Sorry. Been on a lazy streak and kinda busy these few weeks. Don't know when i'll continue but i'll do it when i do it. Will let you guys know. Sorry.



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holosync

The god-forsaken abomination was rampaging towards us. The storekeep's rapid array of bullets doing nothing in slowing the monster down. He raised his huge fists into the air and then without warning slammed it down, trying to crush us. But I managed to jump out of it's way in time. The storekeep wasn't so lucky. He couldn't avoid the blow and was killed but it's crushing force.
I looked at his remains and almost vomited. His body was crushed and bones we protruding out of whatever flesh remained. his brains and insides were all over the ground. I imagined the same thing would happen if one brought a hammer down on an orange.
Trying to stay out of sight, I jumped behind a nearby car and hid. Trying to stay low. I peeked from below to vehicle to check where the monster was at but it was nowhere to be found. Surely it couldn't have left so quickly. I remained hidden for another minute but then suddenly I was covered by a shadow overhead. It figure behind me was huge enough to block my view of the sun. I turned around and there it was. How could it have gotten behind me with me knowing? No time to think, it was about to crush me like it did the storekeeper. I rolled out of harms way just by an inch. I could feel the impact of the hammer fists slamming into the ground and bits of stone flying into my face. I shielded my eyes from the flying debris.
It has to have a weakness. All 'bosses' in games and movies have weakness. This one shouldn't be any different. I just need to know what. I thought to myself. I realized that it was a foolish thought moments later. This was real. It wasn't some computer generated hologram or a stunt in an action flick. It was all real. And I had to figure out how to survive. There wasn't much time and running didn't seem to be an option. The monster wasn't slowing down at all.

***

December 29, 1999.

The end is approaching. The world waits anxiously for the turn of the millenium. They do not know what is about the befall them. I'm working away anxiously trying to find a way to counter this disease. I'm close...real close. But somehow the effects of the cure is only temporal. It somehow neutralizes the bacteria from mutating the DNA strands for a short period of time. So far i've managed to lengthen the period from ten seconds to a mere five minutes. It's not enough. If I just have more time to carry out more tests. But the clock is ticking. So far only the few people who were involved in that experiment knows about this. Even the government who sponsored us is in the dark, but they won't be for long. All of my partners are dead, save two of us - Michael and me. But it's only because he backed out from all of this and to think I trusted him. He was supposed to help us find a cure, but he ran away. It won't be long before he rats us out to the authorities. The only way is to find a cure and pretend none of this ever happened. I managed to make the others' deaths seem like accidents. But only I know what really happened to them - what they all became.

This journal is all I have to keep me sane. I have no one to talk to, not since Kara left me. But for the sake of science and to save the world from a certain doom, sacrifices have to be made. The world is unfair.

***

Asurge of déjà vu went through my mind. It was a familiar scene. Thousands of screechers swarmed just in front of me. Mary frozen in her steps as the waves of unworldly creatures mobbed towards her. I had a single shotgun in hand. It was highly ineffective against what we were going against. Run! my mind screamed to Mary. But these electrical pulses in my head couldn't be translated into words. My mouth gaped open but nothing came out but the wind. Run, damn it. Move your legs, I thought.

I've got to get her out of that daze. Instinctively, I let out a blast of shotgun shells into the air. Mary jumped and turned around and saw me. She then ran towards me but the screechers were gaining on her. They're behaving more like when we first saw them. But why? Where did they go and what were they doing? I had no time to answer these questions. Immediately I grabbed Mary and ran back toward the firearms store. It's probably the safest place right now. I occasionally turned around and fired at the screechers closing in on us. The store was in sight. We're safe, I thought. Then I saw someone come out of the store with a machine gun in hand. "Git outta da way, lads. I'm gonna shoot 'em dead." Quickly I leapt out of the way, pulling Mary along with me.

He released a flurry of bullets into the oncoming mob. I could here the ping of the shells hitting the concrete ground. Then there was a familiar scream. I looked at the mob and I could blood spraying all over the place. Flesh flung on the road and the sidewalk as bullets went through their meaty flesh. I looked at the store owner. He was smiling. His eyes burning with insanity from all the killing. He was enjoying it. 

I went to behind his line of fire just in case he decided to turn and aim at me. Then he stopped. The floor was covered with empty shells, and the machine gun was smoking. I looked at the army of screechers. There were still too many. But they weren't moving. They were waiting for something. Then something rose from among them. What's that thing? It is...growing? It got bigger and bigger until it towered over everything around it. It stood almost 10-feet tall. It let out a very large roar, and looked at us. We're so dead. "Run," I shouted, "There's no way we can take that monster." "Run if ya wanna, Ah'm gonna kill 'em dead." There's no talking sense into that crazy guy. The next moment, that 10-feet screecher charged toward us, each step it took quaking the ground.

Silence. There was no gunshot. The gun was empty. The store owner gave a loud laugh. "Nice try, woman. Now get outta 'ere 'fore i blow ya brains out." I grabbed Mary by her arm and dragged her out of the store before anything else happened. Shotgun in hand, I scanned the streets for any signs of screechers. None. Where had they all gone too? But now's not the time for that. I walked back to the mouth of the street and walked along all the stores, hoping to find a reply from Elizabeth, if she was even here at all.

