Chapter 1: Fate's Sick Twist
Me and my squad stared out at the neighborhood I grew up in. Everything seemed so different, so malformed. I remember seeing the bustling inner city, but now it was just a cold reminder. Massive tendrils nearly as large as the buildings jutted from the ground and attached to buildings. Smoke rose into the air from burnings buildings, corpses and wreckage. This black smoke mixed into a disturbingly dark grey with the thick overcast hanging oddly low in the sky. Seeing all this brought up one last memory.
While waiting for a signal, I volunteered for checkpoint duty. The checkpoint I was positioned next to an alley for them to store things. A curtain had been hanging in front of it. I had been smelling this… smell from behind that curtain all day. It kinda reminded me of the smell of death. You know, like the smell of a nursing home full of people that are constantly pumped with drugs to survive. That kind of smell that leaves you in disgust and confusion.
Being a Marine, we are only allowed to check vehicles. So I watched one direction while another watched the other direction. Checking vehicles was simple enough. You take a look at the guy, take an X-ray of the inside of the vehicle and flag him through or stop him for further investigation. I was checking an unmarked moving truck when I heard a beeper go off, followed by screaming.
Turning around, I saw a Blackwatch soldier grab a woman by the arm and yank her to the ground. She was screaming, pleading for him to let it go. He only responded with. "Shut up, scum! Get on your knees with your hand on your head!" She crawled over next to three other people, all being male. They were in the same position. You see, people don't get a second chance if they're caught with contraband. They're either shot or shipped to a Gentek test site. Four Blackwatch soldiers stood behind the group of civilians. Their leader wore a slim black suit with a sky blue visor and a yellow stripe down the side.
He walked over behind the men and barked into their ears loud enough that we could all hear. "Put these maggots in their place! Tell them who we are and what we are about!" Simultaneously, four rifles lowered to the shaky heads of the people about to meet their end. Traffic had come to a dead standstill. Both foot traffic and street. No one could tear their eyes away from the horror, or their ears from the sound of authority.
The four Blackwatch belted out. "When we hunt, we kill. No one is safe, nothing is sacred. We are Blackwatch. We are the last line of defense. We will burn our own to hold the redline. It is the last line to ever hold." At that, four gunshots rang out, and four bodies dropped to the pavement. Their mangled faces were contorted into permanent masks of fear and weakness. They picked up the bodies and opened the curtain for all to see.
What laid behind was a wooden palette covered in piles of bodies. Rotting corpses that releases a stench capable of bringing up bile, even from an Infected. The bodies were carelessly covered in grey tarp. Some of the bodies looked like they had been laying there all week. The Blackwatch tossed to bodies limply onto the pile and laid a tarp over their bodies. I could see a limp arm sticking out the side. I heard screams of terror. But I followed orders, turned back around, and kept working. Inside my soul, I wanted to turn and gun down each and every Blackwatch I saw, and I still do.
Back to the point on hand. We were headed through the business area, when our squad leader stood up among us. "Now I know this is dangerous, and some of us might not make it back, but I want you to know that we Marines will live on. One day, we still step out from under the shadow of the Blackwatch. Before we land, I want to reiterate that I hope you all join me in the next couple of days against Blackwatch."
I looked around, confused. Rebellion? "Sir, if I may, I would like to point out how much heavier Blackwatch is armed. They are a worldwide organization."
"Yes, but government groups all over the world are rebelling. Blackwatch has been treating the people like animals in New York, and their doing the same thing everywhere else. That stops, starting with us."
The other Marines cheered in agreement as I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Looking out the right side window, I thought I saw a Brawler crawling on the side of a skyscraper, but it was gone. "Weird." I said to myself. Then a skyscraper flashed by, only a few feet away from our chopper. "Are you sure that's the best thing?" I asked the pilots.
"Listen recruit." The copilot started. "We are trained professionals. You don't need to worry you're little head about a thing." At that precise moment, a large, fleshy pink, four legged beast latched onto the hull.
"Brawler!" Someone screamed. In a blur of motion, the chopper swayed heavily to the left and bounced off the already too close skyscraper. It had four claws on each foot, dozens of sharp, mismatched teeth, and beady, red iris eyes that stared hungrily at the Marines inside. It was hanging onto the copilot's, or right side of the chopper. It roared loudly.
The copilot checked the chopper status, then said, "Fuel tank's leaking and the rotor's grinding. We're losing altitude!" The entire chopper started to dip forward. The Brawler didn't notice, and instead continued scratching at the glass.
