Chương 1: 1. A Bloody Awakening
Arghh…'
'Was the taco from yesterday too much? But who can resist the temptation of a delicious three-meat taco? Damn, my stomach hurts like hell.'
'Wait a minute, that means I can call in absent today?! Haha! In your face, the Italian test! I didn't want to go to the university today anyway.'
Crunch, slurp…
'But why is my bed so hard? And argh, it hurts. Should I go to the hospital? And who the hell is eating in my ear? I can't even sleep peacefully, I swear!'
Prying his eyes open due to the incessant background noise, the first thing Glenn saw through his bleary eyes was a bald head to his left. That thing, as far as he could make out, was covered in disgusting black spots across its head. The repulsive thing was trembling slightly as it shoved a handful after another of unidentified food. Not really what he was expecting.
'I know I partied hard last night, but damn, where the hell did I just wake up? Don't...Don't tell me I found myself in bed with THAT?!'
As his senses came back ever so slowly, Glenn tried to move away from the disgusting head, his movements hazardous and unsuccessful. This was a terrible hangover so far, even more considering there was a particularly disgusting taste in his mouth. It was metallic...blood? Did he get into a fight last night? An acute pain from his chest and belly shook his entire soul. Glenn bit down on his lips, his eyes bloodshot as he endured this terrible suffering. Before he could even complain about the pain, he felt a loud sound thumping in his ears, drowning every other sound under a rhythmic beat. It took him a few seconds to realize that the sound came from his heart trying to desperately pump blood back into his body again.
His ears cleared out slightly, letting him realize that beyond this dull beating were distant cries ringing with pain and anguish, trying to reach him from far, far away. The cawing of the crows sounded like the broken strings of a violin, accompanying the death rattles with a grotesque melody.
'I...What? Shit, I'd rather go to the fucking test than endure this crap! Fucking nightmare! Let me wake up!'
Despite the blood that prevented him from opening his eyes properly, Glenn forced a glance downward, cracking his eyelids open as best he could. He discovered two things that his mind couldn't help but struggle to comprehend.
Firstly, a long wooden shaft that looked incredibly similar to a spear was piercing his chest, and secondly, the bald creature was rummaging through his insides in search of tasty treats, devouring him like a butcher taking a cut out from a pig. Trying to—no, eating him alive. Glenn's pupils dilated widely as a primordial fear entered his mind. The creature ripped off a bone covered in flesh, helping itself to the bloodiest rib, his rib.
Crunch, gulp…
And the worst of it?
It didn't seem like he was waking up anytime soon.
'What the hell is that?! What the fuck? What am I supposed to do? Arghh!'
Unable to bear the sudden onslaught of pain wracking his tattered body, Glenn's face contorted into an expression of pain. He tried to scream, but due to blood accumulating in his throat from before, the result had been more of a gurgle similar to that of a goblin than the cry of a dying man. He knew he was dying. Well, that he should be dying. Because, strangely, he didn't feel like his life was slipping away right now.
Each breath that Glenn was taking was the source of immense pain, and he could almost feel the air scratching his insides, like barbed wire. He instinctively coughed out the content of his throat, accidentally shooting the sludge all over his assailant's bald head, painting it dark red with some isles of green/yellow snot.
Glenn stopped breathing, his eyes freezing in horror at the monster that had stopped its feast, straightening up to show a chalk-white, featureless face, except for the round mouth occupying all the space, full of sharp, pointed teeth. Shreds of flesh, probably Glenn's, dangled from these dagger-like teeth, swaying slightly with each of the monster's raspy inhalations.
It brought its mouth closer to Glenn's face, probably to check out its future snack. The damned creature wasn't satisfied with his innards, it had to take interest in his face as well! Its teeth clanged against each other, clicking and grating horribly. A guttural voice came out from the otherworldly creature, its breath filled with a scent of rotten meat and death, even worse than your mate's breath in the morning.
"Ennon ut suutrom se? Non trefer, subic cuhda se!"
'Shit, what the fuck is this monster? I'm not a snack; fuck off! Didn't you have enough with half my stomach??'
Horrified, Glenn's left hand shot to the side in panic, patting the wet ground to try and find some kind of weapon to push back that thing. When he tried to search the other side, he felt a heavy weight in his right hand. He caught the glint of cold metal, red light covering it like a mystical veil. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he shot his right hand forward, his weapon piercing straight through the wide-open mouth of the monster in front of him. The steel blade smoothly tore through the red flesh at the back of its throat, poking out from the other side. A cascade of black blood erupted everywhere, covering Glenn's face and arm, the liquid smelling like a strange mix between actual blood and rotten eggs.
