Monsters Outside

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WHOOPS I made a mistake in that last post! The last image somehow had two Malias! I’ll fix that later!

>Don't pick it up, doctor cobra pretty much would call in another hour, prob trollmaster hades living up his name.

You decide not to answer the call. After a few seconds pass, your phone stops buzzing.

The monsters outside struggle to get past the slime. They're clearly unable to push the fridge out of the way.

Alyssa's communicator starts to beep. She answers it and lets you listen in.

COMMSOUND AUDIOTALK
Ver. 1.1.4
(all conversations monitored by Government under Emergency Act)
(You are speaking with Friend Cobra-Doc)

Cobra-Doc: Alyssa! Is Costovo okay? He hasn't answered his phone!

Alyssa: He's fine, doc. He got a call from Hades earlier and he thought it might have been one of his tricks.

Cobra-Doc: I see. Can't fault him for being paranoid, but this is urgent. The Tagonian Army and our military are assaulting the last of the monsters surrounding your position.

Alyssa: We heard explosions downstairs earlier. That's the army?

Cobra-Doc: Yes! 4,000 of our troops and 2,000 Tagonians are in the fight as we speak. The generals made the call after recon confirmed there were approximately only 300 hostile monsters left. Hades might be a crafty bastard but his time's up.

Alyssa: Cool. Any special instructions?

Cobra-Doc: Stay away from the wall where the refrigerator was earlier. There's a gigantic monster climbing up that side, and we think it might be Hades himself. The air force is on their way to blast him, but it might take a few minutes before they arrive. If Hades breaks in, you are authorized to use everything you have against him!

(AUDIOTALK INTERRUPTED)

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear: Hades has reached your floor and has smashed through the outside wall!



He doesn't look even remotely human anymore. How big is he?!

Hades: Costovo. You're the last one in-

You don't waste any time and immediately open fire! You raise your handgun, aim for his eyes and shoot them out!



The monster is blind! He trashes around, but fails to hit anyone.

Alyssa uses her shotgun to fire pellets into his face, and Malia assists by slicing up his arms!

You hear his voice coming from his cavernous mouth.

“YOU- UGH! YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO LISTEN?”

You don't even dignify that with an answer.

The huge creature struggles to maintain a grip on your room. You hear jet engines in the distance. The air force is here!

A moment later, a missile explodes a couple of floors below you, and it kills Hades as it tears his lower half apart. His blood drains out of his body. His carcass falls off your apartment building and crashes into the road below. You, Alyssa and Malia stare at the hole, your weapons still raised.



You feel like you might be tempting fate by asking this question, but you ask nonetheless...

“Is it over?”

Alyssa confidently answers you.

“Yeah. I'm getting word from troopers on the ground. He's dead.”

A helicopter arrives. You recognize the markings on it. It's Tagonian. A woman in a hazmat steps out of the chopper and walks into your apartment through the newest hole in the wall. The woman in the suit calls out to you. Her voice! It's Dr. Cobra!

“Costovo! Sorry for the last-minute change in plans, but we're getting you and your friends out of here! Oh, and uh, you can put the guns down now.”



You almost can't believe it. You're leaving.

“Hang on, wait. Can I bring my laptop?”

The doctor laughs.

“Sure, why not.”

You quickly bring your laptop with you and climb aboard. Alyssa and Malia sit in a separate compartment in the rear. You sit next to the exit.



As the helicopter flies away, you ask the doctor what's going to happen to you and your new friends. She answers honestly.

“I'll be frank. You're going to have to spend a month in quarantine, just to make sure you really don't have any trace of alien microbes on you. As for Alyssa, she'll be assigned to a new task force for incursions into infected areas in Tagonia. Malia will also have to be quarantined and kept under observation.”

You've seen a lot of science fiction movies and though they may not be the most accurate sources of information on how the Government would react in a situation like this, you worry for Malia. You ask.

“She's not going to be dissected or anything, is she?”

The doctor smiles underneath her suit.

“No no, nothing like that. We're not going to kill her or anything like that. We need to study her, and we'll do everything we can to keep her safe. The Ministry of Health is the one in charge with the research, and we're going to treat her as a patient. To be honest, Costovo, I never fully agreed with the military's decision to shoot even the hostile monsters. I just wanted them captured for study, but... well, the Ministry of Defense made their case and our Prime Minister approved their rules of engagement. They said we just didn't have the resources or the manpower to go non-lethal. I have to admit we didn't have enough facilities for containment but... I'm still a doctor, Costovo.”

You wonder about the consequences. No doubt many of the dead monsters had friends and family who were living in other places. You might be seeing protests pop up in the country, demanding the Prime Minister to resign for approving mass euthanasia... but that's something you don't want to think about right now. You're tired.

As the helicopter flies into the night, you sleep and dream of being free to walk around again. You dream of seeing Alyssa and Malia, back to how they should be.

After your quarantine ends, you are declared healthy and uninfected. Sadly, the Government won't give you access to even see Malia, but at least you're able to send emails and packages to her.

As for Alyssa, she's been assigned to Task Force Demon, a new group of soldiers dedicated to clearing out places infected by the alien microbes. She still talks to you in-between missions. She sounds weary of her job, but remains devoted to it nonetheless.

You? You came back to Goldriver City. Back to your apartment, all cleaned up and repaired thanks to the Government. You still don’t have a window though.



You've become a celebrity during your quarantine. People from the rest of the country call you The Miracle Man, the only local who was never infected. Sadly, you had to move after a week. Too many tourists visited you, asked you to grant blessings. You just didn't feel comfortable doing that.

So now you've moved back to your parents' house. There, you begin your new vocation: to study the new alien life, and perhaps find a way to reverse the transformation. Doctor Belinda Cobra enthusiastically granted you a scholarship to study. You're not a genius, but you still find yourself able to make contributions to the global effort to research the new microbes. In time, you will even earn access to meet Alyssa and Malia again.



It's been three years since the day you left in that helicopter. Progress is slow, but you remain dedicated to your work.

After all, there are still monsters outside.

-THE END-

Thanks for taking part in this short adventure! I wanted to do something simple and short, and the itch has been satisfied. I hope you all had fun.