Byren was standing in his apartment with his fists clenched facing the metal apartment door as something on the other side was banging against it trying to get in.
*BANG. BANG. CLANK."
It had only been around five minutes since the sounds of people fighting for their lives or shouting as they fled coming from the outside corridor had ended and now the six-foot five-inches tall reptilian Humanoid that Byren had become was waiting for whatever it was to break in and get him next but he wouldn't go down without a fight.
'Come on, come on, come on, bring it, I'll fuck you up, I'll fuck you all up!'
Byren grumbled and it sounded like a steam valve releasing pressure with a hiss through his teeth, mixed with the deep rumble of rolling thunder from his throat.
The banging continued against the door and the sounds of smashing and rampant destruction echoed out from further in the building. By now the sounds of people dying from beyond the door had quenched his earlier anger at being locked inside by them to begin with, he was somewhat thankful even that they had barricaded the door from that side which would make it last longer.
'They got what they deserved but it sounds like more than one of the fuckers, I need to bail.'
Byren ran over to his bed, threw off the blankets and grabbed the sheet covering the mattress, he took it to the middle of the room and headed to his kitchenette to grab some food.
Opening the refrigerator door Byren realised he hadn't eaten anything since waking up and there was a pack of two steaks that were only a day out sitting in their plastic wrapper on the top shelf. Food safety was not a priority to Byren as underneath that was an uncovered day old meat-lovers pizza slice.
Seeing the bloody cuts of meat sitting in a shallow pool of blood Byren felt his tongue flick out without him doing it and the air tasted so good, it tasted of meat, sweet delicious bloody meat but the smell came from beyond the door more than it did the refrigerated steaks.
Pushing his large clawed hand into the refrigerator barely fitting he tore the packet open and stuffed both steaks into his sharp toothed maw, chewing the meat like a child would chew bubblegum when they're eating too much. No doubt if Byren had cheeks they would've been full.
'mmmmm, so good, meat never tasted this good before'
Spittle and small chunks of meat fell out of the sides of his mouth with him being yet accustomed to eating without cheeks but he didn't care, Byren was in a moment of bliss and everything faded as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the tender succulence as the with eat chew juices burst out of the steak.
When he was finished eating and swallowed the last bit he stood still for a moment, his tongue flicking around his mouth trying to find anything that might've gotten stuck in his teeth. He came back to himself and sadly looked at the empty and torn polystyrene and plastic wrapper that he was holding.
'I want more.'
Byren felt hungrier now he had eaten,the steaks didn't fill his stomach, he threw the wrapper to the floor and began to ravage the fridge for more food. He began with the slice of pizza and his mouth felt a bit dry so he grabbed a beer from the fridge door, the only one there next to a half empty bottle of mustard.
Popping the top off of the beer he went to chug it but when he brought it close he caught the smell and taste of it, it was horrible.
'Is the beer gone?'
Byren hissed and tentatively brought it to his nostril/nose hole on the front side of his muzzle, this caused him to sneeze as his stomach slightly turned.
'It can't be gone, beer doesn't go off does it? I've never had it happen before?'
He took a sip of the brew anyway, despite the warnings from his nose and tongue. Well, more than a sip because he didn't have lips anymore, he quickly threw the beer up and down again so it flowed into his mouth.
And then he immediately hissed and began to shake his head around side to side to get the taste out whilst continuing to grumble and hiss as his tongue tried to push the liquid out of his mouth which only furthered the awful taste.
After a few tens of seconds and even going so far as to grab a towel and wipe the inside of his mouth with it Byren was thoroughly off-put and traumatised.
'I'm never touching beer again, it's the grossest shit.'
With the aftertaste sitting on his tongue causing him to carry a grimace, he went for the cupboards and began to throw jars of random foods into the bed sheet nearby.
After finding that he didn't actually have much that was edible and half the stuff he did find was probably inedible for reptiles he went to grab some clothes before remembering he had changed. Looking down he saw that he had somehow pulled off the same trick the Incredible Hulk did whenever Bruce Banner transformed and his pants somehow magically still fit although in this case it was justified because Byren was wearing elastic-waist sweatpants. He decided shirts wouldn't fit so he just went to grab some more sweat pants, he'd probably have to rip them to wear them but it was better than nothing.
Putting three pairs of sweatpants into his improvised sack he thought about what to wear on his upper body.
