I AM GOD!

While Rick drove back to his farm to grab a few things, Grim, Mary, and Laura used planks of st.u.r.dy wood to board up the windows, they had decided to reinforce the house in preparation for any attacks. Even Jyn helped as he carried nails around to whoever needed them. After Rick returned, their speed of work sped up with the extra pair of hands.

Over 5 days, they managed to turn Grim"s farmhouse into a rather defensible fort, easy to defend and hard to attack. The walls were good enough to stop weak ballistic weapons like pistols, rifles and shotguns which were C grade weapons. They were the most common arms allowed by the government to the general public, police forces however had extra access to grade C+ weapons like automatic rifles and grenade launchers.

Anything B grade and above, only the military possessed.

Over those 5 days, they noticed that every 2 days after not killing they would suffer immeasurable pain. Every time it happened, the pain got considerably worse filling their hearts with dread. After the pain disappeared, some of it lingered.

It wasn"t painful enough to cripple them, no, it was just enough for them to notice, like having a peg constantly clipped onto your skin or a sharp pencil pushing against you.

There was also the blurry creature in the corner of their eyes that they had labeled the "Buzzing Beast". It"s name came from the loud buzzing it emitted that sounded like a swarm of thousands of flies; it also had an unpleasant stench to it that smelled of rotting meat fermented in a mix of decaying fish and feces .

From what the two families figured out, it was constantly moving closer them and at it"s speed, it would take roughly 7-8 days to reach them. They shuddered to think what would happen if the Buzzing Beast ever caught them.

...

The sky was cloudy as the afternoon sun bathed the world in it"s light.

A rusty truck was driving towards the visible town in the distance, pine forests bordering the backroad the truck was on. Plumes of smoke was rising from several buildings that appeared to have been set on fire, before being put out.

In the truck, Grim, Rick and the rest sat quietly in their seats. Their were visible signs of lack of sleep on their faces with dark circles under their eyes.

"h.e.l.lo dear Fans.. " Fiona"s tired voice echoed from the old radio. "There won"t be any recipes today, sorry. I.., I just feel weak and I can"t think properly with the constant pain. I also have to take care of my little Jenny who has recently collapsed and is now bedridden."

"Please dear listeners, stay safe, it"s dangerous out there. There have been a few...incidents in my little town so I can"t bear to imagine what it"s like elsewhere. I may check back next week if things brighten up a little, things can"t get worse right? I hope.. Anyway, goodbye for now."

Rick seemed to audibly sigh as he turned the radio off. Just as he did, the truck reached the edge of town which had a blockade.

Grim peered into the distance and noticed that the blockade was being guarded by police in blue uniforms.

"Police, looks like they"ve restored order." He remarked hopefully as he stroked his stubble.

"What do you think they did with all the fanatics?" Laura asked warily.

Grim noticed areas by the road where the ground had been recently dug up, his forehead creased as he replied. "They"ve been taken care of.. The president declared martial law a few days ago so they"re well within their rights."

Laura paled slightly as she held the sleeping Jyn close.

When Rick"s truck reached the blockade, they were ordered to stop by one of the police officers. The police officer in question, a young man in his 20"s carrying what looked to be an automatic rifle walked to Rick"s side of the window and gestured downwards with his finger.

Rick winded down the window and heard the police officer say in a stern, vigilant tone. "What"s your business?"

"We"re here to buy supplies and then we"ll be leaving." Rick answered calmly.

The police officer inspected the inside of the truck, his gaze washed over Mary, Laura and the sleeping Jyn causing both women to shrink back. He turned his gaze to the two men in front and frowned when he saw they were armed.

"If you want to enter, you"ll have to surrender your weapons. You"ll get them back when you leave." The police officer said coldly.

Rick turned to Grim, when he saw him nod he turned back to the police officer and replied. "Okay, you can have them."

Handing over Grim"s shotgun and Rick"s revolver, they entered the town safely. As they drove towards the supermarket, they witnessed the aftermath of the chaos that started nearly a week ago.

Dry bloodstains and bullet casings covered the road and sidewalks, painting a bleak picture.

"Horrible.. " Mary couldn"t help but utter as her eyes were glued to the various b.l.o.o.d.y sights.

Laura couldn"t help but nod her head in agreement.

"We"re here." Rick said as he pulled into a busy parking lot. People were quickly packing the groceries they had aquired into their cars, while carefully keeping an eye out.

Even with the police patrolling the supermarket, they still didn"t feel safe.

