Rise of the Night Stalkers

by Kurtis Eckstein

  Things couldn’t last this way forever though.

  None of them knew what kind of powerplant it was, since they didn’t have things like the internet to look it up, but if it was powered by coal then they’d run out of fuel eventually. Alternatively, if they were getting their power from wind turbines or even natural gas, then they might be able to run indefinitely. Granted, the power went out every night, which explained why it was always dark on the streets, so it was obvious whoever was running it was attempting to ration their resources.

  John also suspected the group was under the belief that the monsters would be attracted to buildings with lights on, thereby resulting in the demise of anyone foolish enough to use lights at night. Thus, the group had likely made the executive decision to just not provide anyone with a means to sabotage their own lives, along with the lives of their families, due to their ignorance.

  The hospital also had backup generators, in the event the electricity did go out permanently, but gasoline was a rare commodity right now – the true reason why they reserved using vehicles only for emergencies. Not to mention that no one could scavenge forever. With no hope of new food being brought in, eventually farming would have to take its place, something that probably wouldn’t be possible in the Hell Zones due to the monsters.

  When I had Harper ask what their future plans were, John explained that they were basically just trying to hold out until the conditions outside the Hell Zone improved. But right now, while safety was risky within, it was also debatably the only way to survive for the next year, especially considering that starving humans posed just as much of a risk elsewhere.

  At least with the Night Stalkers, they knew they would usually be safe during the daytime. On the other hand, humans could strike at any time of the day, and they were a lot more clever.

  The more questions I asked through Harper, who had taken off what remained of her human clothing, the more our conversation seemed to lessen the tension in the three men who had been prepared to shoot me not long ago. The two younger men had dragged Randy’s unconscious form back into the building and returned barely five minutes later, all the while John continued to answer my questions, growing more and more comfortable. Enough so that he finally asked a question of his own, inquiring about what I knew regarding my situation.

  I kept it simple – I didn’t remember anything.

  I just woke up the previous night, suddenly aware that I had once been human, my consciousness having returned. I also knew I had lost a lot of time, but I wasn’t sure how much. I had no idea if I had been one of the first victims to turn into a monster almost half a year ago, or if I had only turned a few weeks ago.

  Doubtful that it had only been a few days, given my size and extra appendages – not to mention my stats, which were five to ten times higher than Harper’s, depending on the specific stat. I mean, I had no idea how many ‘resources’ were gained from eating a person, or other monster, but considering my body was more developed then most of the other Night Stalkers I had encountered so far, I must be a higher level, essentially – if I even had a level.

  Which would require more time.

  But I didn’t tell them any of that last part. On the contrary, I ensured that Harper made it clear I didn’t know anything else, because I wasn’t about to share with them unnecessary information. They didn’t need to know about the stats screen, or the fact that I might turn on them one day, if I felt so inclined. Instead, it was best if they believed I was an ally.

  Savannah finally spoke up, having just listened most of the time while John and I spoke through Harper. “W-What are you going to do now?” she asked hesitantly.

  I sighed, running my armored hand through my white hair.

  What was I going to do? I felt like I had gained all the information I needed from them, so they weren’t useful anymore. I could just attack them, but I didn’t see any point in that either – it would be a waste of time and effort.

  I still really wanted to raise my Connection stat so I could speak for myself, but I wasn’t really hungry right now and I didn’t want to eat a person to do so. The idea was just too disturbing for the human mind trapped inside this beastly body, even if killing didn’t bother me.

  Unexpectedly, Harper spoke up from my side. “You may not be, but I’m hungry,” she announced, focusing on John. “Do you have any food? I don’t particularly want to eat people.”

  Everyone’s eyes widened in shock, before the middle-aged man shifted his blue eyes towards his oldest son, clearing his throat. “Umm, Chris go get that pickled baloney we were saving.”

  “Shit, you can’t be serious,” the guy hissed. “That’s the last meat we have that didn’t spoil when the power went out.”

  “Dammit, you dumbass,” John retorted. “If we can feed them normal food, then that means they won’t have to eat people. Now, go get it before I slap you upside the head!”

  Chris unexpectedly glared at me in annoyance, prompting my eyes to narrow in response. Instantly, his attitude changed real quick, looking like he was about to shit himself.

  “R-Right, I’ll be right back,” he said, hurrying towards the leftmost entrance labeled Radiation Therapy.

  My gaze followed him for a moment, before I focused down on Savannah, who had finally stood up.

  After a second, I found myself grinning slightly for the first time when Harper spoke up, echoing my thoughts.

  “And you,” she said, pointing her long arm at her older sister. “You need to do something about your smell, because the vomit is disgusting, and the scent of piss just makes us both want to rip your throat out.”

  Savannah immediately blanched, looking both terrified and mortified at the same time. She looked up at me briefly, only to be unable to hold my gaze the moment she did. I supposed my grin didn’t help, or at least, I assumed it was a grin – could have appeared more like a snarl to her, as I bared my teeth.

  Hard to say.