The monster trembled with a gurgling noise and fell, slowly sliding down Glenn's sword. Its teeth made a rattling noise as they grated down his blade, making Glenn drop the weapon in horror, the monster following soon after. Glenn's gaze was frozen on the monster's body, his mind struggling to understand what happened. He gasped for air, but nothing entered his lungs besides an acute pain that forced him to come to his senses.
'Okay. I think it's dead. It should be. Right? I need to get out of here. And call the police. And go to the hospital. Damn, it hurts...uh?' Glenn winced as he prepared to look at his wounds until a strange, soothing feeling calmed down his raging pain. 'Wait, is it...Getting better?'
As Glenn looked at his previously opened buffet of a stomach, he saw his wound begin to heal magically. His missing bones grew back in the most mystifying spectacle, while tendrils of red flesh stretched themselves over the ruptured organs, covering the fresh opening. It didn't take long for the stomach problem to be completely resolved, but unfortunately for Glenn, his tortures weren't over yet.
Since, well, he also had a spear skewering him straight through the heart or lung. To be honest, he had trouble knowing where the important things were in his chest. The unrelenting pangs of pain and the lack of fresh air made it impossible for him to even think about anything properly.
'How in hell did a spear pierce me? What happened during last night's party?!?
And how the fuck do I even pull it out? Shouldn't I just wait for help?'
Glenn's mind raced as he looked around frantically for his bedside table, where his phone was meant to be charging. It was only when he failed to find anything remotely close to his bedroom that he finally made the important realization that he wasn't in it anymore. The ground under him was damp, cold, and sticky. Made of mud and gore, unlike his warm, cozy bed. It did take a while for him to take notice, though.
Glenn glanced up, weakly raising his hands. They were trembling, dripping with a mixture of blood, mud, and other unidentified liquids. He looked beyond them, his eyes widening as he took in the surrounding view. Bathed in mystical red moonlight, there was a dark plain beneath a crimson night sky, with two colossal moons that seemed to be staring back at him, the larger one scarlet and the other pristine white.
'Two moons? What?' Glenn blinked, before concentrating more on his immediate location.
The plain was covered in bodies that were dipping in pools of blood. Vultures were circling Glenn, wondering whether he was another body to feast on or not. He turned his head to the right, only to discover the literal death stare of a soldier, his head fractured, letting his brain show openly. The mouth of the dead soldier was slightly open, blood flowing down from it. The young man only turned his head away, having a hard time processing his current reality.
Looking around with a shaky gaze, Glenn saw that there were a dozen more similar creatures to the one he just killed, eating their share of dead bodies. They seemed too concentrated on their work to care about him, lifting their noses...no, mouths toward the sky from time to time as if to try and smell their surroundings. They seemed to care little for him, too focused on their current priority, which was to get back to the slaughter, some even threw what they weren't interested in into their meal, like the stuffed guts of a dead knight. The sound of teeth and claws tearing flesh was.... not particularly pleasant, to say the least.
Traumatizing might be the best term to describe it.
One flying organ landed just a few meters from Glenn, spraying all its contents around him, a mixture of blood, badly digested vegetables, and decomposed food. No need to even say that it had a horrible smell. His eyes widened, watching as a small bit of... unspeakably vile thing landed on his shoulders.
Glenn's first reflex was to try and gag, but the muscles involved were also pierced by the spear, causing him intense pain, and ultimately stopping the retching process. One monster lurked around at the sound, making him freeze in fear, but the creature wasn't going to abandon its current meal, a very well-fed specimen that might have been named Francis, or Jack. Who knew? Glenn winced as he quickly wiped away the weird thing on his shoulder, holding his breath in repugnance.
'Arghhhh, oh my god! Okay, okay, pull yourself together, and while you're there, pull that damn spear out!'
On these wise thoughts, Glenn grabbed the shaft with both hands and tried to pull it out, gritting his teeth through the pain. Sadly, it seemed completely stuck in the ground behind him. His hands slipped on the wooden shaft, a feeling of weakness washing over him. His bloody hands weren't helping him in this endeavor.
'I...I need to break it!' The young man felt fear as his thoughts slowed down, blood continuing to flow down from the hole in his chest. Death was looming around, he couldn't afford to wait around.
Glenn looked at the monster that he killed, thinking he could use the sword to cut the shaft of the spear, but just the sight of it discouraged him from picking up the weapon.
Coughing more blood, he tried to break it, pushing himself forward to make leverage, only to fail miserably and suffer even more. He even managed to twist the flesh around the shaft in an impossible manner, making him feel as if someone was wringing him from the inside. Blood gushed out from the wound, covering the shaft in even more of the sticky crimson liquid.
