A soft clank of trigger pierced Dycron's ears, and a thick warm liquid splattered his face. The woman's body stumbled, pinning him on the ground. Her grotesque face was indistinguishable, almost kissing Dycron eye to eye.
Enear pulled out the body from him and surveyed the cramped surroundings. "We have to get out of here quickly."
Blood still engulfed Dycron's body, just as his mind fogged with shock and questions. "E-Enear. What have you done?"
Enear jerked his head to point to the curtain. "Wipe yourself. Be careful not swallowing the blood nor letting it enter any of your wounds–to anything that can enter your body."
A man suddenly came in front of them. His skin was pale, arms were bleeding. Looking closely at the wound, it was torn and the flesh was as if gritted recklessly.
Enear raised his rifle to his shoulder and leveled his eyes on the scope but Dycron forcedly snatched it away from him, wasting the shot to a metal container wall.
"Why did you kill her? Answer me!"
The man fixed his gaze to them, thick blue veins suddenly came out on every side of his body, almost popping out. It crawled onto his face and his hair suddenly fell. His limbs began to stretch, its muscles compacted thinly, turning yellowish, making it looked like glazed in plastic wrap.
"Meat!" he screamed with a rotten smell of breath and ran to them.
Dycron stepped back. "Mister! Wait, Mister!"
Enear fixed Dycron's arms to push the muzzle to his shoulder, aimed at the aggressive man, and guided his finger to pull the trigger.
"I–I didn't–" he fumbled as he dropped the rifle. "I didn't kill him."
"Get your bag now and let's move," said Enear as he picked up the rifle. "This place is full of people than you expect. We can't be cornered here."
"Right!" he said with a gulp and rushed inside the room. Another monster came.
"Meat!"
Enear waited for the man to reach him until he pierced the bayonet on its head. He had to reserve bullets as much as he could.
Dycron came back with his bagpack on his chest. "Let's go!" he said and they scurried to the narrowed street as fast as they could.
Every unit they passed by residing a powerful shriek of fear and pain. They were careful from door to door to have a surprise attack from the houses. Just as when a monster jumped from the curtain with squeaking prey he was feasting. Enear didn't hesitate to stab his bionet to the monster so they could safely pass.
"We should help her!" Dycron said eagerly. The lady's neck was bleeding, almost half of its flesh was eaten.
Enear stabbed its forehead, helping her with a quick painless death.
"I said help her not kill her!"
"She couldn't run with her state. You're just helping her to suffer."
Finally, a light of hope outside was nearly reached. They continued pacing until they freed themselves from the suffocating maze.
"Help me!"
"My love, wake up! Wake up!"
"Argh!!!"
Another chaos welcomed them. People were running back and forth, chased by monsters. Others stumbled on the ground to be feasted by a group of flesh-eaters.
"Tell me, Enear. This was all just a dream."
"Face the reality if you want to live."
The sound of continuous gunshots echoed in the surroundings.
"I went from District 3 earlier. That's right! I saw policemen patroling the roads when I stole supplies!"
They ran, a tagging game with the monsters busy with their own prey. They caught the attention of some and Enear was providing for their cover. They reached the arc where a single man in military uniform burst his machine gun into every figure he saw. But a monster still reached him and tore his flesh on his stomach. He collapsed on the ground along with the fallen soldiers.
No single armed man was standing, only people screaming and running, and the predators chasing them.
"Enear! Cover me!" said Dycron and rushed to the police corpse, getting everything from his pocket.
"Dycron! There isn't time for that!" Enear said as he shot a monster's head and simultaneously used his bayonet for those who nearly reached them. "Let's go while their attention is scattered!"
Dycron then rushed to a car, tapping a card but it vibrated and gleamed red. He went to another with the same result and went to another again but it never turned the way he was expecting. The monsters were growing in numbers. Enear grabbed his shirt to run to the alley.
Countless monsters were chasing and falling from the rooftops in the alley. Until they reached the dead end, Enear picked a 4 meter rainwater downpipe to push the crowd of monsters, stumbling them. He pulled the pipe and stabbed the one that jumped out from the window, and swung it with force, catching the others in the air, and crushed them on the wall, splattering blood to the green graffiti of a leaf symbol.
Dycron rushed to open the doors around but they were all locked.
"Dycron! Police cards are for building raids, not to steal cars!"
Dycron grabbed the card, tapped it on the thumbprint scanner of the door and it opened. "Enear! It worked!" he shouted. Enear let go of the pipe and they rushed to the door, quickly slammed the door, cutting the monster's arm that slipped inside. The monsters shove themselves on the door, releasing loud disturbing thumps and groans.
