Reign of Blood
Chapter One
Spread of Death
"What do you mean 'he's not here'? Find him!! Do whatever you have to!!...Kill anything that gets in your way... We shall find him as we pave the road to paradise..." A woman with long black hair and magnificent wings folded up behind her screamed at a group of monsters in front of her, bowing their heads. She stood at the alter of a huge chapel, directly behind her was a giant cross with the decaying skeletal remains of an angel, crucified. The remains of the dead angel's wings were pinned against the arms of the cross, her bony left arm pinned to her left wing. She was missing a right arm, and her right leg was in two pieces.
The woman limped towards the monsters, using her great wings as a sort of crutch to hold up her weight. Her right arm socket was bleeding down her torso and right leg, which was bent in an awkward way.
"Velgauder!!" The woman called. Within seconds her mighty dragon had landed with an earth-shaking thump in front of the chapel, and was howling to her from outside, ready to receive orders. "Lead my army... If he's not in Silent Hill, then find him... Wherever you have to... just... bring... him.. to... me... Now go!!" Her monsters dispatched, the valtiels crawling quickly up the walls, her hounds darting out the doors and windows in packs as their claws clicked and scraped against the hard floor, her closers marching towards the front gates, each moaning, howling, and hissing their horrible song...
The halls were almost empty in the school, the bell had rang and a few late students shuffled along to get to class. Within a minute, the halls were quiet. The only sound was the lecturing of the teachers and the chatter of uncaring students in the back of every classroom echoing softly throughout the corridors. The halls darkened as the sun disappeared, like a cloud of darkness was lowering and engulfing the area, blocking out the light. The lectures and droning teacher's voices dragged on, unaffected at the sudden loss of natural light, as if no one took any notice but a few daydreaming students starring through the doorway into the halls.
The fluorescent lights began to flicker in the halls and every classroom simultaneously, cutting off one by one every monotone voice as the flickering increased rapidly. Sleepers and daydreamers awoke from their naps and looked around confused, matching the look on everyone's faces. The only light sources left dimmed to a glow, just barely bright enough to see faint outlines of objects in the halls and classrooms. Every now and then the lights would flicker on for a split second, like a flash of lighting and the halls would be visible for a blink of an eye.
Racing down the halls was the distinct sound of long nails clinking and sliding rapidly on the hard floor, too many to count and getting louder. The few doors that were closed now opened, the silhouette of a head sticking out and looking around, listening. The sound of numerous claws was joined by growling and snarling and howling as a bleeding black cloud quickly swept through the halls, breaking off into every room and followed only by shrill screams of death. One by one, following the pack, every light shattered and poured splinters down to the blood-covered ground until it was left in complete darkness, only the sounds of flesh being torn from bone and a few last screams could be heard over the ravenous howls and snarls of the beginning of the end. Not finding what they were looking for, the pack flooded out of the front doors and spread out in their search, covering the streets in blood and the skies with black.
"Yo, Seth! Where are you?" A male voice talked through the receiver of a cell phone held by a guy on a skateboard, headphones around his neck blasting heavy metal, the ultimate multi-tasker. He wore black baggy pants with many pockets and a gray hoodie sweatshirt reading "Shorty's Skateboards". His shaggy black hair blew in the wind as he sped down the sidewalk.
"I'm on my skateboard. Where are you?" He said cynically, the sound of the rolling wheels scraping the sidewalk and his loud, ear-splitting music letting people know he was coming from a mile away. He reached in the pocket of his hoodie, and put his music on pause so he could hear his friend.
"So funny. Seriously, I thought we were all going to see that new movie today! I got the gang and we're waiting for you at my house. You in?" The cell phone said.
"...What movie?" Seth asked, trying to concentrate on his friend and not getting hit by a car or running into someone equally as stupid.
"...Hey, guys! What movie we seein'?" His friend held the phone away from his mouth and asked the laughing and yelling voices in the background. "...Nobody knows what it's called, but it's rated R for violence, gore and sex... So you in?" There was a pause and Seth thought about it.
"...As inviting as that sounds, I have a big test in AP, and I need to take it at the same time as that smart girl who sits next to me. Maybe some other-" The screeching of car tires cut him off, a car getting closer and speeding towards him. "Shit!" He yelled, jumping off his skateboard and rolled on his side just barely avoiding being hit, his skateboard being propelled behind him. The man in the car rolled down his window.
"Watch where yer going, asshole!!" The man yelled, driving away.
"Fuck you!!" Seth called after him. His phone lay on the ground next to him.
"...eth...? ....ou...k....?" He picked up the phone and held it to his ear, trying to hear his friends voice over the sudden blast of static and the sound cutting off every few seconds.
"Dammit! The bastard broke my phone! I'll talk to you later, Joey!" After pocketing the broken phone, he ran back across the street and retrieved his skateboard, running with it in front of him and dropping it to the ground in front of his feet, hopping on. He looked up to the sky, noticing the sun fading the distance. Near the horizon, the sun was completely concealed by black, casting a heavy shadow down to earth. He continued to roll towards it, slowing down slightly subconsciously. The cloud was getting bigger, closer, yet he continued on, into the mouth of the beast.
As it got darker and harder to see, the sound of people and living breathing things ceased, no sound of cars or chattering people came to Seth's ears, but only the faint rustling of dying leaves falling off the branches of trees, like everything just shriveled up and died without the light from the sun to guide them. The light behind him began to disappear with the horizon.
"What the hell..." He muttered to himself, his wheels now crunching over the wave of leaves falling from the dying trees. He screeched to a halt in front of a large building. The rusted, blood-smeared sign in front of it read "South Ashfield High" and had a few random graffiti's, many reading "SASH," what the students all called their school. Picking up his skateboard, Seth adjusted the headphones around his neck nervously, taking a step towards the front doors.
