Saliva ran through my back.
I twisted my body to dodge the incoming bite.
While I didn’t get bitten, its teeth scratched my back.
It hurt like hell, but it worked for me.
The pain made me react.
I could still feel the coldness, however, my body now was on fire.
I got up and ran.
Going to the old man isn’t the best idea.
If he isn’t ready, and the monster realizes it, we’re fucked.
If the monster finds him, we’re fucked.
I dodged another bite.
If that reaches me, we’re fucked.
In a pinch, I went near enough so that I could hear the signal.
The monster was on my back.
One wrong step and I’m gone; in other words, we’re fucked.
I can’t say I’m proud, but if I have one specialty, it’s running away.
The monster was slow.
Not slow overall, he was as fast or slightly faster than me.
Its injuries had slowed it down.
If it was on prime condition, I could consider myself gone.
When I felt it close, I fell with my entire body.
It hurt a bit.
The monster who shot for me, missed and hit a near building.
I got up and ran in another direction.
This close call dance continued for some minutes.
Although for me it was an eternity.
While I weaved through the blows, I couldn’t say that I was unscathed.
Scratches, small injuries, and fatigue kept piling up.
Fortunately, the monster was hitting several buildings.
Just like me, it was slowing down.
“Now!”
A scream came from our right.
I wasn’t the only one that heard the scream.
The monster also heard it, but it prioritized trying to eat me.
So there’s a limit to their intellect.
Or at least, there’s an animalistic instinct component that prevents them from ignoring what’s in front of them,
Either way, it works for us.
The chase continued until I noticed a hanging skyscraper.
Similar to the one I stood on, it was a piece stuck between its original skyscraper and a building near it.
Because of the pressure on my back, fatigue and speed, I couldn’t see the old man.
Yet, I was sure this was the place.
The scream also came from near here.
I positioned myself under the hanging piece.
The monster followed.
“Now!”
I dodged more attacks, but there was no reaction to my scream.
Did he have a problem?
I was against the wall, literally.
Without realizing, I drove myself into a corner.
Giving my other arm was impossible; that would be suicide.
The monster launched his last attack.
It impacted my right shoulder.
My shield somewhat diminished the wound, yet I didn’t have a weapon or a way to get it off me.
I kicked, punched, and bit, but it didn’t care.
I tried to grab and bury further one spike, however they were out of my reach.
The damned monster was perforating my shoulder, making me unable to move or retaliate.
The increasing pain was at the point of making me pass out.
A clumsily thrown rock hit one spike on top of it.
I doubt the throw had any strength to it.
Yet, the monster flinched.
That earlier gamble paid off—just like the knife; the spike was a weak point.
I used that moment to move out of the way.
After the monster stopped being a 90% of my field of view, multiple rocks were near the monster.
Previously, I laughed at being saved by a coincidence.
Now, a hollow laugh echoed through my mind, occupying the space where purpose had been.
I couldn’t get out from under the building before I heard.
“Sorry.”
Everything happened too fast.
No time after he apologized, the hanging building fell.
Some bouncing pieces hit me.
Nothing too worrisome, though.
The monster’s scream ripped through the air as debris lodged itself between the jagged spikes protruding from its flesh, each fragment grinding deeper with its convulsions.
It shook, and pieces ricocheted.
They hit everything near.
The quakes threw the old man, who was on top of the edifice, off balance.
Then they both disappeared from my view.
Should I check?
For a long moment, silence reigned over all.
I walked towards the mess.
My movement was sluggish.
My body was reaching its limit.
Instinctually, I rounded the zone, with my back at the building where the old man was.
Once I was close enough, movements came from below the debris.
Too late did I realize the temperature hadn’t changed.
The monster launched another attack.
The slowest attack it had made, however, I was even slower than it.
Pain and fatigue fogged my judgement.
I couldn’t see a way out, and I knew my stamina was low enough that my shield wouldn’t activate.
I’ve read a lot of stories.
They were my primary source of information and entertainment for years, practically my whole life.
I learned a great deal about civilization and humans by them.
For quite some time, especially in my darkest moments, I thought I’d never get to know other people.
But I did.
They were less than ideal, but it was fun.
And yet, there is something I grow to hate.
Lazy writing and cliches.
The old man also came from the rubble
He ran and positioned himself between me and the monster.
He opened his arms to protect me.
It was literally the pose of a character in a book.
Fuck no.
I hold on to him and threw my body sideways.
I hadn’t the strength to pull him, so my weight was the best option.
We barely dodged the monster who hit yet another building.
This time the stun lasted for a while.
After standing up, I went to the old man to get out of here.
But I saw something.
It felt awful.
I turned around and walked.
Rage was burning inside me.
Pure will and rage kept me going.
I climbed a near building.
I couldn’t tell if it was where the old man was or another one.
A single idea came to my mind in order to end this, and I’ll see it to the end.
Meanwhile, the monster got back to his senses.
It moved towards the old man.
The old man moved backwards.
It wasn’t an attempt at fleeing.
It wasn’t something at all.
Just his body moving by instinct.
Likewise, the monster moved to eat its prey.
It was a pitiful spectacle.
