Of a Darker Nature:
From Man to Monster
From Man to Monster
I hear the screams of the dying and the screams of the hunters. I know that the ones cut short are the ones whose blood bathes the hunters in their glory and gore. I know that they are the luckiest of all, the ones not having to live in this forsaken world anymore, not having to worry about one’s survival any longer, not wondering if one would wake up the next day only to see they are face-to-face with death or their loved ones were slaughtered or missing. Truly, the ones who died and no longer had to worry about the pains of this plane were beyond any form of luck that I had the misfortune to lack. Truly, those who were the survivors were the unfortunate. In my misfortune, I ran late this night, a full moon night, the wind gusty and cool and a bit wet, smelling of rotten flesh and decay, hearing the echoing death screams of men and women echoing from miles around in these blasted streets. I ran down a winding and twisted road, the asphalt beneath my worn shoes cracked and uneven, coated with layers of dried gore and bones and rusted metal and pieces of buildings. I could see reflected on the few clouds above some orange glows from fires I knew to still be burning across the city. Unfortunately I had no time to observe more than these few fleeting observations, as I, too, was being hunted, and in my unlucky endeavor I had been cursed with the human urge to survive. I ran over the bones, over the rusted metal, over the cracked asphalt, the broken cement and rivets of buildings and pieces of rubber from the rusted cars. I ran for all I was worth, hearing the sounds of some ungodly horror chasing me, the loudest, piercing, horrifying screech that could be imagined, intermingled with the sounds of the dying echoing through the streets. It was beyond nightmarish; my adrenaline was coursing through my veins even thicker than my blood.
With a bit of blind luck and hasty adrenalized fear, I found the perfect narrow alleyway stuck between two dilapidated buildings, filled with debris, the perfect place to hide. I came upon it, dashing at my fullest speed, and launched myself into a pile of trash behind an old dumpster, smelling beyond what normal men would deem worthy of sickening, but to it I owed my salvation, assuming my pursuer did not find me. My heart raced so loudly as I covered myself in a fetal position, face down in the trash, holding completely still, I thought that the beast would have no trouble finding me from simply hearing my damned heart beating! Alas, my breath from the chase was too short, and I gasped in deep breaths although I tried to hush myself. I could only hope that the sounds of dying humans some unknown distance away in this ruinous city would be enough to drown out my disturbingly apparent noises. I wait, watching from out of the corner of my eye, watching the street as quietly as possible to know if my pursuer had followed me or left me. My heart ran cold when the pale moonlight reflected on the street was dark for a moment, hearing the terrifying screech of the horror above pass many meters over my head, although after only a few seconds the light returned, signaling that the beast had passed once. I waited and shifted slightly—just ever so slightly to adjust my weight—and only to feel a sharp pain in my foot, but I had not the time to come to bear it yet, I have to wait to know if the beast was gone or waiting for its prey to make the first move…
After minutes of holding completely still and listening to the daunting noises across the city of screeching, roaring, booming crashing of distant buildings and other constructs and the dying wails of men, I realized that this beast must have found another fortunate soul to chew upon, leaving me to my devices, at least for a while. With utmost care, I picked myself from the pile of filth and crept to the edge of the alley, looking both left and right, seeing no signs of any nearby beasts. I looked for a new place to hide, unfortunately for me I found a place, a secure-looking hovel of a building sandwiched between two ruined ones, with boarded up windows and a barricaded door. But the door was swinging slightly; it was opened. Assuming the other side of the building wasn’t torn asunder, it would be a good temporary hiding place, and even potentially have some supplies. I once again ensured my safety and watched for the clear skies as I ran across the open road to the door quickly, before sliding inside and shutting it quickly but quietly. I turned around, panting once more, only to hear the gasps and shuffling of feet: human feet.
My heart slowed its beating and my adrenaline slowly dissipated as I drew my hand gun, knowing there were only a few shots left in the chamber, but nonetheless having it ready to defend was incredibly unfortunate. I slowly stepped forward, noticing that one door was muting some small sounds coming from beyond it, but still I heard these noises, these whispers, these soft cries. As I stepped forward after a moment of satisfactory but unfortunate escape from my demise, I stepped forward, only to be painfully reminded that my foot was injured in the alley way down the street. I looked down and saw the blood leaking out from the shoe, leaving small blood prints on the floor with each step. In a moment of horrific revelation, I reminded myself, whether out of fear or stupidity or blind misfortune, that the beasts crave blood beyond all else, that I would attract them like flies to a cadaverous feast. With haste, I strode across the room knowing I could only have minutes at most before some unholy beast found this location. I needed to get out and I needed to staunch the bleeding, post-haste. I opened the door quickly, hearing the whimpers and sobs of three small, starving children and their thin mother, who slightly resembled my dead lover, except this woman was filthy and thin as flesh stretched over bone. I pointed my gun without even considering what possible defenses three small children and a starving, small woman would have.
