Chương 109: Outbreak
Beneath the beaming, summer sun, thousands of New Yorkers gathered in Times Square for a parade that took place there, celebrating the city's history. People of all ages were welcome, it didn't matter how old or how young, it was a family-friendly event.
There were parade floats and balloons the size of buildings floating through the air, there was even one of Spider-Man despite his public opinion being lesser than usual, it was at least starting to go back to normal as he continued being the hero they once knew.
Three young preteens, two boys, and a girl were walking around the parade together eating ice cream to cool off their bodies. The girl was eleven years old, accompanied by her older brother and cousin, who were both twelve. The two siblings' mother was in the crowd somewhere, but she let them get ice cream on their own as long as they didn't stray too far.
"You guys think Spider-Man is gonna show up?" the cousin asked before taking a bite from the yellowish ice cream that matched his blonde hair.
"I hope so! I've only seen him once." the younger sister said, looking up at the sky as if she were going to catch a glimpse of him swinging by, pushing her black hair out of her face.
"What? No, you haven't. If we haven't seen him then you haven't seen him." said the older brother, though he too looked to the sky while using his hand to create a visor below his brown hair in hopes to see the real Spider-Man and not just a float. However, he sighed as his doubts increased. "Besides, isn't he supposed to be some bad guy now?"
"No! Spider-Man would never be a bad guy!" the girl told her brother before their cousin joined in. "Yeah! He had a reason to kill the Green Goblin!"
"Well, yeah. But the adults think he's become so crazed killer. Remember that Punisher guy? Whatever happened to him anyways?" as the older brother said those words, one of the parade balloons popped as a figure covered in darkness busted through it, leaving a hole as the balloon began to slowly descend down to earth.
The figure left a blue trail behind it, one that looked similar to Spider-Man's. when he was using Godspeed energy to propel himself. "Was that Spider-Man?" murmurs began to come from the crowd of people, all wondering why Spider-Man would do such a thing.
This mysterious monster landed atop the One Times Square tower, looking down at the people below him as white tendrils began pouring out from its back. It had pointed teeth and an unnaturally shaped jaw that was unhinged. Its entire body was covered in a black, sludge-like substance in a similar fashion to Spider-Man when he killed the Green Goblin.
However, this was clearly not him.
"Th- that's not Spider-Man." the young girl whispered to her cousin and brother with a trembling voice upon seeing the monster looking down at the crowd.
The monster then reeled back its head and screamed toward the heavens, causing the white tendrils on its back to wriggle around violently. Just a few seconds later, several more monsters that looked exactly like this one zipped onto the building next to it, leaving a blue trail of electricity behind them before perching onto the tower.
Just a few seconds later, humans with discolored skin, sharp teeth, and lifeless eyes began to climb over the building as if they had the same wall-crawling abilities as Spider-Man himself. The way they moved wasn't human at all, the looked as if they were possessed and they lacked the weird sludge that the others had covering their bodies.
The three kids' eyes widened upon seeing the army of monsters slowly grow in front of them. "What are those things?" the blonde boy whispered, feeling as if the hungry beasts were looking directly at him.
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
The monsters covered in black began zipping down the building and toward the crowd at speeds that were practically unseeable. "Oh, God! Run!" the older brother grabbed his little sister by the arm and began running in the opposite direction. Their cousin was right beside them, sprinting with the crowd in an attempt to get out of there.
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
Just in front of the kids, a man was snatched from in front of them, leaving nothing behind but the phone that was in his hand. "What was that!?" the sister's voice was still trembling as she spoke, unable to comprehend the speed at which these monsters were moving.
"I don't know. Keep moving, we need to find Mom!" the boy dragged his sister through the crowd as people started getting snatched up left and right, the only thing left behind were their belongings and a blue streak of electricity.
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
Suddenly, the girl could no longer feel herself being pulled by her brother as the ice cream he held in his hand dropped to the ground in front of her. Both she and her cousin stopped in place, looking down at the ground with their eyes nearly bulging out from their skulls. "Jason?" her voice continued to tremble before she began looking around frantically at the mayhem around her.
"Jason!?" her cousin screamed, he too was looking around frantically for the boy. However, all they could see were others getting snatched up and disappearing instantly while the more human-looking monsters began chowing down on those who were too slow to escape. Realizing that they would be next, the blonde boy grabbed his cousin's arm and the two began to sprint with the crowd in search of the girl's mother.
The two kids couldn't even hear their own thoughts over the sounds of people yelling, crying, and calling out for their loved ones as they were being picked apart one by one. Soon enough, the human-looking ones were starting to catch up to the middle and front of the crowd and the two cousins could see people getting tackled and devoured in front of them and beside them.
