Chapter 14: Chapter 14

The ground shook with each step the behemoth took. Although after looking closer it didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. It would probably reach the house within a few minutes, but Michael had bigger concerns. 

He could see movement all throughout the cloud of spores surrounding the house, but nothing was coming out towards him. It’s like they were waiting for him to come down before attacking. Visibility would be terrible on the ground, so driving him into it for an ambush would be the strategic play, and what better way to force him off the house than throwing a giant at him.

Michael stood upon the roof, weighing his choices when a blood red butterfly flew out of the shroud of spores. It had tendrils of flesh that hung loosely off of its wings and Michael couldn’t help feeling cautious towards it. 

It flew directly towards Michael who carefully swatted it out of the sky using the mace. It hit the ground, dying immediately as it fleshy tendrils began to violently burrow into the shingles of the house.

Yeah, lets not let any of those touch me.

Not a moment later, thousands of the insects rapidly ascended from the spores. They quickly flew towards Michael, their swarm surrounding him before he had a chance to do anything. They appeared less like insects and more like a wall of red wire waiting to burrow into his flesh. They quickly pushed in, leaving no gap to escape through. At least that’s what he’d assumed they’d do, instead they left a clear path open for Michael to run. If he went now he’d be able to easily escape their assault, and that’s why he stood his ground. 

He couldn’t be forgetting that these are smart creatures. They wanted him to run that way for whatever reason, and he wasn’t about to let himself get herded like a cow to the slaughter. At least not while he still had options available to him.

Michael grinned as the butterflies encroached on his position. They moved slowly, clearly hoping for him to take the easy escape. He only had a couple of feet of space left when he released the pin on his last grenade and tossed it lightly into the air. 

It took less than a second for the swarm to realize what Michael had just thrown as they tried to quickly fly away, but they were too late. Michael had timed it well enough, as the explosion went off inches from his face. Michael turned translucent as the shrapnel passed harmlessly through him and shredded the swarm surrounding him. 

He didn’t waste time before running straight through the bloody mist in the opposite direction they’d tried to lead him. He quickly hopped down from the roof and didn’t pause before running full speed away from the house. The drop down hadn’t been a small one, but his legs had barely felt the impact. 

It seems I’ve gotten stronger, huh.

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Deep beneath the earth sat a boy who looked no older than twelve. He had dark red skin and sat in a chair made of flesh and bone. He was currently staring off into space as a monster of flesh brushed his ashen hair.

Who would've thought there was a human still alive that I didn’t know about? Not to mention how his weapons and armor bear the symbol of my once annoying captors. I thought I’d taken extra care to ensure all of their deaths, but one seems to have slipped through my grasp.

The boy sighed. “All I want is some peace and quiet, is that too much to ask for?”

The creature brushing the boys hair didn’t respond, which wasn’t unexpected. They were the same person after all.

The boy watched idly as Michael ran through the thick clouds of spores, and slayed his creatures of flesh. 

Maybe I should meet this one in person. Although I guess I kind of already have, he is walking upon my flesh after all.

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As Michael ran atop the streets of flesh as visibility continued to degrade. He could barely see past a few feet in the fog of spores, but his sense of hearing worked well enough for him to know where he should run. The sound of monsters approaching was clear as day.

It was honestly a little too clear, It seemed like they were once again trying to herd him somewhere. Anytime he slightly changed direction, he would hear loud snarling to his side, like they were herd dogs or something.

This is getting bad, I can’t just do what they want. I need to be more unpredictable if I want to live through this, this world is not a kind one. For all I know they’re leading me to an instant death. 

Well if I have to be unpredictable to live, then that’s what I'll do.

Michael quickly shifted the direction he was running and turned sharply to his left. 

Seconds later a fleshy mass of limbs with a human head in its center was staring at him in shock. It had apparently been running alongside him the entire time and wasn't expecting Michael to suddenly rush towards it. 

It didn’t have long to be surprised though, as Michael's mace quickly swung into its skull, killing it with a bright flash of energy that shot it into a neighboring building.

Michael pushed forward, killing creature after creature. Shallow cuts began to appear on his body with each monster he slaughtered as his fatigue began to build up. His previous path had been relatively easy to travel down, this increase in difficulty meant he was doing something right.

Some time passed before he eventually came across a building that someone had clearly taken efforts to reinforce. Well, at least the front looked that way. He couldn’t see much past the ever present cloud of spores. Although it looked like it used to be an office building of sorts and someone had covered the windows with sheet metal and barricaded the front door with wood.

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Michael didn’t even bother knocking, no one would be alive inside anyways. He swung his mace towards the door and blew it open, before quickly rushing inside.  

It quickly became obvious how the previous inhabitants had died. A wide deep pit was situated in the center of the room, with pockets of flesh mixed into the dirt. Deep claw marks could be seen all throughout the walls and flooring.

Looking over, Michael couldn’t see any movement within the pit, but it was deep, very deep. 

Let’s ignore that for the moment.

Michael began to frantically move furniture over to barricade the door and had it somewhat secure within a matter of minutes. 

He then did a sweep of the building, and found no infected inside. Nothing could be heard moving around outside, although that could easily be a trap. 

With a sigh he sat down in a random cubicle, breathing heavily. The past hour or so had been non stop running and fighting. He could very well be in this world for days or weeks, he'd need to rest if he was going to survive. 

“Why do I always get the bad words? What about the worlds with the cat girls and elf girls? Can't I just be sent there once?”

Michael sighed, I should probably collect some tissue samples from the flesh. I can’t let the threat of looming death stop me from doing my job. I am an explorer after all.

With a chuckle he leaned back in his chair.

Unbeknownst to Michael fleshy tendrils were slowly creeping within the ground beneath him. They ignored Michael’s complaining as they ever so slowly grabbed hold of the ground beneath him.

Then, in one fluid motion it ripped the ground up and flung him toward the large pit. Michael flew across the room and began to plummet into the chasm.

“Fuuck!”

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Michael fell deeper and deeper into the abyss. He was panicking, he needed to find a way out of this. He was Michael Stevens, he was going to be the best explorer to ever live. He couldn’t really do that if he died from falling in some random pit.

Air rushed past him as he reached down to his side, grabbing one of his flares and quickly lighting it. The darkness seemed to stretch downward forever, the light barely making a dent into it. He needed to think, to be creative, and death was a good motivator. After a few moments he had a plan, not a good one mind you, but something that might work.

He reached down to his side and pulled out his pistol and aimed it at his leg as he plummeted through empty space. Maybe he became invincible whenever the projectile ring activated? He didn't really know what might happen if he hit something in that intangible state. He'd never actually tested it before.

Well, first idea, best idea. Ok, I'll just need to time this right or I die, simple as that; and even if I time it right I still might die, great. Michael took deep breaths to calm his nerves as he fell. 

His hands slowly steadied as he forced himself to stay calm. Several seconds later he saw the ground fast approaching and pulled the trigger as the bullet passed harmlessly through his leg and turning him intangible as he hit the ground. He’d timed it perfectly.

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However, even the most well executed plans can fail if parts of them are made in ignorance. The ring that stopped projectiles did just that, stopped projectiles. Nothing more, nothing less. 

When Michael finally hit the ground his neck broke with a sickening crack and his spine collapsed in on itself. A deathly silence quickly filled the pit.

Various eyes embedded within the walls stared down at his corpse as a red skinned kid gazed lazily down towards Michael.

The kid scoffed, “Well, that was surprisingly simple. Almost wasn't worth making the trip out here."

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