_ _ _Dr Kate Caldwell Pov_ _ _
(What have you done Claire...?)
I was in turmoil to say the least, my mind was flooded with so many emotions I could barely make sense of them as I watched the scene off in the distance. I was shocked at the shear destruction before me, horrified at the amount of death that only continued to grow, disgusted that Energyne had ever allowed this to happen and...and furious that I had played a part in this massacre
Some part of me still wanted to find a way to stop this but I knew it was impossible, if I tried I'd simply end up like one of the corpses littering the streets. Honestly, I have no idea who that woman had been, the one who gave us the antidote, but she was right, Chicago was going to fall and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it at this point.
"Kate!" Davis suddenly said, pulling me from my thoughts. "I know that you're freaking out right now, and considering the circumstances that's completely understandable, however I need you to focus, do you understand?"
"Y-yeah...yeah sorry."
"Good, now come on, we need to get out of here befor-shit!" He suddenly said before grabbing and pulling me out of the way.
I stumbled to the ground just as an explosion went off behind me, I had just enough time to turn around to see something come spiralling out of a cloud of smoke. Davis had used the grenade launcher he had picked up a while ago to shoot a bat the size of a large convertible out of the air, it crashed into the ground while screeching in pain. Unfortunately it was neither dead or alone, in fact as it picked itself up from the now cracked pavement two more of the creatures could be seen flying towards our current position.
The next few seconds were a blur to say the least, Davis fired two more shots into the back of the grounded bat, they exploded scorching fur and flesh. The mutant turned and screeched in both rage and pain before lunging forward at him, only for a fourth grenade to be fired right into its still open mouth. Davis had just enough time to get out of the way before the creature exploded from the inside out sending blood and gore everywhere.
As for the other two, well, George took it upon himself to take care of them personally. The mutant gorilla roared as he jumped forward and latched onto a nearby building, he then leaped up and towards them in one go. The first thing he did was grab one of them by the legs so it couldn't get away, next he punched the other one hard enough in the face to send it careening to the ground below.
He then landed right on top of the one he had smacked out of the air, crushing it under his own weight in a rather horrific show of force. As for the other one, well, the bat blasted him in the face with a sonic wave disorienting him but not enough to focus the big guy to let it go. In fact this wasn't the best idea on the bat's part, mostly because a moment later George glared at it before then slamming the poor thing into the ground over and over again until it became a meaty paced on the road.
"Thanks for the help buddy." Davis said, causing George to hand-sign something before then rubbing his head with an annoyed look.
"Yeah, I wished they were quieter as well."
"Are you two alright?" I asked as I walked up and looked Davis over.
"We're fine." He responded with a nod.
He then gestured for me to follow him. "Now then, let's get moving." He hummed as I walked after him. "I wish we could have taken the chopper we had come here on but going on foot is probably safer."
(True, I doubt we would have had any chance at making it out if we took the helicopter...) I thought as I glanced up at the sky which was infested with a variety of terrifying creatures.
We made our way through the streets, trying our best to avoid the creatures now tearing the city apart, a fact that was proving surprisingly easy. The creatures seemed more interested in ripping apart buildings and hunting down what little remained of the military that by this point were in full retreat.
As we moved many questions ran through my mind, questions that I'd probably wouldn't get any answers for. Who was that woman from before? Why were some buildings just collapsing for seemingly no reason? What was causing those blue explosions?
(None of this makes any god damn sense.) I muttered internally.
(There's something else going on here, but I just don't have the information to figure it out, a fact that I find both terrifying and frustrating at the same time.) I hummed internally as we made our way through the broken and torn apart streets.
I am abruptly pulled from my thoughts when George suddenly roared at something up in the sky. "Huh?"
"What the hel-!" Was all Davis got out before something fell from above, slamming into the highway some distance from us.
Whatever it was had been heavy enough to send up a massive dust cloud of dirt and debris while also shattering the ground where it had landed. When the dust cleared, we finally got a look at what it was, or what they were to be more precise. There, lying and thrashing in the centre of a crater that had been created by the impact, were two entities, the giant parrot and a massive mutant wasp.
The fight was brutal to say the least, the wasp was using its mandibles to rip out several of the parrot's golden scales and multi coloured feathers while trying to get its stinger into a more usable position. As for the large armoured avian, well, it slashed with its talons, leaving jagged gashes in the massive insects exoskeleton while also trying to grab ahold of the wasp's head so that it could either crush it or rip it off completely. Eventually the wasp broke off and shot into the sky once more, the parrot was quick to follow, flapping its wings as it chased after its opponent.
"My god..." I whispered as I watched the two behemoths leave.
"I'm just glad they're fighting with each other and not us." Davis admitted and I could only nod in agreement.
George hand-signed something again causing Davis to chuckle weakly. "Yeah, you said it big guy."
I however was no longer paying attention to them as my focus had been pulled to something else, a fact that my two companions quickly noticed. "What is it now?" Davis asked as I pulled out my now somewhat busted up phone that had started buzzing like crazy all of a sudden.
"I don't...I don't know..." I slowly trailed off as I looked down at the device in my hand.
On the screen was a black X3 emoji on a green checker pattern background, it stayed on the screen for a second or two before the image suddenly disappeared. A moment later several dozen folders were automatically downloaded onto my phone, folders filled with things that made my eyes widen in both shock and disbelief.
"What...what is this?"
_ _ _3rd Pov_ _ _
All across the world people were having similar if slightly more violent reactions as the exact same thing was happening pretty much everywhere. On every TV, on every phone, on every computer, information was pouring in and it didn't seem like it was going to stop anytime soon. Documents, videos, digital folders filmed with incriminating evidence, all of it was being sent worldwide to media outlets as well as any public and government owned devices with an Internet access.
Some, of course, immediately tried to stop it, to halt the tidal wave of information that was bringing crimes and atrocities long since covered up back to the surface. Unfortunately for them this was impossible, no matter what they tried, what they did, they couldn't stop it, they couldn't even slow the tide.
Emergency meetings were being held all over the world as those who had once used their political power to hide all of their misdeeds now began to panic. Of course however, they weren't the only ones taking action, within hours media outlets were having a field day, massive crowds were rioting in the streets, and those influential figures, the ones who actually had no knowledge of these crimes committed by their fellows, made sure that their disgust and horror was publicly known.
Some did try to deny it, to act like it was all nothing but fraudulent information that wasn't real in the slightest, however such attempts were pointless. In the end the evidence was so blatant that even a blind man could tell it wasn't fake, and the fact that they were so desperately trying to deny it only added fuel to the inferno.
And on the other hand some tried to suppress it, to call for martial law, to regain control, however the damage had already been done. People were furious to put it mildly, add in the videos framing Energyne as the ones who solely caused the current mayhem in Chicago and there was no stopping the shit storm that was about to explode.
All across the globe chaos had erupted to put it mildly, of course in some regions the reactions were somewhat more controlled and level headed while in other regions things had become far, far more violent. And this was all happening only after a few hours since the broadcast, within a few days things would only continue to escalate even more.