Chapter 5

The force of the blow pushed Lucus from the edge of the stairs and he fell to the concrete meter and a half below. Groaning he lifted himself back to his feet for a moment forgetting what was happening. A growling hissing noise behind him reminded him as he spun quickly.

Seeing the horror that used to be the simple old man. Now it's face was a rictus mouth twisted open more than humanly possible with fangs dripping black fluid. Its eyes were all black, the skin threaded through with thick black veins hands ending in vicious looking, jagged black bone claws. It crouched on the steps above him snarling as it leapt for him.

Lucus swung his fist in a panic a wild flail of his arm the last desperate measure of a boy who was about to die.

His fist connected to the head of the monster and it felt just like he had punched a squishy water balloon, only this did not pop. Instead, the monster was hurled across the street cartwheeling through the air at tremendous speed. It struck the building across the four-lane road hitting hard enough to smash clean through the solid concrete.

Lucus stared at his fist in baffled amazement, the hit had felt like nothing almost like he had just swatted a fly. Walking across the street Lucus climbed up to the hole that the monster had made through the building doing his best to avoid the smears of thick black liquid which was splashed everywhere he looked down at what was left of the monster. There was not much it looked like a twisted piece of black rubbish. No longer recognizable as the humanoid figure it was just a few seconds ago.

Lucus turned and started to run, thoughts running through his head was that he had just killed Old man Sam and that no one would believe that he turned into a monster. He was in big trouble this time he needed to find somewhere to hide out until the Heat was off.

He sped towards an abandoned part of the industrial estate at the edge of his suburb never slowing down enough to look back at a city which was already filled with flames and screams.

----

At the same time...

Major Bollenger looked out over the yard, He was old now and could feel it was almost time in his bones. Death was coming for him and he was prepared. He would spit in that bastard's eye and see if he could take him down with him. The cancer was past the point where more treatment would help him much. So now all he could do was think about the past and remember his comrades.

Comrades who had all died from one incident or another. He was the only one left after all this time and he was looking forwards to leaving this shitty existence in the old folk's home where his ungrateful shits of grand kids had left him. But there was no way that he would ever go easy into the night. Fuck his family and fuck all of the young healthy pricks who pranced around pretending to life.

The wave of Flux energy was like toppling of dominoes over the sunny yard of the old folk's home all of the residents were outside for their required exercise time and so most of them were concentrated talking in groups as they played games of bowls or the like. The toppled one after the other all of them falling without a sound their eyes staring into the distance.

The Major felt is as it hit him too. A wash of energy like nothing he had ever felt before. So powerful that he could feel it pumping through his old worn body destroying it from the inside out. He fought it, the stubborn old warrior who could never admit defeat fighting to the last.