The Reaper Wars 02: Live To Die

He looked up to see the devil's elongated head and fanged tongue before he was pierced by a needle and his sight faded into black once more.

Something worse than death filled his nostrils, a putrid scent unlike anything else he had ever experienced. Decomposition, mixed with the excreted bowels of the terrified and the dead with hints of burnt tar as the odor clung to his very skin. He felt weightless as he awoke yet again from another forced slumber to the sounds of the tortured and the damned sharing a bed with hell's screaming angels.

The air was thick with a humid mist as his vision cleared to reveal the ninth circle. He was plastered to the walls of what appeared to be a sewer tunnel by strong black resin, aligned along a wall of harvested humans. Some awake and wailing in helpless horror, some had their eyes open but the life had fled their bodies along with hope. Some hung truly dead with massive wounds bored into their chests, their lifeless husks hung with their blood dripping onto the black, ridged floor.

The living catacombs held its own voice entirely, a heavy breathing that crawled along each surface to somewhere impossibly deeper in the belly of this nightmare. A whispering hiss that echoed in unison with the miserable wails of the taken. Hope was situated in the center of the sewer junction in the form of an open manhole cover and the ladders needed to ascend it into the growing sunrise.

The floor was flooded to ankle height by sewage water joined by blood, littered with waist height leathery orbs. Some were open and others were closed but each reminded him of her shattered vessel back home, but lost love was not what was contained inside these orbs. Their gift was the skin colored arachnids that lay curled up and dead underneath every human in sight. Some were still alive and clung to their victim's face with ribbed tails wrapped tightly around their necks, near strangling them. Takashi now knew where his unusual pains originated from as he saw a dead parasite situated below him, its purpose still unknown.

The moist heat was oppressive as Takashi struggled to intake air down his throat, he felt like he had swallowed a roll of sandpaper. Each time his lungs filled with the stench he could feel them press against something, something foreign that felt like a dead weight in his chest. Sweat poured from every pore in his body as it rolled down his head to fall from his chin. Beads of liquid fell like rain from the roof above enticing him to look up.

More people were glued to the roof as tears and blood joined the ever amassing pool beneath him but there was something else clinging to the surfaces beside the cattle. Things that were very much at home, camouflaged amongst their own construction. He couldn't make out their full form but once he recognized one he began to see them everywhere. One was positioned only a few feet above him on the roof, curled into a fetal position, only a set of glistening teeth were fully visible. His eyes graced the jaws for a few more seconds before they parted slowly and a tongue crept outward tipped with its own set of teeth. Thick, oily saliva collected at the end of the tongue before dropping down into Takashi's eyes. Blinded he threw his head from side to side and gasped as he tried to blink away the substance that glued his eyelashes shut.

The atmosphere of comatose suffering continued for some time until the man fastened next to Takashi started to cough, almost like something was tickling the back of his throat. Soon it turned violent as it was clear the man was struggling for breath, fighting against his regurgitated restraint the struggle then turned into an uncontrollable seizure.

People were shaken out from their own suffering and wailed in protest as they recognized what was happening to him. Takashi was still confused but he knew deep within himself that this was disturbingly wrong. A loud crack sounded from inside the man's chest and almost on queue a melody of hisses emanated from the walls. The black skinned beast above him began to shift and slowly descended in front of him.

It lowered itself with a mesmerizing elegance until it stood with its face level to Takashi's even though he was positioned a few feet above the ground. What light there was in the chamber glistened against the creature's smooth, wet and elongated carapace. It glanced at Takashi briefly without eyes as it stalked towards the man beside him.

Takashi could tell from experience that one of the poor soul's lung was pierced by the broken rib. He was proved right as the man struggled to breath through the stream of blood that was coming up from his penetrated lung. The beast caressed his face with its skeletal, six digited hand, such an act would be considered comforting from a human but this thing had turned the gesture perverse. It gripped his head tighter holding his tremors still as he breathed his last breath in a metallic choking agony. Finally he drowned in his own blood and he fell as still as a statue, a grotesque recycling of living tissue turned into an adornment on the wall.