Perhaps she didn't notice the note at all. There wasn't a single reply from any of the stores. It was possible that most of them were too scared to even come out from the back. Probably have to wait till tomorrow. For now there wasn't anything to do. And suddenly, my stomach started to growl. I hadn't eaten since I left Froumann and all the action made me forget my hunger. I looked at Mary, she still seemed a little spaced out from the incident before. "Hey snap out of it. What happened to Philip, we couldn't prevent. Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault," I said to her, hoping to comfort her. "Not our fault?" she screamed. "Yes it's not our fault but you acted like nothing happened at all. After that man killed Philip, you became all buddy-buddy with him. Is this what you're like? When your friends are killed, you just treat it as though nothing happened?" I didn't know what to say. She was obviously upset.

"Some friend you are," she said in an angry tone, and turned and ran back up Westlake Street to Cape Street. "It's not safe out there! Mary, come back!" I shouted. Mary didn't reply, she just ran straight ahead. She'd probably come back once she cools down. Right now the streets are pretty safe. The screechers don't seem to be around. She'll come back when she realizes there's no where else to go.

Suddenly in the distance there was a loud moan. Not a single moan. But from thousands. The screechers? Is it them? It sounded as if they had awaken. It sounded like it came from very far away, but it was loud. Very loud. Then as though they read my mind, they answered my question with a loud screech. The screeching filled the entire Gutter City. What's going on now? Then from ahead, I heard a scream. Mary! Quickly I loaded the shotgun and ran ahead. This is bad, I thought.

Philip laid on the ground and there was a pool of blood flowing from his lifeless body. Shards of glass were scattered all around him; his eyes rolled back into his skull. Where his right shoulder was, was now replaced with loose flesh and empty space. Apparantly the force had completely blown it right off - bones and all. Mary covered her eyes, she couldn't bear to look. I just stood there, stunned. What the hell just happened? Before I knew it, another shot was fired. I jumped back and Mary screamed and jumped backwards too.'

"Get away from here you monsters," a man said in a hillbilly voice. He cocked his shotgun and was ready to blast us into oblivion. "Wait, don't shoot! We're not one of them. We're normal people." He looked very rugged - unshaved stubble and he sported a moustache. With a red, checked shirt torn at the sleeves and a black shirt underneath. He scanned us from head to toe, and then let out a loud laugh, "Why din' ya say so earlier? Come on in." He was unusually cheerful. We were still in shock. He killed Philip and yet he acted like nothing happened? We cautiously made our way into the store. I kept my eye on his hands just in case he decided to pull something on us while our backs were turned.

"Well, let's git tha hole in tha front door barricad'id. We don't want those monsters finding us here, especially with that body outside." He said in a rather cheerful voice. All the while Mary didn't say anything. She just stood at the doorway. She didn't move an inch. "I don't think it's a good idea if we stayed. We just need to get some weapons and we'll be on our way. We'll pay for them if you want," I said. "Nah, s'okay. Jus' take whut ya need. Munnie'z no good these days, m'iright?" He replied. "Thanks." I looked around. There were many different types of firearms that I didn't know which to choose. "Ah recommend ya take dis fine baby! Real useful if ya wanna survive out dere." He handed me a shotgun. "Dis a Remington eight-seventy. Used by tha police an' military. It's a real keeper." I  inspected it. It looks usable enough. I'll take this then, and two of those hand guns for me and my friend over here. He handed me two Desert Eagles. "These are mark seven eagles. Dun make 'em like these anymo'." I took them and kept them in my backpack first. Not a good idea to hand Mary a gun right now. She could go mad. "I guess we'll get going now. Thanks for these" "Don' mentionit," he replied. Suddenly Mary screamed, "He killed Philip and you're both acting like nothing happened?" We both got a shock. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She looked mad, her eyes burning with anger. Then she lunged for my shotgun and pulled it away. It slipped out of my hands into hers. She pointed it at the shopkeeper and pulled the trigger.

There were too many of them and the only direction was back. I pulled Mary away and ran in the other direction. Phillip followed right behind us. There was an alleyway just ahead. Maybe they won't notice if we hide in there. I made a sharp turn, followed by the two of them. We ducked behind the trash cans and hid there.

The army of screechers walked past, still moving at the same synchronized pace as before. They seemed more zombie-like than before. They weren't searching for us. No, they were heading for someplace. But where? They just marched onwards as if they were headed for war. But they seemed less "enthusiastic" than before.

Part of me wanted to tail them to see where they were headed but another part of me had to go back to find Elizabeth. The screechers can wait. I'm so close to finding Elizabeth, I can't get sidetracked now. We came out into the open smelling like a mix of rotten fish and decomposing vegetables. Mary choked and coughed hysterically. She was practically holding her breath throughout. We headed back to Westlake Street to continue our search for the gift shop.

