I obeyed. For three agonizing seconds, I kept my eyes fixed ahead.
Then the sound came—claws raking the wooden floor—and whatever willpower I had left shredded like wet paper.
Scrrrrch!
Every muscle locked. The thing behind me radiated a sepulchral cold, and the stench rolling off it—rancid, intimate—told me exactly how close it was. On the television, the overhead image still showed that tall, cadaverous silhouette posted at the back of my neck.
It didn’t move. A starving gargoyle, waiting.
The System, in its infinite wisdom, had advised me to ignore it.
"Okay," I whispered, breath shaking. "Eyes forward."
I took one cautious step toward the window.
Scrrrrch!
It mirrored me. I took another step. Then another. Then stopped. The monstrosity stopped too.
The pounding in my ears threatened to drown out everything else. I flicked my gaze to the screen. The overhead angle distorted its proportions: the wingspan looked colossal, the limbs hanging limp, the fingers unnaturally long, almost grazing the tiles. My survival instinct begged me to believe it was only a trick of the camera.
I closed on the large window inch by inch. Three meters. Two. One. I stretched out my fingers and brushed the cold metal of the latch.
Then my boot caught the leg of a chair.
CLACK!
The stumble broke my balance.
"Shit," I muttered.
The noise was a detonator. The creature lunged with a deafening shriek. I spun on my heels to face it—and immediately regretted it.
Its anatomy was a grotesque parody of the human form. Ash-gray skin, pocked with pustules and patches of necrotic tissue. Its upper limbs, disproportionately long, ended in claws that hung at knee height. Two spheres of absolute blackness stared back at me, empty orbs that seemed to drink the light. Then it unhinged its lower jaw, opening abyssal jaws that defied biology, and let out a piercing roar.
I raised the steel bar across my chest, a reflex more than a plan.
CLANG!
The charge threw me backward into the dining table. The impact emptied my lungs.
"Ah!" The pry bar flew from my numb hands.
The creature landed on the table, its weight splitting the varnished wood with a thunderous crack. Some absurd corner of my mind noted that I had just finished paying off that table. The thing shook its head and fixed its dark sockets on me again.
"Yeah..." I gasped, fighting for air. "You’re a charmer."
It lunged for my throat. I rolled desperately across the floor, feeling the wind of its claws slice the space my head had occupied a fraction of a second earlier. The talons punched into the laminate with a dull CRACK! I dragged myself backward like a crab, measuring the distance to my weapon. Two meters. Unreachable.
The monster turned its neck with spine-chilling slowness. A bluish flash cut across my peripheral vision.
[Damage received.] [Physical integrity: 87%.]
"What?!" I blurted.
The complaint cost me. The fiend attacked again. I threw my arms over my face and felt the searing burn of three blades ripping through my sleeve and opening the flesh of my forearm. I retreated, cursing, pressing the wound. A hot line of crimson slid between my fingers.
The beast crouched, ready for the kill. The disparity was overwhelming: its speed, its brute power, its ability to pulverize solid furniture. Bare-handed, I was dead.
Then the holographic interface flickered with a new notification.
[Attack pattern identified.]
[Passive ability unlocked: Combat Analysis. The System will automatically identify enemy patterns during combat.]
I blinked, forcing my eyes to focus. The creature tensed its hind legs, dipped its right shoulder asymmetrically, and drew its left arm back for momentum. My mind connected the dots in milliseconds. It was the same choreography as before. Its ferocity hid a predictable routine.
"I’ve got it..." I whispered.
The creature launched itself like a spring. Anticipating the trajectory, I threw myself low and to the right. Its claws whistled centimeters from my ear. Using its own blind momentum against it, I grabbed the back of a wooden chair and spun. When the monster skidded around to face me, I smashed the seat into its skull.
The chair splintered and sent the aberration staggering sideways with a disoriented gurgle. It couldn’t focus. I seized the opening, lunged across the floor, and closed my hand around the steel bar.
The beast dug its claws into the wood and fought to rise. I had the weapon. I also had a choice: crush its skull or run.
A heart-wrenching, unmistakably human scream echoed from the hallway.
That fleeting distraction gave the creature the seconds it needed to straighten up.
I abandoned the offensive. Primal instinct took over. I broke into a frantic run, crossed the threshold in long strides, jumped the rubble of the doorframe, and pulled the door shut behind me with all my strength.
BAM!
The monster slammed against the wood from inside as soon as I turned the knob.
BAM!
The surface began to splinter under the relentless assault. I let out a ragged breath.
"Time to get out of here," I said through my teeth.
A new translucent window materialized in my field of vision.
[PARTIAL OBJECTIVE COMPLETED.]
[Survival confirmed.]
[Partial reward unlocked: Basic System access — Spatial Inventory.]
A small panel appeared, showing an empty grid.
[Spatial Inventory: 4 slots available. Only System-approved items can be stored.]
"An inventory?" I murmured, staring at the floating grid. "Where the hell did this come from?"
I looked at the steel bar in my hand. I thought about storing it. The panel flickered red.
[Item rejected: Not System-approved.]
"Of course. Only what the System considers a reward," I muttered. "A limitation. But at least it’s a limitation."
I scanned the area outside. The hallway had mutated into a nightmare bathed in the reddish flashes of the emergency lights. The adjoining door stood wide open. A thick trail of blood snaked across the floor tiles, flanked by the cracked screen of a mobile phone and a lone shoe.
The door to the apartment next door had been torn off its hinges. The creature from the hallway was no longer there. Only a black trail remained, disappearing down the stairs. I didn’t know if it was the same one that had almost killed me inside. I didn’t know if it was another. I didn’t want to find out.
I blocked out the image of what must have happened to its owner and focused on a trembling whisper coming from the apartment across the hall.
"I-is anyone there?" a female voice asked from inside.
I raised the metal bar immediately, aiming toward the darkened peephole.
"Who’s speaking?" I demanded.
An oppressive silence filled the corridor.
"Is there really a human out there?" she insisted, on the verge of a breakdown.
"Yes. I’m still flesh and blood," I said, approaching stealthily. "Are you alone in the apartment?"
A tension-filled pause. Then a choked sob.
"Yes..." She hesitated. "At least, I think so."
The uncertainty in that last word made the hairs on my arms stand up. I pressed my back against the wall beside her door.
"Keep the lock turned. For God’s sake, don’t open yet," I warned.
"Why? Who are you?" she asked.
"My name is Gabriel. Gabriel Bowman. I’m your neighbor down the hall."
"Are you hurt, Gabriel?"
I glanced at my forearm. The torn skin was still oozing a crimson trickle.
"I’ve got a nasty gash. Nothing lethal for now," I said.
"I... I was hurt too," she admitted, her voice breaking.
I exchanged a wary glance with my own door, still pounding under the monster’s blows.
"What the hell is attacking us?" I asked.
It took her endless seconds to answer, swallowing tears.
"The boy next door... something huge slipped into his apartment through the window and... tore him to pieces."
I looked toward the boy’s apartment. It was ajar. A trail of blood snaked into the darkness. I didn’t go in. I didn’t want to see what was left of him.
"Could you see the creature?" I pressed, gripping the steel handle.
"It’s an abomination... I’d rather not relive the image."
"Understood. We’re definitely facing the same kind of nightmare."