Monsters

Prologue

Location: SHUDAD

Date: July 4, 32nd Century A.D.

It's been months since the infection. People inside the quarantine zone were as relentless than ever. Even our group. We went to different stretches of SHUDAD. It's not like we've got anything else. I still thoroughly remember how we got separated from the main camp. It was tragic. 

Now, it was dark. I don't know what hour it was. I saw one of my friends checking their wrist-watch. I went up to her. "What time is it?" I asked while the clunking  of my weapon was loud. 

She shook her head and gave the watch another three taps. "I don't know." she replied. "It seems damaged I guess." she added.

"Well, thanks any way Daryll." I replied with a smile.

We kept going towards east. Even though it was quiet, it didn't make anything comforting. I was paranoid at that time. I kept seeing different entities in the dark, even to the point of following one. I didn't know if I was going mad, or just lacking sustenance. 

Once we reached our destination; a big, wrecked structure, we rested for a while. Good thing that one of us was an Order champion. His name was Gerald, and he had one heck of a temper, I can tell you that. 

While resting, I had a dream of blue skies and wide grasslands. I also saw in my dream of how peaceful I was laying on the green field. I wish that it were real though. As soon as dawn broke in, our usual travels began again.

After packing our things, we left the crumbling building. But this time it was different. We heard gunshots from a mile east. We debated if we should let it go, or follow it. The latter won, so we sent out our best shots in gun slinging.

Since I was one of them, I cocked my Assault Rifle and proceeded on following my comrades. Once in earshot range, I became more cautious of my surroundings. I looked around and checked to see for any suspicious activities.

One of us, the champion himself, saw outlines in the outer edges. He described them as fast moving objects, so we now know what we were facing. Reapers.

Reapers, God I hate these things. My family died because of these goddamn pests. We went closer to the entities until we divided our teams into two man fire squads. I don't know why, but I was partnered with Daryll.

"Daryll, how well can you use guns?" I asked her.

She smiled back at me. "It depends." she replied.

I furrowed my eyebrow at her to show how confused I was. She only chuckles before turning serious again. I don't know why, but out of all the people I've come into contact, she's the only one that can make me happy. I know I don't love her that way, but what I do know is that she is indeed my only best-friend.

Putting aside the talk, I too became silent. We patrolled the area and checked each crevice before we found something peculiar. It was talking as if it wanted us to actually come near it. Once near it, we found out that "it", was a dying person.

I quickly went to aid him. I grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him up to help him stand. "Help me with this." I asked Daryll for help.

Daryll puts away her weapon and proceeded on helping me. "So, can you explain to us how this happened?" Daryll asked the person.

The only reply we got was rubbish. But we did make out some words. It was something like, "death", "go", "them".  We were not sure what this mean, but we did know that these had to be connected to what we saw earlier.

When the person calmed down he asked me. "What was your name son?" he said while his panicking started to slow. 

I smiled and replied. "Jules." I said. "My name is Jules." 

He smiled back, suggesting that he was finally calm. "My name is Macro." he said.

I couldn't get why, but Daryll laughed softly at what the person said. "Macro?" she asked. "That's a very weird name." she added.

I wasn't at all humored at what she said so I looked at her seriously. When she saw how serious I am, she stopped. We asked him a dozen more questions before we heard noises coming from the far out. 

We readied our guns and waited for the worse. Me and Daryll looked at each other before turning back to what our weapons are pointed at. The noises came closer and closer. And once they were as near than ever, two reapers jumped out of the mist.

They circled us before the first one pounced on Daryll. It didn't took long before she knocked off the creature and shooting it on its head. Then the second one sneered at me and sharpened its claws before running at me. I aimed my gun at it and shot it, but to no avail. Luckily, Daryll's shot went through it and killing it instantly.

Then, that was the time I actually believed that she can be a great asset. I released air that I never noticed was getting packed inside me. That was a very tense moment. 

I went up to her and patted her on her back. "Good job." I said with a smile.

She smiled back. "Thanks." she replied. "Told you I can be very good in times." she added with pride in the tone of her voice.

I just stick my tongue out at her to show that I will not lose to a girl. She laguhed full hearthily and went back to Macro. He was gone, and no where to be seen. But he left with traces. I thought two things there: don't follow it and turn my back.

I felt frustrated that Daryll wanted to go find him. I looked at her and said, "We shouldn't follow him," I told her. "It's too dangerous."

A huge smirk can be seen on her face as she walked and followed the trail. "Come on," she said. "Loosen up a bit."

I sighed and followed her. I think that this will be one of my greatest mistakes.