บท 3: Chapter 3 "Departure"

At dawn a group of beasts gathered in a cave, their shrieks became sharp as more of them appeared, some seemed to be suffering, but a new protection was revealed in their skins that made them calm down.

Among them a beast with a silver armor different from the others was sleeping, it was in a fetal position inside a bag, most of the beasts seemed to wait for its awakening as if it marked the beginning of something new.

Finishing brushing his teeth, Jin was preparing to make breakfast, at night Lana had never let go of her embrace and she was still asleep.

Chopping the vegetables I noticed that a message on his phone was flashing, he finished drying his hands looking at the screen "Son, your grandfather told me that something serious happened at night, some things happened at sea losing contact with several naval force ships in high seas. He warned me that at this time it is possible for strange things to happen, so I ask you not to get into any trouble, take care "

"Thanks dad, but I have to travel today, I just hope nothing serious happens" he thought to continue cooking, I took the opportunity to turn on the television to watch the news, but nobody spoke about what his father told him.

Coming down the stairs, Lana was wearing one of Jin's shirts as she sat in front of the television "I shouldn't tell Lana about that to avoid her worrying" Jin thought before serving the table.

— Has anything new been on the news? — asked Lana as she approached Jin

— The same as always, breakfast is ready, wait for me at the table —

Lana was surprised by Jin's taste, although the food was simple, the touch of flavor that Jin gave her made her want to ask for more.

— I see that you have been taught well, I would like to be able to thank that neighbor of yours —

Both conversed, while they thought about their departure, each one would have to warn the others to avoid worrying.

After dropping off Lana at school, Jin went to the hospital, he wanted to say goodbye to his friends even if they were in a coma right now. Walking through the building he saw how several people stayed in their beds, while others gave them help.

When he got to the place where his friends were staying, he was worried when he saw the empty rooms. Taking the arm of a nurse I ask her what happened.

— At dawn an order arrived and all the patients in a coma were transferred to a location, access is restricted and even I cannot enter — said the nurse looking at the young man in front of him.

— Thank you, excuse me if I was daring — he said and then left to look for Shizuka

He had finished his shift when Jin had already reported his resignation to the hospital manager, next to him a girl with violet eyes looked at him expectantly.

— Now you can tell me why you quit — Shizuka asked a little angry

— Today I will leave the city, I just came to let you know along with my friends — she said with a worried tone

— It seems like you're hiding something, please don't hide it — she took her arm while she waited for his answer

He looked at her as she caressed her face and began to tell her what he learned.

— That is very serious, but because there is no news about it, give me a minute to call my father — she went to a corner while she seemed to argue with someone. Hanging up the call from her she returned with a bit of tears in her eyes.

— It is more serious than what you told me, my father is on the way with his guards, he says that we will go to the capital as soon as he arrives — she had found out that the ship her mother was traveling on had disappeared and she had no strength to keep standing.

Seeing that she almost faded, Jin took her in her arms, removing her hair from her face, he saw one small crimson lips that were trembling and he did not dare to take advantage of her, he lowered her face and kissed her in front of her while trying to calm her down.

They were hugging while they began to talk more about their lives, she told him that when she was 13 years old one of her father's enemies tried to kidnap her, but her mother, using a family sword, killed all the kidnappers and stayed in bed for half a year due to the wounds. Half an hour later several vehicles arrived at the hospital, a man in his 50s came down followed by his guards as he approached them.

The father took his daughter and left for the airport with his guards, looking at his hand, Jin found a note, on it was the address of the shelter where Shizuka would go.

— If everything goes well, we'll see you again Shizuka — he said looking at the vehicle on the horizon.

Before leaving they needed various tools in case they were camping, such as radios, flashlights, portable stoves and a few other things. Driving through the streets she looked for stores to buy, but most were either closed or did not have what she needed, she could only get a tent for three people.

Looking at the sky, he remembered the things from the viewpoint, he knew that it was possible that his things were not there, but he decided to go look anyway.

The road was still under construction so he took the dirt road, going up the stairs to the lookout he found that most of his things were fine and he took them back to him.

But from the roof of the viewpoint he could see that a large crater was near where he came from, curious he kept things in his jeep and he headed to the crater. When he got out of the vehicle, he walked through the trees until he found a clear area, a large crater with a radius of ten meters was hidden.

Getting a little closer, Jin noticed that something shone in the center, not wanting to be trapped in the well, he took out his phone and used the zoom of the camera, when he could see what it was, he remembered that it looked like the meteorite that the teacher had, only, at a On a larger scale, taking a photo of him, he decided to leave the place to return another time.

He did not realize that when the meteorite detected the presence of Jin he began to search urgently, he tried to find his position, but only when he took the photo did the meteor rise into the air.

In less than a second the meteorite split, transforming into a cloud of particles that trapped Jin inside. As if it were overwriting his body, the particles began to enter Jin's body, transforming him into a bloody figure.

AHH !!

No one could hear the young man's wailing, the damage to the body was such that he lost consciousness due to the pain, the cloud kept treating Jin's entire body until the fibers of his muscles could be seen.

