Myra stared in shock and disbelief at the gruesome sight before her. She opened her mouth to call out to her family, so they can tell her this is all a dream. But no sound came out.
One of the beasts, the one in the corner, feeding on Sam's corpse snapped its head in Myra's direction. Its eyes glinting wickedly at the sight of more fresh meat.
Myra let out a blood-curdling scream of pure terror, making the rest of the beasts look towards her.
The beasts dropped the corpses they were feeding on and slowly crawled over to Myra. In a daze of fear, Myra's legs moved on their own as she bolted out to the front door.
The report card flying out of her hand and slowly descending, falling into a puddle of blood as it grew wet and cockled.
The monsters quickly took off after Myra as she barged out of the door and ran out into the neighborhood as fast as she could. And as expected, heavy rain filled the neighborhood, rising up to her ankles. The loud, hungry breaths of the beasts after her sent a shiver down her spine.
"Please be a dream! Please be a dream!" She repeated in her mind as she gripped her diary and her younger brother's snacks tightly. Not wanting to let go of them, despite the dire situation.
"Escape! Survive! Hide!"
Those were the only words repeating in Myra's head as she ran for dear life. Her white hair clung to her face and clothes, drenched with rain and slick with sweat.
"Somebody, help me!" She shouted out as she kept running. She noticed an old man running a toy store, closing up his place. He just stared at her.
The old man grumbled as he turned back to closing up. "Kids, nowadays. Showing off their health, What even is she running from?"
Myra heard what he said. More importantly, the question at the end. "What even is she running from?"... What? Could this old man not see those things..? Then why can she...?
She couldn't stop to ask him about it, though. — Not with them still on her tail.
[End of Flashback.]
Myra ran and ran, desperate for survival as tears of pain and terror streamed down her face, mixing with mud and rainwater. She kept on running until her legs gave out, and then ran some more.
However, she was slowing down with each passing step. Until she was too slow. She screamed in terror as she felt a massive hand wrapping around her body and yanking her back.
The largest beast—and supposedly their leader—had caught her. Grinning wickedly as it gripped her body tightly
"Let me go, you.. You fiend!" She shouted at it in terror, pretending to not be afraid of it. When she most certainly is.
The rest of the beasts surrounded their leader, a wicked look in their golden lifeless eyes as they waited for their leader to have the first bite.
[Meanwhile, at a different location]
"Hey, just using the bathroom." A tall blue-haired man said as he walked into a local convenience store. Waving at the employee as he approached the store bathroom, supposedly acquaintances of sorts.
He walked into the bathroom and quickly did his business, looking at the mirror as he washed his hands. He then turned off the faucet and leaned into his reflection in the mirror as he ran his fingers through his smooth blue hair, fixing its style.
He then backed up to fix his clothes as he straightened his white design-less shirt and his blue jacket. Then tightening the belt of his black jeans as he grinned. "Must've taken all the good looks when I was born." He complimented himself and chuckled as he left the bathroom.
"Thanks." He said as he approached the snack aisle.
"You're welcome, Mr. Kannazaki" Said the cashier with a smile. Watching as Kannazaki picked out some snacks and ice cream,
"Okay, I lied, Not just using the bathroom" Kannazaki chuckled as he set the snacks down on the counter. Staring hungrily at the snacks as the cashier checked them out.
"Thank you very much~" He said as he took the white bag, now full of his snacks as he paid the cashier and left the store. He froze in his tracks the moment he stepped foot outside.
"More Drowned?" He muttered to himself as he looked to his 2 O'clock. Though his vision is obscured by the citizen homes in the way, he was looking exactly where Myra and the beasts were.
"Can't even catch a good meal, huh?" He went back in the store "Hey, hold onto them for a bit. I'll come pick 'em up in a few." He handed the cashier the snacks he just bought as he turned back and left the store again.
"Rei Kannazaki, A-Unit — Moving out." He muttered to himself, no one could hear him. But he just felt cool saying that.
Elsewhere, Myra's nightmare is far from over.
Myra gripped her diary and her brother's snacks tightly, as if she's gonna die if she dropped them. "Please... Please... Please..." She repeated, her eyes shut tight as she prayed for this nightmare to end.
The beast gripping her opened its massive mouth, large, sludgy purple saliva dripped down onto Myra's face. She grimaced in pain and fear as she tried to move her head away — but her movements were restricted.
The beast approached, breathing loudly as Myra's head was practically in its mouth now. — but then...
There was silence.. Myra expected the beast to have bit her head off by now.. But all that happened, is that she felt a strange liquid splash on her face, mixing with the purple saliva and rainwater.
She slowly opened her eyes and they shot wide in shock as she saw the terrific sight before her.
The beast's head down to its shoulders... Were nowhere to be seen.. Her face and body were now dominantly covered in a gooey yellow liquid.. It tasted almost metallic.. Is that the beast's... Blood?
She felt herself descending as the hand holding her fell down, no shoulders to keep it in place now. She thudded against the ground with a gasp. She was confused. What just happened?
But she had no time to think. The other beast were still there, stunned at the sight of their leader like that. But she knew they'd regain quickly and attack her.
She pried herself out of the lifeless arm of the beast as she took her diary, the snacks, and took off running.
The beasts quickly ignored their leader's body as they turned towards Myra and burst after her. With a renewed rage and hunger, thinking she was the one who did that to their master.
As Myra ran and ran, she could hear strange wet squelching noises, followed by the sound of a large amount of liquid falling to the floor quickly. And with each sound, one of the beasts' sounds goes silent.
The sound repeated three times. Before it all went silent.
Not even the sounds of the beasts could be heard. Not their hungry ragged breaths, not their loud pounding footsteps... Nothing at all.
She slowed down and stopped as she looked back. Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief as she saw all the beasts.. On the ground... Without their heads.
"Wow... Thanks, God..." She muttered as she fell to the floor. Passing out due to fear, exhaustion, and eventual relief. Her grip on the diary and the snacks still tight.
"Well, look what they were after." The voice of Rei Kannazaki echoed in the silence, then his footsteps became the only sound heard in the area, alongside the heavy rain, of course.
He approached Myra's unconscious body as he crouched over and poked her cheek. "Hey. you're not dead, right?" Silence. No answer from Myra. But she was warm.
"Eh, She'll be fine." He said as he took the diary and the snacks, tucking them away in his jacket's deep pockets as he picked her up. "Another kid to babysit."
He said with a chuckle as he walked into the shadows of a dark alley,
Meanwhile with the corpses of the beasts... They were growing damp...
Their black skin almost feels inky as their bodies became... More yielding. Slowly liquifying as they descended into the carcass of the earth.
Rei Kannazaki was still walking, Myra hoisted over his shoulder, he got his snacks back, holding them in one hand, and holding his phone in the other, putting it up to his ear.
"Hey, 'Angel of Mercy'~ Prepare a room. I just saved a kid, looks sixteen to eighteen." He said as the ground below him started liquifying as he descended into it, Myra on his shoulder.
"That can be arranged. Also, quit calling me that. Will you?" A soft, feminine voice rang out from the other side. Toughening slightly around the second sentence.
"Nah. Don't think I will. I'm on my way." Rei said with a grin as he ascended back into the surface of the earth. In front of a colossal building, that appears to be floating, with a glowing, hard-light staircase
Rei hung up as he tucked his phone away. "Welcome home, kid." He grinned at Myra's unconscious form as he climbed the stairs, a massive door opening before him.
"Welcome, to headquarters of The Mariana."
[Chapter two: END.]