Green Blood

The stink gusted about him. Viscid green fluid stained his checkered polo shirt and blue jeans. Pus-like matter blemished his youthful face. He was standing boldly over a green-blooded, unknown creature which he had sliced asunder. In his right hand, gripped tightly, was his weapon, a sharp bolo. The moderate sticky green fluid ran down the blade and fell into a puddle of green blood which was slowly streaming on the floor towards a lady who was crumpling in fear in the corner.

He rubbed his face in his left hand. He ambled to the lady. Her face and shirt had globules of green fluids.

“Come on, Miss.” He reached out his hand.

Terrified, the lady clutched his hand.

He gently dragged her up.

“Are you alone here?” said the guy, looking at her sunken, tired eyes.

“Yeah,” she replied, shaking. “I’ve been here for five days.” She drew a deep breath and took a lame step, avoiding the sticky matter on the floor.

The guy released her soft and cold hand. He wiped the blade of his bolo in his blue trousers. “Let’s hurry. There may be others around. Come on.”

They strode out of the messy room, into the hallway, mobbed with big spots of green blood. They took the lift down. They gazed at the lift’s interior surface, which was also swarmed with green blood. They passed along the disorder and life-less foyer. The walls around them were also thronged with the sticky matter. They noticed no living human. They moved past the front desk.

The lady glanced at the desk and shrieked with consternation. She froze.

The guy turned back and immediately seized her arm. “Come on. Don’t look at it,” he said.

Lay dead upon the desk was a woman, probably the clerk. Head had been pinned over the desk, drawn-out eyes scorning at them, and purple cheeks had collapsed into her skull. Her blood appeared to have been drained out. Her whole body was shrouded with the sticky green saliva of the green creature the guy had just killed.

“You’ve been here for five days?” asked the guy in his baritone voice.

The lady nodded.

“Where’d you get your food?” he asked as they were approaching the building’s door.

“I had food in my room,” she said and simply glanced at him. “I thought someone in this building is still alive, so I’ve waited for a knock on my door. But, just today there was jerking on the door. It was the creature. It tried to get in. I could not help but scream and scream.”

“Then I heard you,” the guy concluded.

They moved out of the insensible building cautiously. They looked around. Everything was in a total mess. The faces of the buildings were almost filled with green. The streets were covered with wrecked cars. The wind blew the trash scattered around. Inside the cars were rotting cadavers wrapped with the green matter, heads uncovered.

The lady reluctantly looked at the cars as she felt her stomach churned with vomit. “Do you live here?” She swallowed.

“I’m from Souse City. Just trying to find my way down here in Lypee City. They say the only way we can escape from them is through the sea.”

“What do you mean?” said the lady.

“They’re afraid of water. They can fly but in a limited time.”

“You mean we’re heading now to the coast?” asked the lady.

The guy flashed at her and nodded. “There are survivors staying at Melai Island and Kirst Island.”

“Why did you stop by here?”

“I consumed up my tank. I was looking for a gasoline station, then I heard your scream,” he said. He looked around, prying in every corner he sighted. “I know they’re just lurking everywhere. Come on, hurry.”

They trotted the pavements and turned up at a building with a department store on the ground floor. The thick green blood concealed the name of the store, as though the business competitor had intentionally done it. The lady stopped walking and gazed through the tempered glass door.

“I think we must change our clothes. I smell bad,” she suggested.

“Yeah, you’re right,” the guy assented.

They got inside the store.

The place was in total disorder. They had yanked stalls into the floor, dispelling its contents. Various stuff like beauty products, footwear, clothes, etcetera, had been scattered around.

In a few moments, someone or something outside suddenly dragged open the door. The guy checked it out. The lady dashed to the cashier’s counter and hid under the desk. A creature, just like the one he killed, stepped in. Its snake-eyes stared fiercely at the guy. It knew what he did to its kin.

The guy braced up with his bolo. Come on, he thought, I’ll cut your throat.

The green-scaled creature, larger than the guy’s built, set down its talon-hand after it clamped the door. Its horrific face, with pointed ears and coarse nose, sharp angular teeth, and long tongue, sneered at him. Abruptly, it torpedoed headfirst, towards him, hitting his belly. The guy fell down. He was twisting in pain. He could barely sit up. His stomach hurt from within. He almost could not breathe. He tried to rise to his feet, but the creature whammed his side. He fell again and nearly collapsed.

