His heart skipped a beat, the deadly gaze stuck to him like glue.

He could feel its overwhelming hunger as it rose to its feet, its head hitting against the ceiling above, yet it showed no reaction.

The black sludge spilled out, the rancid odor instantly circulating around the room.

His feet became burdened with a heavy fear as he struggled to back away.

What the hell?!

What the hell?!

WHAT THE HELL???

Its left foot slowly rose from the floor and it lunged forward, its speed terrifying for its massive size. In an instant, it had already closed the distance between them, its hand outstretched and prepared to seize Alex.

Alexander could feel the falter in his heartbeat as the giant hand stood only inches away from him and at that moment, his entire life, alike a slideshow, flashed before his eyes.

➽14 Years Ago➽

Alexander aged 3

"Mommy it hurts!" Alexander protested, tears running down his puffy cheeks as the needle slowly dug into his skin, extracting his blood steadily, like oil from the land.

"I know Pumpkin Pie but this is very important so please stay still for mommy okay?"

"But mommy! It hurts!"

"Stay calm honey. I promise I'll cure you."

➽Present➽

The glass from a nearby window shattered, emerging from its fragments was a golden saviour, a sharp glimmer from the refracted rays of the sun caught his eye as it rushed to Alex's rescue.

The collision of this powerful force with its target sent the hand of the beast off of its trajectory, saving Alex from his seemingly inevitable bitter-end.

This snapped him back to reality, the overwhelming fear permeating his very soul, but for a moment, even if it was one single moment, a small sense of relief flowed over him, blessing him with enough strength to create distance between the abomination of a creature and himself.

This only angered the enormous savage, causing it to raise both of its hands into the air, breaking the structure of the ceiling itself, and with one swift, angry action, drove down with all its might into the floor, sending a fearsome tremble throughout the floor before releasing a bellow of rage, vibrating the very air around them.

Its powerful roar attacked Alexander, his eardrums ringing from the vicious anger, forcing his body to the floor, his hands attempting to block out as much of the sound as possible, a natural instinct even in the presence of the great tormentor, fear, forcing him to unconsciously let go of the steel pipe.

Its foot raised once more as it prepared to pounce once again but another golden saviour made its glorious entrance, penetrating the forehead of the massive zombie, sending its head back on impact.

Three more followed shortly after one another, forcing the creature to stumble backward as it received significant damage to the brain repeatedly.

Its body fell to the floor, collapsing on the pile of over 50 zombies, their blood splattering as their bodies became alike flat surfaces. The black sludge exuded from its forehead, making its way to the floor at an agonizingly slow pace.

Alexander, who had been curled up on the floor, his hands protecting his ears and his eyes clenched tightly, slowly peeked through his eyelids upon noticing the disappearance of the wretched sound.

His head slowly turned just enough so that he could see the creature behind him, its defeated-like state meeting his eyes.

Is it...really dead this time?...

He cautiously rose to his feet, the fear that it could still possibly rise again visible in his shaking hands and ragged breath. He picked back up the galvanized steel pipe he had dropped when he took to the floor and covered his ears. In the position it had fallen, it was possible to now use the door in which it blocked but due to its enormous size, it covered the majority of the walkway towards the exit, forcing one to be daring as it required something that common sense strongly advised against...stepping over it.

Dammit!

What do I do??!

I can't step over that!

What if it's still alive??

Who the hell saved me??

What the hell was that thing??

What am I gonna do now?? DAMMIT!! I DON'T KNOW!!

These thoughts plagued his mind as he slowly tread forward, looking out the window only to see a flickering light from another window in a large insurance building a moderate distance away.

Who saved me? And why...?

Alexander, in hopes of his guardian angel seeing his display of gratitude, raised his thumb and smiled, but his hands still trembled uncontrollably at the entire situation.

He then turned around, facing the corpse directly in an attempt to muster up enough courage.

Run as fast as you can. If it's still alive...waiting around would be certain death.

Come on...just run and get out of here now.

Why can't I bring myself to move?!

Come on! Dad would be disappointed as hell in all this hesitation. Come on MOVE!

He struggled to raise his foot from the floor, burdened heavily by fear.

Ok on 3.

1...

2...

3!

He suddenly jolted forward but stopped himself midway as the thought of it waking flooded his mind.

Dammit! Come on! On 3, for real this time.

1...

Crap I can't. Why am I such a coward? Come on! I have to move!

2...

Crap! Crap! Crap! Come on Alexander! You're a Kane! Your dad is fearless...when you find him are you gonna tell him how much you hesitated? "Hesitation is the sword that kills the coward" remember? Do it! Do it! Yes...I can do it! I will do it!

3...

The weight which burdened him faded as his feet levitated from the floor. He sprung from his position after a quick run-up, his body quickly covering half of the corpse before his feet landed onto it, his feet almost sinking into the belly of the beast before he propelled himself once more into the air.

His feet landed onto the hard surface of the floor, his heart rapidly pounding as his hands tried to turn the bloodstained doorknob. After two unsuccessful tries, he finally succeeded. The door flung open, flushing his eyes with the beauty of freedom, the beauty of escape from certain death.

It was bright.

Almost beautiful actually.

After escaping the grasp of the grim giant, everything seemed more valuable, even the dead state of a ravaged city. His nose praised the fresh smell of the air as the stench of death quickly evaporated after he shut the door behind him.

I...survived...

A sigh of relief escaped his lips, the uncontrollable shaking in his hands and feet slowly subsiding. His racing heartbeat slowed its pace, fear slowly retreating until it could rear its ugly head once more.

He made his way over to the ledge of the roof, looking over to the roof Olivia had climbed onto, the sight of blood meeting his brown eyes. It was a trail, leading to the edge of the roof.

It was logical to assume she had made her way down the fire escape on the other side of the building, as her condition would make it painfully difficult to leap the buildings as gracefully as she previously did.

Alexander followed the trail of blood down the fire escape and continued for a while, the trail of blood decreasing in size until it came to an abrupt halt near an abandoned group of storehouses.

Alexander surveyed the outskirts of the location, circling the fence that secured the perimeter, trying to gather as much information as he could without drawing attention to himself but his surveillance acquired little to no evidence of any survivors being nearby.

Just as Alexander was nearing the entrance to the storehouse facility, he heard the crunch of a twig behind him, his body shifting to see what had been behind him but he was met with a devastating blow, his consciousness fading as his body collapsed onto the earth. With his last bit of consciousness, his eyes were greeted with two shadowy figures above him.

"Looks like we caught our prey."