Could it be this one? I peered into the shop. The sign read "Barry's GiftStore". It was empty, not a single person inside. Could they be in the back? I knocked on the door. No answer. I banged harder, and waited. Still no one. Not giving up i attempted to kick the door. I took a few steps back and charged into it. I have a feeling Elizabeth might be inside. The door rattled but it didn't budge. I didn't want to make too much of a commotion so I took one last look inside before moving on. The next store was "Paz' Present's the Future". What a cheesy name! I thought. I looked through the glass again. No one. Were they really all empty or were the people all hiding inside. There was no way I could try to ram down every single door until i found Elizabeth. So I thought of an idea. Maybe I could write a note and slide it into every shop and hope Elizabeth sees it.

"Do you have a notepad or some pieces of paper?" I asked Mary and Philip. They both shook their heads. All the stores were locked and there were no pieces of paper around. Or were there? There were flyers all over the street. Stuck onto lamposts and blown around by the wind. That's great. I ran and collected as many pieces of paper as I could. I looked like a crazy man running around collecting paper from the ground. Mary and Philip stood there and stared at me. "Give me a hand guys!" I shouted. They were reluctant but then finally agreed to help.

After I collected all the paper in sight, I counted the number of gift shops along Westlake street and then took the same number of paper. I then stuffed the rest into my backpack for future use. I took a pen from my pocket and began to write. Mary and Philip kept watch while I knelt down in the middle of the street to write.

____________________________________________________________________

Greetings fellow survivors.

My name is James Marley and I am currently on Westlake Street looking for a lady (my wife) Elizabeth Marley. Please help me convey this message to her and ask her to reply to this note and place it outside your shop. I'll come around later and tap on your window. The creatures are currently not around so it's quite safe out here.

I mean no harm,

James Marley

____________________________________________________________________

I had to write this another twelve times. Westlake Street was known as the place to look for gifts. How convenient. While I was writing suddenly Philip shouted, "Look, over there! A weapons dealer. Maybe we can break in and arm ourselves with something better than these lousy office equipment we took from Froumann." For a moment I thought he saw some screechers in the distance. I was almost done writing so I told them to hang on for a while. "You want us to break into a weapon shop? Are you mad? What if there are people inside? We would be killed before we manage to even break in." Mary said exasperatedly. "That's true. We should approach with caution. Make sure there isn't anyone inside before we try to enter."

I closed my pen cap and gathered the loose pieces of paper. Then the three of us headed over to the gun shop. "Revolverz: We supply all your gun needs." Yea right, like there are other times other than now that we actually need guns. And right now you're closed. The irony. I chuckled to myself. Mary looked at me strangely but decided to ignore me. There were all sorts of firearms hanging on the display window - SMGs, handguns, rifles, and even shotguns. What a gift shop! I thought to myself. Philip knocked on the door while Mary peered in. "Move aside!" Mary screamed. She tried to push Philip out of the way but it was too late. There was a loud bang and the glass on the front door shattered with a deafening sound. Philip flew backwards and hit the concrete pavement.

Just ahead was Westlake Street, it was as ghostly as the other streets. A stench of death and evil was in the air. A mist shrouded the roads. Elizabeth is probably somewhere here, but where? "Hey Mary," I suddenly stopped and ask, "Do you recall where Elizabeth went to run her errand?" "She didn't mention it. She just said she had to go collect something for her mom. Maybe she mentioned it to you?" Mary said, trying to recall as much as she could from their prior conversation. Collect something for her mom? Come to think of it, she did mention something about collecting a gift for my mother-in-law. Her birthday was next week. "Let's check out the gift stores along Westlake Street. It can't be too long. Anyway it looks pretty deserted, just stay on the lookout."

"Are you kidding? Westlake Street is lined up with gift stores!" Mary replied, "Even if we find people in the stores, Elizabeth might not be with them." "We'll have to check every single one of them then, even if it's going to take hours. I have to find her, it's what I came here for," I rebutted.

Mary didn't say anything. I looked at her and she looked stunned. The other guy, Philip, who was following us stopped in his tracks too. They seemed to be staring at something behind me. What now? What could it possibly be this time? Slowly I turned around and expected the worst - I could not have been more wrong. There were hundreds of screechers just ahead. They were marching in our direction slowly. They walked perfectly in sync; arms swinging and each footstep in perfect harmony. It was like an army of screechers and they were drawing closer. "Run!" I shouted to Mary and Philip. But they were frozen in their steps. Shit! I realized that I dropped my gun way back at Cape Street. But there were too many for me to take with a hand gun anyway. My mind screamed run, but my feet wouldn't budge. And the screechers were coming closer - in the hundreds.

Silence. That was good. It should mean that I disabled the alarm system. “It should be safe to open the door now, right?” I asked Mary. “I guess so,” she replied, with an uncertain tone in her voice, “Let’s just try and see. And if it still goes off, we hide and wait and see what happens. Everyone get ready your weapons.”

I reached for the handle and turned it. From above me a deafening siren went off. Part of me expected this - Murphy's law was right. The worst did happen. I turned around and told everyone to calm down but they were already panicking. The alarm was very loud and I had to shout over the noise. Then behind the doors at the other end something moved. A shadow. Was I imagining it? I stared hard into the darkness. Then I saw it. A screecher. I didn't want to alarm the others but there was no choice. It would see us sonner or later and there was no point laying low. But before I could say or do anything, one of the guys turned around and saw it. Without thinking, he let out a loud scream. I grabbed him and covered his mouth with my palm, but it was too late. The scream had drawn the attention of the screecher.

