Apocalypse V: Chapter 3- Monster

    "Vamp......vampires?"
    I stared in disbelief at the two somber-faced individuals before me, their expressions unchanging as I spoke. I received no response from them, prompting me to continue my questioning:
    "You....you're joking me, right? Vampires are fiction....there's no way they can exist! R......right?"
    Silence still reigned over the cramped room of the shack. Nora looked at me, her eyes unchangingly cold.
    "Malcolm....."
    The tone in her voice told me everything. I stopped her from continuing:
    "No. Nonononono no! You can't do that. You can't just give me some sort of confusing article about some sort of weird plague and then try to convince me that people are turning into...vampires!!" I felt my voice steadily rising with each word. I couldn't believe this. Were these people absolutely nuts?! Vampires?! There's no way in hell that this was an actual thing!
    From the corner of my eye, I could see Xavier staring in my direction. I instantly looked back at him. His expression was dark and angry, unflinching as my head shot towards the corner of the room where he sat.
    "Surely you can't...."
    I stopped. I saw the look in Xavier's eyes. I knew in an instant.
    "Oh my GOD. I don't believe this! YOU TOO?!"
    "Settle down there Ginger-Head Boy."
    "YOU SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!!"
    I had stood up and took one step towards the dark-eyed Xavier.
    "YOU AND YOUR GODDAMNED NICKNAMES!! JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!"
    "Malcolm! Please, keep your voice down." My head shot in Nora's direction once more.
    " NO!!! SCREW OFF!!! I ASKED YOU A SIMPLE GODDAMN QUESTION, AND THE ANSWER YOU GIVE ME IS.......VAMPIRES?!?!"
    I ran a hand through my frizzed up red hair as I started pacing in a circle. I exhaled, furiously. I couldn't even fathom the pure insanity that these two were suggesting. What the freaking hell?!
    The room filled with silence, until:
    "Let's go."
    I stopped. My gaze instantly shifted over to Xavier once again. He had stood up this time, his shotgun still on the floor next to him. His glare met my eyes until finally....he walked towards me and grabbed me instantly by the collar of my shirt. He strode towards the door, dragging me along. I could feel myself choking from his grip. Undoubtedly, he was strong....far stronger than anyone I had encountered.
    "Xavier? Xavier?! What the HELL are you doing?!? Get back here!!"
    Ignoring Nora's cries, he swung the door open and thrust me outside onto the cold, mud-covered ground. I could feel my back become caked in the slushy dirt as I struggled to sit up.
    "Ya want goddamn proof, white boy?" Xavier pulled out a handgun from his back pocket. He removed the safety from it and fired a shot in the air outdoors. I winced and covered my ears from the intensity of the bullet's sound ringing in the atmosphere. "I'll give ya goddamn proof."
    Instantly, he slammed the door shut. I could hear Nora yelling inside the small, rickety shack as I heard the door lock with a small Click.
    I stared on in shock for a couple of seconds before lifting myself off the ground. What did he mean he'll 'give me proof'? How could HE possibly prove something as completely bizarre as thi-

    I stopped. A small but distinguishable pain tingled on the side of my neck.....and I felt something warm and fluidic run down it slowly, but surely. I touched it with my fingertips and held my hand out in front of my face. Blood. Fresh, warm, dark red blood.
    "W-w-wha......au........AAAAAAAAAUGH!!"
    My neck was now burning.....no.....searing from the pain on my neck as blood now flowed out of it like a violent fountain. I tried to press down on the wound on my neck, but to no avail. It only made the pain intensify. I stumbled backward and collapsed on the floor, trying desperately to stop the blood flow. But something else distracted me. A figure, gangly but large crouched several feet before me. My whole body froze as my eyes focused in the dark.
    God....oh god. That....thing. To describe its appearance only makes me want to vomit my guts out to this very day.
    It's face.....an ungodly amount of ugly. No....it was deformed. Not like any human or animal I had seen in my entire life. Its flesh was rotting off of it's jawbone, revealing a row of blood-soaked razor sharp teeth. Drool was pouring from in between each tooth, drop by drop making me feel sick to the core. It looked like it had the mandible of a very large insect.....a mandible made out of discolored human skin and god knows what else. Its whole body was, in fact, the color of a rotting corpse....no. It looked like a corpse in itself. Emaciated, its ribs stuck out of its sides, heaving in and out violently as it breathed. A sharp spine was protruding through its back. Its arms reminded me of some sort of mutated praying mantis.....at the end of one of its arms, hung a chunk of cleanly sliced flesh....my flesh. Its ears were pointed in the shape of that of a bat's ears. And its eyes......oh lord, it's eyes....made me feel as if I was staring into the dark abyss of death itself.
    It may as well have been death.....because before I could scream for help, it let out a shrill, ear piercing screech which echoed through the atmosphere, clawing at my ears like a thousand knifes scraping a single chalkboard. At lightning speed, it leapt at my scrawny frame, and landed on my abdomen, damn well near crushing it. Its sharp, deformed arms nearly struck me in the chest, but I was able to hold its arms back. But only briefly. I struggled to push it back, but its strength was slowly and steadily overpowering my own. The drool from its mouth dripped on my face as it hissed and snapped its mandibles, a look of immense hunger filling its eyes. I tried crying out, but no sound escaped my lips. Only gasps of air as its feet continued to crush my internal organs. My arms shook as my grip on its sharp, dagger-like arms slowly gave into its strength. I felt myself facing my end.....