Dycron leaned on the wall beside the door, his back slid down until he sat down. His shocked and widening eyes were too busy gazing at the air to notice the arms rolled in front of him. There's no light, except the afternoon sunshine passing through below the door. It was a bit dark brown.
"Dycron," Enear called but had no response.
Enear bent down to reach him and slapped his face. "Dycron!"
"H-Huh!?" he exclaimed with rapid blinks of his eyes as he got back to the senses. "It worked! We're safe!" he exclaimed out of the blue.
"Get away from the door."
Dycron was frozen for a second before he stood up and stepped back from the wall.
They watched the door for seconds until the noises turned into eerie silence.
Dycron's knee dropped again until he let his whole body catch by the floor, heaving heavy breath.
"I don't understand. . . What is happening in this world?"
Enear crouched to reach him a bottle of water. "It's too early to jump in conclusion, but. . .the meteor might have something to do with it."
"Tell me, Enear. I was just having a nightmare. Everything happening was just a dream."
Enear might want to tell what his friend wanted to hear. But for him, this was a good dream than a nightmare. He preferred this kind of world.
"Dycron. . ."
Dycron sat up and roughly snatched the bottle and drank it straight. "I know you won't say such a thing. It will be a nightmare if you do." He rested his nape on the wall and rose his knee to lean his arms. "My head hurts. Let me take a rest for a second."
Enear stood up, studying the dimly lit surroundings. Bottles of powdered spices were rippled on the sink. They were used to flavor pudding and bread, which only rich ones could afford. There's also a shelf collapsed on the floor, spilling disposable plastics, cups, and plates. They were in the kitchen--entered from the rear door of the alley.
He turned to the door connecting the living room. Gently, he wrapped his hand against the cold knob and carefully opened it, readying his bayonet.
The living room was dark and stench with rotten fish smell. He went to the window to open the blinds, the orange sunshine pierced through the soulless living room with a stumbled television, fragments of the screen were shattered on the floor, trailed onto the blooded couch, and a blood trail to a room.
He heard thuds. It was obviously coming from that door. It's like something was tapping against the wood.
He gripped tightly to his rifle and opened the door. Inside the room was a figure of a man, banging his head against the closet. He went further and the monster turned to him. He pulled his rifle and struck the knife to its head. The monster fell on the floor.
"U-Uncle. . ."
Enear aimed at the closet opening slowly, revealing a ten-year-old boy, eyes swollen in tears and shock. "Y-You. . .You killed my uncle."
Enear racked the rifle and pressed his eyes against the scope to give the kid a bull's eye. Enear felt déjà vu. He remembered something like this before when he killed the subject and spared their son. He watched him run, and followed him to the streets at night, screaming in his sleep. The morning would come to greet him with hunger, nowhere to go, walking amidst the scorching sun. Not so long when his body collapsed in the streets and the garbage truck claimed to dispose of him.
This world was just full of suffering. It would be a mercy to give him a painless death than offering himself to be feasted by monsters outside or rot in his room by himself, sleeping every night in agony.
He stared at the boy's innocent blue eyes as he touched the trigger. But for some reason, his whole body locked up, unable to pull his finger.
He lowered the rifle and clung its strap to his arms as he turned his back. "Don't get me wrong. Your uncle was trying to kill you—"
"No! Uncle would never do such a thing!"
Enear pierced his gaze to the boy. "Then why are you hiding yourself from him?"
The boy was left unfazed/dumbfounded.
"I'll give you time to wimp, and after, it's up to you to decide if you want to live or not." He closed the door and heard the boy wailed.
He came back to the kitchen and Dycron was still as sleep. He went to another room to find clothes and found a bathroom. He took a shower and prepared the bathroom sink a liquid solution. He emptied the pockets of his laundry dropped the knife and slip of papers on the medicine rack. He sunk his uniform to the solution and rubbed the fabric against each other until the stains have gone.
After washing and hanging, he wore the clothes he took. A cream shirt with green sleeves and a white jagger pants. He claim back his stuff but was distracted with the another note. It was a rough sketch of three leaves in a circular frame, like an atom bomb icon. He studied back and front, even used ultra violet light from his watch but didn't saw anything written.
What does he need to do with it? Was it also a mission? Why not tell it straight instead of needing to decode?
He went outside the bathroom and heard beeping sounds and mumbles comming from the room, door was slightly opened.
"Now, man up, Arcus! Stop crying! We'll definitely find your parents in no time and you must not make them worry about you!"
"Okay, Sensei!"
Dycron slipped a glance to Enear standing in the doorway. He patted the boy's head before he picked up the beeping stolen radio and reached it to Enear.
"Enear, they're communicating in morse code. I tried to decode some and–" Sweats suddenly dripped on his forehead. "They're going to bomb every district."
Quintessence Nightmare | Huniyango