An hour had passed, Jin was still unconscious on the ground, but his body was completely healed, the only problem was that he was naked, next to him the phone kept ringing non-stop.

With a big headache, Jin walked over to his phone while he answered.

— Jin you're fine, why didn't you answer — on the other side you could hear Lana's worried voice

— Let him speak, maybe something serious happened — Aria's voice calmed Lana as they waited for her to speak.

— I'm fine, just that she was out of town looking for some things. Did something serious happen? —

— Something serious? You just have to look at the sky and you will know that it is serious — Lana said angrily.

In the sky a large snake was flying while spitting fire at the city, it had large red scales with a green hue, it had to be at least 50 meters long.

— It looks like dragons from Chinese mythology — this is too dangerous he thought

— Come to your house, we are there, we will leave the city as soon as you arrive —

He was very surprised by the dragon in the sky, but every so often he heard explosions from the military defending the city attacking the beast.

Finding pants in his things, he drove without a shirt to his house, in the streets people ran while he tried to get away from the place where the dragon appeared, according to what he heard it was not the only beast that appeared nearby.

— Fortunately, it is a long way from my house — with that thought he kept driving until he met the teachers.

They scoffed for a moment when they saw him shirtless, but they helped him gather the things they would need. He took the bag that his father had left him and some food, he was about to go with them when he remembered the weapons that Viktor had.

— We need to take a trip before we leave, this is necessary for our safety — Jin said hurriedly

— Where are we going to go? — asked Aria

— To the teacher's house, there are things that will be useful to us —

Changing their route towards the teacher's house they tried to avoid the beast's attack area.

Pacific Ocean

Several explosions were heard in the sea, the blood had changed the color of the waters to a deep red, the United States naval fleet was facing hundreds of giant beasts.

The carcasses of the beasts covered a large portion of the sea, but the fleet had lost more than a third of its ships.

— Vice Admiral, we receive information from scout planes that hundreds of sea creatures are heading to our location —

A man dressed in a dignified white uniform stood in the command center, his face showed no trace of fear revealing great security, raising one of his arms indicated the map in front of him.

— In this location is a military port, we need to go back and counterattack next to them. We will not leave behind any of the ships that are still standing —

— Yes sir, I will warn the fleet of the withdrawal —

The vice admiral was confident that he could eliminate all the sea creatures, but he knew that he would lose more than two-thirds of his fleet if he did that.

BOOM !!

After a huge explosion in the sky, a large creature appeared in the sky, it had the shape of a giant lion, an armor under its belly, and the wings of a bat. The beast half 40 meters and began to collect a blue energy ball in its mouth, the vice admiral, seeing the attack, ordered them to prepare to avoid it, but he was surprised not to be the target of the attack.

The sea creatures that were in the sea released great roars and began to launch attacks at the lion, forgetting the fleet, they felt that the lion was their natural enemy. The fight between them started creating several explosions in the sky.

— Let's take advantage of this moment to retreat, rescue all the wounded, we will leave this place — The vice admiral was grateful for the help of this beast, but he did not want to stay to see who won the fight.

— Stupid creatures, their energy will only be my food — the lion roared mocking them, his strength was superior, but they were too many.

— I did not know that such a pleasant prey would come to my home alone — A gloomy voice resounded in the sky, several creatures upon hearing it moved away allowing the owner of the voice to advance.

The figure was a large shark, but it had a human shape with very long limbs, its fingers extended claws and its teeth had the sharp shape of a carnivore.

— You are only a low-class creature, you think you can defeat me, no one in this world has that ability — The lion laughed launching his attack on the shark, the battle started, but the lion felt that there was something strange, all his attacks were blocked by your opponent.

— How can it be possible — the lion trembled with fear, in a second he had lost his legs, he was only kept in the air by his wings. Feeling that he must escape from him, he flapped his wings in retreat, but the shark spread his arms and split the lion's body in half, dying mercilessly.

— This is your gift, savor this delicacy that I give you, if you get stronger you will be able to taste tastier things — the shark dropped several pieces of the lion's corpse for the sea creatures, he only stayed with his head while savoring the energy that this one had in life.

The sirens sounded throughout the city and some messages warned about the evacuation to the shelters. Various military teams had been deployed to rescue the people who were trapped under the dragon's attacks and were guiding the survivors to shelters.

In the sky you could see how several missiles sought to eliminate the dragon, when one of them hit it the dragon roared and released its breath of fire at the others, whenever it got angry it rose higher and appeared miles away while burning everything in its wake.

An hour later they arrived at Viktor's house, but she was on fire. Looking for a mask, Jin put it on and entered the courtyard of the house, although she still had fire, it was less concentrated. Seeing his shelves him eyes shone, taking out the key he unlocked the lock revealing several weapons inside him.

— Damn, I was too late — Jin was angry, most of the weapons were damaged, he quickly looked for the ones that might be fine and he only got a laser pistol —at least this will help us defend ourselves— he thought and felt happy.

Both teachers were worried about Jin, but when they saw him happy pulling a gun in his hands they got mad at him and took him to the jeep to leave.

— How does this thing work — Lana asked

— Hmm, I think you should pull this lever and then press this trigger — Aria taught Lana, when she was young her father taught her about hunting and she learned about handling weapons.

