Chapter 22: Humans vs humans (4)

His name was mal, and he was a thug.

Before the disaster strikes, he belonged to the lowest tier of society, spending his life from one crime to another.

He inwardly knew… that someday, the prison would be his final destination. As such, he did whatever he wanted, took whatever he wanted, and did that without a care or fear of the consequences…

But, he still had one red line, a one that he did not want to cross. And that was; to not take a life!

He had figured that since ending up in prison was unavoidable, considering his line of work, then, he might as well avoid committing anything that might send him to the death robe! As such, he spent his days like that…

Then, the disaster descended!

Before the disaster, he always held the notion that his life couldn't possibly get any worse… However, and after the descent of the disaster… he was proven to be wrong, completely wrong.

He had witnessed firsthand, people from different society classes, whether they were men, women, children, and elders, get torn apart alive indiscriminately, and eaten in a manner similar to the scenes in wild life documentaries, or horror movies.

Not even the dogs and cats in the streets were spared… It was an eye opener; awakening him to how nightmarish things could be. And now, this was his reality. A one that he had no escape from…

These creatures were simply the embodiment of horror. They didn't talk, didn't communicate, didn't reason, didn't spare…

Simply put, they attacked every living thing in their line of sight, ripping it apart with unparalleled savagery and cruelty.

Luckily, the military intervened in time, before he ends up in a fate more frightening than death itself.

Afterward, he ended up among those lucky enough to get saved by the timely intervention of the military, and was brought to this city. However, when he thought that things might get resolved, it didn't… and instead, hell followed him here.

It was at that time that he saw it…

A man with power and might that normal people can't possibly hope to match appeared. He saw the man slaughter the creatures that cornered them and started tearing them apart in the hotel that he and other people had escaped to. It was at then that he dared to hope again, believing that extraordinary figures do indeed emerge in times of disasters.

Later on, his delight reached an unprecedented level, as that same man actually taken the initiative to approach him and invite him to be part of his group.

For someone in his position, and even before the disaster, he was aware of the importance of belonging to a group. As in these groups, one would cover up for the other, and protect each other's backs. Unfortunately, no group deemed him worthy of joining their ranks even despite his efforts. But now that hell broke loose, and when being part of a group was countless times more necessary than prior to the disaster; a man of this great tier had actually taken the initiative to him to be part of his group.

Needlessly to mention, mal was beyond ecstatic.

Later on, his joy rose to a new level when his strong boss shared his plans with him and the others members of the group.

The boss's plan was genius, and if everything went well, then when the boss gets his hands on the artifact that the youth was possessing, then he would help them to survive through this ordeal, and even acquire some of these artifacts for them later on.

Unfortunately, the hotel was attacked by a very strong creature. And to survive, they had to run for their lives.

However, just as that chance was lost, another one came by, resenting itself to them! And so, they baited their prey into this store, to acquire the miraculous bracelet.

His part in the plan was to collide with another member to subdue the overly dressed man among the three targets, which was the easiest job, as that particular man had the smallest build among the three. Now, although the boss said to resort for the kill as a last resort, Mal had no intention to follow that order. As he didn't want to risk to give that man a chance to make a loud noise and attract some abomination to their location! As such, he intended to get close to him enough to deliver the killing blow by targeting his neck, crushing it with a single strike, which would deny him the chance to make any noise.

And so, as per the plan, he locked his sight on the target, intending to act on his thought. But what happened after that… caught him completely off guard…

Just as he took the first step toward the target… the man turned to face him with a knife, as though he had read his mind. At the same time, this masked man shouted, warning the other two, thus throwing their plan out of control from that point onward...

But still, they proceeded anyway, intending to acquire that bracelet no matter what, as to a large extent, their own survival depended on it.

So, along with another member of their group, he surrounded this weird man, who didn't have a bit of his skin exposed, not even his face. He intended to kill him as fast as possible.

And so, without wasting any more time, the two of them attacked using a chair and a table to avoid being injured or stabbed by this masked man. Mal expected the battle to conclude the moment they disarm him from the knife, which should take about few seconds considering the size of the target…

However, what happened afterward… had made him doubt even common sense.

The two of them had proceeded to beat him up black and blue, as though he was the killer of their parents. They had gone completely crazy on him, as if they were a pair of frustrated martial artist that were venting up their long built up hatred on a hateful punching bag.

They bombarded him with a barrage of punches, kicks, as well as every kind of attack they could think of. And they didn't do that in a single outburst, but went on and on for minutes and minutes with a relentless assault.

However, no matter how hard and how many times they beat him, the man just wouldn't die…!

