CHAPTER 1- Am I the one to blame?
It was already late in the evening and Leo was nearly dozing off in class. He was not too keen on the subject at hand and had better things to do such as making plans for the weekend. He was free to go see his favorite singer that came to town and couldn’t stop listening to his songs even to the point of humming some of them to him like right now.
It was probably that which made him be one of the last people in the class to realize something was wrong as the sounds of screams were getting louder and louder. The teacher paused the class to see for himself what was happening, but when he got to open the door not only didn't he expect the chaos unfolding in the hall of the university, but neither did he expect an hatchet to be swinging down on him the very moment he made himself known. The man got killed just there as the shock made him stay still as the hatchet cleaved his neck with a diagonal swing from bottom to top.
“Huh!” That few seconds of action made Leo wake up from his stupor and realize that what he was seeing was actually happening.
“...” The silence that followed from the people in his class was like the starting shot of a race. However, in this case it was only him rushing at the thing.
It wasn’t too big as much as disgusting to look at, it was a kind of bipedal rat the size of a infant. It had a crimson color dripping all over his head and chest and tinting his fur red, probably from the blood of the man he just killed and the ones before that. However, the only thing that Leo took notice on was the reality of their situation, of them unarmed and unprepared against who knows how many creatures like the one in front of him that were probably roaming the whole building.
Leo rushed at the giant rat with confidence, but still aware of the fact that the monster was armed. He shortened the distance till the rat was less than 2 meters away from him and then decided to kick the table that stood in between them. The rat tried to avoid it by jumping over it, but it only managed to get hit on the chest and pushed to the wall. Leo took the chance to go for the final blow and decided to kick its head with as much strength as he could muster.
“Crrr…” The sound of the creature's neck snapping was loud enough for him to hear and he clearly saw it stop moving so he quickly took the hatchet the thing was carrying and went for the door.
‘First things first, I need to secure the classroom.’
Leo was fast enough to close the door and blocked it with the same table he used early to kill the rat so that no more could enter for now.
“Buff…” He gave himself 2 seconds to calm himself, but found himself rushing to the windows next just as fast as before.
I have no idea how many of these things there are. Though Leo
Based on the screams, the chaos that I am hearing about and the fact that those guys made it to the second floor where I was having class make it clear that they have no small number. No time for being scared I guess,, let's jump!
By jumping I obviously mean opening the window carefully and making sure that the light pole that I already knew was there still stood there as firm as ever.
“3,2,1 and …”
I jump as far as I can even though I know it’s not actually that far, but hey I take reassurance in that.
The pole stays still to my surprise. However, I do take care of the hatchet as to not slash myself with it on my descent. I use mainly my feet to stop me from sliding too fast and sure enough I get safely to the floor in a moment, though the outside is far from safe.
“No way” I gape at the scene.
Rats, rats and more rats. Rats chasing people, killing people, rats everywhere.I could probably count more than hundred with ease and I have no clear visual apart from the small park used for break time that’s built inside of the university.
‘Damn me and my luck, I had to be HERE!’ Leo was sure the university wasn’t the best spot to be at when something like this was happening.
No way in hell I am staying here, I should head out home fast and get the most out of the information on the internet before it's too late and take the chance to see if my parents and sister are home. Yeah, sounds like a plan.
Dashing through the chaos I feel a bit calmer seeing that most of the monsters are already busy with something or someone. I run for the metal fence that surrounds the building and after throwing the hatchet over it, I nimbly climb it while taking care of the spiky ends of the fence.
“Shiekkk!
To my surprise I find two of the nearest rats running at me like crazy. I probably missed them before as I was too focused on the interior of the fence, but now I feel myself trapped as there are not much space where I landed. I take a quick decision to dash at the rat that I feel it's the safest to go against as it has only a metal pipe as weapons.
“grrrr”
I inwardly groan while I squeeze all the speed I can get from my body to feint at the right and trap the pipe he swings back at me with my weapon. Taking the chance I get I make it fall face first onto the floor with a fast kick to his right leg.
“Dieeeee!”
I make the decision to take a moment and kill the rat while his back is exposed and cut with my hatchet through its neck. Sadly it’s not such an easy thing to do as the first rat I saw in the classroom make it seem to be. I feel myself nearly falling short of strength to split the head from its body, but i push even more and I end up fully cutting it.However, I got another problem now, the other rat is already jumping on me with a much deadlier weapon in hand, a maul.
“Fuck! Leave me alone bastard!”
I could try to dodge, but I dont have the time and even if it is a maul and if it hits me i would be nearly done for and I am sure of that. I still stand superior in both height and strength so I take both ends of the hatchet with my hands and pray that it won't break as I use it to parry the maul to my right. I fortunately overpower the thing on strength without the handle breaking and take the chance to hit its stomach with my knee with all my strength making it stagger and fall to the ground in pain. I then take the hatchet and use the handle to smash the head of the monster till it stops moving, not forgetting this time to check my surroundings just in case more of them appear.
