Chapter 1[Part 2]- Matrix Open

They looked ahead and saw some military personnel trying to direct people and help those injured. They walked with much difficult forward as the water from the rain had reached their thighs when suddenly the rain stopped, just as it had begun—abruptly, the quake stopped too. Jihyeok looked up in amazement, eyes wide; he wondered if the cause of all this events came from the sky.

The scampering crowd hesitantly paused their movements, seeming as though they were calculating their next course of action. Some gasps were suddenly heard, which was never a good thing, so the people became tense and nervous—Jihyeok included. The people's shadows became even darker clearly giving away the fact that a very bright light shone from above, but when they looked up, they couldn't bear to keep their eyes open, only spotting large and weirdly shaped silhouettes faintly.

"Wham!" a large boom sounded as the earth's surface shook slightly. Dust from the falling buildings and water from the rain, violently engulfed everybody present bringing most of them to their knees and simultaneously causing more deaths. Jihyeok, who got overwhelmed, stood up shakily and helped Nakyung up too. They were completely soaked and miscellaneous pieces of dirt rested themselves on their hairs, Jihyeok ran his hand through his hair and violently ruffled it, advising his colleague to do so too. As other people were recollecting themselves, Nakyung looked around and spotted a small slit in the ground that was carrying large pieces of dried cement and a metal on it, He tilted his head slightly and his eyebrows twitched to furrow and go back to normal.

Screams were then getting heard as the people felt a faint rumbling from the ground, "Earthquake?" Jihyeok asked just as the screams got closer. People started backing away as they could see weird distorted figures, with some having huge spiky tails and even mouths with two sets of teeth protruding like something very ugly that was wrongly placed, which to be honest was very disgusting. The creatures picked humans and tossed them in their mouth or just impaled them or trampled over them effectively crushing them to death. People freaked and started running for their lives once again but this time moving in the opposite direction as to where they were running to before.

Jihyeok stuttered, "Wh-what's that?!" with clear and unfiltered disgust. Nakyung kept silent, gulping, he then decisively gripped Jihyeok's forearm and lead him amidst the frantically pushing crowd. They were then staring at the slit in the ground, Nakyung looked up first, letting out a breath, he nudged Jihyeok forward and pointed with his eyes, "Go on" Jihyeok looked at him for a brief moment then his eyes slightly widened, "What? Me? In there?" Nakyung hummed and nudged him again but he resisted and complained, "How can I fit in there? It's not possible!" Nakyung sighed and said sternly, "Just go in first, hey, what will you do if this place can contain you and you stubbornly refuse to enter and die?!" Jihyeok looked behind Nakyung and then answered with an 'are you senseless' sneer, "Of course nothing cause I'll be dead…you said so yourself"

Nakyung huffed, is it so hard to just do something that could be your potential life saver?! Jihyeok continued, "Besides, even if I enter, what about you?" Nakyung stared at him fiercely in the eyes before looking back down at the opening, "Your body is smaller than mine so I think I could be able to fit…don't think about others, you should think about your survival first" Jihyeok retorted, "Could say the same for you…" then re-registering the first half of Nakyung's sentence, he yelled with fire in his eyes, "Who's small?!" Nakyung just waved him off, sweat dropping when Jihyeok said again, rethinking, "Can two grown men actually fit in this?" Nakyung frowned and stared at him with meaningful eyes, which was intimidating so Jihyeok humbly bent down, then stuck his legs in before fully entering the space. He had to bend and shift before yelling for Nakyung to come in too. The space was limited, like a large tunnel, but both of them thankfully managed to get in. Because of the rain, their bodies were submerged in water with only their faces excluded.

Jihyeok looked at the slit where light passed through and became worried. Shrieks and screams of terror greatly dampened the atmosphere in their tiny refuge, 'if everyone here dies and only us survive, then what?' was a question that they silently asked each other but sadly none had the answer to the question as no one was quite sure what would happen to their lives when these events pass over. A strange sort of scream reverberated in their ears which caused Jihyeok to flinch violently, he stared at Nakyung with wide eyes, did it seem like he was relying on Nakyung to survive? He suddenly thought but wasn't allowed to finish the thought because the ground began to shake violently.

 The two realized that those weird figures were probably stampeding their way over them. It was so thrilling that Jihyeok could hear his heart beating, loud and clear. Some debris fell from the breaking rocks above their heads, they cradled their heads with their arms, covering it t prevent head injuries. After a few moments of almost having a death ticket handed to them, the shaking calmed down, slowly fading into the distance.

Jihyeok thanked everything thank-able, for letting them come out alive and not letting the heavy rocks crush them. Nakyung called out breathlessly, "Hey look" Jihyeok looked at him and then looked down, following Nakyung's index finger pointed downwards, "The water…" they watched as the water quickly disappeared, the soil absorbing it completely and then surprisingly not being moist "…Is gone" Nakyung felt the ground with his fingers and Jihyeok followed. Jihyeok tilted his head and asked in confusion, "Is that normal or possible?" Nakyung frowned then shook his head, clearing his mind. He and Jihyeok got out and "Oh" Jihyeok muttered. A wave of nausea hit Nakyung as a strong stench of blood filled the air and red dyed the broken and cracked streets.