This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL

First published on my wordpress: Here

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I was in a never ending nightmare, I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. I was still on my bed, gun in hands when I noticed movement on my surveillance camera screen. I swiftly moved closer to see and saw one of these giant cockroach going over the fence surrounding my propriety and begin to investigate where I was a few minutes ago.

What I thought while watching its behaviour what that they would eventually find me if I didn’t do anything about it. What was I supposed to do against such monsters? I was just a normal young man, scared out of his mind at what was happening after all.

After feeling despair deep down in my bones, my attention turned back to the gun I was holding. I looked at it, the cold metal it was made of somehow managed to calm me down a bit. I sat on my chair and opened a heavy metal music playlist on my computer, trying to gather courage.

With some good old Slayer and Killswitch Engage playing loudly, I grabbed my shotgun and place the end of the barrel in my mouth. Tears began to trickle down my cheeks as I was saying my goodbyes to this world. I could deal with the end of the human race, but dealing with alien monstrosity? No thank.

With my thumb on the trigger, I began to shake, my sight gradually getting blurry. Was this how people felt as they were about to leave this world? It didn’t matter, I didn’t want to live in a world infested by monsters. My decision was taken.

My hands began to shake even more than before and I began to feel dizzy. Something wasn’t right, this wasn’t normal. I became unable to control my muscles and dropped the gun on the ground, unable to keep hold of it. I tried to get up from my chair but ended up on the ground as well.

Something definitely wasn’t right, this was not shock, this was… poison? I wanted to try and figure out how I ended up being poisoned, but my mind was in a haze and I was simply incapable of focusing on anything. In the end, I wouldn’t need to kill myself after all, I was going to die stupidly, just like that.

Unable to think clearly and slowly dying, I crawled on my stomach toward the shelf where I was keeping my antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. Once there I grabbed a few pills of what I thought could help me but there was not much I could do to treat myself against poisoning.

Only time would tell, if I was going to survive this ordeal or not. Eventually, I passed out, laid on the cold hard floor of my bunker. I don’t know how long I spent there but I eventually woke up in a puddle of my own vomit and feces. From the look of it, I had leaked from all my orifices while I was passed out.

I could barely move and my vision was still blurry but I was alive and conscious. I could feel that I was highly dehydrated, so I mustered all my remaining strength and crawled to my water dispenser. Once there I stuck my mouth under it and slightly opened the valve.

I needed to re-hydrate myself but drinking too quickly would only result in making me puke it all out again. I drank one drop after the other, slowly filling my stomach with the precious fluid. As I thought my body was finally winning the fight against the poison, dizziness suddenly forced me back, headfirst in the toilet.

I was feeling like crap and felt like I was slowly dying. My skin and intestines were on fire and I could feel every single muscle in my body scream in pain. For the next five days, I remained in a semi-lethargic state, barely able to move or do anything.

Eventually I began to recuperate and my condition was getting better everyday. I was able to keep my food and drinks down without regurgitating it all which helped me rebuild some strength. Then one week later, I was finally back on my feet and had already various hypothesis on why I had gotten sick.

It all came down to the sky I had seen a few days back. Its colour being purple instead of blue, was a good indication of what had happened. The atmosphere in this world was apparently different from the one on earth and possibly toxic to me.

The sky usually appears blue, because blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth’s atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colours because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.

But if the atmosphere contained something else other than regular oxygen, then the sky would most likely appear in a different colour. Whatever was in the air of this world, it was making it appear purple. It was also possible that the small red sun was sending deadly radiation toward the earth.

Whatever the real reason was, being in my airtight bunker had apparently saved my life. The air down here was purified and being deep underground was also protecting me against radiations. Taking this into consideration, I then realized this was most likely the reason why some people had died outside.

Maybe these giant cockroaches weren’t the cause of it after all. They certainly looked menacing and terrifying but maybe they were only scavengers, eating their rotting remains. Feeling a bit reassured by that, I began to go through my drawers, looking for something I had purchased a while back.

After a few minutes, I finally found it. It was my ‘still unused’ hazmat suit. I also had a gas mask to go with it since I had prepared in case of chemical warfare. I didn’t know if this would be enough to protect me against whatever was killing people up there, but it sure was better than nothing.

I prepared everything I would need for my next outing and placed it on a table. Then, I went to my room and looked through my arsenal, to select which weapons to bring with me. What I finally selected was a short barrel shotgun which I would strap on my back, a CZ-958 which was an assault riffle (Actually the closest to an AK-47 you could own in Canada) that I would keep in hand with a shoulder strap.

