It was moving slowly, at first being quite a ways away, only basic features being discernable, like a massive frame and a weapon of some kind in its right hand along with what seemed to be a chain in the left. With every step it took towards the school one of the three terrified students gasped with fear, each of them praying for this to be nothing more than a bad dream, an empty hope that was viciously shattered once the monstrosity stood at the gate, torso puffed out, pride gleaming in its hideous eyes. Rin couldn’t take it anymore, she ducked and turned her back to the window, hands covering her face, sobbing as quietly as she could, Souta was shaking uncontrollably looking at the abomination, the human brain seemingly being incapable of processing such fear, Ryusei himself was holding back tears with everything he had, the sense of dread was unbearable as he gazed upon such an unholy form. By his mental measurements it was at least eight feet tall, possibly even more, it looked humanoid or at least that was the way his brain took in the information, burned, dark red skin was stretched over muscles, that were defined beyond the hopes of what a human could achieve naturally or otherwise. He counted four clawed fingers on the hand that was facing him, hand which held the now in full view weapon, a mix between a war axe and a middle eastern sword, it had a short handle and a blade that connected like that of an axe but which extended in a downward curvature all the way to the wrist. Hooven feet carried the beast to its horrible mission but before he could make any further observations, his attention, as well as that of the equally terrified Rin and Souta was drawn to the thing’s face, as it roared with a deafening ferocity, exposing teeth that could pass for butcher’s knives. The roar shook Ryusei, causing him to lose control of his tears, ducking behind the window frame similarly to how Souta did it a few seconds earlier. The trio looked at eachother, pure, unadulterated, primal fear on display on their faces but amidst the tears and horror something prompted Rin to let out a few words in a hushed, scared yet somehow defiant tone. “Guys, the basement!” Souta and Ryusei first looked at each other bewildered then shot Rin the same look, before nodding. Without saying any words, Ryusei gestured at himself and the window, signaling that he’d keep watch, then gesturing at Souta and the floor, where, under a patch of rubber carpet sat the door between them and potential salvation. Raising his eyes to the window frame again Ryusei scanned the area, the monster was now standing in the middle of the yard, talking in an alien language to a couple of smaller, green reptilian beings, Ryusei thought to himself that they were plotting how to siege the school. With Ryusei on the lookout, Souta put his strength to use, the door was heavy and unopened in quite a while so opening it was no easy feat, but with the fear of death motivating him and one silent grunt later, it gave way. Rin was the first one to slip in, holding it open for Souta, who finally called Ryusei to join them. The “basement” as they referred to it, was significantly smaller than the shed, only designed to fit one person and a small amount of items that needed long term storage, definitely not three people at once. The atmosphere was damp and dusty, the air was warm and the space cramped, it felt like the oxygen level was depleting with every breath taken but soon enough, not even half an hour later, all three of them would be thanking their lucky stars, as the sound of broken and burning wood rang from above. After the initial blow the planks above their heads creaked as the little light that was coming through the gaps in the floorboards was progressively covered and revealed by a being that was moving along the ruins of the shed. Ryusei was looking up fear plastered all across his face with a hint of deathly defiance, Rin refused to look and quietly sobbed on his back while Souta was doing his best not to shiver. Satisfied with the reconnaissance job it did, the monster turned to leave and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.


    Minutes turned to hours and the sun gave way to the moon, the trio losing the little light that was coming through the cracks as time passed and oxygen levels were starting to diminish in the basement. With night now officially setting in and the sounds from outside dwindling to halt and giving into an eerie silence, Rin was the first to speak, “We should try going outside, it’s either we die down here for sure or we risk it all out there!” Souta, whose back was pressed against the ladder leading into the basement for hours now grunted in agreement and while scared, Ryusei was also eager to leave the damp basement atmosphere. Souta was the first to ascend, lifting the trapdoor just enough to scan the perimeter in a hope of seeing any threat before it saw them. The darkness did not allow him to see much of anything but the silence was taken as a confirmation of isolation and he flipped the trapdoor exiting first while Ryusei and Rin followed in short order.


