered.

Tristan was now standing beside me, gently waving bye as the doors slid closed again.

The elevator began ascending once more,

“Now, I believe we need to get you a change of clothes.” Mr.Synth moved on, glancing at my bloodstained, ripped, and battered attire,

“It’s a miracle that you seem to be alright…”

I gritted my teeth, still finding it hard to believe he would do something like leaving Henry out there.

This guy…

Tristan cleared his throat, “When will Henwy get back?”

I looked down at him, “I-in a little bit.” I said.

Synth didn’t say anything- which was probably for the best.

Just then, a thought occurred to me.

How was I even supposed to get Selina to come with me?

It wasn’t like I could ‘convince’ Mr.Synth to let his daughter move from this fortress to our mansion in the middle of monster haven.

“Here we are.” Synth pulled me out of my thoughts, the doors sliding open again to reveal the top floor.

The penthouse screamed rich, even during a lockdown.

Golden chandeliers were on the roof, a gold rimmed fish pond laid in the middle of a bright quartz floor, and potted plants were spaced evenly across the room.

Three men in black suits were pacing the area, each on their phones while relaying information outloud,

“We still can’t reach Mrs.Knight sir...” One announced, walking up to us as we stepped out of the cart.

Mr.Synth gave a genuine frown, “K-keep trying...maybe that Henry boy will come through.”

He pointed at me,

“And get a new shirt for him….we should have extras from the fundraiser in June.”

“WHOAA!” Tristan yelled, running towards a massive window on the back wall.

Well, it wasn’t exactly on the back wall: it was the back wall.

The window encapsulated 25 percent of the entire penthouse, and it would’ve been stunning if the view wasn’t polluted by bogs of smoke from endless waves of fire, hundreds of monsters darting about the roads like fireflies, and of course…the screaming.

Tristan’s smile faded when he saw the city,

“What are they doing…” he said beneath his breath, pointing at something past the window.

I followed his finger, my heart skipping a beat at the tens of people crowding around the Synth building's lobby floor.

It was like we had beaten the rush.

They were all banging on the sheets of metal, screaming into the camera for help.

I thought about what Synth had mentioned about quarantining, deep down knowing that he was right.

He couldn’t just let everyone in here…one of those people was bound to be infected.

It was still twisted, but not unconventional.

“H-here you are kid.”

I turned around to see one of the men, looking down on me with a white shirt in his hand.

On the shirt were the words, ‘Synth is better than Energis’ in all black.

I whispered a small thank you before taking it from him, spinning around to find somewhere to change.

“There are guest rooms over there,” Mr.Synth nodded towards a row of doors on the wall perpendicular to the window, “We can talk once you get changed.”

“Th-thank you.” I said, glancing back at the window, “And what about Tris?”

“He’s free to run around here.” He said, walking towards a nice looking coffee table in front of the window, “Selina keeps the kitchen stocked with snacks for when she stays here.”

I nodded, glancing at the kitchen he was talking about. It was directly beside the elevator we had come out of, and looked like something that would feature on ‘American Dream Home’,

“And Selina-?”

“Heavens, Damien,” Synth interrupted me, taking a seat beside the table as the three men continued to give him updates, “She’s simply using the restroom, and she’s fine.”

He pointed once more at the guest rooms, “Go change.”

I nodded again, shooting a smile at Tristan who had just discovered the kitchen before opening the door to one of the guest rooms.

The room itself was pretty nice.

It had a gray carpet in the center of black hardwood floors and a king sized bed was adjacent to a large window beside a walk-in closet. The window gave a similar view to its bigger counterpart in the common area: all fire…all screaming…all dying.

I stood on the carpet for a moment, forcing myself to not relax.

I was here for Selina.

After seeing everything outside, it almost felt wrong to be so…safe.

But I couldn’t stay here like Synth wanted, and I was almost 100 percent sure that this place wouldn’t even last…

I took off my shirt, which wasn’t even really a shirt at this point, before tossing it into a trash bin by the door.

My head still ached, still getting used to expending so much energy. Getting here was a nightmare in itself, and it wasn’t even that far from my house. I needed to feed more if I was going to have enough juice for the rest of this…apocalypse.

