As I was diving, I found my mind strangely clear. It was as if I could see everything in slow motion, as if I had all the time in the world to observe everything and decide what to do. I had no idea if it was because of the observation ability or if it was something else... most probably a combination of adrenaline and the observation ability.

I saw a family getting surrounded by a group of dogs almost directly below me. Most probably the dogs used to be pets before but now they were a far cry from their former docile selves. Their teeth were bared, most of them had their faces covered with blood and they were snarling and growling as they surrounded the family.

I had no reason to save the family, but as these dogs were the nearest animals to me, I went straight for them. I activated my speed ability and almost instantly reached the dogs. Somehow as I landed clumsily I managed to decapitate the dog nearest to me with the knife I had in my right hand. I slid across the ground because of my momentum and had stopped completely before the dogs and families realized what happened. As soon as the dogs saw one of their comrades without a head, they immediately bared their teeth and pounced on me all at the same time.

My mind was still pretty clear, so I was somehow able to maneuver around the dogs using a combination of observation, enhanced speed and enhanced strength. Using knives on both my hands I slashed and stabbed without mercy, getting covered in blood as the 15 or so dogs fell one by one until there was just me left standing surrounded by animal corpses.

Without a word or a glance to the family I had saved, I took off once again and searched around for more things to kill, ignoring the "WAIT!" shout I heard from someone in the family. As I took off I realized that the blood I was covered in wasn’t only the dogs, but also my own. I was covered in scratches and bites, but I only knew they were there because I could see them, my pain resistance must have been helping me out right now as I could barely feel my injuries.

I was looking around in the sky when I noticed something strange. All animals were avoiding a few houses like the plague. They would give these particular houses a wide berth, and go around them even if they had to give up on their chase of people. Some people had also noticed this and started gathering nearer to these houses, but soon after they would slump down like puppets that had their strings cut, either dead or unconscious.

I wouldn’t have guessed what was going on if not for the fact that my house was also included the list of houses the animals were avoiding. I immediately realized that it must have something to do with the poison all the plants in my house released, and apparently other houses had plants that had the same ability too. The animals, with their keen senses and instincts, knew that it was dangerous going near such houses so they completely avoided them. I went over to the roof of my house, dropped off my bag so it wouldn’t get torn to bits and took off again in search for my next prey.

______________

I had no idea how much time had passed by, but as I was lying on a street covered in blood and surrounded by the corpses of all types of animals, I couldn’t help but smile. Sure, I was covered with countless injuries and it was almost a guarantee that I was going to die, but I had done what I set out to do in the first place.

Over the last few hours I had continuously dove straight into the nearest pack of animals, whether the pack contained of cats, dogs, mice or any other species I didn’t care, all I cared about was ending the lives of all these darned animals. And I think I did achieve my sick goal.

I also managed to inadvertently save a lot of people, not that I cared. I did hear a lot of thanks shouted at me, and a lot of screams to not leave them behind, but I ignored everything and kept on doing what I wanted.

I spotted a lot of people fighting back too, using a lot of different abilities or just fighting with guns or other weapons, but I didn’t interact with any of them.

I had finally been caught up in a scuffle with the largest group of animals yet, almost 50, consisting of a number of different species. I would have flown away to escape if not for the fact that the sun had risen and with that the sky was filled with birds of all kinds. This was the major factor contributing to the position I found myself in right now. I couldn’t keep up with fighting all the ground animals while birds kept diving on top of me and hitting me from all sides.

Covered with scratches, bites and injuries from beaks and talons, I kept smiling as I looked up at the birds still circling over me. With the satisfaction of killing off so many animals, and a little regret over not killing more… my consciousness finally gave way as I was surrounded by darkness….

_____________________

(Perspective change)

Just what in the world is going on??

Just a few hours ago I was at home peacefully preparing to sleep when the whole world just turned on it’s head! Our pet dog suddenly started attacking everyone and killed my entire family! I was only able to survive because of my ability and the fact that I was able to run up to the roof to get away from him!

I stayed at the roof the whole night, cowering in fear while the sounds of growling, screaming, burning and gunfire came to me from all around. There was a cat who climbed to the roof of my house but I beat it back with a stick when it tried to lunge at me...

The night passed by with me cowering in fear and jumping as screams kept reaching me. The morning, however, brought me even more nightmares! When the sun rose the birds started chirping and rose into the sky, but as I watched them climb higher and higher, they suddenly started diving all over the city!

