Author's note: Last chapter for today. I am about five chapters ahead of you guys on revisions and have the next like twelve or so chapters already written, but I want to give myself time to keep revising through my old writing and then start in on my new chapters. Please enjoy. Rate the fic! Leave comments! Lurk! Whatever you like! lol
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12:40 a.m. April 24, 2015
I was on my knees silently shaking. In rage? Despair? Disappointment in having broken one of the most important promises I’d ever made?
All around me, my dorm mates were fighting for their lives and although the goblins weren’t much of a problem, the remaining bulky hyena hybrid was tearing through a couple people every few seconds. It was simply too strong and my dorm mates hadn’t thought to switch out their blunt weapons for all the swords and daggers that the goblins had strewn about the floor of the hallway in their deaths.
I sat there certain that I’d now found hell on earth. My emotions were in chaos, but I knew one thing for sure.
‘She protected me and I wasn’t fast enough to save her…She thought she was safe around me and dropped her guard…This is my fault for being weak.’
I glanced around at my dying classmates. I listened to their screams as they sent shivers down my spine. Their blood splattered on the hallway floor, raising the already thin layer of blood in the hallway a couple inches. I was drenched in it and it was all my fault.
Shakily, I found the strength to stand and looked towards the bulky hybrid still cutting through people like air. It seemed to be moving more slowly compared to earlier so I guess the large number of weapons landing blows against its body had somewhat injured it. Looking down towards the ground, I grabbed the hilt of a sword stuck in the head of a goblin and dimly realized it was the one that had been struck earlier when I knocked a goblin’s blade out of its hands. I picked another blade up off the ground with my right hand.
Gripping the swords tightly, I ran towards the bigger hybrid. My dorm mates and it seemed to have stopped fighting.
As they caught their breath and kept a small distance from one another, my mind was entering a frenzied state.
‘They killed her because I was too weak! I refuse to be weak! I will kill you!’
I reached the line of people in front of the hybrid and burst through with my swords hanging low. The suddenness of the attack surprised the monster, but it quickly regained its senses.
‘Kill! Kill! KILL!’ The word thundered over and over in my head until it was all I could hear.
The hybrid swung its claws down at me aiming to sweep my head clean off. I hit the ground and slid on my knees through the slick blood and swung my swords as hard as possible in a horizontal arc towards its left leg. As I passed under the arm of the hybrid, there was a sickening crunching noise and I knew I had hit my mark. Completing my slide, I quickly began to roll and hit the nearest wall to stop myself.
Its left knee hit the ground and blood pumped out from where its left foot was hanging off of its calf by a little skin and muscle.
“KILL!” I yelled at the hybrid.
Running towards its back I swung my swords at its exposed neck, but before I could connect, the hybrid used its remaining foot to jump backwards and crashed into me.
I could’ve sworn a truck had hit me as I was hurtled backwards at high speed a couple feet into the nearest wall with a loud smack.
I slumped down to the ground and my vision instantly became blurry. I struggled to keep my eyes open and I saw the hybrid in front of me slowly raise itself into a kneeling position and turn its body towards me. Yellow eyes glowering with savageness and hatred, it roared at the ceiling and tore its left foot off with one of its clawed hands.
‘Holy shit!’ My eyes flew open in disbelief and I had the sinking feeling that I was never going to make it out of this hallway alive.
As if this was a cue, the people around the hybrid burst into action and, moving in towards the creature, madly swung at it with their weapons. The hybrid must’ve anticipated it though because it responded in kind by spinning like a top on its remaining foot with claws outstretched. Peoples’ throats were ripped out, arms and legs were lost, and weapons began flying throughout the hall smacking into the walls at high speeds.
‘I don’t understand…why any of this happening…Sarah…’ I looked to where I last saw her and only saw more bloodied people getting slaughtered by the hybrid.
The remaining people were stricken with fear and decided to make a run for it towards the stairwell that we had all entered from. I couldn’t be sure, but when they opened the door, I think I saw more of the hybrid looking creatures standing there. These ones looked a lot different than the one currently chasing down my fleeing dorm mates on all fours.
