"NO, NO, NO — STOP!"
"PLEASE STOP! I BEG YOU!"
The young man cried and bellowed for the calamity beasts to stop, but his screams fell on deaf ears. Of course they did. How would mindless creatures driven by nothing but hunger listen to his pleas?
No one came to help him.
Thunder rolled outside, illuminating the room in a flash of bright white. The boy closed his eyes involuntarily and suddenly felt a pang of pain in his stomach... actually it didn't feel like anything at all.
He threw up, but instead of water or bile... what he saw was blood. A lot of blood.
The world grew distant with each passing second, like he was sinking underwater. He forced himself to look down — and saw it. The Calamity Beast's hand was passing clean through his stomach.
Tears fell from his eyes as if a dam had shattered.
M… Mom. Mom! He… lp me!
But she was dead.
The beast opened its jaw — wide, wider, wider still, until it yawned as large as the boy's entire head and slowly lowered it toward him.