"Everyone climb down now!" I pushed open the door of the fire escape and ushered everyone out the door. The screecher made a mad dash towards us. I fired a few shots at it and only hit it after missing three shots. It fell to the ground, but then there were more coming. There were too many of them. I switched to burst-fire mode and mashed the trigger. I managed to kill four and injure two but there were still about five coming at me. I pulled the trigger but it responded with an empty click. Shit! What else could go wrong? Everyone had exited and I immediately jumped out and pulled shut the door. There was no way to lock it from the outside. The screechers were hammering away furiously at the door. I was hoping that they were not smart enough to figure out that they had to pull the door.

Quickly we hurried down the fire escape. When we had gone down about one story suddenly the door flew open. It fell past us and landed with a loud bang onto the ground floor. The screechers had rammed down the door with sheer force. "Hurry," I shouted, "Everybody get down and head towards Cape Street now!"

We reached the ground level and turned left towards the exit of the alley out to Cape Street. The screechers were climbing down the sides of the railings rapidly. Was I going to die here? I shrugged that thought aside. I had to focus on escaping first.

As I was only carrying one backpack with minimal food supplies and ammo, I could easily outrun the others. The screechers were just two meters behind us. Then without warning one of them leapt. I looked over my shoulder and there it was, in mid-air. Reflexively I sidestepped and dodged it. But it managed to catch one of the guys. I was in a dilemma; to turn back and help him or to keep running. I hesitated. Oh for crying out loud. I turned back and with the pistol in hand, I whipped it right smack in it's skull. But it was ineffective. It looked at me and then with one swift action it knocked the gun out of my hand. Shit! I thought.

Then it raised it's hand and landed a blow on the guy it had pinned under him. Blood shot out of his arm and I could hear his shoulder crack. He let out a ghastly scream. It was unhumanly. Mary turned around and shouted "James! Leave him, save yourself!" I knew that she was right, there was nothing I could do and there were four more of them coming. I turned and ran for it.

I couldn't get the image out of my head. My mind was picturing it, but my legs kept running. Then a screecher managed to catch another guy. I wasn't thinking straight anymore. I just kept running on. I could hear screams echo through the alley. Bouncing off it's walls into the night. Still I kept running. I managed to catch up with Mary and we made it to Cape Street. When we came out Mary, one of the guys and I turned right; while the other four turned left. We were seperated. It wasn't a good thing. We were about to turn around but the three screechers jumped out of the alley - blocking our path. There was no choice. We ran ahead as the other four ran in the other direction.

The screechers stopped and looked at both groups. Two of them ran after the other group, while one of them came after us. Why did they split up? Maybe they do have some sort of intelligence after all. The two went after the group of four so that they each would have two preys. And the one coming after us would have us to himself. It seemed like they made a logical decision at that point.

It wasn't important. What mattered was that there was one screecher coming after us, and pretty soon there would be more. We kept running down Cape Street. We were reaching Formouth Lane and after that was Westlake Street; which was where Elizabeth probably was.

Suddenly the screecher that was chasing us, stopped. I looked over my shoulder and it was just standing there in the middle of the road. And then without explanation, it turned around and ran in the other direction. It had stopped chasing us. What was going on? Why did it stop chasing us for no reason at all? At least it was over. We stopped running and just collapsed in the middle of the road, panting. We were safe, but I still had to go and find Elizabeth. "Westlake Street is just up ahead. Elizabeth would probably still be there. I'll be going there to look for her. The city border is just straight ahead. I guess that's where you two will be heading to. Let's get going. Staying out here in the open isn't a good idea." They were too tired to say anything and they just let out a half-assed gesture of agreement. We continued walking on. Why did the screecher suddenly stop chasing us? It was something i knew no one had an answer to, at least not yet. But I had to find out.

The doors parted and we exited the lift slowly. It was very quiet. There was an eerie vibe to the whole place. My imagination started running wild. I saw shadows - human-like shadows at every corner. Why was I the one leading all these people? If anything I didn’t see myself as the leader kind. But for some strange reason, people tend to look up to me for advice. We crept across the room. There was an “Emergency Exit” sign illuminated at the other end. “Over there,” I whispered the others.

I was about to open the door when Mary suddenly stopped me. She pointed to a sign pasted on the door – Warning: Emergency Exit only. Opening the door will trigger a fire alarm. Fine for Misuse: $1000. Just great. Didn’t they think that there would be people who needed to escape silently? Which geniuses thought of this idea? “Maybe we could try to disarm the fire alarm. Anyone knows how these things work?” No one said anything. “Well, we could just open the door and then wait and see what happens. If those screechers do come then we’ll figure out another way to escape,” I suggested. “No! It’s too risky,” Mary said harshly, “don’t be stupid. Let’s just try to find a way to disarm the alarm.” I shrugged my shoulders but she stared at me expectantly. I got the hint, so I agreed to try.