"Shoot it with something! Now!" the leader yelled out. Turning to us and grabbing the railing along the top, he yelled, "Brace yourselves!" A low thud sounded through the chopper as a rocket shot out from the pod. It spun through the air and turned back towards the Brawler.
I gripped by rifle tighter as I asked the pilots, "What are you doing?" The copilot turned back towards me.
"The guns won't turn in enough to shoot it." The chopper was dropping towards a five story business building. The missile narrowly missed the Brawler and turned tightly to try again. But it turned too tightly, exploding into the directional propeller. Shards of metal flew through the air. With a small fire and trail of smoke, the chopper descending at an even faster rate. The Marines inside spoke out several explicit things.
Sliding open the side door, I said. "Let me take care of this." Leaning out, I stared the four legged bastard down through my sites. Hanging on to the top rail with my left hand, I closed one eye. Pulling the trigger, the sound burst attracted the Brawler's attention. Turning his head slightly, the bullet jellified its left eye before entering the already murky brain and further damaging it. Instinctively, the Brawler grabbed onto its eye and dropped. I got back in, closed the eye, and wiped both Infected blood and eye bits off my suit and FAL. My fellow Marines stood and patted my back, congratulating me.
Just as they were all surrounding me, the chopper slammed into and slid across the roof. My group jolted forward and landed on the floor of the chopper. About halfway through, the vehicle tipped to the right. One wing flew off, and a pair flew through the air. The Brawler rolled across the roof and stopped, stunned by my actions.
With only one left, the chopper corpse slid off the roof. With bloody hands, we tried to get to our seats. Some started floating in the air. I looked out the shattered glass bubble front to see grey concrete. As my vision flashed to black, I could hear the thunder of concrete crumbling and metal crumpling.
10 minutes later… My eyes opened to a hazy scene. I was in the doorway between the cockpit and the benches. The whole chopper was toppled over on its side. I looked up to see severely warped metal and a flaming control panel. I guess I won't be calling for more help. Above and below me sat the pilots, soaked in their own blood. Glass shards were laced throughout their corpses. They leaned forward limply, one still with his seatbelt on. I heard the crunch of glass under my heels as I stood up. The crackling of fire was the only thing pushing me forward.
I looked up at the rest of my unit. My unit leader stood frozen in place. The top rail impaled him, entering his open mouth and out between his legs. Dried blood caked his face, clothes, and the pole. I felt the cool metal with a bare hand. The cool metal was probably warm compared to the age of his corpse. I didn't want to touch that though. Two others had impacted each other at high speeds, one man's helmet smashing the woman's jaw into her skull. Shining white, yet bloody teeth littered the floor around her corpse along with skull bits. Apparently her trigger finger went wild. The man's torso look it was turned into a gruesome version of the game board, Aggravation. Spent shells were scattered with the FAL still pressed against his chest.
Two bodies laid on top each other, the bottom one heavily mangled to the point, I couldn't really even recognize it as a corpse at first. What did the top one in was a chopper blade that fell through the glass and through both of their hearts. The kill zone. I heard groaning outside. I grabbed up a duffel bag and placed their rifles in the bag. I grabbed up several extra clips and also gently pulled the grenade launcher off the rack it sat on in the chopper with the extra clip. I carefully wrapped my fingers around the edges of the blade. I'd have to get it out before I could. Pressing my boot against the top body's chest.
"Come on. Get out of there." I breathed out to myself. I grunted loudly, managing to pull it from the body and push it up out of the chopper. I heard it clatter and bang against the chopper. Then, in one terrifying cluster, the blade crashed onto the ground. I grabbed the handle and walked to the back of the chopper, hearing the door squeal and screech all the way. I picked up the duffel bag, slung it over my right shoulder, and grabbed my FAL. Holding onto the top, I slowly pulled myself out of the chopper.
"Oh… fuck," were the words that came out of my mouth. The chopper had crashed into a gas station convenience store. The entire store was trashed. Toppled shelves laid all over, blocking the freezer section. Infected completely the view of the pumps through the windows, their faces almost comically pressed against the glass. As if they were little kids staring at a piece of candy in a vending machine they wanted. Of course, I was that piece of candy. Then I remembered something I heard before. The gas tank's leaking. The flames from control panel were spreading, and my boots were soaked in gas. I gotta get moving. NOW.
