A family.

It has the potential to be an embodiment of good and prosperity.

An endless support system and a place of belonging.

The family that this boy was good to him. Making sure he grew up proper in a city that was anything but.

Silver Meadows

A home to many who often called themselves thugs.

Their residents often lived off of welfare checks and whatever government funding was provided.

But… there was a slight change.

Money was growing tight? No that’s just what they said to the residents. In reality, they wanted to cut their loses.

Because you see… near Silver Meadows was Spray Twig and unfortunately that area was now a Red Zone.

A Red Zone was any area that was inhabitant by a swarm of demons and contained a demon that were classified as an A-Rank threat level

Whenever a Red Zone was created everyone was told to evacuate immediately. If they didn’t it was fair game.

The demon lords that reside there weren’t worth the trouble. It’d take a lot of resources and troops to eradicate how much vileness resided within the zone.

This is why the creation of Genomes was so important. Humans often suffered a lot of casualties when it came to fighting against these monsters.

Off a certain street known as M Groove Circle, a young boy was playing ball with his friends. They all went to the same school and they truly cherished each other.

They played together.

Laughed together.

And learned together.

Inside the house, reality was sinking in for the parents of this young boy. Other grown-ups were most likely also having this issue as the money was running thin. Inflation draining every hard-earned penny they made.

After all, no one wanted to live and work inside a nearly infected area.

At the oak dining room table, an old man sat with his wife with despondent expressions. The man held a cigarette to his lips, huffing as much as he could in a single breathe before he released a cloud of smoke.

“Must you really spend what little money we have on that shit?”

“... Yes. I figured if I’m going to die anyways, I might as well buy something that will give me some form of pleasure.”

“Don’t talk like that! What if he heard you?”

The man looked at the woman before he shook his head. “Maybe it’s about damn time he learned how unforgiven this world can be!” The man yelled.

His wife merely looked at him with a stern gaze as he continued his rant.

“I have to travel all the way into the city just to slave away for fuckin’ pennies! These goddamn bills eat everything up. I can’t even afford to watch cable television!!” The man’s words were only angering him further.

He stood up from his chair, knocking it over as he started to walk around the dining room table.

“There’s no end to this shit! I get treated like shit at work and I come home to my family who looks at me like I’m a disappointed!!”

“That’s not true!”

“Oh!? OH!? It’s not? You don’t have to say it! I know… I know what goes in that head of yours.”

The woman sighed before she slowly rose up from her chair and also engaged in yelling.

“Maybe if you had more ambition we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

The husband looked at his wife with shock on his face before that shocked quickly turned into sadness and that sadness soon turned into anger.

“Here we go! Looks like I’m the blame because I didn’t want to go to college!? Sorry for not wanting to do something that I hated!”

“Well, maybe if you would have done something you hated in the moment, you wouldn’t hate your life now!”

The man stared at his wife, his fist clenching tightly as his blood started to boil. “You never been grateful for the things I provided this family with!”

“What should I be grateful for? I barely have a pot to piss in!”

“Forgetful are we? Before this town turned to shit I recall you being adament about me doing overtime so we could take a nice family cruise. I recall you having the time of your life.”

“Things were different then.”

“Uh-huh, funny, the reason I started smoking was because of how stressed I was putting in those extra hours just to please your ass.” The man said as he took another hit from his cig.

The wife looked upset and was about to say something in response when suddenly the door to their home swung open. The little bundle of joy soon walked in and greeted his parents.

“Mommy, daddy! Look what I found! I wanted to show you!” The boy approached his family and showed him the caterpillar that was attached to his finger.

“I found a new pet! I’m going to keep it and feed it, and it’s gonna turn into a butterfly!” The boy said with much excitement.

The wife looked at her husband for a moment before turning to her child and ruffled his nappy hair. “That’s wonderful sweetie.”

