The road stretched down into the darkness with no sign of its end. Metallic and chrome structures had collapsed to the ground, covering most of the road, and transport bays were overturned here and there. Electrical poles had long been exhausted of electricity; now, most of them dangled or had been destroyed.
A veil of true darkness covered this vast expanse of ruins. The sound of grinding metal filled the whole area.
Beneath a barely hanging building that used to be a company, debris surrounded a lone figure, denying him movement. Not that he was even trying to move.
He wore all-black clothing that was almost indistinguishable from the darkness that swallowed the area.
The figure had very pale skin, his hair was disheveled, and his scarlet eyes begged for life.
Scarlet took ragged breaths, trying to keep himself conscious or mostly… alive. His lips were dry, and cracks were slowly appearing on his body as if he were on the verge of destruction.
He slowly raised his head and looked in the direction from which the metal screeching was coming.
Meters away, a teenage girl held a chainsaw with a grim expression, facing a large hound made of shadowy tentacles, swine, and more grotesque features she wasn't able to describe.
Mira had one simple command cycling in her mind: Don't falter.
Her gaze met the inhuman eyes of the Scuttler. The creature had regained its footing and was now snarling and slowly moving around Mira.
Suddenly, the Scuttler propelled itself forward, opening its mouth to reveal large fangs and three thin black tongues dripping with thick saliva. The creature aimed at her neck, but its mouth connected with sharp, rolling metal.
The chainsaw was still far from creating even a crack on one of the Abomination's fangs, but it held, protecting Mira's neck from being mangled. The creature pressed with all its might, trying to split the chainsaw.
That wasn't enough for Mira. Soon, three tentacles hovered over her, and two hardened, spindly legs charged for her stomach. The tentacles shot with great speed, ready to twist around her neck and snap her head off.
Instead of trying to avoid the legs, she removed the chainsaw from the Scuttler's mouth, jerked the creature back, and left herself vulnerable to the tentacles' attack.
Twisting immediately, she sidestepped one tentacle and blocked another with the chainsaw. The tentacle pressed down, making her kneel on one knee while holding the chainsaw midair.
The other tentacle attacked from her side, twisted around her stomach, and threw her into the remains of the collapsed building, the chainsaw flying from her hand.
The impact sent terrible pain through her whole body, cracking her bones. She yelped in pain as her head hit a large stone.
Any human would have lost consciousness or, worse, died. But not in this era of advanced technology. Ever since the chasms appeared on Earth, most people underwent Blood Siege.
Blood Siege was an infection or, rather, an Ascension that came with the chasms. People who underwent Blood Siege could brawl with Abominations and create a semblance of orderliness in humanity. A Blood Siege changed one's color as one ranked up.
These special people were asked to join the military and defend the remnants of humanity.
Yet, that didn't help the matter much. Blood Siege didn't mean supernatural abilities or overwhelming power. It meant superhuman resilience, speed, and so on. Many soldiers still died on the battlefield, and worst of all, Blood Sieges were very rare.
That was when scientists came up with another alternative for survival called Blood Augmentation.
Blood Augmentation was a routine, mandatory bio-augmentation procedure that began shortly after the Floating Islands were established. It involved injecting citizens with a tailored serum derived from genetically engineered stem cells and nanobots.
The primary function of the augmentation was to drastically boost a person's regenerative capacity, pain tolerance, and muscle density, making the average human capable of surviving injuries that would have been instantly fatal in the past. It was the only way to ensure the long-term survival of the species against the corrupted magic and physical brutality of the Abominations.
It wasn't meant to challenge Abominations, but to survive amidst Abominations until you were rescued.
Mira had undergone a successful Augmentation when she was twelve. Though she was no fighter, the procedure was the only reason the impact had merely cracked her ribs instead of turning her into pulp. The nanobots were already fighting the pain, but the sheer force of the blow left her momentarily stunned, staring blankly at the dark, spinning ceiling of the ruin.
The Scuttler was already bounding toward her, its victory bark muffled by the sudden rumble of the island.
The ground shook briefly and then stopped, but that didn't stop the Abomination. Soon, it sped forward, its fangs ready to tear Mira's flesh…
****
Scarlet saw the whole sequence unfold — the terrifying swing, the tentacles, Mira being flung into the rubble — and the sight of her helplessness ripped through his agonizing hunger, giving him a burst of icy cold clarity.
'She's down.'
The distraction was over. The moment was now.
He couldn't stand, but he could crawl.
With a groan that tasted of rust and ash, Scarlet began dragging himself through the debris, ignoring the white-hot pain in his legs and the searing thirst in his throat. He dug his fingers into the jagged chrome floor, pulling himself toward the wall of the skyscraper above him. The occasional rumble of the island and the Scuttler's frantic movement provided all the noise he needed.
He was focused, his scarlet eyes locked on one spot: the dark, open mouth of a ventilation shaft embedded in the wall just a few feet above the floor… the narrow entrance to the higher levels.
The Scuttler stopped directly over Mira's prone form. It raised its head, its fanged mouth opening wide, ready to finish her.
"Hey, ugly!" Scarlet rasped, shouting as he threw a fistful of loose pebbles and grit at the creature's flank.
His scent was enough to get the Scuttler's attention. The Abomination instantly snapped its focus to the source of the lifeblood. It turned its back on Mira, ignoring the easier kill, and bounded toward the injured vampire.
It stared at Scarlet with hatred growing in its eyes. The hatred piled up second after second, as if it held some old malice toward Scarlet, making him shiver a little.
'Perfect. Come get me.'
Scarlet thought this even as a fresh wave of paralyzing fear and pain hit him. The monster took the bait.
He reached the wall, jamming his good elbow into the gap beneath the foundation plate. He looked back at Mira, who was still dazed but now struggling to prop herself up on her forearms.
"The… Sparrow!" Scarlet choked out, his voice hoarse, pointing with a trembling hand toward the large gap in the ceiling above.
"Go!"
He then forced his body to slip into the narrow ventilation shaft, the movement grinding his ribs against the metal. He disappeared into the darkness, leaving Mira with a fully enraged Abomination and a desperate order.
Luckily for Mira, the Scuttler took the bait. Unable to reach the ventilation shaft, it followed Scarlet's scent, leapt from the ground, and caught a metallic wire hanging from the building with its fangs.
As if possessing the sense of a gymnast, it twisted mid-air and landed on the second floor of the ruined building through a hole where a wall should have been.
At that moment, the metal rail that stretched across the ceiling creaked.
Scarlet wasn't actually trying to be a Hollywood hero to save the heroine by rendering himself as bait, though he could also survive the island's dread.
Hell no! There was still much blood he hadn't tasted yet.
He planned to clear the Abomination from the ground level and secure the only possible escape route into the hangar.
He knew that the moment the Scuttler saw him — the ultimate source of rich, vital lifeblood — it would abandon Mira, whose augmentation made her life force less potent and thus less attractive than a true inhuman's. The ventilation shaft was small, but he was flexible enough to squeeze through, and the metal walls provided a temporary shield.
The Scuttler's focus on him was the key. He was drawing the monster up and away from Mira and the entrance, effectively using his own vampiric existence as a diversion to clear the field.
However, the Abomination was faster and more agile than he anticipated, already climbing the exterior of the building in pursuit. He had to trust Mira would follow his command immediately.
Inside the dark, cramped ventilation shaft, Scarlet ground his teeth against the pain. The darkness was dense, smelling faintly of old oil and ozone. He moved by scraping his elbows and boots against the rusted metal, aiming for the main hangar bay above.
The question was… would their plan succeed?