After finding a parking s.p.a.ce, the two families exited the truck and headed into the large supermarket. A large concrete building painted green with a big glowing sign, saying, "Silverworths".

"Where are we Mama?" Jyn rubbed his eyes sleepily as he followed his mother and the rest into the supermarket. It was brightly lit inside with shiny white floors and grey walls.

There were over a hundred customers inside making it quite busy, they all had a fatigued look to them. Some dressed messily and others having gazes full of wariness.

"Supermarket, stay close and don"t wander off okay." Laura held Jyn"s hand tightly.

"Mmm.. " Jyn nodded as he watched they gathered supplies. His father Grim heading off to the medical provisions section and the rest gathering other essentials.

The two families moved fast and before they new it, they had gathered the supplies and payed the automated checkout.

As they exited the supermarket, they heard a commotion. In the center parking lot, there was a large gathering of people, with even police officers shouting and trying to keep order.

"Ahhh!!!" The loud painful wail of a woman sounded from within the large crowd, startling many.

"We should go." Rick advised as he adjusted the large pack full of supplies on his back.

Grim frowned as listened to the continuously hoa.r.s.e screams of the mysterious woman. "Rick, go back to the truck with others. Keep the engine on while I check this out."

"Okay. We"ll be waiting so don"t take too long." Rick nodded.

"Be careful honey." Laura quickly kissed Grim"s cheek before pulling along Jyn back to the truck.

Grim walked through the crowd of people, their inaudible whispers of shock reaching his ears. Finally reaching the center where the screams were coming from, he saw a strange sight.

"Calm down ma"am!"

"Ah! ahhhh!" There was a woman being held by several police officers, her body shaking fiercely with unnatural strength, her face was twisted in pain.

Black goo was leaking from every orifice including her eyes, nose and ears. It looked thick and viscous.

Gradually, her body stopped shaking, yet her eyes were locked onto a certain spot, absolute terror showing in them.

"What"s wrong ma"am?" One of the exhausted police officers asked as he and the others released their grips on the frightened woman.

"Eeeee!" The woman screamed as she backed up against a car. She pointed at the empty air in front of her and shouted. "I SEE IT!!"

"IT"S COMING! HELP!" Black fluid continued to flow from her face, painting her clothes black.

As she was about to stand up, her legs suddenly disappeared. Red blood and black substance spurted from her stumps.

"AHHH!!!!" The woman screamed so loud that it looked like her jaw dislocated.

The crowd of people backed away fearfully, even the police officers.

Grim"s eyes opened wide in shock as he continued to observe.

In the next moment another chunk of the woman disappeared leaving only her torso. She kept looking at at the bottom half of her body in fear, her mouth opening and closing as if to say something but no words came.

In the blink of an eye, her head along with a large potion of her chest disappeared. The shivering crowd watched as the woman"s entire body finally disappeared leaving nothing but a black and red puddle.

"G-g-go check it out!" One of the senior police officers shoved a junior officer.

The junior officer glared at the senior officer before gulping and walking slowly up to the puddle while gripping his rifle tightly. Along the way, he picked up the woman"s purse.

When he reached the large puddle, he poked it with the purse. After nothing happened, he sighed in relief. He turned around and shouted. "All clear!"

Though the moment he saw his senior officer, his face froze. The senor officer was pointing behind him with an open mouth.

The junior officer felt his hairs stand on end, slowly he turned around and that"s when he saw it.

It was a large creature several foot taller than his 6"2 self rising out from the blackish-red puddle. It was lanky and dripping in black goo, it had long shiny claws for hands and long obsidian blades for legs. From it"s body, numerous spikes jutted out.

It didn"t have a head, only a long thick neck with a wide gaping mouth, hundreds of jagged teeth could be seen inside.

The junior officer slowly raised his weapon, his eyes locked onto the eldritch-like abomination.

Before he could fully raise his gun, the creature lunged forward and bit his head off.

"Ahhh!"

"ARGH!"

Screams came from the crowd of people as over over half of them fell to the ground, convulsing. Black fluid leaking from their faces.

Grim shivered fearfully. He bolted out of the crowd, pushing anyone in his path aside. From behind him, apart from screams, he heard loud gunshots.

*Bang!*

Grim didn"t dare look back as he jumped over several cars to reach Grim"s truck. He slid along the rusty bonnet, opened the car door and closed it with a slam.

"Hey mind the truck, it"s old." Rick grumbled.

"Get us the f.u.c.k outta here!" Grim screamed urgently, he was out of breath and his eyes were filled with fright.

"R-right on it." Rick saw how serious Grim was and put his foot to the pedal.