I took a nearby chair and climbed up to the alarm box. I pulled off the cover and examined the wires. It looked like spaghetti to me. I never touched electronics my whole life. I turned and looked at the others, they just stared at me with hopeful eyes. I looked back at the box and observed the colors of the wires. This feels just like the movies. Maybe it’s the black one. I was sweating profusely, the situation was too stressful. One wrong decision and it would have serious repercussions. I had to think this through slowly.

After some serious deliberation and some wire tracing, I came to a not-so-logical conclusion that maybe the black wire was the one to disable the alarm. How hard could it be? There was probably only one wire out of the bunch that would trigger the alarm. The odds were pretty high.

"Here goes nothing," I said to myself. I put on the rubber gloves which one of the guys found in the janitor’s closet and picked up the pair of scissors. This is it. And with one swift action, I cut the black wire.

I rushed out of the elevator the moment the doors opened, but I was greeted with chaos. It seemed the news had already spread all the way up here. And there were more people than I remembered seeing since I went down. The others from below must have gathered here. At least now I didn’t have to be the one the break the news to them. I nudged my way amidst the crowd, looking out for Mary but she wasn’t amongst the crazy mob. I looked into her office and noticed the lights were on and there were a few silhouettes on the blinds. She must be in there. I pushed my way further in and finally reached the office door. I opened it and I saw Mary, Carrie and a new guy whom I’d never seen before.

Mary and the new guy were engaged in a heated argument and Carrie was trying to calm the both of them down. Apparently it was about whether to stay or to find a safer place to hide. When they noticed that I had entered the room, the argument broke into silence. “What’s up,” I jested “Am I interrupting? I could always come back later.” “Oh hey, you came back,” Mary said. “Great timing. Alvin here insists that we stay here and wait for help. I think that staying here would only mean suicide for all of us. Carrie has no opinion, so we need your opinion.” Opinion? Yea right. She probably means "I need you to decide, NOW". I just came in and already I have to make such an important decision? Great, I thought to myself. It was a tough choice. On one hand, the screechers were already on their way up and staying here would mean an inevitable massacre. On the other hand, it wasn’t easy leaving the building either and going out into the open was equally dangerous. “I don’t know. Both options are equally risky. I suggest we put it out to a vote, see what everyone out there has to say. My vote would still be to leave this place. I have to go out and look for my wife. If anyone wants to come with me it’s fine, but just don’t drag me down.” They looked at me and nodded in agreement. “I’m fine with that,” said Alvin. “Now who’s going out there to try to talk sense into those people? They’ve been going crazy for quite some time now.” “I will. I would need some moral support though, in case they suddenly turn on me or something. I don’t know, those people seem crazy enough to do that.” Mary said sarcastically.

I opened the door and ushered Mary out. She looked at me and whispered, “Prepare to rush back into the room and locked the doors.” I chuckled and followed her out. The people had calmed down. “I guess they were tired out from all that screaming and running around,” I joked.

“Okay, we have two options now:” Mary said in a pseudo-boomy voice, “either we stay here and die, or we go out and die. My choice is to go out and try to get out of Gutter City. Who is with me?” I looked at the crowd. Most of them looked very scared, and none of them wanted to go. Then one man in the crowd raised his hand, “I’ll go with you. There’s no point staying here and waiting to die,” his voice was shaky, but he was trying hard to hide it. Another person raised his hand, and yet another and another. Seven people had decided that staying here was suicide, that means seven more people to slow my search down. “Ok, now those who are leaving with us come in here. The rest can continue with what you were doing. I suggest you prepare yourselves for the worst. Arm yourselves with whatever you can.” The seven people plus Mary and I went back into the office. We sat around to think of how to get out of the building unnoticed.

“I got it!” one of the guys suddenly jumped up. Everyone turned their heads and looked at him expectantly. “We could go to the third story and I know a fire escape route from the back of the building. We could escape to the alley and then escape to Cape Avenue through the back alleys from there.” “That’s a good idea,” I said, “anyone disagree with that plan?” No one said anything. “Okay then, everyone grab some food, water and whatever you need. Try to arm yourselves with whatever office supplies you can for now. We’d go out and try to find some weapons we can use.”

After everyone had gotten their belongings, we gathered around the lift lobby. “Here goes,” I said, “whether we live or die depends entirely on each other. We have to work as a team.” I merely said that to encourage them, but I knew that we wouldn’t be travelling together for long. They were headed out of the city and I was staying in the city to look for Elizabeth, if she was still alive. No, what am I thinking? Of course she’s still alive. She’s probably safe somewhere with another group of people. I checked my gun to make sure it was fully loaded and I had a map in my pocket. I had to protect them because I was the only one with a real weapon. Westlake Street here I come. Please hang in there, Elizabeth. We entered the lift and went down to the third floor.

