Chapter 4: A Feast For The Ages

Damon was beset by worry, seeing Leo lying in his arms, unconscious, but luckily, he could tell the cat was still breathing, though it had strangely fallen into a deep sleep.

Leo, just like Damon, loved his nap, but Damon could tell that this was different.

However, before he could ponder further, he heard muffled banging on his door—

BAM! BAM!

Damon turned to the reinforced, soundproof door on the right side of his room, wondering who that could be, as his senses whispered danger to him.

From the memories he had inherited, when the other Damon had arrived from his short trip, he had ordered his butler and nanny to take the rest of the day off once they were done setting up all his needs.

It’s been more than three hours since he locked himself inside in deep sleep, so they should have taken their leave by now.

Then Damon’s eyes widened a little as yet another memory surfaced.

The scene Damon was met with in his penthouse living room when he had arrived from his trip.

"Wait—"

"Don’t tell me they’re still here ?"

Damon murmured as the muffled banging on his door grew louder and more unhinged.

The heavy door began heaving from the strength of the repeated slams—

It sounded as if someone was literally hoisting their body at his door.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

"This is bad."

Even at the realization of what might be trying to gain entrance into his room, Damon was still feeling sleepy. He acknowledged the danger at hand, but his body wasn’t reacting with the expected urgency such a situation demanded. He could only blame his needlessly calm mindset for this.

His logical mind could already tell that if that thing outside came in—He would die.

For real this time.

BAHM! BAHM! BAHM!

Damon took steady steps to his massive, comforting bed, Leo in his embrace as he gently set his cat on one of the four fluffy pillows.

Then he took a seat on the edge of the bed, a slow realization dawning that he was probably going to be feasted upon in a few minutes, as he could clearly see the cracks forming along the frame of his door from the progressively unhinged slams.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BAHM!

Looking back—

The former Damon didn’t even know he had any extended family to begin with.

But after his parents’ passing, he found that he did have an uncle and a cousin. They had come to his parents’ funeral. Maybe even more estranged family his parents never mentioned.

After the funeral, this cousin who’s the exact opposite of Damon in every way, had been insistent on intruding into Damon’s life.

Considering they were the only family he knew of, and also, his reliable butler had confirmed they were, in fact, his estranged extended family—

Damon didn’t go out of his way to block this overbearing cousin of his from enjoying the benefits of being a relative with the richest human on the planet.

Damon could recall that there was more his butler wanted to clarify about the situation with his estranged family, but he was simply too lazy to listen back then, as was usual with his stance on most matters.

Brad, his cousin, began frequenting Damon’s penthouse, citing the reason of not wanting Damon to mourn the passing of his parents alone.

But all he actually did was enjoy all the amenities of his penthouse and whatever else lay around in his home.

Since Damon, by nature, didn’t care about most things, he simply allowed him to be. After all, his private room was never disturbed.

Damon barely knew what went on in his own home; his butler and nanny basically took care of everything. They were so efficient at their jobs sometimes that it amazed Damon.

The trip to one of the many vacation homes Damon owns was not just to sleep in a new place, but to get away from his overbearing cousin.

But when Damon returned this day, he had found Brad passed out drunk in his living room, with several other people his age.

The place was littered with bottles of alcohol, cigarettes and fast food, it was evident that he had thrown a large party overnight with friends from his college.

Damon reasoned that maybe he shouldn’t have allowed his cousin to receive the password to his penthouse, and since both his butler and nanny accompanied Damon everywhere, Brad had the penthouse to himself.

Damon didn’t like the sight he met, but he was too tired and sleepy to talk to his cousin about the matter—-

They both had barely even spoken since Damon was always secluded in sleep. And when he does come out, all he says to Brad was yes to whatever he was requesting so that he can quickly return back to sleep.

His nanny didn’t like this, but Damon really didn’t care.

He had instructed his butler to have Brad and his friends leave when they woke up from the drunken state as he went into his own room, which luckily had a special pass, and directly went to sleep.

That was the other Damon’s last memories.

Damon now realizes that the instructions he had left with his butler were actually counterintuitive.

He had told his nanny and butler to take the day off, while he had also told them to have Brad and his friend leave— When they woke up.

And since it’s only been about three hours since then—

They might still have been asleep in his living room when this all started—

And there was a possibility that even his butler, who’s a stickler for following instructions to the letter, might also still be in the building.

BAHM! BAHM!

BAHM! BAHM! BOOM!

"Shit"

Damon muttered, watching his door heave progressively inward, cracks spiralling as the muffled sounds were no longer muffled from the damage—

Now, there were inhumane, loud growls coming from the creature trying to bring his door down, as well as muffled cries and screams just beyond it.