“Can we go to the park. I wanna play ball with daddy! And I want you to watch!” The boy said as he hugged his momma with excitement.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

That’s when the father looked at his son. He gave off a deep sigh as he saw how happy his boy was even with the circumstances they were in.

“That’s a good idea son. We’ll have mommy record us with the camera. It’ll be fun.”

The father remembered what he was fighting for. Times were hard, but even so, they still had each other. This wouldn’t be the end. There little boy would grow up and he’d pay for him to leave this town.

It wasn’t too late to save his boy’s future.

It seems the tension that was brewing with the family was dulled by the fresh, crisp air. Father and son played ball energetically while the wife recorded them. Smiles were all along their faces.

This was appreciated by the others who were hanging around the park. The sound of laughter and happiness filled the air. Everything was nice.

So, why did it have to end?

“GAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!”

A sudden loud screamed filled the air.

Everyone at the park was startled and looked around to examine where that noise could have came from and from who.

“Hey! That sounded like it came from the townhomes.”

“We should check it out! Someone might be hurt.”

“Might have been attacked by a wild animal!”

“Let’s go check it out.” The husband stated. “You two stay here.” He said to his family before leading the other men.

They walked across the street where a few cars were driving away quickly. One of them caught glimpse of blood splattred along the windows.

“What the fuck…?”

“Huh?”

When they arrived near the town homes they saw a man crawling… leaving behind a trail of blood. Upon closer inspect… everything below his torso was missing… he had no legs, waist, or abs. The only thing beside blood that was trailing were his intestines.

“Help! HE- Gugh!” His hand reached out for them… begging to be saved, but was only met with death.

The others were paniakced by this and immediately knew what this meant.

“Go get the guns. We’ll fend these bastards off like we normally do!”

“No need. It won’t do you any good.”

That voice…! It followed behind the male… slowly walking towards them.

“It’s a man…? Wait… who’s boy is that?”

“Never seen him… don’t know anyone with blue hair and…”

“Those eyes!! He’s a DEMON!!”

The young man smiled and soon arched his arms slightly into the air. His thin blue strands flowed gently with the wind and he stared at his prey with blood red eyes.

“Keh. Correct. You folks have been as aggressive as cockroaches when it comes to surviving.” The man soon started clapping. “Kudos to you for lasting so long, fuckin’ humans.”

“It’s just one… we just need to get to the house and we can take his ass out!”

CLICK!

A scarred man could be seen taking the safety off his handgun as he held it towards the demon.

“Ever since I was attacked by a demon in my sleep. I have never left home without the strap.”

BANG!!

He fired a single round, a bullet firing from the barrel of the gun. It soared through the air and colided with the man’s chest.

Normally it should have punctured his skin, but the bullet appeared to have bounce off of him. For a brief moment there was a tinge of dark red aura around him.

“What the fuck!?”

“The bullet just…”

Everyone started to back away slightly while the man laughed.

“Sorry, I’m not like the chumps you’ve faced earlier!!” He held his his left hand, channeling just a bit of his aura.

“This man… no this demon… he’s pure evil!”

Understand what a demon is, bastard.

They represent every negative aspect you can think of.

Evil.

Selfish.

Hungry.

Vengeful.

Angry.

I am all of those things and especially that last part.

In a swift motion… faster than the eyes could see, numerous red threads of energy appeared from the demon’s fingertips.

They instantly connected with various body parts of the humans and once that evil aura got in contact with them they froze.

Not only that but their life essence was being drained… rapidly at that.

“Something’s not right…!”

“I’m feeling so weak…!”

“HELP!!!”

Their bodies started to thin, drastically. In mere seconds it looked as if they were becoming anorexic. Their clothes were too big to fit them and the dropped to the ground, revealing their naked bodies.

They begged, but it fell upon deaf ears as soon they collapsed to the ground.

“How BORING!! Maybe if you would have begged more I would have let you last a second longer, KEKEKEKE!” The man laughed.

Most of the group were deceased. Only two remained and one of them was already running for his life!

