Something was approaching.

The sound of the earth splitting under pressure, of the end, drawing nearer. The echoes contained between those narrow streets are set free, reaching his ears.

But Elgan won't let them. His arms bent together over his head, covering both eyes and ears, his knees stuck to his abdomen in a desperate attempt to appear small and inoffensive in front of danger.

Inevitably, the headache grows stronger, Elgan could feel something warm escaping his nose, the unwelcome flavor of iron entered his mouth.

It knows you are there. It is coming.

'No. This can't be possible. This isn't happening.'

'I'm not here. This is a dream. A nightmare. I'll wake up soon. Will I? Leave this sick place? This prank. Yes, it must be a prank. There is no way the city has been destroyed. There is no way all this is happening. It is impossible, the military, the police, firefighters, someone must be coming right? They must be on their way, right?'

No. This is real.

Another sound.

A different sound.

At first, the beeping of a car sparked hope in Elgan's decaying heart, he lifted his face from the dirt and opened his eyes slightly.

...

'Am I saved?'

| BOOOM!!! |

Inmediately, the beeping was cut off by a flaming explosion.

Burning bright just behind a line of dead trees covering the edge of the field. Whatever images filtered through the lifeless branches were enough to lock his muscles in place. Elgan's thought process entered a state of loop, stuck on that sweet frontier between rebuttal and madness.

'Can't move. Can't think.'

For a few seconds, nothing but the blazing heat from the impassive flames was heard.

The rumbling had come to an absolute halt.

Silence was a synonym for peace, yet for Elgan, it was the polar opposite, a hurricane had formed inside his mind disrupting any attempt to achieve control of himself.

Seconds dilated in length as time-warped around his deliriums.

What seemed like ages passed without a move on either side, but the tension never disappeared, it just lay dormant in his mind.

Once more, he can feel the colossus...

That thing...

Moving ever so slightly on the periphery of his vision.

'Should I ignore it?'

Clenching his teeth and embodying all his might, Elgan managed to turn his neck slowly.

The mass of flesh that occupied the heart of the city. His city, once.

It remained in its position, dormant. Its appendage-like claws penetrated entire buildings, roads of asphalt, and structures of hard concrete alike.

Its eyelids seemed to curve as abomination and man made eye contact.

The meaning behind its expression was revealed as it opened its giant maw, splitting half of its titanic body open in the process. It was smiling, those two gigantic asymmetric eyes drawing a hint of mockery as it gazed despicably below.

"Why is it- smiling-?"

He managed to utter a few words before reflexively gulping down.

He already had an answer.

'It- It can't- be.'

Elgan amassed the courage to turn his vision once more,

this time he stared at the nearby road...

The orange glow of dancing flames was no longer there, the thin fence that separated the barren field and the line of trees was gone.

The dead branches crumbled like fragile paper to the revelation.

Its only eye and one gaping mouth provided the same mad expression he had just witnessed a couple of seconds before.

'Another- one!!'

The titanic minion broke the lines of trees and fences. Its spherical, deformed body shook the ground as it advanced toward him. Its five sharp legs sank into the dirt as it left the road.

It advanced slowly but its massive size more than made up for it

"This is not happening..."

He muttered, not even contemplating to run to save his life.

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He didn't budge, his body was still frozen in terror, his gaze set on the lifeless ground, waiting for the nightmare to end. The poor kid vehemently refused to face it.

"This is not- reality, this- is a nightmare, this is - nightmare, a nightm-re. Nothing- like this could ever- happ-."

He couldn't even care anymore.

The dryness in his throat was suck, he couldn't muster the strength to talk out loud. Denial was the ultimate comfort zone, and its tender, warm arms had already made their way into Elgan's soul.

The stomps came to a halt as a shadow. It loomed over his body. Its devilish expression had only grown madder.

Its giant legs were raised high in the sky, prepared to crush the petite human to oblivion, and put an end to the miserable joke this was.

HiHishHishShishsh Sweeet!!

Unemotional like a guillotine, it rains down upon Elgan's neck.

Then time slowed down.

The bulging and grotesque end of the abhorrent creature's arm was about to crush his nape into thick paste.

He looked around him one last time, the reality was undeniable, but some part of him hoped to find hope...

That hero who makes an unexpected appearance just before disaster, that warrior who will risk his life to save another human from the claws of death. To save the innocent from evil...

At that time, Elgan couldn't find any golden hero.

On that dark night, there was no star, no moon, no light. Just darkness, dead trees, dead silence, a dead world.

And that smiling meatball towering far in the sky, in Elgan's blue sky.

Standing authoritatively, taller than any other building or mountain.

Feasting on the joy of his last seconds of suffering.

Truth hurt.

It hurt more than anything that happened to Elgan ever.

An absolute truth.

No one will save you.

You are your only hope.

Darkness fills his vision, with one last impact.

Death.

...

| Thud! |

A part of him who refused to die no matter what.

An algorithm wired by the most basic self-preservation instincts pushed him out of the way. Rolling on the floor several times just before the impact took place.

Elgan didn't even know it yet, but he was running away, streams of blood leaving his forehead, his face covered in sweat, dry dirt, and cinders.

His heart beating faster than ever.

