Darkness. Silence. Emptiness.
Deiv was sure he had died.
But suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
Before him stretched the street, lit by the faint glow of the moon. He felt the cold, the dampness of the night air... the pain in his stomach was gone.
— "Am I alive?"
He frantically looked at himself... and froze.
His skin. It was not his.
Black, dense, with thin veins, exactly like the creatures'.
— "W-what...?"
Panic surged through him. He looked around, and his gaze fell on the lifeless body of his mother.
— "No... no... Mom..."
He dropped to his knees beside her, tears streaming down his face.
— "I'm sorry... Sorry, sorry, sorry... Sorry... I... couldn't..."
He wanted to scream, but suddenly, a sharp, pulsating pain pierced his head.
A voice.
Dull, cold, foreign.
— "...Kill them all..."
— "What?"
The voice came again in his head, this time clearer.
— "Kill them all..."
Deiv clutched his head.
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— "Shut up!"
But then he felt something terrifying — he no longer controlled his body.
His hands moved on their own. His legs slowly took steps forward.
— "What... is happening?!"
He tried to stop, but his body wouldn't listen. It moved, like a puppet on invisible strings.
The city was empty, only smoke rising from the ruins. But ahead, he noticed movement.
People.
Living people.
His heart skipped a beat. He wanted to scream, to call for help, but...
His body bolted into a run.
— "STOP! STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
His hands grabbed the first person they found — a man who didn't even have time to scream.
Strong fingers wrapped around his neck.
CRACK.
With one swift motion, the man's head was torn from his body.
Deiv froze.
— "I... I..."
He dropped the bloody head to the ground, and his body tossed the corpse aside. The other people screamed and ran.
But his body chased after them.
— "NO! NO! STOP! STOOOOOOOOP!!!"
He couldn't stop.
His hands, his legs — everything moved on its own.
Screams filled the air, then were replaced by roars, tearing flesh, cracking bones...
And then — silence.
Deiv stood among the torn bodies.
He breathed heavily.
— "This... this was me..."
He couldn't move, couldn't speak.
He just stared at the carnage he had caused.
— "What... have I become?"
Deiv stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by bodies.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from those he had just killed. With his own hands... or were they his?
What have I done...
His body moved again on its own.
— "Stop..." he tried to say, but couldn't.
He couldn't even think clearly — everything in his head felt like a fog. One question pulsed through his mind: how and why?
And then he remembered.
That monster.
It had wounded his arm... and with that same arm, it had pierced his side.
— "Damn..."
The blood of that creature had gotten into him.
The infection.
Just the thought of it filled him with panic. So, he was infected? Becoming one of them?
— "No..." he gritted his teeth.
He didn't want to become that.
He had to break free. Find his father, Levan... anyone. If they were still alive.
But suddenly, his body jerked forward.
He ran at inhuman speed.
— "Where?!"
He didn't understand what was happening. He couldn't even see anyone ahead, but his body kept rushing through the ruined streets.
Two hours... no, maybe three.
The city was behind him now, and all that surrounded him was darkness and silence.
Then, he saw it.
A massive dark structure, rising amidst the ruins.
Monsters were coming in and out of it.
— "This..."
He understood immediately.
This was their base.
The lair of these bastards.
His body didn't stop.
It moved forward, into the heart of the monster's den.