Good, I am in the clear for now.
I get a few seconds to breathe and think it is the safest and fastest way to my home.‘I should probably start running for it.I don't think i will make it otherwise.’ There are just way too many monsters, the streets are so chaotic that I can barely see a path free of danger. ‘I could take advantage of that.’
‘How did this even happen? I need to know if this is going on all over the world.’ I turned the corner of the street just to find HIM.
I find myself looking at what seems to be a widely known mythological figure. The minotaur stands on two legs above a smashed car, it looks imposing and stunning. It has a huge blade in its back that seems more of a giant cleaver than anything else probably due to the size. It holds a thick whip which he is using to make the rats even more aggressive than they already were. I feel his gaze shift to me and an immense pressure washes over me. ‘That's my cue to run!’
I had never been so close to peeing myself in my life, that guy is something else. I run as fast as my feet let me just to get away from him while avoiding the little monsters that get in my way. I even manage to get a hit or two in a few of them while scaping helping me to keep a safe distance. Don't get me wrong, they are threatening and dangerous yet they still fall short when compared to the huge ass bull I just saw and in comparison they don't seem so scary anymore so I focus on getting out alive of the imminent danger the big guy I left behind poses.
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I am just about to arrive at my destination when I notice that my street is flooded by rats, not taking any chances I take a sharp turn to my left and go through a small alley I know ends up just on the back of my flat. It’s just wide enough for 2 people to walk at the same time and secluded enough it didn’t even cross my mind there could be monsters in here. Ohh boy, how wrong I was. ‘I am fucked for real this time.’
I count the rats as they appear, ‘1,2’ I see two revealing themselves from behind a dumpster on my left. ‘3’ Another one that stands stunned in front of me, probably not expecting anyone to come so suddenly inside their haven, let alone one of my kin. ‘4,5…and 6’ The trio of monsters stands at the end of the alley and will probably need some time to get to where I am. I honestly rethink my options for a second, but I saw the main street, there is no hope out there…
‘I got this, I just need to take care of the weapons. The things themselves are mostly harmless as they dont have too much strength, apart maybe from their long and sharp teeth, they are rats after all.’
I rush at the lone rat in front of me, it is still stunned, but I decide to just make way and push it as far as I can and knocking it out cold with a kick instead of just killing it, it only holds a wooden club that even if it is painful, it's not lethal. At least not with its small and weak body, making the decision easier for me to make. I follow up dodging the wooden spear that comes my way and swing my weapon at the other rat that is rushing at me unarmed, killing it too. I don’t forget to catch the spear with my other hand as the monster in front of me panics.
‘You didn’t expect me to react that fast, isn’t that right mate?’ I think to myself as I pull the spear and smash the face of the rat with the elbow of the hand I am holding the hatchet with. ‘Three down and three on their way’. I feel my heart pounding for the first time in a while as I keep fighting.
I turn to face the three incoming enemies as they are about 5 meters before me. I get a hold of the spear of the last rat I killed and take aim. ‘Shortsword, mace and another spear.’ Those are the weapons these ones are carrying.
I take aim as the one holding the spear as it has the advantage of range and throw mine. No idea what I expected. However, missing them completely wasn’t part of the plan. Fortunately they still need to take turns to attack as they dont fit all 3 at the same time in the alley. ‘Better than nothing i guess.’
Two of them stay in front of me, they are the ones with the spear and the shortsword. Both of them manage to come at the same time, but are still cramped so they can't really dodge or do much apart from rushing me. I choose to take a wooden plate that is near me, probably from a mattress, and use it as a shield to block the spear that is already coming at me and push it aside while I jump back just in time to dodge the slash from the other one too. Taking the chance as they try to get their momentum back I dash to the one holding the shortsword and slice with my hatchet trying to cut through its neck.
‘Shit’
The hatchet gets the job done as it kill the thing, unfortunately it stays attached to its neck not managing to cut all the way through just as before,this time though, I don't have the leverage to brute force through it.’Another one down.’ Leaving the the weapon on my victim i make haste in killing the other one with the spear before the one with the mace gets in the position of his fallen comrade.
It didn't take much time to kill the last one so I waste no time and hit the spear I parried before to the wall with one of my feet. I grin as I see it split in two as the force hits the middle of the shaft breaking it in two even pieces. The rat now unarmed decides that’s is a good idea to try and bite me, but as I am far taller than it, I just bring my knee up and hit its jaw with it as I bring down my arms to exert even more strength.’ Only one remaining.
Leaving the last monster I hit on the ground, I focus all my attention on the last one with the mace. It is staying in the same place it was before watching me with intelligent eyes. ‘So they are not as dumb as they seem to be.’