Heck, even just this day.

What was the end goal here?

If I was able to get everyone to my ‘suspiciously’ safe mansion, what would we do then?

The only possibility of a cure was in the Energis building, and who knew how that place was doing at a time like this. Should a cure even be the goal? What about just surviving?

I sighed, pulling the new shirt over my bruised body.

I couldn’t heal those even if I wanted to…

“DAMI!”

I smiled brightly as Selina threw open the door, charging inside the moment after she closed it,

“You’re alive!!”

She wasted no time in wrapping me in a hug, which I gladly returned before she pulled away,

“A-are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded, her eyes sinking a bit as she looked around the room, “I’m perfectly fine,” she said, “B-but where’s Jason?”

I frowned, looking down at the carpet, “He-he’s getting Melissa.”

Selina gulped, “A-and Hiru?” she asked, “I haven’t heard from him, and my dad’s going crazy without Mrs.Knight around.”

I sighed, “Henry Mores is going to check on him,” I explained, “You passed by his brother on your way here.”

She nodded, “Yeah…poor guy,” she shook her head, “My dad is…”

“Annoying.” I finished, frowning, “Sorry, but he-”

“Nah, I completely agree,” Selina said, stuffing her hands into her pockets. She was wearing jeans, the same shirt as me, and her blue jacket,

“I just can’t believe this is all happening.” She continued, “And remember that note?” she threw her hands in the air, “This must be that ‘surge’!” she said, “What if that guy wasn’t crazy, and what if-”

Selina paused, glancing at my expression,

“Aaand you already knew all of this, didn’t you?” she groaned.

I nodded sheepishly, “Yeah,” I said, “But me and Jason figured it out just a little bit ago…after our house got like one hundred different break-ins.”

Selina looked shocked, “Break-ins?!” she shook her head, “Dang, I feel bad for those guys.”

I laughed at that, “Yeah…” I agreed, “Me too.”

Selina put a hand on my shoulder, “You seem tired.” she noticed.

I slowly nodded, “I am,” I admitted, “But I can’t just sit here…everyone needs me-”

“Ever thought about what you need?” Selina interrupted me, glaring, “And plus, I’m pretty sure places like this and Ember are the safest areas around…why didn’t Jason just come here?”

I coughed, “Actually…and I know this won’t make much sense, but our house is-”

“Swarmed by monsters?” Selina guessed, raising her eyebrow, “And is this the same house that underwent one hundred break-ins?”

I tried again, “Like I said,” I started, “It doesn’t make sense, but for some reason-”

“Damien, I’m not saying you can’t go be a hero or whatever,” Selina stopped me again, “But c’mon…take a break,” she said, “I haven’t left this place since this morning, it’ll be okay to stay for a bit…plus, my dad won’t let you leave so quickly anyways.”

I shook my head, “No,” I said, “Listen, there’s something about my-”

“Damien!”

We both looked at Mr.Synth as he walked into the room,

“As you can see, I can keep my own daughter safe.”

I nodded, “Yeah.”

“Damien…I need you to tell me everything you know about what is going on here.” he motioned out the guest room door.

I blinked, “You think I know?”

He nodded, “Your sister was working with the most brilliant mind that pathetic excuse of a lab had, and don’t think I don’t know about Energis’ involvement in this whole event.”

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I frowned, glancing at Selina,

A while ago I brought it up with him,” she admitted, “It was around the time we first met…I kind of thought he was just ignoring me-”

“I was, until the Paris fiasco.” Mr.Synth stopped her, turning back towards me,

“I know you know something, so just tell me everything you know about what they were doing.”

I saw no problem in doing this, but I still didn’t even know much.

Well… much besides what I knew from being infected.

Plus, a conversation like that could take hours, which was time that I did not have.

I sighed,

“I-I actually wanted to go check on some more-”

“No.” Mr.Synth breathed, “I will not allow it. Besides, If you are truly accurate in your words, Jason will be helping out the Embers for you, and that Henry boy will be helping Hiru and Mrs.Knight.”

My frown deepened, “B-but they could need help-!”

