Vito's mind was racing.
'No… no no no.'
Panting and heavily breathing, they ran, the forest to their left, and the lake to their right. They could already see the barn, painted in red and white, as another scream emerged from the courtyard, hidden behind it. They rounded the corner, fearing that whatever had befallen the deer in the forest would not have spread this far. However, what they saw was nothing short of a hellspawn that had crawled straight out of the abyss. The humanoid being crawling on the ground had more of a resemblance to a reptile than man. Covered in black scales, two additional arms that ended in claws sharp enough to cut solid steel and hair replaced by obsidian spikes. The only thing were the patches of skin and remnants of clothes being torn apart as it convulsed.
"Dad !"
His brother yelled out as he continued sprinting towards their father. Vito skidded to a halt, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot. His gaze locked onto the crawling figure, breath hitched, muscles locked rigid. The world narrowed to the scaled abomination that wore his father's skin, every instinct screaming, yet his limbs refused to obey. His brother slowed down as he approached, circling around. As he got closer, Vito pulled himself out of his stasis
"No! Get away!" as he saw the creature tense up.
It was too late. Akko opened his mouth to speak, but before a could form a single word, the arm of the creature that once was their father snapped towards him. Twisting its entire body in order to reach him, it sent him flying back with a disgusting crack, loudly announcing broken bones in his right arm. The rifle was slung away as he crashed into the ground and slid further as the skin on his left side was torn open by the rough ground. The humanoid turned around fully, revealing a face partially human, partially that of a reptile. The scales on its body rippled as a shower went through it's body and new scales formed, consuming more of the human skin. Dark, slitted eyes locked onto the human on the ground as it rose fully to a height of nearly two meters and took a shaky step forward.
Vito rushed forwards, reached for the first thing he could find to use as a weapon, a golf ball sized stone. He aimed, ready to hurl it at the creature, and… hesitated. That face, despite all the deformations, he could still clearly see his father's features. The sharp cheekbones, hidden behind a rough, brown beard, the big nose - and for a second, it almost looked like his eyes became human again. The next second, however, the beast shook itself and took started stumbling forward with more determination. Vito had no choice, he threw the stone and before even waiting for the impact already grabbed another one. The rock simply bounced off the skin of the creature. He let out a scream and launched the second one, trying to gain the beasts" attention. The second stone hit it in the face, causing it to stumble in confusion, the newly formed beast still clearly unstable. It snarled and turned its head towards Vito, seemingly only now registering his existence, who started moving in the opposite direction of his brother, trying to lure the
'Aah…'
He groaned as the pressure on his mind increased and the whispers of the shadow creature started becoming louder
'Shit, I forgot about that.'
He reached for another rock, this time the size of his fist, with cold sweat running down his face. If he could not lure his father away, he had to figure out a way to contain him. There must be a way to prevent or reverse whatever was happening. He could not accept the idea that his father was completely gone.
'We will get you out of their dad.'
He slowly backed away as the beast now stumbled towards him. Turning his head slightly, he caught a glimpse of his brother, bloody and groaning from pain
- but moving and trying to orient himself with one arm broken and the other bloody.
The creature controlling his father forced him to look back as it decided to increase its pace and launched itself at Vito. He stumbled back as it swung its claws at him with inhuman speed. Despite the clear lack of control over its body, he was barely able to react in time. He jumped back and the beast, stumbled again, having overextended with its attack. Vito used that opportunity to deliver a kick to its side, trying to create distance. Instead of being pushed back, however, it was like he had just kicked a statue made out of metal.
'Crap'
He had barely enough time to retract his leg before it attacked again, swinging its arm back and crashing into his stomach. Rolling over the ground as he hit the ground, his head was spinning. His stomach was filled with pain as he laid on the ground, curled up and desperate for air. More than that, the god-damn voice was seemingly getting stronger again
'Leave me alone, you piece of shit.'
Forcing the voice back with all of his willpower, he looked up, searching for his father. He was still limping in his direction, his now four arms hanging by his side. Vito attempted to stand up, but a spike of pain pulled him back down. He saw the rock a couple of steps ahead and started crawling towards it. He could hear the shuffling steps, dragging across the rocks, getting faster and louder. Reaching out with his right, he grabbed the stone and spun around, just in time to see the launching into a growling attack. It dashed forwards, two of its hands ready to tear him apart, when its head was yanked to the side, blood and brain matter colouring the ground red as it crumbled, and a loud bang echoed throughout the courtyard.
'Dad?'
With wide eyes, he stared at the limp corpse. He turned around to his brother, who was still laying on the ground, but also holding the rifle. Tears started pouring from his eyes as the two brothers looked at each other in despair. The silence was shattered by a pained voice
"Leave! Take the car and get out of here, boys."
They ripped their heads towards the main house. There, leaning on the door frame, stood their mother. Similar black scales covering a large part of her body, and her otherwise blonde hair had turned black.
"Go now!"
She yelled again, as her body cramped out and she slid down. Vito groaned as he pushed himself into a kneeling position, feeling a something come up, he coughed. Blood spattered on his hands and the ground in front of him.
'Get up! We need to leave before she also turns into one of those things.'
Bent over, he finally got up and started running over to his brother.
"Come on, we have to leave"
Akko lay sprawled on the ground, the rifle still loosely gripped in his trembling good hand. His face was deathly pale beneath the bloodstains, eyes wide and vacant, staring unfocusedly towards the crumpled body. Tears tracked clean paths through the grime on his cheeks.
"I… I killed him…"
The words were a choked whisper, ripped from his throat. Vito's thoughts were thrown back to the view of his father's head exploding in front of him. Still not able to process what had happened or from the shock, his emotions were completely blocked off. A bestial growl reminded him of what was happening to their mother as well.
"We don't have time!"
He reached for the bloodied arm and swung it around his shoulder as he tried to help his pained brother get up.
"We can't leave mom here! We have to help her!"
He protested, turning his head back to the door. Their mother was now laying on the ground, convulsing and turning in pain. Akko tried to take a step towards her, but his brother prevented him
"There is no helping her. We will just die!"
As if to confirm his words, her head snapped up to lock them in their gaze. Akko stared at the convulsing form of their mother, his jaw clenched, breath ragged. For a moment, his gaze flickered with desperate hope, then it hardened, extinguished by the horrifying reality. A shudder ran through him. He gave a single, jerky nod, the fight draining from his posture, and allowed Vito to pull him towards the cars at the end of the driveway. They were halfway there when a noise caused them to turn around again. Their mother had left the door behind and started following them, however, the beast's control over here had failed, and she fell to the ground. Akko raised the rifle they had picked up, however his hand was trembling. Just then, their mother seemed to regain some control and she yelled
"Go… please. I love you boys, fore…"
That was all she managed to get out before it turned into a bestial growl. They turned around and increased their speed as they reached the cars, where Vito asked his brother
"Do you have your keys?"
He nodded and reached into his pockets with his right arm, letting out a painful moan.
"My arm is definitely broken" he gritted through his teeth
He gave his brother the keys and opened the back door after unlocking the car. Vito sat down in the driver's seat and turned on the car. Looking in the mirror, he could see his mother… or the beast, struggling to get up. As he pulled out and started driving away, he threw one last look at his father, and all the emotions finally came crashing down.