Chapter 9
The cold wind whipped across the mall's flat rooftop, carrying the distant, horrifying symphony of screams, snarls, and the wet, tearing sounds of violence.
Elias, Arnold, and the other workers cautiously peered down. Below, the unnatural twilight had lifted slightly, revealing a scene of utter devastation.
The dog-like monsters weren't actively trying to breach the mall walls anymore.
Instead, they roamed the ruined streets and parking lots like a black, chaotic tide, focused on the people who hadn't made it inside.
People ran desperately, their panicked shouts echoing off the buildings as they darted into shattered storefronts or scrambled over wrecked cars, seeking any refuge.
Even stray animals – a terrified cat, a yelping dog – were pursued relentlessly by the black hounds.
The monsters moved with terrifying efficiency. When they caught a victim, it wasn't quick. Claws ripped, jaws snapped with wet, crunching sounds.
Limbs were torn free with brutal jerks, spraying dark arcs of blood that splattered the grey concrete and twisted metal. The agonized screams that followed were short, choked things that ended abruptly.
The workers watched, frozen in place, as a woman was dragged screaming from a collapsed bus, vanishing under a writhing mass of black bodies.
"They're... they're not eating them," one worker whispered, his voice thick with nausea. It was true. The monsters didn't devour their prey on the spot.
Instead, they seized mangled limbs or entire, still-twitching bodies in their wide jaws and began dragging the grisly trophies back towards the base of the colossal, spiky structure.
Some victims, clearly still alive, shrieked as they were hauled away towards the dark gaps in the monstrous dome.
The workers beside Elias gagged. One turned abruptly, retching violently onto the rooftop gravel, the sour smell of vomit mixing nauseatingly with the stench from below.
Another covered his mouth. Elias felt his stomach churn, the memory of his ham sandwich turning to lead.
Then, abruptly, the bruised-looking clouds overhead parted. A shaft of weak, pale sunlight speared through, hitting the street near the mall's west entrance.
Where the light touched, the monsters reacted instantly. A chorus of high-pitched, agonized screeches erupted.
Panic spread through their ranks. They scattered like cockroaches, scrambling frantically away from the light, their frantic claws scraping loudly on the debris.
Some bolted straight for the dark gaps in the spiky structure, vanishing into the shadows.
Others simply fled to the deepest shadows they could find – under wrecked vehicles, into collapsed building alcoves, behind piles of rubble.
The sudden retreat left an eerie, ringing silence punctuated only by distant, fading snarls and the weak sobs of survivors.
Below, the carnage was laid bare in the harsh light: mangled limbs, twisted bodies, and dark, glistening pools of blood staining the broken ground like obscene paint.
The metallic smell of blood hung heavy and cloying in the air. People emerged slowly, cautiously, from hiding places, their faces streaked with tears and grime, staring at the devastation with hollow eyes.
Their cries of grief and horror rose, a mournful counterpoint to the fading screeches. Elias shivered in fear, the weak sunlight offering no warmth, only illuminating the terrible truth.
This was only the beginning of the nightmare.