Part Two

Fucking hell! This makes me want to bring back those little fucks, so I can kill them in more horrific ways.

I’d found a group of three men and a girl in terrible shape. In addition to being dehydrated, three of them had wounds all across their bodies. Shit, these two have no pulse. Because of the unhygienic conditions of the room, I carried them out, looking for a suitable place to help them recover.

I didn’t know much about first-aid, so all I could really do was feed them and hope they’ll recover. Since I still had plenty of them, I feed both of them a fruit, though doing so was rather rough. The girl ate it without any problems, but I had to physically make the man swallow. Considering their similar states of damage, I figured the men had known each other and been captured at the same time. The girl on the other hand, I couldn’t figure out. Aside from the dehydration, she seemed perfectly fine. Why would goblins hold someone captive that way?

The treant fruit worked its magic quickly, and most of the man’s wounds were healed. Even though it felt like a waste to feed them to strangers, I figured that I’d be able to find out what happened while I was asleep. To me, this was an essential priority, as without knowledge I couldn’t plan out my next move effectively.

“…?”

The girl was the first to wake up, since she’d been in relatively better shape. I’d set the two of them on a table that I’d thrown curtains over. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable, but I’d hoped it would encourage them to wake up faster. She sat up and looked around the room in a panic, before seeing me in the corner.

This feels a bit awkward. She’s just looking at me. Just staring, not even blinking or anything. And I thought the monsters were creepy. I don’t look that strange, do I? On second thought, don’t answer that. Considering that I was armed to the teeth and had what amounted to full body armor on, I probably was pretty strange to look at.

Damn it! Is he ever going to wake up!?

This last half-hour was the longest in my life, as the girl resolutely stared at me. No matter what I tried, she wouldn’t talk. I’d need the guy to wake up if I wanted answers.

“Ergh"

Oh, speak of the devil. That timing was almost too convenient, though I’m not complaining.

“You finally awake?”

“Huh, who are you? Wait, where am I? What’s going on?” He was understandably confuse. If he had any recollections of what happened to him, the current situation would seem like a dream.

“I was hoping you could fill me in. The town looks like something from a horror game, what with all the random blood and gore.”

“…….Lad, what kind of rock did you crawl out from under? You look like you’re ready to take on an army.”

His suspicions were well founded.

“It’d be simpler to not explain that, as it would take far too long. I’ll just say that I was stuck someplace unpleasant for a few days.”

“Fine.” He didn’t seem to take this well, but it looked like he wouldn’t press the issue.

“Suppose I’ll introduce myself. Name’s Cameron.”

“Michael, and I just moved to town last month.”

With the pleasantries out of the way, I wanted to get to the core issue.

“So, can you tell me about what happened?”

“It’s a long story. You sure we’re safe here?”

“Yep. I made sure to kill every monster in the building, along with the ones I saw along the way.”

Once I’d told him that, Cameron nodded, then began to tell the tale of how the world started to come to an end.

[Cameron’s POV]

Everything began about nine days ago, with the strange announcement in everyone’s heads. This was only the start, as not even an hour later, we heard a sharp cracking sound. It was like nothing I’d ever heard, like the biggest window ever just shattered. Before long, the streets were flooded with monsters, cutting people down where they stood.

It was bad. No one knew what was happening. People were dying left and right. Others had grabbed whatever they could and started looting. Some were just trying to protect themselves and their families. I saw more than a few people falling their cars with whatever they could find and high-tailing it out of town. I pray that they got away.

The monsters soon pulled back, forming a net to keep anyone from leaving. Everyone who was still alive either fled to the shelter or barricaded themselves in their homes. After the first few hours, no one was left on the streets. No one alive, that is.

I had joined a group that was set up in the fire station. We’d let anyone who couldn’t protect themselves in. We had to use any weapons we could find to hold the monsters back. We were hoping to use some old radio equipment to call for help, but we never got any response.

Not long ago, the monsters started to act smarter. They began to work with each other, covering for their blind spots. The fights got harder and harder, and eventually we ran out of what ammunition we had. After that, it was only a matter of time.

They swarmed us quickly, and anyone who wasn’t instantly killed during the fighting, was dragged out of the building. I’ve seen them eating those they’ve killed, so I’ve no clue why we weren’t killed right away. Maybe it was some sick game for them, but if you hadn’t saved me I probably would’ve died here. For that, you have my thanks.

[Protag’s POV]

After Cameron finished his story, I sat there mulling it over. It sounds like it was worse than I thought it would be. With most people unable to handle being threatened by such creatures, casualties became extremely high.

“And what about the girl? Do you know why she’s here?" We both turned to look at her, causing her to panic.

“No idea.” He shook his head at me before continuing. “She was here when they dragged us in. I don’t know why they’d keep her around.”

“I tried to get her to talk, but didn’t have any luck. She shook her head when I asked if she was mute, so it’s something else.”

Cameron nodded to this, then stood up. “Since…since you only pulled me out of there, I’m assuming the others didn’t make it?”

“Yeah. They must’ve bleed out before I came.”

“Nothing to be done about it now. It’s not like getting angry is going to bring them back.”

“You sure? We can always bury them.”

“Thank you, but no. I didn’t particularly know them and right now, we should focus on our own survival.”

That was something I fully agreed with. While I wasn’t so callous as to abandon people I could help, worrying about those already dead would just lead to my own death. This was an inevitability in such a fucked up world. People can die so easily. My time in the Labyrinth taught me that, but for many, it would be a hard lesson.