Charles Ramon Peterson

2:54 a.m., Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Ramon’s mind was reeling.

Was that Boady? He was sure it was. But what happened to him?

Before they parted ways, or rather before he escaped into the elevator as Boady chased him—being ordered to do so by that Asian woman leading the Adumbrae group—the friendly security guard had turned into a monster but was still his original size. Somehow, Boady inexplicably became a giant of a monster made of charcoal hunting for him.

Is this the right choice?

Ramon kicked down the door of the suite at the end of the corridor. His blade held out straight in front of him, he cautiously entered first and turned on the lights. A moderately-sized room with only a few basic pieces of furniture; this looked like it wasn’t occupied yet. Before he could make sure there was no danger, everyone rushed in, a couple of people even jostling him, fearful the giant or some other monster would catch them outside.

It was a relief they were no longer afraid of him. For the most part. But it was apparent in their expressions they were still disgusted by the smell of his blood; some did hide it better than others. He couldn’t blame them.

Each time they entered a new location, he checked how many they were. One, Cassandra, two, Vince, three, his son …

He stopped counting and turned around.

He no longer wanted to be reminded of how many of them were left after everything they went through, how many died, how many he couldn’t protect. Instead, he plopped down at the corner of the room, away from all the others, sitting beside the sofa not on it, using the armrest to partially cover him. Only then did he feel a bit of chill because of his damp clothes. At least the emergency sprinklers and the fire alarm were turned off.

His head down, he blankly stared at the floor.

How did it get to this?

It was all going so well.

As well as being turned into a monster and trying to get to the top of a building full of monsters could be. He gave his all protecting Cassandra and the injured Rolly as they climbed up, wielding his newly acquired strength and powers like he had been using them for a long time.

He cleared each flight of stairs, landing per landing, hacking to pieces the monsters in their way. They even met the McKennon couple running down the stairs, who were suspicious of him but grateful for the help he offered.

It gave him joy and comfort he was doing something good even though his situation was dire and hopeless. Deep inside, he knew there was no way for him to get his human body back. He took out his anger and despair at the monsters blocking them.

Upon reaching the 22nd floor, he got conflicted if he should look for Erind.

Would she be afraid of him? Was she even still alive? But even though he did make up his mind to find her, he missed one tiny detail—he didn’t know her room number. He lost his phone, and he wasn’t even sure if it had the details of her room in his record of deliveries for the day.

He tried to look for her but was unsuccessful. He did find other survivors, and he would find more in their journey to the top of the building.

He couldn’t stay on the 22nd floor for long. In between convincing the new people they met to come with them, and trying to stupidly check each and every room, he wasted a lot of time. Rolly’s health was deteriorating and he needed medical attention fast. Ramon had no choice but to abandon his search of Erind and pray she escaped safely.

Each time he saved more people, who would then join their group, he extensively asked them about Erind. But he'd always end up getting the same answer. They didn’t know her.

“If only you didn’t scream like a dumb bitch,” Gregory yelled at Cassandra.

“That’s enough, Greg!” Aiyani pushed her boyfriend back. “You’re only making things worse.”

“Because of her, the fucking monsters chased us!”

“Just like when you shot that monster by the stairs and missed?” Cassandra retorted. “Good job on that one, Greg," she said, her voiced lace with sarcasm.

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"Milton, Miller, Mill-something. Whatever his name was, his blood is on your hands! It was your fault—”

“I did what I had to!”

“Guys, guys,” said Vince, the most level-headed of their slowly dwindling group. “Let’s calm down—”

But they didn’t calm down, and another shouting match began.

Ramon wanted to cover his ears so he wouldn’t hear the panicked arguments of the survivors. He raised his hands and it came back to him that he only had one hand remaining, his left arm having turned into a blade that emitted purple energy.

Purple. Violet. His sister used to lecture him about the difference between those two. She did say purple and violet only looked similar to human eyes.

I’m not human anymore. Should I be able to tell the difference now?

Assuming he could, he wouldn’t be able to tell his sister. He couldn’t talk to her ever again.

Or any of his family and friends.

Droplets of thick black blood fell from the wound on the side of his face. He felt the bizarre texture of his blood between his thumb and index finger. It almost looked like tar. His finger traced the gash on his skin. The bullet fired by the men guarding the upper floors of the building tore a hole through his cheek. It was pain like he never felt before, but it rapidly healed.

The monsters he fought, that he killed, those creatures didn’t heal themselves. They occasionally mutated and combined with each other, but he never noticed them regenerating like how an Adumbrae should.

