Monsters Outside

>If Alyssa gets free, give her the grenade to throw. She's trained and less likely to miss the monster's mouth than you are.

>Play a casual game of sewage toss with the flesh thing.

One does what one must.
>Fling sewage like an angry monkey.

YOU THROW POOP INTO THE FORMER MAILMAN'S MOUTH!



As he chokes and struggles to spit it all out, both Alyssa and Malia manage to slip free and attack him! Alyssa goes for his eyes while Malia breaks an arm!

The monster screams!

“Costovo! COSTOVO!”

You toss the grenade to Alyssa. In one smooth, fluid motion, she unpins the grenade and throws it into the ex-mailman's mouth!

The monster explodes.



Your doorway is clear now. The monster's body has been reduced to a black smear. Your doorway has also widened considerably.

You ask both Alyssa and Malia.

“Are you two okay?”

Alyssa reloads her rifle and catches her breath.

“Yeah, I'm all right. Damn, that was close. It's a good thing those letter-things didn't reach you. And thanks for saving us.”

You sit down on the floor.

“Hey, don't mention it. Besides, you're the one who finished him off.”

You and Alyssa get the same idea and waste no time moving the fridge to block part of the now-wide front doorway. You also clean up some of the mess.



Malia approaches the hole she made earlier and speaks to you.

“Costovo, I'm okay too. I'm going downstairs now for food.

You cry out.

“Wait! Is there a ladder or furniture down there I could use to climb back up?”

Malia looks back at you and answers.

“I'm sorry, no. There's nothing there but food.”

You cannot help but wonder what she means by that. You get up and look down into the hole.

It's just. Dead monsters. Four dead monsters, arranged like they were ready to buried. One of them looks like it was partially eaten.



Oh God, has Malia been eating corpses? You have to ask.

“Malia... did you kill them?”

Malia trembles.

“No! No! I didn't! I found them like that! I don't know who killed them but it wasn't me! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've been collecting them. Dead monsters. Costovo, there was nothing else to eat! I could have eaten your pizza but I didn't because I wanted to keep it for you! I had to. For three days I didn't eat. I had to scavenge. I had to scavenge like an animal. Like a rat. Vulture. I was hungry. I'm sorry I'm sorry you must think I'm a monster too.”

You can't help but feel sympathy. You speak to her as softly as you can.

“It's okay. I understand. I believe you. You were scared, hungry and there was nothing else. I'm sorry I made you upset, I just needed to know what's down there.”

She's still trembling.

“I hate this, Costovo. I hate being like this. I hate crawling on the floor like an animal. I hated being forced to eat dead bodies. I wish this was all a dream. I don't remember anything about my life before this but I know I wasn't like this. I just... I just want to go home. Go to sleep and wake up to find out this was all a nightmare. Go back to my old life.”

Alyssa seems to have been able to hear your conversation too. Malia must have said the same things to her. The former soldier joins in.

“Hey. I can relate.”

She removes the top part of her suit.



She speaks again.

“I know what it's like to hate being what you've become, Malia. I know what it's like to look at yourself and wish everything went back to the way things were. I wish I was human again. Being a monster sucks. I don't feel a compelling urge to spread the disease, but I'm always hungry. Doesn't matter what I eat or how much.”

She points to your door.

“You saw him, right? The former-mailman? He must have eaten God knows how much to get that big. The virus turns any extra nutrients into extra mass. The hunger never stops. Monsters don't poop. We just absorb, burn calories, grow extra flesh. Everything gets used up. Everything.”

You ask Alyssa.

“You're always hungry?”

She nods.

“Yeah. It sucks, Costovo. Even while I was shooting at the monsters I felt that hunger. So many times I wanted to eat them after killing them. I had to stop myself. I had to remember that the hunger isn't real. I'm still fighting, because I hope one day we can find a cure for what's happened to us. I don't really think we will, but we're still people, right? We can still make choices, right?”

You can see Malia intently listening to Alyssa. You can hear her silent voice.

“Alyssa, thank you for speaking to me. I feel a lot better now. But... I'm still hungry.”

You give Malia one of your rations.

“Here. You don't have to eat corpses anymore. Stay here and you'll always have food.”

She thanks you as she eagerly eats through the packaging.

“This is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten! Thank you!”

As you watch her eat and Alyssa put her suit's helmet back on, you wonder if the scientists in the future will ever find a cure for this disease. It's turned people into monsters, but maybe if their minds are still lucid, maybe they can at least look more human somehow.

You decide to stay in your bedroom, as you miss the feel of sleeping on a bed, and you have two people watching out for you now.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully, aside from some explosions outside. The military has been intensifying their bombing campaign, turning several buildings into rubble.

DAY 4

You wake up in your bedroom and answer your phone. It's Dr. Cobra.

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

Cobra-Doc: Morning. We've checked the sample you sent us. Whatever changed Malia, it's not the same thing that's turning people into the red monsters.