  Either way, she backed up a few steps and turned to leave. “S-Sorry. I’ll go do that now…”

  The other brother with darker brown hair, Tony, leaned toward her as she passed him. “You seriously pissed yourself?” he asked quietly, his brown eyes darting downward.

  “Shut up!” she snapped. “I almost died today. Give me a break!”

  He gave her an apologetic look, seeming like getting on her bad side hadn’t been his intention. Not that I really cared about the dynamics of their little social structure. It didn’t matter to me. But honestly, I was a little surprised he hadn’t noticed sooner. Then again, they had been pretty focused on me, and the danger I posed.

  No time to smell the roses…or in this case, piss.

  Chris passed her on the way out, seeming confused by her downcast posture as she hurried past him. In his arms was a large clear container of what I assumed must be pickled baloney, with it looking more like whole pig intestines crammed into a jar of embalming fluid.

  I must not have ever seen anything like that as a human, because it was truly a new sight.

  I saw Harper scrunch her nose in the corner of my eye, seeming more and more disgusted as he brought it closer.

  I did have to give the guy some credit though – he really had changed his attitude. Without hesitation, he set it on the pavement and opened it up, taking a step back with the lid once he was done.

  I looked down at the little gremlin when she didn’t move, prompting her to immediately look up two feet to meet my gaze.

  “Do I have to?” she complained.

  ‘You’re the one who said you were hungry,’ I silently commented.

  “Yeah, but–”

  ‘Do it.’

  She made a face, but listened, moving forward to crouch down in front of it, reaching her enlarged hand in to grab the tip of one of the long tubes of meat. She then gingerly brought her mouth to it, barely opening her jaw to nibble a piece.

  “Yuck!” she exclaimed, spitting it out and dropping the meat back into the fluid, making it
splash everywhere. “Tastes rotten!”

  “It shouldn’t be,” John countered, moving just close enough to extend his arm out and yank the jar to his feet. He then reached in to try it for himself, only for Chris to speak up.

  “Is that a good idea?” he asked seriously. “What if you become infected?”

  “Should be fine,” he replied, pausing to consider it. “The vinegar would kill most microbes, and we don’t even know if it’s caused by something like that.”

  “Are you sure you want to chance it, dad?” Tony asked.

  John shrugged, tearing off the end where Harper had bit, to toss it aside, and then took a bite himself. I wondered if the fact that he had just spent a decent amount of time talking to two Night Stalkers prompted him to become less cautious.

  Granted, I certainly didn’t have a problem with his carelessness, because I wanted to know for myself. Thus, out of curiosity, I also pulled up Harper’s stat screen again, checking out her Attack to see what it said about her mouth.

  Oral Cavity

  Mandible Crushing Strength: 917

  Salivary Effects: None

  Huh, so not only was her main weapon her teeth, but also, unlike myself, she wasn’t venomous – or, at least, it wasn’t listed if she was. Which I suppose meant it might be an obtained ability. But then, how were my kind created?

  “Tastes just fine,” John said after a moment of chewing.

  Harper growled. “Maybe to humans it does,” she sneered. “Tastes disgusting to me.”

  ‘Inedible?’ I wondered silently.

  She nodded, looking back over her shoulder and almost straight up at me due to her proximity. “Yeah, I wouldn’t even consider that food.”

  Well, that wasn’t ideal.

  It could be that she was just a picky eater, or maybe we literally couldn’t eat it. I mean, I was sure we could swallow it, but what if our bodies desired living flesh? That would definitely be problematic for my human mind, prompting me to wonder which would be worse – eating human flesh or monster flesh? I supposed I’d rather try my own kind first, if I really had to choose…

  Dammit.

  ‘Tear me off a piece,’ I demanded silently.

  Without asking, she leaned forward and snatched the tubed meat out of John’s hand, tearing off a piece and releasing it back into the jar with another splash. She then promptly held it up for me to grab. I held my palm out to let her place it in my hand, and then popped it in my mouth, only to gag so hard I almost spit it out.

  It really didn’t taste edible at all.

  Like damn, it didn’t even taste like meat, or anything resembling vinegar either, assuming that truly was the liquid used to pickle it, like John suggested.

  Shit, this was bad.

  Feeling my mouth flood with drool, as if my body was preparing to vomit – not in preparation to eat – I forced myself to swallow the piece whole…

  The chunk of meat barely made it past my throat before muscles, I didn’t even know I had, began contracting with such force that I turned my head just in time for it to fly out of my mouth more than ten feet away.

  Instantly irritated as hell at the implications, I spun around where I was and began walking away, accidentally swinging my tail into Harper in the process. However, she was quick, grabbing ahold of it just above the blade, and holding on tight as it swung her off her feet, before she monkeyed her way on top of it in midair while it swung back down.

  Then, like a little acrobat, she leapt towards the base and used where it came out of my lower back as footing to climb up between my wings, wrapping her elongated arms around my neck.

  ‘Get off me, dammit!’ I demanded, growling out loud.

  “Please take me with you,” she pleaded right next to my ear.