Wha..?? I jolted awake. A hellish pain surged through my shoulder. I had totally forgot about my wound. But I was soon distracted by an incessant screaming from the other end of the room. My mind was still half asleep and everything seemed hazy. I rubbed my eyes and tried to see what the commotion was about. There was a young girl, in about her early twenties, kicking up a fuss about something. There were quite a few people gathered around her, trying to calm her down while others, like me, were woken up by the noise. Mary was desperately trying to calm the girl down, to no avail. “What’s going on?” I asked throatily, my vocal chords still seemed to be sleeping. “The screechers broke into the building last night," she said, "they still in the building’s lobby. They haven’t found a way up yet, but I don’t think staying here too long would be a good idea.” The information took about a whole minute before it finally sank into my head. Before I could say anything, the crying girl suddenly lunged at me. “It’s all your fault! You’re the one who lured them here! Now we’re all gonna die and it’s all your fault!” The others immediately restrained her as I backed away. It was my fault. I did kill one of them and now they’re probably looking for me. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I wasn't so concerned with them finding us, but sneaking out was a whole lot tougher now that they were gathered there. I couldn’t just waltz past them and head out into the streets without even one of them noticing.

“How many of them are there?” I asked Mary. “Last I heard, the count was about six.” Six isn’t that bad, I thought, at least it wasn't chocked full of those screechers. I went into a corner to try to come up with a plan. I remembered the first one I encountered, he wasn’t that agile as the other one I’d met. There must be different types of these screecher creatures. I decided to head on down to take a look at the situation before deciding on my next move. “Hey Mary, I’m going down to take a look-see. I probably wouldn’t come back. I have to head on out to look for my wife.” She looked at me curiously, “Are you sure? It’s pretty dangerous going down there alone. I can tell you, though, the only safe spot would be behind the door of the stairwell. That was where we hid to check out the situation.” So that’s how they knew how many were down there. I picked up the handgun and I tucked it in my belt, and grabbed my backpack. “I better get going then. No time to waste. I’ll see you when I see you.” I smiled and went to the lift lobby. I pressed the "down" button and waited. Finally, the elevator arrived. I went in and pressed “2”. As the door was closing, suddenly a hand jutted in between to stop the doors. “Wait! You’ll need some food and water. Even if those things don’t kill you, you’d probably die of hunger.” How encouraging, I thought. “Thanks. You’ve really helped me a lot. If I do see you again, I owe you one,” I said. “Oh don’t mention it,” she smirked.

The door closed and the lift descended. It felt much quicker than before. Ding!, went the elevator bell. The door opened and I peered out. The lights were flickering and it was dead silent. Then I saw it, dead bodies everywhere; about ten of them at least. Something moved in the corner of my eye. I turned and I saw it, a screecher.< It was bent over something. It looked like it was eating one of the corpses. I backed up into the lift but I was too late, it had heard the lift doors open and seen me. It walked towards me, very…very slowly. I paused. Was it going to lunge at me suddenly? I cautiously reached for my gun and aimed at it. Then I pulled the trigger. The bullet flew right through its skull and it fell straight to the ground. I looked around, but there weren’t any others in sight. How did they get up here? Did the others head on upstairs? The stairwell door was open. I have to get back up to warn them. Before I could go back into the lift, two of the dead bodies stood up. They looked in my direction. What’s going on? Weren’t they dead? Were all dead bodies “converted”? Then the other bodies began to stand up too, the same soulless eyes and large fangs. And all at once they rushed towards me. I jumped back into the elevator and pressed the “>|<” button furiously. I could see them almost reach the doors, but it shut before they could get in between. I heaved a sigh of relief, but it was too soon to celebrate. At any rate I had to get back up to warn the rest. I pressed “25” and the lift once again ascended.

Finally. The elevator doors split and revealed well furnished room. There were quite a number of people gathered here - some huddled around a desk; there was one girl just curled up in a corner and sobbing. One lady, in about her mid forties, was desperately trying to get the phone to work. The land lines must have been cut too. Frustrated, she slammed the phone on the ground. It shattered into a thousand pieces. I stepped out of the lift, and suddenly I could feel everyone’s eyes staring at me. I was feeling quite uncomfortable. I could see that most of their eyes shifting to the deep wound on my shoulder – which I almost forgotten all about. My left arm was still numb. I could move it slightly but I thought it was best not to aggravate the wound any further. “Is Carrie here?” Mary asked a man in a blue shirt. He pointed over to a dark corner and walked away. Shrugging her shoulders at me, she brought me over to meet her friend.

“Hey Carrie, I need your help for a while. James here was attacked by one of the screechers, could you help him dress his wound?” Mary asked, in a rather casual tone. “Oh my! We should get that cleaned up right away. It might get badly infected.” Carrie said. She got up quickly and pulled me over to the pantry area. Over the sink, she washed my wound with antiseptic. It stung really badly but I tried to keep my yelps from escaping. She looked at me and saw me gritting my teeth really hard. She flashed a gentle smile at me and carried on working on my wound.

After about 10 minutes and a few muffled screams later, she was done. My left shoulder was bandaged and my arm was in a sling to prevent movement which might aggravate the wound. It looked professionally done. I thanked her and she smiled and went back to doing what she was doing before I appeared. I looked around, not knowing what to do next. The clock showed 21:00. Had it been that long since I left the house? I decided to rest until the next morning before deciding what to do next. Then, as though it was a sign, my stomach began to grumble very loudly. Mary heard it and giggled to herself. “Hold on a second,” she said. She disappeared into the pantry and reappeared with a loaf of bread and some lunch meat. “Help yourself. There’s plenty more where that came from.” Feeling rather embarrassed and knowing that there was probably a limited food supply in this building. I settled for just two slices of bread, hoping it would keep me full until the next morning.

