Adam sprinted to his car, yanked the door open, and threw himself into the driver's seat. He slapped the start button.

  Start, start, start. The engine purred to life, and relief flooded through him.

  He shoved the gear into reverse and floored it. The car bounced hard and nearly threw him from his seat. It bounced again, the front wheels thudding over the same limp shape.

  “Dixon…” Adam winced, his stomach threatening to rebel and kept backing up. He could see through the windshield the considerable bulk of his dead boss splayed out on the ground. He skirted around the corpse, grimacing, and flicked on the headlights.

  At the bottom of the ramp, five sets of eyes gleamed in the light. The small, green-skinned monstrosities held an assortment of rusted weapons in their hands and immediately started toward him.

  Adam gritted his teeth and slammed his foot on the gas. The tires squealed and the car lurched forward. He cranked the headlights to full and barreled down the ramp.

  The creatures froze, confusion and curiosity further twisting their already warped faces.

  Four thousand pounds of metal and plastic plowed through them. The SUV rattled violently as the bodies crunched beneath the wheels. Adam slammed on the brakes and screeched to a halt just short of the concrete wall. The acrid stench of burnt rubber filled the car, and he shifted into reverse.

  He backed over the bodies, and then threw the car into drive, double tapping the goblins and peeling out of the garage with his heart hammering.

  Adam glanced in the rearview mirror.

  The piles of mangled flesh behind him barely resembled the creatures they'd once been. They were reduced to lumpy, bleeding sacks of goo, strewn across the pavement.

  Apparently, car beats goblin, he thought.

  He let out a short, sharp bark of laughter, before cackling hysterically. All he could think about were those old college nights playing tabletop games with his friends.

  How do you want to kill the goblin?

  I’d like to hit it with my fucking car.

  His laughter faded slowly and bitter silence took its place.

  Buildings burned in every direction as he drove. The thick smoke rolled across the road in chemical filled waves, curling into the now poison colored sky.

  It probably wasn't great to breathe in, but cancer felt like the last of his problems if the world was ending.

  He drove in silence for several minutes, keeping his eyes peeled for any further insanity. Adam quickly found there wasn’t a lack of it.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  People ran across the streets, some with children, some with pets, and some with weapons. All of them trying to get the hell out of dodge.

  Adam just wanted to get home.

  His condo was on the second floor of an old-turned-new development at the city's edge. It was out of the way, and had enough food to last a few weeks if he rationed it right. Maybe this would all blow over.

  And maybe I'm out of my goddamned mind, he thought.

  “There’s no putting Pandora back in this box. What's been fucked cannot always be unfucked.”

  As if on cue, a pale, emaciated figure chased a man across a narrow strip of lawn. Its limbs were too long and its spindly fingers stretched toward the fleeing man like hooks. He managed to fumble his door open just before the thing reached him. The door slammed shut between them and the creature paused.

  Adam realized he’d taken his foot off of the accelerator and slowed down to watch the interaction without meaning to. The thing slowly pivoted at the waist, pointing at him with one of its too-long arms. It had no face, just a blank gray space where the eyes and mouth should be.

  He felt a voice creep into his mind.

  “C’mere. You’ll do.”

  It hissed through his thoughts, cold and filthy, leaving him with the overwhelming urge to shower.

  “Oh, fuck this.”

  He tore away from the scene, flooring the gas and putting as much distance between himself and the creature as possible. The voice faded slowly with distance, vanishing into the smoke-filled street behind him.

  A jagged bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a low peal of thunder. Rain began to tap against the windshield as Adam navigated the wreckage that had once been his city. Oncoming cars swerved past him and he had to work to avoid hitting them head on.

  Some of the cars he passed were wrapped around poles, others smashed against other parked cars or driven into storefronts. One had punched through the wall of a house. Another had crashed directly into a garage door, pinning what looked like a massive spider between the wall of crumpled metal and its hood. Its massive legs still twitched as he passed by.

  Bodies lay on the sidewalks and lawns, some in pieces, some still whole. Adam felt like a coward for not stopping to help, but deep down he already knew. There was nothing he could do for anyone who wasn't moving.

  The living avoided him just as quickly as they ran from whatever hunted them.

  After what felt like hours, he turned onto his street. It was eerily quiet. He slowed to a crawl, headlights off, unwilling to draw any unwanted attention as he approached what he prayed was still a safe haven.

  The rain began to lighten and the thunder rolled further off as he parked.

  Adam, not for the first time, wished he'd shelled out the extra cash for a garage. The thought that being cheap and parking on the street might actually kill him gave way to a shaky, manic giggle. He needed to stop laughing. Nothing about this was funny and he knew it. It was a short step from stress laughing to having a full breakdown in his car.

  He just needed to get inside.

  He checked the street again. Nothing moved. He grabbed the bat from the passenger's side and stepped out. Every hair on his body felt like it lifted away from his skin in a wave of goosebumps. He bolted for the entrance to his condo, nearly going down in the rain-slicked grass. His foot caught in a shallow hole, and he stumbled forward but kept moving, skidding to a halt on the front step.

  “Hey!” a voice called from behind.

  “No.” His voice was a breathless whisper as he fumbled in his pocket for the keys.

  “HEY!” The voice came again, louder and closer.

  “No thank you!” Adam shouted, refusing to look back. His fingers scraped across keys and he quickly found the right one. He jammed it into the lock without hesitating, turning it so hard it bent.

  A prickle spread across his arms. His skin tingled, and he could feel the static dancing in the air around him.

  “Hey, wait!” the voice called one more time.

  Adam smelled the sharp, electric scent of ozone as he turned to defend himself, gripping his bat in both hands. He had just enough time to see the sky split open. A single bolt of lightning raced downward, white and perfect, like the finger of an angry god.

  It landed on the tip of his metal bat.

  Three hundred million volts of electricity shot down his arms and into his chest.

  And the world vanished in a flash of white.