My vision began to get darker and my strength was fading from every inch of my body. Unable to lift even my eyelids anymore, I closed them as my head drooped down towards my chest. Blood freely flowed from the sword wound on my left arm and I knew I was losing a lot of blood as well as suffering from a concussion from when I’d smacked against the wall.
‘I can’t…feel anything…anymore.’
My eyes were barely open, but I painfully watched as the group of hybrids butchered the rest of my dorm mates. Tears were freely flowing from my eyes as their screams of agony and pain filled my head. The sounds drowned out my thoughts and I truly felt despair overtake me.
I could hear the hybrids moving down the hallway having killed the remaining people who’d tried to make a break for it.
Sniffing the humans on the floor, they moved down the hall killing any they found alive. My breathing became more and more ragged. Hearing a monster draw near, I completely stopped my breathing hoping for the best. One second passed…two…and then a sharp pain flared from my chest as I felt claws digging a thin wound across my chest.
Screaming in agony, my eyes shot open and I could see all the hybrids surrounding me.
Shutting my eyes closed once more, my thoughts became frantic…then slower…and eventually everything went black.
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A loud beeping noise was ringing throughout my head. It sounded almost like my roommate’s alarm clock going off.
‘I’ll give him five seconds to turn that shit off.’ As a couple seconds passed I was restless. ‘It’s so annoying. I’m trying to sleep here please turn off. Please turn it off before I get up and start swinging.’
Once the beeping noise persisted for longer than ten seconds, my patience snapped.
My eyes snapped open and I sat up. Without registering anything else, I yelled out, “God…Fuck! Will, turn that damn thing off! I’m trying to sleep!”
A hot pain seared across my chest and, gasping in pain, I looked down to find bandages wrapped around my whole upper body and left arm.
‘What the fuck happened to-…’
As if a dam had broken, memories flooded back into my brain.
Meeting Sarah, fighting off the two goblins, racing through the dorm to the fourth floor, explaining things to my dorm mates, the bloody fight, Sarah’s death…
Tears began to form at the corners of my eyes and my vision got blurry. A couple tears fell before I wiped them off my cheeks.
Continuing to mentally sift through my memories, more scenes flashed through my mind.
In my rage I had charged the bulky hybrid only to get swatted and crashed into a wall.
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I winced at the memory and then laid back down into the pillows of my bed as the sight of everyone getting massacred by the hybrids crossed my mind.
Then, me being surrounded by the hybrids and stopping my breathing thinking that they wouldn’t know I was alive.
My cheeks burned at remembering this shameful memory.
‘How could I have played dead? Do I fear death that much? To feign death in front of monsters that can hear my fucking hearbeat??’
Tears of shame and sadness slid down my cheeks and dropped down onto the blankets covering my lower half.
Finally, the last memory that played in my head was the feeling of pain shooting across my chest as the hybrid clawed at me which led to my blackout.
I shakily pressed my hand on the center of my wrapped chest and let out a slow breath.
‘How am I even alive right now?’
Before I could contemplate this phenomenon, I heard a familiar voice coming from nearby.
“Oh, nurse he’s awake! My son is awake!” This was followed by the sound of frantic button pushing. Wincing slightly, I turned my body towards the voice and see my mother. She’s an African-American standing at about 5’ 2”, looking younger and more beautiful than most forty year old mothers around.
She rushed over towards me from the doorway of the room and pulled me into a hug and began sobbing into my shoulder.
“Ow…ow…mom please. I’m fine. Space please. Can’t…breathe.” She reluctantly let go and continued her crying as she covered her face with her hands.
I took a deep breath after that near strangulation and finally took the time to survey my surroundings.
I was lying in a hospital bed with a big machine next to me that continuously beeped at me.
‘Must’ve been what brought me back, huh?’
There was a big glass window to my right giving me a view of the skyline of Chicago at what had to be around midday.
Or, well, it would’ve been a skyline if any of the nearby buildings had tops to them. Every building suffered from shattered windows, deep gouges into the walls, and whole floors seemed to be missing from what I could tell from what I now assumed was a hospital bed.
Looking around some more, I saw a door that leads out of the room and one that leads into a bathroom. I also see some of my mom’s things strewn about the room as well as a couple blankets and pillows laid out on a couch underneath the window.
