Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 154. Others

Just like I had killed the bald men unfeelingly, Henry did the same without even a moment of hesitation. I was now even more relieved to not be alone with carrying this ’sin’; Henry also proving me with his actions that what he had told me before was not just some nonsense to calm me down.

A shadow emerged from the dead body, and when I saw that Henry tried to step in front of me, I stood up and dragged him back by his clothes. After moving in front of him, the shadow instantly attacked me. I looked around like last time, asking myself if the illusion had already started, when I heard a deafening THRUM.

Seeing that Henry was gone, and I was alone with the dead body on the ground, I could still keep my calm more or less; yet that changed with the next THRUM. The earth shook as it had in my dream, and with the next THRUM, I knew it was coming for me. And damn, I couldn’t stay calm anymore, even if it was an illusion—not one bit. I turned around and sprinted back to the skyscraper remains, jumping, crawling, and climbing as fast as I could.

THRUM.

"HENRY, WAKE ME UP!" I yelled, not daring to turn around and picking up speed.

THRUM.

The chunks moved with each THRUM, and I was nearly buried in the debris.

"I FUCKING WANT TO WAKE UP!" I was sweating buckets, and I couldn’t properly grip the concrete I climbed.

THRUM. Again, everything shook, and I fell, fear rendering me on my back and unable to move for a long moment as I knew, I just fucking knew, that it was time–that I would die now—crushed, swallowed, and eaten.

No, fuck, fuck, fuck, I don’t want to die; I don’t want to be eaten by that thing again.

"HEEEENNNRYYY!" I screamed with all my might while staring into the cloudy sky, where a gigantic, skinny, malformed hand had appeared, moving downward toward me.

Just a second before it would have grabbed me, electricity shook my body, and I woke up to look into blue eyes while two warm, strong hands placed a knife into my hand.

I instantly slit my throat after coming back; everything, even if it was real death, fucking everything was better than the horror of being eaten alive. Blood gushed out of the cut, and my body turned ice-cold as I let go of the knife and grabbed Henry’s arms in panic, hoping that clutching onto him would save me from the gigantic monster that was salivating for me.

Henry cupped my face and said something, but I didn’t hear it, preoccupied with shaking and terrified to death.

"Soon, Kenny, it will be over soon. Everything is alright; you are awake; it was just a bad dream." His blue eyes pierced into me, assuring and comforting me. I nodded numbly, feeling my blood lessening. Overcome with weakness, I knew the next step was strength that would return again; I just had to wait—just a little bit more, and it would be over.

Henry’s eyes wandered to my throat, and he sighed in relief before enclosing me in a tight hug.

"Now it’s over. And you won. You did it in much faster than I did last time; that was a world record. They will write stories about you. Good job. Well done."

"Mhm." I nodded against his chest, the sticky blood between us felt gross, but who the hell cares? I hate that fucking giant; I hate it so much, damn it! It’s so disgustingly big, and the possibility of fighting it wasn’t even remotely there.

"I woke you up earlier because you whispered for me to do so while shaking and everything. I thought for a moment it had been too early." He patted my back.

"Yeah, that was good. The giant had been coming for me again; fuck!" I let go of Henry and moved away, laying down beside the dead body and conjuring a cigarette. However, just looking into the indefinable bright sky made me fear a huge hand would suddenly appear, so I sat back up.

Henry looked at me for a long time before changing the topic.

"Twelve shadows left."

"Yeah, but we are covered in blood again." I was so annoyed by the constant wet-towel ’showers’; I wanted a real one, a hot one, preferably one I could have alone and not with twenty men, out for my ass.

"I have clothes to change into." Henry announced, and I was incredibly relieved that he had done most of the packing.

"At least we have clothes; that’s good." I flipped the coin in my mind a few times, and feeling that we were alone, I unclothed and grabbed a towel after turning around.

Henry also got one, and now, with plenty of experience in getting blood off our bodies and hair, we soon were cleaned up again. After changing into new clothes, we left our bloody ones behind and continued our walk while I flipped the coin in hopes of using it as a compass.

We crossed debris, broken cars, holes, and houses in silence, as I was too groggy after my last suicide and would love to just go somewhere and sleep, which Henry seemed to notice. Yet I also didn’t want to stop and go back now that we had taken down another shadow and their number was still in the double digits.

It got personal, and I wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.

When we walked over a patch of earth, the coin suddenly reacted again, the woman turning so eerie that it was worrisome.

"Stop, something is wrong." I looked around and didn’t see anyone even after waiting, so I looked at what I was standing on.

Just black earth in between two parts of concrete of a street that should have been a bridge before it broke. I conjured up a shovel and started to dig, Henry soon took it from my hands and did the work while I smoked and waited, having a really bad feeling.

Henry looked at me, and I motioned for him to continue, always conjuring up a new shovel when the time ran out until he stood in a hole bigger than himself.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, I have a bad feeling, fuck. When his shovel met something, I jumped into the hole and swiped the air aside after Henry put the shovel away. I uncovered a shingle, like what you would find on a roof. That’s some déjà vu I got there; only that last time, it was a corner of a mansion that I had found.

"Damn it." I conjured up a hammer and smashed against the roof until a hole formed. After resetting my ability, I conjured up a flashlight and peeked inside the hole; at least I tried, because I instantly shifted back again because of the catastrophic smell that met me... followed by voices, many voices.

"Hello?"

"Is there someone?"

"Did help finally arrive?"

"Police??"

"We need paramedics!"

I looked at Henry, who also had a grim expression on his face. He crouched beside me,

"We are not the official help; can you tell me how many you all are?"

"Countless!" Someone said loudly.

"Hundreds!" A female said simultaneously.

"A few hundred, please get us out; all the houses are buried underground!" Someone older cried.

"There are children and elders as well; please get HELP!" An older woman screamed.

"PLEASE DON’T LEAVE!" Someone younger this time, like a young teenager.

"GET SOMEONE TO COME!" Another one shouted.

"I DON’T WANT TO DIE HERE; I DON’T WANT TO BE BURIED HERE!" Desperation was getting thicker.

"HELP!" The next one pleaded.

"PLEASE HELP!"

So many voices, and they were all begging for us to save them.