Luckily, Glenn was more scared of death than of the creature who was feasting on him just a few moments ago. He stared at the sword inside the monster's mouth, steadied himself, and slowly reached for the hilt. He inched closer to the beast's toothy abyss, his fingers wrapping gently around the handle, before drawing out the sword with extreme caution, as if afraid to wake the dead creature. A weird, sucking noise filled the air as the blade slid through the flesh, but Glenn focused on the task at hand, ignoring it.
As he finally pulled the sword out, the corpse crashed back on the ground, a puddle of blood growing under it. Glenn used the blade as a saw to cut the shaft, determination shining through his eyes while each back-and-forth inflicted him with unbearable suffering. After doing so, he laid down the weapon so he could use both hands to pull himself up on the spear. The movements were painful, and he almost screamed, but he held back so the other monsters would not notice him.
Glenn didn't need to test his skills against another of these horrible creatures. Even more so when considering he didn't have any skills to test. He managed to hold back his shriek by biting his lips, making them bleed, which in turn gifted him with the face of a complete lunatic. As if all the blood already covering his face wasn't enough.
He slipped out of the spear skewering him down and fell face down, covering himself in more mud and blood. Blood gushed out of the wound, staining the ground even more and making him wonder just how many liters of it were in his body. After a short but painful time, the wound where the spear was previously completely healed, and Glenn was finally able to take a breath without feeling like he had to pay for it. He pulled himself to a kneeling position, enjoying being alive, his head thrown back, eyes fixated on the two foreign moons in the starry sky. A sky that wasn't clouded by pollution, satellites, or the blinking passage of a commercial airliner.
'Gasp, I love...breathing. Should I try to look for another survivor? Nope, can't afford it. I don't want to get eaten again!'
Glenn looked around, discovering a forest at the edge of the battlefield he was standing in. It appeared like an oasis in this desert of blood and flesh. Behind him was still a bloody field of corpses, with the same damned monsters. Flags adorned with unknown embroideries fluttered lightly in the rustling wind as if trying to push Glenn away from this hell.
Well, it didn't seem like he had an actual choice in his next direction.
He picked up his sword again so he could defend himself, but he knew he might not be as lucky the next time he had to fight another of those monsters, as he had no idea how to use it or even how to fight. He planted the tip of the sword on the ground, using it to push himself up. His legs were wobbly, and a dull sound was ringing in his ears. He used a shaky, bloody hand to wipe out whatever he had on his face and eyes.
Glenn held his head, feeling like someone was drilling a hole inside it. He stood still for a few seconds until the feeling calmed, leaving him free to finally flee this place.
As he proceeded with uncertain steps, his weapon firmly held in his right hand, he noticed how gruesome this place was. The battlefield was at least a few kilometers wide, and there were so many bodies that he couldn't even start to guess how many people died there. Red, blue, grey tunics, all the colors blurred under the crimson liquid that covered everything. Only blood, bodies, and monsters for as far as he could see. He shivered when he accidentally stepped on the already broken thorax of a dead man, the bones yielding under his weight. He almost screamed when he caught his ankle on a stiff hand from rigor mortis.
Cadavers on cadavers, carcasses of dead horses, monsters eating the bodies...The worst thing might not be all of those things. No, the most disgusting were the swarms of flies around the corpses, laying astronomical quantities of eggs there. One of the corpses was covered in squirming worms, moving in an unnatural, horrible way. A hand moved as the worms made their way through the flesh, devouring it from the inside as well as they did from the outside.
That was the last straw. Glenn puked his insides, well, what remained of it, on the ground in front of him. With a hand on one knee and the other on his sword planted in the ground, he took a few minutes to breathe in and out, trying to calm his racing heart. He finally stood back up, wiping the vomit off his mouth.
Glenn's gaze remained fixed on the not-so-near forest. Perhaps thanks to the grace of God or his fucking pity, there were no monsters on the way. There were still the sempiternal rows over rows of rotting corpses, but nothing that looked like it would try to take a bite out of him. The young man steeled himself and began to walk towards the area shaded from the crimson moonlight, crouching to try and remain out of sight. The closer he got to the forest, the better he felt, enticing him to hurry and run to the safety of the dark forest, but he restrained himself, crouching slowly and proceeding with hushed steps.
He didn't want to stay another minute in this literal bloody mess, but not drawing any attention toward himself felt even more important than running for his dear life. After all, one wrong step and he might lose said cherished life.
Nonetheless, he continued steadily, not leaving his objective out of his line of sight. He had to get out of here.
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