I had no intentions of going out into that cluster of walking body bags. A breeze blew in from the hole above me, nudging a dead cable against my shoulder. Looking up, I saw the dark clouds choking out any chances of sunlight. The long blade extended across the gap with a cord dangling down from it. My hands gripped the cord tightly. Making my way up, a drop of rain hit my forehead. I could feel the flames under my feet. Keep going. I told myself.
Wrapping my hand around the dull side of the blade, I pulled myself up onto the blade. I balanced myself on the blade and started taking slow steps. I can feel a case of Vertigo coming on. Please not now. Just go away. Then my foot felt concrete. I made it. I then ran across the roof and jumped away from the building. Landing on top of a moving truck, I turnedaround to see the convenience store turn a bright orange. BOOM! The glass blew out the windows and fireballs of corpses flew away. A curling fireball twisted and crawled into the sky. Several car alarms started to go off.
Infected from all over the block jolted my way. I heard several howls as they started my way. Some were running, most were walking. Rounds started cracking as bodies started dropping. However, only being one, with nowhere to go left me getting surrounded. I kept my gun up though and kept shooting. I made sure that every bullet hit something. Crack! An Infected received a bullet in the site on its stomach. It grabbed it, then slowly dropped to the ground. Then, instead of a crack, I heard a Click! I reached into my bag and grabbed a clip. An Infected grabbed my arm in the bag. I swung with my gun in hand, driving the barrel into his skull. He dropped to the ground with puss dribbling out his head. With myself distracted with my gun, the same Brawler jumped down, landing behind me.
I started to turn around, but he grabbed me and lifted me to his mouth. His jaws opened wide, revealing thick, slimy saliva. Finally getting my rifle reloaded, I pointed it at his open mouth. A bullet soared into the back of his throat. Blood pooled in the back of its throat and onto its tongue. It instinctively bit down in pain. My right shoulder just happened to be in those jaws too. My head reared back as I howled in pain like a wolf at the full moon. With its teeth sunk into my arm, I could feel my head starting to grow weary. Blood poured like a broken water pipe under a street. I could also feel his blood mixing with mine and entering my body. Why did I have to shoot him?
Not only was I wounded, but his blood would infect me. Tasting his own blood, the Brawler spat me out, leaving me to turn and fade into darkness. Laying on the grime covered street, I could also feel dirt start to work its way into my system. The other Infected around me actually left me alone, waiting for me to join them. It was all they ever wanted. Another friend to play with in the everlasting pain of defeat. I can almost feel the virus puncturing my cells, turning them into bombs of infection, waiting to ruin me. My vision grew hazy as I looked through the moving legs. My breathing grew heavy. I saw a familiar structure, kinda reminded me of the dorms at Kadic.
"I was almost there," I said between heavy breaths. I started getting a heavy case of double vision. Colors faded from blue to green to purple and back to normal. Everything felt like it was swirling in a tea cup of torture. I laid on the ground convulsion and vomiting blood. I grew weaker to the point I could move by body voluntarily anymore. Breathing slowly and shallowly, I gasped out, "I'm going to die here." Then, I found a new strength. Standing up weakly, my eyes slowly turned to my right shoulder. The tooth marks had faded away. The blood stopped, but my arm was still fairly weak. After rolling it around, I had it ready to go. I don't even know where the strength came from.
Then, I took my first step. "But I won't die alone!" I screamed. An Infected tried to slap me, but I grabbed the arm, broke it in the wrong direction, and in one punch, puss spewed into the air. The Brawler looked my way again. He charged through and killed multiple Infected. He stopped, then leapt in my direction again. I rolled forward under the attack. Then, I swept his legs.
With him on his belly, I jumped up and punched the back of his head. He stood back up and started clawing at me. I jumped and kicked him in the head. He fell onto his back and held tightly to his head. "I must avenge them. All of them!" It stood up and howled into the rain. Lightning cracked through the sky, as if God himself was responding in anger. I pulled my leg back and then kicked with all my might. The Brawler doubled over and stuck a hand out in pain. I grabbed that hand and tugged. The beast's eyes grew wide with pain as the arm popped out of joint.
"I'm going to tear you apart!" I heard bones breaking, meat tearing, and then the arm followed. It howled out again. My screams of anger blasted over those growls of anguish. Jumping into the air, I brought the arm down upon its head. Breaking its skull in, I felt new, alive, ready to fight again. Then I felt a new pain. It surged through my back, and through my legs and arms. It even ripped up my spine and around my head. It racked my brain with a headache like none other.
