“Iris.” Her voice came out as a hushed, frightened whisper. The hoodie-clad girl then turned to lock gazes with her friend. Iris had to strain her ears to hear the next few words. “We need to fucking get out of here.”
Wei Tze grabbed Kat's forearm; his rheumy eyes flashed with alarm. “What's going on!? What the hell did you see?”
Without waiting for a reply, Kat jumped off her perch on the chair and tugged a dumbfounded Wei Tze to his feet before gesturing wildly to Iris to follow her. They jostled past their classmates and members of the public to get to the nearest exit, uncaring of how many feet they had trodden on during their mad scramble towards the doors.
“KAT!” Wei Tze called frantically, trying to get an explanation from her while being yanked around like a rag doll, rousing sounds of annoyance and confusion from the people he bumped into. Disoriented and overwhelmed, he looked over his shoulder to try and spot the source of the panic amongst the flurry of movements but only saw Iris' ashen face peering at him with a frightened expression that he was certain he was mirroring.
"Run faster!" Iris shouted at him. "Just go!" She didn't need to see what the commotion was about when the sounds were enough evidence that something terribly wrong was happening. The entire theatre had been thrown into pandemonium in a matter of seconds; the cacophony of different pitches of screams from different people was akin to an unpleasant orchestra that drowned out the guttural growls and snarls they heard from amidst the chaos.
"LET ME GO! PLEASE–" The imploring voice of a woman crescendoing into a disembodied caterwaul was the most distinct sound in their ears.
“CAN YOU JUST TELL US WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?” Wei Tze shrieked, eyes darting wildly from side to side to locate the threat before it could reach them.
“MING YUE FUCKING BIT MISS LEE’S NECK!” That was the only thing they got out of Kat as they neared the stairs that would lead them to one of the exits. They flew down the winding stairs and came face to face with a heavy-set security guard who was heading towards them with a sombre expression at the bottom.
“Kids, can you tell me what–”
“FUCK OFF AND LET US OUT!” Kat screeched, quivering hands grabbing the vest of the security guard and shoving him to the side easily as she surged towards the door and pushed it open.
Before the trio could run out of the auditorium that had become a slaughterhouse, an animalistic snarl that sounded too close for comfort reverberated in their ears. They whirled around with petrified shrieks escaping past their lips to meet the bleeding face of a man with milky white eyes and no corneas. ‘How the hell is this guy still alive?’ Iris thought, stumbling back from the accursed being with a horrified gasp.
His gaping, skinless mouth had lolled open to release a putrid stench that was akin to that of metallic blood and rancid century-old eggs. His veins pulsed erratically and stood out starkly against his paper-thin skin in blue-violet streaks, bearing a semblance to the bare branches of a tree in winter. One of his hands were mangled into a deformed stump and his right bicep was chewed away, exposing the white humerus beneath. In addition, his head was caved in, presumably from some failed attempt to bludgeon him and as he drew in each rattling breath, he made a low threatening gnarl that chilled their blood and spurred Kat into action.
“GO, GO, GO!” Kat hollered, heart racing at 100 miles per minute as she shoved a shell-shocked Wei Tze and Iris towards the door just as the creature lunged towards the motionless security guard. The creature’s yellowed canines sunk into the soft pudgy flesh and it ripped apart his throat in one swift motion before the man could even scream. A vermillion fountain spurted out in flowing ribbons, drenching the man’s front as he collapsed with the thing grovelling on his chest. There was a ball of nausea and fear lodged in the back of her throat that Iris desperately tried and failed to ignore as they fled from the gruesome scene. It was something straight out of the murder mystery stories Kat had written. Albeit, not even her grisly tales of gore and slaughter could match up to the real scenario of the thing currently taking large chunks out of the security guard.
None of them dared to look back and check whether it was feasting on the man or eyeing them as its next chewing toys. They bounded out of the auditorium but had barely gotten anywhere before they felt hot musty pants on the bare skin of their nape. Iris shrieked and leapt aside just as Wei Tze stumbled and fell to his knees with a pained cry when the monster’s claws raked his shoulder with its razor-sharp claws dirtied with flecks of blood and skin. Kat, on the other hand, had fallen to the side in a tangle of her own limbs while trying to dodge sideways. Her glasses had slid off her nose and dropped to the ground a few feet away from her, leaving her helpless and half-blind.
The creature leered over Wei Tze, its dislocated jaws hanging open to reveal a glistening string of drool mixing with the blood and remnants of pulpy flesh of its previous victim, and pounced on the boy. It wore a diabolical grin on its red fleshless mouth when it bared its teeth, ready to latch onto the flesh of Wei Tze's bloody shoulder. Iris laid sprawled on the linoleum floor, watching in mute terror as the boy's voice grew hoarse from screaming incessantly. His limbs were flailing in all directions and he thrashed beneath the creature slobbering over him in a futile attempt to throw off the weight on his back. Kat was yelling incoherently too while her hands scrabbled at the smooth floor to find her missing glasses.
Out of nowhere, an object soared through the air in an arc before striking the creature on the face across the cheek with a dull thump. Iris heard the sickening crack of its stiffened neck as it landed on its side, freeing the boy pinned underneath. Wei Tze and Kat did not waste a single second. The girl snatched up her glasses and hastily shoved them on just as the boy managed to crawl away on his knees to put more distance between him and the creature. It let loose another howl at the sight of its prey getting away and lurched forward on unsteady feet to swipe at their ankles.
Kat gesticulated frantically to Wei Tze to get to safety before rounding on the zombie with renewed rage carved into her steely eyes. She raised her leg and dug the thick sole of her platform boot into its grotesque face, pushing it down and causing its head to smack against the floor with an audible crack. "OH MY GOD, JUST DIE ALREADY."
Its bony fingers grappled at her covered shins but the girl refused to let up and continued stomping on its head until the fragile skull shattered underneath the constant force and its brain matter splattered on the ground. Grunting from overexertion, Kat allowed Wei Tze to pull her away from the motionless body.
Iris had barely registered the turn of events when a hand towed her up and a familiar face came into focus.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