“Oh please, Damien.” He interrupted, “What could you do anyways?”

He raised his eyebrow, “Ember is the one who helps people in the first place.” he reasoned, “My cameras are fuzzy whenever one of those things are around, so I’ve never truly seen a monster, but I’m pretty sure Ember Defense can handle them, don’t you think?”

“Ugh…this guy,” I thought.

“I know, right?” Selina thought back.

Wait-

I glanced at Selina, expecting to see surprise on her face, but her expression hadn’t changed.

She noticed my surprised look, to which she just looked confused.

She gave me a small thumbs up as her dad continued,

“Now tell me, Damien…” Mr.Synth said, “What exactly was Energis doing that could cause this...pandemic, and how is it spreading?”

He pressed further, “Anything helps, and I don’t believe the acting CEO of Energis will be providing anything useful anytime soon.”

I sighed, seeing no way around this conversation.

I could explain what I knew, and if nothing else happened by then, get out of here and go help everyone else.

Synth Industries wasn’t a joke, so maybe they could help with the situation...

I glanced at Selina for the second time as her dad began to lead us over to the coffee table, looking for any shock or awe on her face.

We had just read each other’s thoughts…exactly like what me and Jason could do.

Was she not surprised?

What was going on?

As we sat around the able, another fiery explosion went off somewhere deeper in Manhattan,

“Sit quickly, “ Synth said, focusing on me, “Now…tell me everything.”

--------------------------Perspective swap: Jason Cole 45 mins earlier-------------------------

“Seriously?!” I yelled, flinging the bike handles to the side as I pedaled around a Dumpster.

I had been riding through and in between alley after alley for nearly an hour, doing my best to stay off any roads. It was good that I had found a bike, seeing as it was four hours to walk to Queens from Manhattan, but it wasn’t like a bike could beat a monster…charging at me at full speed…blood dripping from its mouth…teeth-

“Shut up, brain!” I ordered myself, avoiding a homeless guy as I exited yet another alley.

I knew he wasn’t actually homeless, but I tried to register as few corpses as I could…which made the eventual number of them equally countless.

I had just got off the 59th street bridge, which meant that I was technically in Queens, but I was still a ways from Ember, and my legs were beyond sore.

I glanced down at my phone. I had placed it in a convenient cup holder attached to the reflector above the front wheel, the screen displaying all sorts of errors upon my many attempts to call Melissa.

I slipped my thumb towards the call button again, knowing it wouldn’t work but trying anyways.

Definition of insanity.

“Shut up!”

I shook my head again, subconsciously feeling bad for Damien. He had to put up with his own head voice, and the literal monster living in his brain?

I didn’t know if powers were worth all that-

“RAAAAAAGAH!”

I cursed loudly as I nearly lost the rhythm to my pedaling, crossing what I thought was going to be a safe street and instead being severely disappointed.

“Oh…”

“E-excuse me…sorry…” I tried to speak, realizing I fit right in to the hordes and hordes of screaming people running by.

It didn’t help that I was going nearly the opposite direction as everyone else. Everyone was going with the street I was crossing, while I was just trying to make it into the next alley…or sidewalk shed…or whatever wasn’t a freaking road.

I could hear the monsterish growls from behind the crowd, the sounds getting louder and louder as the people ran faster and faster.

I pedaled faster, swerving around parked cars and people alike as my palms began sweating and my legs began shaking.

“HELP!!”

‘H-hey NOOARGH!”:

It was like everybody was running from a rising Tsunami, except instead of raging waters, we had to deal with floods and floods of flesh eating, eight foot…monsters.

I looked through the haze of rising columns of smoke, reminding myself of how far I had gotten.

“Don’t stop. Don’t stop Don’t stop.”

“H-hey Help me!”

My eyes flicked downwards at… a small child.

…Dang it.

He was standing beside the alley I was going for, spinning in circles as he looked through the waves of people going by.

I slowed down, knowing it was a bad idea as I looked the opposite way.

The contrast was surreal.

To my left (the back of the road) everyone was already dead. There were just the tall…blood leeching monsters feeding on corpses or stomping to find soon to be new ones. To my right was the boy, and past him were the charging bunches of New Yorkers.