“Give me clean water, and give me food.”
One of the children, the young girl who appeared to be oldest of the three, she tried reasoning with me. “Sir,” she began meekly, “we barely have any water for ourselves—”
I clicked the gun, cocked it, and had it ready to fire. “I won’t ask again.”
The children began sobbing as their mother got up off the floor and stood before her children, as if guarding them would do any good, but nonetheless she kindly handed me an unopened bottle of water and a small pouch of stale bread before she bid me to leave. I had no choice with this brutish act, in order to secure my unfortunate survival; most of the water had been rendered poisoned and befouled, unsafe for human consumption. Sealed water sources were the only source of clean, drinkable water, and they were in very rare supply. Food was becoming more and more scarce with rot and decay making short work of much, while the little that was still edible only remained for so long.
I gladly acknowledged her request and made my way around back of the house, only to exit into the alley behind, hearing the faint whisper of one young child speaking to me: “Mister, are you okay? Your foot is bleeding…”
His mother shushed him and told him to come back to her and to hide in the closet. I left the house behind and shut the door without a second thought. It would be extremely fortunate for them that I knew what they apparently did not: that the beasts smell blood easily.
Without stopping, knowing I had only minutes left, if that, I hastily made my way to the end of the alley before making a sharp left down another alley, this one perpendicular to the street I was on minutes ago where I wounded my foot. As I made my way carefully down this backstreet, keeping one eye on the sky and one eye on my path, I heard the noise of my correct deduction: the building with the family hiding in it was besieged by some powerful force, I could feel from this distance the loud crash of wood, steel, and plaster and the screaming of the small children and the cries of their mother echoing down the empty alleyway. With a loud roar and another booming thud that again made me bounce, the cries were hushed. I felt no remorse, they were the lucky ones, and they served the purpose: making me more unfortunate, saving me from starvation with their rations that they wouldn’t have needed much longer anyway. Carefully eying the bright light from the now destroyed building, I made my way out of this alley, hearing the large beast sift through the building down the way, knowing it would be busy for a while, licking up all the blood it could and picking the bones of the succulent children clean.
This alleyway led to the river that divided the great ruins that were once a city. I could see the alleyway dwindle into steppes leading down to the blacked banks of the river, the horrid smell causing my eyes to water. I knew that it was a good place to hide, due to humans naturally wanting to get away from the odorous, eye watering stench the beasts loved to drink from. I would literally be hiding under their noses, but at least this smell would cover the pungent bloody foot scent. I made my way down, carefully on this exposed river bank, before hiding under the docks built over what was once the water line, but now the water was much lower, so there was some space under the docks were the water did not flow, the perfect place for me to hide for the moment. And with such perfect, unfortunate timing, as I reached the underside of the docks I was blinded by one of the many passing lights around the city, although this one had not seen me from so great a distance, its light simply shone towards my location, to be sure, I was far too unfortunate to actually be spotted. The light passed over me, uncaring, and continued scouring the banks for any sign of movement in the darkness of shadow or the pale moonlight. It was then that I ripped a shred of my jacked apart and bandaged my wound, pressing it closed and tying the makeshift bandage tightly, ensuring the blood would stop flowing, at least for a while. And with that, I continued onward, slowly, under these docks, watching across the river as some giant shadowy form under the source of a bright light stepped slowly, in loud booming steps, away from my location, its feet seeming to cover dozens of meters with each massive step. It was not the only one, I could see across the city many other bright search lights sweeping around, just daring a mortal being to step out into its light. It seemed that these giant figures had search lights for heads, but I knew not, it’s hard to see so clearly in this perpetual night. Along with these lights beaming across the darkened sky, I could see the occasional and massive flying shadow pass over the moon or the clouds, beings much larger than the walking light-headed figures. These things screeched with fury and dove at regular intervals, searching, smelling for prey, or dove at the light of a large walker, as if it had illuminated some fortunate soul.
