The Invasion

4 | Doomsday

"What's going on, Leo?!" Avery shrieks beside me in the backseat and clutches at her seat tightly. "What are they? Where are they coming from?"

"I-I don't know!" He's practically shouting. "We were in the laboratory on the highest floor of Block B! From the windows, we saw t-this dark mass coming from the sea and closing in–"

"Spencer!" I cut Leo off with a cry and point at the window where his best friend is running towards us for help. Blood trickles down his ashen face. "Don't drive off yet! Let him in–"

I don't get to finish my sentence. One of those deadly things launches itself onto Spencer's body and plunges a pointed tail into his shoulder, rooting him to the ground.

Bile rises in my throat and chokes me. My vision blurs as I turn away, my body's shaking uncontrollably.

I can't watch their last moments.

I really can't.

At the front seat, Leo swallows shakily and speeds the car off. He doesn't need to say anything for me to understand. Clearly, he's devastated to leave his friend behind, but there isn't much of a choice left for us. We go or stay behind and die.

As the car shoots across the road, I feel as if I've left something important behind. And soon, I realize what that really is.

"Maddie!" I gasp, placing a hand on the handle. "Oh my god, Maddie! I left her behind! Shit, I need to go back!"

Avery and Leo gapes at me in disbelief. She hooks her hands around my waist in case I attempt to jump out of the car. "Don't be crazy!" she yells into my ears. "Can't you see how swarmed the whole place is? If you go back there, you'll die!"

"But she's my cousin!" I break down into tears, grief-stricken at the image of Maddie's dead body in my mind. "And I need to find Mom. Mom..."

I pull out my phone from my back-pocket and dial her number. She picks up on the second ring and her tone sounds awfully frantic as well. "Baby?"

Relief floods through me. "Mom! There are creatures out there, from the seas–"

"I know! I saw them earlier!" Her voice sounds breathless and heavy, and I can hear her running faintly in the background. "Where are you? Is there anybody with you?"

I see Leo drive us past the famous donut shop in town. "It's just me, Avery and her boyfriend," I sob. "We just drove past The Donut Shack."

"That's towards the town's exit," she deduces. "I'll meet you there ASAP. Love you, sweetheart. Wait for me, I'm coming for you."

The call ends. I inform Leo about Mom's message and collapse in my seat, feeling emotionally exhausted. Beside me, Avery contacts her family members as well and instructs them to meet us at the town's exit.

Beyond the window, the bloodbath rages on. For as long as I've lived, I've watched many apocalypse movies, but I can compare none of their fear factor to this reality that we're currently seeing—a mob of monstrous sea creatures who are hunting humans down. And exactly how large their group is, I don't know.

But the one thing I'm certain of is that my greatest fear has come true.

If those creatures are from the seas, it can only mean one thing.

The ocean ecosystem has officially collapsed.

Leo plays the news over the stereo and to our dismay, we hear that the same situation is happening not just in our town, but in neighboring ones as well. The panicking officials have not issued an evacuation point yet. All they are saying is that there aren't just hundreds of the monsters, but at least several thousands of them.

And that absolutely does not sound assuring at all.

Everyone in the car is tense and silent; Leo busies himself with driving. Avery trembles and clutches her phone tightly. I'm hugging myself and keeping my eyes away from the sight outside of the car. I'm scared. Afraid that I might throw up if I witness another person dying. Afraid of what's about to come next.

Something hits the trunk and we scream. Leo speeds up the car, trying to outrun whatever's chasing after us. Mustering my courage, I whip my head around.

I'm stunned to see not just one, but three enormous serpents slithering after us. They hiss and bump their heads against the steel tailgate, trying to force us to stop.

Fear chokes me. "Oh my god, Leo! Please go faster!"

He does as I say. They are approaching us fast and none of us is prepared to fight and protect ourselves.

From the look of things, we're outnumbered, weaponless, and overpowered by strength. It's as if we're meeting Death himself right in the face and he's laughing and mocking at how defenseless we are.

For centuries, humans have always been ruling the world and taken the seas for granted. Yet right now, we're being trampled under the feet of something monstrous. Something far beyond our understanding. There's no logical explanation for what's happening around us, but one thing's for certain?

I don't want to die.