Then from behind me I heard a familiar sound - screeching. Was I surrounded? I had nowhere to run, I was trapped between the creatures behind me and the shadowy figure in front. Thenthe figure in front of me shouted something. It sounded human. I could make out her words. “Over here! Hurry, they coming!” Confused and not knowing what to do, I ran towards the voice. I looked over my shoulder, there must have been at least half a dozen of them. They sounded angry. I sprinted ahead. They must have heard me running away and they rushed in my direction. One of them was moving very sluggishly, while the rest were already catching up. “Quick! Get inside!” I dashed through the door and shut it behind me. Panting hard, and still numb from the wound I had gotten earlier, I looked up at my savior. She had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and sported frameless glasses. She was in a white office shirt with navy stripes and black pants. I had seen her quite a few times when I dropped my wife off to work, she was the receptionist and at front counter of Froumann Inc.

“Elizabeth. Is Elizabeth still here? Where is she? Is she upstairs?” I asked, my words were chopped up with heavy breathing and desperation. She stood there and waited for me to catch my breath. “Elizabeth? You mean Elizabeth Marley? She wasn’t here in the office when it all happened? She left the building at around lunchtime. She said she had to head over to Westlake Street to run an errand. She was supposed to be back an hour ago but that was before all of this happened. I don’t know what’s going on but there are a quite a few of us trapped in this building.” I stared at her, not knowing what to say. Of all the things that could happen, my wife had to leave her office just before all these happened. Great, now what? Gutter City was so huge I didn’t even know where to start looking for her. But I was desperate to find her. I had to. “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Mary Linken. I’m the receptionist at Froumann Inc. I’ve seen you before, are you...Elizabeth’s husband?” she continued. I lost my train of thought and only caught her last few words. “Yea, nice to meet you too. Albeit under not so pleasant circumstances. I’m James. Thanks for helping me back there. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up to help me.” 

I looked around, everything was illuminated by the emergency lights which were running on the generator’s power. They wouldn’t last very long. I walked around out front, there wasn’t anyone there too. “Where are the others? Are they all hiding upstairs?” I asked. “No one dared to come down after the incident happened. I volunteered to come down to keep watch in case there were any updates or any of those creatures broke in. I call them Screechers because that’s what they all do – screech.” I scanned her from head to toe, she was pretty skinny and of average height. She doesn't seem afraid of them, I thought in amazement. She looked at me and as though she had read my thoughts she said, “I know I may not look it, but I’m a toughie," she said in a joking manner, "I have a black belt in Karate and I’ve been through basic self-defense classes before. You know how it’s like in Gutter City, not really a safe place to be in.” I nodded in agreement, still skeptical of what she said. But being down here alone was brave enough. “Should we head upstairs? You should get that wound taken care of. I know someone who knows first aid up there.” As we walked towards the lifts, the lights came back on. What was going on? Were there still people operating the power at the stations? “This is good, at least now we don’t have to take the stairs all the way up to the twenty-fifth floor," she said. Twenty-fifth floor? She was actually going to walk all the way up to the twenty-fifth floor? I smiled and continued towards the lift. We got in and she pressed “25”. “No kidding," I said. "I thought you were joking about the twenty-fifty floor thing." “I wish,” she replied, “taking the lift up is long enough.”

As door slowly shut, my mind was flooded with thoughts – Where can she possibly be in a city this big? Where do I begin to even look for her? Is she already dead? The ride up was accompanied by an awkward silence. Mary knew I was deep in thought and so she kept quiet, not wanting to interrupt. I noticed this. But not knowing what to say, I didn’t break the silence too. The journey up seemed like eternity.

I grabbed the backpack from the back seat and got out of the car. Froumann Inc. towered over me. It was so tall that just looking up made me feel nauseas. I tried to see if there were any signs of movement within the building but the windows were tinted.

I walked toward the revolving doors and peered in, there wasn’t anyone inside. The electricity must have been cut. I scanned the interior and then something caught my eye. Who is that? Could it be? There was some movement inside, but I couldn’t see very clearly. I tried to force my way through the revolving doors but it was locked. Apparently someone doesn’t want anything to get through.

Then I remembered that there was a back entrance. I used it once just a couple of years back to sneak in to bring in the cake and flowers for her birthday surprise. It was one of the happiest memories we had together. Those were the days, I reminisced. I walked to the corner of the building and peeked around the bend into the alley. It was deserted. Without warning, I heard a shattering sound from behind me. I spun around and I saw something. It looked like one of the creatures I saw earlier. But this one was different, it was much quicker. It saw me and began to make a mad dash for me, screaming something inaudible in the process. I panicked and ran alleyward but the thing was gaining in on me. Then I remembered that I had a gun in my back pocket. I drew it and turned around. That thing was just three steps to reaching me, almost in my face. I pulled the trigger.

It was stuck. Before I knew what had happened, it jumped on me and pinned me down. Adrenaline was rushing through my body. I tried to throw it off me but it was too strong. I still had the gun in my hand and I pistol-whipped it. It seemed to work for that moment. It was dazed for a second, but then it recovered and just got madder. It let out an ear-piercing screech so loud that I almost went deaf.

