The Amalgamation Of Two Worlds

** Audrey’s POV **

The stench was horrible. It was burning my nostrils while making my eyes water. The smoke being let off from it was engulfing the sky, adding more darkness to the already pitch black night. And with no street lights, it was a death trap. Or a death holder, depending on how you looked at it. Practically anyone left on the streets were either dead, dying... or being ripped apart. I didn’t want to go back out there, but what else was there to do? Hayden had abandoned his post at the end to look for survivors, and was now pacing, only now and then checking on the opening. Gabriel was also pacing, but the frustration showed more clearly on his face. Hayden was either not that worried, or was good at hiding his emotions. The old lady kept hyperventilating around every five minutes, and the kid looked like a doll. He was just sitting there, a little bit of blood on his pale face, his eyes wide, and staring at nothing. All in all, in the alley, the kid scared me the most.

Hayden stopped pacing immediately, his eyes snapping to the lady. His mouth opened, and the first true emotion splayed across his face; fear. He had just started forward when it happened. This time, since I knew it would happen fast, I made sure to be ready for whatever was going to happen as an aftermath.

The wall the lady had been sitting against, exploded, sending cement and bricks flying forward. Bricks flew towards me, and before I could completely get myself and Gabriel to the ground, one smashed into the side of my head, sending shooting pain through me. I’m sure if Gabriel hadn’t stopped my head from hitting the ground as we both fell, I would have been out cold. But I suppose that would have been better than be conscious while those things tore at me. I couldn’t see what was happening to the lady, due to the cement and debris that were stilling raining down on us, each one hurting more than the next, but I could hear it. Her screams, the little boys screams... and the sounds. Oh gosh, the sounds.

Flesh tearing; ripping. Blood splattering against bricks, against more blood. Screams of agony that seemed to embed its way through your ears and echo around your head. It just bounced back and forth, until it felt as if the screams were your own. The pain was your own, and all you wanted was it to end.

The bricks finally stopped raining down, and it took a few deaf moments to realize Gabriel was yelling at me. When I met his eyes, he calmed down slightly and finished moving the bricks off both of us.

“We have t-“ he started, only to be shut up by something slamming into the wall by our heads. At this I screamed, a loud sound tearing its way out of my throat. Gabriel being a typical male, stepped in front of me. Only no attack came, only another thump as the body slid down the wall. Only when the blonde hair snapped up, eyes meeting ours, did I realize who that was; Hayden.

“Are you okay?!” My voice was shrill as I started toward him, but he immediately stood, staggering a little.

“Fine.” He then shot a glance at Gabriel. “Both of you, get out of here. Now. Go to the forest at the south end of town. Mention my name. You’ll be safe.” His eyes locked onto something behind us, and before I even had time to turn, he had launched over and rammed into the creature ready to attack- or eat, or dissemble - us. There was a deafening sound as both their bodies collided and fell to the brick littered ground. The creature was covered in blood, and soon, Hayden was too.

The creature seemed to have the more adapt abilities to fighting though, not that I ever doubted that. But surprisingly, Hayden wasn’t dead yet. But he was bleeding and getting more injured by the second.

“Go!” He yelled, obviously still aware of our presence. But I wasn’t going anywhere. That just didn’t seem right, didn’t fit right in my gut. I wouldn’t leave behind the man who rescued me from the streets, or a man who was trying to save as many people as he could from the bloodthirsty beings. It was a deep feeling, an instinct, and I knew that I would never leave behind someone. Why should I live when he’s obviously the better person? A saint? How could I live knowing I let him die? No. I’d help him... and probably die trying.

“We have to help him.” I finally said to Gabriel who also hadn’t moved. His eyes met mine briefly, and I saw the same emotions I was feeling, shining in his eyes.

“We have to distract it.” I nodded and grabbed the one item we had tons of, the one item that was heavy, and in heavy abundance; a brick. Gabriel followed suit as we split up.

Hayden jumped back just as the creature shot out its arm... with claws on the end. He managed to avoid having his stomach pulled out, but every claw, all five, slashed through his skin, spurting blood forward. That small gasp from Hayden was all the thing needed. It pounced, landing right on his chest, taking him to the ground.

No! I let loose the brick, the same time Gabriel did. Mine only skimmed the things head, but Gabriel’s hit him right in the side of the head. Didn’t matter. The thing ignored it like it was nothing but a pesky fly. Bloody teeth revealed itself as the mouth opened, and I’m sure the breathe was foul.

Gabriel kept throwing bricks, but it didn’t work. And why would it? This thing was tearing people apart by the hundreds, and we thought mere bricks would work? As if. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t human. So human methods wouldn’t kill it. Only something drastic would, but as far as I knew, we didn’t have anything with us to perform anything drastic. And if we did, we didn’t have time. Hayden would be dead by the time we did anything. So, for the second time that night, I did something incredibly stupid. I jumped on the thing.