I got as high as I could.
I’d like to say I waited for the right time, but I was just getting my breath back.
I jumped, aiming at one spike.
I didn’t have the luxury of choosing one.
I broadly chose an area and prayed I was on the right track.
A mix of adrenaline and the before-mentioned rage made me roar.
“Fuuuuuuuck!”
Although “roar” is a powerful word for the pathetic murmur I did.
It sounded powerful in my head.
However, my voice didn’t escape the vicinity.
It even cut several times during the scream and didn’t finish.
Fortunately, my jump was way better than my war scream.
I’m in for a world of pain.
With my left hand, I raised my other hand.
My right arm was a wobbly mess.
That works.
I went diagonally down to the monster with increasing speed.
I positioned my right hand so the spike perforated the bone.
And it worked.
The spike shattered my bone and impaled my hand.
Yet, the speed and my weight pushed down the spike.
My arm extended.
I could feel the ligaments, tendons, and muscles getting undone, breaking, and shattering.
A bit more and my arm would rip off.
A guttural, silent shout escaped from inside me.
There was no noise for bystanders, but my body was shrieking.
I was left hanging.
My body and the spike slowly went down until the monster stopped moving.
It was finally dead.
I would pass out and a mysterious but gentle character would wake me up bedridden and healed.
But reality is hardly that nice.
The old man wasn’t moving, however, he was alive.
I needed to free my hand and get out of here.
It was a bloody and obtuse process.
I’d push up my hand with my working one until I couldn’t stand the pain.
Then I’d rest by chewing on the spike, hoping to reduce the size of it.
A couple of blood-spitting and tears from pain later, I freed what remained of my hand and arm.
I walked to the old man.
His face had nothing but terror.
By now, he’d already seen the dead monster.
Why was he like that?
Now that I think about it, he had that face when falling.
He must’ve seen something.
I’m sorry, but I can’t let you rest.
I shook him.
My patience was long gone, probably it went to wherever my arm was.
“Hey! Old man, what happened?”
It took me some time to make him react.
His eyes danced from place to place.
“No! Shut up! Don’t make noises!”
He was murmuring, however his face was shouting.
“They’re everywhere! We need to go! No, it’s too late!”
He got stuck in those two last sentences—entering a vicious cycle of repetition.
I dragged myself to where everything happened.
The monster laid dead.
I scanned the zone.
Yet I found nothing.
No, this can’t be.
Only one place remained under the monster.
I pushed the monster.
Shoulder, left arm, head and walk, nothing worked.
I really don’t want to do this.
Just my luck.
I bit the monster everywhere I could.
Through little to larger spasms and pushes, I adjusted it.
My teeth ground against its hide—every jerk of my head sent fresh lightning through my ruined arm, but I kept biting.
Probably because of the pain, but now that it all slowed down, I felt the temperature getting lower at a frightening rate.
No!
I kept doing it until it got unbearable.
Like I thought, there was a crack in the floor below the monster.
Fuck! Fuck! Shit!
What the fuck!
There’s no fucking way.
Every piece connected.
No matter how scary these fuckers are, a single monster couldn’t get someone to that state.
I grabbed the old man by the collar.
“Fuck! You knew this?!”
The man, who was inside his panic fantasy, reacted.
At least I had brought him back to reality.
“Tell me!”
The old man seemed defeated.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was to this point.”
He stood up and walked, prompting me to follow him.
This again?
I assumed he was going to show me something, or rather, I wanted to assume that.
I was too tired to keep arguing.
We continue walking to some place, taking occasional breaks to breathe or rest from the pain.
Although the breaks were short, we mostly walked.
No one shared a single word or idea.
Finally, I had some time to check my surroundings and inspect this part of the city.
Before, it was full of crossed text, or in the best cases, covered with some other.
I can’t make what the scribblings say, however I had an idea.
I suspected as much.
Of what I’ve seen, ruling out all unidentifiable bodies, which were a most, all bodies were one of two types.
Monsters and humans.
There was no mystery to monsters.
They came in all forms and sizes.
Humans on the other side made my skin crawl.
I can safely assume that monsters killed those with missing body parts or very specific injuries.
However, there was an uncanny quantity of humans with tool-made injuries.
Monsters don’t use injuries.
Just what the hell happened here?
Monsters also don’t write nor have any semblance of communication.
So all text and scribblings were human made.
I don’t like this place.
Still, I shouldn’t be too sure of my judgement; I’m no expert at this.
The old man halted.
“We’re here.”
An unsuspecting house was in front of us.
“What’s this?”
“Look for yourself.”
He was reluctant to get any closer.
I approached the house, expecting to open a door.
There was no door, and coldness leaked.
I entered the house.
Coldness leaked from the doorway, prickling my skin before I even stepped inside.
The house was empty like all the others, except for the vast hole yawning in its center.
Dozens of monster slept inside.
Something clearly wounded them.
The coldness hinted they were alive.
Even more worrying, the hole was dark.
It got darker the further you tried to see.
Fuck.
Considering the amount of walking we did to get here, there were perhaps hundreds or thousands of monsters.
We’re really fucked.