                                                                                                    BOOM!!!!

    A shower of rank, reddish-brown blood rained down all over my face and clothes. I opened my eyes to see that the....thing.....no longer possessed the top half of his head. Its body gave off a small twitch before finally slumping over top of me. I pushed it off of myself, letting out a brief scream of agony from the impact of the struggle and crushed abdomen. I could see through one of my eyes, due to there being blood completely caked on the right side of my face. But with that eye, I could see Nora holding Xavier's shotgun out in front of her, breathing heavily and rapidly as she looked at me with a frightened expression. The first of about three times that I would ever see that expression on her again. Nora tossed the shotgun to the side and ran swiftly towards me, gripping my arm firmly.
    "Were you bitten?!" She asked me, her tone steadily becoming more worried with each breath she took.
    I looked at her beautiful golden eyes in shock and awe. "You....you saved my life-"
    "Were you bitten?!?"
    I shook my head slightly, my breathing slowing down slightly. "I-it.....it scratched me....it....it tried to....."
    "I know." She sighed in relief. "Thank god....thank god you're alive."
    I felt myself blush a little.....a beautiful woman such as her not only saving my life....but glad that I am alive. I felt tears well up a little. It was the first time in a very, very long time that I heard someone so worried about me like this. I may not have meant that much to her, knowing that I was still a complete stranger. But inside....I felt hope. As if luck was finally on my side.
    "Are you able to stand?"
    I tried to nod, but my neck was now in far too much pain to do so. "I....I think....so...." I lifted my leg, only to hear something crack. My ribcage. That....monster.....broke my goddamn ribcage. I let out a raspy cry of pain. "D-dammit..."
    "Don't push yourself too much!" She told me desperately, "I'll get Xavier to take you back to the sha-"
    "What about me now?"
    Both of our heads shot in the direction of Xavier's annoyed and sarcastic voice. I yelped from the sharp movement of my head, my neck wound still searing with immense pain. My eyes shifted their attention to Nora once more.....her eyes were filled with a cold rage.
    "Hang on a second, Malcolm. I need to discuss something with Xavier."
    In an instant, Nora's fist socked Xavier's jawbone knocking him violently backward. She slammed him against the tree next to us, her right arm pushing against his jugular.
    "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL LIVING HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU GODDAMN PSYCHOPATH?!?!?!?!"
    "W-woah WOAH!!! Take it easy!!!"
    "HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO 'TAKE IT EASY,' HUH?!?!?!" She roared at Xavier, her teeth grinding furiously, "YOU NEARLY GOT HIM KILLED YOU PIECE OF SCUM!!!!!! LOOK AT HIM!!!! HE'S BEATEN TO A BLOODY PULP BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!"
    "HEY!! Don't go blaming me for this!! He wanted proof, so I gave him the damn proof! How else would he have believed us about them?!"
    "Oh, I don't know. How about BY NOT TRYING TO GET HIM MASSACRED BY THEM?!?!?!?!"
    Cough!!
    Nora's head spun in my direction, her eyes wide with worry. I looked down at my hand which had covered my mouth after coughing....blood. Dammit. Should've seen that coming, considering how hard that creature had crushed my stomach. With that, Nora immediately released her hold on Xavier and rushed over to my side.
    "Hang on, okay? You'll be fine. We need to get you back inside." She told me gently, just before shooting another furious look at Xavier. He was rubbing his neck from where she had forcibly pushed him back. "And since he's the one responsible for getting you into this situation, he's going to help you get better every step of the goddamn way. Got that Xavier Richards?!"
    Xavier flinched before violently nodding his head up and down for several moments. I wanted to laugh at his pathetically frightened expression and laugh at how hard Nora had punched him earlier, but my abdomen was in far too much pain. All a could let out was another small Cough while a few droplets of blood followed along with it.
    "What are you waiting for, Richards?! Help me get him back inside!!"
    Xavier snapped out of his "nodding" trance and grabbed the arm opposite of Nora. The two hoisted me onto my feet, both my arms resting across their shoulders, and made their way to the shack.
    Fighting back the pain, I mustered the strength to finally speak:
    "S-s-so.......cough.......v-vampires.....?"
    Nora's eyes remained focused on the shack in front of us as she nodded slowly;
    "Yes, Malcolm. Vampires."
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                                                                                            END OF CHAPTER 3-MONSTER