Isaac

I always thought the slow-motion effect in movies was just a trick, a way to make things seem more intense. It never felt real—not until now, as I watched everything unfold with horrifying clarity, every second stretching into an eternity.

“Holy shit.” The words struggled to form on my lips as Josh raised a gun. One moment, Marshall was hunched at the window. The next, Josh had the barrel aimed at his head.

BANG.

The sound was deafening, louder than anything I’d ever heard. The gunshot tore through the air, a violent crack that silenced everything else. My whole body jerked, but I couldn’t look away. I felt trapped, forced to witness the world in unbearable slow motion.

Marshall’s head snapped back. He staggered, twisting away from the car. His arms flailed for a moment before he collapsed onto the pavement with a sickening thud. I couldn’t see him hit the ground, but I heard it—the sound of flesh and bone slamming into the road like a broken doll.

My ears rang, the gunshot still echoing in my head. It wasn’t until I gasped for air that I realized I hadn’t been breathing. The crumpled water bottle that had been clenched in my hand slipped from my grip, tumbling to the floor.

Then the smell hit—the sharp stench of gunpowder, followed by the faint metallic tang of blood. It clung to the air, thick and suffocating in the small space of the car.

There was no escaping it.

Blood misted through the open window, spraying across the dashboard and windshield. Marshall’s blood. The twisted grin that had been on his face seconds ago now burned into my memory.

I glanced at Josh, heart hammering, but he hadn’t moved. His hand still gripped the gun, steady and sure, like he’d done this a hundred times.

No second thoughts.

He just… shot him.

Ice crawled through my veins, freezing me in place. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this numb cold. My mind blanked, wiped clean by the shock of what I’d witnessed. The world had stopped, leaving me trapped in the silence that followed.

Then came the shouts. Footsteps. Soldiers. They were coming.

I tried to shake off the daze, but everything was moving too fast. My head spun, hands frozen on the seat. I hadn’t fully processed that Josh had killed Marshall when I heard him shout, “Get down!”

He yanked me toward the floor of the car. My shoulder slammed into the glove compartment. His body pressed against mine as he ducked down, his breath harsh and uneven in my ear.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three more shots. The windshield exploded, glass spraying everywhere. I ducked lower, shielding my face as shards rained onto the dashboard. My heart raced, though I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or shock—maybe both.

I glanced up, only enough to see the soldiers drop. One crumpled mid-step, blood spraying from his chest. The others fell seconds later, hit in the side and shoulder. Their rifles slipped from their hands as they collapsed.

Josh didn’t hesitate. His movements were smooth, controlled—but there was an edge to them, a feeling I couldn’t shake.

The darkness was creeping in again.

Shadows began to coil around his arms, crawling up from his fingertips like thick smoke. Alive. The air shifted, growing heavier. The shadows spread, twisting around the car, devouring everything. The soldiers kept coming—but the shadows were faster.

“Josh—” I managed to get out.

The mist thickened. The soldiers halted, eyes wide, as they tried to aim through the cloud, but it was too late.

Their screams echoed through the blackness. I couldn’t see them. But, I heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking and the choked cries as they drowned in fear.

“Isaac!” Josh’s voice cut through the chaos, strained. “Get down. Don’t look.”

He seized my arm and pulled me close, his body tight against mine. I could feel his ragged breath and the frantic beat of his heart against my shoulder.

“Don’t look,” he repeated, more urgent this time, covering my eyes with his hand.

But even without seeing, I couldn’t escape it. I pressed my hands to my ears, but it didn’t help. The sounds were everywhere. The wet crack of bodies breaking. The gurgling last breaths of the soldiers were consumed by the mist.

Their pain.

Their terror.

I felt it all.

Time slipped away from me—speeding up, slowing down.

Then everything shook. The ground beneath us. The car. The air itself. A low rumble vibrated through the mist, like the earth itself was coming apart.

“Josh,” I whispered. “I can’t—”

“I know,” he said. “But you can’t look. Just—don’t.”

The soldiers kept firing, but it didn’t matter. The bullets vanished into the mist. Their screams blurred into one endless nightmare, and I was trapped in it, helpless.

Josh pulled me tighter, his arm wrapped around me, grounding me in the chaos. I wanted to fight back, to do something, but I couldn’t.