  ‘You realize I’m–’

  “I know,” she cut me off out loud.

  I groaned in annoyance.

  Of course, she already knew what I was planning on doing. If we couldn’t stomach normal food, and if eating a human was the worst alternative, then it meant we needed to figure out how unappetizing eating another of our kind would be.

  Damn, this sucked ass.

  ‘Fine. Whatever. Just hold on tight. I won’t catch you if you fall.’

  She obliged immediately as I dropped to my heels, with her legs wrapping tightly around my waist the moment I leapt nearly twenty feet into the air, finding myself capable of jumping higher thanks to having significantly less weight to carry.

  My wings began pounding downward as we soared even higher, quickly leaving the ground and buildings far behind us, my bladed tail helping me maneuver while airborne.

  Chapter 7: Hunting

  I was sure the humans below would be shocked to have me leave so abruptly, but my coming and going wasn’t determined by their timelines, nor did I feel obligated to explain what I was doing. As far as I was concerned, they were there for me to use as I saw fit, like my own personal farm full of cattle.

  Except, instead of feeding on them, I intended to gather from them all the information and resources I could, just like a farmer might do with his cows and chickens. Granted, I wasn’t sure if there was much more benefit I could gain from their group, but I certainly would never know if I killed them off myself. However, at the same time, the idea of never returning, or even of them all dying from an attack during the night, wasn’t heartbreaking either.

  They weren’t my problem.

  I scanned the scene below me, examining the vacant buildings, scattered rubble, cracked streets, and abandoned vehicles as I flew high above them, heading towards where I had killed several Night Stalkers earlier in the day. I had no idea if they would even still be there, considering the other monsters might have already eaten them, but I figured it was worth a try.

  I certainly wasn’t stupid enough to provoke that mini horde again, knowing full well I wasn’t invincible. I was sure even I could be overwhelmed by numbers, with that instinctual logic probably being why we were called Stalkers – because we preferred to stalk our prey.

  Not to mention, it was predatory rule number one – be lazy – don’t take unnecessary risks for a meal. And I whole heartedly planned on following in the footsteps of every other predator that had graced the planet. Starvation was the only reason to attempt a risky kill, and I was far from that condition at the moment.

  As I flew, I was thankful Harper was silent, being mindful not to make a nuisance of herself. Obviously, she was well aware I felt little-to-no attachment toward her and could drop her at any time. Her usefulness as a liaison between my brain and spoken words was the primary benefit she provided at the moment, and maybe once I could raise my own Connection stat, I would use her as an experiment, to play around with her stats before I invested more in my own.

  After all, I didn’t really care if I essentially messed up her ‘character build.’

  It was mine that counted.

  And sure, I understood the logic behind ‘strength in numbers’ but she was so weak right now compared to me that I couldn’t imagine her being a valuable asset in a fight anytime soon – possibly not even after a lengthy amount of time, especially considering her size.

  In the end, my ignorance with how this game-like mechanism worked might end up being the only reason why I allowed her to be in my company, though I wasn’t sure how long that aspect of her existence would be necessary.

  Unexpectedly, Harper tightened her embrace on my neck slightly in response to my thoughts, hiding her eyes against my shoulder. Her longer white hair was blowing wildly in the wind, with the pounding of my wings causing it to go everywhere instead of just backwards, and her legs were still wrapped tightly around my waist.

  I didn’t bother trying to comfort her, or act like my thoughts weren’t the truth. It was what it was, and I had never intended to become someone else’s babysitter – not the humans, or this kid.

  Once the earlier battle scene came into sight, I was a little surprised to see that all the Night Stalkers I had
killed were still lying in the street, completely untouched. Which I found strange. Was it just because they weren’t normally active during the day?

  Given that they were mindless beasts, I couldn’t think of very many explanations. I mean, there was no way in hell the bodies had been left there for bait, because that would require some thinking on their part. Instead, it was more likely they became provoked due to excessive noise, and once the provocation disappeared, they returned to their daytime hibernation, or whatever it was.

  Kind of made me wonder why I didn’t have the same urge to sleep during the day. I had been up all night, been in a fight, and done a decent amount of flying, yet my Fatigue was still only at 23% whereas it was 12% earlier. Then again, I didn’t know how my body responded to tiredness. It was possible I might feel fine until I reached a certain level, or that the increase in the percentage might rise faster the higher the number became – such as it taking something like twelve hours to go from 0% to 10%, but only requiring an hour to go from 70% to 80%.

  Either way, I knew I’d know soon enough, once another day or two had passed.

  Briefly, I considered just dropping down there with Harper still on my back, given that the mindless beasts shouldn’t be capable of preparing a trap, but then I changed my mind. I didn’t need the extra burden of trying to protect her if I was ambushed again. And as much as I hated to admit that I needed to rely on another person, I did need her right now, both for speaking and experimenting with stats.

  Dammit.

  Thus, just to be on the safe side, I landed on the roof of a building down the street to drop her off. I then climbed down the side into an alleyway, using a fire escape most of the way in order to avoid making too much noise by jumping down.