The monsters were winning in speed and numbers…

“Mom…!” the boy called out, tears and blood staining his blue shirt.

I got off my bike by reflex as I reached the alley, unable to ignore this,

“H-hey-”

“Where…where’s my mom!?” The boy asked, instantly gripping my wrist.

I looked at him, then up at the crowd.

I didn’t think his mom was here...

The boy’s eyes were green, like mine, and had light brown skin with dark colored hair,

“H-hey what’s your name?” I asked him, trying to walk him towards my bike.

He looked at me up and down, “Wh-where are we going?” he asked.

Fair question.

“W-we can try and get your mom?” I said…asked…I didn’t know what I was doing.

Who was I kidding? His mom was probably dead…

“I…I can’t go with strangers-”

I gritted my teeth as an explosion rang from behind me.

Monsters were literally only yards behind us, and the only reason we weren’t dead yet was because there were still people feet behind us.

“Look,” I tried again, “Y-your mom…”

He looked at me, still gripping my wrist as if I’d try to leave.

He was holding on to me.

I gulped, realizing he probably wasn’t processing any of this too well if at all.

“I can’t g-go with you…I need my m-mom…” He stuttured, still pressing his fingers into my arm,

“L-let’s go.” I said, getting back on my bike.

“Go where?”

“Ember…right? Right…”

I was losing it.

The boy sat between my legs, and I was just able to see over his hair in order to pedal.

He kept muttering things about his mother, even as I pedaled into the alley.

He was in shock.

“Okay…now I have a kid with me.” I realized.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

None of this was supposed to happen!

We rode for ten minutes before the boy spoke a little louder,

“Why…”

I exited the alley, finding a much more dead but still more quiet road as I pedaled for the next reprieve.

“Y-yeah?” I cleared my throat.

“Why do you have an ax?” he asked quietly.

I blinked, glancing behind my shoulder at the weapon strapped to my back.

“Uh,” I entered the hundredth alley, “I-it’s for the…the-”

“The monsters.” the boy finished, “A-and m-my name is Ryan.”

The glowing bronze letters of EMBER could be seen as soon as I exited the next alley.

We were basically there, but…it looked like there was something going on at the front of the building.

“M-my name is Jason…nice to meet you, Ryan.” I said quietly, my head still whipping left and right as I pedaled the final stretch towards my destination.

“You’re the boy…from the TV.”

My heart skipped a beat,

“Y-yeah.” I nodded, now whispering as I turned the bike 180 degrees, “That’s me…”

There was some kind of monster I didn’t want to meet ahead, but it wouldn't take too long to go around.

I kept pedaling.

“I…miss my mom.” Ryan breathed.

I felt his body start shivering as he began to lightly cry.

I was almost there.

“Me too.” I said, “...me too.”

“W-whose that?” Ryan asked.

I rolled the bike next to a grocery store only feet away from the Ember building, slowly getting off the bike as I helped Ryan down.

He was pointing at my phone.

Behind the error message was a picture of Melissa.

I took the phone out of the cup holder,

“Th-that’s Melissa…” I told him, “you want to meet her?”

“Okay…” he said.

“R-ryan..how old are you?”

“Eleven…” he replied.

I knelt down in front of him, glancing to the side at the skyscraper beside us.

Crowds of people had amassed in front of the doors.

Were they trying to get in?

“Look, I know we just met,” I gulped, “but I can already tell you’re super brave.”

Ryan didn’t smile at that, and instead just nodded.

“I’m uh…I’m really…I’m really sorry about your mom.”

I hated the words as they left my mouth, but what else was I supposed to say?

Anything would’ve been just as unhelpful.

“A-are we going in there?” Ryan asked, pointing past the store towards the Ember skyscraper.

I nodded, standing up.

I felt Ryan squeeze my wrist once more as I walked out into the street.

“What i-if they’re out here, too?” he asked quickly, his hand shaking.

I didn’t respond immediately, making sure that they indeed were not before daring to take more steps forwards.

