“W-Wha…” Angel gasped, covering her mouth and not making a sound. Tears could be seen on the corners of her eyes, and her whole body was trembling. The other teens were no different.

But for Derek, it hit the hardest.

On the wrist of the severed hand was a bracelet. It was the bracelet he gave to his mother for Mother’s Day last year. She had treasured it dearly… and now, it lay on the floor along with her hand, stained with blood.

“N-No… what is this…?!” Shocked by this whole situation and unable to think straight, Derek subconsciously let out a loud scream.

“AHH!”

“gAwR…?” Numerous inhuman growls all turned to face the basement door, where Derek and the other teens were hiding.

Immediately, they zipped their mouths, pausing their breathing. Derek could feel his heart pumping against his chest, ready to explode, but he clasped his mouth tightly with his two hands and shut his eyes, praying to god that this was just a dream.

Too bad… it wasn’t.

Suddenly, a pure white, glowing hand clasped the door’s edge, sending cracks through the wood from the impact.

“G-Gah!”

Derek and the other teens hurriedly fell back, trembling in fear.

The hand’s sharp claws tore the door apart with a loud smash, revealing a creepy face on the other side. It had two small white eyes, no nose, and a creepy Glasgow smile that curved all the way up to its ears that revealed row upon row of sharp triangular teeth, stained with red blood. Behind its back, eight long white tentacles slithered around, begging for food.

Countless more creatures of the same structure stood behind this one, some tainted crimson with human blood and others still busy munching on the bodies of their prey.

“SKREE…!” The creature squealed in delight at more food, before suddenly sending its tentacles forward, immediately grabbing Phil and Maximo.

“Phil! Maximo!” Derek cried, but his body was frozen still. He wanted to help. He really did. But his muscles refused to listen. His mind was telling him a single word:

Run.

“N-Ngh…! What the hell is this thing…?!” Phil’s eyes widened in shock as he desperately tried to free himself from the creature’s grasp around his neck, but to no avail.

“D-Derek…” Maximo mustered out as he was starting to run out of breath, face turning purple as he struggled against the tentacles.

“Ah… AHH!” A teen immediately turned tail and fled down the stairs, hoping to find an exit somewhere in the basement. There was one, but only Derek knew where it was.

Everyone else followed, but Derek remained frozen in place, staring at his two friends about to die with a frightful expression.

“Derek!” Angel called out, grabbing his hand and pulling him back to reality. “We have to run. NOW!”

Funnily enough, the usually shy and timid girl was the one to take the lead in a situation like this. Derek shook his head as he was pulled away, tears in his eyes.

“I… I’m sorry, Maximo, Phil…”

“De… rek…”

“Ngh…”

SNAP.

Both necks were broken at the exact same time, the limp bodies dropping to the floor. Derek closed his eyes and turned around, not wanting to witness the scene.

“SKREE!” The creatures, sensing their escape, quickly followed suit, tumbling their way down the stairs like a bunch of thirsty wolves.

“E-Everyone, follow me!” Derek called out, having regained control of his senses and body. All the teens, panicked, needed a leader to tell them what to do. And Derek knew he had to fill that role.

The teens entered the laundry room, where the washing machine, dryer, and… the vent all were.

“Shut the door and lock it!” Derek yelled as he jumped up on top of the washing machine to work on getting the vent cover off. That was their one and only method of escape.

Two teens hurriedly worked to slam the door shut right before the creatures could reach them. Luckily, this door was made of metal, not wood, so it wasn’t as easy to break through.

Or so they thought.

“AH!”

One of the creatures’ claws tore straight through the metal and stabbed into a teen’s back, killing him instantly.

“D-Derek, hurry up!” The crowd of panicked students shouted as they moved desperately to keep the door in place despite the danger. After all, they knew. If that door went down, everyone here would die.

It was either die yourself or make everyone die with you.

“C’mon… c’mon…!” Derek shook the vent gate furiously. It should be loose, and he didn’t have time to fully unscrew the screws right now. This should be enough…

KLANG!

“Okay, it’s out!” Derek declared, tossing the metal cover to one side. “Come on, everyone, through the vent!”

Saying this, he climbed through first, but right as he did so, the metal door was busted open.

CRASH!

“NGH!” The teens were blown backwards as the bloodthirsty glowing white creatures filled the room, tentacles eager to consume and jaws opened wide.

“SKREE!” They shrieked in ecstasy, tearing the teens’ bodies apart and hungrily devouring them. In an instant, blood was splattered all over the walls, and Derek was frozen in place once more by this gruesome scene.

“No… NO!” He moved to jump back out of the vent in a desperate attempt to save his already-dead classmates, but before he could, a voice rang out amidst the chaos.

“DEREK!”

“A-Angel…?”

He spotted the nerdy girl staring at him from across the room, glasses shattered and clothes stained with blood. The monsters continued flooding into the room, tearing apart everything they saw and ripping organs out of the teens’ bodies.

But despite all this, Angel smiled, tears in her eyes.

“Live.”

“…!”

Derek’s eyes widened as her figure was blocked off by the crowd of creatures, eagerly devouring every bit of meat they could find. Clenching his fists tightly, he spun around and began crawling through the vents, wanting to forget everything that happened.

“Damn it… DAMN IT…!”

He shook his head as tears blinded his vision. Still, Angel’s last words encouraged him to keep going. He traversed through the vents desperately, sobbing and weeping.

Before long, he made it to the end, and headbutted straight into the gate, smashing it open. He too fell with it to the lawn outside, clutching his bloody head in pain.

“Ngh…” he groaned before pulling himself to his feet and stumbling his way away from the mansion. Far, far away, as far as he could go.

“Hah… hah…” He panted heavily as he made it into a narrow alleyway about a hundred meters away from his house, unable to go on any longer.

“Phil… Maximo… Mom… Dad…”

He whispered softly as he fell into a puddle on the concrete with a soft thud, slowly closing his eyes.

“… Angel.”

On that day, Derek McLan swore. He swore to never let anyone, no matter who it was, take something from him again.

– Minutes Later –

A man stood over Derek’s collapsed figure, unconscious and barely alive.

“Damn it… I was too late.”

Through his earpiece, a woman connected with him.

“Archon, did you get all of them?”

“Yeah,” the man replied. “But… the civilians were slain before I could get there. There’s one who managed to escape, but I’m not sure if he’s aliv-“

Suddenly, Derek’s body below him stirred a bit. With clenched fists, out his quivering mouth came a single, faint sentence.

“… Kill… kill them all…”

The man — Archon — stared at the broken boy with a conflicted expression on his face, eyes holding an unreadable emotion.

“… Scratch that, Melvia. He’s alive.”