The creature stays silent and unmoving, seemingly contemplating which is the right move here. ‘Okey, maybe not that intelligent.’ Taking one of the broken pieces of the wooden spear I feint an attack to the left and it kinda gets into a defensive position with his weapon over his head expecting my hit to follow the obvious path.
‘Naive.’ I think as I change the trajectory of my weapon mid air and rotate my body, rotating on myself abruptly the other way to try and lose the least amount of strength I can. I come crashing down on it with the spear pointed at its neck from the back and the monster is just yet starting to notice my plan and changing its stance, but it’s already too late.
“huh,huh…” I end up panting with my back against the cold wall of the alley, but I don't dare to let go of both of my already crumbling weapons while I keep watch. ‘Thank god that I am fit, I wouldn't dare imagine running out of gas in the middle of a fight.’ I even shudder at the thought. Even then I still take the time to take a look at the situation at hand just in case more of those disgustings things pop up out of nowhere attracted to the noise of something. I feel wrateful seeing that these little guys are not that durable or else I would already be stabbed on my back by one of the ones I downed first.
I rest like that for a few seconds before thinking about how to enter the building where my flat is located without as many as a hundred monsters following me. I get near the corner of the other end of the alley to take a peek and to my surprise there aren't that many monsters, at least in the surrounding area of my doorway, but that doesn't mean there aren’t any.
’I need to distract them or something’.
I decide that my best shot at going in undetected from the big mob of things a little further away from me is to kill the only two rats that are literally in the way without alerting the others. Easy to say right?
I wait for what feels like a few minutes to see if they will move and I can get a chance to make my way in, but while a few of them do move, the ones near me stay mostly in the same place. I do find it interesting that they are killing all people on sight even if they don't get attacked, but they don’t seem to have any use for the bodies as they mostly ignore them.
I thought that maybe they would steal the things some were carrying or something, but I don't see such a thing coming from them, though I would give them a few days to see if they eat humans… That wouldn't be pleasant to watch, that's for sure, and that's rich coming from me. ‘Let's not get ahead of time’.
Seeing that I have to make my move one way or another I decided to take out of action the one who is near me first, I should need just one moment to choke him and drag him out of the vision of the other one that is on the way. I find it hilarious that I will have to do a squat to choke it.’Lets stop thinking useless things and go for it.’
“Arghhhhh!…Arghhhh…Arghh…….” The rat tries to break free to call for help, but only a low growl gets out of my choke and it gets quieter the longer it goes on, which is not much. Easy enough the monster is dead as even if I may lack the strength to cut through their bones I do definitely have enough to squash the neck of the poor things. Damn! I even felt it break under the pressure of my hold.I knew they were small in size and all, but they really are squishy, they only pose a threat as they come in groups and armed. It helps me get my confidence up seeing that they are not that strong individually.
The last rat is dealt with the same way after I get its back using a few things as cover and as I enter the building I finally find myself at the final hurdle of going up the building to my flat. ‘I am just hoping there are no breaches of security for now.’ I know, not the best thing to think about right now.
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‘Lucky me.’ I think so as I get cautious yet safely to the door of my flat after making sure the main stairs were clear for now. I get inside still ready for everything just in case some monster appears for no apparent reason as the other ones and then close behind me. I check every single room for any signs, but find no one. ‘My parents are not here and neither is my little sister, they are probably in their respective jobs either locked up, hiding away or searching for me.’
I have yet to get back all my stamina so I take my time to think how to proceed from here on as i rest.
‘Yes, rest… Now that I think about it.’
As I get back to safety in these thin walls and look back on what just happened it does seem weird. I feel tired, riled up about the unknown reasons for these things coming out of nowhere. Scared of what could happen today or tomorrow at any moment, being well aware that one bad decision will be all it takes for me to die.
Then how? How am I so eager to go out again and feel livelier than I have ever been while fighting for my life? I pause as I contemplate if maybe I am the only one thinking about it.
‘NO!’ I know i am not the only one, there are all kinds of people out there, but i do still think that for the most part the ones that will think this way are probably not the ones with the best ideals, but instead the people who restrained themselves when they knew they were under the watchful eyes of the system called society and that what makes me furious. I am not like them, I am not a savage or a criminal and it pisses me off to know I am similar to them in that aspect. Anyway, now? If this mess is happening globally and is a serious matter then those people are gonna be out of their leash and with even worse plans, I better watch out for those types of things in the near future just in case.
Maybe I am just one more of them.
“Whatever.”
That’s still to be decided.
Am I in the wrong?
Did I live my life in a way that I find pleasure in these barbarish things such as fighting monsters?
‘Let' s stop.’
That doesn't matter anymore. It will lead nowhere even if I think about it and I have better things to do. Even more, even if that’s the case, with this chaos out there, am I really the one to blame?