Because they weren’t Adumbrae... He didn’t need a scientist to tell him that. It was those damned parasites that turned normal people to monsters.

Just like what happened to Christa. Like what happened to Boady. And to him.

Or was it?

If the same thing happened to him, why was he regenerating while the other monsters didn’t? Why did he keep his consciousness while the others became mindless monsters who hungered for human flesh?

Did I turn into an Adumbrae?

That couldn’t be…

He couldn’t recall talking to any suspicious voice. No way he’d ever agree to anything an Adumbrae would offer! He wasn’t dumb. But a morbid thought needled at the back of his mind. Perhaps... someway...somehow, he might’ve accepted something…

He looked up. A new drama started and the survivors bickered amongst themselves once again.

Survivors. Look at him excluding himself from them.

Cassandra was at the forefront of the drama once again. This time, she was up against Samantha, the bank officer, who wasn’t backing down. Samantha raised her voice while holding back her frail grandfather who wanted to slap Cassandra. Was it true what he said? That Cassandra left Rolly to die? Or was he just senile and imagining things? Ramon didn’t know what was true. Everyone blaming everyone. He bowed his head back down and tuned them out.

He was starting not to care anymore. Was it because he was losing hope to save any of them when he couldn’t even save himself? Or was he truly becoming an evil and despicable Adumbrae?

If he was an Adumbrae, that meant he was dangerous. Or would be.

What if he left them? What if he just…left them. For their own safety.

Maybe I should do that...

No! He promised to save them.

Survivors. They weren’t going to do much surviving if he left them now. Some of them even died under his so-called ‘protection.’ He wasn’t going to leave them. But he just didn’t know what to do.

“Are you okay there, uh…” a gruff voice started to say. The burly Benitez, the most recent addition to their group, stood over him.

“Ramon,” he replied. “The name’s Ramon.”

“Right, right, Ramon. Me, I’m not so good with names.” Benitez sat on the sofa and leaned over him. “Don’t beat yourself up, okay? Your plan to go up to the roof was good…and logical.”

“I…uh…”

“If there’s no way to escape at the ground floor because it’s crawling with these sons of bitches, then the next option is to go up. Makes sense to me.”

“Do you believe me when I said there are Adumbrae at the bottom of this building? Adumbrae and their men, and not just more of these monsters?”

“Sure, yeah. I do believe you.”

“But I was wrong that there was only one guy at the top of this building. I was wrong that we could escape up the rooftop and call for help there.”

“You’re not some psychic or some shit, right? Unless you got those powers too?”

“No, I don’t have anything like that.”

“Then you couldn’t have known about shit like that. That those motherfuckers would post men with guns up there. If the rooftop is an escape path, makes sense sooner or later they’d put guards there. Makes sense, yeah.”

Ramon shook his head. “I should’ve thought about it—"

“Don’t beat yourself up. Don't make me repeat myself. You’re not some superhero.”

“Some of us got killed by those terrorists. The McKennons, the lady employee—”

“And all of us would be dead by now if we hadn’t met you.”

“How about Ramon?” Cassandra said, pointing at him.

What is it this time? Ramon sat straight up. He didn’t know what they were discussing, but he understood they were including him in their arguments. He wasn’t surprised it was Cassandra again. Maybe I shouldn’t have saved you, he thought.

“What about him?” Samantha said, her hands on her hips.

"You whore," Samantha's grandfather said in a raspy voice as pointed a gnarled finger at Cassandra. "What you did to Rolly...you're a danger to us."

"Take a sit, grandpa." She led him to the side. "She's never going to admit that."

"I'm the dangerous one?" Cassandra said. “That giant was looking for him! It said ‘Ramon'. Everyone else heard that. Don't lie.”

Gregory stomped forward, breaking free of his girlfriend’s embrace. “You’re gonna say he’s luring us to the monsters again?”

Ramon closed his eyes to calm himself down. Cassandra and some of the survivors had accused him of leading them to their deaths. It wasn’t good that those on Cassandra’s camp died along the way, giving a semblance of truth to what she was saying even though it wasn’t the case.

“This is different!” she argued. “He’s a good guy? Sure, whatever. But now we see the monsters are after him. We’re in danger if we stick with him.”

“That’s fucking dumb—"

Benitez jumped to his feet and put himself in front of the sitting Ramon. “Lady, the door is behind you."

"I'm just thinking for the good of everyone."

