2. Nyctophobia

The rumbling outside didn't stop until hours later. David sat next to a wall that was shaking from the impact of something outside.

A marble-sized sphere on the roof of the room emitted light, but it was the only light in the room.

Every minute, objects could be heard falling. David didn't dare to open the door and check outside.

He remembered the terrified look on Eugene's face when he told him that Iris had died. David also remembered what Franky said: there were monsters out there that they had to fight.

The news about the apocalypse was true, but David never thought the end of the world would happen because of a monster attack.

Bang...

The metal door shook. Something hit it from outside. David tried to stay calm even though he suspected the thing behind the door was a monster.

What about Eugene and his friends? Did they survive the storm?

Things were falling on the roof. David worried the roof would collapse because the loud bang was so loud.

Something was blocking the light from the roof, so the room was completely dark. David held on to his knees.

His whole body was already sweating.

The darkness made David feel like he was losing oxygen in his lungs. His head was spinning.

David couldn't last any longer in this darkness. He got up and opened the metal door.

There was only half a room outside. The other half had been destroyed by the storm.

A willow tree had fallen on the door and badly damaged it. Shards of glass littered the floor.

A black shadow was hovering outside. David hurriedly closed the door again. He would survive as best he could in the darkness.

David's body trembled even more. The darkness in front of him made him unable to move. His breath was almost gone.

David was at the peak of his tension when a bright light shone on the floor. David looked for the source of the light. It was coming from his hands.

David realized he felt warmth and calmness around his body. The light in his hands spread all over his body.

David could see the whole room clearly. He was among boxes of stacked goods.

"Why is there light on my hand?"

David thought he was crazy for staying in the dark for so long.

David's palm was the brightest part. Between the lines of his hands, he found something popping out. It was a blue and luminous formless energy.

The lights in the room flickered. David's energy seemed to be drained. He felt that something was wrong with this strangeness.

"I must have fainted, and this is just a dream," David grumbled with his heart racing.

The lights in the room continued to flicker even though David couldn't find any power source from them. The energy from David's palm was becoming more and more obvious. It was electricity.

David growled, and the lights flickered even faster. There was a distinct humming sound from the wind outside. The room shook, and boxes fell from their places.

"What's going on?" David stared at the electricity sparkling in his hands, growing stronger, his chest tightening.

The flickering light finally broke and went out. David fell to the floor unconscious. The room was quiet and dark again.

David didn't know how long he had been out. When he opened his eyes, the wall and roof on the right side had been destroyed, revealing a clear sky. Water dripped from the top of the ruined building. David woke up and heard the sound of the wind blowing calmly.

"The storm is over." David got up from the floor. Opened the door cautiously.

Things were more chaotic than he had anticipated. The front room didn't look like a room but a large courtyard. The entire wall had been razed to the ground. David wondered why his room was the only room still intact.

The wind was blowing normally. There were no black shadows. The sight that made David sad was the dead bodies lying on the ground.

David thought of his uncle. Where he was and what happened to him was a mystery to David. But he wouldn't hide in the dark like a loser this time.

David had something he could rely on. The electrical power from inside his body made him faint. He was sure that power could help him defend himself.

The sky turned dark. Cars were lying out of place. The buildings looked like giant monsters shading the corpses on the streets.

David didn't expect to see the face of the world in this lifeless state.

"Is anyone alive?"

David grabbed a cell phone from the body of a man in a formal suit with a broken arm.

The cell phone showed no internet connection.

David called random numbers on the cell phone to search for life, but no one answered.

David walked in the middle of a street full of corpses. He inspected a car with a broken windshield. Inside was its lifeless owner.

David looked for another car in better condition. He was lucky because the cars of his dreams were still as smooth as if they had just been taken out of the showroom.

David used the car to drive around the city and search for life.

Next to a statue of angel wings, David stopped his car. He saw that the grey-haired man who came from the courier base with Eugene had been crushed to death by the broken wings of the statue.

David checked between the dark buildings. He didn't find a single living human there. If Eugene was dead, why didn't David find his body here?

David continued his journey. He went to churches, schools, and hospitals, but there was still no living human being. In fact, most of them had been razed to the ground.

"Where did everyone go? Or did none of them survive? Am I the only human who is still alive?"

David sat on the terrace of the hospital. Drinking from a bottle of water lying on the floor, he looked up at the stars in the sky. There were no vehicles, no people. David felt he was free.

"I have to survive the destruction of the world."

David looked down at his palms. The lines there displayed the letter M so clearly. That's where the strange energy came from, David remembered.

But how could his palms give off something inhuman like that?

David decided to stop thinking and went back to his car. Why would he feel about that if he had unlimited freedom in front of him?

David could go to the mall, buy the video game of his dreams, take the car of his dreams without fear of imprisonment, and enjoy the facilities of a five-star hotel for free. David was already planning to do all that.

The car drove down the street that was only lit by the lamplight. Every time there was movement, David turned his head and thought it was a monster, but it was just the wall of a building that had been weakened and swept away by the wind.

David arrived at the most comprehensive electronics store in Middletown. He was rather disappointed that most of the electronics had been destroyed.

"It's dark," he whispered as he entered through the hole in the glass.

Two shopkeepers lying dead in their chairs. None of the parts were injured, as if they had simply died.

David took a deep breath. Staring at his pale palms. He exerted his inner power, electric energy floating in the air.

Dozens of monitor screens flickered, and lights did the same. There was the whirring of the air-conditioning machine. David stopped his discharge when his energy was almost gone.

The room was dark again.

"How can I turn on the computer without electricity?" David let out with a disappointed sigh. He decided to leave the place and go somewhere more useful, somewhere to fill his depleted energy.

Before leaving the place, David grabbed a brand new cell phone that many people were using.

"What's the point of having this without internet?" David threw the phone into the trash.

"Food, I need food."

David got into his car. In fact, it was quite difficult to find an intact restaurant in the middle of the city.

There was a building that caught David's attention and made him choose to turn. It was a mall.

The mall was dark and scary. David ventured inside.

He was immediately greeted with shelves of food that he could take as much as he wanted.

David didn't need limited money to eat expensive food. He could take as much as he wanted this time.

David took two plates of black forest, sushi topped with caviar and gold sprinkles, a bottle of milkshake, and a Subaru king melon. He enjoyed the meal on top of a five-star hotel building.

No one can enjoy a meal in the middle of world destruction. David felt that the food he was eating was bland.

"Why is bland food like this so expensive?"

David left his half-eaten meal behind. The scene in front of him looked miserable.

Not even a day after David enjoyed his freedom, he realized that the world with people looked more beautiful than this.