Chapter 4 - Danger's Outside the House

"I have to say, the humans ain't doing so well."

In the blue and white swirling room, the figure cloaked in black spoke as the entity looked at the pool in the middle of the middle of the room. The entity cloaked in gold, at the opposite side of the room, replied.

"This is only temporarily. Once they adjust to the changes, order will be restored."

"HAHAHAHA!! The humans will adjust to the changes alright!! They will tear each other apart, doing what they want, when they want. They were quick to turn on each when given the chance, and even now, instead of uniting to fight the bloodthirsty creatures, some of them have started fighting and exploiting each other. And it's only been thirty days. "

"And those that do will be eliminated or squash opposition, and will eventually create a civilization of their own. Either way, Order will be restored."

"I'm sure it will sweetheart. But, how many humans will be left alive afterwards? And do you think the faction they create will remain after my second gift?"

>>>>

Alexander slowly inched the door forwards, ready to leap backwards and close the door if something lunged at him. To his relief, nothing attacked him as he opened the door wide open.

Outside, in the black smog blanketing everything, he could make out some areas of the metal picket fence surrounding the house dented inwards, and slashed through, and some areas of the ground disturbed. Alexander winced at the sight, gratefully that whatever was fighting did not crash into his home.

The sound of crunching drew his attention. Alexander turned his gaze further forwards, zeroing in on the sound. He could see two human bodies lying on the road, with two humanoid figures crouching next to the bodies....munching on them. Alexander shuddered, and adverted his gaze, looking around. Thankfully, he could see no further creatures. No humans either.

Alexander took a few steps forward. Suddenly, he could hear the sounds of thuds, and he snapped his gaze to the left in time to see a blur of blue as his dog ran past him with a thud, towards the two creatures feasting on the humans on the road, letting out a single bark. Alexander froze, in fear and shock, before looking around hastily, quickly reassured to see nothing else was attracted to the noise of his dog. Alexander looked upwards, to see the two creatures get up from the gruesome meal, facing towards the dog as it quickly closed in. Alexander drew his katana with shaky hands, holding it in his right arm in a one handed grip and walked slowly forwards, towards the creatures. He couldn't abandon Bob, it was the only living companion left around him, and he had all his clothes and food. He had to kill them before the noise drew the attention of other creatures.

Bob ran towards the two, gaunt humanoid figures with grey skins, and the two stood up slowly to look at Bob, fixing their plain black orbs on Bob as he approached. Bob pounced on one, sending it crashing to the ground, and bit at it's throat, latching on and furiously moving his jaws as the creature lashed out with it's fingers, trying to dislodge Bob, and it's nails started drawing blood on Bob.

As Bob was furiously trying to tear into the creature on the ground, the other kicked at Bob, slowly clumsily. The kick connected with a thud, and Bob let go of creature on the ground with a yelp, just as the thing on the ground stiffened, with liquid trailing down it's neck.

Bob quickly ran forwards, and turned around once some distance had been gained, blood trailing down Bob's body from the scratches the limp creature on the ground inflicted on him. Bob stood there, letting out a low snarl, as the creature ambled slowly towards Bob. A clatter sounded behind the creature as closed in on Bob, and it started turning around, as Alexander swung his katana downwards in a two handed grip, slicing the creature right through the middle of it's body in a single cut. The creature fell in two halves at Alexander's feet as he stood there, wide eyed, surprised that he had killed the creature so easily.

Alexander snapped out of his daze, when he saw Bob moving forwards aggressively. He started tearing into the creature at Alexander's feet, ripping into it. Alexander felt like puking, as the stench of of the flesh and blood reached his nostrils, registering with the gruesome sight of Bob tearing into the creature. He took a couple of steps back, covering his mouth with left hand, and looking away while trying to stop himself from puking.

Getting himself under control, he turned to look at Bob, just in time to see him dig out what looked like a small black stone in the creatures heart, and gulping it down. A shimmer of dark blue light, almost unnoticeable in the darkness, could be seen covering Bob, before cracking sounds could be heard from Bob, before he grew slightly bigger. The difference was so minor that Alexander would have missed the size increase had he not seen it happen before his very eyes.

Alexander watched, wide eyed, as Bob went to the other creature and started to tear apart the creature. Afterwards, it returned to Alexander with a small black object in his mouth, dropping it on the road at Alexander's feet, and looking at Alexander intently.

"Are you giving it to me?"

Seeing Bob nod in response, Alexander looked around. Seeing no creatures approach for the time being, he placed his katana on the ground, and grabbed a handkerchief from his left pocket, and wrapped the item in it, clearing it of the blood, before grabbing it.

The item felt smooth to touch, and hard. It felt exactly like touching a pebble. Alexander held the item up to his eyes, and he noticed that the item would glow and dim, in a very minor, almost unnoticeable way.

Alexander hesitated, as he stared at the item. He saw that Bob ate the item, and his size increased, and the small wounds on his body started healing. He didn't look ill either. However, it was a glowing stone. Something that had been dug out of the heart of a random, human eating creature. He didn't want to eat something like this, an unknown object, even if it could potentially make him stronger. Alexander eventually put the object in his pocket. Bob growled and bit at his pocket, tugging it.

"Bob, I am not eating some random object picked out of a creature."

Bob growled, but let go of his pocket. Alexander used the handkerchief to wipe the blood off the katana, then dropped the handkerchief on the ground and picked up the sheath and sheathed the katana.

"Bob, you can't just attack creatures like that."

"Woof"

"Don't do it again. You never know what you can attract from the noise."

"Woof."

Alexander looked around. He hesitated, then walked towards the house in front of him, passing through a hole in the ruined picked fence, and the trees planted in the garden. He stood in front of the door, hesitating. Eventually, he knocked on the door.

He could hear a bang in the house, after he knocked. It sounded like someone, or something banged into something. Alexander hesitated, then looking around, and knocked on the door again.

Loud thuds sounded on the ground as something started moving in his direction from inside. A sound of falling to the floor and shattering sounded. Alexander's eyes widened in fright, and he quickly ran away from the door, calling Bob as he ran. That was no human approaching the door. He ran behind the plants in the garden, looking around peeping through the leaves to look at the door. The door opened, and a humanoid creature walked out of the doorway.

Alexander's eyes opened wide as he observed the creature. It looked like an incredibly tall, muscular human in a long sleeved, collared shirt and pants.....except for the head. It had a crocodile head with glowing red eyes.

The crocodile started looking around, before it eventually settled on looking at Alexander's direction. It stared, inhaling, then took a step forward and started opening it's jaws.

Alexander turned around and bolted, calling Bob, and he swiftly followed behind him. The crocodile head called out, then tried to catch up, but Alexander was too far ahead and in too much of a panic to distinguish anything. Eventually, Alexander and Bob left the crocodile head far behind. The crocodile head eventually stopped chasing after them, watching the duo slowly fade in the distance as it looked dejected. Slowly, it made it's way back to the house.

Eventually, Alexander stopped running after looking over his shoulder and noticing the crocodile head wasn't chasing after them. He heaved a sigh of relief.

HISSS!

Alexander looked to his left, to see a massive green scaled snake, the height of an average house. making it's way towards him.