The road was strangely empty with the exception of corpses sprawled about the asphalt. It was like the concentration of Queens had moved directly towards where we were walking: Ember.

“It’s okay…” I muttered, trying to give Ryan a smile.

It ended up looking like some kind of half serious grin, but I tried.

I could feel Ryan getting more scared as we crossed the barren street, which was honestly making me terrified as the shaking in his hand was transferred over to mine.

“Hey,” I said, checking behind us. The glint of the bike was the only thing that could pass for glowing; nothing tall, scary or deadly yet.

“Yeah?” Ryan managed.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue…”

I looked at his blue shirt, “That’s my friend’s favorite color too.”

I felt his hand slowly stop shaking, “Melissa?”

“No,” I said, a faraway shriek causing me to move faster, “A different friend.”

“Wh-what’s your favorite color?” Ryan asked, sliding his death grip down into my hand instead of my wrist.

“Green…” I answered.

If I had to guess, we were about two minutes from hitting whatever crowd had gathered in front of the building.

As we got closer, I realized that the ‘crowd’ was actually much bigger than I thought.

“Like your eyes?” Ryan pointed out.

I nodded, “And like yours.” I tried to laugh.

Ryan nearly smiled, but something stopped him.

I didn’t blame him though- his mom was almost certainly gone, and it wasn’t like that was the case yesterday…or even last night…

Everything was just so sudden.

As we reached the Ember building, I was able to take note of our surroundings.

There was an abandoned row of food stores just past the skyscraper, eventually leading to the apartment complex that Damien, Selina and I had broken into a bit ago. In front of those and directly to our right were a bundle of abandoned street vendors, corpses slung over counters and tossed into display windows directly behind them like dolls.

I squinted at the masses of New Yorkers we were approaching, noting what they were all doing.

All of them were trying to get into the building.

But they couldn’t: some kind of barricade had been put up around every visible part of the place, blocking every thought of getting inside.

I gulped, really wishing that I could call Melissa as I brought Ryan and I to a stop.

But what would I say?

Since I was her boyfriend, did that mean I just got a free pass? A free ticket to safety?

It almost felt wrong thinking about it, but at the same time, I desperately hoped it was true.

“Jason?” Ryan tugged at my arm.

“Yeah?”

“What do we-”

“RAAAAARRRGH!”

And just like that, I was sprinting.

Ryan screamed as I lifted him up onto my shoulders, not daring to look back as I felt the stomping from behind me.

“DooO RAAGH YoU WANT RECEIPT?!”

“EVERYONE, GET AWAY!” I yelled as we got even closer to the swarms of people, “GET BACK! ALL OF YOU!”

The masses slowly turned towards me, their eyes all fixed upwards at whatever was charging for me before their screams pitched in volume.

Crack!

“Agh!” I cried as I tripped over something on the sidewalk, falling to my arms as I felt Ryan tumble off of me.

“RUN RYAN!” I ordered, waving my hands at him as people darted by.

Ryan just stood up, freezing instantly as his eyes met our pursuer.

I turned around, wincing as I felt my ankle pulse with pain.

It had been sprained, but that was the least of my concerns.

I looked up, mouth wide at the brightly flashing yellow, pale skinned, huge creature standing over us.

Its left arm was twisted and inverted into a spike made of flesh and bone, its muscles way wider than any other monster I had seen as they tore completely out of its skin and gushed geysers of black from its stomach. The electricity running up and down its joints was a dandelion yellow, rippling across its whole body as its pupils supported the same color.

It had just…appeared.

So fast…

“AnnYYYY TIP ARRRHGH!?”

I shielded my eyes as its glow became that much more blinding, peering between my outstretched fingers to make out what was happening.

Somehow, its right arm was getting bigger, the already mutated and dripping muscle swelling up even further like an inflatable balloon as more globs of discarded flesh dropped to the concrete beneath its dominating height.

The light show suddenly ceased, the monster now incredibly disproportionate as its spike-arm was about the size of a sedan and its other arm the size of a truck.

The bigger limb scraped against the asphalt as the creature lumbered forwards, the sound of its feet splitting my eardrums as I tried to push myself backwards.