On my right thigh, I would strap a top quality machete which was a saw on one side, and a normal cutting edge on the other. I first wanted to bring more equipment but decided that it would only slow me down if I needed to run. I needed to consider wearing a backpack to transport whatever loots I would find out there.

Thank to my CCTV cameras, I knew that it was night-time outside and there was no way in hell I was going to go out at night. I lit a cigarette, sat on a chair and looked at the pile of equipment on the table. As I was looking at my yellow hazmat suit, a sudden realization struck me.

Yellow wasn’t a very discreet colour for someone trying to sneak without being seen. I then decided to put the hazmat suit and gas-mask on, grabbed my shotgun and exited the bunker. With sweaty palms and fear in my heart, I slowly walked up the stairs leading to the basement.

There was still this putrid smell floating in the air but luckily, I couldn’t hear anything suspicious. I walked very slowly, trying not to make a sound as my mask was gradually fogging on, impairing my vision. I exited the basement and entered the garage.

Once there, I quickly grabbed what I had come for and ran back down to my bunker. What I had gotten out to get, were two spray cans. One forest green, the other black. I removed my suit, hung it on a clothe hanger and began to paint it with camouflage patterns.

The goal was to hide all the yellow and replace it with something more discreet. A few minutes later, I was satisfied with my work. I needed to wait for the sun to rise and for the paint to dry, so I drank a few glasses of moonshine and went to bed.

Few hours later, I woke up, drank my coffee and did my exercises as usual but this time, I was nervous. I was smoking one cigarette after the other and my legs were shaking. As weird as it may sound, knowing that most people should be dead made it easier for me to go out. If I killed these cockroaches, this world could all be mine alone.

I had had many dreams of being alone on earth, how relaxing this could be with modern infrastructure still around. It was basically what was happening right now… excluding these alien monsters crawling around. These monsters were definitely not part of my dream.

Of course if I found survivors, I think I would lend them a hand. I think… Now that I was living it, the thought of being completely alone forever didn’t seemed as idyllic as I first thought. There was just something creepy and unsettling, about the thought of being the last one of my species alive.

I put on my camouflaged hazmat suit and gas-mask, then begin to tie up all the straps to hold my weapons. Then was the turn of the ammo belts making me look like John Rambo. I grabbed my short barrel shotgun, my assault riffle, my machete, put on gloves and grabbed my backpack. I couldn’t help but look at myself in the mirror. With the gas-mask on, I looked like a survivor from an apocalypse movie.

I exited the bunker and went into the garage to look for something my father was collecting back in the days. Now illegal, bear traps had became objects of collection for some people as historic artifacts. To me, they seemed ideal for these ugly aliens outside.

Of course, this wasn’t meant to kill, but only to immobilize them long enough for me to go out and shoot them. I couldn’t afford to waste any bullets on these guys if they happened to be quick on their legs. So the plan was simple, place bear traps, attract cockroaches. Once caught, shoot cockroaches in the face.

I went upstairs and looked through the windows to see if some of them were still around. Confirming that my yard was completely empty, it seemed apparent these creatures didn’t waste time where there was no food. As long as I stayed smart about it, I should be able to set my traps without them bothering me.

I grabbed my 958 (Assault riffle) and exited through the font door while trying not to make any sounds. Opening and closing the door silently was surprisingly nerve racking. Looking left and right, I stealthily walked toward the lamp post not far down the driveway.

Stuck in concrete, this post was solid enough to do the job. I attached the bear traps to the post with chains and sat them all around in the grass. Once that was done, I placed a walkies-talkie in a metal box near the traps. I took a last look around through my fogged mask, admiring the purple sky and twin suns.

This was weird after all… Feeling a bit demoralized, I ran back inside, closed the door and brought the second walkies-talkie to my mouth. I took a deep breath and went for it. “♪♫♫ CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA No matter what happens, ♪♫ I feel like it’s no big deal! ♪♫CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA Just as loudly as my heart pounds,♪♫ The Tiger-Dama roars…Sparking!~~~♪♫♪♫”

Not knowing what to say, I decided to sing the Tiger Ball Z opening theme which sounded kind of muffled due to my gas-mask but the results were more overwhelming than expected. Weird ‘clickety’ sounds began to be heard as some giant cockroaches began to climb over my fences.