I opened my mouth wide to catch more air. Then the pain surged away from the rest of my body, and into the back of my throat. I felt both something warm, and something cool rise up my throat. Then I felt a liquid on my chin. My hands touched my chin and rose to my eye level. It was a black goo that came out of my mouth.
I looked at my shaking hand. I couldn't believe that that was coming out of me. What's wrong with me? I looked back up at the corpse, mouth still agape from the pain still crawling up my throat. "What is this pain in my-" SNAP! My head whipped back as a massive black tendril shot out of my head. It arced into the air, then shot down into the head of the corpse and wormed through the corpse. I could feel it continuing go through the body and violently shooting out of my mouth. My eyes squinted as the tendril then shot out the severed arm's shoulder. Then the whole thing glowed red. I could feel energy and probably something else surge from its body to mine.
The tendril returned to my body as I doubled over. An Infected scratched my left cheek. In a burst of what I think is energy, I spun around. My balled up my fist and threw a light punch. The head of the infected nearly jellified as the body was tossed into the air. I looked at my bloodstained hand. Some sort of black mass had grown over my forearms, as well as my calves.
As well as all these powers, a newfound flood of memories forced their way into my brain. I knew… everything about Blackwatch and Gentek. I'm a bomb. A weaponized pathogen, evolving every day. I was no longer human, yet I wasn't yet a monster. I… I saw things that tore my mind apart. I was a one in a million chance. But no one would understand my trials. I'm an un-aging, immortal. I need to use this power to end it. The infection must end with me. I can help them, my friends, the people of the world. I just need to get running.
With a newfound 'gift,' I darted down the street. Running faster than the speed limit, I left spider web cracks on the street. Every Infected that came into contact with my lightning fast fists went flying off onto the sidewalk and through shop windows. "Must…reach…Kadic. I have to reach my friends. A pile of cars and other metal scrap stood in my way. I planted my hands on a car hood, which buckled quickly. My feet went into the air. Pushing with my powers, the car tipped over and I landed on my feet, crackling the street around me. I looked up at the gate that locked me out for so long. The grease was gone, and the gate was boarded shut with enough space for gun barrels to stick out. Also, some of the barbed wire was missing off the roof with some bricks.
"I just hope someone's left inside." I ran along the wall to the bare spot. I bet I could climb this. I planted a foot into the wall and stepped. Without missing a beat, the next foot stepped onto the wall. I thought my hands would grip the wall, but I was running perpendicular to the wall. In two more steps, I was standing on top of the wall. "How did I do that?" Looking into the courtyard, I didn't see a soul. The campus was bare, except for a small trail of blood that led to several corpses before heading for the science building.
"Better check that out…" I said to myself under my breathe. I jumped down. "How do I turn this stuff off?" There's no way I'm gonna let anyone see me like this. Maybe it works by electrical impulse. Go away. I thought to myself. The mass turned back to black tendrils and retreated back into my flesh. It didn't really hurt, as if my nerve endings had died in that part of my body.
I jumped down and crouched on the ground. Then a rustling stirred from the tree above me, without there being a breeze. Looking straight up, a heard a familiar, female voice squeak with terror. Then the rustling intensified as she fell out of the tree. Landing in front of me was a dark skinned girl in a yellow shirt, green shorts, with dark hair that was braided. In her hand, she held a camcorder. "Tamiya?" I asked with surprise. "Did you video that?"
"I didn't see anything through the leaves." I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Plus my camera's dead. What happened you didn't want on video?"
"Don't worry your little head about it. Where's the others?"
"Why are you in camo?"
"I'm part of the Marine unit that answered the signal."
"Where's the helicopter?"
"It crashed and only I survived. Now where are the other students?" Tamiya pointed towards the science building.
"The only people I know survived the monster first attacking were chased by it."
"That doesn't make sense. The survivors are the ones chased?"
"Yeah, while it started chasing people, the ones attacked already started biting other people. I hid in the tree so they couldn't reach me." She put her fingers to her lips, thinking. "I know Aelita, Jeremy, and Jim went up to the roof to rig a radio off the cell phone tower."
"Thanks, you should come with me though for protection." I told her this as I unzipped the bag.
"That's a lot of guns in there."
