No girl.
I moved further down the alley toward another dumpster, only to stop when I glanced over my shoulder.
Both Savannah and her grandfather, Randy, were standing at the entrance, watching me warily, their guns raised slightly, but not directed at me. I pointed towards the debris next to the first dumpster, and then proceeded with opening the second.
They exchanged a glance, before Savannah noticed the blood on the ground leading to the small hole. Without asking, she yanked what appeared to be a penlight from Randy’s utility vest and got down on her hands and knees to peeked inside with it.
Of course, she didn’t find anything.
“This must be where Ethan was,” she whispered, the echo of the alley carrying her voice. “Dammit, we passed by here two days ago. It’s horrible to think that we were so close and didn’t know.”
Randy grunted in response, the codger refusing to take his eyes off me.
Honestly, I was done with this shit. How in the hell did they lose two kids anyway? And why in the hell couldn’t I just ask them? I wasn’t even sure why I bothered to check the dumpsters. I had already decided I wasn’t going to help them look, and here I found myself doing just that.
Maybe because the alternative was boring? Just sitting around and doing nothing?
Sighing, I began walking away from them aimlessly, pondering the idea of just getting out of here instead of stressing myself out with my incapacity to communicate verbally.
But wait…
I stopped in my tracks, looking down at my hands.
Could I write something out? I wasn’t sure if I had the dexterity to hold a pencil, or if they even had one. I mean, I didn’t feel like I couldn’t do it, but I also hadn’t felt like I couldn’t speak either. Granted, I also had my claws to work with, if only I could find something I could easily carve into, like a wooden door…
Looking up at the doors in the alleyway, I was dismayed to see that the one closest to me was metal. As well as the others too.
Maybe a wall?
I moved to the nearest door on my left and reached out to grab the handle, unsurprised when it didn’t open easily, likely being locked. I was about to try to force it open, feeling confident I could, only for a flash of light to ignite in my vision, my head snapping towards another door further down.
The same light as before, like a beacon calling out my attention.
What in the hell was going on with me?
This was not normal.
Abandoning my initial attempt, I quickly moved towards the door in question, discovering it was completely unlocked as I opened it with a simple tug. Within, the short hallway lit up under my glowing red eyes, the whole interior cast in a crimson hue.
I was honestly a little surprised when Savannah and Randy followed in after me, seeming a little less reserved than when we first began.
Catching a whiff of old blood, I found a stairwell and followed it up to the next floor, only to travel down another hallway and into a trashed room full of canvas and painting supplies. I had no idea what kind of building this had been, but this particular room was like some kind of art studio, with torn pictures all over the walls.
I ignored them though, as I neared the window to crouch down over a girl’s limp form who didn’t appear to be much younger than the boy had been – I would have easily assumed she was nine or ten as well, though the boy seemed a little older in comparison.
She was lying on her side, and was still alive too, unlike what I had initially predicted. However, her condition was not ideal. At least, that was assuming my two human companions wouldn’t be thrilled that their little girl looked more like me now, than she did them…
Shit! I just wanted to ask them so desperately how humans were turning into these monsters! Was it a bite? Like zombies or vampires? Was it an infection transferred just by being cut by an infected? Would the boy transform too?
It was obvious blood was on the floor, but the girl didn’t have any noticeable wounds, seeming in perfect health, minus the two horns growing out of her head, along with the white hair, gray face, and the black armored skin covering what I could see peeking out of her clothes.
However, unlike my midnight skin that was rough and bulky in spots, the covering over her human skin was smooth, as if she were just wearing a wetsuit for surfing or diving. Her shirt was pulled up past her navel, revealing an unprotected patch of gray skin on her stomach.
Although, there was no visible distinction between the black and gray, other than the thickness and color – there seeming to be a smooth and uninterrupted transition between the two.
She didn’t appear to have any extra appendages like myself, with her jean shorts riding low enough to make it clear she didn’t have a tail, but her hands and feet seemed abnormally large for someone her size, with her arms being at least as long as her legs, if not longer.
The way one arm was positioned, it was evident that her hands reached her knees.
Savannah gasped when she saw her younger sister, one of her hands flying to her mouth, tears springing to her eyes.
Chapter 3: Hallucination
“Shit,” Randy cursed when he stepped behind Savannah, seeing his younger granddaughter in the dim light.
Alternatively, Savannah’s shock quickly turned to anger, as she pointed her gun at me again. “Did you do this?!” she demanded, the trembling in her voice having returned.
