"On my birthday,Papa," The eight-year-old boy whirled to ask,his azure eyes sparkling in plea and excitement. "Can you please take me out beyond the Great Wall to see the flowing rivers and high mountains?"
"Only if you promise to stop being stubborn," The young boy's father smiled, ruffled the boy's white hair and bent to pick up wood.
"I promise!"
As they walked Omar gazed at the wall, his eyes tracing the cracks and crevices in it. He turned to give his father a stiff look and said,
"Why don't we leave? It's not that we're happy under the Marono rule."
Hassan's smile faded,replaced by a solid grim. He stopped and kneeled to meet Omar's gaze.
"I know you want to go beyond the wall but it's not safe,the predators..."
Omar shivered, remembering the horrifying stories his father told him about the infected lurking on the other side of the wall, hungry for human flesh.
Just as they gathered firewood, Omar he beginning to imagine how life will be outside the fortification when his eyes suddenly alighted on something in the Wall.
Omar moved closer,his heart racing and saw a larger crack carved in the Wall. And just then,a terrifying figure streaked past from the other side.
Holding his breath and trying not to scream,he told himself what he saw was just a part of his wild imagination. But as he did so,a series of guttural growls sounded and whatever it was lurking on the other side moved again.
The very prospect of what might come through the crack made Omar tremble. In a high-alert tone,the boy cried,
"P-Papa!"
Hassan instantly halted from whatever he was doing and turned,his face and his body instantly went pale and numb as he saw the crack.
"We need to go." Said Hassan,his voice suddenly low and urgent.
"B-but what about the crack?" Omar made sure to keep his voice just as low when he spoke, almost as a whisper. "What if they attack us?"
"No more questions. Hurry." said Hassan as he put more logs of wood into the cart.
Omar's face still showed horror and uncertainty. However as his father started to talk about how late it was getting,he moved to help his father load the firewood but kept turning back at the crack wall every five seconds as though expecting something terrifying to happen.
Moments later,both father and son were pushing the heavy cart,which was laden with firewood, toward the mammoth iron gates of the outskirts alongside many other Vulnerables. All what the Vulnerables seemed to be concerned about at the moment was getting through the gates before the clock tower chimed seven o'clock.
***
The night came with a frigid,calm atmosphere and vibrant full moon hanging in the sky.
While Sofia, Omar's three-year-old sister,was quietly cuddled into their mother's arms listening to a lullaby,Omar contemplated his father sharpen his old sword. As he watched,he tried not to think of the cracked Wall. But to no avail,he kept having numerous horrifying visions of armies of predators rushing in to attack them.
Unexpectedly,father and son's gazes clashed;hazel eyes piercing into azure and to Omar's greatest surprise,a promising smile lit up on his father's lips.
"One day Omar,the Great Wall will fall and we shall be free from the king's torture." Hassan said with a thick shroud of hope grasped by his voice.
"I..."
The earth suddenly rumbled beneath them, making objects fall off their posts and smash onto the marble floor. Not only that, the quiet atmosphere was instantly invaded by guttural growls and quickly followed by the rattling screams of men and women.
The family flinched and reacted in an instant. Hassan sprang to his feet, clutching his sharpened weapon to his side as he cautiously made his way to the wooden door.
Omar grew terrified as his heart was audibly thumping against his chest as though it was going to burst. He quickly rushed to his mother's side, covering his ears to muffle out the penetrating noises.
It slowly occurred to him...it could be them...the predators.
Responding to the sudden compulsion,Omar darted his eyes across the room and just as he did,a bloody face suddenly thumped against the window.
They all cringed back in fright as they stared at the man's shredded face. Omar would have screamed if his mother's hand hadn't covered his mouth just in time.
"Please help me!" The man suddenly cried out, rapping fiercely on the window. But the very next moment,he was abruptly yanked back by a tremendous force. The man's screaming voice echoed,only to be quickly followed by eerie silence.
The family froze in place, not daring to make any attractive noise. Hassan however was calm and collected with his weapon raised to descend on the intruder.
What happened next occurred in an instant; Sofia's eyes suddenly flung open and her blubber came piercing through the dreaded silence. Simultaneously, Hassan,alerted by the sudden movement, immediately repelled himself from the wooden door, narrowly escaping its maiming weight as it came knocking down with profound force.
A grotesque old man stood by the door step. He had cloudy eyes and a terrifyingly huge frame that exuded heavy reek of blood. Beneath the man's old tunic,dark bloated veins engulfed his huge body alongside horrendous wounds.
Then it took a shuffle forward as it sniffed the damp air. As soon as the predator perceived life,it bared its bloody mouth exposing venomous sharp razor fangs and began to drool and growl in hunger.
The predator suddenly charged in, closing in at Hassan with its gnarled claws sweeping through the air. But with a calculated step,Hassan evaded the attack and countererd it with an aggressive slash against its unprotected thigh.
The predator staggered backwards with black blood gushing from its injured thigh. It then suddenly swivelled around and locked into Hassan's eyes without flinching, growling with its face contorting into something more sinister.
" To the cellar now,all of you!" Hassan bellowed back at his family, taking a good fighting.
