ROMAN and Carlos have a happy conversation while looking for goods to sell at the junk shop. Both are uneducated, so their only livelihood is finding empty bottles and selling newspapers.
The two walked into an old abandoned warehouse.
"Roman, let's try to find empty bottles, cartons, and newspapers there in that warehouse," Carlos said, pointing to the warehouse.
"Okay," Roman agreed.
The two went to the old warehouse. They brag about who will earn more that day as they push their wooden carts. They are unaware that their lives will only last a few minutes.
When they entered the old warehouse, they heard a noise behind them. It seemed like someone was watching them, and they couldn’t figure out if they were humans or wild animals.
They heard a noise that sounded like a squeal.
"Do you hear what I heard?" Roman asked his friend in a whisper. "It's like there's a big heavy object moving here inside the warehouse."
"Maybe rats?" Carlos replied, but he wasn't sure.
"I don't think so," Roman replied. "Maybe someone got drunk and got lost, and here inside the warehouse they slept, or a couple, and this warehouse was their meeting place."
"Maybe whoever's here inside the warehouse is doing something obscene. Come on, let's find out the source of the squealing we've heard."
It was noon, but it was dark inside the old warehouse.
Again, they heard small squeaking noises and were accompanied by flapping that seemed to have big and broad wings.
They heard a crackle and a distinctive growl from their backs and sides.
Roman pulled out his balisong - a folded pocket knife tucked into the side of his shorts.
The two men rolled their eyes around and signaled not to speak. They were not afraid; they were just alert and driven by curiosity.
"What danger can be hidden in a warehouse smelling of mold?" Carlos whispered to himself.
They were shocked when they stuck their backs together. There was something inside. They now seemed to be surrounded by inexplicable crackles. Fear gripped them suddenly.
"What is that?" Carlos asked in a whisper as he saw something dark, moving in the darkness.
"I don't know," Roman answered in a whisper. "Just don't move lest there's a stray dog here inside the warehouse."
Once again, they saw the dark shadows moving from the darkness, slowly approaching where they were and groaning.
They felt horrible and unknown danger.
"Carlos, there seems to be something around us, but I can't see them. I can feel their presence." Whispered Roman. "I’m not sure if it’s humans or wild animals."
They control their voices. They stick their bodies back to back because they need to see the front and back even though they can't see the inside of the old warehouse very well.
Carlos slowly pulled out his folded pocket knife stuck to the back of his shorts and waved it in the dark. That was his big mistake.
The shadow in the darkness seemed like lightning that quickly engulfed the two men's necks. The night creature sucked in their blood, and in a few seconds, they would be out of breath. They did not moan or shout.
Roman saw that the one who rushed at him looked like a giant rat, but it had wings like Dracula's cape spread out; the creature was utterly black.
The creature's red eyes looked like fire glaring in the dark.
Roman's throat ached as he gasped for breath between the squirting blood in his ruptured jugular vein. Roman's body swayed until he let go of the knife in his hand. And in his shocked mind, Roman thought that those who attacked them were Aswang.
Aswang is an evil, shapeshifting creature that shares the grotesque characteristics of werewolves, vampires, and ghouls. It has no consistent image or description because its appearance varies per region. People have often characterized them based on hearsay, which is why the term aswang has been used as a catch-all description for most evil creatures that lurk in the night.
Two creatures flew towards him. With their sheer size, no one will think they are ordinary bats. He felt a fang sink into his arm until it multiplied. In a few moments, Ramon bathed his blood.
Ramon's lifeless body fell to the floor, some bats stepped on his body, and many fangs sank into the victim's body.
The same thing happened to Carlos when the claw of the dark creature clung tightly to his neck and knocked him to the floor not far from Roman. It tore his throat, and it seemed not even a drop of blood was left on his body.
WHEN there is a disaster such as a hurricane, or an earthquake, most of those injured or killed are squatters, who live on the edge of the estuary of rivers and in old buildings or structures. The government condemned it for not being used as a shelter because it is dangerous.
But the squatters are deliberately stubborn, they hate the government, and they seem to be mushrooms that multiply in prohibited areas. They are like rats struggling to huddle in old and smelly abandoned buildings or warehouses to find shelter.
And sometimes, even the cemetery became their home. They did not respect the dead who were buried there. The important thing was that they had shelter.
Nor are they to blame for their poor living conditions. Where are they going?
They don’t have enough money to pay the rent of the apartment.
And even if they have money, it is not enough for food.
The government was strictly forced to clean up the city, which included evicting squatters and placing them in relocation areas.
But most of them refused to leave and became violent. There are even killings sometimes in the eviction of the authorities in the said eyesores of the city.
Mayor Alfredo Lim completed his project last year. It was free housing for those people living in poverty.
And the Mayor didn’t like what they did. The squatters sold the free housing given to them to people from Manila and are now living in Mahogany Allen.
They returned to the old buildings and warehouse to be their home.
Many incidents happened when a building collapsed, and illegal occupants were killed in abandoned buildings. The government did not fail to warn them because of the dangerous situation, but they did not listen.
That is why the local government has made rules to constantly monitor abandoned and old buildings and evict any squatters who intend to live there.
Within a week, two law enforcement officers were assigned to find out if there were any more trespassers in the area.
When no one lives there, the area is generally quiet, and the silence is sometimes disturbed by stray cats and dogs looking for food. Or the squeaking of rats being chased by cats in the rotten parts of the old building.
Dogs and cats that get there in the old building are easily scared when police fire warning shots.
Sometimes the assigned police officer would shout in panic when the giant rats suddenly appeared.
Law enforcement officers assigned to visit the said abandoned buildings were just relaxed. They did not even think about the danger.
Unless a criminal or drug addict is hiding there, who is ready to kill, but the assigned police are alert.
The task of law enforcement on check-up duty in these old buildings is to go inside and see if squatters or drug addicts are living there. The assigned police only pass by when they are on their way home late in the afternoon. When it's a bit dark, they always carry flashlights.
But the station commander thought that to avoid danger, those police officers assigned to visit the buildings were sent home early to pass through the area before dark.
This is one job or assignment that all members of the police force never associate with danger, since any of them could have imagined they would be killed.
SPO2 Yael Cruz and Ricky Santos are now assigned to visit the old, abandoned warehouse.
The two policemen talk about their job position. They are heading to an almost decomposing old, abandoned warehouse. Someone provided information because squatters are planning to occupy it again.
"I can say that squatters are also one of the government’s headaches," Cruz said. "They are not afraid of what might happen to them when there is another disaster like a typhoon, flood, or earthquake here in Mahogany Allen."
"You're right," Santos agreed. "They want to snatch the rats' habitat,"
"Crazy!" laughing, Cruz tapped his fellow police officer on the shoulder.
They had already entered the abandoned warehouse. Unbeknownst to the two police officers, there was danger waiting for them.
"What's that smell? So stinky!" Santos complained. He seemed to want to vomit in disgust.
"It smells like blood," Cruz said. He snatched the handkerchief that was in the pocket of his police uniform pants and covered his nose and mouth. "Maybe there's a dead animal inside the warehouse. Seriously, the smell is
disgusting!"