"GRRRRWWH"

CRASH!

"HARPER!!! HARPER, PLEASE STOP!!!"

"Arrrrgggggh!!!! HELP ME!"

BAHM! BAHM!

BAHM!

Damon recalled the scene below his penthouse, of the countless mutated people pouncing on and devouring their fellow humans.

Hearing the sounds coming from beyond his door, as well as the primal growls, he already knew what was coming for him.

"I guess this is it—I didn’t even get to enjoy a long nap in this bed.

Sighing heavily, Damon resigned himself to his fate.

He felt there was no point fighting whatever was behind that door to begin with.

Damon possesses less than a quarter of the physical strength an average human should have.

He had an extremely weak constitution, in both his former life and this alternate version of himself.

He concluded that there was no point in trying to struggle—

BAHM!

BAHM!

He knew this— yet he wondered why he was getting so angry right now.

At least, he felt this was anger—

This emotion that had always been foreign to him was being forced into manifestation by the unfairness of his existence.

"NO"

"I refuse to die here—"

"I refuse to die without even getting to sleep for six good hours on this glorious bed."

Damon intoned as he rose from the bed, beginning to rummage through his room for any type of object he could use as a weapon.

The action was so foreign to him that he didn’t even know what to look for. He didn’t even have the strength to move most objects around him.

BAHM! BAHM!

BAAHM!

Damon hurried over to the only other door in his room, positioned a few feet away from the one that was being busted apart.

There he found his luxurious bathroom, but Damon had no time to admire it as his door was nearly broken through, so he grabbed the first thing that looked useful, and he could wield it easily.

A Toilet plunger.

Damon hastened his pace back to his bed, an action that would look painfully slow to an outside observer.

He picked up Leo from the bed and distanced himself from the door until his back was right against the large tempered glass window.

"Phew— "

"Let’s go out swinging, alright, Leo ?"

Damon said to his unconscious cat in his right arm, his left arm holding up the plunger towards his cracking door.

Though his expression still remained blank, his forehead beaded with specks of sweat, maybe from the small exertion he had just subjected his body to, or from the tense nature of the situation.

His fragile, lanky form was unstable as he tried to muster all the strength he could, his dull blue eyes shone with a desire to cling to life.

BOOMH! CRASH!

Damon had only seen these transformed humans from a distance, all the way up from his penthouse to the streets and chaos below.

But now faced with this creature—

"GRRRRWWH"

This creature which still has a human form, still wearing its former human clothes—-

But its fingers were blackened, its claws like knives looking sharp enough to render flesh—--

Its teeth like spikes, and dripping with black crimson blood and something mixed in—--something purple and slimy.

This vile viscous drenched it’s white shirt, sunken eyes the color of night, skin, pale and ashen with veins and spirally cracks.

Its dead eyes locked onto Damon instantly as it let out a primal cry, charging straight at him like a demon from hell—-

SCREEEEEEEE!!

"What in tarnations is that ?!"

Damon uttered as he hastily brought up the plunger to to block the powerful hand already clawing towards him.

SNAP!

BAHM!

The plunger was shattered instantly, the creatures powerful claw tearing through Damon and sending him flying through the room and into the west wall.

BOOM!

Damon felt as if all the bones inside him had been shattered, crimson blood dripping out of his mouth and out from the large claw marks on his abdomen.

The top half of his luxury purple pajama in shreds as he fell limply on the massive bed.

On the verge of going unconscious from the impact, he still looked to the far comer were he had hastily tossed Leo, satisfied to see the cat was in one piece.

Hearing the growl right on top of him, Damon weakly returned his gaze to see this creature lowering its grotesque maw with jutting spiked teeth right for his bleeding abdomen, going for the feast.

’Sigh— at least I get to sleep now.’

Was the last thing Damon thought before his face was coating in blood.

BANG!

PSUH!

The creature, now with a hole in its skull, slumped and fell to the side across Damon’s legs.

Through his bloodied eyes, smeared with the blood of this vile creature, Damon maneuvered his gaze in the direction where the sudden sound came from.

There, a handsome middle-aged man with one of his arms missing in a bloody mess of chewed skin and hanging bones, stood at the entrance of Damon’s room, his other hand still stretched with a smoking pistol.

"Are you okay, master Damon?"

He asked Damon in a calm deep voice.

This man’s injuries were clearly severe and he was losing lots of blood from his missing arm—-

But he still gave off a calm dignified air, and strangely, his clothes as well as his hair still looked almost spotless and groomed, contrary to the rest of his battered state.

"Harvey ?"

Half conscious, Damon murmured in relief at seeing his Butler.