Statue Apocalypse 4

We kept coughing up ashes. Thankfully I hadn't drunk a lot of that water, but Arun was barely hanging on. 

I could see Arun reach to the inside of his mouth to clear away the ashes. Disgusting puddles had formed under us.

It took me about a minute to become 'fine'. Arun's situation had improved a bit but he still had a hard time just breathing. 

The ashes must have gone down to my lungs, as I have a burning feeling in my lungs. I want to rip them apart.

Everytime I breathe out, ashes keep coming. My throat felt as if it was cracked.

I hastily got to my feet and saw the zombie staircase getting very close to us. I rushed towards Arun and patted him hard on his back.

I helped him get back to his feet and we left our puddles to escape. Then I saw a problem. The rooftop next to this one was not connected.

As I thought about how to overcome this problem in our weakened state, Arun acted by himself.

"My taste… take it."

He said with clear exhaustion in his voice and while still coughing. His eyes were still burning with intensity. He wasn't done yet.

He got another burst of energy, much weaker than last ones. But it was just enough to get himself together.

Just to be safe he made another deal.

"I offer… my… sense of… smell ."

He kept coughing throughout the sentence.

His vision was completely blurred. His coughing didn't show any signs of stopping. His breathing was very irregular and he had to snort every few breaths which led to even more coughs.

I kept thinking about how to help him. But I kept reaching the same conclusion. I can't.

Broken down we somehow found our way to the coloured area. As soon as we stepped foot in, the ashes turned to water again.

We both collapsed onto the ground again.

This was still, not a blessing. We still had water in our noses and lungs. We were still in a lot of pain and misery.

The shrinking of the zone had slowed down massively. If it had continued at the same pace, we might not have caught up.

But it was still at a pace that if we didn't move, we would go back to the situation we were in.

The zombies were still a distance away from us. I helped Arun go back on his feet again.

Compared to ashes, water was more manageable for us. Just by looking around I could see this area wasn't too big. 

There were no people in this area though. 

But something weird had happened to these buildings.

The two of us didn't notice as we were in a rush, but the buildings had changed.

Before, we were in a rural area. Now we see big buildings and apartments around us.

I looked back towards the path we came from. Urban and rural had started to mix.

These buildings feel familiar too. The rural buildings before were very similar to each other, so much so that I thought they were just copies of each other. 

We didn't go inside of any of them so I can't confirm that. But as we came closer, the buildings had become more distinct. 

Where we were standing, I saw the buildings which looked similar to the buildings in the real world, near Yuan's apartment.

"...Aayan"

Arun took deep breaths as he pointed towards a house.

Among the urban apartments, this was the only rural looking house.

It was a big house with a big garden around it and looked spacious.

We took no time to start walking. I saw Arun's ears, tongue and nose get a black tint. 

I could see his toes make random movements again, which hindered his balance and movement in this weakened state.

But this time even these effects were very weak. We kept moving as fast as we could, but our best might not be good enough.

The colours were retreating just a little faster than us. As we reached closer to the house, the border of this world was just inches away from us and close to it were the zombies.

Through sheer effort we made it to the gate. We opened the gate, and entered the building. There was a veranda in front of us.

As soon as we saw the inside, we trembled slightly.

We saw Yuan. Not the adult whose dream we invaded. But a small child no older than 4.

Cradling him was a figure whose skin was completely black. The person's skin had scales on it but still appeared gooey. 

Their bodies had weird proportions. There was nothing wrong about it at a single glance. But if you looked at them once, you might feel weird. You might feel compelled to look again.

But no matter how many times you look, there was something weird that you won't be able to put your finger on.

It might be an elbow which bent a little weirdly. Or it might be a finger that didn't wasn't the right size.

They had hair but instead of multiple strands, it was more like one single hair covering their entire hair.

If someone had told me it was a child's sketch, I would have believed them. 

But the worst part was their face. They didn't have 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth. And they didn't have 32 teeth inside their mouth.

Their entire face was covered with eyes. Hundreds of small and big eyes which looked in every direction they could.

It wasn't the form I had previously seen, but I was 1000% certain. This was a nightmare.

The child looked happy in this creature's lap. Playing with its or hair, while sucking on its fingers. Some strange black mist flowed from the things hand to child Yuan.

This was how the nightmare had taken control over Yuan.

Covering both of these figures were dozens of people. Men, women, young and elderly. 

They formed a circle of 2 to 3 rings around those two, as if protecting them. 

As we were in utter shock, trying to make sense of this scenario. The colour border passed by us.

It stopped right before the circle of people and stayed there.

We could feel the ash again but we maintained ourselves through sheer will. 

That was when the statues began moving in from behind us.

This was the moment when I almost broke down. I started regretting all my actions since the day I became involved in this mess that wasn't even my fault.

I cursed my luck, I cursed everyone I knew, trying to find a way to escape.

That was when Arun spoke to me.

"Aayan"

Even though he was in a worse state, his eyes still retained their intensity. He gave me his wise words. 

"Stop being a bi*ch."

He supported himself and got ready to fight the statues behind us.

"I definitely can't do anything about that nightmare, but we need to kill it before it gains complete control over Yuan. It's in a different state than ours. When it gains control, you don't wish to see what happens."

He expanded his palms and stretched his fingers.

"You have to kill it, I will deal with the zombies. Meanwhile you need to figure out how to make a deal." 

"But I don't know how."

My words couldn't reach him. His ears were still in his nightmare's control.

I started tearing up in this immense pressure.

Ignoring me he made a deal again.

"Both my eyes, both my thumbs, take whatever else you want as well."

A small amount of energy surged from within his body.

He conjured a sharp semi transparent rod in less than a second.

He handed the rod over to me.

As soon as I touched it, I felt the same sensation of losing control of myself. 

The half a meter rod itself was cold to the touch and weighed nothing. But it messed up my head.

"...Arun… this…"

"Even if it is hiding deep somewhere… it will appear when it senses a connection." 

He finally told me what he couldn't tell me back at that staircase.

"The secret is emotions. Hate, scorn or any other extreme one. Bring them out with the intention to kill that pest."

He took one huge breath as the zombies started entering through the door.

Without saying another word, Arun started dealing with the zombies. One by one as they entered, he would either bash their skulls or their chest. 

All while I was scared and under pressure. I didn't know how to do this.

Everyone around me was suffering, not just me. Arun was fighting with everything he got, but I was pathetically waiting for him to do all the work.

I rushed towards the nightmare. I saw the people protecting him. I didn't hesitate to attack.

Sensing danger, it sped up the edge again.

Just before I could hit the first circle, all the people in that circle became zombies. Their skin was tough like concrete and I couldn't do anything to them.

In desperation I shouted.

"Take away my taste. Give me power."

I said that but got no response.

I knew the nightmare had heard me but it didn't reply.