“Run!” Dixon had no idea when he took to his heels.He had never seen the likes of it before.After seeing the purple cloud in the sky,.It grew rapidly in their direction, so fast that it was overhead before he could blink.With it came a horrible smell that he couldn’t pinpoint.The cloud kept spreading past them, and it seemed to thin out as it went.He decided to tell Persephone that they should leave.They would need to lay low so as not to be caught in the midst of something bad.Whoever was crazy enough to be sending purple chemicals up in the air during such a period must be crazy.The only good thing about that was the fact that they must be close to where people are. He turned to Persephone and froze in his tracks.Behind her, different insects of the wild had materialised.They were a hundred times bigger than their normal size.“Look!” Persephone pointed with widened eyes behind him.He had not turned when he felt heavy, spiky flesh against his back.His slightly turned h
“My parents. I need to find my parents,” Adam said urgently as he came out of the storage room, followed by Layla.“But…”He turned to her swiftly with a no-nonsense look on his face.“Something weird is happening out there. I know you need to get out of here, but I need to get my parents out of here alive. Do you understand me?”Layla nodded slowly with a resigned look on her face.She flinched when a man’s cry of agony got cut off outside, yet she nodded again.Adam rubbed his hands over his hair, and his voice was gentle when he said. “You can leave if you want.”“I am staying,” Layla said with determination.Adam nodded immediately.He turned to keep going. Layla followed him.“I need you to help me protect Lisa. Stay with her. I will get my parents and we can leave.”“But…”"Please,” Adam said simply as they took the turn that led to the room where Lisa and her mentor were."Okay,” Layla said with a sigh.Adam looked at her and nodded his thanks before heading down the hallway wi
“Mum?” Adam’s voice stopped her rocking motion.“Adam?” she called as she slowly opened her eyes.“Mum, it is me,” Adam said as he quickly moved towards her.He paid the man no heed as the latter ran out of the basement.A whiff of an unpleasant odour hit Adam’s nostrils even before his mother opened her eyes and raised her hands towards him.Adam could see drying liquid matter on her hand.“You are alive,” she said in a forlorn voice as she patted him awkwardly.The strong smell filled his nose as he looked down at the figure on his mother’s lap.It was unrecognised because it was bloated.A gaping hole peeked at Adam from the skull that belonged to a face that Adam knew as much as he knew his own.“Is he…?”“He is dead,” Marriane said simply, as if she were talking about the weather.Her glazed eyes looked starry at Adam. “They killed him. They said you killed a girl. Did you kill a girl?”A mixture of guilt and shame welled in Adam as he stared into the shock-glazed and devastated
“Adam! No!” Lisa’s voice distracted Adam from behind.He turned to tell her to get back.A sharp, fiery pain stabbed his side as the iguana swatted his stomach with the five sharp claws on its upraised foreleg.Adam had no idea if the scream came from him or his sister, as he hit the wall so hard that his ears rang.Then he rolled down the few rungs of steps to the hard ground in excruciating pain.His whole body was on fire as blood oozed out of the five deep gashes in his stomach.He blinked up incomprehensibly at the high-arched ceiling.The heavy steps of the two creatures approaching from opposite sides sounded like gongs in his head.“Stay away from my brother!” he heard Lisa screaming at the top of her lungs as Layla pulled her back from running down the staircase towards him."Good,” Adam thought weakly. “Keep her away.”The ringing sound in his ears wouldn’t stop and for a moment, he thought he was dead as he stopped hearing anything.The iguana that was directly in his line
“Over here! I found her!"Lieutenant Matteo called to his men as he looked up at the oak tree in front of him.Recently shed leaves could be seen surrounding the tree, including a gap in the branches that suggested a recent disturbance.The source of the disturbance could be seen hanging unconscious in the tree.Still unconscious and her faces full of bruises, Colonel Aguillar lay upside down from the tree. She was held in place by two thick branches.One of the branches had a spike that had plunged into her lower abdomen.The spike was as much what was holding her in place as the branches.“Oh my God,” Lieutenant Matteo muttered when he saw the spike.The footsteps of his men resounded behind him.They were fewer than they were when they alighted the half-torn jet.None of the scientists survived and he had lost five more men since they started searching for the thrown colonel.Strange beasts had accosted them and despite their training and battle-hard experience, they had lost horri
With her heart in her mouth, Sophia navigated the path of the hatch. The facility was full of intriguing designs, like the chrome and black hatch. As much as the facility was a place of great scientific discoveries, the architect who designed it seemed to have put much thought into aesthetics as well. She knew that if the situation had been different, she would have spent weeks exploring and marvelling over the many intricacies that made up the facility. Sophia had wanted to take the exam that would qualify her to enrol in an architecture school. Cain had agreed with her and had even teased her that she was going to be a finicky architect. He had always liked to tease her love for detailing, and meticulousness. Tears formed at the back of her eyes and she blinked them back firmly as she held the rag tightly in her hand. She had already thought of how she would convince whoever caught her that she was only at that part of the facility to do some cleaning. Whether whoever it wa
Jeremy bit into the small apple Shelby gave him.The pretty lady didn’t need to give him the apple for him to run an errand for her, but he was not above getting an incentive.Moreover, she had been sneaking him things that could help keep his sugar level normal since he had mistakenly told her.She had found him getting lightheaded the other day when that bastard Van Claude forced him and Yoshi to keep working after others had gone for their dinner.Jeremy was really happy that Adam had come when he did.He was even more happy that the bastard had been caught down to size and made a messenger.“Oh, that look on his face as he begged like the weasel he is was so priceless,” Jeremy thought to himself as he bit into his apple with a chuckle.He quickly put the apple back into the pocket of his baggy trousers.If anyone saw him munching on the apple, Shelby might get into trouble.He would hate to be the reason why she got into trouble.He kind of liked the lady.She was okay and she spo
“I swear, I didn’t do it!” Jeremy said desperately as Shelby came to him in the compartment where he was held.It had a glass, reinforced door, which means Shelby could see his mouth move but couldn't hear him talk.Yet she understood the desperation in his eyes.She gestured for him to look at her mouth, then she mouthed. “Do not be afraid, okay? We will sort this out.”She saw relief on Jeremy’s face, then, in his typical teenage arrogance, he mouthed. “I am not afraid. I am just sorry I couldn’t beat that asshole to a pulp.”She smiled sadly and nodded.Then she motioned that she was leaving.“Thank you,” she said to the injured soldier, who was lounging in a chair close to the compartment.He looked carefree, like he was just sitting there to recuperate but Shelby knew he was assigned there to watch Jeremy.She had to beg him to let her see Jeremy.Though he only shrugged nonchalantly, like it was none of his business, Shelby knew she would have been kicked out or reported if he h