I awoke choking, the feeling of something blocking my throat making me heave. On my hands and knees forcibly heaving for something stuck within my throat to get out.
Finally, I coughed up phlegm and a mixture of blood and ash. My lungs burned as if I breathed fire into them. The feeling of my lungs tearing each other apart made me convulse. Head smashed against concrete as every breath felt like flesh being torn from within me.
My throat was raw and tensed as I breathed through my mouth, the taste of ash and rot overwhelming. Finally, my breathing returned, and I could breathe without the feeling of being on fire.
I remembered the screams. The sight of the daemon crushing that poor child's head in its hands, the gunshots and the flames which rose from the bomber's payload.
I pushed myself upright, groaning as pain screamed through every nerve. My head throbbed. My ears rang. My right arm refused to cooperate at first, hanging uselessly until sensation crawled back like ants under my skin.
The world was quiet, not peaceful, but it felt... Empty. What happened?
I moved towards the pillar next to me, the feeling making my fingers tingle as its rough texture and cold feeling made me shiver.
Everything around me looked desolate, the stadium the one this pillar was supposed to help support was gone. How?. I looked around at the Walmart, just a bit away, which was nothing but a simple W standing, surrounded by burned and charred ruins, pieces of rock sticking towards the sky like they were thrown. The car parks looked desolate with massive holes in the concrete.
The whole city looked flattened. More flat than usual, even the sky, its once blue looked blood red and black.
"Jesus", the words escaped my mouth as I took in my surroundings.
After looking around, I had a light bulb idea as I reached for my phone in my jeans pocket.
"*tut* fuck" The empty feeling made me mildly annoyed as I started to walk with the numbness within my legs, fading as I moved into Parking lot 1, where I parked my car.
I walked, stepping over rubble and burned concrete. The area looked desolate, yet nonetheless, I looked for my car. Entering the stadium, I left most of my gear in the car, fearing I wouldn't be able to watch the game.
Getting to the entrance of P1, the toll booth where security usually stood wasn't even there. The building where they stood was completely replaced with a rock easily bigger than a 16-wheeler.
The concrete around me looked… wrong. Melted, but not from heat. Folded inward like clay that had been squeezed and abandoned mid-shaping. Rebar bent into irregular curves, twisted like wire in a child's hands.
I walked closer, my footsteps not echoing but making a considerable thud as if I was standing on a trampoline. The feeling was weird, touching the rebar I tried to move it. I remember movies about zombies and how you need to defend yourself, and rebar is a good tool if you ask me.
Unfortunately, my gun was in my car along with my combat gear. Let's just hope one of those Daemons does appear; otherwise, I'm as good as dead.
I stepped closer to one of the more warped rebars, kneeling beside it. The surface was smooth, almost polished, like stone that had been worked deliberately. "Weird?" I thought.
My hand moved over, trying to pull the piece. The rebar loosened as I tugged at it. Suddenly, my view distorted, my legs swayed, the feeling in my arms numbed once again as my eyes grew heavy.
It felt like someone was forcibly shoving something in my head. My brain felt expanded as though my skull would pop like a balloon. I let go of the rebar as I knelt against the floor, my hands bracing so I wouldn't fall.
- Material: Concrete
- Composition: Silica, Aggregate, Binding agents
The names appeared in my head. Not my thoughts, but ones which made their presence known. I didn't know what I did. I yanked my hand back with a shout, scrambling away as the concrete sagged inward like melted wax. The section I'd touched flowed like water, reshaping itself before slowly hardening again—this time darker, denser, almost metallic in gleam.
I stared at my hand as I moved to touch another piece. This time, however, the concrete cumbled into fine powder, shifting through my hand.
"Wha-whu what?" I croaked out as I began grabbing pieces of broken concrete around me. Each melted or turned to dust in different ways as my mind tried to process what was happening.
I then heard a groan. At first, it was imperceptible. Background noise. Then the groan became louder, deeper, more perceptible.
I turned to the direction to see them.
Hundreds, if not thousands climbing from the ruins of the stadium. Some have broken limbs, pieces missing from their bodies, with most are covered in deep burn marks. i swolled dryly as the mob moved, slow at first, uncoordinated and stumbling.
Then something clicked, they stopped stumbling, stopped groaning and started to walk like a human. The sight made something within me break as I began moving, crawling, placing as much distance on my arse as possible.
I felt an incline as I turned to see my car half-buried in the concrete. "Yes!" I thought
Moving to the back, I clicked the key fob within my pocket. The car flashed its lights as i reached with my hands, opening the back door.
Reaching in, I looked at my stuff; my car was a mess. My tools and clothes were scattered all over my car as I started to search. I found my combat backpack and looked inside.
"Yes", I said quietly as I found my 9mm, clocking the rack and checking the mag at full, I moved to shove as much as possible into my bag.
Bag inventory: (Just for the reader here)
- Gun - 9mm
- 4 mags of ammo -
- 6 water bottles-
- 2 cans of food-
- Snickers bar-
- Pair of clothes and socks-
Slinging my bag on my back, I moved to close the door out of instinct. The simple click set something off as the alarm started to blare.
"Crap!" I said as I fumbled my fob and finally clicked the unlock and relock.
It was too late. Looking over my car, I watched as the horde pulling themselves from the rubble started to walk towards me. Without missing a beat, I turned and ran, my legs weak but strong from the adrenaline pumping from my heart, carried me as I ran for my life, literally towards the Rangers store past the river.
Passing parking lot 2, I passed multiple corpses, all in different stages of decomposition, some even looked half alive as I continued to run until I reached AT&T Way. The road was choked with cars. Some were from the military, like Humvees, and others were just civilian.
Moving my way through the first line, I turned to see the horde just passing my car. The fear within my mind exploded as my legs and lungs, already overworked, were forcibly put into overdrive as I forced my way into Park lot 4.