Chapter Four

Arin's POV:

The black rain is sticky and wet, hissing like a snake before it "evaporates" into the surrounding air and falls down as a pellet again onto my clothing, boots, hair and skin. It's dampening my mood, for sure, and making me snappy and irritated.

"Ew, what is this rain even made of?" Roseline grumbles as she wipes off the black mass with her hand from her coat, watching as it rises into the air, and falls in her hair instead. She mutters something incomprehensible under her breath, but continues, wiping off the sticky pellets.

I ignore her and continue to toss the soiled newspapers onto the driveway of the neighbors' houses. No one comes out to pick up the papers, and that's a good thing, because I think that I may accidentally toss a newspaper bundle into someone's face at the rate I'm going. I vent out all my anger and irritation into throwing the newspapers.

I wish that this was just a normal day, where I'd gotten into a fight with Mum. I wish that she'd never shut me out. I wish that she'd be the Mum I always knew.

A clatter in the distance makes Terris straighten up. "W-what was that?" He asks, looking at us with wide eyes.

How similar can this be to a horror movie?

"Don't worry, it's probably the wind," Emeline smiles at him, and he nods in return.

In the movies - not that I've seen them, but Terris has told me about them -that's what the actors say just before something bad happens.

Another clatter echoes from down the street, one so loud and shocking that even Roseline starts. "That's definitely not the wind, Em," I say, squinting into the distance. The black rain makes it hard to see, like a thick fog.

Emeline darts to Roseline's side, where Terris is, before gesturing for me to join them. "We need to stick together. We stand a better chance against whatever is there better." She says strongly, confidently. I'll bet she read that in some book.

Terris nods his approval, and Roseline smiles at her. I walk over to my friends, and hand them a newspaper bundle each. They stare at it like its a cobra, something foreign and dangerous.

I roll my eyes. "It's a 'weapon'," I air quote the word 'weapon'.

"Okay...so we are actually going to defeat a monster with newspapers?" Terris laughs a little, and despite the situation we're in, I join in, shaking my head. All of a sudden, this all seems a little ridiculous.

Then, without warning, something bolts towards us, and Emeline screams, her newspaper bundle shaking from her hand's constant vibration from fear.

I take a chance and start dashing towards the figure, my newspaper rolled up, brandished in front of me like a lethal weapon.

This is just so absurd, it reminds me of how I was like when I was little, just an innocent boy thinking that if Mum took a photo of me is be trapped in the camera forever. That's why I refused to take a photo. At least until I was eight, and realised the truth...

I smack the creature with the newspaper, and it growls, enraged. It claws at me, but I dodge it, until all of a sudden, I'm picked up, sharp objects digging into my side before I'm thrown roughly onto the road. White patches flash before my vision, and I cry out in pain, the sharp rocks digging into my chin and forearm, which has crimson liquid trickling from it like a broken tap. My chin throbs like crazy, stars floating in my vision as the world spins at a million miles per hour. I choke, the air having been knocked out from my lungs. I begin to gasp for air like a fish out of water, wheezing while trying my best not to swallow any pellets.

The creature looks like a man. What's going on? From the corner of my eye I see Roseline charging towards the creature, pummeling it with her fists.

When it is face-down on the floor, she says with her foot on its back, "You're not going to have Arin for dinner on our watch, you hear that? You better watch your back. If you hurt anyone of us, you're going to regret it. For life."

And I don't doubt her; she's told us before, if anyone dare hurt Terris, she'll kick that person in the eye. If anyone dare touch Emeline, she'll knock out all their teeth. And if anyone dare hit me, she'll twist that person's limbs.

I've tried telling her that she's a bit too violent, but she waves it off every time, telling us that she's just telling a joke.

She high-fives Terris, who's shaking his head while laughing, but Emeline seems a little concerned for the creature. I almost sigh at the attitude she's showing towards everyone, even this person. She's so kind, inside and out, that no one can change her. She averts her eyes quickly and spots me. Hurrying over to me, she surveys my injuries. When she registers the scrape on my forearm, she drops my whole arm, grimacing. I wince, but hide it as I dust of my clothes, the black rain still hitting me, and pick off the small bits of gravel that the black rain hasn't "evaporated" with it. I don't want Em to go into her full-blown panic mode, where she can fuss over us for hours on end.

"It's nothing, just a small little injury. I should be fine," I say, nodding at her to reassure her. I thank Emeline, squeezing her shoulder gently with my good arm. She smiles back at me. Then, she analyes my chin, which is red, but not bleeding. Afterwards, she washes my abrasions with water from her water bottle, which, thankfully, isnt contaminated by the black rain.

Just then, we hear a low gurgling sound. I whip my head in the direction it is coming from.

That creature.

