Becoming An Orphan

Looking at Fluffy's red eyes, Markus shuddered involuntarily. His instincts were screaming for him to escape, but the last shreds of reasoning within him prevented him from abandoning his wife and son.

"Run! Get outside!" Markus yelled at Julia, while swinging the knife at Fluffy, making a deep red gash on Fluffy's right cheek.

Alarmed by the sudden stinging pain, Fluffy let go of Markus's leg and backed away a few meters, eyeing him warily.

Meanwhile, Julia finally snapped back to reality and dashed towards the front door. Unfortunately, her hands were shaking terribly, and she didn't get a solid grip on the lock of the door, making her efforts to push down the door handle futile.

The more she failed, the stronger the fear and frustration within her grew, making her hands sweat and shake so badly that she no longer could even grip the door handle.

While Julia was struggling to open the door, a deathly battle was taking place in the living room.

Fluffy dashed towards Markus, trying to bite his leg again, while Markus hastily dodged sideways, colliding with the kitchen counter and barely avoiding Fluffy's fangs. Grunting, Markus quickly straightened himself while aiming a kick towards Fluffy.

Instead of dodging, Fluffy jumped forwards, biting down on the leg that soared towards him.

Gritting his teeth, Markus didn't stop his kick and instead continued it, slamming Fluffy's body against the counter, making Fluffy yelp and let go of his leg.

Fluffy staggered back to his feet while backing away from Markus.

Seeing Fluffy eyeing him so warily, Markus gained confidence and started advancing towards Fluffy.

Just as Markus was about to lunge at Fluffy with the knife, Fluffy's ears perked up and he turned around.

"NO!" Markus let out a desperate shout as he saw Fluffy dash at full speed towards the door, which Julia was trying to open.

Hearing her husband's shout, Julia glanced over her shoulder in time to see Fluffy pouncing on her. She quickly bent down while shielding Cassius with her body, not daring to risk her son getting hurt in a futile struggle against the large dog.

Soon Fluffy's claws slashed across her back, leaving deep bloody gashes while blood spurted into the air, leaving crimson splashes on the wall. Julia let out a painful cry while still shielding Cassius in her arms.

Cassius was in shock about what was happening around him, so he simply stared at his mother, who had tears in her eyes. Confused about why his mother was crying, Cassius reached out his hands to wipe away the tears rolling down her face.

"Don't cry mom." the boy said in a shaky voice, earning a pain-filled smile from his mother.

"Cass, close your eyes don't open them until Mom or Dad says it's alright. Okay?" Julia said, while trying to sound soothing, but failed as Fluffy's fangs pierced her arm, causing Cassius to fall from her embrace.

While lying on the ground, Cassius simply nodded and closed his eyes. Shortly after he closed his eyes, some warm liquid splashed on his face, accompanied by his mother's scream. The cause of Julia's scream was Fluffy biting into her left thigh.

While Fluffy was busy tearing into Julia's thigh, piercing one of her arteries in the process, Markus finally reached his family and stabbed the knife into Fluffy's back.

Fluffy let out a cry and shifted his focus from Julia to Markus. Letting out a deep growl, Fluffy jumped towards Markus who was still leaning forwards after stabbing Fluffy.

Markus tried to dodge, but he was too slow as Fluffy's fangs bit down, piercing his throat.

Paralyzed by the pain, Markus' knees buckled and he fell to the ground. With the last of his strength, Markus placed his hands on Fluffy's head and pressed down on his eyes with his thumbs.

Sensing the danger too late, Fluffy let go of Markus and tried to break free, but Markus already had a solid grip on Fluffy's head, making his struggles useless.

As Fluffy trashed in Markus' grip, Julia had stood up and staggered towards Fluffy, her eyes glued to the kitchen knife still stuck in Fluffy's back.

Just as Julia got a hold of the kitchen knife, Markus lost the strength in his hands, causing Fluffy to break free.

Fluffy blinked several times with blood flowing out of his eyes. His vision was blurry, and he shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Suddenly, he could feel a sharp pain in his back as Julia pulled out the kitchen knife.

Turning around, Fluffy growled. But his vision was still blurred, so he could barely see Julia's silhouette.

Julia, on the other hand, was feeling weak from the blood loss. She had severe wounds on her back, arm, and thigh and blood continuously dripped down her body and onto the floor.

Several seconds passed as both the woman and the dog were in a standoff. Just as it looked like this would continue for as long as one of them was standing, Markus let out a wheezing sound, before his body went completely still and the light disappeared from his eyes.

As Markus was right next to Fluffy, the sudden sound caused him to turn his head, giving Julia an opening.