"Yeah, I got them for others to use that I found. Take one." I handed her an FAL and a few extra clips. "Don't go shooting yourself." I added for good measure.
"Can you do something for me?" She asked, looking at the gun in her hands. "I want you to find Millie for me, even if she's infected or dead. I saw her running off to the science building."
"Sure. Let's go over there." We walked together. Considering most of the school was probably infected, I didn't really see anyone. I saw some dead bodies, but the Infected were nowhere to be seen. Coming upon the building, the front glass doors had been smashed open. Then I heard a scream from within. It sounded male, yet high pitched. "Come on." I whispered to her as our shoes crunched over the shattered glass. I silently sped down the hallway, following the sound of two more screams. The halls were beige with white tiles on the ground. Turning the corner, I entered the first room on the right.
A chalkboard sat in the front of the room with a standard teacher's desk. The different desks were thrown across the room, papers strewn across the floor. Several dead bodies of familiar faces were scattered across floor. In the back corner, a Brawler was bending over something. Its shadow cast from the outside light blocked whatever it was. The Brawler was so intently focused on the corner, drool pooled onto whatever it was. In a very low voice, I whispered, "Hide behind teacher's desk Tamiya." She nodded in conformation and then ducked behind the desk. "Hey you!" I yelled. The Brawler slung saliva across the room as its head whipped towards me. "Yeah, you, ya fat fucker! Let's dance." It charged towards me. Pulling the trigger, a bullet spliced its eye like a well-placed scalpel during frog dissection.
It reared back and howled. Its shadow moved away long enough for me to get a catch a glimpse of something purple, something red, and something blue. I knew I was looking at Odd and two others. It charged straight towards me, and I ran down the hallway out of sight. The Brawler followed me.
Turning to face it, the tendrils returned to my arms and legs. It swiped at my face and I ducked. Then I put one foot on its chest to push off. Pulling a backflip, the other smashed its lower jaw into its skull. Its head lashed back, then it leapt. Rolling under it, I then bent back and grabbed its wounded head. Pulling a move straight off WWE, I jumped and fell onto the ground. Its head smashed into the tiles. It grabbed my leg and held me up. I punched its gut, forcing it double over. Grabbing its legs, I threw my weight around, it landing on its back and me on its spine, severing it. The beast gave a dying yelp, then fell limp on the ground. Standing up and ending the power, I ran back to the room. Now standing in the middle of the room was Odd, who walked with a limp. Holding onto his left arm was Emily, using a shotgun to lean on. On Odd's right arm, Hiroki held onto it tightly.
Tamiya had come out from behind the desk and was interrogating Odd. "Where is she?" Tamiya started.
"I'm telling you Tamiya," Odd answered. "She was in the back of the group, so I pushed her to the side before the Brawler could grab her. I don't know where she went. I did hear her yell something about going to the dorms, but I don't know what she'd be doing there." I entered the room and tapped Tamiya's shoulder.
She whipped around in surprise. "You're alive?"
"Yeah, it's not like that's the first one I've fought. What's with the limp Odd? Don't tell me he got you?" I took the duffel bag and placed it down on the teacher's desk.
"No, I was running from that thing, tripped up and sprained my ankle. What you got in there?" Odd asked as the others helped him over. I zipped open the bag. As the flaps opened wide, Odd's jaw dropped at the sight of several FAL's and a grenade launcher. "Dude, where you get this stuff?"
"When you're a Marine, you have your ways." I said.
Hiroki pulled out a FAL and a few clips. "I thought you guys only carried one gun. Where did these come from?"
I walked over to the door. "As a great man once said, I'd rather not talk about it. You guys should head to the roof. I'll take a look for Millie in the dorms."
Tamiya hugged me tightly. "Thank you." I blushed a little bit, then headed into the hallway. I took a careful step over the Brawler corpse, then heard a squishing sound behind me. Whipping around, I saw Hiroki with a FAL following close behind me.
"I thought you'd be following me."
Hiroki started to look confused. "How would you know that?"
"Because I'm looking for Millie."
Hiroki blushed at that before responding, "I just want to kill a bunch of Infected, for Yumi's sake."
"Why would you say that?" I said with concern both on my face and in my voice. "Wouldn't she have called you?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm worried. I haven't heard from her. Plus, every day, we would hear people yelling for help, but Delmas didn't let us near the gate."
"Weird." I answered as we passed the cafeteria.