'None of my shirts or jackets will fit me but I need to dress at least right? Probably?'
Unsure whether he needed to even dress now that his body was covered with numerous green scales Byren went to his bathroom and grabbed his biggest towel, he threw it around his shoulders and saw himself in the mirror when he came back into the main room.
'I look like such a fucking dork.'
Byren tore off the towel that had a naked chick on it and threw it to the floor. Not only was it small on him so it looked like a capelet it had a naked woman on it which just didn't seem like the kind of image he wanted people to see, he was a badass and people would see him that way.
Deciding against wearing anything Byren grabbed up his mattress cover, now made into a sack, and slung it over his left shoulder, the banging from outside was gone but Byren had already made the decision to leave. He tried to open the window but it was made for smaller, Human hands so he just punched the glass instead and then tore the wood frame of the window out.
Sticking his head out of the window, Byren noticed that the alleyway outside of his building was empty of anything alive, there was a corpse at the end of the alleyway.
'It's not moving at least, so I guess zombies aren't a problem.'
Giving it a few more minutes to observe but seeing nothing and noticing it was already mid-afternoon, he forced his body and sack through the small window and onto the fire escape.
Moving sideways to get down the thin metal stairs and banging his tail constantly much to his annoyance, Byren made it to the bottom and realised he wouldn't be able to use the ladder.
'It's not that far.'
He threw his sack over, forgetting it was full of jars and when the sack landed it all smashed and Byren just stood there mentally facepalming as he watched coloured liquids change the colour of the pavement where they flowed.
'Am I really fucking retarded? Why the fuck did I do that?'
Byren punched himself in the side of the head, once, twice, three times, four times until he was satisfied and felt the deserved pain.
Grumbling, huffing, hissing, all manner of irritated sounds continued to occupy the space around Byren as he climbed over the railing, one foot then two and now he was hanging above a closed dumpster by two hands, it was only a two foot drop from here.
'No problem.'
Dropping down, Byren hadn't taken into account the change in weight from growing half a foot taller, two foot wider and with more muscles than he had before.
The dumpster lid gave way and he fell into it.
'As usual my life is just going great.'
Byren laid there for some ten seconds grumbling before he climbed out of the dumpster.
Deciding to leave the sack because anything in there was probably trash now anyway Byren went towards the other end of the alleyway, the one without the corpse.
*stomp, clack, stomp, clack*
As he walked his weight would come down on his foot and his sharp talons would follow with a click that sounded like someone hitting two stones together.
'Fuck.'
The earlier noise from the smashed jars and falling into the dumpster had attracted attention. At the end of the alleyway were two Goblins each holding an improvised club when they saw him their eyes opened wider and they started pointing at him excitedly while chittering to each other.
The Goblin on the left was hopping up and down and the one on the right was feeling intimidated, taking a step back. The leftmost Goblin began picking up random bits of trash and trying to throw it at Byren but missing him completely.
Byren grumbled in response with a loud hiss.
'These little green dwarf-fucks are throwing shit at me? If any of that hits me I'll smash their skulls in.'
Walking forward and to the goblin's perspective, not giving a fuck, Byren got closer with each large step.
The Goblin on the right began to panic and was shrieking amidst the chittering, killing the excitement of the other one, which ran away. Seeing it was alone the scared Goblin screamed in fear and also ran.
'That's right you bitches, run from me.'
Byren kept walking towards the end of the alleyway and cautiously poked his head out, looking both ways. He couldn't see ahead of him because an open uMove truck was blocking the end of the alley.
To his left Byren saw nothing but parked cars. To his right he saw the same but some had smashed windows along with a corpse lying on the ground, the gut had been cut open and the intestines were trailed out along the pavement, staining his blue uMove uniform red and taking it closer to purple.
'Poor fucker.'
Looking back to his left Byren decided to head this way, he was walking and noticed that everything seemed a bit dilapidated, abandoned almost.
There were weeds coming out of the cracks in the pavement slabs and cars were abandoned in the middle of the street, some had stains inside and corpses. The road itself also had stains and parts of corpses here and there. Many of the first floor windows had been smashed in the buildings around him, evidence of passing Goblins with things to throw. Some of the car windows on his side of the street were intact, it seemed the Goblins had walked through the middle of the street smashing things instead of the pavement.
