Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society

Thump! Thump!

A family was huddled in a corner of their bedroom, shuddering in fear upon seeing the Aberrants walking beyond their house. The only reason they hadn't been discovered yet was thanks to the Aberrant corpse in their living room.

The family of four consisted of a father, an ex-soldier that was 45 years old, a housewife that was 44 years old, and two daughters, aged 14 and 15 respectively.

The youngest daughter placed a hand on her mouth, trying her best to not utter any sounds while the oldest was like a frightened cat, reacting to the slightest of sounds.

The Aberrant corpse in their living room was her grandfather. He had gone out to buy a cake as a birthday surprise for the youngest when the Blood Rain occurred.

He quickly returned home to grab an umbrella, complaining about the colour of the rain, attributing it to air pollution and the carelessness of the modern-day youth.

He fainted soon after that as his body showed signs of turning into an Aberrant immediately after.

As the family were concerned about him, they wished to bring him to a hospital immediately. But that was when the sharp-eyed daughter, Mian, the youngest, noticed their neighbour running around strangely, pointing at him as she said, "That uncle is making me scared, dad."

"Who?" Telko, her father looked in the direction she pointed at abruptly. After all, she was a sensible child and never joked around during serious situations.

The moment he gazed at his neighbour, he was shocked. After all, the neighbour barged into a nearby car by breaking through the window, attacking the couple that had been seated inside to shield from the rain.

His head bloomed like a flower, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth that clamped upon the head of the victim, causing a fountain of blood to spill out, as a result, dyeing the windows of the car a murky red.

"What the…?" Telko was alarmed as he hurriedly looked at his father-in-law, observing that he was having the same reaction, shouting at his family, "Everyone, get back. This is dangerous."

"What's dangerous? That's my dad you're talking about." Wara, the mother of the two girls shouted in anger, offended at her father being treated in such a way, "After everything he did for you, this is how you repay him when he fell unconscious?"

"Idiot, not now," Telko grunted, hurriedly bringing his children to safety.

"Hmph!" Wara snorted and propped her dad's body, helping him to the top of the sofa before dialling the ambulance.

But right as she dialled the number, she noticed the hands of her father twitch, asking immediately in relief, "Dad, what happened to you?"

"Move away!" Telko shouted as he hurriedly brought a chair before her face, grunting as a heavy impact slammed into it.

A hand that resembled a sword had pierced through the chair a little, stopping a couple of centimetres before Wara's face.

Telko pushed her away as he twisted the chair abruptly, using the force to shatter the old man's blade-like arms, staring in shock, muttering slowly, "Father-in-law, you're…no longer human."

Grrr!

A low, guttural sound leaked out of the old man as he plunged his other hand towards Telko, causing him to defend himself with the chair, barely managing to hold up. After all, there was still a lot of hesitation in his actions, wondering if his father-in-law was still in there, within the monster. Otherwise, with his skills, he could have killed the other party by now.

Though, the majority of his indecisiveness was due to his wife's hollering.

"Stop! Don't attack him! just tie him up. It must be a disease. He'll return to normal once we cure him." Wara shouted.

"Do you think something like that is possible? Now?" Telko shouted, pretty pissed by now.

"If you dare do something to him, see what I'll do with you," Wara shouted, getting up with a start as she rushed at him, intending to pry him out of the deadlock with her father.

"You goddamn fool!" Telko shouted at her actions, seeing the old man target her instead, for she seemed like an easier prey.

Instinctively, he used the chair to defend her, barely managing to block the attack when Wara grabbed hold of him, pulling him apart.

That created a gap in his defences, causing the old man's blade-like arms to evade the chair and plunge it into Telko's thigh, causing him to scream in response.

"Dad!" Muan, the older daughter pushed her mother away, seeing that she did nothing but cause harm to her father.

"You…bitch!" Wara shouted in shock, feeling betrayed by her daughter's actions.

"Look at grandpa. He's become dangerous now. He already injured dad." Muan shouted.

"He's a freaking soldier. As if a couple of cuts mean anything to him. He's been through worse." Wara retorted, intending to get up and help her father once again.

In this time, Mian rushed out of her room, carrying a hockey stick as she hit the old man's head, trying to create some breathing room for Telko.

The old man swerved around at the attack, intending to target Mian when Telko used the chance, slamming the chair into his head with all his might, causing him to collapse to the ground.

"Give me that!" He grabbed the hockey stick from Mian and used it to whack the old man's head until a pool of blood formed on the ground.

"You killed him? You…MURDERER!" Wara wailed at the sight of her father's death, collapsing to the ground weakly as she sobbed.

"Silence," Telko said nervously, peering through the window to see some strange silhouettes in their neighbourhood. Some of them barged into the houses through the windows, eliciting fearful screams from the people within.

"Dad, they are like zombies." Mian's voice trembled as she spoke, clutching the hems of his shirt.

"Everything will be fine." Telko patted her head, "The army would do something. They have the power to solve any situation that might come our way."

"Ugh!" He suddenly flinched, feeling a searing pain in his thigh, feeling like something was happening to him as his body felt hot all of a sudden. At the same time, he noticed a shadow near their window, hurriedly grabbing hold of his two daughters as he brought them into the bedroom, hiding in a secluded corner.

The shadow slowly stopped by at the window as a wide-grinned face appeared in view, slowly pushing the windows open, peeking inside as it looked at the corpse of the old man in the living room.

