A New World

The ringing. That infernal ringing. It clawed at my skull, a high-pitched whine that resonated with the throbbing ache behind my eyes. I woke in stages, a slow, agonizing process of piecing together reality from a fractured consciousness. First, the pain. Then, the taste of grit and blood in my mouth. Finally, the sight, a twisted, sepia-toned world filtered through a haze of dust and smoke. I was lying on the sidewalk, the rough concrete scraping against my cheek. Above, the sky was obscured, the sun a muted disc behind a thick, unnatural fog. It wasn’t like any fog I’d ever seen. It swirled with a sinister energy, tinged with black, as if the very air was tainted. Pushing myself up was an ordeal. My limbs felt heavy, unresponsive. A warm trickle ran down the side of my face. I reached up, my fingers encountering a sticky mess near my hairline. Blood. A small, ragged gash was the source. Nothing serious, but enough to add to the growing sense of unease. I stumbled forward, each step sending a jolt of pain through my head. Slowly I walk down the sidewalk in a daze, as I try to figure out what is going on with the town. I stumble into a nearby car. As I rounded the car, I saw them. A pair of legs, clad in familiar khaki pants, kicked frantically from behind the vehicle. A muffled scream, choked off before it could fully form, reached my ears. Instinct took over. I lunged forward, adrenaline briefly pushing back the pain. And then I saw the creature. It straddled the man, pinning him to the ground with unnatural strength. Its back was to me, but even from that angle, the horror was unreal. It was emaciated, almost skeletal. Bones jutted out from beneath skin stretched so taut it looked like parchment. The color was a sickly gray, white, almost translucent. I moved closer, ready to fight, to do whatever I could to help. That's when the creature turned. My breath hitched. My jaw went slack. I swear, for a moment, my heart stopped beating. It was…unholy. A grotesque parody of life. The skeletal frame was even more horrifying up close. The skin, stretched and thin, did resemble human skin, but without pores, without hair, without life. Beneath its arms, flaps of excess skin were fused to its hips, forming what resembled tattered, grotesque wings. But the face…the face was the stuff of nightmares. It wasn’t a face, not really. It was a triangular wedge of bone and flesh, terminating in a beak-like structure. Except it wasn't a beak. It was a horrifying latticework of thousands upon thousands of tiny, razor-sharp fangs. They interlocked perfectly, a living, breathing serrated edge. And the eyes…empty, devoid of color, just pure, unadulterated white. Like polished bone. The creature let out a squawk, a guttural, inhuman sound that vibrated in my chest and made my stomach churn. The stench hit me then – a wave of rotting flesh mixed with the acrid smell of rotten eggs. It was overwhelming, nauseating. The monster turned back to its victim, seemingly oblivious to my presence. Slowly, deliberately, it began to peel the flesh away from the man’s leg. I watched, paralyzed with horror, as it chomped down on the raw meat. It moaned, a low, guttural sound of pure, unadulterated delight. Blood seeped from between its fangs, painting them an even more terrifying crimson. It moved higher, towards the man's face. With a sickening crunch, it ripped away a chunk of skin, flesh, and…an eye. “Mark…” The victim gurgled, reaching out a trembling hand towards me. I stared at him, at the mangled, bloody mess that was his face. And then, recognition dawned. The khaki pants. The build. The terrified, pleading eyes. It was Tom. My deputy. My friend. I surged forward, a roar building in my throat. I had to do something, anything. But as I moved, the creature turned, its empty white eyes locking onto mine. It squawked again, a sharp, warning sound that sent a shiver down my spine. It was almost…intelligent. It turned back to Tom, ignoring me completely. It lowered its head and, with another sickening crunch, ripped open his chest. I could see the ribcage splintering, the flesh tearing. It tilted its head back, chomping and swallowing with grotesque relish. I could hear the bones crunching in its mouth. Tom went silent. His eyes, vacant and lifeless, stared directly at me. He was gone. The monster didn't stop. It reached into the gaping hole in Tom’s chest and, with surprising dexterity, began to pull out his intestines. It ate them like spaghetti, slurping them down with sickening gusto. The sound of the wet, tearing flesh, the crunching bones, the creature’s guttural moans…it was too much. I hurled my guts on the sidewalk, bile burning my throat. I wanted to scream, to run, to do anything but watch this…this abomination devours my friend. But I was frozen, trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t escape. The creature finally finished its gruesome meal. It stood, dripping with blood and gore, and turned to me. For a long moment, it simply stared, its empty white eyes boring into my soul. Then, it let out another ear-splitting squawk and spread its grotesque, skin-flap wings. It launched itself into the air, its skeletal frame surprisingly agile. It circled overhead, a monstrous vulture against the smoke-filled sky. Then, with a final, chilling cry, it vanished into the swirling, black-tinged fog. I stood there, trembling, covered in vomit, the stench of death clinging to me like a shroud. Tom was gone. My town was gone. Everything I knew, everything I believed, had been shattered. When I pull myself up, the sounds of death and chaos finally hit me. It was a symphony of terror played on cracked instruments. Screams, guttural and primal, pierced the air. The sickening crunch of metal on metal – cars colliding in a desperate, futile ballet of escape. And then, the wet, tearing sounds. The sounds of…consumption. I looked around, seeing these demonic vultures pick the bones clean of the fallen. People were running everywhere and anywhere in complete panic. Each footstep was a question mark, each direction a desperate gamble. Cars were smashing into everything. I even watched as one drove straight into the funeral home, a plume of dust and debris erupting from the impact. It was pointless. No matter what they did, these demons would catch their prey. They moved too fast, too relentlessly. What is happening? What do we do? Has the Apocalypse finally come? So many questions run wild in my mind, as I try to process all this. The horror just keeps coming. In the sky the demons are tearing up their victims, limb by limb. Body parts are falling, hitting everything and everyone. A rain of gore. A torso hit the ground in front of me with a sickening thud. Blood splattered onto me, covering me in a warm, sticky film. I could see pieces of guts on my shirt, glistening and obscene. Desperately, I tried to wipe it off. The blood just smeared all over, a crimson mask of death. The chunks of guts just balled up, sticking to my fingers like grotesque Play-Doh. The ground gave a short jolt I could feel softly in my feet. An unsettling tremor. It was followed by another, stronger now. The ground just kept shaking more violently. Thud. Thud! THUD!!! The ground violently shook, knocking people off their feet. Parts of buildings crumbled down like sandcastles before a rising tide. I managed to dodge part of the post office wall as it tried to fall on top of me. I hit the sidewalk hard, a sharp pain ripping through my shoulder as a piece of glass embedded itself in my flesh. The blood trickled down my arm, a warm, sticky river. More bricks started to fall around me, a deadly hail. Suddenly, what appeared in front of me was even more mind-blowing. A pair of what looked like feet. They were the size of a truck, maybe bigger, and revolting to look at. The smell hit me first, a wave of putrescence so thick it felt like a physical blow. A hundred dead corpses rotting inside a perfectly sealed tank couldn't have produced a stench this potent. My gag reflex threatened to betray me again, but there was nothing left to expel. To Be Continued ...