Hiroki looked that way, then said. "He acted really strange, even to the point we got rid of him. The cafeteria is where he made us all stay. I remember one kid that got clawed by the monster ran off over there."
With a grim look on my face, I answered, "I guess we shouldn't check it out then. If one kid got over there, I'm sure the rest are Infected too."
Then I heard a gunshot, which caught both of our attention. It came from the roof of the cafeteria. Getting closer, we could into the windows, which only showed Infected walking around in the place. They were ignoring us though. Instead, they were all walking towards a roof access hatch in the room. A person sky blue shirt with pinkish pants could be seen. "That's Millie!" Hiroki yelled. We ran around the side to an old dumpster and climbed onto it. I gave him a boost onto the roof, then grabbed the edge. Pulling myself up, I caught a glimpse of Hiroki running and hugging Millie. "I'm so happy you're safe."
"Thanks." Millie said. They were both blushing with awkwardness. I climbed up and walked beside Hiroki.
Millie's blushing face turned an even deeper shade of red. "Ulrich…" She said as she walked towards me.
"Hey Millie." I said with a touch of uncertainty in my voice. "We need to get to the roof of science building."
She looked down towards the ground. "What's wrong?" Hiroki asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I just need to run by my dorm and grab something."
I looked directly into her eyes. "What could be that important?"
"I just need it, okay?"
"Fine. Let's get it and go." I said as turned towards the edge. I leapt down into the dumpster, followed by Hiroki and Millie.
I ran to the dorms and up the first flight of stairs to the girls dorm. No infected in here. Then again, Delmas probably kept them locked up in the cafeteria. What happened to them while I was gone? I thought to myself. I stood by the doors and waited for Millie and Hiroki to pass. Now bringing up the rear, I followed behind them as she looked for her room.
"Here it is." She said as she opened the door. The three of us stepped in and I closed the door. Directly after the latch clicked into place, I heard the roof creak.
"What was that?" Hiroki asked with a worried look on his face. Millie opened the drawer under her bed and pulled a brown lump out. Looking at it, it was a dark brown teddy bear with black button eyes and a red bowtie.
"I remember that thing." I said to myself. Then out loud, "We came here just for that?"
Millie held it tightly. "You don't understand how much this thing means to me. I remember having it by my side at night, years ago. I talked my problems into it and it made me feel better. It's just kind of a memento to the life I used to know."
Hiroki chimed in, "I think that's sweet."
I opened my mouth to say more, but a loud bang on the door stopped us all. Then a clawed hand smashed a hole in the door. "Brawler!" I yelled. Millie and Hiroki approached the window and looked down.
"I'm not jumping." They said in unison. I looked out as the hole behind me grew larger.
"There's a bush down there and we don't have much choice." Millie and Hiroki started to protest, but I grabbed them and jumped. We screamed the whole way down, bouncing off the bush and rolling on the ground. The Brawler jumped out after us. Roaring as it fell, it then met with a grenade in the face. Having been blown back into the building, I grabbed them again and started towards the science building.
Then the Brawler leaned back and howled, attracting all the Infected in the cafeteria. I looked off to my right to see the windows smashed and doors brought down. Infected ran out and surrounded us on all sides. "We're trapped." Millie said, holding her bear tight and tears filling her eyes. Hiroki held her tightly and the Brawler grabbed them both.
"No!" I yelled. As if to taunt me, it opened its maw and drool dropped down into Hiroki's hair, as well as on Millie's bear.
"Do something…" Hiroki whispered in fear. I know I won't like it, but I have to do it to save them. I thought to myself. I breathed deeply, then exhaled. As I breathed out, the tendrils formed the Muscle Mass around my arms and legs. I started forward, but Infected surrounded me and started to hold me back.
"No! Let them go!" I screamed in protest, but the Brawler seemed to just mock me. It leaned back lifted Millie over its head. "Stop! Please!" I begged with the beast, but it only took further pride in its prize. It threw Hiroki into the cafeteria with a sickening crash followed by letting Millie go. She screamed as the beast swallowed her whole, right on the spot. It leaned forward onto all fours, licking its jaws. It coughed a couple times as if it had a hairball, then spit out the brown teddy bear. Covered in slime, it slid across the ground and stopped at my feet. Then, it seemed to almost smile with pleasure. I dropped to my knees and grabbed the teddy bear. "No… this… this isn't real. It can't be." I lifted it to my face. Even covered in drool, I could still make out the smile stitched into its face.