28 February 2013
The listless shrubs run by as the water flows behind it, easing its way backwards as the shrubs hurry before it.
I watched as they did so. It was just another boring night with my mum and little brother..
Suddenly a scream tears my consciousness into reality and the van swerves. I hold on to dear life in fear the top heavy car would flop over. My abnormal silent and calm reactions prevent me from doing anything more.
As soon as the car ceased its wary stop, we get out of the car to see the damage. I find that we stand over a rather large injured turtle.
My first instinct judging by the visual wounds were to allow its misery to end, however my mother and little brother decided it would be in everyone's best interest to take it to an animal facility open even over night.
I stare back at the turtle whose head is halfway smashed open and bleeding like a stream then think to myself that there's no way they're serious. I look at them to confirm then indulge them in their idea.
I carry the turtle with minimal help back to the van and over some conveniently found tarp and ride in the back as we drove over there. All I could think about during the ride over there is whether or not when my zoology career takes off... Will I be dealing with the same levels of intelligence?
Every bump was sensitive to the turtle, it's skin peeling and part of its skull flapping with each one like grass on a windy day.
As soon as we reach the compound I am absolutely yet silently astonished when I found that the turtle had made some recovery; a miracle of impossibility at best.
Incoherent suspicion flooded my mind at that moment as if it were a faint sign, desperately trying to warn me of some forgotten omen.
I keep quiet and lugged the huge snapping turtle-like animal into the compound and followed my family through.
"Are you sure they're open? Why is it dark?" I ask as we walk through the damp cave-like place alive with animals. Such irony that a dark, unlit area would have such lively animals... And oddly enough.. No glowing eyes..
We go down some stairs and through mazes of hallways to reach a rather lonely set of elevators. Exhausted from the trek, I demand haste.
We travel inside the elevator and puzzlingly they press a single button in the forest of buttons. Things were getting curiouser and curiouser. I've certainly never been here before myself but when could they have the time to...? ... Oh well....
We hit the floor and the doors lazily pull themselves open, revealing a wandering woman in what looked like a lab coat. She greets us as soon as she saw us and we tell her the situation.
I am puzzled again that this woman is by herself working here in the middle of the night. Again I don't question. I'm the perfect victim...
We follow her through halls and she allows me to rest the not-so injured turtle on a settlement as we follow her.
"Aren't you going to tend to the Rafael?" I asked.
She turned to me. "Whose Rafael?"
"The turtle..."
"You named it Rafael?"
"I figured Michael Angelo has been used out..."
Dismissing my shenanigans we continue through. I see a rather big dog in a cage in which I fondly recognize it as a wolfhound.
The towering dog licked the glass at my easily without any attempt to reach higher limits. I laugh happily with myself as everyone else looked on I'm seemingly disgust.
I follow later as they leave me behind and they reach into a room. The woman stopped with her back towards us and we waited for a long minute for any signs of life.
Moments later she turns her head towards us slightly with what looked like a grin. She opens the door slowly...
Screams leave the room as it burst open and black shadows fly out, viciously consuming the laughing woman, tearing clothes, flesh and anything else they could possibly rip from her.
I simply take a stance in fear as my little brother stood feet from her torn and tattered body around the ravenous entities.
They set their eyes on him and I immediately grab him and release a reacting guttural growl towards them, baring my human teeth at their obviously more dangerous razors of teeth, already covered in blood from the woman.
I demand to my mum to run and push my brother forward enough to kick start a run from them.
The animals rise with chatter in what seemed like angst until I looked at each cage, filled with entities already devouring them and some revealing what the entities were doing...
They were releasing each other from their fleshy or furred prison... Everything and everyone in the building was infected with the unknown virus..
I use a cart to somehow push away the entities and throw my cell phone as hard as I could at the elevator button, pressing the door open in time for my family to get inside.
I attempt to retrieve my whale cases cell phone, perhaps the only thing that saved my cell phone's life, and run to the door. Inches from the door I am swatted hard in the face, pushing my body to the floor.
In a daze, I hold my head and watch the shocked faces of my family as the door rightfully closed, damning me to the entities' wrath.