I shook my head, glad to have a question inadvertently answered about why people transformed, but still wondering the specifics of how this happened. Did they actually know I could turn humans into my kind, or were they just guessing? The biggest issue I saw was the survivability aspect – if this girl, Harper, had been attacked by a monster like me, then how in the hell had she survived?
It didn’t make sense.
“Then who did?” Savannah snapped, still sounding angry.
How in the hell would I know?
I just shrugged, staring at the wall as I debated if I should try using paint to communicate, or if carving into the wall would turn out legible enough. The problem with painting was that most of the canvas in the room was either covered fully in color, torn to shreds, or both.
In the meantime, Savannah moved closer and off to the side, getting a better look at her sister while still remaining wary of me.
Unfortunately, just as I decided to give wall-carving a try after all, a noise beneath me prompted my gaze to shoot downward just in time to see a little four-and-a-half foot gremlin popping her red eyes open with a feral expression.
Like a loaded spring, she immediately went for my mostly armored throat without a thought, arousing a survival instinct in me I couldn’t control.
Without hesitation, I snatched her by the shoulders before her mouth reached me, sinking my own teeth into the side of her slim neck.
Her body went limp instantly.
It all happened so fast, that both humans had a delayed reaction. Savannah screamed in horror at the sight of Harper’s now lifeless body, while Randy instinctively raised his gun to fire.
As fast as lightning, my tail whipped out, the flat side smacking against him and his weapon, thrusting him back into the hallway with a loud thud as he hit the wall. Savannah of course raised her gun too, just as my tail closed the distance, knocking it out of her hands before she could get her finger on the trigger.
Seeing in the corner of my eye that the old man appeared to be unconscious, I snaked my tail around Savannah’s torso, pinning her arms in place so she couldn’t retrieve her weapon.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, a spark of light in my vision catching my attention just as Harper’s body hit the ground. However, the glow remained this time, shifting and warping into an image that progressively became more clear, like an optometrist changing lenses for someone getting their eyes tested.
Within a few seconds, it was as if I had slipped on a pair of glasses, with white smudges growing in size and transforming into crystal
clear foreign symbols and shapes, like a message written in another language.
I examined the hallucination before me in total shock, watching as symbols switched out for letters of an alphabet I recognized, until a legible white message floated about a foot from my face.
Structural Error.
Organizational hierarchy invalid.
Process connection incompatible…
Process connection incompatible…
Process connection incompatible…
Analyzing unknown error…
Calculating viable configurations…
Adapting to new conditions…
Accepting new handler…
Valid input.
Connection complete.
The words abruptly vanished, another message rapidly taking its place.
Welcome new handler.
Lesser handler detected in vicinity…
Addition to organizational hierarchy in process…
Complete.
Sub-handler assigned.
Designation: Sub-handler 001
Sub-handler process connection incompatible…
Result: Invalid protocol.
Detecting repeated error.
Calculating…
Diagramming new hierarchical protocol…
Establishing new protocol…
Complete.
Sub-handler process connection incompatible…
New protocol initiated.
Rewiring initiated.
Rewiring completion in 000:00:00:00:00:03:256
Rewiring completion in 000:00:00:00:00:02:000
Rewiring completion in 000:00:00:00:00:01:000
Complete.
Initiating structure build.
Structure build in process…
Estimated time undetermined.
Next update in 000:00:00:00:03:28:000
Unexpectedly, the girl beneath me twitched, my gaze snapping toward her, the floating message moving along with my head, but becoming more transparent as I focused past it. However, when she didn’t move again, my attention was brought back to the shifting message.
Welcome handler.
Initiating biometric condition display…
Activated.
I was already confused as hell as to what was going on, but my eyes widened in complete shock as a list of stats appeared in front of my eyes, looking not unlike the stats screen in a videogame.
‘What in the hell?!’ I tried saying, only for a growl to escape instead.
Was this a game? Like some kind of virtual reality simulator? Surely not! Such technology didn’t even exist yet, and honestly I wasn’t sure if something that felt this real could ever exist. And yet, obviously I was hallucinating a very real stats screen full of crystal-clear white numbers floating in front of my face.
And it did move with my face, rather than shifting with my eyes. I could glance away without the main menu moving.
Unable to believe this was some kind of game, I looked down at my hands, rubbing my thumbs and fingers together, only to then touch my left arm with my right hand, feeling my rough armored skin. It all felt real. How could it not be? But then again, the idea that this might be some kind of crazy impossible videogame was a little enticing – more digestible – compared to the truth that this was all real.
But how could it not be real?