How was this happening…?

I tried to yell for Ryan to run again, but I didn’t even know if he could hear me over the sounds of people and monsters alike.

That’s right…there were other monsters that decided to show up too, everything from ones that crawled to ones that laughed ripping their way through the crowds around us as the air became a cesspool of blood, body parts, and colorful light.

I couldn’t see any weak point on the monster like I could with the others, instead just reaching for my gun as I cried from the pain in my ankle.

I gripped the handle of the pistol, pointing it at the wall of flesh in front of me while trying to ignore the burning in my palm.

It still hurt from what happened back at Draxon…

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The bullets did nothing, only proving to upset the creature as I ran out of ideas.

“J-Jason!” Ryan cried out as the creature lifted its bigger arm upwards, the shadow of the limb covering the entire sidewalk and a portion of the road as a gentle rain of blood and tissue fell from the bottom of its oversized appendage.

It was right over us…

The creature’s bulging veins and tense muscles suddenly relaxed, letting gravity take hold as the limb came barreling towards my face.

But just before it bashed my entire body into bits, I noticed something.

Time froze as the limb began its descent upon me and Ryan, something sticking out on the creature's elbow as it dipped lower and lower towards the concrete.

I squinted at it, making out the curve of a wound past the searing golden light orbiting its body.

“Oh.” I realized, “There it is.”

Adrenaline tore through my veins as the pain in my ankle became arbitrary, shooting to my feet while practically ripping my ax from its shoulder strap.

I slid forwards as the arm came down like a sledgehammer, now directly under its elbow as I stood the blade of the ax up.

This ax was a battle ax, meaning it had a blade sticking upwards at the same time it had a blade sticking outwards.

I crossed my fingers and prayed as I felt the wind of the truck sized arm graze the tip of my head, seizing the ax with a death grip as I kept its form vertical.

“Don’t move, Jason,” I told myself, wondering why time had to move so slow during these things, “Don’t. Move.”

WOOOSH

SSSHIIICK!

I opened my eyes as rivers of black blood sprayed against my face like a tidal wave, the hilt of my ax cracking as the entire weight of the creature’s limp arm was held afloat by the weapon.

My eyes shot forwards at Ryan, who thankfully hadn’t been crushed and, like me, was still sitting beneath the shadow of the creature.

“Get out from under it!!” I yelled at him from under the monster’s elbow, spitting out blood that had seeped into my mouth as Ryan happily obliged.

I gripped the ax tightly, throwing my whole weight into it as I dove for the bits of sunlight seeping through the uncomfortable space between the concrete and the bottom of the monster’s arm,

BANG!

The creature’s arm was allowed to hit the floor as I made it out into the street with a nearly broken ax, completely ruined clothes, and my life.

I nearly grinned as I watched the tallest monster I had ever seen lying limp across the street- no more golden light running through its eyes, no more bellows of terror escaping its lips, and no more movement in any of its twisted and mutated joints.

The only reason I wasn’t bouncing with joy was because there were about fifty more monsters still running around killing people,

“R-ryan!!!” I called out, knowing he had rolled out on the opposite side of the creature’s inflated arm.

I limped towards the huge mammoth of a corpse, now feeling the pain in my ankle as my adrenaline unwillingly began to drop in intensity.

I dodged a crawling, spider-like monster that was ripping through the intestines of a crying man, unable to think clearly as I made it around the corpse.

Ryan was huddled next to the head of the creature, eyes widening as he saw me.

I was using the ax as a sort of crutch, carefully putting my weight into it as I approached Ryan.

Ryan immediately ran at me, “Jason!” he yelled, wrapping his arms around me.

“H-hey…” I managed, “I’m covered in…this stuff..”

He laughed a little, which felt good to hear, “Y…you’re awesome!”

I glanced back at the corpse, beginning to feel dizzy as I felt like throwing up. “Y-you really think so?” I sounded delirious.

I had to focus…but it was so hard.

My legs were dying from the biking, I was covered in blood, I was panting like a dog, and I could barely walk.

I looked at the locked doors of the Ember building.

They hadn’t budged.

Was this all still hopeless?

