The city was desolate. Every corner was in shambles with the ground covered in debris. Douma was disheartened but he knew this was bound to happen. Now sitting down and enjoying a meal was completely off the list.
It was horrifying to see the place that was deemed 'bright and lively' go to this. There was hardly anybody on the streets except a few people who decided to go for a walk since the Winter storm had evaded. The stores were closed, a few destroyed and abandoned ever since. Other parts of the city weren't affected it was just the stores in those areas that were vividly empty.
"Guess I'll have ramen someplace else." Douma took a deep breath and continued walking to see if those creatures were still around they were definitely responsible for this mess.
Shinobu gulped and followed after Douma horrified by the state of the city.
As they walked they noticed leaving shards of glass on the ground that were melting for some reason.
"Hmm? Dissolving glass?"
There were bubbles forming on the surface of the broken glass piece, foam leaked the moment droplets smeared on the edges. The glass melted into a translucent liquid that scalded the ground releasing pungent smoke into the air.
Douma took a step back he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Considering the fact it was obvious what caused this, Douma knew what could've happened earlier in the city. This was a hazard.
The further they went the darker it got, there was more rubble and smoke rising from the buildings. It was apocalyptic.
The blonde stopped when he noticed a familiar-looking restaurant, one that he was planning to go to if it weren't for the turn of events. It wasn't even recognizable anymore, the interior was gloomy and eerie. Shinobu glimpsed at Douma in pity, they won't get to enjoy their meal together.
Both of them looked up and saw a helicopter in the sky followed by a few jets. It seems they were patrolling the area and with the environment returning to normal people are bound to leave their homes and venture to the city. Which wasn't a wise move those creatures were still out there.
In a situation like this there was hardly any place to take shelter making it easier for the monsters to find their targets. If the next alien attack happens nobody is prepared and the thought of that was horrifying.
With debris everywhere it would be a nightmare to escape, Douma knew how agile the monsters were.
But what disturbed Douma the most were the lifeless bodies on the ground hidden underneath the rubble, a few more in the stores.
Oh dear. Douma felt a shiver run down his spine. These people were unfortunate to have stumbled upon such ruthless creatures, Douma was shocked the creatures had no sense of remorse towards innocent civilians despite living on the same planet, from the looks of it they did all of this, those gashes and limbs torn apart were beyond anything a normal animal would do.
Covering her face, Shinobu looked away from every corner she couldn't bear to witness something so gruesome. The thought of how these people ended up like this made her want to throw up it was barbaric.
A few bodies looked burnt with their rotting bones seen, either the monsters were chomping on them or a major explosion happened involving hazardous chemicals while these people were running for their lives. Or it was the strange acidic substance. Douma covered his face with his fan and walked away feeling sick. There was no healing them now, they were long gone.
Just then, he heard a shuffling sound from one of the rubble along with muffled cries and murmuring. Douma's senses sharpened on instinct.
In between the pile of rubble was a man reaching out desperately, Douma had a feeling he was stuck there. His clothes were stained with dirt, there's a possibility he had been trapped under the rubble for days, no rescue team was around that's for sure.
"L-l-leave now-
Both Douma and Shinobu watched as the man tried to pull himself out of the rubble but to no avail. This went on until the man stopped and let out an agonizing scream.
"Don't worry I'll get you out of there." Carefully the blonde walked over to the spot trying to signal to the man not to make a sound. The monsters could be around and Douma didn't want a whole swarm of them coming this way. He had to save this man quick.
We have to save him fast anyone could be watching us right now. The hair at the back of Shinobu's neck stood up, the thought of standing around in this foggy area without knowing what was out there made her heart race. The aching worries were spreading to her knees she couldn't keep her composure anymore she just wanted to leave this place.
Sadly the man didn't understand Douma's motives and started flailing his arms around screaming loudly to which Douma and Shinobu looked around anxiously. The only thing that could be heard were the cries of the man, if other people were running by to help, the man's trip to the hospital would be fast but for now Douma and Shinobu were alone here.
"G-get out of here," The man's stutters were in between every word of his sentences it was hard to catch what he was trying to say. "Go now!" For some reason he was reluctant to get help Douma couldn't comprehend why, wasn't the man trying to break himself free earlier? Was there something else that Douma didn't know about which left this man frightened? Douma will still help him regardless, this was too devastating and there might be more out there waiting to be rescued.
Before Douma could even lend a hand to the poor man, a blurry figure bolted past him and snatched the man away from the spot, disappearing into the smoke. Shinobu gasped and ran towards Douma gripping on his sleeve in panic.
"What was that…" The purple-haired girl looked around fearfully. No animal had such uncanny features.
