Fiend (1)

Do you know what's darker than a night without stars?

Being trapped inside the janitor's closet at a convenience store knowing full well that going outside right now would most likely, if not probably, result in his death.

Yep, that is exactly the situation that Rando found himself in.

*Pant pant pant*

Rugged breathing could be heard from inside the locked door that Rando hid in.

One could hardly see in the darkness that covered the room that Rando was in, but the light coming from outside the room penetrated the door, making the room a tiny bit visible.

The light from outside the door lit up Rando's eyes, making things slightly visible and he was able to finally see his own poor state.

His hair was disheveled, he was missing a shoe, there was a large hole at the back of his leather jacket, and a stinky scent could be smelled from the wet pants that Rando was wearing.

*Pant pant pant*

Rando constantly raised his chest up and down in order to catch up with his breath. Slowly, his rugged breathing calmed down.

*Thud thud thud*

There was a continuous resounding sound coming from outside the locked door that Rando was leaning on. Non-stop thumping noises could be heard from outside where he hid.

The whole building he was hiding in was shaking ever so slightly, it was so soft that Rando barely felt anything. But the shaking bottles on the shelf inside the room was like a loud and annoying notification from his phone saying-

'It's strong!'

And there was only one thing making the slight shaking of the building and that loud sound outside the door right now.

Although still afraid, Rando tried to turn around to see if he could take a peek from what that thing is doing outside the locked room he was in.

Light seeped in from the holes of the door, which made it easier for Rando to be able to see a tiny bit of what is outside from where he was in, which somewhat looks like a janitor's closet.

'What is it trying to do?'

Rando exclaimed in his mind. But the sudden thought of how it could even tear apart his leather jacket was making him shiver to his core.

He had never seen anything like the scary thing outside the broken windows of the building he was in throughout all of his life.

Surprise, fear, and dread slowly took over his mind as he questioned.

'Damn it, how did things get here?'

---

It all began when he was still just outside the apartment building he lived in.

He was still nervous from the way the surroundings were so quiet and the quiet screeching noise from the metal gate was still ringing in his ears when suddenly a large shadow towered above him.

No sound, no noise, Rando didn't even notice that something was moving behind him when suddenly there was a shadow trying to cover him from the bright sun he was glaring at just a moment ago.

But as soon as he discovered the growing shadow by his feet, Rando immediately turned around without asking 'what is that' in his mind. He knew that any kind of distraction is enough for a bullet to catch up. And so he immediately turned around to face whatever it was, but horror slowly filled his face when he saw what could only be described as a monstrosity in front of him.

It was legs and arms.

Legs and arms covered in-

'-Red blood.'

Deep dark red blood covered the legs and arms sticking out of this blood-red existence that was quietly standing in front of Rando.

An unknown and horrifying existence formed by the mixture of thick red blood and the putrid smelly sewer water, with limbs and flesh hanging all over it, was 'standing' in front of Rando. He could not, for the life of god, recognize what suddenly appeared before his eyes as if it just popped out of nowhere.

And it did pop out of nowhere.

Suddenly, five eyes from all over the body of the horrifying existence began coursing through the rivers of blood covering itself. Slowly, the eyes gathered in front of this scary thing, and the pupils of each eye each turned towards Rando, seemingly staring right at him.

He became horrified.

Years of training and killing in the war didn't even compare to the horror he was about to face. And no matter how much he tried to make sense of what is in front of him, what he saw was just not quite right.

Imagine a caveman suddenly seeing a lightbulb. He would be terrified at the 'fire in the skies' (or wherever the lightbulb is installed) if that ever appeared in front of him. And if he couldn't make sense of what is happening right in front of him, he would most likely either destroy it out of fear, or run away out of fear.

Either way, the caveman would act out of fear.

And Rando was like that caveman.

He knew he couldn't kill it. He didn't know why, but he felt that his limbs would definitely not be enough against the terrifying existence that appeared in front of him.

And so, Rando ran.

Rando ran like a madman, and he almost peed right in his pants as he ran through the almost empty streets. He wanted to—and was about to—shout for help as he didn't know what to do and where to go, but he subconsciously closed his mouth. Somewhere deep in his mind is shouting at him that yelling loudly was a bad idea.

The existence was silently staring at the running Rando, seemingly curious about this insect running away from it.

If this thing could speak, it would probably say something along the lines of "what is that?"

But it couldn't. It had no mouth.

The existence looked like a slime from a regular rpg game of some sort.

Except it's red because of the blood, and that there were deformed heads and several limbs attached to its body like glue.

Standing at around two meters high, it was taller than most humans alive today and those that were once very much alive by a few more inches. But those few inches seem to shout the word 'gigantic' to anyone who sees it.

And it was obvious why.

Five arms were shaking and dangling from all of the sides of this red blob, there were four legs below this slime-like creature, as if it was using it to stand, and deformed heads were attached to its body. These heads were scattered all over the slimy existence like randomly placed toppings on an ice cream.

The rest of its body was just a mixture of stinky sewer water and deep red blood, mostly sewer water.

Maybe that's why it got so big. From it's sheer size alone, it was no wonder why it needed many legs to stand up.

But no, this existence wasn't standing, it was just 'holding' those feet together to make it look like it was.

A wheel doesn't need a car to roll, and the existence didn't need the limbs to move.

It didn't take long for the existence to start chasing after Rando.

Two, no, three seconds after Rando sprinted away, the existence started rolling. One would only notice the blood-red water moving since the existence would keep moving its limbs, in order to make it look like the limbs are staying in place, just like how a car doesn't roll with its tires.

Of course, as it was likened to a car, it was much faster than Rando as well.

'Damn it, it's catching up! Where do I go?'

Rando's eyes began searching around.

'A small place would be suitable as it wouldn't fit inside, I think.'

Unfortunately, after the war last year, almost all buildings were either almost destroyed or had a big gaping hole at one of the faces of the building.

'It's big and runs fast, I bet it can't control its speed.'

During the short time between him running away and the chase of the existence, Rando was already able to run towards the edge of the street he was on, and he was just about to test his hypothesis.

Whether the existence can turn just as quickly as it can run is what separates life and death for him.

Just as he was about to turn left, he looked back at the existence behind him and...

'I was right! It's still accelerating straight towards me at full speed! It can't possibly slow down fast eno--'

...he tripped.

"Oh fuck."