Passing the building to his left he came across another alleyway, except this one had a guy in it. The man was looking away from Byren and was crouching over something on the floor with a backpack on. Byren watched curiously from the corner, making sure to look around every few seconds so he didn't get caught unaware.
'What is he doing?'
The man was using something in his hands and jamming it at the ground, this went on for a minute or two before there was a metallic pop and a scraping sound.
'Oh so he was opening a manhole cover! Is he going in?'
The man looked around and Byren pulled his head back for a second before poking back around and catching the man as his head bobbed down into the sewer.
The man's arm reached up and was trying to reach the cover but couldn't quite reach.
Byren heard some chittering behind him and shrieking, he turned and saw some ten Goblins had grouped up and were running at him.
'Oh fuck, I can take two but ten?!'
Byren didn't think for long and ran towards the manhole. He got close and briefly looked back, luckily his longer legs gave him more distance between him and his pursuers, the man in the sewer looked up at Byren with a pale face painted with horror. Byren grumbled and hissed at the man telling him to move out of the way but naturally the man couldn't understand him.
The man, thinking this was yet another monster trying to kill him jumped from where he was and landed in the sewer, he grabbed his backpack and ran deeper inside.
'Whatever.'
Shrugging Byren started forcing his large frame into the small sewer hole. Luckily the metal rungs of the ladder were embedded in the concrete walls and could handle his weight, he stuck his arm out and grabbed the cover, pulling it over when the Goblins were mere feet away from him.
He heard the cover pop into place and sink back into the ground and the Goblins began to furiously smash whatever improvised weapons they had into the cover trying to get in.
'Good luck getting through a steel manhole cover you nasty fucking midgets.'
Climbing down the ladder Byren was surprised he could see.
'Is there a light down here?'
Looking around Byren couldn't see any light except the bright beam coming through the manhole cover but it wasn't dark down here, it was more like being in a room with the curtains closed and he could largely see just fine, anything outside of the darkest corners that is.
The next thing Byren felt more than smelled was the stench. One thing was clear and that was that Byren's sense of smell had not only improved but he could also smell with his tongue in a way that he could taste too.
Being in a sewer full of Human shit was gross but Byren had grown up in some pretty rough conditions and it'd take more than a bit of shit to dissuade him from doing something. The smell wasn't entirely bad though, amidst the smell of decay were the smells of spices from the meals people had eaten, there were hundreds of smells and tastes in the air that made it simple enough to take his mind away from the scents that he didn't like in favour of the ones he did.
Byren decided to go in the same direction as he saw the man run off to.
'The guy probably knew where he was going and even if he didn't, it doesn't matter which way I go so fuck it.'
This wasn't the first time Byren had been in the sewers, he once had to hide out from police when the dealer he had just bought from had been busted. He spent hours wandering around until he found another cover and got out.
These sewers were designed in such a way that you had to walk through the filthy water to get anywhere, not an issue if you had the right footwear but Byren was currently barefoot and almost every step he took he could feel something squish under his feet causing him to grimace slightly. He could also hear sounds echoing through the sewers like a cave, mostly squeaking from rats.
Byren reached a junction in the sewers and looked both ways that both looked identical and was unsure which way to go.
Trusting his gut and the old saying of 'always choose right' he went right.
As he walked Byren began playing a mental game of "What's that food?" with the smell of the sewers in which he tried to guess what the scents he could smell were by grouping them into foods. New York City was a diverse place so there were cultures and cuisines from all over the world and it was an interesting and strangely relaxing way of passing the time as he made his way through the literal shit pipes of the city.
Sloshing his way through the sewers in this manner he kept going until he recognised where he was.
'I've been here before.'
Then it hit him.
'Oh my fuck, go right only works in mazes! I've just gone in a square! A fucking square! Fucking shit! SHIT! how am I so retarded?!'
Following up his internal cringing with a few punches to the face and body Byren decided to just keep going and this time, take lefts and rights randomly. This might get him lost but in for a penny, in for a pound.
After what felt like an hour of wading through tunnels he came across a tunnel that sloped upwards.
Deciding to follow this new tunnel, he followed it until it started getting smaller and he had to hunch, he kept going and the tunnel levelled out. In front of him was a large pipe built halfway up in the wall and to his right was a raised edge leading into a tunnel that had a slightly rusted and paint-chipped blue door at the end of it.
'Huh.'
Seeing a door here felt out of place.
'Maybe it's a break room or tool cupboard or something.'