Quickly, I turned to my mom and frantically asked, “Mom, what happened? Are dad and the kids okay?”
She nodded her head at me as tears still flowed from her eyes, “Everyone’s okay, Alex…”
Before she could continue, a pair of nurses quickly walked in through the doorway and began checking my vitals and asking basic questions to which I had no choice but to answer.
“Do you know who you are?”
“Alexander Taylor”
“Do you know where you are?”
“Evidently, a hospital.” I sardonically replied.
She set a hawk like gaze on me warning me to not get sarcastic.
“Sorry…I’ve just remembered some really bad things and…I suppose I’m in a bit of a mood,” I muttered while looking away from her face.
Her eyes immediately soften and she says, “I forgot that you were a victim from that day. You’re very lucky to be alive…Just cooperate and we’ll have you out of here as soon as possible…Just wait one second. We have to get that catheter out of you so we can test your motor functions.
My eyes opened wide, filled with fear, “What do you mean? What catheter!?”
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Thirty seconds later it was over and the pain was only a tingling sensation.
“Are you ready to try and walk for us, Alex?” One of the nurses asked me.
I scowl at her and the other nurse tells me to try and walk to my mother and back. I swing my feet over the edge of the bed and place my feet on the ground, grimacing slightly at the pain in my chest from the motion.
‘Walk? I was fighting for my life yesterday. I think I can walk just fine’ was all I thought as I transferred most of my weight to my legs and promptly fell over onto the ground in a heap. The nurses scrambled to help me stand up and steady myself.
“Why do I feel so weak? I was running around just fine yesterday and as far as I know, my most serious injury was the head wound…” I asked my mom and the nurses but trailed off as I noticed the sad look in their eyes.
My mom slowly walked up to me with tears in her eyes, “Alex…that was nearly four weeks ago. You’ve been unconscious in bed for twenty-six days. I left the family and travelled by myself up here since we’re short on money because of the move and…” as she continued talking her voice gradually faded out.
‘Four weeks?’ I thought in disbelief. ‘I can’t have been asleep for almost four weeks.’ Then I thought back to how hard I hit that wall and touched my chest. ‘Maybe my injuries really were that severe…’
Mom’s voice came back into focus, “…you okay?” She was looking at me worriedly.
“Yeah, mom. I’m fine, I was just…thinking.” I responded and then on a whim asked her, “When we get out of here can you tell me what happened? I just want to focus on recovering right now and then I’ll turn my attention to everything else.”
She nodded and told me that we could talk about it whenever I was ready to hear it.
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Three days had passed since then and although I was still a little weak, I was physically cleared to go home and was walking out of the hospital with my mom.
“School’s been let out early and you’ll make up the lost time in the summer. Your dad already bought the plane tickets for us and we should be at the new house by tonight. I’m so excited for you to be home even if the circumstances are a little…well, I’m sure your little brothers and sister are going to be excited to see you again since you’ve been at school for so long…Alex, what’s wrong?” She caught me gazing off into the distance with a faraway look in my eyes.
“Oh, nothing mom. I’m fine. Ummm I was just wondering about…clothes and stuff. Like where’s my luggage and stuff.”
I couldn’t tell her that I was once again reliving that dreadful night in my head.
It had happened multiple times since I’d awoken, but I was slowly getting over the trauma and had less thoughts about it as the last three days had progressed. I’d met with a psychiatrist several times a day in the hospital talking things out about what had happened. There had even been other people who suffered and survived through situations similar to mine.
My relapses only happened four or five times a day, but I wasn’t waking up from nightmares or screaming uncontrollably like one would expect. Hell, even I was surprised by my lack of post-traumatic stress, but I did know one thing. That night had changed me.
‘I want to be strong, so that anyone who depends on me…’ Sarah’s face, followed by several others I knew had died that night flashed through my mind ‘…will not be wrong for placing their trust in me.’
I was snapped out of my thoughts by my mother’s words…
“Oh…Well since there was no damage to your dorm room, they let me go up there and get all your things. I already packed them up and sent them off through UPS. They should already have gotten to the house.” Stepping into the taxi that my mom had prepared for us, the driver set a course for O’Hare airport.