Regardless, I continued until I stumbled upon an open sewage exit pipe, one large enough for the height of two men. A main sewage passage was sure to lead somewhere, somewhere I would not get stuck, at least, and somewhere hidden from the skies and from the stomping quaking steps of the light behemoths. I entered carefully, eyes adjusting to the rancid dark of the tunnel, barely able to distinguish cement from muck. I was inside the tunnels for what seemed like minutes, but it could have been an hour walking aimlessly through the darkened and quiet, twisting and turning, dank and reeking tunnels, but my heart again ran cold with the echoing howls of some beast on the prowl. It was perfectly horrifying, knowing that somewhere in front of you, or behind you, or even looking at you in the darkness quietly mere feet away, some beast hunted for your blood. I did not stop, I had no choice but to continue on or to lie down and accept death at the hands, or claws, of whatever hellish horror haunted these sewers. It wasn’t alone; I could hear other, overlapping growls and inhuman noises echoing off of the cold, wet cement. My adrenaline pumped as I walked a bit faster, not knowing if the echoes were originating somewhere nearby or somewhere farther away. I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. I didn’t want to know. I wanted to get out of here, get out of this fear-infested oubliette. Again, it was a flaw, someone as unfortunate as me would be the one to have the greatest survival instincts and be cursed to survive in this hellish land, but human fear was something that forced us to do illogical things, sometimes we just don’t understand, and we would never understand why fear made us do something against what we wanted. Nevertheless, I continued faster, fearing the echoes of deadly terror inducing growling around me in the darkness where I crept alone.
As I continued to briskly pace through the sewers, not being able to see a thing in this stifling blackness, I inevitably drew further and further away from the growling noises that shared the blackness with me, relieving me in some trivial way but again burdening me again with the knowledge that my unfortunate luck had left me alive again. Alone, I traveled further in this direction, somewhat solaced by the fact that I was alone again. Or so I thought until I heard the moans of humans. I heard their anguished and lamenting cries to be helped by someone. A savior, they wanted. Out of piqued curiosity I traveled toward the sounds of the people, noticing that more and more orange light was becoming available in the tunnels, reflecting from some light source farther along, probably the place where the humans were. I turn around a final slick corner to come face to face with a boarded up tunnel entrance, through which I can see a group of around fifteen or twenty humans, cowering in fear as some behemoth pounded on a sealed metal door across the large sewage treatment room, across from a fire that kept them warm, ready to rip through and kill them all and extinguish the flames of their lives. One of the people trying to break through the wooden barricade and locked iron bars they had so foolishly erected and locked noticed my dark and dirty figure in the darkness, and quickly raised awareness about me.
“Look! An outsider! Please, mister, you have to assist us! Free us from this prison, we beg of you! Please, we have food and water—”
“All you have to do is take this key! You can unlock it for us from the other side!”
The banging in their little hideaway became louder, the door beginning to creak and whine in protest against whatever force pounded against it. I knew that if I freed them, I would potentially render them as misfortunate as myself… and my fear acknowledged that keeping them in there would prevent whatever beast hunted them from hunting me as well. There was no choice for me to make, I simply turned and walked back the way I came into the darkness of the sewers, hearing the pleading cries and wails of the entrapped survivors. I crushed some small amount of remorse and willed myself onward, knowing I am helping them become more fortunate than a wicked soul like myself. Soon enough, I heard their screams again, this time filled with terror and pain, mixed with the vicious roaring of some otherworldly predators. It only lasted twenty seconds before the sewers again became silent as the stone and the dead. I knew it wouldn’t be long before they tore through the wooden and metal barricade and searched the sewers themselves, along with whatever else was down here earlier.
Again, after a long time of traversing through muck and unimaginable trash and horrifyingly pervasive filth I can’t begin to accurately describe, I saw the ambient light levels rising again, signaling another opening, although this light was reflected as a pale white from the dank brick walls, an opening to the street above was ahead. I saw the tunnel ended, not as it was built, however. The road above had given in from some immense weight and the asphalt of the street led down to the sewer where I was, as if beckoning for me to ascend to the surface. I knew what horror lay behind me, so I traversed forward, slowly rising until my head was barely level with the asphalt that had not yet collapsed, looking around, seeing only wheels and rusted vehicles and more dilapidated buildings. I noticed one well-barricaded building a few blocks down the street, I could see it was mostly intact and had not collapsed or been destroyed, however between me and this haven lie a hundred rusted obstacles, preventing a stealthy crouched approach. Unfortunately, there were no beasts around, signaling it relatively safe for the time being, so I ran upward, crouched, and hid beneath the first rusted vehicle I came to, again watching my surroundings for any breaks in moonlight or excessive light. I could only see the wheels and undersides of cars as far as the street went on, and small gaps of moonlight between each. Nothing showed, nothing moved. I crawled forward on my belly, quickly, arriving at the next vehicle quickly before stopping under it again and observing, taking carefully quiet breaths and slowing my heart as much as I could.