Takashi thought the worst of it was over until the body started to shake again and the beast turned its caring hand towards the chest. It move in closer to the body blocking Takashi's sight of what was happening but the sounds were unmistakable. Something horrifying was emerging.

Further bones were broken and flesh was torn apart until a screeching cry of inhuman life rung through his ears. The beast turned to reveal its sibling, a pale, blood covered serpent that rested quietly now in its grasp.

Pain rose inside Takashi's chest as he could swear he just felt something move inside him. The creature then walked slowly out the chamber with the infant still in its hands, disappearing into the dark towards a mother that none in this room would ever see. Takashi realized now what this room's purpose was. It was a birthing chamber, a sick and twisted maternity ward. He knew what fate awaited him. He was to die helplessly in agony, wrapped in an inescapable embrace, just like she had died. With a heart full of determined rage he swore to himself that he wouldn't die here. It would be on his own terms, he would die in his home, holding her.

Years of discipline instilled from his military career had driven him even in his older age to continue a daily routine of exercise and in this moment he was ever thankful for it. His arms were encased in the still hardening resin against his chest and with all of his might and pain he pushed against the organic restraint. Moment by moment he pushed on but it felt unmovable. Despair entered his thoughts but left just as quickly once he felt the resin crack and finally give way as his arms were finally freed. The small victory gave his tired muscles fresh vigor and he pulled away at the hive material around his waist. He grunted in effort silently, not wanting to alert the creatures around him. What he didn't know was that he was already being watched but as far as they were concerned the deadly seed was planted and they were simply waiting for it to flower.

Pulling free the last piece away from his legs he fell heavily against the floor, his arm taking the brunt of the impact against the steel surface. Pain flared in his arm and he knew something was broken, his gritted teeth nearly biting his tongue off in an effort to stop him screaming. He could feel his arm getting number by the second as blood flooded back into his legs.

His escape attempt didn't go unnoticed by the humans who's purpose to these monsters remained undelivered. The screamed and pleaded for him to free them. As an officer he had to look at situations involving life and death objectively and now was no different. He had the clarity and the lack of self preservation to realize that both himself and these people were in the same situation. They were already dead but still they clung to the hope of survival with a desperate grasp. He simply wanted to die in his own way and these people would slow him down.

He rose up to feel his clothes sodden with warm, liquid decay even after he escaped this scent would never leave him. He looked around and gazed coldly into the other's eyes wide with terror and without a reply he headed towards the ladders and the hopeful light that enforced the other's doom. He climbed swiftly upward, escaping hell as the waiting dead railed weak, pleading cries that followed him to the surface.

He reached street level to greet a rising sun that created shafts of golden rays between the ruined buildings. Once he was on his feet he took the time to drag the manhole cover back onto the sewer entrance, he didn't know if it would hold against any pursuers but he needed a few seconds to collect himself.

Despite the pollution that still hung through the air of the inner city it was heavenly compared to the decrepit stench from below. The lonely emptiness of the streets was such a shock to the Captain that despite his situation he couldn't help but simply walk and take in this sight. He had always dreamed of running through empty streets devoid of the masses. Now his dream was a reality and the masses littered the streets torn and ripped apart, the unlucky ones were awaiting a worse fate submerged under their own collective filth.

The silence had an ambience all its own as his footsteps echoed through the streets, nothing apart from him moved through the dead city. He was careful to avoid the bodies that littered the roads until he saw one of the beasts dead within a ritualistic circle of bullet cases. Seeing it in the daylight did nothing to lessen the fear he felt as he approached it cautiously. The sun highlighted its features which looked more machine than flesh, its grievous wound and the blood that flowed had melted through the concrete directly into the sewer levels. He kicked it to ensure it was dead and once satisfied he peered into the darkness.

The increasing daylight reflected off something massive, the view of the floor was blocked by a massive crowned head of blackened bone. The creatures he had seen were dwarfed by this horror and through some unknown sense it knew it was being watched and raised its maw to the light. A jaw of massive crystalline fangs opened and a subtle raspy breath was uttered.

