They were approaching.
It was obvious that there was no reasoning with them.
Jenny slowly backed out of the storage-room, but upon turning around she saw that the store itself was already crawling with more of these.
She had to get out.
She turned around and ran for the exit.
The creatures immediately leaped after her.
Five small ones pounced her and began clawing at her.
With a single movement she threw them off. They immediately leaped again. She punched two of them across the hall. She ducked the other two. The last one she intercepted with a devastating headbutt. A sound of the creatures bones crushing and organs squishing could be heard as it collided with the titanium and hard plastic.
She continued her escape, ducking the beings leaping at her. By the time she reached the exit however it was too late. The entrance was blocked by a huge crowd of the creatures. Her pursues were catching-up to her. There was only one way. Fight her way out.
She pulled out the shotgun and blasted the horde. Her aiming skills were pretty bad normally, but the close distance and the enormous mass of her target made sure she would hit something. She re-loaded and fired again, advancing forward. And again. The creatures were falling before her feet. But it wasn't enough.
Four tall, featureless figures grabbed her. She tried to brake free, but they were surprisingly strong. The other creatures rushed at her, stabbing, cutting and slashing with their stings, blades and claws.
Meanwhile near the boarders of Hillwood.
All those days he spent running started to show their toil.
Day and night. No rest. Hunger. Dehydration. Nausea. And it still kept on chasing him.
He was far beyond the point of despair. He already gave-up. He kept-on moving only out of habit. He knew that even if he reached the city it would account to nothing. Nobody would believe him. They'd just lock him up, and then the... the thing will get him and do indescribably horrifying things to him. And there is absolutely nothing he can do about it, nothing at all. Any further attempt to run will only result in further agony. More pointless suffering.
He gave-up.
He collapsed near the side of the road. There was no reason to continue. May they come.
He won't resist.
Her clothes were thorn. Her body slashed, bashed and stabbed. The pain was intense. Her plastic body cracked on several spots. The only thing holding her together was her titanium skeleton.
She endured savage beatings before. She knew what it was to be stomped and stabbed by an insane mob. But this, this was different.
There was no rage, no fear, no hatred in their attacks. There were no real emotions behind their attacks, all just empty motion. Nothing more.
They weren't raging beasts, even tho they might have seemed like that at the first glance. They were just machines made from flesh and bones. Machines created to hunt and kill.
No souls.
No reason to hold back.
She tore through them with inhuman strength.
She crushed their skulls and rib-cages with the shotgun's stock.
She burst out of the door into the dark street.
They were shambling down the road, crawling out of the alleys.
She set-out for the hospital. She knew there most likely won't be any survivors by this point, but she didn't know where else to go.
She ran, the creatures constantly leaping and lashing out at her from all sides.
She emptied the rest of the shotgun's ammunition into them, and then ran through the briefly clear path. She swung her empty shotgun wildly at any creature that would come near her, advancing further as the masses were slowly closing in on her.
Soon the path was impassable once again and another wave of beasts was ready to descend upon her. She quickly exchanged the shotgun for the hunting rifle, shooting at point blank. But it wasn't enough. She again found herself struggling with the fangs and claws of the beasts, only being able to use her rifle as a club. She concentrated and mobilized all her strength once again. Her blows crushed the creatures, he tore through the masses leaving pure carnage behind her. She didn't even care. She threw them to the ground and stomped them as she went. The sound of crushing bones and dripping guts reminding her of the old days where everything was so much simpler.
It almost felt nostalgic.
She almost found herself...
...enjoying it!
Not good. Definitely not a good thing.
As she advanced she felt the heat in her chest getting stronger, filling her with vigor.
Each lethal blow she threw made her feel more alive, more like her old self.
By the time she reached the hospital she was grinning.
A crowd was blocking the entrance.
She pulled-out the guns and rushed at them.
She threw herself into the middle of the horde, kicking and shooting wildly around herself.
The ammunition went out fast, but that didn't stop her. She started tearing through them with her bare hands.
She no longer cared about the town's people or even her own safety, she only cared about killing as many of these little fuckers as possible.
And with every kill the heat became stronger.
She dropped the last restraint.
Lightnings erupted from her body and began frying everything around her.
The fire completely enveloped her.
She tore off limbs, crushed ribs and busted heads. The smell of blood and burnt flesh filled her mind. She lost herself in the carnage.
She could hear the echoes of people pleading for mercy and inhuman screams of the tortured.
The fire consumed her.
She came to herself in a dark, cold and damp room. Her entire body hurt.
The remnants of her clothes were soaked with blood.
She even felt it's taste in her mouth.
"Did I..."
She remembered what happened, and felt miserable.
She re-lapsed again. After all the promises she made, after all she went through. Nothing changed. She's still the same violent, selfish monster she was before.
But there was no time for self-pity.
She looked around. The place seemed like a doctor's office.