    While the outside air was not as stale as the one below, it was anything but clean, it had a putrid smell combined with the various burning scents of wood, flesh and everything in between. It hit everyone like a suckerpunch, all of them trying to keep in gags and gasps to no avail as the smell penetrated their nostrils. Rin felt as if what she’d eaten the day before was coming back to haunt her and Souta already tore the lower part of his shirt and tied it around his mouth and nose while a dizzy Ryusei was questioning the efficacy of that in his head as he was trying to regain his composure and make sense of the current situation and whether there was any hope. Ryusei checked his phone for the first time in what felt and actually was hours, he hadn’t touched it while hiding in an effort to save battery as did Souta, both of them doing so because of Rin’s instructions. The time read 01:32AM, they spent over half a day’s worth of time hiding but now that they are out, “what’s next?” was on everyone’s mind. Understanding the destruction that had just unfolded was a task none of them were equipped to handle, the shed was reduced to mere rubble, the school building was slumped to one side as if it was trying to sink into the ground, eastern side first, if you didn’t know better you could mistake it for a shipwreck that somehow made landfall in the middle of a city. Rin, composing herself gestured towards them to listen, in a hushed, tired yet determined tone she proposed collecting any kendo gear that might’ve survived the destruction and heading towards the nearest convenience store, before their reserves of adrenaline and energy run out for good. The plan had a million and one faults and any of those could lead to their hopefully swift deaths but looking at the alternative of wasting away cramped like a sardine in the basement was somehow even more unappealing to both Souta and Ryusei, so they agreed with Rin. The search for anything useful commenced, moving rubble, ash and charred things aside proved to be somewhat fruitful, Ryusei managed to find two shinai, neither of them were intact but there was enough left to strike at someone with but considering the size of the monster he saw earlier he doubted these would be more than mental relief if that. Souta found a backpack and a few pieces of protective gear that could be made useful given enough creativity, namely half a helmet, some torn gloves, a chestplate without the mounting harness and two boots that luckily while not the same size were of the opposing sides. Rin found one usable backpack, it was torn and burned in some spots but one could still strap it to their body and one of the compartments was apparently intact. It was not much, in fact it was far too little but the three of them had no choice but to make do with what they had, as if in an RPG type game the three of them designated tasks for each other, this experience brought them together, they were either going to make it, if at all possible or die trying as a team. Souta was given the better looking shinai and most of the protective gear as he would go in front, Rin was given the backpack in which she put the rocks she thought would hurt the most to be hit by while Ryusei got the other shinai and the rest of the protective gear. The formation had Souta leading while Rin was in the middle and Ryusei was watching their backs. Deep down all three of them knew that if they were to come face to face with one of those beings it would spell their end but having a formation of sorts somehow lessened the anxiety,  guess the human mind will look for structure even in the most unlikely of scenarios. The convenience store was not that far away, a normal walk would take the average person about ten minutes from the school and ten back. Exchanging one last look between themselves the three started heading out slowly making their way through the rubble towards what was once the school gate. Stepping outside the school perimeter felt both terrifying and relieving for everyone, tired as they may be, getting to move their bodies after such a long period of being cramped together felt liberating. The terrifying part came after they gazed at once was their city, a single gasp escaped from Rin while the other two looked mortified at the horrible display of destruction that was panning out as far as the eye can see. The landscape that unfolded before them was nothing short of a ruin, in place of most buildings stood mere piles of rubble and the eerily quiet of the night was only broken by flames that seemed to burn with an unnatural vigor and were strangely contained. What once was an easy walk filled with laughter and banter alongside friends turned into what felt like a death march, each step was hard and needed to be placed carefully in the ruins of the city while watching for any movements that might spell death. Debris and corpses littered the path forward, it was too much to look at and the trio kept a stern gaze on the path forward, their meager phone flashlights set on the lowest setting to save power and avoid detection from the horrors that might be lurking out there.


