Chapter 9:Ashes and Violet Flame

Chapter 8: Ashes and Violet Flame

Alex groaned as consciousness returned to him. His body ached in pain, his vision a blurr, and the sharp scent of scorched earth and blood filling his nose.

He pushed himself up from the cracked pavement, with trembling hands.

Around him, the surroundings lay in shambles, with burned-out ground, shattered concrete, and the eerie stillness that followed chaos.

Then he saw them.

Jonah stood between the group and the towering bizarre craze, his coat shredded, with violet energy coiling faintly around his limbs like smoke.

The ground around him was burning with red flames.

And those flames seemed to be coming from his body, a feat that should be impossible for a human.

The bizarre craze lurched forward at him, its elongated limbs moving in unpredictable bursts.

Its jaw unhinged with a screech that seemed to distort the air itself.

Alex could hardly believe what he was witnessing.

Jonah did not remain idle as the creature moved.

He dashed forward, faster than humanly possible, his glowing hand crashing into the creature's chest.

A shockwave rippled outward, sending debris flying and heat all around the place. However, the craze did not fall.

Instead, it retaliated to the sudden attack by slamming its long limbs at Jonah, throwing him back through the side of a rusted truck.

"Oh crap," voiced Alex, as he saw Jonah receive the brunt of the attack.

There was no way he was going to stand up after that.

But Jonah rose again, shocking Alex even further.

He could no longer tell who was the monster between the craze and Jonah.

Jonah rose from the ground, coughing blood and grimacing in pain.

Violet arcs of energy sparked along his arm as he raised it once more, muttering words under his breath.

The bizarre charged again, but this time, Jonah met it with full force.

His fist, bright red, collided with the creature's torso in a blast of blinding light, sending it flying.

But he didn't stop there.

After feeling his punch connect, Jonah followed the craze mid-flight, throwing a second punch, followed by a third, fourth, and fifth.

Alex watched in awe as countless red fists barraged the terrifying craze.

The craze didn't even have time to fight back as it received one attack after another.

Then, somehow, it did.

One of its jagged limbs shot out like a whip, slicing across Jonah's shoulder mid-attack. Jonah winced, losing momentum, and the creature spun in the air, landing on all fours like a beast.

It lunged forward, with an unnaturally fast speed, and this time, it was Jonah on the defensive.

The two clashed with vicious speed, strikes breaking pavement and flinging wreckage as they moved across the battlefield. Jonah ducked under a swinging limb,and then countered with a palm strike to its ribs that sent out a ripple of flame, only for the craze to catch him with a backhand that sent him skidding across the ground.

He coughed hard, blood flecking the dust.

Still, he rose again. "Not yet," he growled.

This time, Jonah's body ignited completely, fire dancing across his shoulders, along his legs and arms. He rocketed forward with a fiery burst, grappling the bizarre creature and slamming it down with both fists, causing the earth to crater beneath them.

He did not stop there, as he began to repeatedly smash the craze on the ground.

The new dwellers stood frozen, shocked and breathless.

Jonah, after about twenty to thirty smashes, suddenly distanced himself from the craze.

He made a strange attack pose as if he was going to put everything he had into the next attack.

His right arm, which was outstretched, began to ignite with fury-red flames. The flames started to spin around his arm like a vortex.

He shouted something in a language Alex didn't understand.

Then drove the burning fist into the ground.

Pillars of fire erupted beneath the bizarre craze, engulfing it entirely in a maelstrom of heat and destruction. The creature screamed, but the sound was drowned beneath the roar of fire.

When the flames cleared, the bizarre craze was a burned crisp—nothing left but a scorched black body.

With a thud it fell to the ground, causing a small cloud of dust to rise.

Jonah knelt down, breathing hard.

It seemed whatever he had done had taken a lot from him.

He slowly turned towards the new dwellers, checking their conditions.

He was relieved to see them doing well.

He tried to move his mouth to give an instruction, but he was disturbed.

From the burning rubbles, like a nightmare refusing to end, three more bizarre crazes stepped out from the shadows of a collapsed building.

Jonah swore under his breath. "Damn it. I don't have enough left for all of them."

One bizzare had taken him all he had to finish it, now he was about to face three more.

He turned to the tall, pale-skinned new dweller who had remained eerily calm throughout the ordeal.

He had a feeling that this man was not as simple as he appeared to be.

After witnessing his display against one of the sired craze, this feeling had been further modified.

"Hey you"

The man turned towards Jonah.

Jonah with tired breath continued.

"l am going to need your help with this one."

The pale man didn't speak. He stepped forward silently, eyes narrowing as the bizarre crazes stalked closer. A strange aura radiated from him, cold, sharp, and unnatural.

The moment the first of the new bizarre crazes lunged, the man moved.

One step.

Then he vanished, and reappeared.

Reappearing beside the craze with a blink, his palm pressed gently to its skull. In an instant, the creature screamed and convulsed as dark frost began to spread over its body, freezing it mid-motion.

Before it could fully freeze, the craze tried to fight back in outrage.

The man easily evaded its attack, by distancing himself from it.

Alex gaped. The others scrambled back into action.

Jonah was impressed, the man's capabilities far surpassed what he thought.

"Get to the trucks!" Jonah yelled. "Prepare to leave, we'll hold them!"

While the pale man danced between the remaining enemies—his movements precise and impossibly fast, Jonah threw himself into the fray beside him. The two fought like beings from another world. Violet flame and freezing darkness crashing against monstrous flesh.

Meanwhile, the recruits and remaining guards worked quickly. They reinforced the vehicles, throwing off broken doors, strapping metal panels across weak points, and laying down fire traps to slow the creatures down.

The girl with the pistol set remote charges at key points, and the wiry boy hurled another vial of fire as one of the sired crazes drew too close to the truck.

Jonah was bleeding now, limping, but still moving. He shouted over the rising roar, "NOW! GO!"

The engines roared to life. The vehicles pulled forward.

Jonah and the pale man broke off from the fight, sprinting toward the trucks as one of the bizarre crazes hurled a chunk of concrete after them.

The projectile smashed into the earth just behind them, sending dirt and fire into the sky.

But they didn't stop.

Jonah leapt onto the back of the truck with a grunt, pulling the pale man up behind him.

"DRIVE!"

The girl hit the detonator.

A wall of flame erupted behind them, consuming the two remaining bizarre crazes just long enough for the vehicles to speed away from the edge, racing back into the wounded heart of the city.

Smoke trailed behind them and their hearts were pounding with a lingering fear.

None of them spoke.

They had survived, but just barely.