It's confirmed... I'm truly alone.
Dominic stood on the sidewalk, staring at the sky.
The eerie silence is deafening. He could hear his heartbeat and blood moving through his veins and arteries. "You should not have picked that call, Dominic," he scolded himself, as he slowly began to freak out. "But no, you just had to because you couldn't ignore a call from an unknown number for an indefinite number of times... Now look at what you've done, you're stuck in a place with no sign of anything alive."
He scolded himself harshly for placing himself in this situation.
There was no sign of life, not even seagulls were present.
Cars moved, but no one stopped when he called for help or attention.
It's not like they would stop anyway, but that is not the point.
"What am I going to do now?"
Would anyone even notice that I'm missing?
He isn't particularly close to anyone. He moved to Saesburg a little under two years ago when he was in need of a fresh start. He has not spoken to most of his family for the same duration either, so they wouldn't notice.
The people who'd probably notice are his job and landlord, when he doesn't clock in for work or pay his rent on time.
He doesn't know how long he's been wandering, but by the looks of it, it's been a while.
The sun was beginning to set, and street lights illuminated the streets.
And whatever monster brought him here seemed to be taking their sweet time showing itself.
He had tried calling the number that called him, but he couldn't find it.
Then his phone melted.
How convenient...
He couldn't even ask for help.
"Excuse me? Are you lost?"
He nearly jumped as he turned around sharply.
Standing behind him is a beautiful woman.
She had wavy brunette hair and was fairly tan. She wore a sweet smile and looked kind.
Dominic felt every hair in his body stand.
His senses screamed at him to run. "I'm not lost," he said, calmly as he took a few steps back, about to run. Just a moment ago, there was no one present, and suddenly, there's someone here.
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She tilts her head a little over ninety degrees with a smile that stretched to the corners of her mouth, looking ready to tear. "Of course not, Dominic," she said.
"I never told you my name," he whispered.
"Everyone here knows your name, Dominic."
He felt a liquid drip from his stomach, and he looked down to see blood dripping from his stomach. Dominic staggered back a step, one hand flying to his stomach. The wound was deep, close to his abdominal muscle, around three centimetres (1.18 inches), and long like a deliberate scratch rather than a stab.
He looked up in fear and saw her licking blood off her fingers.
Her eyes gleamed with a wet, animalistic brightness as she licked the blood from her fingers. "I've hit the jackpot," she said, full of glee as she licked the last smear. Her voice changed. The sweet, concerned lilt was gone. Now it sounded like two people speaking at once, one soft and relaxing, the other menacing and filled with hunger. "Dominic, where are you running to?"
Dominic had run away when he saw her licking his blood. It was a tasty snack. What the hell? I didn't even see her move...
He didn't feel much pain from the wound on his stomach or the bruise that had been bothering him all day. All he knew he didn't want to be some monster's meal.
He pressed hard on the wound with his hoodie as he ran.
The more he moved, the wider the wound became, and the more he bled.
The streets stretched endlessly; buildings blending into one another. It was like running through a fever dream.
He was beginning to heat up again and was slowing down.
Blood dripped to the ground, making a trail behind him. He could hear whispers of hundreds of voices getting closer.
He looked behind him, there were monsters behind him. They spawned from seemingly nowhere, crawling out of the ground and moving towards him.
They had an unusual appearance. Their faces were mishapen almost like they were made of wet clay; their eye sockets were empty with two white dotes replacing their pupils, their mouths were lipless and their frames were bony and lean, with their backs hunched over him.
They moved like broken marionettes. Unhurried yet relentless.
Dominic tried to concentrate on running, but how can one concentrate on such a task when actively bleeding out.
His lungs burned and his legs were beginning to give out
Breathing became difficult and his vision became blurry.
His knees gave out and he fell to the ground.
Despite his legs giving out, he continued moving, dragging himself by the stomach until his arms gave out and collapsed to the ground.
This is it... this is where Dominic Johnson dies.
The sound of bony limbs dragging on the asphalt drew closer.
He braced himself and closed his eyes, ready to be torn apart and eaten alive.
"I was expecting a bit more fire and action... I suppose my expectations were too high."
He opened his eyes in surprise and saw a pair of expensive black leather shoes.
He looked up and saw a familiar face. The stranger from this morning.
Dressed in a white turtleneck with a grey coat, and sunglasses with a lollipop between his lips.
The stranger bent to his eye level. "Hello, again," he said. "I hope you don't mind me being in your business," he said a smile.
"Are you going to eat me too?" Dominic wanted to ask but didn't have the strength to.
As if detecting he wanted to speak, he was shushed. "Conserve your energy... I will deal with this mess."
Dominic just noticed that the whispering voices he heard seemed to have gone silent, neither were there signs of breathing.
In fact, the air felt more still than it was previously.
Then he heard fingers snapping and screams echoed in the air.
What is going on..? Dominic looked at the stranger with question in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll have you patched up, you're not going to die today... you can rest."
As if he was placed under a spell, his vision became blurry with the last thing he saw being ashes raining from the sky.
