Darwin’s Prize
That night, Marcus Nool became immortal. As he watched the sparkling ball of energy above his palm growing bigger and brighter, he knew that his lifelong quest has come to an end at last. He succeeded. His assumptions were finally validated in full.
He was relieved that he didn’t fall for all that scientific crap which he suspected of imposing artificial limits on his life. He was thankful that he managed to persist and protect his convictions from the onslaught of misplaced rationality. He was delighted by his steadfast devotion to eternal mystery and power of belief.
Because now, he knew. He could manifest anything out of thin air, he could think away any illness, any malady, and he could fly, free like a bird, if he wished to.
He had also a definitive proof that those ghostly inter-dimensional beings he heard so much about are real. Ultimately, he knew as well that he conquered death.
The only limit to his power was the extent of his imagination.
Right as the crackling spark in Marcus’ hand reached its peak, a mouse living in the attic where Marcus conducted his experiments, tapped the roof with its tiny feet.
Marcus, immersed in the otherworldly phenomenon before him, recoiled and turned toward the window behind him to where the sound was coming from. Hair on the back of his neck stood up as antennae that tingled with danger. Cold foreboding premonition and the heat of adrenaline almost simultaneously spread through his body.
Greys, flashed through his mind as the sound of breaking window glass mixed with alien shriek.
Frozen Marcus stared at the monster that landed in front of him. The creature was roughly the size of a large dog with insect body and canine teeth. Saliva was dripping out of its open mouth and the drops burned small holes in the carpet on the floor.
Marcus briefly remembered reading an article about the latest model of genetically engineered drones which Greys use to eliminate the awakened ones on Earth and which the article referred to as mantis wolves. Fast, sturdy, extremely powerful and violent, while highly resistant to conventional weapons. And though there were no illustrations Marcus could recall, the beast looked exactly as he imagined.
What followed, happened in an instant.
Mantis wolf burst toward Marcus’ head. As if in slow motion, Marcus saw the approaching gaping jaws. He also noticed a reflection of a person in the cold, mosaic eyes but he could not recognize his own shocked face. He scented the piercing stench of acid and rotten flesh as the pointy teeth approached his temples.
The last thing Marcus saw before the acidic saliva dissolved his eyes was the deep darkness that peered at him from behind the creature’s throat. He heard his scull cracking under the pressure of mantis wolf’s bite, his face was scorching as it melted away revealing raw muscles and bone.
As the beast chomped on his motionless body, Marcus desperately wished for the whole ordeal to end. For the first time in his life he prayed for death to be real.
However —
Something deep inside of his mind refused to believe in it.
