Chapter 3: The beginning (3)

Under the angry roars of the two soldiers, ramie started walking again, like a mummy, utterly bewildered.

Presently, Ramie's mind went blank, finally giving up under the sheer pressure of the incomprehensible sequence of events that transpired in relatively short time, leaving him no chance to even process the situation.

Feeling a hand grabbing on his shoulder, his mind suddenly snapped back to his senses, remembering that Eric was moving alongside him all along.

He turned to look at Eric, only to see the ghost face of his friend. There was no trace of the liveliness that he was known for, only a rigid forced smile on an abnormally pale face.

"…"

"Eric… you…"

So far, it hasn't been more than 15 minutes since they had stepped off the boat, but the anxiety and stress they had experienced in this short while of time was simply too overwhelming, making these minute seem like a very, very long time.

Ramie didn't ask Eric if he had seen the corpses on the load trucks, since it was really not possible to miss that.

"…" opening his mouth, Ramie tried to say something to Eric, but couldn't.

Weakly, he could only nod to Eric, and letting out a breath when receiving the node back from him.

Throughout these minutes, the movements of soldiers and all kinds of armored vehicles and tanks, never ceased on the streets they had walked through and at other branch streets along their path. The smoke from these war machines' roaring engines filled the air, lingering in the nose, creating an imposing, live war scene that can cause ones heart to tremble with excitement, if one was ignorant of the situation and the implications of such a sight.

After several minutes of walking, and taking few detours, the two soldiers lead them through a series of narrow branch streets, away from the grand sigh, and the noise of war machines, until they reached a very narrow short alleyway between two buildings.

At the other side of the narrow alleyway, a stream of large mass of people could be seen moving toward one direction, just like the protestors did, no more than a week ago.

Gulp!

Ramie gulped down nervously upon the sight, and started feeling even more unease.

This time around, unlike the previous protests, which were mainly comprised of raging and dissatisfied college students that wanted the whole world to learn of their just cause, this time around; crying children… old men… women carrying infants and toddlers… people of all ages, were amassed together, marching, as fear and despair loomed above them like dark, gloomy clouds.

They were just like the people seen in news evicting out of sites of natural disasters, or wars.

There was a lingering air of anxiety and hopelessness about them, as they followed the direction the soldiers that were standing on both sides of the street were pointing at.

None of the frightened civilians was lagging behind or trying to talk to the obviously distressed soldiers that were waving their hands to urge the people to speed up while occasionally shouting at the slow ones.

Ramie felt heavy in his heart, as he moved forth with Eric, while the two solders followed behind.

Reaching the end of the alleyway, the two soldiers sent him and Eric into the moving mass of people, before turning and retreating through the path they came from.

Along with Eric, ramie merged with the masses, walking with them in the same direction.

Ramie started looking around to find someone to ask, meanwhile, the wails of crying children were coming from the back and the front.

Ramie sight immediately fell on a middle aged man who was walking next to him. He tapped on the man's shoulder, anxiously asking: "What's happening? Who's the army bombing? What on earth has happened in past few days? Please, tell me…!"

The man however did not respond, he didn't even turn to look at him. He only pushed away his hand, and kept walking his way with an expression that was a mask of despair…

"You! Can you tell me what's happening…?" Ramie however did not bother about him, looking at another 30s something old man and asking.

The second man however, also didn't answer, appearing to be in daze.

At this moment, Ramie felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning back, he saw Eric waving his hand toward a youth about their age, who was walking four peoples away to their left.

Without delay, both of them squeezed their way through the crowd walking towards the man.

"Can you tell me what's happening…? Please! We have just arrived from a sea trip and have no idea of the situation…" Ramie asked anxiously.

The youth looked at them, startled, for a moment, before arranging his thoughts, and saying in frantic tone, while waving his hands: "Vicious, nasty creatures… man…!"

The youth spoke in trembling voice, his tone emitting unconcealed fear, and his expression dismayed. Terror was vivid in his face, as he continued: "They're invading everywhere…! And eating people like they're nothing…! Even the police couldn't stop them, and were eaten too…!" talking to this point, his trembling voice faded, trailing off, as a gruesome scene from his memory drifted back to his focus.

Bang!

Ramie felt as though a bomb exploded in his mind, as dread welled up in him like a tidal wave, chilling his heart into almost stopping.

A myriad of thoughts flicker through his mind momentarily.

However, before he or Eric could collect their thoughts, the youth recovered from his reverie, continuing his story.

Soon, a bloody scene of a horror movie was vividly drawn in Ramie's mind. It was completely unbelievable… if it weren't for the trembling hands of the youth and the terror-stricken faces of the people around. It really left him with no way around but to consider that this man's story was nothing more than a nonsensical absurdity.

Recalling the abominable, the huge corpses that the load trucks were carrying! It left his resisting mind with no way to dismiss this story.

But still, this was way too much to take in, he and Eric didn't settle for this man's story, and kept asking around, wanting to dispel the horrifying, unbelievable image that the youth's story had drawn in their imagination.

Unfortunately, the answers they received only served to shock them nonstop.

Soon, the answers from many people connected in his mind, forming a sequence of event that confirmed the youth's story. Alongside the weird corpses he had seen, and the weird event he and Eric went through back in the sea, finally left him with no choice but to believe.

It wasn't possible that all of these people were playing tricks on him! Not in these circumstances! And not when the army was bombing his city!

According to the people around, almost a week ago, and out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever; the people all across the country, and in other countries as well, suddenly had an inexplicable, abrupt pain in the head that caused them to lose their focus, resulting in horrible accidents everywhere with massive number of casualties falling due to this phenomenon.

