he knew it would end like this but the regret of not trying to avenge her was unbearable.

he tried so hard to save themselves, they manage to escape from those monsters fell from the sky, every jostle he gave to let them pass through the crowd, every person fallen because of him, probably dead by now, like most of the others, now were meaningless.

they ran away from those things but every time they encounter a new monster who followed them until they spot others people and so they change their focus, or unluckly when they tried to hide their hiding place were discovered by new people that were being chased or they hidden spot were too dangerous to stay for long. yet they manage to survive all of those situations, most of the time it was pure luck but those few times it was thanks to quickly and effectively choices made by both of them.

at the end though, luck weren't on their side anymore, they planned to hide in a small condominium or small houses at the outskirts but when they took that sharp turn they found a large creature similar to a ankylosaurus, except for the head, an enourmous head with a large mouth filled with hundreads of sharp teeth and a long purple tounge, and the club was large as the head but filled with thick and sharp spikes.

that creature was feasting with the corpes and charge them as soon as he spot them. they cannot outrun him their only hope was to lose him by suddenly change direction and pass throught dark streets.

they cannot turn back otherwise they would have gone towards the main zone full of those, so they went on straight with the monster run behind them making the earth tremble and the street lamps flicker.

they didn't even get halfway there that his wife's hand slipped away from his hand. his reaction was too slow when he turned his head to see what was going on he saw her in a bath of blood, or to say it better half of her, the monster ate her from the head to the pelvis, leaving the legs drop lifeless to the ground. that scene broke him but unlike in the films or books he didn't stop, he just scream out of desperate but his will to survive and see the next days was way too strong and in no time he was back running.

from that point his memories are confused and fragmented, he remember to have took a sharp turn on the left and met a dead end road leading to a small square sorroundend by small condominiums, at the center of the square there were a group of people, some armed with knife, some longer than others, and run to them to seek help.

the monster didn't care about the sharp edge because he went through a building that collapse behind him causing the man and the others survivors to be imprisoned there with the monster. a dead sentence.

the creature stopped for a moment to understand the situation meanwhile the man reached the others, quickly a short but sturdy man in his fifty gave him a knife, not very long but it seems very sharp. he can't recall the exact words the man said to him but they would kill the it, meanwhile the younger ones and the womens hid in one of those condominium, or maybe they escaped by going through it.

now he sits here, against a street lamp illuminating him from above, from his belly blood was flowing to the ground it didn't seems to be a fatal wound but the continuous movements made him loss a lot of blood.

in front of him at the center of the square there was the monster sorrounded by two guys, the rest of the group were around them dead. the creature had not been injured, his skin was so tough that their weapons couldn't even scratched it, the only vulnerable part were his neck and his belly, both of them were dangerous to reach, in fact many died because they try to reach and cut those parts. he knew from the beginnig it was a hopeless battle, he should have run away as his instinct told him when he had the chance, how normal human could have killed these unearthly animal.

his mind start regain some lucidity in exchange he felt has someone was taking his life away. a part of him was in peace, at least he could rejoin his wife and his unborn child, the other part of his, who at last won, refuse to die.

the only thing he manage to thought was to bleeding to death and the only chance he had was to cut off his absurdly long tongue and to do so he had to let the monster catch him, if it didn't work his death would have been terrible and painful but he will die anyway and in the end he will see the same thing, an endless darkness.

he slowly stand up with one hand covering his wound and the other holding tight his knife, the scene before him hasn't change, the two man were standing still in fear not knowing what to do, the beast was using his tounge to grab the dead corpes around him and ate them, he did not perceive the other two as a danger but as preys to eat later.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

he realized that the monster was getting bigger as he swallowed humans. it last meal was the short sturdy man with the left part of his rib cage compressed, it was probably a slow death, then it looked in front of him attracted by the heavy breath of the half dead man walking slowly.

the creature opened again his mouth and it projected the tongue to the man at high speed closing the distance in a blink of eye, but him was ready, as soon it open the mouth he raised his arm and the purple tongue wrapped tight around his belly causing him constant severe pain and nearly lose the grip on the knife.