It was terribly creepy, they were coming from all directions, rushing toward the sound they had heard. Eventually, one of them reached the bear trap field and stuck one if its legs into one. The creature let out a ear piercing squeal which seemed to make the other even more agitated.

The other monstrosity who came next jumped on the trapped cockroach and began to feed on it. Others would then get stuck in a trap and the same thing would happen to them. These creatures were savage ones and had no sense of species. These things were cannibals.

After a while, my front yard was filled with 20 or more of them. After confirming that no new one were coming and that most of them were probably gathered at the same place, I took a deep breath, opened the door and stood my ground, gun in hands.

I pointed my assault riffle at the creatures and opened fire. BAM!* BAM!* BAM!* BAM!* BAM!* The bullets were going through them like butter, killing more than one with a single shot. It take only a second to empty a magazine but it felt like an eternity.

After emptying my magazine, I didn’t take the time to reload as some of them were already running in my direction. The hairs on my entire body stood up as a voice in my head kept yelling to run away but there was only 2-3 of them still alive and I had my shotgun, still fully loaded.

I grabbed the short barrel shotgun strapped to my back, pointed it at the incoming monstrosities and fired. I had loaded it with buckshot hoping to get a good spray but the result were more gruesome than expected. Firing this type of ammo made the creatures explode like big blobs of jelly.

I kept firing at everything getting close to me. One, two and three cockroaches down. Everything happened so fast, there was now green gooey stuff all over my driveway. My legs were shaking and I couldn’t help but vomit in my mask which was seriously disgusting.

With my mask now full of vomit, I was having a hard time breathing. I was still in shock at how violently these things had reacted to the noise I made. I couldn’t help but wonder if these things were reacting this violently to any type of noises, or only to human voices.

Sadly, what happened next answered my question. “Cliketycliketyclak*” I became pale as I instantly recognized the incoming sound. Guns are definitely loud and had been heard from way further away than my ‘walkies-talkie show’ from earlier.

I could tell from the sound that an insane amount of them were coming this way. Panicking, I closed the door, pushed the couch against it and ran back to my bunker to get more ammunition and clean my mask. When I came back up, my yard was already filled with them.

There must have been at least a hundred of them, eating the dead carcasses of their comrades and crawling around everywhere. I was scared, I wanted to go back to my bunker and hide, but from my earlier experience, I knew guns were highly effective against these things. It was totally unlike me who usually had zero courage, but seeing them invade my personal space that way made me angry.

Scared but determined, I went up to the second floor and silently walked up to one of the bedroom windows. I placed all my magazines on the bed next to me, and slightly opened the window. From where I was, I could see all these monsters crawling around and trying to break through the front door and windows.

I took a deep breath, leaned forward and began to systematically eliminate them one at a time. I would aim for their heads and quickly reload when I was out. I had taken the resolution of keeping my shotgun loaded for myself in case they managed to get inside. There was no way I would let myself be eaten alive by these monstrosities.

Realizing where I was shooting from, some of them tried to climb the wall to reach my window but were quickly taken care of with a bullet in the face. It had probably lasted only a few minutes but to me, it felt like hours. Eventually, all of them were dead. Many were still twitching around but it was most likely their nerves or muscle memory.

I closed the window, crawled in a corner of the room and tried to calm down. My body was overwhelmed by adrenaline and wouldn’t stop shaking. Tears were filling my eyes, making it hard to see clearly. Even though I had easily won against a swarm of them, I was traumatized and my mind was a total mess.

After a few minutes, I remembered that I had yet to confirm if my gas-mask truly protected me against whatever was in the air. Afraid of suddenly loosing consciousness and getting sick again, a ran back down to my bunker. Once back inside, I undressed and threw all my equipment in a corner of the room.

I placed my guns on the table, lit a cigarette and sat on my bed. My hands were still shaking as if I was suffering from Parkinson and my heart was beating faster than ever before. My yard was now an alien graveyard and would most likely attract more of these things.

I needed to get rid of these bodies before things got out of hand, but I first needed to make sure I wasn’t going to get sick like the last time I had gotten out. I waited three hours during which I simply kept staring at the ceiling light. During these three hours, I didn’t think about anything.

All that had went through my head was the images of what had just happened. I was proud of my unexpected courage, but scared shit-less of what else might be out there. I needed to go get some food, but the nearest grocery store was two kilometres away. It was going to be one hell of an adventure to get there.

