DOOM: The Last City

The Hellgrowth. I

Pavel Smirnov

I stand over the counter. Warm orange light shining into my eyes as I stare into my reflection on the window, I take a glance to the backyard, snow lightly falling to the ground.
I focus again, looking down to a bowl of popcorn covered in way too much butter than anyone should ever consume, but we don't care. I turn back to the living room, bowl in hand gently shaking, and rest it on the coffee table. I look around the room before sitting down. Everyone's faces illuminated from the blue light emitted by the TV.
Then a flash of orange, static and then black. I can't see jackshit. I stand back up again in a panic, reaching into the back pocket of my sweatpants for my phone. Nothing, no blackout report, no EAS, no sirens. I run upstairs to check my drawer for a flashlight. Midway up the stairs I can hear... chewing? It's coming from the master bedroom. My mother and father were preparing to leave tonight. They were supposed to be out the door a couple of minutes ago.
I calmly open the door, the bastards still have their lights on, I don't stop to think how. I just swing the door open. And damn, I wish I didn't.
"HOLY FUCKING SHITTT!" I slam it shut, hyperventilating and sliding down the door. Two lifeless corpses. blood splatter, stab marks. And just like that, my mother and father are gone. For good. Then I hear someone coming up the stairs behind me.
"Pavel!? PAVEL?" I can't tell who it is in the dark, but by the voice, I think it's Sarah.
She looks down at me, then to the door, then the noise continues. Somethings in there with them. I stand up, still in shock, Sarah stares me down then reaches for the doorknob. When the knob turns I can hear the noise stop again. Then it makes a new one, almost like walking but like it's throwing itself around at the same time.
The door creaks open again, I catch a glimpse of the bloodstained grey walls. Then a blade comes clean through the door. I feel a wood chip jab my shoulder and can feel either the thing or Sarah breathing on my neck.
I throw the door into the hallway wall, the blade remaining stuck inside it, and there's definitely something attached to it. It's about five feet tall. It's got pinkish brown skin, almost hugging it's bones and a fucking huge pair of claws where it's hands should be, I stare it up and down, it's green eyes piercing mine.
Then I stop thinking. All I can do is stand there and look. My ears start to ring and I start to lose focus of everything in front of me until it's all an ugly barf coloured blur on a white background. Before I can lose complete control and pass out I can feel arms wrap around me and shove me down the flight of stairs. I regain control of myself and my thoughts as my head slams against the bottom step and the wall. I lay beside Sarah at the bottom, my skull pounding against my brain.
     It frees the blade attached to its arm and throws itself down the stairs, I see Sarah's arm raise with something in it. When the demon gets close enough it shrieks, levitating at the end of her arm and flailing. I watch it's limbs go limp and can no longer feel it's breath on face. It's dead.
   "The fuck is going on?" Tobias finally got off his fatass and wondered what we were doing upstairs. Sarah stands up, dropping the knife and the gargoyle-esque creature onto the landing. We both stand up, a light shines in our eyes. I turn my head to her, her grey sweater and blonde hair soaked in blood, It didn't die calmly.
   "Some big fucking bat tried to kill us." Sarah groans, panting between each word. She hasn't noticed it already took the lives of my parents. I don't know how to bring it up or if everything around me is even happening. I decide it's best to keep my mouth shut about it and act like they already left the house. It's less for all of us to deal with.
    "Tobias, I can't see with the light in my eyes" I mumble resting my hand on my forehead over my eyes
     "Shit, sorry man." He lowers the light to the corpse and I watch his expression drop. I think it's too surreal for all of us. I catch Sarah look down at it too.
     "Should we call someone?" She conveys as if she just woke up and realized she had killed something.
    "Cell lines are down. Rae and I already tried when we heard you guys throwing the door around and screaming, our best option is to pile into the van and haul ass to someone if we want to say something." Tobias responded.
    "I'll go grab the keys, you dumbasses try the phone again." I reply in a monotone. I doubt I'm in any condition to drive, but the station is only three blocks away.
     I walk past Tobias and towards the front door, throwing on a brown canvas jacket and grabbing my keys off the wall. I step out towards the driveway and swing the driver side door open. As i crawl in and start the van, I look up through the windshield, it wasn't just us hit with the blackout, the whole street has been knocked off the grid.
    I lay on the horn, passenger door wide open to let them know I'm ready to take us where we need to go. The radio is constant static, the noise pisses me off enough for me to actually deal with rewinding whatever cassettes are in the dash. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction is the first tape I find with an appealing cover, so I slide it in the cassette slot and basically punch rewind.
   Just as I rest my head and lean back in the seat, the back door pops open. Rae and Tobias slide the corpse in the trunk and slam the doors while Sarah hops up beside me.
   "I told them not to bring it. Then Tobias said the cops wouldn't believe a demon got in the house."
    "Are you fucking serious? We're gonna drive there and say 'oh hey, if you don't believe us there's a dead body in the back of my van.' " I murmur in an aggressive tone. Tobias and Rae climb in the back seats, I decide to drop it and just drive.

    We arrive at the station, I struggle to find a parking spot amongst the cruisers, vans and just everyday cars. Eventually I get fed up enough to just kill the engine and hop out in front of the door. I throw the doors open and walk to the front desk.
    "I need help." I say staring the receptionist in the eye. Then the rest is a blur. My brain feels like it shuts off and my mouth keeps going on autopilot. Before I know it, I'm standing out in the snow with an officer beside me, staring at the still bleeding corpse of a demon in the back of my van.
     It's complete silence. Then she turns her back and walks away from me, saying something into the handheld radio on her person. We're told to wait outside the van with the trunk open. Then she goes back inside.
    "What'd you tell the desk?" Rae questions, leaning on the right side door, staring me down.
     "That something got in the house, and I needed an officer"
     "Mentioning that it was dead probably could've helped."
     "I didn't wanna bring up killing it."

Almost half an hour passes, I hear the cassette player click and watch Tobias walk through the front door
   "I'm gonna go see what the fuck is happening" he yells down to us at the parking lot. I push myself off the van and follow him, no one's at the desk this time, so I walk right behind it and down a hall I'm probably not allowed to be in.
    I hear Tobias let out a gasp and I look towards him,  To my surprise, the officer who came to the trunk is limp on the wall, a gaping whole through her stomach surrounded by a gory mess on the walls and floor surrounding her.
  "Fuck." Tobias grunts
   "Fuck is right" I respond.