Julia sprinted the two-meter distance between her and Fluffy and sank the knife in her hands into Fluffy's neck.

Seeing the dog cough out blood, Julia let out a relieved smile as she leaned towards the wall.

Just as Julia had let down her guard, Fluffy made his final struggle.

Fluffy jumped up and slashed Julia's throat with his claws. The wound wasn't deep, but the force behind it threw Julia down onto the floor. Fluffy crashed right next to her, where he remained, unmoving.

Julia was already weak. She was suffering from severe blood loss and mental fatigue, as she couldn't keep up with the drastic changes happening around her, so her consciousness blurred. She cast a last mournful look towards her husband before closing her eyes.

'My love, at least we kept Cass safe.' she thought as her consciousness faded away.

Silence descended upon the one-bedroom apartment. A few seconds passed by until a small voice broke the silence.

"M-mom can I o-open my eyes now?" asked the young boy with a shaky voice.

The boy waited for a while but no one answered, and he didn't hear anyone moving either.

"D-dad?" he asked, holding back his tears. But no one answered him.

Although he was young, Cassius was a smart boy. He knew something was wrong the moment his mother dashed towards the door. Like all children, he had a blind faith that his parents would solve whatever was going on and protect him. But now that the two most precious people in the world to him didn't answer, the boy started to panic.

"F-Fluffy?" the boy whimpered, with a few teardrops rolling down his face. But instead of hearing the family's loyal dog's usual barking, only silence followed.

Ten seconds passed by until the boy finally opened his eyes. While he knew his mother would scold him if he disobeyed her orders, he simply couldn't hold back anymore. He had to know what was happening around him.

As Cassius opened his eyes and stood up, the first thing he noticed was the pool of blood that filled the hallway.

The next thing his small eyes registered were the three bodies. The closest one was his mother.

Julia had her back facing Cassius, so he couldn't see her mangled throat, arm, or leg, but he could see the claw marks on her back.

"M-mom!!" Cassius shouted while running towards his mother's corpse. He turned her around and saw the deep wounds previously inflicted by Fluffy. His mother still felt warm to his touch, but no matter how hard Cassius shook her, she wouldn't move. Trying to convince himself that she was simply sleeping, he gave Julia a small kiss on her cheek and whispered 'rest now, mom', before standing up again and looking around.

As Cassius looked towards his father, he heard a small wheezing sound coming from nearby.

Turning his head, Cassius's gaze landed on Fluffy's body. The dog's chest was slowly rising and falling, indicating that its life was at an end. Unlike before, Fluffy's eyes weren't red, but their usual brown color.

"Fluffy!" Cassius let out a sorrowful scream as he made his way towards his best friend. Seeing the dagger lodged inside Fluffy's neck, Cassius grabbed it and tried to pull it out, but to no avail.

Frowning, Cassius tried again, but the result was the same.

Learning from his previous attempts, Cassius mustered all the strength his young, little body could bring forth before he finally pulled it out.

"Okay. The bad knife is now gone. You will be alright now, Fluffy." the boy said, his voice cracking. Rather than believing his own words, he more likely said them to comfort himself.

Fluffy slightly turned his head and gave the boy's hand a small lick before his head dropped on the floor and he closed his eyes, lying there lifeless.

[You killed a Mutated Hound (level 3).]

[You gained 510 experience.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

These notifications flashed in front of Cassius's eyes, but as he didn't know how to read, he did not know what they meant. Otherwise, he would have probably burst into tears, thinking he was the reason Fluffy died.

Tearing his eyes from Fluffy's now dead corpse, Cassius turned around to look at his father.

Cassius immediately noticed Markus's eyes that were still open and were lifelessly staring towards the ceiling.

"D-dad?" the young boy asked, his voice barely a whisper. Cassius had seen Disney's Lion King. He knew what death meant. Now, looking at his father lying down on the floor with lifeless eyes, he couldn't help but think back to the moment Simba found Mufasa's dead body.

"Dad? You have got to get up." he said while shaking his father's shoulder.

"Mom is hurt. She needs you, dad." Cassius continued while shaking Markus.

"Dad, please. The show is later tonight. You can't sleep now. When mom wakes up, she will be mad." Cassius said, while tears started to roll out of his eyes.

"Please, Dad. Don't leave me all alone." Cassius said, his voice barely but a whisper, as he looked at Markus's pale body, which was lying in a pool of blood.

Minutes passed by as the boy shook his father. But no matter how hard Cassius shook him, Markus didn't move.

"Dad, I'm scared. Please come back. I don't want to be alone." the boy cried, his voice cracking down all the while a never-ending stream of tears flowed down his face.