Chapter 15

  Panting, William stopped in his steps and looked at the weird space. He felt pain everywhere, felt breathless, and his sore throat couldn't grasp any air. A large open space was before him, assembling the camp’s secondary square. Why had he come here? This was so open, that it was akin to asking for a beating.

  He wasn't alone.

  Rows of dead bodies were piled beside some walls and buildings leading to bunkers. Notes of battle were everywhere and thick Dark Fog lingered all over the place, looking like devouring mist that locked some streets. Not the one he was at, obviously. It was a clear trap.

  The square was empty of any battles. Whatever happened ended with people's loss.

  Dark Fog was like heavy smoke one would see from burning tires, but it was more alive, flowing like water that had no weight or too much weight. It moved like poisonous mist. scattering around bodies and military equipment, weapons, pistols, and even shotguns aside from lifeless bodies.

  That used to be a military brigade and important protectors. Nothing attracted William’s attention, since everything looked the same, even when his sight turned from sharp red to huffed hues. He still wanted to run away, but he could no longer do it justice.

  He glanced to his feet. His shoes were still there, right where they should be. He panted, glaring at that broken and bloodied storm in his right hand. For once, it left unfamiliar feelings in his chest and eyes. His fingers were not only broken, and skin cracked, but the core of this area was far away from a parasite.

  It was borderline crazy. He barely felt a thing about his body and thought he had been dreaming about this run. His skin, muscles, and veins were broken, yet that Emblem kept going for as long as it could. It dug deeper, even though a little crack in his Emblem was the first of many cracks that would change his life

  It... lives. William repeated the lesson from his mother. From where? How much trustworthy this pain and voice was? He couldn't remember. His Emblem was acting up, the buzzing refrained from paining him too much, and whatever was happening to him, it was getting weak. His run weakened, so he clutched his chest with his left hand, trying to force some air into his burning lungs.

  Unfortunately, he wasn't given such luxury, for Carnijaw would never stop going after its prey. Even if some pestering Walkers and Darks came up to it, it was focused on its target. It kept going, even if it was late and frustrating. It ignored explosive fights around the camp or immense tremors from above, hiding in the Dark Fog.

  What if something snatched its prey? What was more humiliating than that?! Being hurt by such a little thing was worse, and so was being too late to catch it. Carnijaw went on and lost more tendrils, hunted its prey, and tried to avenge whatever it lost with a prided chase.

  Screaming, howling, and smacking the ground with fistful limbs, its eyes went berserk, and its Madness turned red. Dark hues were coming from its big open mouth, giving it an enraged picture.

  It went Berserk after it recognized a terrible spot. Its arms convulsed and thickened. Countless veins convulsed on the skin. It was ready to kill whatever was in its path and stomp with such vigor, that leaving cracks around the ground was nothing. Concrete walls disintegrated, corpses exploded and smaller Darks were no different.

  It was quite a cumbersome run if not stupid, and easily destroyed. A group of five experienced Walkers within the same Rank would slaughter it because what was too big was usually not fast. That was common, yet Carnijaws wasn't slow like this. They were stupid, and abilities that cracked apart a sense of drive and reason were even worse.

  It had trouble with turns and maneuvers in its rampage, and it even stumbled and crashed into walls and buildings.

  Its limbs ended up looking much bigger and turned into qualified weapons that approached Rank 6. What was the strength of most Darks? Their mouths? Appetite? Absolute dreadful intent to hunt down for food? They had many ideas and even more instincts. Neither one was great for humans.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Attacking its head was the easiest way to kill it for good, but getting closer wasn't easy, even when it had a lower range of motion. One should also watch out for those tendrils and jaw, so one shouldn't be overconfident.

  William wasn't aware of how that nightmare changed. He heard those thuds that mashed with more noises. They reverberated to his heart, or was it his Emblem acting up again?

  Something started again, itching his hands and soothing the movement of his legs.