As I progressed farther, vehicle by vehicle, I was becoming closer and closer to my goal, slowly taking peeks out from under the vehicles I hid under to see my goal becoming closer.
Without warning, as I was about to move towards the next vehicle, a massive crashing boom and disorienting loud screech of some gigantic beast landing on the street assaulted me along with its massively powerful roar. It was so heavy; all of the vehicles and me left the ground momentarily, being bounced by the immense weight of the horror that was now nearby. It roared again, its hunting roar made apparent, as I saw a bright light shine on the ground and vehicles around the street, and it even passed over my vehicle once or twice, I made sure that my body was entirely hidden from view. My heart was again pumping loudly, and my adrenaline was again replacing my blood, and my urge to flee struck me wickedly. But I held myself; I waited to see what this massive light beast would do. I felt it take a giant step, again crashing into the street, crushing cars under it many meters from its other foot, emphasizing its huge stature. I don’t know why it was looking here so fervently… I was stealthy. I was unfortunate. There was no way it knew I was here, hiding. Nothing had seen me. But then I remembered my foot, the one that had been dully throbbing for some hours. The scent of it attracted it, possibly. There was nothing I could do about that. Damn my stupidity and naiveté! How could I expect such skilled hunters to not smell the dried blood on me? What a fool, o what a fool I was…
I waited for a few moments, waiting to sense what the behemoth’s next course of action would be. I felt a wrenching crash that shook me originate from behind me, a car that I was hiding under only minutes prior to this moment was wrenched from the ground by some angry massive god, examined by the beast before thrown into a building down the street, as if casually tossed, but the raw power and damage was unbelievable, even to my eyes. The wall the rusted vehicle collided with shattered, bits of plaster and cement decorating the street below as the vehicle crashed through it, only stopping when it hit the street on the other side, beyond my view. I felt another gigantic step as more vehicles bounced, and I noticed another car, closer to me this time, wrenched again from the ground and examined, I could see the brightly lit search light of its view searching beneath the vehicle it picked up, finding naught but my wake, a slithering trail of blood that I left behind myself! O, what a fool I truly was! I fear that I will not be around for much longer; it’s only a matter of time surely before the great beast finds me and alerts all of these things across the city that it had found some juicy morsel to consume. It roared again, shaking me terribly with the raw vibration. I had to get away from this thing. I crawled quickly, seeing the searchlight of its sight was focused elsewhere, I hastily made my way to the next vehicle, knowing my destination was so very close by.
My heart skipped a beat as the car behind the vehicle I was just beneath was lifted and thrown, accompanied by another great roar. I feared my time would be so short; I could not get away soon enough. I could not outrun something so dreadfully large, especially when wounded. But I persisted, as my misfortune would dictate. I scrambled on to the undercarriage of the next vehicle, just as the car was lifted and thrown away, again with an earsplitting roar. I was afraid my heart would be heard by the beast, and in the end I would give myself away. But then my heart jumped again as I and all the cars around left the ground, the beast taking another huge step. I didn’t know what it was doing now, I was too afraid to look back. I felt another subsequent step, farther away. My heart felt lighter—was this thing leaving? I felt another, fainter, farther away, the roaring growing farther and farther away and I no longer saw the piercing light of its gaze. Relief struck me harder than any emotion I’ve ever truly felt in my entire life, except for the extreme disappointment in myself becoming more and more unfortunate with each passing account of survival.
Fortunately for me, it was short lived, although my heart again began to beat fervently and my blood coursed, combined with the effective mix of adrenaline, and I was once more afraid when I saw a massive shadow pass over the street around me. I heard the piercing shriek of this flying horror as it passed overhead, it must have been drawn by the search of the light beast, or its scent was phenomenally potent enough to sense my wounded foot from such a great distance away. I noticed after a few moments the creature passed again in the opposite direction, it seemed that it required some twenty or thirty seconds to fully turn its massive figure around in some massive aerial feat of agility, leaving me with enough time between each pass to scramble to the next vehicle closest to my destination. I would have chosen any other building if I could have, but most were ruins, crumbled, with no places for me to hide except atop the cracked cement. I had no choice at this point unless I came upon another sewage entrance in the road; I had to make it to the building just a block away.