It's not giving up, is it? It's relentlessly going after us, just like those girls in our school who always chases after me. I'm lucky to have Rose - Roseline - to help me get past them.

The thought of those girls, the ones who put on thick layers of makeup and short dresses that are way too short - when I see other boys ogling at those girls I want to puke and slap them - makes me shudder. I don't like that type of girls. I like those who aren't afraid to show me who they really are, who are willing to do silly things with me.

That creature stands up slowly; though it looks like it is going to end up on its butt, but it doesn't.

When it stands up, it growls at us. However, none of us move a muscle. Even Rose. We're all frozen with fear.

Suddenly, it leaps at us. I move fast an dodge its long nails, which are caked in dirt and just simply filthy. Gross.

Terris, on the other hand, is not that fortunate. He was never agile since the day we met. The monster grabbed Terris' arm and it dug its nail into his arm. Terris lets out a bloodcurdling wail.

Ouch. It must've hurt pretty badly.

Before the monster could rip Terris apart, Rose jumps into action. She dives at it and pushes it away; Terris is now out of the monster's reach. Emeline and I immediately rush over to his side, where he's pressed his hand to his bleeding arm. Scarlet liquid trickles from in between his fingers.

"Are you okay?" Emeline asks, concern plastered all over her face.

"N-No." Terris manages to say. I can see that's he's trying very hard to force out those words.

He looks very pale. Beads of cold sweat are trickling down his face and he winces in pain as Emeline checks his wound.

"The cut's quite deep, I think you need to bandage it up." Emeline states.

I'm about to reach into my bag for the gauze and antiseptic I always kept in my bag when I realise.

Oh snap, Roseline.

I look up. The monster is not rushing over to us now, it's going in the other direction, towards Rose; and Roseline is calling for the creature, while moving towards... a dead end?

"What are you doing, Rose?" I say before I can stop myself. Bad mistake. I clamp my hand over my mouth. But it's too late.

The creature turns around to look at me. Then, it starts to shuffle towards me. I move to get my newspaper bundle. At least this way, Rose has a chance to live. I'm willing to make that sacrifice - I don't think we'll last long without Rose anyway.

It's fascinating how when we live our lives each day, we do not find many of the items - such as the newspaper bundle - around us useful, yet when it comes to this circumstance, I'm using a newspaper bundle - an item that I used to find useless - to defend myself. It's interesting when you find yourself about to die, you seem to use every item as a weapon.

"Hey, you stupid! Come here, I'll beat you up, nice and slow." Rose shouts. I can't see her through the rain, but her voice is loud and clear.

Thanks a lot, Rose. You've ruined my plan and just dug your grave. The last step is to bury you six feet under.

The creature turns its attention back to Rose and chased after her, it's movements slow and slurred.

Roseline smashes it with her newspaper bundle, hard, and it collapses to the ground. I hurry up to her and demand to know if she is okay. After much reassuring, I stare at the weird monster on the ground.

A yellow fluid is trickling out from its ear, and a pellet that looks like a cockroach's egg is washed out. Roseline bends down and picks it up.

"It's a black pellet, like the ones in the rain," she says.

The monsters are humans, it appears, if I'm not wrong, and the black rain - the pellets - they've mutated the humans, turning them into these monsters.

Then why aren't we like them? We've been walking in the black rain for so long, but none of us show any signs of being like them. There must be something different.

Things just got even more complicated now, making my head a mess, like someone's stuffed cotton into it.

Then we see the girl.

She has brown hair the colour of caramel, but I can't see her eyes through the dark 'rain'. She is walking towards us, a Tauron 9mm in her raised hand. Why is she pointing it at us? We didn't do anything to her. Unless she thinks we're one of those monsters, which we're most definitely not.

Emeline stiffens beside me. She had always had a dislike for guns, since she was always so kind-hearted and caring. She believes that guns are a lethal thing, something that should not even exist on Earth. She even refuses to see the pictures of them.

Terris bites his lip. "I told you guys, we shouldn't be out here. Arin is already injured, you guys want to fight again?"

Roseline steels herself next to him, and grabs his shoulder. "You're gonna regret it if you decide to leave. Listen, we're in this together. If we go down, we go down together. Got it?" she hisses, and he gulpes, nodding, though I know he wanted to protest. I don't blame him. If I was in his position, I would do the same thing.

I grip my newspaper bundle harder, and as the girl advances, she opens her mouth to speak, but it is too late, her words are cut off.

Because I hit her, smacking it across her face, and she is down on the ground. The others stare at me, mouth agape. My knuckles are white from my vice-like grip, but I cannot help it. I had hurt a girl. And maybe she is human.

It does not matter, though, as we drag her into the nearest unlocked, abandoned house, and wait for her to arouse.