I heard Gabriel and Hayden both shout at me at the same time, only adding to my splitting headache. Come to think of it... I hadn’t actually noticed the blood running down my head. That couldn’t be good.

My body landed on the thing, and I used the brick I held in my hand and smashed it into the head repeatedly, while wrapping my legs around the things waist, and my free arm around the waste. I’m sure I didn’t effect it much more, but I am sure I just became a much more annoying fly. And when you get a really annoying fly, what do you do? Kill it. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, that Hayden or Gabriel would get it while I was about to be ripped apart, and not after. I could only hope.

My plan worked, sort of. The thing flew to its feet, off Hayden, and with myself still on its back. With one slimy, bloody, clawed hand, it grabbed me by the neck and threw me. My back smashed into a brick building, also for the second time that night. I hadn’t even lifted my head when the breath wafted to me, with the creature right in front me.

It was warm and foul. The smell of blood and decay was in it, and I had to fight really hard not to gag. It was horrible. And seeing very large bloody teeth in front of me was not a very comforting thing either.

I was ready for the bite, the tear, or whatever the hell the thing was going to do to me, and when its claws reached out, my body physically tensed. Sure, I had jumped on it, but I didn’t want to die! I didn’t even know what the hell was going on. I wanted answers before I died, and I wanted to actually know some of the truth. Maybe then I would be content.

At the last second, though I would have preferred a little sooner, Hayden appeared. The thing ignored him, its eyes focused on me, its goal, its prize. And that was its first mistake. Its second was shattering that other wall, providing us all with bricks. In that moment, I realized my theory was flawed. You could kill it without drastic measures. I also realized I was using the brick the wrong way, and that I was way too weak.

Hayden smashed the brick thought the things neck, splattering my face with blood as the thing screeched. One simple twist on Hayden’s behalf, and the head snapped off. I know I shouldn’t have been upset the thing died... but the sounds. I was never going to forget the sounds, and I hated that.

Hayden’s eyes met mine, confusion yet relief coating them. His blonde hair was covered in blood, and even Gabriel had blood now on his face. I didn’t want to look in a mirror. Hayden’s hand appeared in front of me, and I gladly took it. My back and head were killing me, so screw being independent. I just wanted a nice hot bubble-bath, but some gut feeling told me I wouldn’t be getting one soon.

“Thank you.” I looked at him. His eyes showed real sincerity, and his lips held a very small smile. We weren’t done yet. We had only killed one, and he knew it. He knew what was going on. But that could wait.

“No problem.” My eyes drifted to Gabriel who was smiling widely, as if we had won the battle. But we weren’t even close. That I knew.

“Aren’t you glad we didn’t leave, man? Damn that was awesome! We kicked ass!” I smiled at his enthusiasm, and even Hayden’s smile grew a little.

“I am very thankful, for both of you. But you should have left, we can’t waste any more time.”

“Yeah. We need to split. There’s tons of trucks on the street, if we can get to one, I’ll hot-wire it.” There were so many thoughts running through my head about Gabriel. Where had he come from? How did he know how to hot-wire a car? And so many more that I didn’t have time for. Granted, there were a lot more questions I needed to ask Hayden.

“Truck?” My eyes snapped to Hayden, as did Gabriel. At first I thought he was balking at Gabriel’s choice of vehicle, and I could tell Gabriel thought that too. But one look into Hayden’s eyes told me he didn’t know what a truck was. How could he not know what a truck was? Where was he from?

“The big square things with wheels... they go vroom vroom.” Said Gabriel slowly, and if it had been any other time, I would have laughed. It was something you would say to a child, a very young child.

“You mean the things that move down the road?” I nodded. “The same things that if hit right, blows up in a huge ball of flame? Killing everything inside? That thing? That’s a truck? No. We’ll walk.” Once again, any other time, preferably when I’m not covered in blood, I would have laughed.

“You mean walk down the roads that are littered with bodies and more of those things?” Countered Gabriel. Before Hayden could counter, I spoke.

“We can’t take all those things. We can’t get out walking, we need to take something that goes faster, like a truck. And sure, it may blow up occasionally,” I added, for his sake, “but personally, I would rather die that way, then that.” I said, indicating to the little bit of remains of the lady. Gabriel agreed, throwing his vulgar remarks in whole heartedly. Obviously he wasn’t shy. But I knew he would agree, so my attention was focused on Hayden. He still remained me of an angel, only now, a fallen one. The blood matting his hair and scratches across his face and torso only added to the fallen look.

My eyes snapped back to his abdominal. The gouges made by the claws, the one I witnessed, only looked like pale scratches. How could that be? I saw it! I saw the blood, the depth of the cuts. It was life threatening. So why were my eyes betraying me? The other two saw my confusion, and followed my gaze. Gabriel swore a couple times before proclaiming awesome. Hayden, however, turned back to my gaze.