Silence fell leaving Douma bewildered by what just happened. He didn't get to save that man, the feeling of despair hit him with questions floating in his mind. What if he moved quicker? Maybe the man would've been free now. But that creature, from the appearance it was one of those things, it would still lunge at him regardless or worse, attack Shinobu who was defenseless. Douma tried to calm himself down there was nothing he could do anymore but to get ready for the next ambush.
As they continued walking, Douma noticed a crowd gathering beside a truck with the words 'The Heart Scouts' just below the windows.
Both Douma and Shinobu watched the people in uniforms working with civilians to lift up the planks and debris. About time a rescue team showed up. The survivors in this city need all the help they can get.
"These people, even at times like this they still showed up for their loved ones." Watching the civilians working alongside the rescue team, Shinobu's fear from their encounter with that creature in the fog was replaced with subtle satisfaction.
When Douma and Shinobu started approaching the group, a man who was scheming through the reports on his clipboard saw them and tried to put on a warm smile but he clearly struggled to do so given the state of the environment around them.
"Hello are you two alright? If you need any assistance we're here to help. That's what we hope to achieve as the Heart Scouts." The man said, trying to remain calm.
The logo on the van stood out to Shinobu. It displayed artistic skills and a sense of community within the organisation. "Are you volunteers?" She asked the man to which he nodded.
"Everybody here has volunteered to help those who have been silenced by the people they trust the most. The Heart Scouts will be their voices. We won't let innocent people lose their identity as it fades away. I can't allow something like that to happen to my family, not in a million years. My son is not a temporary asset and never will be. I'm not letting him grow up in an apocalyptic world, he has a bright future ahead of him, he deserves to live his life to the fullest."
The man turned around, gazing at the ambulance that was hanging from the roof of a store. Piles of scrap metal and rubble held the vehicle in place, preventing it from falling. The interior of the vehicle was dark and soulless.
Douma and Shinobu glanced up at the ambulance on the roof. Nobody was sitting in there. It had been completely abandoned.
"The community has come together. We've formed a mutual understanding with each other." The man continued, wiping off the clouds of fog on his glasses.
The Heart Scouts members and civilians worked together in harmony. Even the survivors contributed to their progress despite a few of them sustaining injuries. Douma and Shinobu watched the crowd from afar.
"Sometimes we gotta take matters into our own hands." Douma added, he was glad people were coming together to make a change. If only everyone shared the same values.
The man nodded, he couldn't agree more.
But there was something else that Douma wanted to get across. The blonde wasn't sure if these people already knew about it. The fog was still here and this particular group were the only ones around.
Shinobu glanced at Douma, she sensed he was about to say something that might turn the tables around, and this man's own dedication will be challenged by the opposing forces in his head. The purple-haired girl watched the blonde anxiously, she had a clear idea of what this next topic was going to be about.
"There was a man trapped underneath the rubble back there. We tried saving him but one of those things got him and disappeared into the fog." Douma spoke in a cold and firm tone, he watched the man whose hands started trembling uncontrollably.
"I suggest you call your members back, it's not safe to let them wander around here by themselves. These creatures are waiting in the fog. Do you guys have anything to protect yourselves from these things?"
Frozen in fear, the man's face turned pale. His eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. The man was grief-stricken. Shinobu looked at him worriedly. These people didn't know they were being watched this whole time.
"Follow me, we have- tasers and protective suits." The man started walking briskly towards the trucks with Douma and Shinobu walking behind him. He urged his members to get everybody back to the main area fast.
At least thirty people showed up in the city, keeping their promise with their actions being a representation their words of passion. Everybody started making their way back to the main area, voicing their concerns about the creatures' presence.
Suddenly, loud and heavy footsteps from the quieter parts of the city began approaching everyone in the area, accompanied by the violent tremors in the ground.
The silhouette of a giant creature with a long neck slowly emerged as Douma and Shinobu heard footsteps behind them taking off in the opposite direction followed by the sounds of cries and screams.
Screeching and cackles filled the air, as the giant creature's neck was swaying back and forth in all directions. It continued approaching, Douma and Shinobu could only watch its emergence from the fog in horror.
This giant organism that was stomping towards the crowd was made up of all the silverfish that merged together to become one lifeform. The visible movements on the joints and neck of the giant organism made both Douma and Shinobu's skin crawl. All this while, these creatures hadn't left the city, they never planned to. To make matters worse, they were stalking their prey in the fog, leaving them completely clueless about their presence. It seems these people didn't even know they were still here. It was only a matter of time until they returned with a new strategy that changed everything humans knew about these creatures.
"When did giraffes start having elastic necks..." Shinobu's voice was shaky. The organism's neck kept flailing around, inching closer to where she and Douma stood. It was making her extremely uncomfortable and fragile.