Byren walked forward glad to have his feet not squelching each time he took a step and tried to open the door using the handle. It was locked. He put more force into it and eventually broke the handle off.
Now that there was a hole in the door, Byren crouched down and tried to see inside, he saw the room had another door deeper inside and a couch.
'Break room!'
Elated, Byren stood up and decided to bash the door in, he used his shoulder and expected to have to do it a few times but he tore the door of it's hinges on the first ram, causing him to fall along with the door when it gave way.
*hiss*
Standing up Byren looked around.
On the wall were pin ups and calendars of naked girls and there was an unfinished game of poker on the coffee table sandwiched either side by a couch. In the corner was a sink with a cupboard and a kettle and a small fridge to the side. There was a vending machine here that was only half-full with candy and some lockers, they were all locked and closed. There were various other things around like empty cups or tools laying on the floor next to tool boxes but this looked like a good spot.
'I won't fit.'
Byren went to the table and moved it roughly out of the way, smashing cups and throwing cards into the air then he pushed the two couches together to make a double wide bed.
Turning back to the door Byren picked up the door and set it against the door sill so that the door wouldn't fall over and looked closed from far away. Byren went to the vending machine and started shimmying it using the corners over to block the door.
'There, nothing coming in through there without waking me up.'
Looking at the other less-dilapidated looking door on the other side of the room, the one he saw through the keyhole, Byren opened it curious to see what was there.
'Oh, a toilet, makes sense.'
It was just a small water closet with a toilet and no sink.
Closing the door again, Byren went over to the couches and tried for tens of minutes to find a comfortable position, he smashed the ends of the couch away with his powerful legs so he could lie flat until eventually he fell asleep with mental exhaustion. As he was asleep his body curled up like a cat might and if it weren't for the grumbling and hissing sounds one might've even ventured to call it cute.
Dale was running in terror through the sewers, he had just seen a lizard monster man thing as he was trying to close the manhole back up.
'What the fuck was that THING?!'
*Huff, puff*
Panting as he ran, his legs aching he came to a tunnel he knew well.
Having worked in the sewers for years, Dale felt almost comfortable down here, his nose had long since gotten used to the smell and the filth of the sewer no longer bothered him and he had a vague mental map that got clearer as he recognised he was in section 5-C underneath Batten Street.
'There's a break room down that way and another one up that way, I feel safer going to the one furthest away but I'll have to check the duty office first.'
Dale continued through the sewers following his mental map towards the duty office and eventually his temporary refuge from the end of the world.
The air felt clammy and cool but to Dale this meant that night was approaching, having worked down here during the day and the night for years Dale was able to tell that when the sewers got cool it meant that it was probably night up above; the reasons why Dale knew it wasn't night yet was because it was light when he came in, he hadn't been here that long and there was still light coming in through the side pipes that led to the drains built into the sides of the pavement.
Coming to the duty office, the place where sewer workers would assemble when they started their shifts, Dale opened the door and found the office empty. He looked around and went to see who was on shift on the night when everyone passed out. It was Smith and Michaels, they had maintenance near the closer break room and Dale decided to check the room to see if they were there.
On his way, Dale saw something floating in the water further down and couldn't quite make out what it was. He got closer and his face formed a frown.
'Looks like Smith was here and drowned during Judgement Day.'
With a sigh, Dale moved the body to sit up against the wall so it would at least have some dignity instead of floating face down.
"Damn shame Smith, you were one of the good ones."
Sniffing before immediately regretting it, Dale turned to leave and continued trudging towards the nearby break room.
On his way there Dale saw another shape a tunnel over, this one was round and was wobbling in an unsettling way. As he got closer he saw Michaels, or rather, half of Michael's corpse hanging out of a large brown blob that was slowly sucking the body in. Dale decided he wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on and left heading back to his initial destination, the break room farthest away from the lizard monster.
Dale arrived at the break room only to find the door handle was gone and the door wouldn't budge.
'Shit, it's locked.'
Turning around Dale decided to go back to the first break room. As he was walking away he heard a grumble and a hiss from the room behind him, causing him to break into a cold sweat and freeze, he turned slowly to stare at the door hard for a few seconds and heard it again, this time it seemed louder.
'Oh fuck no, those are the same sounds!!'
For the second time that day, Dale found himself running through the sewers running away from a mutant lizard monster man thing.
