Chapter 3: Cataclysm, Pt 3
Kaja grabs you by your wrist and tugs, hard. Though she never utters a word, you hear her scream at you with every fiber of your being - "Run!"
The two of you break into a run, even as her word echoes in your mind.
As you flee from the subway entrance, even more of those large insects climb their way out. Many of them covered in the blood of countless people. You turn away, sickened at the sight of it, and horrified at the thought of whatever slaughter is occurring beneath your feet.
By now, many have since regained consciousness - at least those who didn't die outright. And they too have launched into a panic at seeing what has been happening all around.
Their screams echo up and down the streets as they run from whatever horrors are out there, whether it's the crumbling city or murderous insects, or whatever else could be out there. You don't even want to know any longer.
All this is already far too much for you to handle.
But the fear of getting torn to pieces is plenty enough for you to put one foot in front of the other as fast as you possibly can.
You don't get more than a few blocks away before you feel your heart beating hard in your chest, and you have to consciously remind yourself to breathe to keep in step. But find yourself failing your own body. It isn't long until you find yourself out of breath and out of sorts.
As a result, you stumble down onto your knees as you take in huge gulps of air into your lungs. You try your best to hide under a robust awning, even as the building above you crumbles into pieces.
"I… can't," you mutter sloppily.
You feel your blood pump all around your head as you glance up at Kaja, who looks as though she's also breathing hard from the run. But unlike you, she's far more physically capable, and far more fit.
Her face contorts as worry sets in. She glances in every direction in search of danger before resting her eyes back on you.
"We can't stay here," she says. "We've gotta keep moving."
"Just need… couple seconds…" you blurt out between heavy breaths.
But you know it's a lie. You need a whole lot more than a couple seconds.
Your lungs burn from all the running, and your legs feel weak. It feels as though you're pretty much at your limit physically, even though you haven't done a lot of running. You silently curse yourself for being so sedentary most of your life.
Not that it helps you at the moment.
Kaja looks at you for a few seconds with her lips pursed and her brow wrenched. The worry is plainly painted on her face, and her voice is filled with concern. More than you've ever experienced your entire life.
"You've gotta push through it," she tells you.
"I can't!" you plead.
"You have to. If we don't, we're gonna get buried or killed or who knows what…"
You bob your head in understanding.
And so you pull yourself together as much as you can. Just like when you were knocked out by overwhelming pain, when you had pulled your disparate shards together, you once again draw inward.
Though it's only a fraction of what you had accomplished in that prior moment, you're able to gather up enough energy and pour it into your body. A kind of power flows through your body, your muscles, your lungs, your heart, and eases them to a degree.
You pick yourself up, at least partially renewed, nod to Kaja, then launch back into a run.
Though instead of going at a breakneck speed, the two of you mind your pace. Or perhaps more accurately, Kaja keeps you from overextending yourself by pacing herself.
"How'd you do that?" she asks you. "It's like you energized yourself. I kinda felt you do it…"
"I dunno," you answer. "I just kinda drew myself inward. Can't explain it."
She nods in slight understanding, even as you begin to pant heavily again.
"Where are we running?" you continue. "Can't just keep going aimlessly, or I'm gonna run outta strength again."
"Cop station maybe. Or a hospital. Firehouse. Anyone who can help figure out what's going on."
Your mind blazes at the choices she gives you. All sound good, except one sounds best. If there's going to be dangerous killer insects everywhere, then you're going to need to protect yourselves somehow.
Or at least someone to do it for you.
"Cops. We do cops," you breathe out. "They've got guns at least."
"Alright," Kaja says. "There's a station near here, let's go for it. We'll get help, then go get your Dad."
The two of you increase your pace as you turn the corner down the street and head towards the nearest police station.
The city around you is still in chaos - buildings are still crumbling as crystals erupt from the ground. The high-pitched humming of those insects seem to come from every direction, as does the screaming of panicked people.
Large chunks of concrete and glass rain down all around you even while the ground shakes madly. Still.
Though you feel as though the eruptions seem to be ebbing and slowing down. Not that you're any less pressed to run for your life. An overwhelming sense of fear and panic flows all around you, no doubt a product of what everyone in the city is currently feeling and experiencing.
Somehow, you're able to sense it all, and it diffuses into your very being.
And it's a wholly new feeling for you.
But despite it all, you focus your attention on the goal at hand. While you feel your energy slipping as you run, you also do your best to draw in energy to keep yourself on both feet and upright. It takes much of your concentration to keep it up, but the last thing you want to do is fall and fail.
Not now, not at the end of the world.
You glance over at Kaja, as she runs just ahead of you.
Your heart sinks slightly at the sight of her. She has always been much more capable than you, a goal-oriented go-getter as she describes in her own resume. Kaja has always been the type of person to go and get the thing they want, no matter what's in front of them or in their way.
Very much unlike yourself, who is much more content to watch the world pass by. As though you're lazily floating on a tube going downriver.