Then—silence.

The gunfire stopped. The screams faded. The quake also stopped. Everything went quiet.

Josh’s hand moved away from my eyes, but I couldn’t bring myself to open them. I didn’t want to see it.

Josh drew me in, his arms wrapping around me desperately. Then his hand found my hair, gripping it like I was the only thing keeping him anchored. I felt his head drop forward, resting heavily against my neck.

Warm drops hit my skin.

At first, I thought it was blood—everything smelled like blood—but it wasn’t.

Tears. Josh’s tears fell onto my neck, running down my skin.

He was trembling now, his whole body shaking. Then I heard a broken sniff, then another.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”

The words tumbled out between shallow breaths. His fear, his guilt, his pain—it all poured into me like a flood I couldn’t stop. He wasn’t just sorry. He was drowning in it.

Josh had finally broken.

I could feel every shattered piece of him. The guilt was suffocating him, the fear, the unbearable relief. Somewhere deep down, buried beneath it all, was a dark wish—that he wanted to die. That maybe, he should’ve died instead. Yet, the desperate instinct to survive remained, clinging to life even as it tore him apart.

Josh’s voice cracked. “I couldn’t hold it back. I tried, Isaac. I tried, but if I didn’t stop them… if I didn’t—” His voice faltered, a sob catching in his throat. “They would’ve killed me. They would’ve killed you.”

His fingers dug into my hair, his tears coming faster now.

Through all of it, I felt the truth of his words. He wasn’t trying to justify what had happened. He was tearing himself apart with it.

I didn’t know how to fix this—how to fix him.

So, I held him.

I had no sense of how much time had passed—minutes, maybe longer. Time felt slippery as if it wasn’t moving right anymore. Josh’s breathing slowly steadied. His grip on me loosened, and eventually, he pulled away.

“Please, don’t look at me,” he pleaded, but I wasn’t afraid of him.

I wouldn’t be afraid of the darkness. Not if the darkness was Josh.

I opened my eyes, ready to tell him I wasn’t scared. I had braced myself to face the void in his eyes, to see the black veins snaking across his skin. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. His skin had turned ghostly pale, almost translucent, as if the life had drained out of him. Black veins covered his entire body, pulsing beneath the surface.

But his hands…

They were completely black now, twisted into something monstrous. His fingers had elongated, sharp claws curling where nails had once been.

“Aldragoth,” I muttered, shoving myself away from him, scrambling against the door as my hands fumbled with the handle.

I pushed the door open, tumbling out and hitting the pavement hard. My knees and hands scraped against the rough surface, but all I noticed was the ground beneath me. Something thick and sticky clung to my skin, cold and wet.

I looked down. The road was covered in greasy black ash mixed with something slimy and decayed. I wiped my hands on my jeans, but the grime wouldn’t come off. My breath came in shallow, frantic bursts. My heart pounded in my ears. A strangled scream tore from my lips.

Lifting my head, I saw the trees closest to the road—nothing but charred skeletons, their branches twisted and broken. The grass had turned to brittle ash. Even the air felt wrong, heavy with rot and the presence of something far worse than death.

And the sky… It had turned a sick, unnatural green. The sun was gone, devoured by the diseased hue, leaving everything under an eerie, suffocating twilight.

I struggled to my feet, trembling as I turned in place. The devastation stretched as far as I could see. The cars, the tanks, and the buses lining the road were rusted and broken—some half-sunk in ash. Bodies were scattered everywhere—soldiers, civilians—decayed into hollow, shriveled shells, as if the life had been drained out of them.

Bile rose in my throat, and I doubled over, gagging. My stomach convulsed, but nothing came out this time. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, still shaking, still struggling to catch my breath.

“What… what is this?” The words were a tremor in my chest, barely audible, as I sank to my knees again. “What the hell is this?”

Behind me, the car door creaked open. I didn’t have the strength to look at first. I knew it was Josh, but I couldn’t bring myself to face him—to face what he had become. I stayed still, hands buried in the ash, as his footsteps crunched closer.

When I finally turned, Josh’s appearance was slowly returning to something closer to normal—but not quite yet.

I scrambled backward, my feet slipping in the ash. “Josh…” I choked out, my voice weak. “What… what did you do?”