You: So it's a DIFFERENT virus?

Cobra-Doc: Yes. A completely different kind. It works much faster, but the infected creatures don't feel compelled to spread it. Costovo, I need to tell you something else that we just discovered.

You: Yeah, doc?

Cobra-Doc: Tagonia is not responsible for the epidemics. I mean, our current problem did come from that direction, but all this? It's extraterrestrial.

You: Are you serious? You're talking ALIENS?

Cobra-Doc: Yes. I am. These microbes, they don't behave like anything we've ever seen in nature or artificial bioweapons made by any country. I believe we may be dealing with some kind of terraforming agent. The Tagonian government has confirmed that the source of all this is a spacecraft that crashed in their territory. It was carrying containers full of unknown life-forms. The Tagonians have seen even more varieties than we have on this side of the border.

You: Oh my God. Are these viruses trying to turn our planet into an alien world?

Cobra-Doc: I believe so. We're looking at ecosystems being transformed. We are already working with the Tagonians to contain the threat. They were embarrassed to ask for help earlier, but now they understand they have no choice. Our armies are busy shooting and bombing the hell out of anything that's become hostile. Our brightest minds are also busy, studying this new life.

You: Wow. What a time to be alive. Aliens are real.

Cobra-Doc: Yes, well, if only they weren't also ruining people's lives.

You: Yeah. Hey, Doc, any word on when I'll be able to get out of here?

Cobra-Doc: Ah, about that. Your extraction will come the day after tomorrow.

You: Really?

Cobra-Doc: Yes. The military is preparing a team with a helicopter to pick you up.

You: Uh, okay. What about Malia and Alyssa?

Cobra-Doc: They'll be coming with you in a sealed compartment on the same vehicle. We've been busy modifying the chopper to carry biohazardous materials.

You: This is good news! We'll just have to wait another day and then we'll be out!

Cobra-Doc: We're also air-dropping some weapons onto your apartment building. Alyssa already knows and will go up to the roof to pick them up. Shotguns, handguns and swords.

You: Swords?

Cobra-Doc: Military figured they'd be useful considering the close-quarters environment. They just forged them to deal with the monsters. Stay vigilant, Costovo. Trollmaster Hades is still out there. He's lost a lot of followers last night after our bombing runs, but he's still determined to infect you. From what the military's been telling me, he might actually come for you himself. Be ready, Costovo.

You: If he's coming, I'm going to mash him to a pulp.

Cobra-Doc: You got spirit, but be careful. He'll be armed with guns and bombs.

(Audiotalk ended)

You eat your government-approved breakfast of rations and spend much of the morning trying to distract yourself with your laptop in your bedroom. You play an old but still-good videogame from ten years ago to pass the time.

11 AM comes. Alyssa returns with a haul. 2 shotguns, 2 swords, and 2 handguns, with lots of ammunition packed tightly in boxes. She already took 1 of each new weapon, and put the others on the floor/



You cannot help but ask.

“So why did they send you two of everything?”

She smiles underneath her suit and hands you a shotgun.

“Because the top brass authorized you to handle firearms.”

You're a little surprised. You've never touched a gun in your life. You ask her another question.

“Are you going to teach me how to use this thing?”

She shrugs.

“Yeah, might as well. We got a lot of time before the helicopter shows up, and I want you to be ready just in case Hades or any more of his monsters show up.”

You spend the rest of the day learning how to use the weapons you've been given, as best as you can. A single day is not enough, but at least you know the absolute basics.

However, you DO find out you're better with one weapon than the others. Which one?

Is it the shotgun? It carries only 4 shells but it's devastating. Reloading it takes time, though, and you're not sure you can reliably insert the shells without dropping them yet.

Perhaps the handgun? It has 12 shots and you can aim a lot faster with it than the heavier shotgun. It's easier to reload too. The only real problem with it is that the bullets are very small. Alyssa says despite it being standard military issue, it was originally designed for police officers, not the military, so it has a low chance to actually kill anyone unless you can hit a vital organ. Apparently, the Government wanted to save money on side-arms.

Or maybe the sword? It's surprisingly light and really sharp. Alyssa says it's pretty durable too, and can easily cut through flesh. Your only issue is that you might get tired even if it is pretty light.

>_

>Shotgun, cmon my buddy
>Give some more food to Malia so she gets bigger and stronger!

>sword
>...would Malia be able to wield a weapon?

>If you haven't handled a weapon in you life, the handgun is the more realistic option. nless you've got some god upr arm strangth ad cordination at whic point yu mght be decent with a sword.

>...would Malia be able to wield a weapon?

You ask her. She says she would only be able to use the sword, since her tentacles can't deal with the recoil from firing a gun.

Yeahhh, honestly I think it's a better ideia to give the Sword to Amalia. Getting near of a monster and slicin' it up is actually dangerous.

>Give Malia a sword. She doesn't have to fight if she doesn't want to, its not her responsibility to protect you. But it wouldn't hurt to arm her anyway.

