Publishedat 20th of August 2019 02:58:23 PMChapter 18
Sarah ran for her life .
She gnashed her teeth, holding in her nausea as she repeatedly rubbed her eyes while sniffling .
Not even knowing where she’s going or where she is, she ran with all her heart .
Someone she knew closely had just died .
No—they turned into something else; a fate worse than mere death .
Is it her fault? Is it because she asked them those questions?
She wanted to think otherwise .
Yet no thanks to the timing, she couldn’t help but to worry that it is her fault .
Furthermore, Sarah felt that she had seen those eyeb.a.l.l.s somewhere before .
They felt similar to that ogre that she had encountered during her struggle with Flamm in that research facility .
Which means, if those eyeb.a.l.l.s are the result of the experiment—
“There’s seems to be a secret facility below the church in the West District, and they’re doing experiments using the children from the facility down there”
“It seems like an experiment ascend to the domain of G.o.d . ”
It was nothing but a vague information given how he said the word “seems”, but that information might have some truth in it .
Yet still, it wouldn’t be an answer as to why Ink and the other children’s name didn’t come up in the name register .
But to make sure that the men’s sacrifice didn’t go in vain, she needs to deliver this information to Flamm .
Firstly, she needs to go out to the road along the wall .
If she did, the main street shouldn’t be that far .
Normally it’s a place with a public safety so bad that she wouldn’t get close, but right now, if anything happens she’ll have to just smash through with her mace .
She had to focus on going through the West gate, exit the main street and run to Flamm’s house .
The girl went downhill as she calculated her escape route .
Squelch,
When she turned around—the countless eyeb.a.l.l.s found her . They rolled on the ground, crawled up the wall, and looked down at her from the roofs .
Turning her neck, the teary-eyed girl cried, “…They took the lives of those two people…but that’s still not enough!?”
Can these eyes listen?
Knowing that these eyes are chasing her after Ed told her about the gossip, then that means they should be able to .
Hence in response to Sarah’s words of grief, the eyeb.a.l.l.s rolled in to close their distance, as if saying that’s right, it’s still not enough .
“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”
Sarah shouted her anger and fear that had nowhere to go, and once again, she ran .
The eyeb.a.l.l.s keep growing in number .
They came forth from the roofs, from inside the buildings, and even from the drainage channels .
They crawled out like swarms of insects, flooding the streets .
The street had no pedestrian traffic—it’s as if those things had known it from the start .
Sarah decided not to look back anymore, knowing if she did, there were only the scene of despair .
So all she could do is to whip her screaming legs, shut her ears so she couldn’t hear her lungs wheezing, and control her heart beating so quickly that it felt they’re about to break . She had to keep swinging her arms and run forward .
There are also some poor people living in the capital, so the closer she gets to the walls of the West District castle, the smell started to change .
The air is filled with the stench of raw garbage, but that smell brought Sarah a sense of security .
She thought that those things probably won’t chase her to a place with a lot of people .
As she exited to the wider road, she turned right in a wide arc without reducing her speed .
Her neat and tidy white robe she wore made her stand out, but she couldn’t care less about the people’s gazes .
Just in case, she continued down the street, and afterwards, she dropped her speed and turned around .
“Haa…haa…t…this…this is impossible…”
Perhaps because she was so desperately running, she couldn’t hear any voices from her surrounding .
But what she saw as she turned around was a gruesome spectacle that could be described as the scene from h.e.l.l .
“What is this disgusting…? O-Oi, stay away…Stay awa…AAAAAHH!”
A pedestrian who was just pa.s.sing by had his arm grow into two…and three before long .
As he stumbled to his feet, more eyeb.a.l.l.s flood into him, and before long, he lost his figure as a person .
“Hiiiii!! Please, G.o.d, give me your protection…please…please go…d…go…u…guh”
And then, the eyeb.a.l.l.s entered the torso of a lady who was sitting on the streets, desperately gripping onto the symbol of the church of Origin, and her body swells up .
At the beginning she screamed in fear, but her voice gradually drowned as her mouth froths .
There were so much eyeb.a.l.l.s entering her body that her pink-colored insides are squeezed out .
“No, NOOOOO! STAY AWAY! PLEASE, NOT MY CHILD! NOT MY CHILD!”
“Mommy! Mo…m…my…”
“Go away, GO AWAAAY!”
“Mom…save…”
“Sa…ve…me…mom…my…s…save…m…e…”
“Sss-save m…e…m…om…z . . zabe . . m…”
“Hiii!?”
The child’s desperate struggle is in vain as the eyeb.a.l.l.s sunk themselves into the child’s neck, and on his mother’s arms, his head grew into three .
The mother released her child by reflex with her face paled from fear, but in that instant, the eyeb.a.l.l.s flooded into her, and her body merged with her child’s .
They showed no mercy .
They didn’t even think of concealing themselves .
If this is the church’s method of covering up their actions, this is too unreasonable .
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—!”
The girl was sinless .
But she was unable to bear the feeling of guilt, so she apologized with all her heart as she started breaking into a run again .
The number of victims grew, but the enemy’s objective is to maintain secrecy of their intelligence .
They would eliminate anything that got in their way, but their target is Sarah, without a doubt .
Once again, Sarah turned the corner and entered a narrower road .
She could continue to hear the screams of other victims behind her, but she couldn’t do anything to help them .
It would be possible for her to prevent further casualties by stopping—but it would be too unreasonable to tell a 10-year-old to do so and stop living as a human .
So right now, all she could do is grit her fists so hard that her nails are sinking into her palms and move forward with her sight blurred by the tears she shed .
Run…run…run—
She wandered about, looking for a path or a place where there were no people
She lost count on how far she ran .
She had ran out of stamina since long ago and her body had been screaming because of that, but she could only move her numbed legs under the sense that she had to keep moving .
“Wheeze…wheeze,”
As she wheezed through her parched throat, her chest started to hurt .
She’s starting to reach the true limit of her body; one way beyond the limit she had already pa.s.sed .
But those things had no limit .
Once she thought that she had shaken them off, they appeared from everywhere, and before long, Sarah had already been surrounded .
How far does she need to run to reach the end? Or rather, can she even run away in the first place?
Hasn’t one’s fate been sealed the moment they heard about the facility in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the church?
“Ha…cough…aa…aahh…”
Sarah’s powerless voice leaked out from her throat .
Yes, there is certainly an end to it .
As she couldn’t escape to the main road, she had to keep turning corners after corners into a narrow road where there were n.o.body else .
And at the end of it, a dead end .
Her hands touched the wall behind her, and the moment she noticed its roughness, her knees gave out .
There’s no way out .
Knowing that there’s use running out anymore, her body relaxed .
“Ed…Johnny…I’ll be with you right soon…”
The walls are on her back, and the ground is where she collapsed .
Since it was going to be over regardless, she paid no mind to her soiled robe .
As her limbs gave out, her listless eyes gazed at the street—and then she saw the eyeb.a.l.l.s starting to appear .
Being able to roll around, come down from the top or crawl out of the gutter, these eyeb.a.l.l.s are quite clever .
Before long, the ground was flooded with the white sphere, and the black pupils all glared at the girl .
“I’m sorry…everyone…”
What appeared like a soumatou¹ in her brain were…the people she lived together in the Central District church that she regarded as a family, Ed and Johnny, Flamm and the others…and the victims that got caught up during her escape .
After apologizing to everyone, she looked up into the sky, and closed her eyes—
and a calm gust of wind brushed her cheeks .