Like, seriously…
Feeling as if I was truly on the verge of having a psychotic break at the idea that this might be virtual reality, I focused on the young woman who I realized had literally pissed herself, a dark stain between her legs, her body trembling, her teeth chattering in terror. Without another thought, I rose to my feet and readjusted my tail so I could grab her wrist in my hand, effortlessly lifting her a couple of inches off the ground as I pulled her closer.
I half expected her to put up a fight, but it appeared that seeing what I had just done to her sister had broken her spirit, because she was like a limp doll now.
“Please,” she whispered as I examined her up close, defeat in her tone and expression.
I focused on the racing pulse in her neck, reaching out with my free hand to carefully touch it with my fingertips – her skin, her heartbeat, it was all just too real. I wasn’t sure what had happened to the world, or why I had a stats screen floating in my vision, but the idea this was some kind of human-made videogame was just impossible.
Certainly, it was fun for imaginary stories, but impossible in real life.
It couldn’t explain why I had lost my memories, why I had lost so much time, or why I couldn’t speak.
I mean, I was sure that someone out there could think of an impractical explanation that at least sounded logical, but the feasibility of this somehow being virtual reality just couldn’t stand up to the test of what was actually possible in real life. Not to mention, if this was a game, then it sure as hell was a shitty one. No way in hell I would have signed up to play this.
“Please,” Savannah repeated, her entire body continuing to tremble along with her voice. “Please let us go.”
I loosened my grip on her wrist, allowing her to drop to the floor in a heap while simultaneously whipping my tail past her to slide the gun further away, the tip of my blade digging into the floor. I then focused on my basic stats, trying to understand what they all meant.
HANDLER
Physical Condition: Stable
Psychological Condition: Stable, Irritable
Fatigue: 12%
Mass: 113
Strength: 623
Endurance: 852
Speed: 233
Dexterity: 100
Balance: 100
Connection: 5
Thermoacoustic: 20
Attack: 5,344
Defense: 7,991
Wondering what the difference was between my Strength and Attack stats, I mentally attempted to focus on Attack, only for the hallucination to respond as if I had clicked on it, bringing up a breakdown of my three natural weapons – my tail, hands, and mouth.
I focused on the first.
Weaponized Tail: Spring Sacrum, Coccyx Blade
Maximum Stabbing Force: 5,344
The bladed weapon attached to my lower back was the full 5,344, whereas my hands and mouth were only rated at 3,102 and 3,774 respectively, prompting me to assume that the Attack stat was just displaying the highest number.
At first, I wasn’t certain how my teeth could be considered so lethal compared to my two sets of claws, but when I thought that, another message popped up regarding my mouth.
Oral Cavity
Mandible Crushing Strength: 3,774
Salivary Effects: Fatigue, Unknown Toxin Detected
So I was poisonous then? Or I supposed venomous was more accurate.
At least that explained why the little girl went from being wide awake to immediately falling unconscious when I bit her. I wondered what the unknown toxin did, but doubted I’d be able to figure it out unless I did a lot of extensive testing.
Wanting to see the original screen again, it reappeared, my gaze focusing on the obnoxiously low stat of Connection. I had no idea what that even meant, but the ambiguity only further piqued my curiosity.
Mentally selecting it, my jaw dropped when I saw a specific breakdown of ‘skills’ I would learn by raising the stat.
Connection: 5
Speech and Facial Recognition: 1
Speech and Facial Comprehension: 3
Nonverbal Communication: 5
Verbal Communication (Base Language): 10
Advanced Communication (Base Language): 20
Language Acquisition Stage 1: 40
Language Acquisition Stage 2: 60
Language Acquisition Stage 3: 80
Language Acquisition Stage 4: 100
Connection? Connection between what? Between people? Or maybe between my brain and my mouth? Shit, it was basically like an intelligence stat, except that my mental intelligence probably wouldn’t actually increase by raising the number.
Desperate to raise this stat to at least 10 so I could speak, I quickly scanned the hallucination before me, searching the various screens for any sign of a distributable point system, just like I’d expect in a game, especially considering I didn’t see anything about me being a certain level.
I also didn’t see anything regarding a health bar – only the word ‘Stable’ where it said Physical Condition. Unsurprisingly, the Psychological Condition listed ‘Stable, Irritable.’
Hell yeah, I was irritable.
Still, nothing about levels, experience, or points…
Luckily, and unfortunately, the delusion responded to my desire to increase my stats with a disturbing message.
All resources utilized.
Detecting resource availability in vicinity…
A spark of light unexpectedly flashed on Savannah’s head, still lying in a heap on the floor like she had lost the will to live, followed by another light drawing my attention back towards the door into the hallway.
Rise of the Night Stalkers Page 3