It was never meant to be like this! She ran from her home and her old relationships to avoid all of this. Yet, it seemed karma had a way to peek around the corner. She never believed she had a choice in life, that everyone she used to know would tie her down or put an unrealistic expectation on her.
Her family would praise her, yet those praises to her never felt genuine. Even her old friend group felt fake as their interest were never the same or they never cared about her hobbies.
Joining a cult was her only chance of finding a way out, a safe place that cared for her as a person. That gave her the confidence to leave the people who gave her nothing in return. While she did kill, she did participate in human sacrifices. But she did it with friends, people she trusted and loved.
Now it caught up to her, a monster came knocking. One she had no desire to witness herself.
As everyone was distracted, both she and John ran outside towards the school. John was ahead of her, for a split second he turned around to face her. To see if she was all right. Yet just like that, his head popped like a balloon. Blood and bits of brain and skull splattered all over Martha’s face.
She fell to the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs. She crawled to the other side of the street and hid behind a building. To get to some semblance of safety. She knew the road wasn’t safe.
She flinched as the entire first floor of the hotel burst into flames.
‘No!’ She whimpered as the thought of most of her friends inside the hotel perished in the blink of an eye. It was only a miracle that she got out of there just in time.
Martha hit the back of her head against the wall, nothing could’ve survived in there. Oh, so she hoped.
The reptilian figure walked out of the flames, unbothered by the fire that danced around its body. What terrified her was not its monstrous appearance, what it had done to her friends.
What shook her core was its blank expression, he did not smile, he did not frown, nor did he look excited, nor did they seem to take joy. They showed nothing! It was like it was all just a routine job. They showed the same expression as someone taking out the trash or washing the dishes.
The reptile noticed Martha, and he marched towards her with their rifle at hand. He didn’t take aim, he just calmly walked towards her. But Martha knew that whatever they were, their intentions were not good.
She ran to the park, desperate to get to Theodor, or at least get some help.
Bang!
She fell face-first onto the soft grass. She tried to move her legs, but she couldn’t feel them. Martha cried in agony as it became clear that she was shot in the back. With all of her remaining strength, she flipped herself over to face the monster who was steadily approaching her.
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The reptile shifted their body to one side as five flagellants charged toward them. Devoted cultists who fused their skin to metal, creating an equilibrium between the earth and the mortal shell. They rejected the material and sanity to be truly connected with the natural world. Their hands and feet were replaced with blades or whips, their eyes removed so they could have a blessed piece of iron which was bolted onto their face.
What people thought would make them weak, in reality, made those creatures durable and agile. The perfect monsters to take on another.
The reptile fired their rifle into the group, only able to take down one before his rifle was whacked away. The reptile pulled a knife out, the blade glowed under the night sky as he sliced the neck of one of the flagellants. Its black blood, corrupted by vile magic sprayed all over them.
Two others pounced on the lone reptile, their rusted blades thirsting for flesh. But they were outmatched as he grabbed one of the arms and redirected the blade into the other’s chest.
It whaled as it noticed how its unorganised attack killed its friend. The reptile finished it off by ripping out the blessed piece of iron from its face, dying as its nervous system was violently torn out of them.
One attacked from behind, using their whip of barbed wire. The reptile turned around and caught the whip with his left arm. With their immense strength, they dragged the flagellant to them to rip their spinal cord from their body.
The last managed to tackle the reptile to the ground, they tried to kick a blade into the reptile’s stomach but they were unable to penetrate his vest. With a flick of his tail, the strange armour piece became rolls of shark-like teeth. The reptile wrapped his tail around the flagellant’s leg and shredded large chunks of flesh to reveal their bone and grafted wire. The creature howled, allowing the reptile to grab its plaque and rip it out of its face.
The reptile threw the creature to one side. They picked up their rifle and dusted themselves off to continue with their butchering of the remaining cultists.
Martha leaned against the tree, mortified as she watched the most devoted of the followers effortlessly killed by just a lone figure. Who didn’t seem to care about their demise.
She thought to herself that perhaps the cult was wrong, that what they were about to birth into this world wouldn’t be the rightful rulers. Instead, perhaps there was already something in charge. One that she and everyone she loved had indirectly angered.