Even after all these years, you have no idea why the two of you are together. Or rather, were together.
As though she's reading your mind, she turns back to glance at you.
"Why'd you break up with me?" she asks.
"You're bringing this up now?" you protest.
"If we're gonna die at the end of the world, I wanna know."
"You're overwhelming," you say. "I really meant it when I said you don't give me space. I need it."
"And I really meant when I said you're lying," she replies. You sense a shard of hurt embedded in her words.
"It isn't just about you needing time and space, and you know it. Tell me already, before…"
Kaja trails off in anticipation of your response.
You tighten your lips to match the way your heart feels. You want to say more, to open up with what you're feeling deep inside. But you can't. You don't know how. Rather, you get a sense that she knows more about what's stopping you than you know yourself.
Instead of replying, you look away in silence.
In doing so, your eyes fall on your destination - the police station at 5th & Central.
"Look!" you blurt out.
And it's a madhouse of activity. Dozens of cops are outside the station itself, all doing their best to contain the chaos. But it's clear that they're far out of their depth.
They call a few people over to them for safety, but the vast majority of the people running around screaming simply don't care. There's too much going on for them to even realize what's going on.
One of them beckons the two of you over frantically, as though to pull you in from the chaos, as though somehow the police station is immune from it all. But with everything that's going on, you find relief from any measure of reprieve.
"You two! Get over here!" shouts the cop.
The two of you oblige as fast as you can. You run over, even as many others simply keep going.
By this point, the rumbling and ground quakes have all but stopped. The crystals are still growing and tearing through a number of buildings all around, but far slower than before. As a result, the destruction has greatly lessened in intensity.
"What the hell is going on right now?" Kaja demands of the cop.
The concerned and confused look on his face answers the both of you before he can even respond.
"How should I know?" he retorts. "Felt like my body was on fire for a minute, and when it was done, all this was happening!"
"Don't you all have radios and whatnot? Aren't the stations linked to each other?!"
"Yeah, sure. But they ain't exactly working. All we get is static, or weird tones."
The cop then activates the two-way radio attached to his chest and shows you what he means. The only sounds that come from it are odd squelches and radio static.
You can just barely hear an insectoid tone in the background, mixed in with all kinds of audio signals. There's a massive groaning that sends a chill up and down your spine. It sounds like something massive is moving, or in pain, or something. The groan doesn't just seem odd - it sounds otherworldly.
It's something that's beyond you, and you shudder at what it could be. Maybe some massive insect, much larger than the ones you've already seen.
You're not sure if Kaja heard it or not, but she seems much more intent on other things.
"Well what the fuck are we supposed to do about all this?" she demands.
"Look lady, we're doing everything we can," the cop replies. "If we can get people together, then we can at least get the hell out of the city as a group. Evacuate or something. But right now, we're just doing whatever we can to keep people calm."
"You're not doing a great job at it."
"Well then since you know everything, you give it a shot!"
"Shut up both of you!" you cry out. "Fighting about what's going on really isn't helping!"
Kaja calms down almost instantly after hearing you. Whatever fears and anxieties she has behind her eyes dissipates somewhat, though they don't vanish altogether.
"You're right," she says. "I'm sorry for yelling - it's just, well…"
Kaja trails off as she looks at the broken buildings all around, and the cop simply nods in response.
"It's fine," he says. "I get it. We're all stressed. You didn't mean it and all. But I mean it. If you wanna help out, then help out. Otherwise, none of us got time to get into screaming matches, alright?"
Before anyone can say anything else, a light tremor finds its way up your legs.
"Wait, you feel that?" you ask.
You feel the ground beneath your feet rumble again, but it's nothing like the crystal-induced earthquake from before. It feels more… rhythmic.
Before any of you can say anything, the screams of dozens of people echo down Central Avenue. It doesn't take long until those few dozen people come barreling down the street at breakneck speed, as though they're running from something truly terrifying.
At the same time, the rumbling intensifies more and more as the moments pass. It's strong enough that you're forced to lean on a pile of sandbags to stay on your feet.
It's then that a pungent smell fills your nose and overwhelms your thoughts for a split second. The smell is that of musk and urine and blood, all of them acrid. Beyond dead rat acrid.
You gag as a result.
Just as you regain control of your senses, a pack of creatures come charging down the avenue as well. They're long-legged and massive - each one about the size of a city bus. Every stride they make causes the earth to shake violently.
More critically, their muscular legs and metallic hooves trample and mash everything they run over, whether it's cars or trash bins or bystanders - everything. Their sheer power is enough to flatten engines and liquefy people.
Even the asphalt and concrete is torn apart and turned to rubble from the impact.
Your eyes bug out as you sense a kind of kinship with them, that you feel their utter fear and desperation as they run. It binds you to them far more
It emanates from them in waves so thick that you can feel them push against you, almost enough to knock you over.
~~~
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