The previous semi-mandatory notifications and measures made citizens gather in shelters in advance before the disaster struck.
However, there are always some who "slip through the net" - or some more independent rebels who don't really believe in the so-called "extreme natural disasters". No matter if it's a notice from above or if there's any reward, they just don't want to go and simply hide away, and they can't be forced to go.
Or maybe something unexpected happened and you missed the group that was supposed to take the bus - that's pretty unlucky.
In the old orphanage, a little girl huddled in the kitchen, shivering.
From that not very spacious window, one could see the horrific scene outside—
A dim light fell in, and a little afterglow from the setting sun outlined the body of the huge monster.
It was a giant worm.
Actually, this description is not quite accurate, but it is indeed the closest to the shape of a "worm". It is a long, wriggling strip, with a ring-like structure. Its skin has some delicate patterns, is slightly moist and sticky, and has very fine bristles, which looks very similar to an enlarged earthworm.
Earthworms are creatures that people have seen many times, but their huge size alone is not enough to scare people to death. However, this "earthworm" is really extraordinary - not to mention its giant mouthparts at the head that are almost as big as the entire cross-section, the terrifying thing about it is that it has hundreds of "hands" growing on its body.
A "hand" that looks like a human arm.
It does not move forward by the wriggling of its body muscles, but rather by using countless "hands" to grasp the ground, lift up its worm-like body, and move quickly as if it were crawling.
Not to mention, this speed is very fast. Coupled with the advantage brought by its huge size, if it finds a human, that person will definitely not be able to escape.
However, since everyone had evacuated, most of the buildings were empty, with no one inside. Even the nearest shelter was some distance away from here - there was no human presence, and the worm monster seemed very anxious. It swam frantically and destroyed the area, its body so fast that only a vague afterimage could be seen passing by. It crawled and sniffed everywhere, as if looking for a fish that had slipped through the net.
… As a fish that escaped the net, the little girl carefully used the wall to cover her body, leaving only a small eye exposed, and observed the monster's movements for a while.
Then she looked away and sat down carefully, her back pressed against the wall, her knees bent, her arms wrapped around her legs, curled up into a small ball, and made no sound.
She is very scared.
Fortunately, the monster was still a long way away from her, and seemed to be crawling and destroying in a farther direction, so her current location was safe. If not, she would not even dare to expose an eye to observe the terrible monster.
During this purgatory-like time, she did not make any sound.
Even when he was frightened when he first spotted the horrible monster, he didn't make a sound.
The little girl is really young, only about five or six years old, and still thin. If she has developmental delay, she is probably just learning to run.