It then slowly swerved its head, staring at the figure of Wara that lay collapsed nearby in a daze. The grin on its mouth widened before revealing a row of canine teeth, slowly climbing into the house by beginning to break the window.

"Let me deal with him…" Telko said, getting up to kill the Aberrant before it could break into their house. But, he was only halfway into getting up when his legs lost all strength, causing him to collapse backwards, suddenly gasping for air as his vision turned cloudy.

"Dad!" The two daughters expressed their concern upon seeing the condition of their father deteriorate rapidly.

"I messed up big time there…" Telko gasped for air, gently extricating himself from the two of them as he crawled away, "A scratch from them is enough to be infected. And I'm…done for."

"Let's stop the bleeding first." Mian hurriedly took out a syringe from the medical kit in their home, "I'll suck out whatever is infected through this. That would give us some time, dad."

"It's futile." Telko said as his eyes slowly started changing colour, "The infection has already reached my head. I can feel it messing up with my brain."

"Bring me a knife." He said in seriousness, urging his daughter, "Quick, before I change for the worse."

"B-But," Mian teared up, "Why dad? Why?"

"Muan, as the older one, it's your responsibility to protect our family, alright?" Telko smiled wryly, "Unlike your parents, both of you are blessed with intelligence. So, survive, alright?"

"I'll miss you, dad." Muan wiped her tears, hurriedly bringing a large knife from the kitchen, just about to hand it over to Telko with trembling hands when a loud sound resounded from the living room, followed by a sharp shriek.

Immediately after, Wara rushed into the bedroom, shouting in alarm, "Telko! Save me!"

She was followed by the Aberrant that had broken into the house. To save herself, she had run into the bedroom, hoping for Telko to save her.

But, the moment she arrived, she noticed an exhausted Telko that wasn't even able to get up. She then spotted the hockey stick behind him, hurriedly rushing behind him to pick it up.

As for the Aberrant, it changed its target to Telko as Wara hid behind him instinctively while trying to pick the hockey stick, leaping onto him. Its head bloomed like a flower as the teethed petals expanded in length before latching onto Telko's head, crushing it, and causing blood to spill out.

"Damn you!" Muan bellowed as she tackled the Aberrant, sending it flying into the wall, and pushing it towards the window.

Its petal head slammed into the window, breaking through as Muan pushed it, trapping it within the broken glass fragments, grabbing hold of the broken fragments with her bare hands, ignoring the wounds she sustained as she dumped all the glass shards into the Aberrant's mouth, causing it to scream.

Mian grabbed hold of the knife from her and plunged it into the Aberrant's neck, "Die! Die! Die!"

She repeatedly plunged it into the Aberrant's neck, continuing to do so until the Aberrant stopped twitching.

The two girls gasped for breath for a few seconds before they got up, turning around in unison as they stared at Wara with hatred, "You killed dad."

"Why are you blaming me for his incompetence, huh? Is this how I raised you?" Wara felt afraid of her children, especially after seeing them brutally murder the Aberrant.

In order to mask her fear, she shouted as loudly as possible, unaware that it was her very shouts from the start that was attracting more and more Aberrants to the place, even though the old man's Aberrant corpse should have provided them with cover to a certain extent.

She hurriedly raised her hockey stick, stating in alarm, "Don't come near me, bitches! I won't hesitate to hit you."

"You killed even dad. So, you'll definitely push us to die just to save yourself." Muan slowly spoke as her voice turned colder while she approached Wara, holding the glass shard in her hand. Suddenly, she flicked her hand, throwing the glass shard at Wara, causing it to hit her face.

Wara flinched at the attack, shrieking as she dropped the hockey stick reflexively. The hockey stick produced a dull clang as it fell to the floor. Stepping right on it to lunge in with the knife was Mian, stabbing Wara in the stomach.

"Y-You…" Wara stared at her youngest daughter in shock when suddenly, Muan slammed her head with the hockey stick. The two daughters ganged up on her, killing her through repeated hits to quench their hatred.

Though, once they killed her, only emptiness pervaded their beings, staring at the headless corpse of their father.

They lost everyone in their family.

The two girls didn't even have the time to think when countless Aberrants rushed into their home from multiple directions, drawn over by the loud shouts and the obvious smell of fresh human blood.

"Mian, I'm sorry." Muan said in regret, "It seems this is where we die. I'm sorry for being a useless sister."

"No, I was utterly helpless too." Mian shed tears, prepared for their deaths as both sisters no longer had any strength to resist.

But right as an Aberrant approached them, something resembling an arrow slammed into its head, exploding as it disintegrated its head.

A figure clad in rhino armour leapt into the building through the window, holding what seemed to be a gun with a massive barrel, akin to a hand canon, facing it at the group of Aberrants as he pressed the trigger, unleashing a translucent sphere that exploded upon contact, disintegrating most of the Aberrants.

Two more similarly armoured people rushed in, hurriedly confirming the safety of the two girls, "Two girls here, humans. Their corruption is still within treatable levels."

"Our dad! Please save him!" Mian kneeled on the ground, begging in desperation.

The figure before her, clad in rhino armour observed the surroundings, seeing the extent of injuries on both the girls as she got a rough grasp of the situation, sighing in the end.

"Apocalypse brings out the worst in us."