Octopi

The Soldier

The bitter cold froze my lungs with every breath. My troop and I had been assigned to scout out areas to build bunkers. Five years have passed since the beginning of World War Three. The bio weapons and bombs had destroyed the world. Where there were blazing deserts, there are now freezing tundras. All wildlife has been pushed to the brink of extinction and anyone over the age of 12 currently has a rifle in their hands. I guess you could call me lucky to still be alive. I wish that they'd put a bullet in my head though. I have so much blood on my hands and the weight of so many comrades on my shoulders, I'm surprised I'm still sane...at least a little bit.

My troop was made of fresh recruits with guns almost as big as they are. I studied every sound that may hint to our ambush but all I can hear is the light breathing of kids and the crunch of snow beneath my feet.

In the distance I see a small glimmer. I stopped and stared at the glimmer and when I figured out what it was it was too late, the shot had been fired. It ripped right through my shoulder and took out the youngest in the troop. When I looked back to where the glimmer was, it vanished.

My troop was 2 steps ahead and was already working on medical treatment for the kid's wounds. I was already aware of his fate. He was hit in a vital area and was bleeding out fast. The medic ripped off the kid's jacket to further assess the wound. The bullet was lodged in his chest. I already knew that there was no hope for him. But I let the medics go through the motions. Until one of them called me over for something peculiar. The place where the kid was shot started to...boil.

His wound closed up and he opened his eyes with a huge breath. His eyes were void of any and all white, replaced with a crimson color. He screamed and it sent shockwaves through my bones and my spine shivered. His tongue started to fuse with his teeth and mutate into a freakishly long tentacle which slammed into his belly and tore it open where multiple more tentacles emerged from his organs. His bones mutated into what looked like teeth on a grinder.

He (or rather It) grabbed the medic by the throat and shoved him into its grinder like teeth where he was shredded and tossed aside. Not 30 seconds later the same thing happened to the medic and now there were 2 waving piles of corpses with flailing tentacles grabbing anyone it could and making more. Grabbing one after another my troop started dropping like flies and emerging like mutated octopi.

I fell deaf to everything, the screams of my comrades were drowned out by the horror before me. I felt a small tingle in my shoulder where the bullet had ripped through me. But it subsided. My body began to pulsate and I started to sweat buckets. My eyes burned and were bothered by an incurable itch. My hands started to twitch and my stomach started to boil. I knew exactly what was coming. My head was racing and only one thing became clear.

I removed my helmet and pulled the government issued handgun from its holster. I held it against my temple and cursed the world "May god damn you bastards all to hell".

BANG!