1240 S 7th Ave.

South Lebanon,

Lebanon, Pennsylvania,

The United States.

22.12.2122 CE

 

…

"Fuck it," John sighed audibly as he walked back home through the deserted alleyway.

 

He sat on the hood of the lone automobile on the block, staring at his own house, which was the only other occupied residence on the block.

 

As the evening sun produced lengthy shadows on the ground, he glanced at the big trees around him. The sky was tinted a warm orange by the setting sun's slanting beams.

 

"It's so lovely," he thought to himself. "It's been a while since I've seen such a vista since I got stuck with that wretched job."

 

He made a small scowl as his thoughts returned to the bizarre event that had occurred earlier in the day in the office;

 

“JOHN! Allan, his news director, inquired, "Where's the piece about the GN company's sudden boom?"

 

"I feel we..."

“NO! You don’t FEEL anything! I tell you this all the time. Your personal opinions don’t matter! I ask for a story, you get me a story! GET IT DUMBASS?” Allan snarled.

 

"No," John said calmly yet vehemently.

 

“WHAT? "Do you have any idea who you're talking..."

 

“A piece of shit!” John cut in sharply

 

He approached John hesitantly, taken startled.

 

"You don't get to talk to me like that, you moron!"

 

“Why? Cus I work here? I QUIT!” he replied with a daring smile.

 

“No! "You're fired!" while tugging John by his shirt, Allan replied.

 

John shoved him immediately, gave him a punch right in the throat.

 

“I don’t work here remember?” he said and walked out on a writhing Allan.

 

Coming back after spacing out, he noticed the whole atmosphere had gotten darker.

 

“It sure got dark pretty quick today”

 

From afar, there was a startling clamor that sounded like a group of panicked shouts.

 

He was frightened and began walking towards his house when he observed a figure fly quickly by him in the darkness and heard the sound of one of his windows crashing.

 

He began walking slowly towards his house, startled.

 

He tried to open the front gate with his key, but it was already unlocked.

 

"MARTHA!" he cried as he realised he wasn't the only one home and dashed for the door.

 

“Shit! She isn't supposed to be back yet."

 

He pulled the door open and dashed inside. He hurried upstairs after hearing Martha scream and seeing a strange frightening monster beside her bed.

 

When he turned to look at Martha, he noticed she had been stabbed by something he couldn't identify.

 

He could only see Martha muttering something that appeared like "run."

 

He hastily grabbed his shotgun from the top of the tall closet and pointed it at the creature, but the creature had vanished.

 

For a split second, his vision appeared to turn blue, and he spun around to look for the creature.

 

The creature suddenly raced towards him from the location where he had initially spotted it after spinning around roughly twice.

 

Due to his instinct, reflex, and wrath he had bottled up, he shot it right in the head in a very timely matter.

 

He reloaded the shotgun and fired another shot at its dead body in the midsection.

 

His vision went blue once more, but only for three seconds this time.

 

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Martha's body, her insides torn out as if she had been shot with a shotgun.

 

In despair and befuddlement, John sank to his knees.

 

“How? Did I miss? No, I'm rather certain I hit it..." He came to a halt as he realized something.

 

He exclaimed, "Where is the body?"

 

When he turned around, he noticed the creature laughing at him. There was no sound, but its countenance said it all.

 

He dashed up to it, grabbed it from behind, and began strangling it.

 

The creatures struggled, constantly rotating and jumping.

 

John was obstinate. He clung to it with all his power, despite the fact that it was hurting him.

 

After a series of struggles, the creature swayed abnormally, causing John to lose his grip and tumble to the ground.

 

He stood up quickly, ignoring the agony and glaring at the creature before pulling out his pocket knife. He sprang forward, but the beast deflected his thrust, sending him slamming into the wall.

 

He lunged at it again, holding the knife in a reverse grip and stabbing it in one of its eyes.

 

He felt a sharp pain in his thigh and immediately knew he had been tricked again

 

When John returned to reality, he saw he had wounded himself in the thigh and saw the thing chuckling once more.

 

“Oh. I get it now” he said with realisation and removed the knife from his thighs, put it in his pocket and let out a little shout.

 

He rushed at it trying to strangle it again. He managed to get a hold of it after a series of struggles. It struggled again but this time, it appeared weaker than before.

 

John reached for his knife and this time, stabbed it in its head and some blue glowing stuff splashed out along with the bright red cold blood gushed out.

 

His mind raced as soon as the blue fluid made contact with him, and he seemed to see years' worth of memories in a matter of seconds. He was in a state of shock, and his eyes and mouth were both open wide.

 

He was able to restore consciousness around 10 seconds later. He merely knelt by the lifeless beast, speechless. Martha's death seemed to him to be something he had been accustomed to.

 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" This can’t be real right? It's got to be some sort of bizarre dream. That's the only logical explanation there is” he said in devastation.

 

He walked to the broken window where the creature had come in from and saw a group of other creatures rampaging in a distance; all different from the one he had encountered a while ago.

 

Looking closer, he observed what appeared to be an aircraft carrier, but considerably larger and chaotic, and it appeared to be the source of the strange creatures' abrupt entrance.

 

He stood at the window, laughing maniacally.

 

"How come all this appears to be normal?"