In one quick action,Amina held Sofia in her arms and began to rush towards the stairs that led to the cellar. She was completely oblivious that Omar hadn't followed as she had expected. The young boy had been frozen to the spot as he watched his father in a mortal combat with a predator.
Everything was happening so fast for Omar to take in. He saw his father dash forward, charging aggressively at the predator with his sword raised, planning to land the final blow. But creature reacted, barely seconds before impact. It somehow managed to elude the attack and then abruptly pounced at Hassan with its jaws wide apart.
The predator now atop Hassan was clawing at every part of Hassan's skin . The strong reek of fresh blood that seeped from the open cuts made it screech and double its attempt of chomping off Hassan's face.
Hassan however was still struggling despite the amount of weight on top of him. As soon as he got the chance to retaliate,he rapidly raised the hilt of his sword and bashed it into the creature's face. The blow was so fatal that it sent it tumbling to the floor.
Without wasting even a second,Hassan threw himself to his feet and surged out at the predator before it could fully recover. He deftly swung out his weapon in a powerful arc, causing blood to splatter as his sword effortlessly sliced through the predator's neck. Then a few seconds later,the creature came crumpling to the floor with its head detached from its body.
Hassan let out a sigh of relief seeing the creature lying lifeless on the ground. It was then that he sensed someone standing behind him and just as he turned,he saw Omar beaming at him.
"Papa you kill..."
"What are you still...!?"
Hassan ducked at the last moment,and barey after he did, a red ball of energy streaked right over him, hitting the adjoining wall and searing right through it.
The air seemed to suddenly shift and a dark choking aura suddenly filled the room
Turning around,the two suddenly became aware of the presence of the third party.
A figure stood in the door,clad in a strange armored suit. Glowing red veins pulsed across its body and a red core glowed in its chest.
"Such powerful energy! Could this be an Omega?" Omar's heart somarsaulted in his chest at the very thought of the Invaders identity.
"So you've being hiding here all this time?" A deep cracked voice spoke beneath the figure's helmet. The world around them became so still and silent as the figure surveyed the room,from the broken door, lifeless predator on the floor,Omar and finally to Hassan.
"I believe that young boy is your son?" The figure pointed at Omar. "I wouldn't mind him seeing everything."
Hassan raised his sword threateningly as he pulled Omar closer to him.
"Who are you? And what do you want?"
Another moment of uncomfortable silence as the Rayan stared at Hassan. Suddenly the figures helmet split open and a face came on display for a brief second before the helmet sealed shut. Omar saw his father nearly stumble at the sight of the man's face, he now saw the sword trembling in his father's hands.
"Now do you remember?" The Rayan said. "I've been waiting for this moment." The glowing core in the man's chest shone brighter than before and the man's arm suddenly morphed into a massive energy blade that cracked with plasma.
Hassan instantly looked at Omar and for the first time,Omar saw fear in his father's eyes.
"Run, Omar!"
Without a second to waste,the young boy turned on his heels and burst into a run for the celler. The earth trembled once more and there was suddenly an explosion of pure energy in the room. Omar was put off balance by the blast and sent crashing down the wooden stairs.
He heard the clashing of swords,each accompanied by a shockwave that caused the building to rattle and made cracks appear all over the wall.Apart of the pain he gained from falling off the stairs,the profound air of energy was putting a dominating pressure on him and was tearing down his nervous system. The world around him went pitch black,just as he passed out.
***
To Omar's great delight after he regained consciousness,the chaos was finally over.Only the wailing voices of survivors lingered in the morning air and moreover his mother and sister were alright,but there was no sign of his father.
As he stepped into the crumbling streets of the outskirts,he witnessed a gruesome scene from hell;houses were engulfed in flames, sending rows of thick smoke into a crimson sky. Devoured bodies littered the ground and the soil was drenched with blood. Some survivors were frantically searching for their families and most were crying out for help.
Hassan lay half conscious,his skin was shredded and now a shade of purple. His right eye had been gouged out and there was a hollow cavity in his chest.
Young Omar dropped to his knees,his eyes brimming with tears as his trembling hands wiped blood from his father's face.
"P-papa? Do you hear me?...p-please speak to me! Please Papa speak to me!" He whined.
Hassan opened his one good eye and saw him. A drop of a tear rolled down his father's hazel eyes mingling with the blood on his face.
"O-Omar...?"
"Papa stay down,I'll get help."
"No s-stay ." Hassan's hand quickly grabbed him and pulled him back. He then weakly raised his other arm and suddenly thrusted a shard of glowing metal into the boy's hand.
"What's this?"
"G-guard it... with your life," Hassan said wincing in pain.
"Keep it safe. One day it will prove to be useful."
Omar knew his father was dying. He desperately wanted to save him but didn't know how. The worst if it was that no one would help him, every one was preoccupied on saving himself.
As though this wasn't enough,his father's body suddenly began to convulse,his frame was thrashing about violently as though some invisible force was beating him senseless. Black viscous oil was pouring from his mouth and the crimson in his eyes were rapidly fading into pure white.
It suddenly hit Omar like a blow to the head,his father had been bitten by the predator.