Takashi's heart sank to icy depths as she breathed fear into his heart. He rose swiftly and assessed his location in the city. His composure was shattered as her near silent call was answered from shrieks and roars that poured from the buildings around him and below. They were everywhere and they were coming for him.

His apartment was to the east of the city so he pointed himself towards the rising sun and broke into a desperate run. Years of needless exercise had led him to this moment as he pounded the pavement for the final time, he had never been so free within his own mind. Clarity and focus guiding him towards the end as he raced home, leaping over rubble and bodies with ease. His rhythmic breathing though compressed the unwanted child inside him and it he began to feel it move more erratically.

He increased his speed even further, he didn't need to care about waking up with an injury the next morning as he pushed himself to the limit. His eyes were finally greeted by street signs and his heart lifted even more, he was only a few blocks away. Glass broke behind him and he turned his head to see one of the beasts running on all fours at an impossible pace towards him.

His lungs and muscles were aflame but he growled through gritted teeth and pushed himself through the pain boundary as he broke into the fastest sprint of his life. He could hear the creature move its immense weight closer and closer towards him. Panic flared into his mind, he wouldn't make it home before it pounced onto him, dragging him to die back in that pit. He could hear more of them join the pursuit but even with superior speed none came close to him, they kept a steady distance and merely followed.

Takashi still refused to cease his pace and finally the entrance to his apartment building was in sight, he just hoped that none were there waiting to ambush him. He rushed inside and skidded to a halt, her ashes were scattered all over the floor, mixed in with drying blood. He turned swiftly to see at least a dozen of the beasts advancing towards him, they had slowed down to a cautious stalk.

Pain exploded in his chest for the brief flash of a moment as the infant inside him signaled its readiness to join its siblings outside. He reached down and hastily scooped a handful of her ashes into his hand and raced up the stairwell, the pain he forced himself to run through was close to indescribable. His pursuers could then be heard entering behind him with pounding stomps and piercing cries.

He reached his floor when the infant threw its first kick, the pain near felled Takashi as he staggered to a halt against the wall, clutching his chest as he gazed down the stairs. His eyes met rows of hissing wet teeth that ascended the stairs slowly, their clawed hands extended almost calling him to give in.

He threw himself off the wall and stumbled towards his apartment, his vision was a blur from the nauseating pain but still through an indomitable will he pressed on. He was too focused on his objective to contemplate his finality, too busy keeping his head above the sea of pain that racked his aged shell. Reaching his front door he leaned against as another punch came, stealing the air from his lungs as he vomited blood onto his floor.

Tears fell without care from the pain and still his hand held her ashes with an iron fist as he gazed on her destroyed shrine and the salvation that it held. Struggling for breathe his body failed the strength of his heart and his knees gave way, crashing him onto the hard floor with a weak grunt. Still he held her as he dragged himself towards the overturned table, leaving a bloody trail and granules of ash as his time drew near.

Agony was redefined in that slow desperate crawl as his mind fled body and sense to somewhere deep inside himself. He didn't see the shattered kingdom outside his window and he didn't think of the avatars of death that invaded his home to claim what was theirs. They towered over him silently as he finally reached his goal, knowing that the birth was mere seconds away.

He ripped the drawer out with whatever strength that remained in his free arm and the pistol clattered on the floor before him. He wrapped his hand around the cold death just as he did so long ago, openly weeping through pain and sorrow as he gazed once more at the torn pieces of her smile.

"I'm done waiting." He spoke through lungs tattered and torn as the demons turned him over without effort. He closed his eyes to them before lifting the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger to welcome that calm, peaceful abyss.

His body lay limp as the infant broke free from his rib-cage to be collected by its guardians, they left his home with a deathly silence as her ashes drifted through his open palm. Amongst all the chaos no one would ever know of the incredible pain he overcame nor would they know of the sense of completion he felt as he pressed that muzzle into his head and ended his daily torment.

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