Then I remembered something. Most firearms have safety catches on. I checked the catch on the on barrel and sure enough it was set to “safe”. I tried to reach the catch with my other hand but my arm was held down by its weight. I let go of the gun and then tried flipped the catch with my free hand. I could already feel it breathing warm air on me by now. Before I could pick up the gun, it came down hard and bit into my left shoulder. I screamed and with one hard push I threw it off me. Blood was flowing down my shoulder. My left arm went numb. I quickly picked up the gun and fired madly at the creature. Soon I ran out of bullets. I opened my eyes. It was lying motionless on the ground. I killed it. No time to waste, others from his kind must have heard the gunfire. I turned around and headed towards the back of the building. 

Then I saw something in the shadows move. My muscles froze, a bead of sweat rolled down my cheek. Could it be one of them? How did they get here so fast? I stood very still and waited for it to make its move, prepared to make a run for it.

None of the radio stations were working. Were the people at the broadcasting stations affected too? How much of the world was being plagued by this? So many questions flooded my mind, and I didn’t have any answers. I knew everything would become clear in time, but would I live long enough to know the answers? Traffic was a breeze, there weren’t anyone on the roads and the traffic lights were dead. One hand on the steering wheel, I opened the glove compartment and reached inside. I felt something. Cold metal. I pulled it out, and just as I suspected – It was a handgun. On the side of the barrel it read “M&9 Pro”. Probably the model. The logo was definitely Smith and Wesson. I checked the remaining of the glove box and found a box of 9mm Parabellum caliber bullets. This is good. A fruit knife wouldn’t be any good in protecting me for long, i thought. I packed the box of bullets into the backpack that was lying in the backseat and tucked the fruit knife on my left, between my belt, and the gun on my right. Froumann Inc. was just up ahead. I knew that the answers to some of my questions would be answered soon – Was she still alive?

Moving cautiously, I approached the corner of Goldheights Apartment. What I saw around the corner made me freeze in my steps. There were bodies draped everywhere; on traffic lights, on signs, cars, and all over the ground. What happened here? Then I saw something moving in the distance. I squinted. The back of a person. No, he was too messed up. But he was shuffling in his position. I slowly wentup to him. Was he hurt? I could probably help him to the local hospital. He looked pretty bad. I went up to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around very slowly, and I froze. His face. Could I be dreaming? Was he even human? Sure he was. He had human-like features. But his face - that soulless eyes and protuding jaws. They weren’t teeth, they were huge fangs and were dripping with fresh blood. It was holding on to one of the corpses.

He turned to me and his reached out for me. He was mumbling something. I couldn’t hear him, but clearly he wanted something from me. My brains? Blood? It didn't matter, he wasn’t alone and there were many more up ahead. My mind told me to escape but my body wouldn't move. Drawing all my strength, I jerked my lifeless legs and managed to make a limping run for it. After escaping a distance, I turned around to look. It wasn’t following me at all. That was good right? Still panting in the middle of the street I looked around. Were there any other survivors in this horror? I saw a black Ford up ahead. The door was open and there was a corpse just sprawled on the floor beside it, a pool of blood still flowing from it's lifeless body. Probably the owner of the car, i thought. I went up and searched the body for the keys. Sure enough, he was holding on to it. I got into the car and noticed that the meter was only one-quarter full. It would be enough get me where I need to be right now. And so I slammed the door shut and drove off.

Where is this place? I knew this was Gutter City, but it was so destroyed it looked so foreign. There were gloomy clouds over-shadowing it. Shop windows were smashed, car sirens were wailing, there were rats and cockroaches scurrying in my direction. They were running from something. Should I turn around? My instinct told me moving forward wasn’t a good idea. The sky was getting dark. It was orange-red; and clouds were swirled overhead, like vultures circling a dead animal. It looked evil. But curiosity got the best of me, and so I moved on deeper into the forest of buildings.

Strong winds swept across the lawn. I could hear a symphony of moans and screams from where I was hiding. People were running away from the oncoming onslaught. The lucky ones managed to find shelter, the unlucky ones were killed and eaten. I sat hidden as low as possible behind my kitchen counter, hoping for this nightmare to end. But it didn’t. 

I don’t know how long I had been hiding behind the counter. Had it been hours? There weren’t any screams outside anymore. What was going on outside? Was there anyone left? I took a peek over the counter. No one. Not a single person, or at least I couldn’t see anyone. I searched the tabletop for something sharp and saw a small fruit knife. It would do. Arming myself with it, I ventured out into the open, grabbed my coat and headed out the door. What was ahead, I did not know. But I was about to find out soon enough.

My name is James Marley, a freelance photographer for "The Gutter Times". I'm happily married to a wonderful lady, Elizabeth Marley. Even though she's the one paying all the bills, I do chip in once in a while when I do earn enough. She supports what i'm doing because she believes that one day i'll become a really big-shot photographer. I'm really lucky to have married her.

Elizabeth and I live in the suburbs of Gutter City, in a tiny apartment. Life's been great...at least until that fateful day when those things took everything away from me. My hopes, my dreams. Everything was destroyed. What am I talking about? I guess you have to read on and find out.