Why weren’t they letting people in?

The answers to both questions were obvious even if I didn’t want to admit it.

“MRRMMM!”

I turned to see one of the crawling monsters making a beeline straight for me and Ryan.

I…I just couldn’t stop it.

I got in front of Ryan, trying to make out where the weak point could be…if it had one.

“Can’t think straight…”

I raised up my ax as the mouthless monster pounced forwards, each of its spiked limbs preparing to gut me before a familiar scream rang through the air,

“Back off you ugly mouthless piece of garbage!!!!”

I didn’t get the chance to register Melissa’s voice before a wooden sword had been flung in the ear of the leaping creature, effectively stopping its pounce as it tumbled to the ground.

Both me and Ryan turned to the left at my girlfriend, her hand outstretched as she stood by an alley created by the Ember building and a mechanic shop,

“Don’t just stand there, Jason, hurry the flip up!!!” She ordered, waving us over to her.

I glanced back at the monster, frowning when it looked more stunned than hurt as it slowly got back on all fours.

I grabbed Ryan’s hand again, limping as fast as I could limp towards the alley as I heard the monster get ready to pounce again.

This just wasn’t fair…

They just kept coming…

I wouldn’t have been surprised if Damien had mowed down hundreds of these things by now…

I was almost at Melissa-

“Jason! Look out!” Ryan cried, pointing at something behind me.

On instinct, I shoved Ryan forwards, pushing him into Melissa as I felt pressure against my back.

I released a cry of pain as I fell to the floor, swiveling myself around to face the eyes of the spider-like monster.

Each of its four spikes had miraculously not pierced my skin, each blade simply jutting into the concrete around me as it brought its otherwise human sized head towards me.

Its pitch black skin was stretched and cracked, and I could see the point at which this thing used to have a mouth directly beneath its brightly glowing blue pupils.

“MMMRRM!”

It raised one of its spikes upwards, tearing itself out of the concrete before preparing to bring the shard down on me.

I was still holding my ax.

I grabbed the upper part of the handle, pressing the horizontal edge of the blade into the creature’s distorted shoulder as I kept the spike from puncturing and infecting my stomach.

I roared in pain as I felt desperate tears run past my eyes, unable to hold the strength of this thing back even with my fluctuating adrenaline,

“M-Melissa!!!” I cried out for help, feeling my grip on the ax fade as the spike got closer to my body.

I sucked my stomach in as I felt the tip of the sharp bone touch me, more gasps escaping my mouth as the creature pushed relentlessly.

The wooden sword Melissa had thrown was still stuck in the ear of the monster, and it was only up close that I realized it was the same sword we had all built in Mr.Bockly’s class.

The day Damien got infected…the day things really started changing…

I looked a little past the blade, realizing the cruelty of life as I noticed the shape of a wound on the side of the creature’s chin. If Melissa had aimed a little lower…I wouldn’t have to die…

“I SAID BACK OFF!”

Somehow, some way, Melissa read my mind, ripping out the wooden sword before plugging it back into the creature’s head.

Only this time the blade punctured the mark on its chin, causing all strength to leave the monster as it fell off of me.

I was still looking upwards, shocked at Melissa’s face that was blocking the smoke-covered sun.

Ryan’s face joined her, “Are you okay?” he asked.

We were all breathing heavily, but I just smiled, glancing down at the small scrape on my stomach past my torn up shirt.

If she had been two seconds late…

“I’m…I’m just great.” I managed to speak.

Melissa extended her hand out,

“H-hey, let’s get inside dude!” she said.

Was she really yelling or was everything just really loud for some reason?

I didn’t feel so good.

My vision was going hazy.

“A-and whose this?”

“I’m Ryan.”

“Nice to meet you! Erm…where are your parents?”

I could barely make out their figures anymore.

“Jay?” I heard Melissa speak, “Why aren’t you getting up, we kind of have to go. I am not allowed to be outside right now, so…Jason?”

Ryan’s voice came, “I…I don’t think he’s been feeling well.”

“I… I told you.” I muttered, feeling my eyes begin to close,

“I’m…fine.”

Then the world went black.