Chapter 1: Those Granted to Hell II

—I'm going! —Ashley got out of the vehicle and right behind her was Rocky, who opted to stop the vehicle and accompany her to talk to that strange man.

At the moment Ashley stopped to get a better look at him, there was a very strange feeling in the atmosphere, for some reason it felt so cold... something that was strange for Ashley was that the man was walking disoriented, his steps were clumsy, the way his feet were bumping against each other and not even stepping completely on the pavement made him look like a stranger, a drunk maybe.

Ashley looked at her surroundings, the city so quiet, so calm... Why did she suddenly get that feeling that maybe they were the only people in the world? Why did time seem to have stopped at that very moment when she wanted to talk to the stranger?

—Sir? Excuse me... Sir?

Ashley didn't come any closer, so much was her fear that her face turned pale, and she walked over to Rocky, staying behind him for protection. Ashley held on to her boyfriend's jacket as she watched him....

—Sir? Are you alright? —Rocky asked as he tried to calm his partner down. —We're looking for a motel for the night. Do you know where we can find one?

The guy didn't answer.

—Honey, I think this is very strange, please let's go back to the vehicle and find the motel on our own.

—Sure, sure... let's go back.

Before they turned around, the strange man also revealed himself, he revealed the other side of his body so that everyone could better appreciate it.  Ashley felt a huge shudder at the sight of the guy covering his mouth with one of his hands, but it wasn't the act that scared her, it was seeing the guy as such, his clothes.

The stench of blood, that was the characteristic odor that so disturbed Ashley and upset her.

—Oh my God! Sir! You need help! Are you all right?

And that man had blood all over his shirt, still fresh.

—Sir, maybe you should OH FUCK, OH NO!

Rocky was dumbfounded when the man pulled his hand away and they could see that he lacked a jaw, and that his hand had bites... bites that he had caused himself. And his eyes... that strange man's eyes were empty, white... there was no life in them.

Slowly he approached, his steps slow and bringing with him the stench... Rocky and Ashley didn't move because they didn't know how to react, they were paralyzed by the scene.

The sound of the horn being honked by Jason brought them out of their trance.

—OH FUCK! ROCKY, LET'S GO!

Ashley took her boyfriend by the hand and they entered the vehicle. When they did, the man lunged at the driver's door trying to open it, and repeatedly hit the window trying to break it, this frightened the passengers who didn't know what was happening.

—Start, start, damn it! —Rocky tried to start the van but the engine wouldn't start, even worse was when they saw more strangers approaching, just as slow and stupid as that strange man who kept hitting the window, leaving some cracks.

Rocky managed to start the vehicle but there were people in front of him... people... or at least they looked like people. Ashley yelled at him and told him to drive and not to be a jerk, to run them over because they would do something very bad to them if they got caught. Because of the fear, Rocky was paralyzed, he didn't know what to do and soon the trauma of the war came back.

He remained static, not even listening to Ashley telling him to step on the gas...

He acted too late. The guy broke the window and grabbed Rocky by the head, to proceed to pull him out of the window even if Ashley grabbed Rocky by the legs and tried to pull him out. The freaky man embedded the rest of his jaw into Rocky's forehead, managing to tear off a chunk of his skin. Due to the screams, more strange beings approached.

Two other subjects, civilians from Vallimorth, approached and helped the stranger pull Rocky out of the vehicle. Soon each of them embedded their teeth into different parts of his body and tugged at the flesh as if it were a feast.

—Fuck it! —Nikolai unbuckled his seatbelt, shifted into the driver's seat and sped off, despite Ashley's pleas to stop and come back for him. Rocky's choked screams in his own blood were the focus of more locals who, were attracted by the smell of blood and noise. Rocky was brutally mutilated when between four of those monsters grabbed him by the limbs and began to pull on them until they fractured and tore him apart.

Ashley started to hit Nikolai and tell him to stop, but all he did was speed up more, in an unknown direction.

—Let's go to the mall, Niko! That's where the lights are coming from! I know they come from there because of some photos I saw during my research!

—To the fucking mall it is —Niko accelerated more and guided by the light of the headlights. He took the streets that he considered were opportune to get to that place. Meanwhile Ashley was hysterical as she started kicking and asking to stop, she wanted to be with Rocky. Due this Nikolai slapped her and told her to calm down or he was going to open the doors and kick her out of the car.

At one point, Nikolai drove into the parking lot of the Vallimorth Shopping Mall, and all over the place they could see more of those things scattered... they were attacking people trying to get into vehicles, people of all colors and sizes were being shamelessly killed.

—We're surrounded! We're going to die, Niko!

—Fuck! Not like this! —Nikolai accelerated and took one of the gates that prevented access and, knowing that there was no other alternative, he opted to forcefully enter the mall by breaking the doors of the mall, since the van took out the glass entrances and the pipes that prevented access.

Shortly after crashing, they realized that one of the entrance glass was embedded in Ashley's leg, too deep.

—We have to get out... we have to get out... damn it....

Nikolai was feeling the adrenaline, and Jason got a good whack on the forehead, so much so that he was dizzy. Between the two of them they pulled Ashley out, and saw how the mall was nothing but a death trap, as the undead were swarming in different areas, each and every one of them looking at the group like new steaks....

The grunting in unison... their clumsy steps....

It was the end.