"It was never a giraffe to begin with, that's a whole colony." Douma responded, he got his golden fan out, narrowing his rainbow hues at the swaying head of the organism. The silverfish seemed to be treating this part of the creature's body as the focal point. The blonde observed the giant organism's movements carefully, there's a reason why it didn't attack them yet despite having a size advantage.
While the giant organism struggled to keep its neck upright, Douma's gaze flickered to the patches of translucent skin on several silverfish. The longer he looked at them, the more peculiar these patches seemed.
That's when the scene of the silverfish scurrying away from his frost flashed in his mind again. A dire realization hit him, the same silverfish he saw were on this creature. The screeching coming from them was a form of communication among their colony. The silverfish back at Hasu Mountains were sending a message to their remaining comrades so they could gather in one location. Douma always knew there were more of these creatures out there, however, the victims of the disease and attacks by these creatures were easy targets for them because their cooperation as a colony was never taken into consideration by anyone.
Right after the battle in town, those small silverfish that crawled away had gotten bigger. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to stop them because of the storm. Now people are suffering. The ones they rely on aren't doing anything about this situation. I could've prevented this but I was incompetent… Douma dread to witness the chaotic scene that was beginning to unfold. These people's lives were never going to be the same again.
Just as the Heart Scouts were escorting the survivors to the vans, the giant organism's neck and head burst into a rain of giant silverfish in the sky. A few of these giant silverfish landed on the crowd, tearing their victims apart while others started running away, leaving their friends and family behind.
Douma stepped back and summoned a glacial storm in the direction of the giant silverfish. The chilling wind froze several of the silverfish as they shattered to pieces, but most them narrowly avoided it and continued chasing the crowd.
From the looks of it, they were already familiar with Douma's abilities, hence they avoided anything the rainbow-eyed being threw at them and pursued their targets.
Once a while, two or three silverfish would charge at Douma while the rest of their comrades went after the crowd but they never achieved anything since those golden fans of his were efficient at their job.
Shinobu caught up with the crowd, reminding herself to keep going. The sounds from the monsters was slowing her down at some point, they were terrifying it was hard to concentrate knowing that these things were fast and cunning. They already got their claws on the individuals running behind her. Moreover, Douma suddenly dashing towards the direction of these people was making her panic, there were just too many of these things.
"They're back! They're back!" Someone from the crowd shouted looking back, watching their reactions to this gave Douma the urge to tell them to just keep going and don't look back not even a second.
There were those who tried their best to free their loved ones from the rubble, but unfortunately the creatures caught up to them. This made the situation even more chaotic as people started pushing each other, desperately trying to get away.
"We're not going to make it," A woman from the running crowd collapsed to the ground as two other people tried to lift her up. "Keep going!" One of them yelled carrying her bridal style following the crowd.
The creatures got closer as a few started pouncing on people shoving them to the ground while the rest of them continued chasing after the shrinking crowd catching up eventually and mauling them.
"Those things are getting closer! Somebody help us!" Cries of desperation filled the air as Douma swiped his fans at the bugs tumbling towards him aware that some people were now watching him in horror.
Shinobu heard people whispering to each other about Douma's powers. She didn't say anything, instead she continued running. Intervening would only slow them down if they get distracted along the way.
These silverfish looked nothing like their earthly counterparts. Shinobu glimpsed behind her for a split second. Watching the creatures snapping their jaws persistently. Their aquatic features overlapped with their insectoid appearance, possessing a large marine tail and a head similar to that of a barracuda or grouper. Their claws were designed to dig through the toughest of surfaces. Anybody struck by them would be left with a gaping scar.
And those double-edged teeth, Shinobu felt queasy just thinking about it. Flesh seemed malleable in their jaws. They seemed to be doing all this for fun. Nobody could reason with them, they were living machines with an irreversible intent.
The crowd was starting to slow down. Douma continued fighting off the creatures behind them, they weren't a problem to deal with but the concern was people's safety they had no defenses against these creatures.
"Everyone don't stop! We have to keep going!" Shinobu yelled as she continued running with the remaining people.
Some of them hid behind Douma watching the battle closely. The blonde noticed this and urged them to get away, they insisted on making sure he was OK since right now he's the only one who can fight them off. Douma was grateful for that but it was too dangerous for them to stick around.
"You can't stay here by yourself those bugs will devour you like they did with those innocent people back there!"
"Son it's dangerous those things are a menace!"
"Just keep going I'll fend them off for as long as I can."
Everyone looked at Douma in shock as they nodded and took off running leaving Douma behind. They felt bad but he was right, there was nothing else they could do he was the only one geared up for this.