Capítulo 2: Marko

"Who is to decide what is reality?"

-quote from the ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ Manifesto

"Couple bodies on the pole but they ain't mines/ Multiple drugs on the road at the same time/ Cuban links over the stove, on my Raekwon/ Headshot, buzzer beater, bitch, it's game time..."

Marko stepped out of the supermarket, music playing in his headphones, and was almost knocked out by the hot, humid hair. He could feel it on his skin immediately. It was just one of those ugly days. Rain pours for less then 10 minutes, then the sun comes back out and the vapor from the water starts rising.

"Fucking May, this summer's gonna suck if it's like this."

It was about 8pm, Marko was finally done after a long day at college. He stopped by to grab a couple of cold beers and maybe some fruits before heading home. He couldn't find anything good, so he settled for a bag of peanuts.

"Fuck this weather's awful, at least rain.."

The air felt almost tropical, like a hot damp cloth against his face. It felt suffocating. The fact that he was so tired didn't help at all. He couldn't wait to get home. As he was walking down the river bank he saw an old man and a similarly aged woman standing on the edge of the bike trail looking at something in the call grass next to it. As he was getting closer it looked like a dead bird, probably a pigeon since they live in these areas. He paused his music so he could peep on what they were saying. When he got a better look at the bird he was shocked, almost mortified. It looked more like a bat, with feathers at the tips of its fleshy wings and fur covering its legs and neck. The thing was grotesque. It's belly was split open, and it's eyes were either smashed in or gauged out, he couldn't exactly tell.

"Poor thing, probably fell from a tree or something."

Marko looked at the woman dumbfounded. Fell from a tree and it looks like that? What is this crazy old bitch talking about?

"What is it?"

"What, you never saw a baby pigeon before?" the old man said jokingly.

"Baby pigeon my ass, what the fuck is this thing." It was clear now to Marko that they probably weren't seeing what he was seeing. The fact that they are the only ones to stop and look at it supported this idea too, everyone else was just walking by unbothered. He now became self-aware of the disgusted and probably half confused face he was looking at the two with. He turned his music back on and kept on walking.

"They probably think I'm crazy the way I looked at them, damn."

He kept on walking on thinking about the creature he saw. What could it be? It made him feel uneasy. He could feel droplets of sweat dripping on the side of his head. The weather was insufferable.

It was now starting to get dark. He crossed the Louis bridge. He was hoping the river currents would carry some wind and make the air more tolerable. No wind though. After he came off the bridge he crossed the street to this small patch in the middle of the junction and was about to take the right between the projects, but he saw a kid, maybe around 10-12 running towards him. "Probably wants directions or something". Marko paused his music so he could hear what the kid wants to say, but he didn't predict what was about to happen.

"Yo can I hel-"

Then the boy suddenly grabbed his arms and shook him.

"HEY!"

"What!" Marko almost yelled back, startled as if he had just woken up.

"Oh, nothing." The kid turned around and ran back. Marko followed him with his eyes and saw the kid crossing the road to the other side of the intersection to a man, dressed in a black jacket. "Probably his dad." The kid started talking to the man, but he couldn't hair what he was saying. In fact, he could barely see it, it was as if a thick fog was between them. The man was pulling up the zipper on the boy's yellow jacket, a cigarette in his mouth. It never even occurred to Marko how weird it was that they were wearing jackets on this torrid weather. It was the least of his concerns.

He turned around and took a stride towards the projects he was headed towards. He saw this girl, curly hair and glasses, looking at him weirdly. He wanted to ask her whether she saw what happened or not, he looked at him as if she did.

"You saw that right? It was weird as fuck right?" He thought about asking her, but then hit him that maybe she was looking at him like that because nothing really happened. Maybe he was just asking crazy.

"She probably thinks I'm crazy. I'm probably looking at her like a crazy dude, I have been staring for a while."

His heart was beating faster and faster. He was burning to ask her if she saw anything, but the possibility of a certain answer scared him to no end. He walked and walked, and eventually after he passed her by, Marko's heart finally started to go back to normal. He was almost home. He couldn't wait to get there and just rest. It was a long day.

He took the corner and after walking a little he headed left on the wide sidewalk to cross the road. Only a little more and he's home. He realized he was so lost in thought that he forgot to turn his music back on. The 3 summer internships he applied for today at college, the weird bat-like creature he saw, the recent incident with the kid. Even the weather was annoying him still.