    With the walk through what seemed like hell they finally arrived at where the convenience store is supposed to be, only to find a pile of rubble and ash. Souta’s blood drained from his face and his knees were one breeze away from buckling under the dread while Rin was on the verge of tears and Ryusei in adamant defiance and a touch of recklessness decided to circle de pile of debris, hoping that the back of the store was still intact and had an entrance. He found most of what he was looking for and a lot of what he wasn’t, namely the back appeared to be intact but was covered by obstacles. Upon closer inspection and a few chunks of wood and concrete thrown to the side, a window frame revealed itself and he beckoned Rin and Souta to help him clear a hole big enough for a person to enter. They worked through the mounting exhaustion, hunger and thirst until an entrance was made, Rin slipping inside first with Souta following suit quickly after and Ryusei coming in last. The inside of the store was pitch black, one could not see their hand in front of their face even if they tried but something that could be readily felt was the smell of death and a dry gulp could be heard from everyone in near perfect unison. With the little light provided by their phones they started exploring the store, Souta was beaming at the ceiling, judging if it was going to fall or not but enough of the support structure was apparently intact that it would not fall unless hit pretty hard. Ryusei was cursing near a power outlet trying all sorts of different chargers he’d found but to no avail, the grid was down. Meanwhile Rin was looking for food and water, nearing the counter the smell was getting stronger and that’s when it happened, she stepped on something softer than the tile floor and when she pointed her light down she saw it, the owner of the store had taken it upon himself to not fall prey to the monsters, dried blood leading to a bullet sized hole in the side of his head. Rin could not even muster a scream when she saw it, all her bravado and toughness was shattered and the strength in her legs was gone, vision turning black with horror and all that was heard at that moment was a thud. Both Ryusei and Souta upon hearing that didn’t even bother to call her out, whatever had happened she was in danger and they raced towards her, upon seeing the scene Souta’s expression darkened and he vomited while Ryusei was visibly shocked. “Souta, find a blanket or something and lay her on the counter… I… will take care of the body” with those words Ryusei bent down and picked up the owner of the store, what was once a cheery old man was now a cold heft on his back, he could not help but gag, not only at the smell but at what he was pushed to do, it felt wrong, so, so wrong but he had to do it. Stepping through the window he spotted a clearing in the debris a few meters away and put the body to rest there, ushering a quiet apology before leaving. Returning to Souta and more importantly now, Rin, he had a worried look on his face and Souta seeing that assured him that she was still breathing, hearing that a bit of relief rose inside his body as he went to check on his now quiet friend, still chest contracting and expanding at a steady rate. Although not much information could be garnered by simply looking at her, she appeared to have no major injuries, just some scratches. As he turned back, Souta whispered “What did you do with the body?”, “I took it outside, at least the old man went out on his own terms, more importantly, where’s the gun?”. Taken aback by the response Souta pointed to a shelf, stood there was the tool that was used to escape the monsters, one way or another, a thought crept into Ryusei’s mind, “will they have to resort to the same?”, for some reason he felt like chuckling at the thought, even though the situation was anything but comical. Inspecting the firearm it was a pistol of some kind, Ryusei was not familiar with guns besides the bare basics like safety, magazine release/reload and to always treat them like they’re loaded, checking for ammo, he released the magazine and it appeared to still have some shots left, how many though he could not tell.”Souta, we’ll leave the decision on what to do with the gun later, it appears to still have some ammo, before that, let’s find something to eat and drink”, all Souta could do was nod, Ryusei was not a very talkative person to begin with but the shift in demeanor was palpable, the spring in his voice was gone and the look in his eyes was sad and yet somehow angry, not at him but at the situation, the world even. The only things that were edible at that point were dry things like biscuits, chips and so on, lucky for them most of the bottled and canned liquids survived and as they were eating, Souta proposed the idea “Ryusei, we should sleep in shifts as soon as possible, energy drinks will only get us so far.”, “get us so far…” Ryusei thought, “get us to where”, but he could not argue with the sound logic put forth by his friend and nodded in agreement while munching on some bread that felt like a brick. “Before we do that though, let’s ready some food for Rin in case she wakes up during that time, helps if the one that’s awake doesn’t have to scramble to find something and she’ll be hungry for sure”, Souta shot him a thumbs up “Great idea, let’s make sure she wakes up to some great food!”