with all of his willpower he grabbed the knife with two hands and pierce the tongue, before the monster started to drag him in his mouth, and with all of his strenght he sliced it but a part remain attacched to the rest of the tongue, a river of blood was coming out, meanwhile the monster retracted the tongue leaving the wounded man fall onto the ground.

the beast started to walk backward and hit a building destroying it, the two men run away as fast as they could as if they were finally free from invisible chains, it started to go against the buildings and after a litlle it fell down with a heavy noise and making the earth tremble one last time.

the half dead man didn't see all of this he was looking at the starless sky, at least he avenge her and now he was going to met her again even if he didn't want it but now he had no strenght anymore and before he could realize he closed his eyes.

***

his peaceful sleep was interrupted by a slight pain coming from his wound but he was too tired to open his eyes and to do something about it, in a way that pain was pleasant, it was constant and was slowly start to fade away. as the pain was disappearing he noticed another thing he could hear the sound of a fire, the same sound when he turned on the stove to cook, but again too tired to do something.

"who's there?" he thought to said but the words didn't come out in the way he would and it sound more like a grumble without a sense.

"stay with us, don't close your eyes" he could hear a not so familiar voice. "Carlin is the knife ready?" asked the man near him but he couldn't hear the response because he was falling asleep again.

the last thing he heard, this time clearly, was a voice, he couldn't understand if it was a female one or a male one maybe was his voice, that said :

[your attachment to life has not gone unnoticed]

***

his peaceful sleep was interrupted once again this time though it was an excruciating pain coming from his wound, he could smell the flesh burning, instinctively he opened his eyes and saw a man upside down with a thick brown beard that was pressing hard his jaw up against a piece of wood his his mouth, that is why he couldn't scream properly neither his tongue could move. then he look down and saw a man with a knife heated up pressed against a part of his wound he lifted it and move to the next part, before pressing it he looked at him.

"be strong it will be over in a moment" and then pressed it, the pain was unbearable, he would prefer to have died, he was looking at the man with those ice colored eyes, he was sure he was enjoying it.

after an eternity the man lifted the knife again and this time placed it in a pot letting it cool down. the other one finally let go his jaw and removed the wood piece from his mouth, now he could have talked but was exhausted.

"told you it would be over in a moment" said the man as he was getting up and disappearing from his view.

"fuck off" were the only words that came out of his mouth on their own.

he hear a little laugh and then the man reappeared again this time keeping a yellowish pillow, in that moment he realized that he was lying on the cold floor, he gently lift his head and put the pillow, in that moment it was the best pillow ever made.

"thank you" even if he hated being so useless and need to rely on others but he couldn't move a finger.

"it was nothing, you save our life and we saved yours" response him as he was sitting on an old chair.

"i would have left you there, you were a desperate case." said the bald man with the thick beard.

the man lying down move his head to look at them, they were in a small kitchen with only the necessary furnitures which made it feel more spacious, against a wall there was a table with a couple bottles , one of whisky half-finished and the other one empty of rum, next of them there was some dirty paper towels. the man who gave him the pillow was sitting almost right above him meanwhile the other one was next to him filling three glasses of water. the only window was closed with and old shutter letting them use the light and not being spotted by some monster.

"here, drink" the blad man gives him the glass of water and help him raise the head enough to drink it. the wound still hurt but no pain could stop him from drinking that delicious water. his hand was tough with huge calluses, surely he didn't know how to use them gently, even his arms were muscular he could tell by seeing the sleeves of his black hoodie being tight. after he finished the man let go his head and it fell, like he was dead, onto the pillow.

"now you should rest and recover" said the other one putting the empty glasses on the table and with a long step he went above him and left the room followed by the bald man.

he closed his eyes ready to fall in pleasant deep sleep, but it took a while because of this he could hear both of them talk.

"now we are stuck here with a dead man, we should have go searching the others" he couldn't understand who was saying those words.

"trust me he will recover in a short time besides even we need to rest."

"he will slow us and the others migh..." the world was getting quieter until he fall in a long and deep sleep.