“Fuck this! Fuck this place! I hate it!!”

The demon soon released a gentle sigh as he licked his lips. “Oh god… I love it when they run!!”

“HEEEEELP!” The man was running as fast as he could, sweat beating down his face, his breathing exaggerated.

“Hey, watch this.” The demon said as that glimpse of dark red energy returned. In a blink of an eye he was gone.

He had rushed quickly towards the running man and latched on the back of his head. Veins started to show along his arms as his muscles increased slightly, pumping and oozing with blood.

This added strength allowed him to pick the man off his feet and slam him violently against the cement.

THUD!!

One time ins’t merely enough! Let’s see how long it takes before his face becomes one with the pavement!!

THUD! THUD!! THUD!!! THUD!!!!

The man’s flesh was barely holding up as the demon cracked his skull against the earth. Blood, spit, tears, and teeth was getting everywhere. The impact was so brutal that the man’s eye was popping out of the socket.

The screaming stopped after the second slam as he was already dead from how hard the concussive force was.

The demon sighed as now he was bored. “If they aren’t yelling in pain it isn’t fun. Damn it.” He said before effortlessly tossing the man up into the sky. The poor corpse’s body went soaring until it became undetectable to the human eye.

“Just kill me. Just FUCKING KILL ME! But leave my family alone. PLEASE!!”

The demon gave the man a neutral expression. Curious he asked the man a question.

“Why should I spare them?”

“Because if you don’t I’ll rip your goddamn thr- because they’re the most important people to me. They’re what make my life bearable. Because of them I can proudly say I haven’t entirely fucked up in life…”

The demon stared at the man… pondering… thinking…

“Fine… take your family and just get the fuck out of here.”

“Really…? You aren’t fucking with me!?”

“I just need everyone gone to make this a Red Zone. I don’t need to shed anymore blood. I killed nearly everyone here and added the babes to my collection, kek.”

The husband didn’t want to know what he meant by that… but knowing this he started to inch towards the direction of his family while keeping his eyes on him.

“Wait.”

The husband stopped dead in his tracks.

“Are demons wrong for killing humans?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Killing is wrong! You’re taking away a person’s dream! You’re taking their life and everything they ever knew!”

“I agree with you.”

“Then why are you doing this!? What’s the goal!?”

“Because right and wrong confuses the fuck outta me. I’m a demon so donn’t hold me to the same standards as you shitty humans! Besides… if killing is wrong then tell me… why does it feel so FUCKING good!”

SPLAAAAAAAAT!!!

A large gush of red spilled out of the husband’s mouth as a fist went through his stomach. His eyes were already fading to black, but the final words he heard was inhumane.

“I just got a really good idea! I’m going to make you kill your family. So poetic!”

…

Back at the playground…

For some reason the husband had shot his own wife in the face, spraying blood, brain matter and pieces of her flesh everywhere on the grass.

She was shocked, but more so was their boy.

Seeing his father do this, he lost the color in his eyes. He grew fearful of seeing what his father was capable of.

“Daddy… what did you do…? Why is mommy… why isn’t she moving?”

“Dad…?” Why?”

The boy looked up at his father who wouldn’t say a word to him. The husband had such a cold expression on his face and the hole in his stomach had seemed to heal.

“Da-”

The boy felt strong, calloused hands wrap around his throat as he was soon lifted into the air.

“Daaa–” The boy struggled to breathe… tears fell from his eyes. Snot was leaving his nose. Saliva was seeping from the sides of his mouth.

“I… lo-”

Before he could even utter the words, the boy’s neck snapped and his body went limp.

The only thing that could be heard was the laughter of the demon who rested against a tree branch.

“No… this isn’t enough! Belial wants more destruction!! Don’t worry… I won’t let your souls rest just yet.”

I’ll use all three of your bodies.

Everyone I’ve gathered here.

I’ll use you all to accomplish my dream.

That way none of this will be in vain.

I will become a devil.