Ângelo was against the wall on the other side of the room, hiding behind a shelf, his breathing tense, hands grasping the metal.
The sound of glass shattering.
It could be a mistake, after all, he didn't really hear anything other than that, but it felt close, too close. Even still, could have been in a neighboring building. But, his worry wouldn't go away.
Did something enter the store?
Like the universe wanted to answer his question, a loud sound came crashing through the door. It was metallic in nature, like something big had fallen down, being dragged through the ground before stopping.
His breathing stopped for a moment, the truth crashing in like an anvil. That was a breach.
Ângelo rushed out of his hiding stop, going for the kitchen counter. There was no time to think. It was as if an unknown power tucked over his body, one of his hands quickly grabbing the knife he left open.
Without a pause, Ângelo sprinted back into hiding, sliding through the ground, he was now deeper in the storage room. Even though he didn't know his body was this athletic, it was a nice surprise.
Lowering his breath, like an animal setting up an ambush, Ângelo waited.
Hiding was his best option, there was no escape route in sight. The window on the bathroom was too small, his only door leading right into the belly of the beast.
Ângelo didn't have time to think, so his instincts acted first. Waiting in an advantage point with a weapon, it was the best strategy he could muster in that small time frame.
Even if his skills with a knife were non-existent, a blade would hurt the same if he got a solid hit.
But, would it really be that simple? What was waiting for him?
A person? A monster? Something else? Ângelo didn't know what to expect. But whatever it was... He was going to treat it as hostile.
And then there was silence.
Ângelo waited, his eyes still sharp at the shape of the door. It was too dark to see clearly, and worst, it wasn't locked at all, there were no keys back there.
So he waited, silent like a tiger stalking his prey, even though he was the prey in question.
Some time passed.
Maybe it went away? He would be a fool thinking like that.
That was exactly what whatever that was out there wanted.
If it was a game of wits, his was surely bigger, Ângelo could bet on that. After all, why would he act right now? His stomach, strangely, felt full. No thirst, not a sign of sleeplyness. Ângelo could be here all night.
"At least this Tale shenanigans filled up my tank" Ângelo thought amusingly, trying to ease up the tension.
BANG BANG BANG!
The loud sound made his attempt fall flat, there it was. A loud bang in the door, it looked like it would fly open at any moment now.
Stopping his breathing briefly, Ângelo was sure. This was not human, but the nature of the monster outside... He couldn't know.
"Can I kill it?" Was the only thing on Ângelo's mind.
It was quite dreadfull... He didn't even hesitate, thinking about going for the kill. Was he aways like this?
His grip tightened onto the knife, his eyes focused. The darkness surrounded him like a mantle. Ângelo readied himself, his resolve unshaken.
He would kill so he wasn't killed.
And without warning, the door flew open, a humanoid figure stumbling into the room. A faint light came from the streets.
Fire.
Being able to faintly make out the creature's features, Ângelo was shaken to his core.
Standing in front of him, there was a middle aged men, no, it was a mockery of that. Half of his body was completely burned, his flesh bubbling, puss falling to the ground. His eyes were pitch black, the blood coming from his mouth was black like tar. It was like looking at something trying to look human, but failing miserably.
His clothes looked like rags, hanging loosely to his body, having been drafted to his skin by the burnet flesh.
The smell made Ângelo frown, but he didn't make a sound. He couldn't afford to give away his position, so he endured the nightmare-inducing view.
The thing stumbled forward, searching around the dark room with its pitch black eyes, the ground below it becoming a mess of puss and blood. Slowly but surely, it was coming close to Ângelo, sniffing the air.
He readied himself for an opening. Looking to his left, he saw a small box. Slowly, he pushed it, the sound of it hitting the ground echoed to the room.
The creature's head jolted instantly, his movements were rather slow, but now, they seemed quick, erratic, clearly inhumane. It jolted to the corridor to the side, growling as it bit the air.
Ângelo didn't waste this opening.
Bursting from his hiding spot, he soon was behind the creature, not making an effort to be silent. Bringing his body forward, the knife shone in his hand, reflecting the flames outside the store.
Sensing something, the stumbling corpse turned around, his skull being met with cold steel, a slimy sound of flesh being punctured taking Ângelo's senses.
Black blood spilled onto Ângelo's knife and, without making a sound, nor putting up a fight, the corpse fell to the ground, leaving Ângelo staring at it.
He killed it.
It was not a human, clearly, so he shouldn't feel bad, as a matter of fact... He didn't. It was his life on the line and his body just acted. Did his so-called Awakening change him? Or was this just a side of himself he never discovered?
Looking at the knife, his hand didn't tremble.
"It wasn't human, I don't have to think much of it..." He decided here and there. Yes, Ângelo felt guilt, but now was not the time. "I have to get out"
Looking out to the front of the store, he could now understand the noise. Part of his blockage was now in shambles, the shelf in the ground along with the cheap samurai armour, glass covering the floor.
Taking a better look at the monster, he was indeed covered in small cuts here and there, even some glass.
"Guess I overlooked some details" Ângelo sighed, walking slowly to the front.
Slowly, Ângelo made his way out of the room, the flames catching his attention.
He could now see the chaos that unfolded. Stepping through his barricade, he couldn't stop himself from taking a shoulder plate from the knock off armour. It was cool, after all.
But looking out in the street, his eyes widened.
Fire was everywhere, on buildings, cars, trees. It was a hellish scene right out of a post apocalypse movie. Piles of flesh everywhere, charted corpses. The smell made his stomach turn.
He couldn't stay here.