"If you stay in this group, then we stick with each other. But no one's stopping you from leaving."

“And where do I go? Up? To get massacred like the others? Down? That might be just what he wants." She pointed to her feet. "I have a broken ankle and have a hard time running. So you're telling me to go out and die?”

“I’m not—” Ramon began to say.

“What do you want to happen then?” Samantha asked. “Do you want Ramon to leave us?”

“He’s not exactly helpful, is he?" Cassandra shot back. "He couldn’t even destroy those fricking vines covering the building.”

"Oh, this shit again," Benitez groaned.

Ramon was so tired of defending himself, so tired of all these arguments. He leaned against the sofa’s side and focused on figuring out a way to escape. These people with him, he was still going to try and save them whether they wanted him to or not.

“Is that gunfire?” Vince said, holding his son close to him.

Cassandra said, almost shrieking, “We wouldn’t have this problem of going up or down if he can just cut away the vines and we'll have signal to call for help.”

“What do you want Ramon to do? Like what Sam said, you want him to leave us? You leave us, you stupid bitch.”

“Greg, just shut up,” Aiyana “That’s enough from you too, Cassandra.”

“You’re all ganging up on me!”

“It is gunfire.”

“Quiet down!” Benitez said. “All of you!”

It was faint, but Vince was right. There were guns shooting. They also heard the sounds of monsters. Ramon stood up, his blade at the ready. “Someone is fighting out there,” he said. The building wasn’t shaking so Boady wasn’t nearby. “Who could it be?”

“Could it be the BID?” Samantha said. “The terrorists we met upstairs weren’t getting attacked by monsters, so it couldn’t be them.”

“I think you’re right,” Ramon said. He also remembered that Boady didn’t attack Stella and her group. If someone was shooting and fighting the monsters, it wouldn’t be them. Did help finally arrive? What did it mean for him?

“Let’s go then!” Cassandra said. “Ramon, you lead us.”

“Now, you’re asking for his help?”

“We’re going out,” Ramon said. “Follow me.” He was about to exit when Vince caught up to him. “What is it?”

“Ramon, if this is the BID,” said Vince, “you run away, okay? It'll be enough you got us near the authorities. But you should run before they capture you or kill you.”

“I know,” he replied, although it pained him to say that. Vince thrusted a small card to him. It was a business card. “What is this?”

“The sounds are getting further away,” Cassandra said. “Let’s get going, Ramon!”

“When you escape from this place,” Vince said, “call me on this number. I’ll help you any way I can as thanks for keeping me and my son alive.”

“Thank you,” Ramon hastily said. He turned away and jogged down the corridor. He felt the tears forming. His voice was about to crack if he continued speaking. He shook his head to regain composure. I’m getting these people to safety.

They followed the sounds of fighting, passing by several monster corpses, each one increasing the hope of the group that help was finally here.

“Through that door!” Cassandra said. The sign above told them it was a restaurant. Its glass doors were shattered. A couple of dead monsters laid on top of the broken glass. “Ramon, go check it.”

“No, not him,” Vince said.

“Ramon, you wait here,” Benitez said. “I’ll check it out, not you. If it’s really them BID boys, we don’t want you getting your ass shot now, do we?”

“Maybe that’s what Cassandra wants,” Gregory muttered.

They waited with baited breath as Benitez crawled to the door, keeping his head low, ignoring the blood and gore on the floor. His leather jacket protected him from the broken glass. He peeked inside.

“Is it the BID?” Samantha asked.

“No, not them. Ramon, get your ass here! It’s other survivors!”

He immediately went into action, leaping over Benitez and turning left, entering the restaurant. The tables and chairs were in disarray, most of them broken. Littered among the wreckage were more monster corpses, at the end of the restaurant were three people. Two girls, a high schooler with a gun and a small kid. A guy several feet to their side, heavily injured given the tons of blood covering him, struggled to crawl towards them. A peculiar monster that took the form of a metallic humanoid was approaching him, perhaps waiting to pounce and finish him off.

Ramon calculated he could take on the smaller monsters here, but the one covered in an armor of bone might give him a hard time.

These three people...No more deaths. Wait, four people.

There was another person behind them, lying on the floor. An unconscious woman partially covered by a white cloth. When the kid moved out of the way to reveal the face of that person, time crawled to a snail’s pace for Ramon. All of his attention was focused on the woman…he recognized her.

That face. There was no way he'd mistake her for anyone else. The face of an angel.

Erind Hartwell.

Erind!

Ramon roared and charged into battle!