I was glad they could get away... I'd rather me than them.... But you can sure as hell bet that I'm not going down without a fight!!
Thinking quickly, I roll to the side, thinking this was the excitement I always wanted, the chance to test my awesome reflexes. It was a melancholy thought that I wouldn't live to talk about it but I was determined to make it a good run.
I slide under a desk, pulling with all my body weight down with it, tipping it forward and halting the chase for a moment as I run across the hallway corner.
Ignoring the stinging burn from the slide, I run huffing and puffing moderately, testing out my stamina.
Finally, I meet with a dead end. I turn around and smile; I truthfully always wanted to die but this way was a lot more exciting than anything I would have imagined.
I turn around to see the entities in forms of black dogs, baring their razor teeth towards me as I equip myself with a flower pot and a broken off leg from the wooden stand it laid on.
Relying on my reflexes, my positivity and my acceptance that this was the end, I await the painful and inevitable death that awaited me.
"Come on, you sorry excuses for 'yotes!!" I scream at them, my eyes slightly watering either from my human reactions or my subconscious fear that I naturally ignored.
As if in slow motion, the pack barked into a frenzy and began to run towards me in lenient form. One lunged forward with teeth barred and I managed to land a swat to the head, breaking the wooden leg on his dome and ironically sliding into his right eye socket, releasing a pained screech throughout the room as his body fell onto my, forcing me under him.
Somehow I knew he wasn't dead... I push him off as he scrambled to get the stake from his eye. This only momentarily taken the focus from me as the rest ran over their injured comrade as if he were just another debris in their way and running towards me.
I pull the longer rest of the stand over me, shielding me poorly from the immense weight of the dark animals.
I hear growling, snapping and gnarling as I fight for dear life, only thinking that I wish I lived my life better but am accepting of it.
Just as I thought I was going to die first from either exhaustion or maul, I am pulled from under the stand by my boot and pulled from the hallway; the animals apparently unaware of my escape.
I turn to my new captor in readiness to see it was that rather large wolfhound. His shaggy mane slagging along as he panted happily. In complete trust, I give him a pat and he leads me off.
Through a ménage of hallways and stairs, he leads me downstairs where I find my family outside, my mum consulting with someone.
A lone puppy follows and hops into the arms of my little brother. I run outside and am informed that we were parting; I'm entrusted with taking care of my little brother.
We hop into the back of a messy pick up truck with the wolfhound simply lifting his legs to get inside with no effort. I cradle my little brother as we watch with sorrow as we drive off, my mum driving off in a different van.
My brother, uncomfortable, asks about the situation I'm which I just ask and settle him in with a pillow. I wondered at that moment if dying in that place would have been a better fate...
We finally reach our destination: home.
I run past the gates with my little brother in front and we are greeted just before we get inside by my mum and sister.
We get inside and I see two childhood friends within. My sister showers them with gifts as I sit next to my nephew.
I was compelled outside by my mum calling my name by the door, telling me someone was outside for me.
I walk outside and midway to the gate, I begin to get chased!
I run to the gate and a man pushes back the man with such force, he was forced back to the house. He pulls me out from the gate and secures the lot area, telling me to secure the other gate.
Just in time before the ravenous man caught up to me, I shut the gate and put a lock on; the gate's original lock was broken.
The demon persisted that the gate wasn't locked and I taunted him. He screamed in anger.
The man walked up to me and a can behind me opened, chatter commencing.
"Found your girlfriend..." A rather shaggy headed young man non-chalantly claimed. "Should keep a better eye on her."
"Shut up," the man approaching me demanded. His white hair reminiscent of your typical Japanese anime bad boy. His long black jacket covering his lights skinned body. "Are you alright?" He asked, putting his arms around me.
"Yeah.. I guess..." I replied in shock. Immediately angered that he wasn't there sooner.
"Looks like there was an entire facility of them, man. Got your girl out just in time to shit her pants..."
At that moment I realized that that young man was none other than the same wolfhound that saved me.
"Thanks, by the way," I commented.
He winked
Initial Initiation • Opuss № I