I scrambled onward, knowing I had mere seconds to crawl to my next position. As I made it under the next rusted scrap pile, the vehicle I had just left was lifted up by a screeching shadow of death incarnate, it must have barely seen my scrambling legs. I knew I had damned myself at this point… It knew where I was. I scrambled quickly to the next while it was away; I heard it drop the rusted scrap just meters down the street, sending it crashing into other rusted automobiles. It was turning around at this point, surely, I made to scramble for the next vehicle before it picked up the one behind. Unfortunately I made it before it could see me.
Before I had a chance to think, it lifted up the vehicle I was under! I was exposed, and it knew where I was! I was in the open, prone, and that beast would be back for me in seconds. I shot up faster than I could think and searched around; I noticed I could not make it to that secured building fast enough; there was far too great a distance. There was another building close by, dilapidated and ruined though it may be, it was still structurally sound and just enough for me to run through, although most of its roof was missing or collapsed. I ran, not hesitating once I raised myself off of the ground, I could hear the piercing hunting cry of the massive beast as it saw me, and it dropped the veritable husk of rusted metal and immediately turned towards me. I ran faster than ever before, I knew I had the capability to make it, but did I have the willpower! O, my fatigue and lack of energy were a fortunate malady, but my fear bid me to run instead. So I did. I noticed that as I came closer, a bright light shone from a few streets over, perhaps the light creature that was here moments ago, I couldn’t let it see me as well, then I would surely meet my demise. I ran into that building, just as that terribly bright passed over my form, made it there with my heart pounding quickly, but not stopping; I knew these things could tear through the first layer of wall in a second. I heard the telltale roars of the distant light beast and its powerfully heavy steps coming closer as its light bathed the entrance of the house I had leaped into, but I kept running through the ruins of this apartment, passing over crushed, clean bones, and pushed my way past the shut doors, and made my way to the back of the ruined place. I heard one final piercing screech as the beast came closer and closer before I lurched forward; the pure force of that beast colliding with the front of this abode shook me off of my feet. I felt the crashing, ripping explosion of the ruined plaster, concrete and steel being ripped asunder, yet I did not pause, I made it to the back-alley exit of the building, which would lead me to some other hiding place away from the crashing footsteps slowly coming closer and the piercing screeching of the large flying beast tearing through the walls inside the building. I crashed through the final door, which deposited me in the alleyway, finally safe from the two massive beasts which were now both ripping through that building looking for me…
…Only to find myself face to face with an alleyway full of toothed horrors, each quadruped form turning towards me, their maws agape and dripping with a black, odorous saliva. I noticed in the pale light of the moon and the bit of the bright light that reflected from above the building that these toothed creatures were easily as tall as me, but walked on their lanky four limbs, each tipped with razor sharp claws. They lacked skin; instead I saw their sinewy muscle that smelled of putrid meat. I was doomed, but in a way fortunate at last, that my frail cowardice would be rewarded with the fortunate fate I had so longed for all these years.
My heart stopped beating, and the sounds around me were drowned out. All I knew was the group of beasts before me, slowly approaching with their teeth bared. All I could think of was the regrets I had so callously kept out of my mind for so long, all the sins that I’ve done, even this day. I remembered my deceased wife, I remember her loving face, I remember watching her get ripped apart as I fled in absolute terror. I remembered the children and their mother I had so carelessly left to die, even though they were truly the fortunate ones. I remembered the people I could have freed, but instead ignored them and allowed them to die in order to appeal to my human fear. I regret so much, but I took solace in the fact that soon, all the horrors and pains of this world would be nonexistent.
I noticed right as they lunged at me, I could see right down the alleyway for only a split second, I saw a man who scrambled away and exited the alley running for his life, choosing life over saving me. It seems fitting that in the end I, too, was a distracting meal for some terrifying beast while some other human escaped alive. But there was no more thought or consideration of this matter, or any other matter, just excruciatingly powerful pain coursing through my body as I was ripped asunder, one of them gnawed on my shoulder until the pulpy remains of that joint was ripped from my torso. I screamed loudly, the loudest noise I’ve ever made in my life. I took solace in the fact that this pain would only be temporary. Another of the vile beasts grasped my leg painfully in its sharp teeth, ripping it apart, causing my body to flail wildly like a massive bloodied rag-doll. The final beast came upon my face and I looked in its putrid, disgustingly disfigured face, panting harshly now that the pain had been reduced to pure shock, and grinned as if signaling for it to end me. It obliged bloodily, attacking my throat, and although the white-hot pain filled my brain beyond what pain I’ve ever experienced, I felt glad as I slowly faded into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, knowing that death would soon come to know and love me intimately, and all the pains and regrets I knew would no longer exist, and all the sins I’ve ever committed will at last be forgotten by the world…