As he was crossing the road he heard a loud honk to his right, and as he turned his head, a car bumped into him. It first hit his legs, the lifted him on its hood and finally dropped him down after it fully stopped. His legs were both numb and burning like hell. He tried to move them, but they wouldn't budge. A sharp pain all around, as if dozens of knives were piercing his skin and flesh.

"Fuck, what the fuck is this day. All those fucking weird things, and now this. Why today, what is today, what is this. What the fuck."

While Marko was going on about what an unlucky day he had, a man finally stepped out of the car.

"Watch where you're going man, and drive slower what the fuck. Are you really that hurried?"

Marko expected the man to talk back, maybe pick a fight. "You watch where you're going you fucking dumbass, don't just cross the road like that without looking." Or he could be shaking, pale, scared with the situation at hand. Any kind of reaction really, but he got none. The man just came towards him with a dead look on his face. Marko reached up with his right hand.

"Aye man help me get up, get me to a hospital or something. We can figure this later alright, just get me to a-"

The man just stepped on his inner thigh. He could feel the pain flow through his body like an electrifying current. His grunt finally got a reaction from the man. A grim on his face, wide and awkward, drool falling between his teeth. Marko saw the man extend his left hand to reach his own right that he was still holding up. Except it wasn't a hand. His arms were like husks of pale, grey-ish skin on bones, with no flesh or muscles. He didn't know if it bled. From the end of the stump that was his forearm a spike came out instead of a hand. It looked like bone and steel and mud all at the same time.

It pierced Marko's forearm before he could even react, pinning it to the wet asphalt beneath him. The man did the same with Marko's other hand. The pain was so great, the confusion, the shock, the fear, that he didn't even bother to scream. Or rather he didn't remember to. He looked back up at the man and he couldn't see his grim anymore. In fact he couldn't see a mouth anymore, just the pale skin over his chin, and his eyes were rolling back. From the middle of what would've been this thing's arms, the skin looked like it was melting and was stretching down. It then took the form of something akin to tentacles or ropes. At the end, they split into what looked like 3 mouths that took indescribable shapes, with sharp teeth all around them.

Those mouths were lowering over his chest. What scare him Marko the most was the lack of sound, the lack of noise. There was no heavy breathing, no screaming, no grunting or moaning. He couldn't even hear the wind anymore, or the cars or birds. It was all so silent. Is this how he was going to die? He knew that even if he screamed for help no one would hear him, as if all noise in the world was cancelled out. Even if someone was to hear him, could they really help him against this thing? Or maybe no one was around and by the time someone would get here he'd be done for. There was no hope. Why scream?

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck this. Fuck this day. What the fuck is this day? I just wanna go home and drink my beer. Fuck this day. Fuck!"

Then he heard a great crack in the air. A loud thunder, as if a huge explosion went off just over his head. He saw the creature's 'face' light up, and a great bolt of fire hit it's head. It reached up with it's spikes and tentacle mouths to rip it's burning skin of it's face. It finally got off his leg.

Marko looked to his left and saw the figure of a woman in a huge black trench coat walk right by his face. She was holding up what looked like 2 pistols. She fired them incredibly fast, as if they were automatic assault rifles. "What the fuck is going on?" The thing was pushed back against a tree and pinned to it, with something akin to wrought nails.

Then from his right a man walked up, in a similar coat and pulled out something like a thick screwdriver or a knife. It couldn't have been a knife though, it looked more like a spike. It wasn't like the spike on the thing's stump though. Instead of round and muddy, it looked angled and made of something like golden ivory. The man took the spike and thrusted it under the thing's chin, through it's head.

Then the two started drawing out weird symbols on the tree above the thing, and on the ground. They were talking, not to each other, but he couldn't tell in what language they were speaking or what they were saying.

"It's finally done. Fuck. Yes."

Marko let his head fall back down. He could finally rest now, he was saved from the thing. The pain persisted though, and he probably lost a lot of blood. He couldn't even tell what was hurting anymore, or why. The cold dump air of the night was weighing on his face like a comforting blanket.

"Come on, we still have many to go." He vividly heard a stern but warm voice, probably the woman.

"What of him?" the other one answered.

"Just get me home. Fuck this day, i just wanna rest." Whether he was just thinking it or saying out loud he couldn't tell. He didn't know if he even had it in him to talk anymore.

Marko's consciousness was fading away.