“Later. Now I think we should put your plan into action. It’s very wise... for someone like yourself.” Myself? Sure the words were like an insult, but the tone in his voice suggested anything but, so what did he mean?

“One more second.” Grunted Gabriel. I ignored him. That was the tenth time he said that. The tenth time we told him to hurry up because it was too quiet. Hayden was standing protectively in front of, and had demanded us both to leave if anything appeared. To ease his mind, we agreed, but I knew neither of us would. We were a team for the time being, and you don’t leave teammates behind.

Gabriel was still messing with the wires in the truck when Hayden suddenly scooped me up, earning a gasp, and placed me in the back seat of the truck. As soon as my but hit the cushion, a deep rumbled filled the truck as did Gabriel’s shout of triumph. Hayden closed the door behind him and gave quick directions to Gabriel who was driving... though I thought he was a little young to be doing so. Hayden turned back to me, his hand pushing away my hair, his eyes locking onto the corner of my head. His finger brushed it gently, nonetheless I took a quick intake of breath and let it out as a small hiss.

“We’ll get this looked at. Doesn’t seem to be fatal.”

“Good.” I then indicated to his stomach. “That was fatal, though.” I spared a glance out the windows, and was glad to see everything was seeming to be okay. Only it was a little nerve wracking driving down the road. If you ignored the smoke, the smell, the blood... you still had the truck bouncing every second from driving over all the bodies covering the road. Then there would the sickening crunch of the bones smashing. It was a horrible thing to do to the dead, but what choice was there.

“They moved further into the city. We should be good.” He avoided my statement clearly, and for once, I let it go. I was sure I wasn’t the type to let things go, but my head was beginning to really hurt and all I wanted to do was sleep. I couldn’t be forced to spare my energy on him.

“Stay awake. We’re almost there, then we can sleep.” He was studying me carefully, and I really disliked it. He was reminding me of my therapist... my therapist who I probably won’t ever see again. Once again, a silver lining. I was doing good for the day.

“Where to now?” Hayden sat up, and I followed. Gabriel had pulled to a halt in front of the forest, as close as you could.

“We walk the rest of the way.” His eyes turned back to mine. “I can carry you if you’re he-“

”I’m fine.” I wasn’t some weak girl, and I proved it by getting out on the opposite side. I joined Gabriel, and soon Hayden joined us and began to lead us through the forest... which was, of course, even darker than the streets.

Every step my vision got a little worse, and every breath seemed to be a struggle. I was just getting so tired, but I wouldn’t stop. I could feel both of their worried glances on me, but I ignored them. If I was standing, I was fine. If I was walking, I was fine. And if I was still annoyed at all the un-answered questions, then I was definitely fine. So I kept going.

It had to have been at least half an hour by the time we stopped. A very long half an hour, I might add. The sounds of crickets, the wind brushing branches against each other, the sound of random animals... they all set me on edge. I didn’t like it. And it didn’t help my already un-nerved state. So when we stopped, I was relieved. I could see the traces of life now. The random little station set up, random bags. Shortly after we stopped, I also noticed people. They kept hurrying by or mumbling something to Hayden. The one man that seemed to stay with us though, was a man named Mackenzie.

He was a tall older man, but still in shape. Which was good if he was dealing with those things. His hair was a dark hazel. His eyes were large and the colour of orange, almost looking cat-like. But they oozed warmth, and they had me immediately liking him. He shot me a smile before mumbling quietly to Hayden. Gabriel was awfully quiet, and only when I realized his eyes on me did I see the worry. I chose to ignore it.

I strained to hear Mackenzie, but only caught snippets. Deaths... lots... moved through the whole first section... won’t be stopping for morning... we need to do something... have you felt anything?

I didn’t understand, but that was no surprise. Things were bound to get more confusing before they got better. That was just life. And life hated me, so knowing my luck, things were going to get way worse before they got better.

“I guess this is when being the hero comes in handy.” Called an approaching voice. A frown now found my lips, my head now buzzing loudly. That voice? Where had I heard it? “Nothing. Nothing! The lamest night ever. Not one bad crawly creature came towards us. None! How boring is that? I wanted to kill something. Then I hear you had a very eventful night. I’m going with you next time. You can rescue the puny humans while I kill the-“ the voice came through the forest, revealing itself to be a dark figure.

He was tall and muscled. Dark hair framed his chiseled face that held high, yet masculine, cheeks. His eyes stared directly into mine, appearing to be dark orbs that were just absorbed by anger. I knew that face, I knew that voice... but before I could place them, images slammed into me.

They came fast. Slamming into my mind so hard, ripping apart my thoughts so fast, that the pain in my head escalated and the only sound I made was a sort of a wheeze, before it all went dark and my body fell.