'Can't die this way.'

Running far, far away. Further and faster than ever before.

"FUCK!!-!!"

His throat resonated with a growling shout as he sprinted at full speed towards the road,

just in the direction that thing had come from.

His lungs contracted and expanded in rapid fire, exhausting his limited reserves of energy.

With a short burst of speed, Elgan wouldn't arrive very far, he knew that very well.

Still, he couldn't hesitate, Elgan glanced back at the titanic creature.

It remained in place, its monstrous size still towering over him except now the grin over its face had been erased, replaced with a penetrating scowl.

The meatball's hideous faces showed the demeanor of an entitled kid who had lost a precious toy.

That abomination was fervently angry.

'Faster. I need- to grow distance between us now- that I have the chance.'

Elgan's bloodshot eyes scanned the irregular terrain in a flash, almost staggering to the ground as he did.

But he couldn't allow that...

Falling meant losing distance, and consequential death.

Hiding wasn't an option either. The thing... Nesting in the city.

That all-seeing mother abomination would not move, its weight was too big to allow that, but it had nevertheless managed to spot Elgan from several miles away.

No place near the city would be safe.

"Let's sh- stick to running for now- sh-."

As a teenager, Elgan had been especially inactive.

He had gone to the gym once or twice in the last year.

The payoff was his ridiculously low stamina.

'My- only option is a car. If I can get- in a car, I can get out of- here.'

Signaled by the rumbling intensifying behind him, now adorned by wails and cries.

The creature behind him had gone berserk. It had started to move.

A rush of adrenaline kicked in. Elgan continued his sprint in a straight line.

'Even at my best- That thing will outrun me, I need a vehicle.'

With a small leap, Elgan crossed the gaping hole in the steel fence. The one the creature had created moments ago.

Three vehicles were stationed nearby. All of them had been seemingly abandoned in a rush, likely leaving the keys inside. At least that was what he liked to think.

A pickup.

A car.

A truck.

The truck was too slow, big, and unfamiliar, while the pickup was too far away for him to consider seriously...

"Car."

There was no time for opening doors.

Brazing for impact, Elgan closed his eyes, protected his head, and made himself into a ball, entering straight through the car's window, which was far more resistant than he expected it to be.

The breaking of glass opened cuts along his head and skin, the hit made him dizzy and forced his energies to leak out rapidly. He landed in the front seats of the vehicle, and the urge to sleep kicked into his brain.

But he resisted.

He clenched his teeth and sat in the driver's seat.

Fainting here wasn't an option.

SHRiiekK!!!

The sounds of hell became stronger, the ground shook with the abomination's footsteps, that thing was already near the fence.

Elgan had sub-estimated the monster's speed, he had no time.

'SHI-T!'

His eyes rapidly darted around the cabin, searching for a the keys... Empty.

His racing heart skipped a beat, several beats.

Still, Elgan refused to give up after running all the way here, not until the very last second.

His eyes scanned the back seats and started pulling out compartments in a rush.

Despite the head-splitting headache, his mind went into full overdrive, managing all the possibilities like a stressed student the day before finals.

'Should I keep looking? Where would the driver hide the keys? Did he run away with them? How much time do I have left 14, 7 seconds? Do I leave now and test my luck with the pickup?'

'It's no use, they aren't here!!!'

His hand was ready to open the door outside.

He was sure he could be able to run for a couple more minutes at most...

Maybe that would be enough to find something else...

Elgan glanced outside the window just as he was about to open it,

however, the stench of death lingered on the other side of the car's door.

His instincts screamed at him not to take that step.

It was only then that the shaking of the car opened a compartment on the roof,

a single pair of keys dropping from it.

'No way!!! Yes!'

A rush of mad excitement rushed over his battered body, his hands moved nimbler and faster than ever, plugging them in the correspondent keyhole and starting the engine in one swift motion.

The smooth movement of metal gears raged inside the belly of the car in a matter of seconds, Elgan's foot was already pressed against the throttle, forcing the vehicle into a frenzied acceleration away from the meatball's path.

A few seconds later one of its legs crushed the pavement he had abandoned a few moments ago.

Then all Elgan could do was observe the creature's expression through the car's rearview...

It's mad fury as it hunted after the ever-accelerating car in vain.

Its cries intensified to the point the windows on the back broke off...

It couldn't reach him anymore.

"Ha- sh- hahaha! HAHaha!"

He started laughing like an utter madman. The hurricane of emotions, pain, anguish, and the near-death experience had just survived swiped his remaining sanity clean.

All sense of fear was lost, the only thing that mattered was that he survived.

That was all Elgan could think about as the vehicle sped further away. The towering, screaming monster merged with the horizon on that A-53 road.

Elgan kept looking back at the rearview every once in a while though...

A part of him expected it wasn't over yet. But it was.

Minutes passed, turning into hours.

It was only when he was too far away from the city,

that the complete absence of lights transformed that window to the outside into a mirror.

Looking at himself had always been a difficult task.

Elgan didn't like the way his reflection looked back at him, never did...

This time though, those feelings had vanished.

Elgan didn't dislike him, didn't hate him, didn't love him either.

The man that he saw, Elgan couldn't recognize...