My fingers didn't shake from fear anymore, they reached for her eyelids and closed them one last time. Most people would think of such an action as irrelevant, unnecessary, or plainly a waste of time.

I wasn't like that though. I didn't want to be like that. If I were to die like here, right now, in this very instant. If I were her, I would have liked to be surrounded by the people that accompanied me, by my family, and friends.

Even though I couldn't bring any of those people back to her, I could at least show a little care. I had to be prepared for what was about to come, I knew it because he knew. There would be many more to follow.

It is time to go.

Death is a cruel, brutal, unforgiving thing. Yet somehow, the fear it produced in me reminded me that I had a mission.

I stood up from the kneeling position and cleaned the dust off my tethered shirt and pants. I glance at her one last time, my feet began moving down the road once again. Advancing, alone.

The emptiness, the hollow steps slowly settled into my mind as I advanced, my hearing was empty, but I did realize something. The silence was a mere curtain, it hid sounds far beyond. Maybe that is why I probed deeper into that silence as I walked. Attempting to find that source of life, that spark or salvation I imagined hid somewhere.

However, there was nothing. The demon left ages ago along with the paranoia, leaving behind something strange.

I still feared, yes. My legs trembled and my skin paled. Still, I wasn't the same. Something had changed.

What made the difference? What had transformed someone who burnt days on end on useless fantasies, who was convinced he would amount to nothing? What had made me a human capable of advancing in the face of terror and desperation?

A goal.

Our goal.

My feet sank to the asphalt, while the force of my steps increased. Silence was an empty canvas, and I had planted in it my motivation

No matter what, I was going to find out what happened to my family and what happened in this city. If I wanted to achieve so without dying at the hands of some bloody fat ball, I would need to do come up with a viable strategy.

For starters, I didn't take the same route as I did while fleeing with the car. There was the very real possibility that the screeching fatty had decided to follow after me in its raging delusion, and I wasn't planning on finding out.

Those things were faster, stronger, taller, and more lethal in every way. My only resource was intelligence.

In the short span of two miles, I had already managed to find another four corpses. All of them were men, all of them showing the same expression bathed in pain and agony.

Whatever remained of their bodies was as dry as a mummy, bones and skin fused in a single monotonous yellowish layer, only differentiated by their caved-in eyes and ashy hair.

|Gulp|

From those empty sockets of the dead, I manage to extract one piece of the puzzle.

Organic things had seemed to have completely perished. While cars and complex machinery seemed to be working just fine, anything remotely alive had been weakened to the point of extinction. From trees to insects, the ominous silence was all proof I needed to acknowledge my hypothesis.

Still, a single piece of the puzzle brings forth more questions than answers. If those gigantic creatures weren't able to kill anything without making a ruckus with their messy fat bodies. How did these people die then?

Although I refused to search the dead's clothes and pockets for anything useful, my need for resources pushed me to loot every single vehicle I found. Though very few items could prove helpful in any way.

After I was finished, I closed each of the corpse's eyelids in one last sign of respect before venturing into the darkness once more. Thoughts followed me though, those same questions wouldn't let go, and I knew if I wanted to have a chance at survival, I shouldn't let go of them either.

Dive deeper.

Another loud gulp.

I tried shifting perspectives and looking at the problem from several angles but I couldn't manage to find any answers. Once again ignorance tries to bury my confidence.

Was there something else lurking in the shadows I wasn't even aware of? Or was I missing a key?

Answering any of the questions that rose as I advanced proved more difficult than I would have liked. The simple existence of calamities such as those I'd seen today broke all those laws of physics and nature I had learned to accept over the years. The barrier between possible and impossible seemed to become blurrier the more I thought about it, and with the limited information at my disposal, I could only guess.

Guessing, right?

It seemed imagination would be my best friend, It was far better than nothing. The chances were the moment I stepped into that city I would be in a constant battle. I didn't have a single second to lose. If I wanted to get some conclusions before it was game over I better start right ahead. Because if I didn't...

The answer would eat me.

So I started thinking. Turning, scraping, and matching the few pieces at my disposal in an attempt to come up with something mildly plausible.