After three hours, I had only been slightly dizzy and had puked only once. The effect of whatever was toxic in the air had noticeably less effect when I wore my mask. Reassured, I went back upstairs and had a look at my front yard. All this green gooey blood and guts were sickening.

I had to clear over a hundred alien corpses and simply couldn’t find it in myself to do it. They were simply too gross for me to even consider touching. Not only that, I was also scared out of my mind by the idea of some of them feigning death, waiting for me to get near them before attacking.

The only reassuring fact was that I had most likely killed all of them in a quite large radius around my propriety. I should now be able to go out relatively safely. As I was thinking of a way to rid my yard of these carcasses, a wonderful idea popped into my head.

My 5th neighbour had a big 4×4 pickup truck equipped with a plow in the front. It was a Toyota Hilux if I remember correctly. My neighbour was using it to clear the snow in his driveway during winter. I could see how useful it could be to clean the mess in my yard.

Gun in hand and refilled ammo belts, I walked out through the garage door. I tried to keep as much distance between me and these dead creatures. I kept my head in constant motion, looking left and right as I walked down my driveway. Upon reaching the gate, I inspected my surrounding and made sure no more creatures were around.

I opened the gate and walked up to the middle of the street. For the first time in a long time, I was out and able to look around. The entire neighbourhood looked perfectly normal, if we excluded the horrible smell and the unkempt lawns. The biggest difference was the eerie silence all around me.

Holding my assault riffle like a soldier, I carefully made my way down the street toward my 5th neighbour’s house. When I arrived, the pick-up was still where it had always been before. I walked around and verified if the doors were unlocked but of course, everything was locked.

With no other choice, I went to the front door and knocked just in case. Around one minute later with no answers, I bashed through the door and entered. Luckily for me, most people in this town had similar habits and would keep their keys in the wardrobe near the front door.

There, I found a key hanger with many sets of keys. I picked the only one with a Toyota symbol on it and placed it in one of my pockets. Then I began to loot everything useful in the house and ended up filling my backpack with canned goods found in the pantry. Luckily for me, the owner of this house wasn’t home during the past events so I didn’t have to deal with his corpse.

There was a lot more stuff I deemed useful but decided to come back later. I got out and walked up to the pick-up truck. I surveyed my surrounding and made sure nothing was creeping up on me before unlocking the truck doors. I sat on the seat, closed the door and placed both my hands on the steering wheel.

There, I tried to calm my nerves by breathing slowly and calmly. “This must be what they call hell…” After one minute, I turned the key in the ignition. A few wining sounds later, the old pick-up truck finally came back to life with a big roar and a puff of white smoke. “Hahahahaha! WAHOooO! Rock ‘n ROLL!!!!”.

I pushed with all my weight on the accelerator and exited the driveway in a cloud of dust, making the tires squeal the entire way. The truck roared the entire way up to my home, so I was expecting some stragglers to come and play with me. I parked the truck in front of the garage door and ran back inside.

I kept a lookout through the windows but nothing happened. I waited for 30 minutes, guns ready for actions but no creatures appeared. Apparently, I truly had killed the majority of them. Reassured, I got out again and prepared myself for a seriously disgusting clean up.

Once more, I started the pick-up truck and lowered the snowplow. Then, I spent half an hour pushing the carcasses in a huge pile away from the house and trees. There was still guts and various gross stuff laying around but rain and worms should take care of that with time.

I went in the garage, grabbed a 5 litre bottle of used oil and a gas canister. I got back out and emptied the combustible substances on the giant pile of carcasses before backing away a few steps. Just looking at this huge pile of gore made me want to vomit. I grabbed a piece of cloth, lit it on fire and threw it on the pile of carcasses.

The gas and oil immediately caught fire and began to create a dense black smoke. I grabbed some logs, branches and various inflammable stuff from my surroundings and threw it in the giant bonfire, hoping everything would burn hot enough to be reduced to ashes.

I watched the fire for a few minutes, unable to believe how bad-ass I was for killing so many aliens on my own. I then went back inside my bunker with a sense of having accomplished something great. Once gain, I threw my equipment in a corner of the room and filled a bucket with warm water to wash myself. I still felt like puking so I didn’t eat anything.

Once clean, I sat on my favourite chair and monitored the fire through my CCTV cameras while smoking a well deserved cigarette. I was slowly starting to feel like I could maybe survive in this world if I kept going like this. “Tomorrow I should try to see if I can find any survivors… Maybe…”