The Devil's Blade

𝟻 || 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚜: 𝚂𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚛

It has been precisely five hours since we all witnessed our friend turn into a monster. We also haven't spoken a word to each other ever since. Noé sits alone on the window ledge, gazing out into the darkness. Liam is fiddling with a broken radio he had found somewhere in the room. Jude and I sit next to each other; he is playing with his hands, while I stare blankly at the floor.

"How is your arm?" Jude asks me, breaking the pressuring silence in the room.

Now that he is saying that, I did get wounded, twice even: the bite and my dislocated arm. But for some reason; I'm not feeling it anymore.

Thankfully I can connect the question to the bite mark. "It's fine. Most of the bleeding has stopped."

Jude looks me in the eyes and then looks down at my wound. He then proceeds to rip off a piece of his shirt, and wraps it around the bite wound. "I'll cover the wound for you to prevent it from getting infected." Jude says.

I smile weakly at him. "Thanks."

Uttering those words out loud, I couldn't help but feel some kind of sympathy for Jude. After all, he was the one to land the final blow on one of his friends. To deal with that along with the loss must be extremely hard on him. Yet, he is here wrapping my wound, because he is worried about me.

Then, the radio on Liam's lap crackles and emits a faint static noise. He pauses, his eyes lighting up with a glimmer of hope. He then starts to turn the dial and adjust the frequency with utmost care.

Suddenly, by some miracle, a voice began to emerge from the static. Noé, still sitting by the window, turns around the moment he hears the voice. The room holds its collective breath as we listen intently, our hearts beating in unison with the crackling sounds of the radio. "Attention survivors" a young guy's voice crackles through the speakers. "This is a message to anyone still out there— there is a safe place on the outskirts of town. We have supplies, a health center, and secure protection. If you hear this, please head north, search for the iron walls. Don't give up. You're not alone."

Just like that the message ends. Tears well up in Noé's eyes as he gets off the window ledge and takes a step closer to the radio. We all exchanged a knowing look. The deep feeling of the despair that had taken over us now slowly fades, and replaces itself with a strong determination. There is a way to survive.

We didn't have to say anything to each other. We all grabbed something within the room that we could use to defend ourselves with, and left the room without hesitation.

It was still dark outside, which wasn't in our favour, since our sight was now limited. The four of us moved cautiously through the dimly lit building with our weapons clutched tightly in our hands. Through the empty halls we could hear echoing growls and screeches from the creatures lurking in the shadows. With our sight limited because of the dark outside we prevented ourselves from acting hastly.

As we rounded a corner, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by a group of creatures. Their glowing eyes in dark and their slented forms sent shivers down our spines. Without hesitation, Noé opened a window leading outside and gestured for us to follow him. We were on the first floor, so jumping wouldn't be a dangerous option. The night air rushed in, carrying with it a sense of urgency and desperation. One by one, we leaped out of the window, landing with thuds on the hard ground below.

Once outside our fight hadn't stopped yet. The school grounds were crawling with creatures all around us, all facing towards us the moment we landed on the ground. With no looking back we all take a run for it, our veins filled with adrenaline and our bodies filled with fear. In the far distance their seemed no way out of this mess, so there was no choice left but to go back inside the building. Noé reaches for the nearest place to hide at, which turned out to be the gymhall storage, but the door was locked. 

"Shit!" Noé yells in frustration.

We all circle around Noé, with our weapons ready in order to protect him. "Just keep trying; we will fight them off." Jude tells Noé.

With that Noé lets out a shout and raises his weapon to forcefully strike the lock of the door. The clashes of Noé's weapon against the door and our own frantic attempts to fight off the creatures created a chaotic scene, and I barely realise that the door was succesfully forced open. We struggle greatly with closing the door to prevent the creatures from infiltrating, but in the end, we secured our safety.

As the door slammed shut, we all exhaled heavily, our collective breath echoing in the small, pitch-black storage room. Liam flicked the light switch, and the room was bathed in a dim light. We stared at each other, exhausted but alive, our experiences during the night etched in our expressions.

We huddled together in the storage room, each of us catching our breath, our faces reflecting a mix of fear and relief. All the feelings that had been brewing in the pit of our silence before finally bubbled to the surface.

Jude, with his pent-up emotion, turned to Noé. "Why did you choose the storage, of all places? You should know that this room is always locked!"

Noé's eyes flared, and he shot back. "I didn't have time to check! We were being chased by those things, we had to get inside quickly. It was the only option!"

"We could've all been killed!" Jude yells back.

Liam tries to intervene, his voice shaky. "Guys, we can't afford to fight among ourselves right now. We have to—"

"Well, maybe we should've just been dead!" Noé cries out, making everyone in the room go quiet.

Jude takes a step closer to Noé, his face displaying disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"There's no point in living." Noé says quietly.

Jude frowns, trying to open his mouth to react again.

"I mean what is left? The entire town has been destroyed! Even if we did go to that— safe place, who says that even exists!? Take a look around, everyone is dead! We even— we even killed our own friend!" Noé breaks down.

The three of us freeze in shock of Noé's harsh words.

"We don't deserve to live." Noé mutters quietly.

Jude takes angry steps closer to Noé and grabs him by his collar.

"Jude!" Liam shouts.

Jude looks fiercely into Noé's eyes. "Did you just openly admit that you just tried to kill us all out there?"