creating a duplicate of itself. How was that even possible? Something this complicated took hours or days, even for modified fungi that budded asexually. But for this creature, it happened within seconds, severing my perspective on the limits of genetic science. Now, another creature was added to the current, unknown amount running amok in the city, but these two had targeted us as prey. We ran through the first street, turning left, cutting across an alley, with no specific destination in mind. The creatures were a few yards away from us, gaining ground with each second. Moments later, we passed a walkway, ducking through fleeing citizens as we kept running for our lives.
“Oh crap,” I screamed, stopping in my track.
About thirty feet in front of me, a large drone approached in our direction. It had a giant cannon on its right shoulder, pulsating in colliding energy. Everyone stopped running as we scurried out of the way, hoping not to get hit in the crossfire. The giant robot charged forward, intercepting the creatures halfway, launching a powerful right jab at one of them. The robot, fifteen feet in height, was taken out so easily, it was unbelievable. The creatures tore through the robot’s reinforced metal skin with ease, before turning their sights on us.
“Please evacuate the area,” a humanoid drone appeared out of nowhere, pointing its hand to the safest direction. Behind it, a battalion of human sized robots stopped too, raising their weapons at the incoming monsters. In this darkness, their eyes glowed green, and it was rather intimidating. I took a few steps back, breathing heavily, everything looking like one giant prank gone wrong. Hours ago, I was studying for my final research paper, with my best friend, Ed. However, everything just spiraled out of control. I had no idea where my parents were, or if they were still alive. I just wanted to wake up from this bad dream, but to my dismay, this was really happening. Loud cries from additional creatures came from another direction. More of them were starting to converge in our area, like they were working as a pack.
“Come on,” the girl from before said, pulling my hand forcefully. “We have to go underground, that’s the only way to lose them.”
As she spoke, she pointed her free hand to the lower level junction, which connected the upper city to the underground camps, hidden a few hundred feet below the surface. Centuries ago, when global warming became an undeniable reality, the ozone layer collapsed. Now we lived under a new artificial ozone layer, although it wasn’t strong enough to block most of the sun’s rays.
Leaving the robots to their assigned tasks, we made a hasty run to the underground junction, a few new people joining our ranks.
“Everyone, stand back,” the large man growled, pulling out a javelin bazooka. He stabilized his feet firmly, spreading them apart for better leverage. “I am going to destroy the entrance.”
We all moved away from him, while keeping a close lookout for the monsters. By now, they would have gotten past the drones and were probably seconds from this direction. The large man fired the bazooka, blasting the metal door apart to make a forced entrance. Smoke oozed from the door, debris flying in every direction. Up above us, the combined forces of drones and armored marines were working together to stop this new threat before it completely destroyed the city. Needless to say, there was almost nothing left to save, after the monsters’ reckless rampage. As everyone dashed through the door, we spotted one of the creatures, moving gradually through the remnants of our fallen capital; its eyes darting in every direction, searching for survivors to prey upon. Luckily, it had not spotted us.
“Come on, kid” the girl said, in a soft whisper, pulling me gently.
I followed her into the dark tunnel, my vision adjusting to the murky shaft, thanks to the com lenses I was wearing. Small drops of an unknown chemical compound dripped to the metal floor, creating a foul and unpleasant smell in the air. I think we were sewer system, a section underneath our once glorious city; a place I really did not want to linger for long in.
“So who are you?” I asked, finally catching up to the girl.
“I am Shanna, the apprentice enforcer of this city,” she replied, her gaze set on something else. “You don’t need to any more than that, so no more talking.”
“I see,” I chuckled, not sure of how to respond. “So what do we do next?”
“Didn’t I just say stop talking?” She motioned further past me, rejoining her friends, who were walking in front of us.