Location, age, gender… none of that mattered, as long as you were awake; you'd suffer this abrupt pain.

As for those who were sleep at the time of the weird occurrence; also all of them, and without any sort of distinction, heard a weird voice in their sleep, saying the very same thing, word by word.

"…?!"

An abrupt pain in the head that struck everyone who was awake! In the entire world…!

A voice speaking the same words to everyone who was in sleep! Also, in the entire world…!

What kind of occurrence was this…!?

Could it be even explained…!?

However this wasn't even the worst part.

Not long afterwards, vicious monster-like creatures of all types and sizes started invading the nearby cities, pouring in like unstoppable tide, trembling on everything, and assaulting any living thing on sight, be it humans or animals! All were targets… All were preys…

At that day, hell broke loose everywhere, with a variety of creatures, roaming around, assaulting anything that moves!

People had to lock themselves in, wherever they were, houses, offices, shops and places of work. But even then, they were not completely safe, as when the streets were completely cleared out of people, the creatures started searching for preys everywhere.

Not a place was completely secured, no one was safe.

It was only when the military was deployed did the situation turned around a bit.

The military started a campaign of search and destroy, slaughtering the creatures indiscriminately at sight, finally stabilizing the situation, and giving the people a chance to process the situation, reuniting with their loved ones, and licking their wounds.

However, that did not last long. And in no time, a new variable come into play.

A new type of creatures emerged, assaulting the military forces, and quickly throwing them into a disadvantage.

At this point, the stories Ramie and Eric heard from the people became increasingly absurd and unbelievable, challenging his mind, and even simple logic.

They spoke of creatures that were so immensely powerful, agile, and armored so heavily that they could receive direct hits from tank's cannons, rocket launchers, missiles and aircraft bombardment! And comes out alive! Not just alive… But according to some stories… they came out unscathed! Without shedding not even a drop of blood!

This shocked ramie speechless…

This was completely unbelievable! How could a living thing made of flesh and blood survive these kinds of destructive explosions?

Aircrafts bombardments were known for having the destructive power to level up entire blocks, killing every living thing, and blasting apart even buildings into smithereens.

Even a tank… no! Even a group of the most advanced tanks would turn into molten scrap under this kind of assault!

Was he supposed to just believe that living creatures of flesh and bones could resist that!

But the problem was that some of the people he had asked claimed that they had witnessed this kind of occurrence taking place with their own eyes, speaking of even more unbelievable feats these creatures had pulled!!

A guy for an example said that he had seen a flying creature larger than a house bringing down an entire building with a single breath of fire!!

Someone else said that he witnessed a creature tearing apart a tank, biting it into scrap!!

How could ramie blindly believe these crazy stories…?

Were such feats even possible!

This was beyond his imagination.

The issue was however, these people were in no condition to make up stories, they didn't look crazy, and they were completely serious, absolutely sure of what they were saying. More ever, they genuinely looked terrified…

And the problem was that Ramie did not hear this kind of talk from just one person, but from many! One of them was a police officer. More ever, they were not conveying a rumor they had heard, but something they had witnessed with their own eyes.

Did everyone just go crazy? Were they exposed to some chemical attack that made them see illusions?

That was what he wanted to believe! The problem however, the army was indeed here, bombarding something. Also he did see abnormal corpses.

So, was he supposed to throw these stories aside, ignoring them? Was there any need for these people to lie to him?

But if these stories were really true, then calling these creatures 'vicious' was a misleading understatement.

These things were the very definition of the word 'monsters!'

But still, even despite his reluctant mind, he had no choice but to consider that this was the reality! And act accordingly.

Afterward, and according to the stories of people; the soldiers kept fighting and retreating from city to city, while evacuating what they could of civilians at the same time, until they reached here.

At this point, the army was not fighting to regain lands, but was fighting to keep its on footing, because if this situation was to continuous, then the army forces alongside the retreating people would be pushed to the sea.

Leading to how this current situation had come to be.

Realizing the severity of the situation, his heart was picture of gloom; heavy atmosphere soon dominated his soul, shrouding him like a mist, making him really blend in with the people around him.

Now he knew why those people appeared to be in such despair.

A lot of these people had come from another nearby cities, occupying the empty buildings that the original residents had left for the refugee camp in the east side of the city when the army established it first. And now that the army was retreating, the army started evicting them from these buildings, sending them to the east side too.

Since these people had come from other cities, they must have been in contact with these horrifying existences, witnessing the whole thing.

No wonder they were so terror-stricken!

The situation was really unsalvageable.

If everything the people that he asked said was true, and if these frightening creatures kept their current pace of attacks, then they would really run out of ground to retreat to.

At this moment he understood why the military wanted the boats so bad.

Apparently the military was preparing for the worst case scenario.

Didn't that mean that the military wasn't sure of winning this battle? And if the army really lost, and decided to retreat using these boats, then what would happen to him and the people around…?

Because, even when the military forces that were fighting few kilometers away from them had disregarded everything, using their entire arsenal of destructive weapons to bring down an entire building blocks on these creatures , they were still unable to even hold their own ground, continuously retreating back.

Then… what was he, a civilian, supposed to do...!?

Was there even away out…!

As he fell in deep silent, contemplating his situation, the cold sensation at the back of his left hand suddenly intensified, reminding him of an unbelievable fact, a one that was pushed to the back of his mind under the dire implications that the current situation was moving toward.

It was the voice in the dream, that Eric, and apparently everyone sleep at the time of the event had heard.

More specifically; it was the words that have been spoken…! The way they were spoken…! And the intense emotions behind them…!

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