So, since you have two of everything, you should be able to allocate a bunch of things to everyone. Give Malia a sword, give yourself a handgun and a sword, and give a shotgun and handgun to Allysa. You should probably carry the other shotgun too in case of a bad monster getting too close for comfort. You are most skilled with the stabby.

>Give Malia a sword. She doesn't have to fight if she doesn't want to, its not her responsibility to protect you. But it wouldn't hurt to arm her anyway.

You give her the sword. She seems to enjoy swinging it around, though both you and Alyssa remind her to only use it when necessary. She complies.

>If you haven't handled a weapon in you life, the handgun is the more realistic option. nless you've got some god upr arm strangth ad cordination at whic point yu mght be decent with a sword.

The handgun feels comfortable in your hands. Though the bullets are tiny, you reckon anything that can make a monster bleed from a distance is better than any melee weapon. Aiming it is easy and the recoil's not too bad. The shotgun made you feel like you were trying to stop a wild horse. As for the sword, it's light enough, but you don't feel confident using it for a long period of time. You never had much of a stamina.

So, since you have two of everything, you should be able to allocate a bunch of things to everyone. Give Malia a sword, give yourself a handgun and a sword, and give a shotgun and handgun to Allysa. You should probably carry the other shotgun too in case of a bad monster getting too close for comfort.

You do just that, so you and Alyssa have backup weapons. If you run out of ammo and you're still in danger at least you can still defend yourself.

9 PM arrives, and the night is quiet. The military must have run out of targets to bomb.

Then you smell something. Smoke.

You get a call. From Hades himself. His voice sounds like gravel, if gravel could talk.

COMMSOUND AUDIOTALK
Ver. 1.1.4
(all conversations monitored by Government under Emergency Act)
(You are speaking with ERROR CODE 910)

TrollmasterH: You are going to die tonight, buddy boy.

You: Shut up, you horrible sentient hunk of mold.

TrollmasterH: Hey hey hey I know a lot about you. Check it. I hacked your files the government's got on ya. I know your parents are living in another city.

You: Wow, amazing. Clearly not something you can get from just reading my old blogs.

TrollmasterH: Wait you have a blog?

You: I'm hanging up.

TrollmasterH: NO WAIT

(Audiotalk ended)

Ugh. If that asshat calls you again you're just going to ignore it.

Your phone buzzes. Yeah. He's calling again. Not gonna answer it.

As you ignore his call, you can hear explosions coming from downstairs. Alyssa gets up, checks her weapons and talks to you.

“Hey Costovo. We better just wait here. We got guns. We can just shoot at them if they try to open the door.”

Malia suggests an idea.

“What if I just... cover the wall with slime? I can completely block it off.”

Neither you nor Alyssa could find a reason to disagree, and you let her do her thing.

Malia looks a little shriveled. You ask her.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She responds.

“Yeah. Just need to rest for a bit.”

She crawls over near your bathroom, forming a circle with her body. You and Alyssa wait for Hades to come.

You hear the monsters walking up the stairs. They sound heavy. Your hands grip your handgun, and you double-check your shotgun and sword. You're as ready as you'll ever be.

You can hear them breathing now. They sound like they're having trouble taking in air.

Suddenly, your phone buzzes. It's Doctor Cobra.



This is really bad timing.

If you answer the phone, you risk getting too distracted when the monsters finally reach you.

Then again, it could be important. Maybe she's sending you backup and is trying to send instructions. You remember an army airstrike on Rebels where a few civilians got killed because they didn't follow the army's instructions to stay away from the bridge. The missiles were already on the way. The poor people thought they were far enough away so they just stood there and watched with their phones out, hoping to record the missile strike.

Yeah, this could be important.

But the monsters outside? They're pretty important too, and they're right in front of your door. Yes, Malia's slime is definitely helping, but again, you never know what's going to happen. Maybe you should keep your eyes and gun pointed at the door. You heard the explosion downstairs. They might be able to just blast through the gunk.

Pick up the phone? Or remain focused on the door?

>_

> Go for it. coud be important. Be carefull, tho , could be sm trap. Be quick

Pick it up but immediately tell her there are monsters coming, so unless it's absolutely urgent it's going to have to wait.

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

SpoilerShow

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.

Thanks, Mayu. I know I never contributed to this (though I meant to, just... between my verboseness and people already pretty much saying what I would anyway... I never bothered >.>).

SpoilerShow

Not meant as a criticism but more of an observation. The ending feels like it was an axed manga or anime title, you know what I mean? I understand that it was because you had an idea and wanted to see it to completion but it hit the tropes of "this is getting axed and I have to rush a conclusion", even though I know there were no such constraints in place. Maybe it's just because I found it and the world kind of interesting or maybe it was you had such a clear goal in mind that you rushed to it once the end was in sight... or maybe I'm just weird. Probably that last one is true no matter what.

Would smash Hades head with a sword again. 10/10