Chapter 87
One Minute Past Midnight
Kayla must have sensed Leo, or perhaps Lydia's eyes gave him away, because she spun around, dodging the pan as he swung it at her head. A slight glint of steel was all the warning he got as she slashed at him with her knife. She threw her head back and let out a terrifying scream.
There were answering screams, one of which came from Mom's bedroom. Kayla slashed Leo's arm again, cutting through his leather jacket and drawing blood. Leo retaliated with the pan, striking a glancing blow to Kayla's arm and shoulder as Kayla backed away. He wasn't sure if Kayla might go for his sister, but he wasn't about to give her the chance.
Leo rushed her, hitting her head with his pan and taking another knife slash in return. His leather biker jacket protected him somewhat, but not completely. He was larger than she was, but thanks to her Afflicted status, she was strong and fast.
She tried to stab him, but he dropped his pan, grabbed her knife arm with both hands, dragged her down to the floor face first, and sat on top of her, getting clawed in the process. He grabbed the pan from where he'd dropped it on the floor and slammed it down on her head.
“Leo! Stop it! What are you doing?” Lydia screamed, grabbing Leo's pan arm, trying to pull him away from her friend. “Kayla! What's wrong with you? Both of you cut it out!”
Kayla twisted her knife arm free of Leo's hand and stabbed Leo's leg. He grunted in pain. “Damn it, Lydia, your friend is gone!” he shouted, yanking his pan-holding arm free of Lydia's grasp and slamming the pan down on Kayla's head again. She screamed for a second time, her neck twisted further around than any human neck could as she tried to bite him with her elongating mouth and sharp teeth.
“Look at her eyes, Lydia. They're red. That means she's gone!” Leo slammed the pan down on Kayla's head again, feeling something crunch. There was pounding on Mom's bedroom door. Depending on how quickly Mom was changing, it was possible she'd forgotten how to use a doorknob. But she was more than strong enough to break down the door.
“I'm calling the cops!” Lydia shouted, running away down the hall. The bathroom door slammed shut and there was a click as she locked herself in.
Good luck with that, Leo thought, slamming the pan on Kayla's head again, and again, until he was reasonably sure she was dead despite her body's continued twitching underneath him.
Leo pulled the knife out of his leg and dropped it on the floor.
Wood splintered as Mom came out of her bedroom, looking scary and disoriented until she spotted Leo in front of her.
Boom! A gunshot shattered the air. Jason stood at the other end of the hall, holding Leo's pistol.
If the gunshot bothered Leo's Afflicted mother, she wasn't showing it. With a scream, she charged the source of the noise. Leo threw the pan at Mom and ran down the hall, passing Jason.
Boom! Boom! Jason fired twice more, then he screamed.
Leo rushed to his backpack pulled out his kukri short sword and ran back just in time to see Jason pinned on the ground, fighting to stop Mom from taking a bite out of his face.
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Leo swung his razor-sharp, kukri short sword at Mom's neck, cutting her deeply, blood spraying everywhere. He kicked Mom away from Jason and swung a second and third time, until she lay there, a gurgling, twitching, headless, bloody mess on the floor.
If Mom or Dad were in their right minds, they'd want us to kill them, Leo thought. That was how he justified this level of violence against a former loved one.
“Jason. Are you okay?” Leo asked, helping him up. Aside from being scratched and banged up from his experience, Jason seemed unharmed. Leo, on the other hand, was bleeding from several places and could feel blood running down his leg. “You fired three times. Did you hit her at all?” Leo asked, studying the body, not seeing any evidence that he had shot her.
“I don't think so,” Jason said. “I've never fired a gun before, not for real, anyway. Excuse me.” Jason turned away from Leo and vomited onto the floor, adding to the mess.
Leo picked up the gun from where it had been lying in a pool of blood. “I'll take the gun then. I'm lucky you didn't shoot me by accident.”
From the living room, there was an unhappy, crying, giggling sound from the TV announcer.
I just received a note from the aliens. Fuck, I'm so scared and I'm on live. I'll read the note the aliens just sent us.
The distinguished middle-aged man read from his cellphone.
The board of directors of the human corporation Bio-Blessed Inc. apologize for our previous misleading statements. We assured you that we wouldn't destroy your world when the billboard watch hit midnight, or 00:00 military time. Instead, we waited exactly one minute after midnight, or 00:01, billboard time. Approximately ten of your hours. Our earlier statement, though misleading, is factually true.
We get no pleasure out of destroying your world by turning all the Bio-Blessed users into monsters. It's just that our non-human clients are paying us a lot of real non-human currency to do this. Not that human currency isn't real, it's just that we can't use human currency in other parts of the galaxy.
Once again, we apologize. If any humans remain and wish to file a lawsuit, we will acknowledge our guilt and pay the slap-on-the-wrist fine all good human corporations pay when they kill a bunch of people or destroy lives and property. A regrettable cost of doing business. Please accept our sincerest apologies for destroying your world.
Signed.
The Humans From Bio-Blessed Inc.
The announcer buried his face in his hands.
I can feel myself start to change and I'm scared. I don't want to be a human-eating monstrosity. The announcer let out a frightened, crying giggle. On a positive note, I've been told that the more Bio-Blessed you take, the stronger and smarter a human-eating monster you become. So that's a thing.
Oh God. I'm so scared.
“Fuck,” Leo said. “Jason! We need to get out of here! Thanks to your gunshots, our Afflicted neighbors will be coming this way. There's a cat carrier next to the TV. See if you can find Sparkles. Lydia's not going anywhere without that cat.”
Jason nodded, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and slowly got moving.
Leo pulled up his implant messages. Sure enough, there were a lot of them.
Teach: THOSE FUCKING ALIENS! THEY WAITED ONE BILLBOARD MINUTE! ONE BILLBOARD MINUTE! THE BILLBOARD WATCH HAS NOW STOPPED. THE END OF THE WORLD IS A GO! FUCK!
The Professor: Our hopes that the end of the world had been averted are for nothing. Now is the time to put those emergency plans into action. Be careful out there. The world has become a very dangerous place.
Mr. Al: Guys? Guys? Is there anyone nearby who can help me? I can hear them outside. I'm squatting in the abandoned apartment complex between Smith and Wilshire Street. I can make medical drugs as well as recreational ones. Please help me!
The notifications went on and on. Everyone was scared, and dealing with emergencies. At present, there was little Leo could do about any of them.
It was time to choose a character class.
He pulled up his stat sheet.