. His enthusiasm for his friend made Ryusei smile slightly, “Yeah…let’s”. With the agreement in place they gathered some biscuit packs, potato chips bags, two energy drinks and some bottles of water, placing them to the side, as for how they were gonna determine who went to sleep first, the classic game of rock-paper-scissors was employed, and with a resounding victory of Souta’s rock over Ryusei’s scissors, he laid down on the floor and rest his head on the side of his kendo helmet that was now covered with a towel to make it somewhat more pleasant. Left utterly alone in the store, Ryusei took account of the situation, it was nearly 4AM, they were unsure if anyone else in the city was alive, the power grid was down, they had no idea where to go and to top it all off one of them was unconscious. The only problem that maybe had a temporary solution was that of their dwindling phone batteries, convenience stores usually had some cheap power banks for sale, if he was lucky he’d find some and they maybe had some charge. Rummaging through rubble, and various miscellaneous items that were of no use to him currently he located some power banks, plugging one into his phone it started charging, seeing a few more he took them and plugged Rin’s and Souta’s phones as well, the banks had indicator LEDs which read that they were only half full but anything was better than nothing at that point. Time was passing slowly, he could not come up with anything when wondering just what those abominations were or where they  came from, or what their powers are. They looked like monsters that walked straight out of a video game, powers and all but that was just impossible. As he was pondering trying not to fall asleep before his turn came all their phones lit up at the same time, lunging for them in order to prevent them from making a sound that never came, Ryusei read the title of the silent alert: “In attention to all survivors wherever you may be, this is a message from the United States Military”. Intrigued by the prospect, he also spotted the WIFI icon light up together with the alert he realized they were not alone in the world for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Turning his screen brightness to the lowest setting allowed, limiting refresh rate and tweaking every available setting in order to save battery he started reading. “In attention to all survivors wherever you may be, this is a message from the United States Military. As you have surely already experienced we are dealing with an unprecedented enemy that threatens our very existence and whose origins are as unknown as their objectives. All the world governments have stopped any bickering and hostilities and decided to come together as one to best combat this. Firstly, we have deployed a global array of satellites, allowing  free internet connectivity from any device capable. Secondly, based on preliminary casualty data we have decided to consolidate as many survivors and resources in a few key locations, those being: the east coast of the United States, especially Washington D.C., central Europe (Germany, Poland, France), central Asia (China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan). We will update these recommendations as more data flows in, please remember to follow the guidance of your local government first and foremost. Stay safe and vigilant, humanity will prevail!”. Having read that Ryusei could not help but wonder, how bad must the global damage be if all the world governments conceded guide their people to such  few locations, on top of that, where precisely in those locations and how does one get there, his mind was a mess and seeing as the clock read 8AM he woke Souta up, it was Ryusei’s turn to sleep.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Groggy and still visibly tired, Souta got up and before he could assess his surroundings, Ryusei pointed a phone in his face and prompted him to read, after which he laid down, arms under his head acting as a pillow and drifted asleep. Souta scanned the information, it seemed unbelievable, had humanity been reduced to a mere defensive fleeing? As he kept reading a message interrupted his lecture: “We are planning a bombing raid and you are currently in the target area, please respond to this message immediately so we can begin extraction efforts!”