Ângelo didn't know how he could have not listened to all this chaos, but now it didn't matter. Whatever caused this could very well still be here and he was fortunate enough to be in one of the few buildings that was still not on fire.
Stepping onto the street, knife in hand, he looked around. There was an alley right next to the store.
He charged for it, getting out of the street before another creature saw him. Even after reaching "safety", he kept running, debris and body's lingering the way.
"This is hell, this is hell!" His breathing was getting more and more erratic as he ran without a plan.
No door was open, he couldn't see any safe place, so he didn't stop, praying that a monster wouldn't notice him. Turning left and right, Ângelo kept moving through alleys, trying to find somewhere, anywhere safe.
But, after all his running, he noticed something.
The flames stopped.
He didn't notice at first, but now, Ângelo took time to look around. It was dark, the buildings were, well, mostly intact and the number of blood and bodies dwindled.
Taking time to catch his breath, Ângelo laid against a wall, dropping the samurai pouldron to the ground. His hand went to his bare chest, only now noticing he forgot to put on his shirt.
At first, the thoughts about what he saw and did were buried deep in his mind, after all, there was no time to think about pointless things.
But now...
"I..." It was hard to grasp the weight of what he saw. "Saw dead people"
It was a grim realization. Piles of flesh, body parts, children, women, men, death didn't discriminate who it took.
"I... Killed a man, no, the shell of one" His heart kept beating, faster and faster, sweat dripping down his face.
He couldn't run away from the thoughts anymore. The grotesque view in his escape from the store, the feeling of the man's flesh being punctured by his knife, the look in his eyes that looked almost thankful...
Yes, it was quick and without ceremony.
Yes, it was simple, too simple.
Yes, it was for his survival.
He had accepted that, embraced it, expecting to feel guilt.
But Ângelo was gratefull, gratefull that it was easy.
"I put him out of his misery, yes... That's it. That's why I don't feel guilt. I am not a psycho, it's survival, it's survival" He repeated those words in his head like a mantra, even though he wasn't sure at all if it was true.
Taking a deep breath, Ângelo stood up. I had to keep moving.
He was ready to leave, but his body turned around.
Without thinking too much, Ângelo grabbed the poudron, still couldn't bring himself to throw it away.
With a knife in his other hand, he took a deep breath, tightening his grip. One step at a time, Ângelo started moving forward, now taking his sweet time. Didn't want to make too much noise, at least not more than he already did.
The moon was shining in the sky, casting a shy glow to light his path, like a tin piece of cloth.
Having time to pay attention, he finally noticed how clearer his senses felt. His ears twitched, hearing the wind and sounds of debris falling, it was quite far away. His eyes also felt sharp, even if he couldn't see in the dark, it wasn't oppressive like before. The twitching soon was in his nose, feeling the smell of flesh, even though it was far away.
That made his face contort, it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.
His head hurt, clearly not used to so much information at once. But Ângelo endured, his path not changing.
Sometimes he could hear a faint screeching in the distance, explosions and even screams, but his path didn't change, it only made him quicken his pace. Looking around, he finally found what he was after.
The alley finally ended in the street, but, to his right, there was a wall he could jump. He could see the roof of a house above it, if it came down to it, Ângelo felt like he could break in.
Reading himself, he tossed the pouldron to the other side, then the knife. Jumping, Ângelo grabbed the wall, his hand gripping hard onto the concrete. Pulling his own weight up, Ângelo fell down to the other side, falling beside the knife.
He let out a sigh of relief, he feared falling onto the blade.
Getting up, Ângelo had to move quickly, his fall was quite loud. Grabbing his things, Ângelo looked around, trying to find an entry point. It was a simple house, graded windows, he could work with that.
No luck in the outskirts of the house.
Walking around, both the doors were locked. So was the gate, but that was quite good. Well, it seems he wasn't lucky at all, so it had to be the hard way.
He first tested the lock on one of them, taking a deep breath, he bashed onto it.
BAM!
The door flew open, making Ângelo fall to the ground. Growing in pain, he got up, scratching his head with the pouldron. Ângelo closed the door.
This was the worst outcome, he just made a lot of noise. Yes, the wall did offer some safety, but it surely wouldn't stop all the danger.
But there was a more pressing matter.
"...Hello? Is anybody here?" His voice echoed through the house, but no response came back.
Slowly but surely, Ângelo searched, checking the rooms, the knife in his hand lowered. He didn't want to have to use it, but you never know.
It really was a small and simple home. A kitchen, living room, one bathroom and a room. Two beds, one looked like a kid's and the other was bigger, probably the parent's
No one was in sight, which made Ângelo grateful, but looking around the room, his heart did feel heavy. There were clothes thrown around and a kid's bag, judging by the lack of a car in the garage... They left in a hurry.
A family photo laid in the wall, they looked happy, which made Ângelo feel even worse. He barged in the house of a common famíly, a family that probably wasn't...
"Sigh... Better not... Yeah..." He mumbled to himself, taking the picture out of the wall and laying it down.
After that... Ângelo just crashed in the couple's bed. Letting out a muffled groan.
"Fuck all of this... Transcendence my ass... Who do they think they are? God? Bet he didn't consent to any of this... Sneaky bastards..."
The stress and the tiredness was finally catching up to Ângelo, letting his guard down. His senses didn't pick up anything, his eyes felt heavy. Even Ângelo didn't know how he felt confident enough to sleep.
"Why did it end up like this? I want to wake up tomorrow and hope this was a dream... Would even hug that deadbeat of a father if it happened"
Ângelo's thoughts kept floating away, his consciousness flying far away.
So far that he didn't even notice both the eyes staring at him from below the bed.
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