We are Gods:Surviving the Madness

As the tall gaunt man closed in on him, Alex's heart suddenly palpitated. At this moment, Alex felt that he would have preferred it if the figure before him was a Craze rather than not knowing what he was facing, for at least if it was a Craze he would know what to expect from it. But now he had no idea who or what it was, and this uncertainty sent a chill down his spine.

As he thought of this, Alex knew that he had to act fast before the figure closed on him.

So he suddenly dashed to the shadowed shelves, which had dark visibility on them, to find cover, hoping that this would shake off the gaunt figure, and if it had night vision like a Craze, his action would have been fruitless. As he entered the shadows, Alex wasted no time. He suddenly dashed towards a nearby window, his footsteps echoing through the silent library.

He was planning to escape the library through it and find cover in another place, far away from this library.

But just as he moved towards the window, he suddenly realized a certain detail that he had overlooked.

Having been so immersed in the library earlier, lost in the musty smell of old books and the faint scent of decay, that he had lost track of time and now night had befallen, casting a dark and foreboding shadow over the deserted streets.

And with nightfall came the Crazes. The countless humans, infected and forever changed by the Disease, would now be roaming the streets, searching for food.

And considering that a gunshot had echoed in this area, a lot of Crazes were probably more active around here.

As if to agree with his speculations, Alex at this moment suddenly heard countless growls and wails sounding from outside. The sounds sent a shiver down his spine, and he froze, his hand grasping the windowsill.

Upon hearing the sounds, Alex was forced to abort the idea of escaping through the window. He knew that he couldn't take on the Crazes alone, not at night and not with the proper gear, so he had to find another way, or a safe place to hide until dawn.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, knowing that he had to think clearly and come up with a plan to survive the night.

As he turned back, Alex's eyes scanned the library, searching for any sign of movement.

The gaunt figure was still out there, probably watching him, waiting for him to make another move, and Alex knew that he had to be careful, that one wrong step could mean the difference between life and death.

He began to move nimbly through the empty space between the lined up shelves, his ears perking up for any sign of movement. But as he moved, he felt his legs throb with pain, the jeans he wore were obstructing his movements and constraining around his thighs, thus causing him pain.

"Great idea Alex,you just had to choose the jeans for a outfit today didn't you?"said Alex while silently mocking himself.

Shaking his head, he then asked himself,

"Honestly, what was l even thinking?"

Even though he asked himself this question, he was well aware of what he was thinking, the reason for wearing these jeans being so stupid that he was even ashamed of thinking it aloud, knowing that it was because of his fashion taste, which was ridiculous.

Knowing full well that he wouldn't outrun the gaunt figure while wearing these jeans, Alex decided to change into another set of clothes.

Luckily he had a few sets of clothes meant for certain emergences like this.

Dashing to another secluded corner that would be hard to pry into with normal eyesight, Alex rolled over and crouched down, surveying his surroundings.

Finding no one present, he then took off his backpack and placed it down, unlocking the countless pins locking it, and retrieved a pair of dark cargo trousers that he had picked up on his way inside a fashion store.

The trousers were elastic and comfortable, providing him with free movements and agility, which made them a perfect choice for this situation, and also, mostly importantly, these trousers were fashionable and of good quality.

As he retrieved the trousers, he wasted no time and quickly removed the worn out jeans in a swift motion, his blue eyes sweeping the area with vigilance, scanning for any signs of danger.

Luckily for him, the tall gaunt figure seemed to not know where he was, and after wearing the cargo pants, he also removed the dark lether jacket he was wearing, another piece of fashion that was obstructing his movements.

It was not only restricting the movements of his arms but also causing him to sweat profoundly.

Once the jacket was off, Alex felt like he had been liberated from heavy shackles, his body now feeling nimble and light, he felt like playing hide and seek with the gaunt figure wouldn't be so hard anymore.

But ridding himself of these thick clothes might have seemed like a good idea, Alex knew that it had its flaws.

Although the jeans and the leather jacket obstructed his movements, they also provided him with little amount of protection with their steady and thick material.

These clothes, which had been in fashion in the morden twenty-first century before the emergence of the Disease, were steady enough to provide some little protection against certain damages.

But regardless, the protection was very little, so in the end, choosing his agility over it was a wise choice.

Time passed while Alex was crouched in the shadowed corner, and he never heard any signs of the gaunt figure's movements.

He stood still, afraid of making any noise and thus possibly attracting its attention.

The library was silent without any signs of movements sounding, the only sounds that echoed were the sound of blowing wind and the countless wails and growls of the Crazes.

There were also sounds of gunshots echoing outside, probably coming from other survivors like him out there.

The gunshots sounded far away, proving that where the survivors were hiding was not near the library.

As several hours passed by, Alex eventually changed from his vigilant crouching position to a more comfortable one.

He leaned his back on the wall while sitting in the corner.

His vigilance all that time did not drop, as his ears listened for any subtle sounds of movements.

But as the time passed, the gaunt figure did not appear, infact the library remained silent, the only sound within, coming from Alex's breathing. Other than that, there was nothing else.

It was as if the figure was never there in the library, and Alex had just imagined him to be there.

As the time passed by without anything happening.

Alex began to think that he had imagined the whole encounter due to his own apprehension.

Cases like that were not rare in this world that had gone mad. Alex could even say that he had experienced his couple of illusions in the past, even though they were not as realistic as this one.

While Alex mused over this, he suddenly felt that he should go back and check whether the was real.

But as he thought of the possibility of meeting that daunting thing again, he later dismissed the idea.

The figure was the scariest thing that Alex had ever encountered, and considering his experience, he had met his fair share of horrors.

"If that thing was an illusion, then l am one hell of an artist," inwardly said Alex, trying to calm himself.

After a few more hours in the dark, the night eventually passed.

The first rays of dawn entered the room, giving Alex some relief.

As soon as it was morning, the first thing Alex did was take a pee at the walls of the library.

The entire night had passed with him holding it, and he was so scared of making any movements and noises thus attracting the threat that might be present in the library. Also, he could have just peed in his pants if it wasn't for his reluctance to ruin his new cargo pants. After successfully releasing the accumulated load, Alex took his backpack and clutched his bone knife, as he prepared to confirm whether the encounter he had yesterday was an illusion or not.