Red Light

Arjun spotted the silhouette of his car nearby, a beacon of safety in the oppressive gloom. He let out a shaky, desperate breath, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“We’re saved... Sir, we’re saved.”
“Don’t celebrate yet,” Akshay muttered, though even he couldn't hide the flicker of relief in his eyes. They were almost out.
Then—the flashlight flickered.
Akshay’s stomach plummeted into a cold abyss. He didn't dare look away from the darkness. “Arjun… you charged it, didn’t you?”
“I... I’m sorry. I forgot,” Arjun whispered, his voice trembling.
The light sputtered one last time and died. Total, suffocating darkness swallowed them whole.
In the silence, a heavy, rhythmic sound began—the sound of something wet and massive being dragged across the asphalt. Panic surged. Blinded by the night, Arjun lost his nerve and began firing his service weapon randomly into the void. The muzzle flashes provided only jagged, split-second snapshots of empty air.
"Don't panic, Arjun!" Akshay bellowed over the gunfire.
The shooting stopped abruptly. A terrifying silence reclaimed the alley. Arjun froze, glancing back toward Akshay in a moment of indecision.
Suddenly, a jagged bolt of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the world in a harsh, white strobe. In that microsecond, Arjun saw it.
The creature was looming directly behind Akshay, its head tilted at an impossible angle, its maw stretching open to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Time seemed to slow. Every memory of his life flashed before Arjun’s eyes in a heartbeat. Without a second thought, he lunged forward, throwing his entire weight into Akshay to shove him out of the way.
"Thank you for everything, Sir," Arjun whispered.
Before Akshay could even process the words, the sound of tearing flesh and shattering bone filled the air. Akshay was sent sprawling, tumbling across the wet ground as the darkness returned.
He could hear it. He couldn't see, but he could hear.
"Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhhhh! Gurgle... Blurghhh!"
Arjun’s screams were cut short by a sickening, wet crunch. Then, silence. A silence so heavy it felt like it was pressing against Akshay’s eardrums.
Another flash of lightning.
The beast stood over the remains. Its head, still tilted, was now drenched in fresh, crimson blood. Scraps of a police uniform and severed limbs were scattered across the pavement like discarded trash.
"Ar...jun..." Akshay stammered, his mind refusing to accept the gore in front of him.
But then, he noticed something impossible. He looked down at a severed limb lying near his feet. Wait... isn't that my arm? He looked toward his own shoulder. A delayed, agonizing heat surged through his nervous system as the shock wore off.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh! MY ARM AHHHHHHHHHH!"
The rain began to fall then, a cold downpour that mixed with the blood on the ground. With every flash of lightning, the beast was closer. It didn't run; it played. It moved only in the gaps of darkness, inching toward him like a nightmare coming to life.
Desperate, Akshay began to drag his mangled body through the mud, his one remaining hand clawing at the earth.
"Help! Somebody! HELP ME!" he screamed, his throat raw and bleeding from the effort.
Suddenly, he froze. A shadow fell over him. The beast was right above him, wearing a distorted, wide-eyed "smile" that defied human description.
Akshay closed his eyes, waiting for the end. The thing lowered its head, its breath smelling of copper and decay, and whispered in a broken, stretched, otherworldly voice:
"Ggggh... REeee... Nnnnn... light..."
The beast’s muscles tensed to strike, but then it stopped. It snapped its head toward the lone street lamp at the end of the alley. The light, which had been dead for hours, suddenly surged to life. It flickered violently, humming with an intense electrical charge, before the bulb popped with a sharp crack.
In the sudden darkness following the pop, the beast felt a presence behind it. It tried to spin around, but its body failed. It looked down to find its back leg already severed, sliding away across the wet pavement.
Akshay was gone. In the blink of an eye, the wounded officer had been moved ten meters away to safety.
A split second later, the beast's head slid off its shoulders, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
A man stood behind the carcass, sheathing a blade so quickly it was almost invisible.
The beast’s jaws moved one last time, a desperate, fading whisper escaping its throat: "Maa... Mayaaaa..."
Then, the light in its eyes vanished forever.
The man looked down at the remains with a bored, clinical indifference. "Didn't even move, huh? Maybe these things also get tired of life."
—END OF THE CHAPTER—

Author’s Note:
Setting: For those wondering why no one came to the officers' rescue—Yash’s neighborhood is located in a semi-isolated district. Many of the surrounding houses have been abandoned since the D3 incident began, and the area is bordered by vast, open crop fields. In the dead of night, the wind and rain easily swallow any sound, leaving the residents of the few occupied homes completely unaware of the horrors occurring in the nearby alleys.
The Law: Under the current emergency protocols, the Night Curfew is absolute. Civil laws have been replaced by strict survival regulations. Any citizen caught outside after dark faces severe penalties, including high fines and immediate imprisonment. This atmosphere of fear ensures that when people hear screams in the night, they don't open their doors—they lock them tighter.