The road was quiet.
Too quiet.
Kai hated it.
The silence felt heavier than the screams.
At least, when monsters screams.
Kai would knew where they were.
In this moment.
Anything could feel like watching.
Something could be waiting.
Something might jump out from nowhere.
The gray sky hung overhead.
Kai walked through the empty neighborhood.
Abandoned cars lined the streets.
Several houses stood with their doors hang open.
Windows shattered.
Bloodstains marked walls and sidewalks.
Evidence of death and carnage.
Or perhaps a one-sided massacre.
Kai adjusted his backpack.
Kai's body ached.
The battle against the Blooming Human Carcass had ended only eight hours ago.
Kai wounds were mostly healed.
And corruption rate reverted back to zero, thanks to the potion.
But exhaustion remained.
The kind that sleep couldn't easily fix.
"I need a place to rest."
A roof.
A locked door.
A few hours to think.
To breathe.
To review everything.
The system.
And the future.
Kai shook hid head.
Kai immediately pushed that thought away.
"Not now."
Not yet.
After several minutes of searching.
Kai found a small two-story house.
The front gate hung open.
No movement.
No sounds.
No monsters.
Kai carefully stepped inside.
The living room was a mess.
Furniture overturned.
Broken picture frames littered the floor.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Dust covered everything.
Yet something felt...
Wrong.
Kai stopped.
Listening.
Silence.
Then—
Crunch.
Kai froze.
A chewing sound.
Soft.
Wet.
Crunch...
Crunch...
Crunch...
Kai grip tightened around his dagger.
The sound came from deeper inside the house.
The kitchen.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Kai advanced.
Each step measured.
Each breath controlled.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound continued.
Steady.
Patient.
Like an animal feeding.
Kai reached the doorway.
Then looked inside.
And stopped.
The kitchen table sat beneath a flickering light.
A family remained seated around it.
Or what was left of them.
A man lay collapsed nearby.
All limbs gone.
A woman slumped over the table.
With it's head half eaten.
And a baby without it's head sat beside her.
The entire room smelled rotten.
Like old blood.
Death.
Something left to decay.
And sitting among them...
Was a girl.
At first glance she looked human.
A teenager.
A school uniform.
Long black hair.
A slender frame.
Then she lifted her head.
Kai vomit.
There were no eyes.
Only smooth flesh.
No nose.
No normal features.
Only a grotesquely stretched mouth splitting across the face.
Rows of jagged teeth moved as she chewed.
Blood stained uniform.
Blood stained hands.
Blood stained the floor beneath her.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The thing slowly turned toward Kai.
Despite having no eyes.
It saw him.
A System notification exploded before Kai.
Nightmare Detected
Name: Skin Walker
Rank: E
Description:
A failed mimic.
It wears humanity but no longer remembers how to be human.
Warning: Skin Walkers hunt in groups.
Kai's expression immediately darkened.
"...Groups?"
The Skin Walker stopped chewing.
Its head tilted.
Crack.
Its neck bent unnaturally.
Further.
Further.
Until it was almost upside down.
Then—
SCREEEEEEEEEECH!!
The entire house shook.
Kai cursed.
The Skin Walker launched itself forward.
Fast.
The kitchen was too cramped.
Too narrow.
No room to dodge properly.
No room to swing.
No room to fight.
Kai immediately retreated.
The creature slammed into the hallway wall.
Wood exploded.
Splinters flew everywhere.
Kai sprinted out.
Straight through the living room.
The Skin Walker pursued him on all fours.
Its limbs bent at impossible angles.
Its body crawling across walls and furniture like a giant insect.
SCREEEECH!
Kai burst through the front door.
Landing outside.
The Skin Walker followed.
Then—
It stopped.
Standing in the middle of the yard.
Motionless.
Its head slowly rose.
Kai frowned.
"What now?"
Then it screamed.
Louder.
Much louder.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!
The neighborhood answered.
Glass shattered.
A window exploded across the street.
Another Skin Walker emerged.
Then another.
And another.
One crawled from a rooftop.
One burst through a garage window.
One climbed from a second-floor balcony.
One emerged from a shattered bedroom.
One crawled upside down across the side of a house.
Dozens of eyeless faces turned toward Kai.
Smiling.
Watching.
Waiting.
Kai stared.
The Skin Walkers surrounded Kai.
Silence.
Then every single monster shrieked together.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!
Kai covered his ear and looked toward the horde.
Then Kai sighed.
Deeply.
Very deeply.
"...Come on."
Another Skin Walker dropped from a roof.
"...I just want to rest for one night."
The horde charged.
And Kai calmly take a deep breath.
"Bring it on."
To Be Continued...