The door was closed with a table blocking it.
She reached-out for a nearby lamp and tried to turn-on the light.
It didn't work.
Upon further investigation she noticed that there was no electricity in the room. Probably a black-out. Right now when she needed electricity the most.
She stood-up and felt exhausted.
No way she would survive an onslaught like that again. Not like this.
Jenny realized that she still had all her guns.
She investigated the pockets of her coat.
There was still some ammo.
She reloaded.
"This is going to be tough" Jenny thought as she approached the blocked door "there may be hundreds of them crawling trough the corridors."
She carefully listened.
It was quiet.
She unblocked the door, took a deep breath and opened it.
The corridor was empty. She carefully left the office and looked around.
There was no trace of them. Almost as if they vanished.
Is it a trap?
She didn't have the luxury to think about it. First of all things she needed a re-charge.
There was no electricity.
There was no time to look for food. She needed a power-boost, fast.
There was only one solution she could think about.
Go down and find the emergency generator. At least she hoped it was there.
Minutes passed as she walked down the corridors and down the stairs.
To be honest, she had no idea where she was going, but something made her think that the generator would be on the lowest floor.
The hospital was quiet. Eerily quiet considering the hell she went trough not so long ago.
She reached the lowest floor. The underground morgue.
After exploring for a while, she discovered something disturbing.
Or to be exact, didn't discover.
"Where are all the bodies? Isn't this supposed to be a morgue?"
At that moment she realized something was watching her.
Before she could do anything, a long prehensile tongue knocked her to the ground.
It quickly warped itself around her leg and began dragging her towards an air-duct. She grabbed it and pulled with all her strength. It didn't work out too well. The tongue began pulling her up the wall. She pushed her leg against the wall, and using it as a support she puled again. This time she was successful. She plunged to the floor, the creature atop of her.
It's teeth snapped inches away from her face. She quickly pushed the thing down and stood-up.
The creature was downright horrible to look at. It looked like a large man without his skin. In place of it's face was a large maul full of razor-sharp teeth. It's brain was exposed, and it's limbs twisted in an awkward way as if someone clumsily tried to turn a bipedal creature quadrupedal.
It growled like an asthmatic pit-bull and foamed from it's mouth.
It shot it's tongue a second time. It warped around her hand.
Jenny pulled out the revolver and shot it in the had.
"THAT. WAS. RETARDED!" she yelled. "Seriously? Exposing the most vulnerable organ like that? No God! No evolution would form like that! Whoever made that thing is a moron!"
"It was just a work in progress."
Jenny quickly turned around. A large fist punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground.
She looked-up and saw a giant monstrosity towering above her. It's body at first looked like a naked, muscular man, but upon a second glance it was obvious it wasn't so simple. It wore something that resembled priest robes, only that it wasn't clothing. It was it's own skin. It's face was grotesquely deformed. It's huge nose looked like it was turned inside-out and it merged with it's even larger ears, forming a sort of fleshy flower. It's mouth was filled with fangs. The only things that looked human were it's long, blond hair, and it's blue eyes.
"Excuse me for my rudeness" it said with a deep, very human voice "but I can't allow you to just crash into my domain like this."
"Who are you?"
"I'm currently known under the name of Grigori. Does the charming lady care to introduce herself?"
"Jenny" she said, clearly confused by the situation.
"So, miss Jenny, what brings you into my humble haven?"
"Well... I was trying to find out what happened to the town's inhabitants."
"I'm sure you already had the opportunity to find out."
"I don't understand... where are they?"
"You spent the entire evening in their company"
Jenny froze with terror.
"You pulled quite a number on them, I must say I'm indeed impressed. It's a good thing they can be easily recycled."
"BASTARD!" she yelled as a shot was heard.
Grigori looked at the bullet-wound in his chest with an unimpressed look in his eyes.
Jenny continued shooting. The darkness around her suddenly morphed into tentacles. Two of them quickly shot at her and disarmed her. Many more followed. They felt like glass and oil. Jenny struggled with all her might, but it was of no use. There were too many of them, and she was too exhausted. Within seconds she was completely immobilized.
Grigori just stood there like nothing happened. The wounds in his chest closed like his flesh was mud.
Behind him a tall slender man stepped out of the darkness. His face was snow-white. He wore a black suit that melted into the darkness, making him a part of it.
Grigori slowly walked towards Jenny, raising his hand. She was paralyzed wit fear. He laid his hand on her forehead. A look of surprise appeared in his eyes. He slid his hand down her cheek. He slipped his other hand under her clothes. He slid it down from her chest to her hip. She wanted to scream, but she knew it would be of no use.
"Interesting" he said after a while. "During all my years walking this earth, I have never seen something like this!"
He looked into her eyes, and said with a very official tone "Dear miss Jenny, I would be glad if you became my new test-subject."