It wasn't only that… but he actually kept on fighting them back the entire time, and even caused them injuries! This guy's energy seemed limitless, and he kept on attacking them with the same pace the entire time! It was as if he had no concept of tiredness…!

After a while, exhaustion took its toll on them. And they started finding it hard to maintain their attacking pace.

At that time, something completely ridiculous happened!

The masked man, whom should have been more than dead by then, considering the ruthless beat up that he had received… actually started to have the advantage in the fight!!

This man actually started to hit back, kick back, and slowly… he started to fight them on an equal footing!

And it went on until he managed to land back one hit for every one that he receives, and started inflicting some heavy damage on the two of them.

From being completely in control, they slide to fall in a tragic dog fight. A one that they could tell they were losing, gradually, and steadily.

As the fight progressed, their exhaustion grew heavier and heavier. And they started losing their strength, and along with it, their momentum.

While on this freaks end, he was still fighting them as vigorously as when this whole fight began. It appeared as though he had an endless vitality, as if the inflicted damage meant absolutely nothing to him.

'This guy is not human…' it was a thought that had crossed Mal's mind several times during the fight.

He had beaten up people so many times in the past that he couldn't even remember. And in all of these times, he had never encountered such inexplicable case. Even though he had attacked men that were stronger and larger than himself.

But this freak… he was something else!

He didn't even shout in pain, or shown any sign that might suggest that the beating was taken effect on him, or even slowing him down. The man was ignoring their attacks as if they were beating him with pillows.

He simply kept on attacking and attacking, tirelessly, like a bug that keeps on coming and coming, relentlessly, no matter how many times one shoos it away.

As the fight continued, the advantage was favoring that fellow more and more over them, and his momentum was rising steadily.

Still, this wasn't even the most aggravating matter in this confrontation.

But no! More importantly, how could on earth that this man was still standing on his feet, and not turned into a blooded corpse on the floor after all this beating…??

They had a better fighting experience than him, were stronger than him, and more importantly, there were two of them! And only one of him…! Then, how could things on earth turn out this way…??

At first, the two of them had exerted all of their power to overpower him as quick as possible, to finish the fight in the quickest manner possible. But as time went on… the three of them fell in a heated battle; where instead of the two of them trying to take him out… gradually, they instead started falling in a struggle to repel his relentless attacks, to defend their own lives!

How could things turn this way…?

The sight was exceedingly ridiculous! It was as if two muscular bulldogs were struggling to repel a cat.

And just when Mal couldn't imagine things going worst… they actually did...

As the fight went on, the sun classes that the wrapped up man was wearing had shattered, and the scarf that he had used to cover his face fell off.

Now, it had to mention that throughout the fight, the two of them were trying to finish him off. So, they mostly tried to concentrate on his face and head. As such, this man had done all he can to protect that area. And they actually let him do that, as in their professional opinion, this strategy of his had left a lot of openings unguarded in his body. Which suited them perfectly, allowing them to inflict more damage on him, or so they had thought…

What mal saw at then, had completely and utterly shattered his remaining will to fight. He now understood why this man… no… why did this thing covered itself up.

So far, a lot of inexplicable thing seemed to just happen around in the world… with no explanations. So, Mal didn't rule out the possibility that this thing was actually a creature, disguising himself as a man, wanting to toy around with his food before tearing him apart mercilessly?

However, upon recalling the fact that this thing shouted to warn the other two men with him, Mal discarded this likelihood.

Probably, this was a man that had suffered some creature attack or something, which caused him to look like this.

Looking at this terrifying anomaly of a man, the worst thing about him was the eyes… those monstrous, yellow irises that shone in a stark contrast to the black sclera and black pupils… it made one feel as though an aberration from the depth of hell was staring deeply at him.

At this point, mal no longer wished to fight… he was simply too badly frightened to do so. As after seeing this man's face, all the remaining energy had seeped away like frightened kitten, as if refusing to stand up to this monstrosity.

Mal fall to the ground and started gasping for breath. At this point, he could only hope these three men had good hearts, and weren't as ruthless as their group was.

However, just then…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

A high pitched screech that was akin to a woman giving birth exploded in the bakery store.

Mal's response to ramie's face was to give up on the fight and surrender. However, the other man with him was so deeply frightened by Ramie's face that he cried out atop his lungs, without holding back in the least.

At this moment, Mal was so furious, that he wanted to smash the idiot's head to a pulp. To him, the idea of one of these creatures attacking him was hundredths of times worse than the group of those three torturing him and then killing him tenths of times.

That's how frightened he was from these creatures.

…