  Run... Run... Quicker, William.

  He turned.

  And yelped.

  Carnijaw was like an unhinged beast, approaching way too closely when it finally could approach that square. A single street was between them.

  William should have not turned his head just now. He regretted it instantly, but that monster haunted his mind. Those red shadows and loud noises were coming like that nightmare.

  Hide or run, He thought. Like the mother says, choose. The first one no longer seemed that bad, though William knew very little about his surroundings without her. The nightmare will follow. Hiding wasn't an option.

  “Run... Run!” He guessed another lie, but it was more like he had no other option. The lack of a hiding spot and this Carnijaw gave it some truth.

  His body moved again, giving him strength and pain and...

  [Time... is down...]

  William stumbled on his step when the sharp pain eclipsed from his hand to his body. Like a strike of lightning, he felt a sharp pain and pushed his arms against the mud and blood to go back to his feet. That redness disappeared but his head fell to a bloody pile.

  Strength fled his flesh when his Emblem stopped convulsing. William's mind momentarily thought of something. It was a square. He should've recognized it as a terrible place.

  But he used to come here on some occasions with his mother, so maybe he subconsciously wanted to be here. Well, there were bunkers, so he quickly glanced around, trying to see those big buildings that were intact. Finding them was easy; they were around the edges, close to piles of corpses and who knew what else. They were also distant, so could he reach them quicker than those incoming thuds?

  He involuntarily did something that not even his mother taught him. He adapted and sought help away from his parents. It was common, yet he didn't know such basic rules of survival.

  It came to his mind like running, or what could only be called an intuition to keep going and live.

  Carnijaw was less than a street away, so William went through all his fuel and moved his legs.

  Halfway through the square, feeling breathless even more, he stumbled and fell, hitting his chin on the ground and face soaked in mud. Dizziness and pain filled his mind, followed by drowsiness, and even some blood oozed from his chin, mixing with everything. His Emblem was getting duller and duller, with almost no whip around. All those tiny line units slowly disappeared, leaving blood flowing down his hand.

  He wasn't sure what he was watching anymore. That room was distant like her hand, while the lines or noises whispered nothing. William had enough of everything and tried to feel his fingers.

  He moaned when he couldn’t feel a thing and went to his knees. Looking around in a daze, he noticed a hand quenching his feet. It was a confusing view.

  There was a dying soldier with barely any consciousness left. He mumbled something, one eye hanging from his socket, and half of his jaw was missing. Yet, he was still alive, so he grabbed William in a fleeing moment to save his life. It could no longer be saved, for the Dark Fog was lingering at his feet, slowly eating it up, while his injuries were fatal.

  William didn't understand what this man wanted, or perhaps this too was a monster. Since it stopped him from running from another one, it must be a monster. He didn't know what else it could be, but its grip was weak. Slipping away was very easy, and William even kicked the hand away before returning to his ''run''.

  That was good for one thing alone; Carnijaw got so much closer.

  The gasping man drifted his hand toward running William, seeking help. His head exploded when a tendril went through it, coming out of his forehead. It missed its true prey, so it continued with its pursuit and failed.

  One moment was all it should take. Carnijaw stomped and stomped until it had enough distance to flicker a long tendril, wrapping it around William's feet, who assumed it to be another dying monster.

  No. Not this time around.

  It was a real monster.

  Carnijaw snorted in pleasure. It couldn't rely on its tendrils that flickered like unhinged hair. They were extremely hard to control in this state, so Carnijaw had to be much closer. Thirty feet, to be exact.

  William felt nothing in particular when he stumbled to the ground again and faced the blood. Or was it mud? He couldn't see the difference when his eyes no longer glowed red. No matter how he tried, he couldn't get this tendril away. That light could no longer help.

  He felt helpless and a strange feeling of acceptance arose in his mind. There was no screaming on his side since he hated loud and annoying voices more than anything. That shitty screaming monster better turn to dust.