Badum… Badum… Badumm…
Tok felt his heart pounding like never before. Blood seemed to rush to his head as his vision blurred.
Faced with this creature, Tok felt something he hadn't felt before , fear… the ultimate fear. His body had gone cold, his eyes dilated, and all his senses seemed numb.
This was death. He was going to die.
At that moment, Tok didn't know what to think about , the death of Old Man Jenkins? His foolishness for coming here to look for him? Or what this beast even was?
"I…" Tok suddenly felt cold.
"Young man, young man…" Suddenly, a familiar voice entered his ears. It started off like a mosquito's buzz, but soon it grew louder.
Tok opened his eyes and woke up groggily.
"Hmm…" Tok was confused, but quickly his body jerked upright as he remembered everything.
"Huh… I'm not dead?" After recalling everything, Tok seemed to calm down as the familiar bar came into view.
Across from him was Old Man Jenkins, shaking his head.
"If you continue drinking like that, you will die soon enough," Old Man Jenkins said with a slight laugh.
Hearing this, Tok felt lightheaded.
Old Man Jenkins wasn't dead? And he , he was alive, here in the bar? It seemed he had just fallen asleep and woken up… this… this…
Was it all a dream?
"Old man… wai—wait. Did anything strange happen? Any news about the world's end? Also, you said you left for the station. Why did you change your mind?" Tok asked, stunned.
Listening to this, the old man chuckled.
"Tok, relax on the beer. You're really overdoing it," Old Man Jenkins said as he reached out to touch Tok's neck.
Tok felt warmth, and his eyes brightened. He really was alive.
He was breathing. He had just fallen asleep and had a nightmare. Yeah, that was it.
"Well, Tok, your body is cold," Old Man Jenkins suddenly said, and Tok furrowed his brow.
Shock filled his expression. What did Old Man Jenkins mean by his body was cold?
"But that's the least of your problems." Suddenly, a wide smile appeared on Old Man Jenkins' face as he leaned closer to Tok.
"You see, I did go to the station… and I didn't make it. But as for you, you are dying…"
The cold sentence left Old Man Jenkins' mouth as everything seemed to freeze. The surroundings dimmed, and Old Man Jenkins' head separated from his body.
Very quickly, his severed head was covered in blood as Tok's mind went blank.
Just then
Grrk–khh–glrrk…
A wet choking sound echoed across the dark alley as Tok's eyes opened slightly.
His body felt numb, yet strangely warm all over.
His eyes stared at the ceiling. His body was too stiff to move. It felt like sleep paralysis, and he was lightheaded.
This was his body but he couldn't move.
Suddenly, he remembered the strange dream about Old Man Jenkins… and that his body had been cold?
His neck… was warm.
How could a cold body have a warm neck?
Then Tok realized the problem.
His neck truly was warm and not only his neck, but parts of his body were warm as well. Slowly, his eyes moved downward, and horror filled him.
His body… it was mangled beyond comprehension. His flesh was torn off, his limbs barely hanging on, his guts spilled out and half-eaten. Worst of all was the thick red liquid pooled around him.
It was his blood.
Hhk–hhk…
Hhk–hhk…
Thick blood splurged from his mouth as intense weakness consumed him.
"Your neck is warm…"
Remembering those words, Tok glanced at the thick red liquid near his neck and the metallic taste coating his mouth.
His neck… it had been ripped apart.
That dream… he must have lost consciousness after the creature attacked him.
He was slowly losing strength.
Tok was really going to die.
"Is this the end? Eaten by a monster?" Tok thought as memories flooded his mind.
"I love you…"
"I love you too…"
"Muah…"
Two young voices echoed as two silhouettes appeared, their voices full of joy and laughter.
"Congratulations! You are the best. You will be the new manager of this company!"
Another memory surfaced , a large man in a suit shaking a younger man's hand, both smiling brightly.
"Old Man Jenkins, your wife really is amazing. Thankfully, I also have a good wife."
"Hahaha, silly kid… sigh. I was actually about to commit suicide when my sweet darling died. But if I did, what about the kids? So I stayed. Yet every day, I regretted not cherishing her more, not doing more for her. Young man, don't make the same mistake as me. Take care of her…"
"Hahaha, old man, I will…"
The memories slowly faded, and an anguished smile formed on Tok's deformed face.
"Old man… maybe this is a perfect end for us. Your wife is dead, so is mine. You always regretted not taking care of her more, not spending every day like it was the last. And I… well, I wasn't living. I was just a walking corpse. This is a perfect end for us, right?" Tok thought as his eyes wandered back to the ceiling.
It was dark and barely visible. He didn't know what had happened, but what he did know was that it was quiet , very quiet except for his desperate gasps for air. A metallic scent filled the air, mixed with a pungent, thick, meaty smell.
A coppery stench clung to the back of his throat.
"Damn it… I don't want to die…" Tok screamed in his mind as tears fell from his eyes. His body finally succumbed to everything, and he slowly lost consciousness as death called him.
Suddenly, a terrifying, heavy pressure descended as Tok's soul was violently jerked back and his consciousness returned.
"AWAKEN, OH YOU MORTAL."
An ancient void, overlapped by multiple deep voices, echoed as a torrent of terrifying energy flooded Tok's body.
His destroyed limbs, his missing flesh, his dead cells, his organs...
All seemed to come alive as he began regenerating.
His wounds closed. His blood surged through his veins like a torrent of floodwater.
His organs were reborn as his cells multiplied rapidly.
"Ah…"
A low, slow breath echoed across the walls as Tok's body stood up.
Tok's body was as good as new well, except for the fact that it was still covered in blood, with organs dangling from him.
A terrifying power surged across his body.
His pupils were pure white as he slowly hunched his back.
His face faced forward, as if sensing something approaching.
A wide grin spread across his face.
Booom…
The ground sank a few inches, and the walls cracked.
Instantly, Tok disappeared as a loud sound rang out.
Powwwww…
A few hundred meters away, Tok reappeared.
This time, he held a huge, beating heart in his hands.
The heart was twelve inches in diameter and eight inches tall.
Badumm… Badum…
Tok's right arm shook as the heart throbbed violently in his grasp.
Behind him, a dark shadow froze in time.
Squelch…
Tok clenched his right hand, and the heart exploded like a watermelon.
Doom…
At his back, the figure fell. Its body came into the light, revealing its twisted, monstrous form.
This was the creature that had killed Old Man Jenkins.
Almost instantly, its flesh began to blacken and shrivel. Fur fell away in clumps, fangs cracked and crumbled, and its limbs twisted unnaturally. Skin and muscle liquefied into a dark, putrid sludge, dripping to the ground. Bones blackened and fractured as the creature's entire body decayed in seconds, leaving nothing but a steaming, rotten skeleton smeared with thick, dark ichor.