Along with the other sounds overwhelming them, they could hear monsters' teeth tearing through flesh and devouring the insides of people at seemingly random. Every once in a while, the two kids would jolt and change directions upon seeing someone just mere inches from them getting tackled to the ground, some even reaching out to them as if they could help.
It was utter chaos as the dark ones continued zipping through the crowd, abducting people at random while the others were continuing to be devoured by the zombified humans without any rhyme or reason as to why they were chosen.
Soon enough, the older cousin spotted a place for the two of them to hide, fleeing from the rest of the group and ducking inside a clothing store. The two of them hid between racks of clothing, peering through the hanging shirts and pants to look at the mayhem outside.
People were still being either eaten or abducted right outside the door as the two children watched helplessly. The girl tried calling her mother, however, she did not pick up. The girl didn't want to make a sound, so she wept silently with her hand covering her mouth as her cousin hugged her. "We're going to be okay. He'll be here, he always is. I don't care what the adults say." the boy told his cousin, thinking of Spider-Man. "He'll save us."
For what felt like an eternity, the two kids hid in the clothing store as the mayhem outside began to die down. They couldn't see much, but what they could see horrified them.
Half-eaten corpses.
Pools of blood and human remains.
Humans walking on all fours like beasts searching for prey.
The ones covered in black sludge were zipping around, sniffing the air as if they were searching for more people to kidnap. The kids wondered if their scent would eventually give them away.
Wanting to make sure they weren't found, the two kids hid even further inside the rack of clothing, completely concealing themselves in it. They once again waited for an eternity until they heard a familiar voice calling out to them, one that they hadn't heard in person, but on TV and from clips online.
"Hello? Is anyone in here?" the voice said, it was Spider-Man's voice.
Once again, Spider-Man had arrived to save the day...
Though he was seemingly far too late to help anyone as nothing but corpses remained. "It's Spider-Man!? He really came for us?" the girl whispered, taking a peek outside to see a person standing near the entrance. They could only see his feet, but they matched his iconic red boots.
"Over here! Spider-Man!" the girl shouted, immediately gaining the hero's attention. His legs turned around and he began jogging over to the sound of the voice. Eventually, Spider-Man's legs stopped in front of the clothing rack before he bent over and peered inside.
Both the young girl and her cousin had stone-cold expressions on their faces as the person leering at them wasn't Spider-Man at all. It was another monster, this one copying Spider-Man's color scheme and appearance, though lacking that friendly bug-eyed mask that the hero wore. Instead, it's had an elongated tongue drooping out from its disjointed jaw, showing its sharp, animalistic teeth to the two kids.
It was seemingly some sort of mimic, using Spider-Man's likeness and Eren Parker's voice to lure out those who sought out his protection. Slowly, the monster reached inside and grabbed the blonde boy, pulling him out of the clothing rack as the girl could do nothing but watch. "NOOOO! PLEASE!" the boy screamed as he was being taken away from his hiding spot.
The girl grabbed her cousin's hand, not saying a word as she was too in shock to speak, as the monster lifted the boy up to its mouth. Its jaw was further unhinged, gaining enough size to slowly place the boy's entire head in its mouth like a burger before chomping down on it, cutting off the boy's screams.
Still holding her cousin's hand, the girl could feel the boy's soul leave his body before letting go. His arm dangled as the monster continued chewing on his skull and brain, the sounds of his teeth and tongue mashing together the flesh and bone made the girl nauseous.
Slowly, the girl began backing up from the clothing rack, making as little noise as possible before getting ready to try and escape. The monster knew she was in there, but it was too preoccupied with its current meal to care about her just yet.
Eventually, the girl was completely out of the rack and began crawling from behind it with tears falling from her face. She crawled for a while until her foot accidentally kicked a coat hanger across the floor, silencing the monster that was chowing down on her cousin.
Quickly, the girl ducked into another clothing rack as the monster checked the one that she used to be hiding under, finding that she was gone. It then sniffed around for a few moments before looking around where it had heard the noise. It seemed intelligent, far more intelligent than the wandering human-likes outside and the speedy ones combined.
"Hello? Is anyone in here?" the monster spoke again as if it were reciting recorded voice lines of Spider-Man. He then began looking through all of the clothing racks, knowing the little girl must be hiding in one of them.
Knowing she had no other choice, the girl slowly and quietly crawled from outside of the clothing rack before reaching over to another hanger on the ground to pick it up. She then threw it across the room into an opposite corner, gaining the attention of the mimic. "Hello? Is anyone in here?" it repeated before walking over toward where the sound came from.
Once he was distracted, the girl got up and ran out of the store quietly without being noticed. Once she was out of the building, she immediately turned to her right and began her escape.
𝙯𝙯𝙩!
Though before she could get too far, she disappeared in an instant.
The only thing that was left behind was a blue streak of electricity.
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