John had joined the armed forces to make a difference. To defend those that were unable to defend themselves, and serve his country where he was needed. He’d seen enough horrific shit to last several lifetimes, and had taken many lives throughout his ten years of service. But nothing, nothing, prepared him for what confronted him now. Now that his time had come, he knew that no one would be there to defend him.

The muzzle of the assault rifle he had trained to the end of the darkened alleyway slowly lowered, the weapon growing heavier by the second. He focused on his ragged breathing that clouded in the icy, stale night air as cold dread seeped from the brick walls on either side and behind him, grinding away his sanity until only an instinctual fear remained. This was it. He knew it.

Pale gray moonlight crept around John, down the length of the cluttered alley as if gradually revealing his fate, ratcheting up the tension inside until near bursting. John sank to his knees, the clatter of the assault rifle hitting the ground echoing like an explosion in a canyon. The hot tears streaming down his face were a sharp contrast to the icy perspiration that covered his shivering body and drenched his dark fatigues. John’s eyes focused on where his rifle had been pointing. At the end of the alley, a sinuous shadow grew from around the corner.

“Please, no.” John cried out. “Please!”

It twisted and lengthened, seeming to draw in the light itself as it took the form of a dark, writhing mass that towered into the alleyway. A soft trilling noise filled the dead silent night, and the shape coalesced into a bi-pedal figure with thick appendages that whipped through the air. The acrid miasma of ammonia and copper tore apart John’s lungs in a coughing fit, and his eyes widened. Dim moon light glinted off long, crimson covered talons that gripped and dug into the building at the end of the alley, and the nightmare that had slaughtered John’s entire fucking unit pulled itself around the corner.

The demonic behemoth’s pronged fangs grated against each other like wet sandpaper, each gnashing chew spilling gore to the ground with wet splats. John put a hand to his mouth, fighting to keep his stomach inside him as bile rose in his throat, and began inching backwards, his gaze locked with the monster’s own hungry red stare. John’s boots hit the brick wall behind him and he let out a yelp, causing the several ropy antennae on either side of the creature’s tumorous head to crush brick as it lashed wildly at the buildings on either side of it. It was excited. Fucking excited.

“Fuck you!” Spit flew as John screamed with everything he had left. “Come get me, you fuck!”

The beast chittered softly before opening its mouth to let forth a shriek that ripped into John. All sound instantly ceased, and he felt a hot warmth pouring from his ears and nose. The thing rose to its full height and blotted out the moon light completely.

“I’ll see you soon, my love.” John said, deftly reaching behind him with both hands and wrapping his fingers around cold metal. The beast lunged with an insatiable hunger.

Whump!

A muffled explosion boomed from a dead end alley in a dead city, its echo lasting forever.