There were small children, teenagers, and older folks amongst us whose fear for the unknown was written all over their faces. None of us knew what was going on, so it was safe to assume that, we were all scared. The tunnel shifted slightly, the metal floor starting to squeak wildly. There was something else in the tunnel with us, something dangerous, if I might add. I think it was one or more of those monsters. Two of the armed men stopped, positioning themselves behind everyone else, as they began to scan the area. We heard a loud strange growl, followed the sound of gunfire. I looked back and saw the monster, displaying its large teeth and powerful claws. The two armed men stayed back and fought against the creature, while everyone else began to flee ahead.
“Don’t look back if you want to live,” the large man said, his back still facing us. “Run with everything you have.”
A child fell to the ground and began to cry. His mother looked back at him, attempting to reach for him—but she couldn’t get past the horde of terrified people blocking her way. I stopped halfway, pushing myself towards the child with everything I had. We had left one man to his doom, inside my house, and the thought of leaving this child, to save my own pitiful existence, was just too unbearable. Bending down, I scooped up the kid with my free hand, and turned around to rejoin the others. When we came to this fork inside the tunnel, half of the people went right while the rest went left. I took a wild gamble, heading left with the Shanna, hoping to catch up to the child’s mother.
“Keep going and don’t stop,” an average sized man, holding a large turret gun, yelled to everyone.
He and three other men stopped moving, allowing everyone to pass by, their guns pointed directly behind us. Seconds later, we heard their guns go off—the monster had followed us. They attacked the monster, riddling it with a barrage of proton bullets. The monsters came out of that firing range unharmed, ripping them apart like they were chew toys. With the child on my back, my speed was shelved in half, which was not good. I really should have tried harder in PE class, but then again, I wasn’t the athlete type. Besides, who could have expected this situation to occur? How had this happened? How could these creatures have gotten through all of our defenses without anyone noticing?
“In here,” Shanna said, pointing to a large metal sewer door. “Everyone, get in here.”
Shanna was standing by this door, hidden by the left wall, motioning everyone to follow behind her. She hacked the pad in a matter of seconds, opening it up as wide as it could get, to allow everyone safe passage. Everyone pushed hard to get in, creating this unsightly barrage of terrified and unreasonable minds only thinking about themselves and freedom.
“My baby,” the mother of the child screamed, her hands lifted up towards the boy. “Give me my baby.”
Seeing no way out of the situation, I handed her the child, focusing all my strength into pushing myself further into the smaller tunnel. When we all finally made it through, we shut the door behind us. This new tunnel slanted down, further below the surface. We all stopped to take a breather, counting heads and checking for injuries. It was starting to become absolutely ridiculous, like some nightmare we all wanted to awaken from. Sitting by the wall, I recuperated my strength, my mind unable to grasp a hold of the situation. I wanted to know how my family was doing, and if they made it out of the city all right. The mother, whose child I had rescued came and stood next to me, smiling, with her boy safely in her arms. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I nodded, glancing at the boy for a second, before closing my eyes.
Right then, I saw Rose in my memories. My fiancé always calmed me, but she
’d gone missing weeks ago during a space mission. I’d barely held onto my sanity, and now, I was breaking again. I pushed the thoughts of her away to concentrate on a more vital predicament—the creatures.
I opened my eyes again, glancing at the remaining people. The small crowd was scared, and unsure of what to do next. I checked my com link, looking for messages from my family or from the government officials. To my disappointment, my mailbox was empty, probably because of the static interference, or it was something else. I stood up, stretching my back, and walked up to Shanna and her armed associates.
“So what do we do now?” I asked, tweaking my neck and fingers.
Shanna looked at me, adjusting her gun slightly to the left, the nozzle pointed to the floor. “We keep going further down, kid. We got no choice, but to keep moving.”
“What is your name?” the large man asked, his gazed locked on me.
“I am Den Atmas, just a student, sir” I replied, shifting a few inches away from them.
The large man wore a standard law enforcer uniform, with black and golden strips on his chest, a pistol hanging from his left side. He had a small mustache, a large jaw, thick eyebrows, and he stood at about seven feet in height. He carried a large javelin bazooka,