The Matriarch

Chapter 5 What lurks within

There was ringing noise all over them alongside muffled cries and screams, gunshots can also be heard together with some indiscriminate shouting.

It felt like Chris’s head was turning at that moment, that even opening his eyes felt so painful. A smoke of dust was swirling in front of him the moment his blurry vision managed to focus once again.

Still collected and trying to remain calm he began feeling every part of his body for anything that hurt, all the while moving his eyes to see what was going on.

It seemed that the flash of light had caused a total panic for everyone, seeing several people running around past and by them. That was when he noticed that the dust around them was some kind of ash-like mist that seemed to cover the area where they were.

When Chris was sure that all was fine with his body he begins moving, slowly turning his head to check what had happened to his surroundings.

Cars were jumbled on the road, some people were wobbling in disarray trying to get out of their cars, others were still unconscious inside their vehicles. The loud shots were coming from somewhere that was too far to be seen.

The grey mist seemed to be blocking most of the sunlight but everything was still pretty much visible in close range.

Remembering his companion, Chris quickly turned to the man. Oliver was still knocked out of his seat.

“Pri-Private, Private!” Chris’s voice was hoarse and seemed almost inaudible. It felt like his throat was on fire due to its dryness making him stop from the pain.

The soldier groaned but was still passed out, he tried to tap him, not wanting to move the man’s body in case he had some unseen injury.

“Oliver, are you all right? Are you injured or anything?” Chris tries to wake him once more to no avail.

Though groggy and a bit dazed, he gets out of the vehicle, to survey the surrounding place in case there was anyone needing help.

“Anyone there?” He knocks on the glass window of the first car that he came across.

There were several others around them but all of them had their doors opened and abandoned. It was like the people in it got out in a hurry.

Things ranging from bags, phones, wallets, and shoes were scattered on the floor of some of them. Along with a few strange scratches on certain vehicles.

It was at that moment that he heard another shot echoed from afar, making him duck in panic. After that, he heard a loud and deep scream, together with a few more shots.

Not thinking twice about the danger, Chris carefully runs to where he presumed the sound came from. Wanting to check if anyone needed help or scarier, hurt. Slowly crouching from one car to another, wary as to what could be the cause of all the commotion. Chris continued to proceed though he was already shaking.

“Help, help me!” a scream reverberated from just a few feet away.

The sound of panic, helplessness, and desperation made Chris move faster as fear engulfed him in what could have possibly cause that. He only ended up stopping, when once again he heard those weird noises, though this time they were much more clear and audible.

"Hungry, must find food, I don’t want to die, queen, and where is the queen." Those were some of the words that kept ringing over and over again inside his head.

His brows furrowed as the voices kept repeating like some kind of orchestra. Sometimes, even being in harmony like they were singing.

It took him at least a few more minutes before he was able to get closer to where he thought the sounds came from. There was a gun on the ground but there was nobody around, he looks around, checking up on several of the cars that were there, but like the others, they were all empty.

It was only when he noticed the drops of blood on the pavement that Chris was once again alert of the dangers that were still lurking around him. The ashy mist seemed to have covered it from his view a while ago and was only visible when he managed to see it up close.

Grabbing a hold of the only weapon that he had which was an army knife that his father gifted him, the one thing that had always given him strength, during his whole training. It was also the only thing that seemed reasonable to use, as he didn’t have any combat-type ability, though he was considered to be a power user.

It was one of those rules that the army kept to keep them in check, as such power users like him were not issued any kind of weapon.

Treading carefully, Chris followed the path of the still wet trail of blood on the ground. Remaining wary of his surroundings, all the while trying to block off the noise that kept echoing inside of his head.

“Any...Anybody there?” he calls out after no longer finding any more trails.

He could not help but tremble in fear, feeling cold sweat running down his spine. He wanted to at least confirm if anyone was still alive somewhere within the mist.

“He...Help, please!” A raspy voice grumbled from just a few meters away.

Chris estimated that it came from somewhere quite close, approximately from just around the corner where a huge truck along with a bunch of cars seemed to have been huddled together. As if they were placed and stacked together.

Crouching, he approached the said pile as slowly and quietly as he can, keeping his weapon pointing upfront.

Chris was about to call out again for the man but then all of a sudden he ended up freezing in place when a huge shadow suddenly loomed over one of the vehicles.

The thing was on all four and seemed to look like a huge dog, but with some weird spikes on its back which seemed fairly odd for such a beast, but what truly stunned him was the two huge red orbs that glowed within the fog that seemed to be located within its eyes along with the sound of mushy gnawing and dripping sound.

Eyes wide with terror, Chris ended up sweating, even more, teary-eyed from being unable to move a single step, knowing what those sounds meant especially after no longer hearing the screams and groan of the person who he was trying to find.

“Feed us oh queen, feed us!” A cold, deep, and stone-like sound resonated from the shadow.

All of a sudden Chris felt something like his insides were being pulled, along with his loss of breath, and with an immediate surge of weakness. And then there was once again, another flash of light, but this time he could feel the heat surge from it, along with what seemed to be an almost deafening sound before he felt his whole body levitate in mid-air like he did not weigh anything at all before once again being engulfed by total darkness, being pulled once more into a deep slumber.