They were in the center of the city, they saw that hundreds of burned vehicles blocked the road to the north exit, the three began to look for a secondary route while avoiding being trapped.

When they were near the school, Jin remembered that the exit behind the viewpoint was clear.

— There is a dirt road behind the viewpoint of the city, we can go through it, but the road is dirt. The jeep will not have problems to go through there but what do you think — I ask the girls, I did not want them to think that he did not take his opinion into account.

They both agreed and headed there. The streets were full of abandoned vehicles, some people appeared on the road and shouted to stop, but they could not do it. Stopping in front of a mob of people would only mean death.

Aria squeezed her hands when she saw through the window a group of people kill a man and steal her things, her mind was a little prepared, but it was too much for Lana that she vomited into a bag.

Throwing out the garbage they continued advancing, they knew that the situation was very strange and if they were caught they would die without knowing it.

Not a person or animal could be seen on the dirt road, which allowed them to rest their minds a bit.

— After this road we just have to take the east road to skirt the city and go in the direction of Altima —

A strong tremor occurred suddenly, the earth began to break creating a large crack, from it hundreds of rats began to appear. Their chicks resounded at the same time, generating fear in the group.

Stopping the vehicle, Jin tried to hide it so the rats wouldn't see them.

The first reaction they would have when seeing hundreds of rats would be to scream, but Jin helped keep calm in the jeep and asked the teachers to be silent, he had already seen the dragon attacking the city, so they were not surprised. upon seeing another large beast.

The rats were over a meter tall, their skin appeared to be made of metal needles except for their back, which was covered in armor of bones. They all ran in the direction of the city, they seemed to follow the orders of a silver rat almost six feet tall.

The group was glad when no more rats were seen around them, but they knew that the people in the city would suffer one more catastrophe.

Jin who was at the wheel led the way, he did not want to imagine what would have happened if the rats had seen them.

The jeep had already left the city, when several rats were observing them from the viewpoint, two of them left their group and began to follow them.

It was 6 in the afternoon when they decided to make a stop on the way. They had already left the city far behind and were exhausted.

This time the three of them helped prepare food next to a portable kitchen. On the way they had seen several abandoned houses, they thought that maybe they should seek refuge in one of them.

— Does anyone have coverage on their phone? — Lana asked, but they both shook their heads, it seemed that something was affecting the phone signals.

— I think we should sleep in the jeep or look for an abandoned house, we can't be exposed like this — Jin said concerned for their safety.

They had finished eating and Jin began to put things away, at that he heard the girls cry, he scared he raised the gun and ran towards them. He knew that they had gone together for safety, but he forgot that in these last days everything can get worse.

The two rats never stopped hunting them, their shadows moved between the trees waiting for their opportunity, when they saw that they stopped they were ready to attack, but something attacked them before.

Lana and Aria were running towards the vehicle together when they met Jin

— What happened, because they are both so scared — He asked looking around

— Come on, we can't stay any longer — said Aria anxiously followed by Lana

The group got into the jeep and left as fast as they could

— Now they will tell me what happened —

— Two rats tried to attack us, but a shadow appeared behind one of them and devoured it, the other when seeing that her partner was dead ran away followed by the shadow — Lana said scared

— How did this rat get here, did it follow us from the city?— Jin asked

— That's possible and there may be others, it's better to get away from here before more arrive — Aria said.

On the road they began to look if something was following them, they knew they could not be neglected.

— Jin, you think if I drive, so you can rest a bit — Jin thanked Lana while he stopped the jeep to change with Lana, but a hit made him lose consciousness.

A rat had hit the jeep throwing Jin to the ground, Aria barely saw Jin fall to the ground when she raised the metal bat in her hand and attacked, but the rat didn't care about her.

The rat screeched loudly and lunged towards Jin to kill him, her claws reaching out wanting to cut his neck, but a scream was heard behind her.

—! Don't you dare touch it! — Lana yelled angrily and raised the gun from the ground, although her aim was not good, the energy generated by the shot destroyed part of the rat's shoulder.

Hearing Lana's cry, Jin regained consciousness of her getting up and looking at the rat, she was screaming on the ground, the pain seemed not to allow her to get up.

— Thank you Lana, I neglected a lot — Jin said after taking the gun.

Approaching the rat, he saw how she was still trying to attack him, so he just pointed the gun at hers, her eyes. After one shot, only a hole was left where the mutant rat's head used to be.

With a sore body, Jin rested in the jeep, while the girls checked to see if his luggage was damaged by the blow.

— How many shots does the pistol have? — Aria asked a little angry, if it weren't for Lana's reaction, Jin would be dead.

— I remember that the teacher told me that the pistols had 7 shots, we must make good use of them —

— We only have the gun and the metal bat, we are missing another weapon — Lana had gained more value with a weapon in her hands.

— Let's try to avoid being alone, the gun at this moment will be handled by Aria until I improve a little — Jin said after the girls had the same opinion.

The last trace of light was gone as night came, heralding that the worst was yet to come. Jin and company did not know the horrible fate of those who did not make it to the shelters and hid in their homes.