This creature is really intelligent, he thought. He did not move, pretending to be dead, but trying to compose his strength. He waited for the creature to draw near and check on him. He knew that, if he was unconscious, the creature would secret a thick sticky green fluid, swaddle him like how a spider wraps its prey, and fasten him onto the floor. The viscid shroud would suck his blood and flesh through skin pores. Until then, he would cease to live.

The creature did not go to him because a movement from the cashier counter had diverted its attention. It walked towards the cashier counter.

The guy pulled himself up and peeked through the broken stall. He saw the creature drooping like a hunchback. Its small butterfly wings spread out. It flew up, almost touching the ceiling, looking down to where the movement occurred. But it did not see anyone. It saw the guy. It darted again to him, but he evaded its rough and blunt head. Instead, it landed on the mess.

The guy jumped to the back of the creature, his bolo shining in the air. His left hand arrested the creature’s wing. It tried to flap and shot upward, but he was too heavy to be lifted. He raised his bolo; sharp blades glistened against the fluorescent light and stroke the stem of the wing. The wing slashed, gushing green blood into his face. It tasted sweet but smelled like a decaying animal. He slammed back the bolo, this time aiming at the neck. The creature struggled to survive, but then it stopped. Its head fell and rolled off the floor. Torrent of green blood flowed out. Its body jolted once, twice, and welcomed its cessation. The guy stood up and head for the door. He locked the metal knob and called out to the lady.

The lady got up from under the counter and walked over to him. They were alone in the store. Outside were hordes of green creatures. They were coming near the store as they groaned and buzzed.

In the store's corner, there hanged untouched sets of suits for men and women. The guy and the lady moved off to it.

“I need to wash my face,” said the guy.

They picked out sets of suit branded D.S. Dundee. Then, they sought for the washroom, tidied up, and put on the only clean and ironed clothes in the store. It was a refreshing feeling for both of them. The lady, who had gotten a D.S. Dundee white shirt and dark blazer and pants, complemented her outfit with a D.S. Dundee dirty-white bonnet. The guy became handsome and more tactful as he put on a white long-sleeve, black blazer and pants. He even coiled a D.S. Dundee necktie in his neck. The guy saw various sunglasses scattered on the floor. He picked up one.

“Do you have any idea where we can get a car?” asked the guy.

“At the parking floor.”

The creatures outside saw them and they strenuously and wildly pushed through the tempered glass door to gain entry.

“We’ve got to hurry,” said the lady, worried.

The guy searched for a building map and found one plastered in the hallway.

They hurried and took the lift. As the lift door opened wide, the guy warily walked into the parking with the bolo in his right hand. The lady heeled behind him. The area was full of cars, but no one alive was in there. The lady eyed a car which door hinged out. “Look! There!” she cried. They dashed to it and got in. Without a key, the guy had muddled through to operate the car.

They trailed the descending passage, guiding them out of the building. When they came out, the horde of green creatures ran and flew after them, but the engine was in full throttle.

They wheeled along Poblace Avenue of Lypee City. They saw green spots everywhere in the buildings. They saw wrapped dead bodies dumped in the sideways.

“What are they?” the lady glanced at him.

“Don’t know.” He peeked at her. “Some survivors I met said these creatures are aliens. Come from other worlds. It has been five days since they landed in Souse City.”

“What did the government, the military do?” Her eyes were full of questions.

“Don’t know. I see they can’t defeat these creatures. They reproduce in a few days. They can’t be killed by bullets.”

“What?” she said, astonished.

“That’s why I’ve got this bolo. I’ve realized that we can only kill them by cutting the neck, separating the head from its body.”

After several minutes, the lady sighted the Melai Skyscrapers. “Look! There’s the Melai Island,” she said excitedly as she touched his upper arm.

“We’ll be safe there,” said the guy, feeling the warm touch.

The lady cracked at him. “What’s your name?”

“John.” The guy steered the wheel leading to Pycas Avenue.

“I’m Jaycee,” said the lady.