The Caffeine System: Critical Heart Protocol

Chapter 8: Humans Are More Terrifying

The air rifle's barrel shifted position, aiming straight between Raka's eyes.

"Ma'am, please, put the gun down," Raka said in a low, cautious voice. He raised both hands in the air to show that he wasn't threatening at all.

The old woman before him stood straight, her wrinkled finger still on the trigger, her gray eyes narrowed in suspicion and fear.

Baginda landed silently on the balcony. The swan positioned itself between Raka and the only exit.

“I’m not a monster,” Raka added. “My name is Raka. I’m just… trying to survive.”

“Liar,” the woman hissed in a hoarse, trembling voice. “I saw you. You were jumping between buildings like you weren’t human. And that thing behind you… it’s no ordinary animal.”

“He… is a little different, Ma’am,” Raka admitted. He glanced at Baginda, who was now staring at the old woman with the intensity of a master predator. “But we didn’t hurt you. We just needed a place to hide for a while.”

“Hurt me?” The woman laughed humorlessly. “You did it! You brought the sound to my place! You summoned them! Go away! Go away, you werecreatures!”

The woman's eyes flashed with anger. She accused Raka of being one of those monsters capable of disguising himself as a human. Paranoia had poisoned her mind, turning fear into aggression.

“Ma'am, please. We have to calm down right now. We have to be quiet,” Raka tried to take a small step forward.

However, that was a mistake.

“Don’t come any closer!” screamed the old woman.

Pssst!

A burst of air broke the silence. The woman had already pulled the trigger.

To a casual observer, it was just a fleeting flash. But to Raka, whose heart was pounding with fear and the remnants of adrenaline, the world slowed to a thick syrup. The Bullet Time effect was back in effect.

He could see the tiny lead exiting the gun barrel. He watched it spin through the air, slowly drifting toward his right eye. He could imagine the absurdity of being killed by a paranoid grandmother's air rifle.

His instincts, sharpened by caffeine and trauma, began to take over. His movements felt fluid and effortless. He simply raised his right hand and, with startling precision, caught the small bullet between his index and middle fingers just centimeters before it pierced his cornea.

After that time returned to normal. Raka stood there with his hand raised, holding a lead bullet. Silence. 

The old woman stared at the scene with wide eyes. The air rifle fell from her grasp and clattered to the marble floor. Her face turned as white as a sheet.

“Monster,” she whispered in horror. “MONSTER! I KNOW YOU’RE A MONSTER!”

The whispers turned into shrill, hysterical screams, piercing the ears and shattering the stillness of the night that had just fallen. It was a sound that would serve as a beacon to every Crawler within a kilometer radius.

“No, no, no! Ma'am, stop screaming!” Raka panicked because the old woman was still screaming in fear.

Behind Raka, Baginda reacted to the threat. He spread his wings and began emitting a menacing hiss. His sharp feathers stood on end. He prepared to attack the woman who was the source of the noise.

Raka turned to Baginda. His fears were threefold: the old woman before him, Baginda hissing behind him, ready to silence her permanently, and the crawler that would surely appear any minute.

Raka turned around.

“Baginda, don’t!” Raka shouted and immediately stopped Baginda from going any further.

Now he is trapped in an impossible dilemma. Raka looked back at the old woman in front of him.

“Ma'am, please, listen to me! If you scream like that, you’re calling them!”

Raka tried to negotiate. His other hand reached out to hold the King's steel-hard chest, preventing him from advancing.

“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU DEVIL!”

The old woman continued to scream until she retreated to the corner of the room.

Baginda pushed his body forward. His surprising strength nearly made Raka stumble.

“He’s human, Baginda!” Raka tried to nail his feet to keep them in place as Baginda continued to advance. “We don’t kill humans!” Raka urged again, still struggling to hold back his ally.

[User666: Drama! Love this drama so much! Who will die first? Vote now!] 

[AnimalLover12: Don't hurt the grandmother! But the goose is also right, she is noisy!]

Raka ignored the comments. He had to stop this. He stared into the old woman's eyes, trying to find any trace of sanity there.

“Listen! I’m scared! Just like you!” he exclaimed in a sincere, desperate voice. “Before all this happened, I was just a barista! I made coffee! I was afraid of heights, I hated cockroaches, and I fainted at the sight of blood! Does that sound like a monster to you?”

The woman's screams slowly subsided upon hearing Raka's words. Then they turned into gasping sobs. Raka's words seemed to have broken through her wall of panic.

“Out there… at Monas… there’s a safe zone,” she sobbed through her tears. “I heard it on the radio… before everything died. The military… they’re setting up camp.”

Raka carefully digested the information. A safe zone. A goal and a hope. "Thank you, ma'am. Thank you."

The tension in the room began to ease.

Raka slowly lowered his hand from Baginda's chest, who also seemed a little calmer, although his eyes still watched the woman warily.

The old woman wiped away her tears. “Cat… where’s my cat?” she muttered, then searched the room. “My cat… he must be scared.”

Raka breathed a sigh of relief. 'Maybe everything will be okay,' he thought.

That was when Raka heard a very soft cracking sound from where Baginda was standing. He turned around. Baginda was standing there quietly, chewing something. A small silver bell dangled from the corner of his beak. It had only been a few minutes and Baginda was already chewing something.

The old woman saw it at the same moment. Her eyes were fixed on the bell, which was exactly the same as the one on her beloved cat's collar. Her already pale face finally lost all its color. A terrible understanding flashed across her eyes.

The old woman didn't scream. She simply opened her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Her hands clutched her chest tightly. Her body convulsed, then she collapsed to the floor, motionless.

Raka froze at the sight. "Ma'am?" he called softly.

No answer.

[System Alert: Non-Host human death detected.] 

[Cause of Death: Acute heart failure triggered by emotional trauma.]

The old woman had just died of a heart attack, shocked by the sight of Baginda eating her pet cat.

Raka stared at the woman's corpse and then at Baginda, who had just swallowed his last bite with apparent ease. The horror and absurdity of the situation made his stomach suddenly churn.

Suddenly, his brain remembered one thing.

“There must be coffee in this apartment,” he whispered. “I need to get some.”

Raka entered the apartment. His eyes scanned the area. He saw a glass bottle containing a black liquid on the table. He picked it up and opened it. The aroma of coffee wafted from it.

As Raka was about to put the bottle into his trouser pocket, a red alarm flashed across his vision accompanied by a siren sound that only he could hear.

[WARNING! SOME NOISE DETECTED!] 

[LARGE MOB APPROACHING THIS LOCATION!] 

[AREA NOT SAFE. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!]