System?

That bear was unlike anything he had seen or heard before. It had four eyes and some kind of spike coming out of its back.

Rey was startled as his brown eyes met the monster's red ones. He didn't dare move or even blink. 

He tried to remember if he'd read any advice about what to do when encountering a bear, though he wondered if that advice still made sense since this thing could hardly be considered a bear.

He thought he vaguely remembered something about not running away because that would encourage it to come after you. Oh, and avoid eye contact, right? Rey thought, remembering some survival tips from documentaries. 

He kept his eyes averted while his heart raced in his chest.

A painful scream caused the monster to shift its focus away from Rey. It moved towards the sound. Various objects were crushed as it made its way.

Alex!

His eyes widened as he saw the bear heading to Alex. He noticed a wooden spike piercing her belly and blood covering her midsection. Her cries drew attention.

Alex bit her lips, resisting the urge to scream, which would only make the situation worse, but when the monster reached a distance of ten feet away, she couldn't hold it.

"No, no, no, no... stay away! Don't come near me!"

She broke down. Tears streamed down her dusty face, forming a river. Fear overwhelmed her, taking away whatever rationality she had left after surviving the disaster.

"Rey!"

Seeing that the monster showed no sign of stopping, she turned her attention to the only person who was there.

"Help me... Please do something—anything!. Just get it away!"

What do you want me to do?

Rey looked at her, then back at the monster. The grip on the glass trembled.

"Please, do something. I beg..."

Alex stopped screaming as she felt a slimy liquid fall on her face. Looking up, her pupils dilated as they met the monster's eyes, and color drained from her face. 

The bear was right on top of her; yellow saliva dripped from its mouth into her head, washing away all the dust from her face.

"N-No, please! Don't!" she trembled. Her teeth cracked, almost biting her tongue.

Rey, watching from his seat, didn't know what to do. He knew he had to do something, anything, to make the monster leave Alex. 

He didn't have a voice to yell with to get its attention, so he picked up a small stone but didn't throw it at the monster right away.

Even if I could get its attention and make it leave Alex, what exactly am I supposed to do after that?

Throwing a rock at the monster would certainly draw its attention, but didn't that mean it would come for him? He could neither run nor defend himself.

Must I sacrifice myself to let her live?!

If the monster got angry, he shuddered at the thought of what might happen to him.

I don't. No, I can't die yet!

But if I don't help, she will die!

Yeah, but I would be alive!

No, no, no, I have to help her; she's my friend!

He was in an internal struggle as his emotions clashed with his self-preservation instinct.

"No! Rey. Aren't we friends? Please don't abandon me!" Alex's screams increased when she saw that Rey was frozen in his place. 

She looked desperate. Scared. She didn't want to die, at least not in such a horrible way.

"Rey," she yelled in pain as the monster opened its mouth and licked her face, its tongue tearing a chunk out of her cheek before it backed away as if surprised by her scream.

Seeing it act like that, she thought maybe the noise bothered it. Her eyes seemed to brighten a little, like seeing light at the end of a dark tunnel. 

She opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could. Her high-pitched scream made the monster take a few steps back.

"It worked!"

Without wasting any time, she opened her mouth again, ready to scream, but before she could utter a sound, a thunderous roar rang out. The shock wave created clouds of dust.

Alex stopped dead in her tracks, frozen with shock. Her eyes were blank. Her brain shook, causing her to temporarily lose consciousness.

The roar snapped Rey out of his internal struggle. His pupils dilated as he watched the monster open its mouth, ready to rip Alex's head off.

"Stop!" he yelled, not caring about the consequences of drawing the monster's attention. 

Blood dripped from his mouth as he forced his voice out. Seeing the monster ignore him, he picked up a rock and threw it at the beast.

The monster stopped and looked at him, its reptilian eyes piercing every fiber of his being, making him freeze.

Move, move, move, move!

Sweat dripped from his forehead as he screamed in his head, but his body wasn't cooperating. Was he that scared? To freeze and let his friend be eaten alive? Move, you coward!

He dug his fingers into the ground and pulled. Blood gushed from his leg like a fountain as he tried to pull himself up, despite a metal bar piercing his leg and pinning it to the ground. 

The stabbing pain was unbearable as he felt his leg being torn apart.

The monster shifted its attention from Eric to Alex.

"Damn, hey!" Rey yelled after failing to free himself. He grabbed and threw everything he could get his hands on. Rocks and shards of glass pierced his palms, but he didn't care.

"Stop...!"

Please don't!

"Stop it!"

Somebody, please help!

"I told you to stop, damn it! Come at me."

Crunch!

His words caught in his throat as he watched the monster bite off the head of the terrified Alex. Bones offered no resistance to its shark-like teeth. A crunching sound echoed each time its jaws closed.

Dead? Alex is dead?!

He didn't know how he felt. There was a stabbing sting in his chest. The pain was worse than at the time he was shot. Glass shattered as he clenched his fists.

It took less than ten seconds for the monster to finish devouring her. Rey's shocked eyes wandered over Alex's body. It only left an arm and half of her lower body that were buried under the rubble. Some of her insides were spilled on the ground like a bunch of worms.

He frowned and looked away, clenching his fists. The experience was both disgusting and horrifying to watch.

Rey flinched as he caught the beast staring back at him. Fresh blood dripped from its mouth. It was still hungry.

The monster raised its paw and took a step toward him. His heart almost jumped out of his chest, and the hand holding the glass shard trembled. It was coming for him.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He gritted his teeth and endured the pain of his broken rib, as it was the least of his problems.

Will I end up with the same fate as Alex?

Just as he felt despair, a sudden noise rang in his mind.

[Ding! The conditions for binding the parasite system have been met.

[The system is loading.]