Copperoton - The Snatcher Saga

Episode 2 - Escloeopia City ~ A Sudden City of Ruin

Told from the perspective of Royce Bundy, a former resident of Escloeopia City, and a good friend of Luke Edwards.

~\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/~

A muffled "BOOM!!" resounded in and through the apartment buildings on the Eastern 74th street of Escloeopia City. This made for an awful alarm clock at 3:00 in the early morning, and I and everyone else had to get used to it for the next three dreadful and eventful hours that would shake the course of history itself.

Usually, my alarm clock had a clear, ambient tone that would peacefully wake me up and get me ready for the day ahead, but this alarm was like no other. My eyes jolted open violently and my body sprung up from my bed. I bolted for the window that overlooked the carnage and bloody mess that became of the streets. Both my heart and my jaw dropped simultaneously and marveled at what I witnessed.

First, I saw a titanic beast like no one or their ancestors had ever seen before. It had the shell of a soft-shelled turtle, (which was actually pretty strong, it just looked like a soft-shelled turtle's shell,) and its four legs formed an upward angle like a spider's. Covering its mouth, it wore gigantic crab claws that looked strong enough to smash a car in two. For its feet, they looked like a half of the crab claw had been stuck in replacement so that they could stick into the ground and offer a firm foothold onto the pavement. Over the poor creature's eyes, a super-sized bandana concealed the visible world to itself. I presumed to myself at the time that they blocked off its sight so that it wouldn't get spooked by the bloody mess that it was ensuing upon the city. Finally, upon its back, a caravan was held in place over it's mighty impenetrable shell, which held and protected about five or six riders. The beasts were essentially being used as tanks, but stronger, faster and more versatile.

What soon followed was an army of Copperoton's natives: the snatchers. On occasions, you would see a snatcher walking around on the streets acting like a normal person, but this time they brought a whole army of themselves. They clothed themselves with a leathery material that derived from the awful creatures of their breeding grounds: the Danger Isles. They, like the parabeasts, wore bandanas over their mouths and sported a bulletproof vest over their leather coats. They armed themselves with generator rifles, molotovs and machetes, which all looked very low quality and DIY.

I pulled away from the window and hurdled over my bed to my closet. Panicking, I ripped open my closet door, grabbed my revolver and my jacket, and frantically burst through the door of my apartment, leaving all of my belongings behind. I had to get to higher ground - quick.

To the right of the hallway was the stairwell. At first it didn't catch my attention, because I was running for the fire escape that was hidden in the alley beside the building, but when I heard a sudden and numerous TMP TMP TMP-ing of the terrorists running up the stairs, my panic turned to adrenaline. I raced furiously for the fire escape, not fazed by any fatigue that this running would give me if I didn't have adrenaline rushing in my blood. As soon as I began opening the window that opened to the fire escape, I heard their shrill screech of murder and hatred.

"OVER THERE! RIP HIS MISERABLE HEAD OFF!" at this, I decided to smash through the window instead.

As soon as I dove out, I took cover under the window. Bullets penetrated through the wall just grazing my arm and my shoulder. Surprisingly, this didn't shock me, so without stopping, I rapidly crawled for the ladder and bounded up it.

Once I reached the roof, I jerked my head left and right looking for some way I could escape. My eyes widened at the appearance of hopelessness, and my first though told me: No! This must truly be the end of it all! There's just no way out of this!