I crept over to the side and looked at the surroundings of my roof, and I saw people getting attacked by animals and birds alike! The most frightening thing was that there were a lot of people on their roofs like me, and birds kept attacking them!

A shiver ran down my spine as I looked up and saw a number of pigeons circling directly overhead. Then they started diving straight towards me!

I screamed loudly and ran straight for the door leading downstairs, as soon as I reached it and slammed the door I heard 3 distinct thuds resound against it. I had just barely escaped from the deadly birds!

I ran downstairs to find myself face-to-face with Terry, our pet chihuahua, and the same dog who had killed my parents and younger brother. He started barking and snarling and ran straight at me! I panicked and grabbed the nearest thing, which was a lamp, and swung it with my eyes shut. The impact I felt, and the crash I heard told me that the lamp had somehow found it’s target. I slowly opened my eyes to find Terry twitching as he lay across from me.

The smell of blood all over the house, and the sight of Terry laying there in a mess was too much for me and I vomited right then and there.

I ran towards the front door, opened it and ran outside as I couldn't bear to stay in the house which was full of corpses of my family and my dog. In my panic I had completely forgotten all about how dangerous the streets were, and barely 5 minutes had passed by since I left my house when I found myself surrounded from all sides in an alley. I was surrounded by dogs, cats, mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs and even some snakes! Overheard I could see a lot of birds of different kinds circling too!

I resigned myself to the death that was about to come, but before I could close my eyes a guy jumped straight in front of me!

He was covered in blood from head to toe, but it didn’t matter to him at all. He held knives in both hands and without waiting for anything he jumped straight into the group of animals at an insane speed and started slashing away with his knives!

He moved like a blur! He was completely surrounded by animals from all sides and birds kept attacking him from overhead but he still kept on going killing animals left and right while blood sprayed everywhere!

It was a disturbing sight, but I found myself completely engrossed in his movements even though I could barely see him move! It looked like he was a hero who was putting his life on the line to save a damsel in distress. It was weird thinking of myself as a damsel in distress… but there was no question that the guy in front of me was undoubtedly a hero!

The whole fight lasted about 10 minutes, but in the end the hero collapsed under the never-ending stream of animals. He was surrounded on all sides by the corpses of animals and birds, but I guess it was too much even for a hero to go single-handedly against all of those animals…

But I could still see his chest moving! He was still alive! Making up my mind and forcing myself to remain calm, I ran up to him, slipping and sliding on all the blood, guts and corpses of the animals, and started dragging him towards a door. I barely made it in time before the birds overhead got to us! I slammed the door shut and breathed heavily, exhausted.

After I had caught my breathe, I looked over to the hero. I crept closer and looked into his handsome face. I put my hand on his chest and started concentrating… time to pay him back for saving my life!

_________________

(Back to MC’s perspective)

The darkness and numbness surrounding me started to fade away for some reason, and I started to be able to see a faint light in the distance. I had never been a religious guy, or even believed in a God for that matter, but I guess this must be the afterlife…?

I started feeling a warmth coming from my chest area, and it started spreading all over my body. The light kept increasing and increasing, it looked oddly like sunlight… Is this heaven? If so, how and why did I end up here? I’m pretty sure I deserve to go to Hell. Is it because I ended up saving all those lives while I was slaughtering the animals…? That must be it I guess…

The light had now completely enveloped me. As I prepared to see what Heaven was like, I heard a voice…

“Hey, are you alright? Please, please wake up! Please!”

Huh….?

I groggily opened my eyes to find myself staring at a face. It was a bit too close for comfort so I backed away a bit and looked around. Apparently I was in some sort of a room, and the light I had been seeing was sunlight flitting through a crack in the curtains.

I looked back at the person and was about to ask what was going on before I was interrupted…

“Thank God you’re alright! I am so thankful I have the ability to heal! I failed to get to my family in time to save them, but I am so happy that I got to you in time!” The person kept getting closer and closer to me…. “Thanks a lot for saving me! I owe you my life!”

Okay… So somehow I had saved this person in front of me, and then got dragged in here after I lost consciousness and then I got healed. That ability sure is useful, I have to be sure to absorb it somehow...

Although I was a bit pissed off that I had to keep living in this crazy world for longer, I couldn’t blame anyone. Therefore, I swallowed my anger and said, “Thanks a lot for healing me.”

“No need to thank me! I just did what anyone would have done! You are the true hero here! I am so glad to have met you!”

And without warning he jumped up and hugged me!

I had no idea on what to do as the well over 6 feet tall, burly and full of muscles guy hugged me… and is he grinding his body against mine?? What the fuck!