Only half sensical hypotheses were found though. None of them was good news either.

Whatever killed all these people wasn't any meatball, it just wasn't possible. Although their bodies were in a truly pitiful state, they didn't show clue of any serious injuries. Not a sign of being crushed under weight or impaled to death.

Like if affirming my thoughts, the headache I had been feeling since I woke up increased in intensity. I couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the mysterious assassin. The possibility of a slow death under some kind of damage, infection, or curse from those fuckers was still there. Perhaps I was already doomed to end up as a rigid mummy and I didn't even know it.

Not that it mattered anyway. I didn't need that much time to fulfill my goal, and once it was done it would be over.

Keep marching.

I rejoiced in the fact that I was in a sense, unstoppable. Whatever had made these people die in agony wouldn't be able to break me, I wouldn't let myself break.

For some wicked reason, I was alive. I was a survivor, and I had to keep walking. My eyes lit up as the fires in the distance kept growing closer and closer. And with the visage of the city, appeared the abomination itself, peacefully sleeping, seemingly unaware of my return.

Cold sweat started running down my eyelashes. My heartbeat accelerated with its simple presence. I was looking at the guillotine that would end my life, although I was early to the execution. I had time for now.

Getting nervous wasn't good, I had to stay cool-headed.

I tapped the left pocket of my trouser, grabbing a small box of cigarettes together with a lighter I had found while on my way. I had never been a fan of smoking but I needed to retain my calmness somehow.

|Cough-Cough|

Bad idea. Inhaling the pestilent smoke of tobacco proved to be just another stupid decision at the end of the day. The sensation of dehydration grew harder, only reminding me of my number one objective at the moment.

Finding water.

The possibility of dying of thirst became dimmer with every breath. The loss of moisture to the sauna-like atmosphere outside, coupled with the sweating started to take a toll on me.

"Any liquid will do."

The second objective was simple. I required Information. Anything that could prove useful to avoid or distance myself from those monsters would prove useful. Anything that could help me unwrap what truly happened was needed.

In order to survive, I had to understand.

With those thoughts in mind, I continued making my way toward the city.

Instead of just altering the original route slightly, I had practically surrounded the whole city from the outside, managing to enter from a more convenient and short path. It was a tough sacrifice, but it was worth it.

In fact, it was far better than I expected. Contrary to my expectations, the tall motherfucker didn't even have a single eye on its back. Which meant I wouldn't be spotted this time, at least I hoped so. From this perspective, only a part of its giant gape of a mouth was visible from here. Its smirk had vanished from our last friendly encounter.

"Not fun losing to me right?"

I murmured to myself in an ironic tone. Ironic because I didn't have the balls to say it out as loud as I'd wanted to. I didn't know if meatballs had ears and didn't want to find out.

Thus I advanced through the highway. Making damn sure to register every single vehicle I came across with. I picked a rucksack from the trunk of one of the cars and put in there anything I could find useful. Mostly a bunch of newspapers, or light sources.

It was a couple of hundred feet later that my eyes sparkled. A single red-colored truck collapsed on the side of the road easily caught my attention.

I used to despise sodas in general, but damn, in this situation, I would drink just about anything.

Needless to say, I called dibs on the truck and approached it. Not before walking around the cabin to make sure nothing strange interfered with my "projects".

The mummified driver stood laying on the floor motionless. The vehicle looked clean in every way, so I circled my way to the back door. With a jump and a bit of brute strength, I opened the doors letting faint light flood the inside. I entered and closed the doors from the inside. Not that I could lock them, but I wanted some privacy from the towering-red-mucus.

To no one's surprise, most bottles, being made out of glass, had broken leaving behind a sticky sugar-coated floor. Didn't mind it though. I was pretty sure my mother wouldn't mind me dirtying my pricey pants just this once.

Vivid with those memories, I cracked open a bottle, letting the liquid fall into my mouth. Before I knew it I was asleep. Caffeine was a joke compared to the tiredness and soreness I felt. Hopefully, I would dream of something nice this time around.