. This was going from bad to worse, Ryusei went to sleep a little under an hour ago and Rin was still out cold, now they were going to get bombs dropped on their heads, this must be a joke he thought, yet it was as real as the monsters and the destruction around them. Gulping a dried breath, Souta shook Ryusei awake “Ugh, is my time up?, You’re joking, right?” rubbing his eyes he set his eyes on his friend who had the look of death painted on his face. “What’s wrong, are monsters around?”, he did not need details to know it was bad, he could simply infer it from Souta’s expression. Ryusei took the phone he was handed and read the dreadful message “Shit!” was all he could say as he angrily tapped the “Reply for rescue button”. He was not very hopeful, rightfully so, if the damage was on a scale like this, what did three meager lives matter, “nothing” was the obvious answer. A link to a map was also provided with the message, besides it reading “04:12:41 until bombing raid starts” at the top, it also had one key point marked “Resistance Center”. The map was as bare bones as possible, providing only a view of the streets and buildings, landmarks were completely excluded save for the singular marked point, judging by where it was, Ryusei figured it was the cinema that served as the last bastion of his once beautiful city. “Souta, check the perimeter outside, we need to get out of here or we’re toast!”, a scared and somewhat angry Souta shot back “You hit the rescue button right?!, Don’t you think we should wait?” Souta’s naivety sent pangs of anger into Ryusei and he snapped “No one is coming to rescue us!, Who gives a shit about three lives?!, Damn it, I’ll check outside, gather as many energy drinks and some canned food, also, wake her up, if she doesn’t budge, we''re carrying her!”. Souta was visibly taken aback, he’d never seen his friend so angry, so desperate and devoid of hope but ultimately, he did as instructed.  Ryusei slowly stepped outside, if someone told him it was still night time he would’ve believed them, the sky was gray and sunlight barely protruded the heavy dust clouds, this was hell. Looking around he could not spot any hostels, just the obvious signs that they were here not very long ago. He took a moment to reflect on how he acted towards Souta, he wasn’t proud of it but was conscious he might need to do it again, maybe even towards Rin, he hated it, but could not see any other way, their lives were at stake. Souta found a bunch of canned foods, small sweets and some energy drinks, he threw that and what they’d prepared for Rin to eat upon her waking up, judging by Ryusei’s demeanor, she was not going to enjoy breakfast. “Coast is clear!”, bellowed a voice from the entrance whose hurried steps were getting ever closer. Taking a look at the backpack Souta prepared, Ryusei nodded in approval and shifted his gaze towards the still unconscious Rin, “Did you try waking her up?”, his tone was calmer than before but a certain coldness was obvious as the missing daylight, something about Ryusei changed and all Souta could muster was a quiet “no” as he focused on putting the kendo gear back on. He made his way to Rin and looked down, her still figure is much more peaceful than her usual self he though but this was not the time for that, he put his hands on her shoulders and gently rocked her left and right a few times, eventually getting a response in the form of a cough and her eyes opening. She sat upright looking around, thoughts of what happened before her collapse rushing into her head, and upon realizing it was not merely a bad dream a silent tear escaped her right eye. As soon as she could perceive the world around her again, a distant yet familiar voice filled her in on the details, they were running for the cinema or die trying. At first she wanted to protest but the chilling fact that they were a mere point on a map made her reconsider, on the other hand Ryusei stated that there was no enemy in sight, so what gave them the idea to carpet bomb the city, upon voicing this concern a simple answer that she could’ve thought of had she been more alert was pointed out. “Look at the map, they are bombing everything around the cinema and a few other buildings in quite a large radius, if it’s not to kill the enemy this will surely make it harder for them to attack again, the officials are most likely betting on an air evacuation.”. Standing, Rin had gathered herself, the cinema was a bit over a kilometer away, usually  a hearty and enjoyable walk, now a run for survival. As they were heading towards the exit, Souta spoke up, “We have a bit under four hours, I suggest we take the path that puts us out in the open the least and listen carefully before taking any corner.”. Ryusei agreed, the logic was sound, even though they could not see the enemy that did not mean it could not see them and taking the alley path wasn’t that much of a detour.


    Once again the three of them stood in front of the destruction brought by this unknown enemy, now running for their lives not only under that threat but that of the radical actions taken by their fellow humans.